By Simone Chen, Owner of Rise & Shine Artisan Bakery
A year ago, standing in the bakery at 4 AM like every morning for seven years mixing the third batch of sourdough starter because the assistant had gotten the hydration wrong again. Hands shaking. Not from the cold, but from exhaustion so deep it had become physical.
The migraines that had started six months earlier were now a weekly occurrence, and sleeping through the night without the phone buzzing with some “urgent” bakery crisis felt like a distant memory.
The bakery was exactly what had been dreamed of: successful, loved by locals, with lines out the door on weekends. But success had become a beautiful prison. Leaving wasn’t possible.
Trusting anyone else to maintain the standards that had made the business successful felt impossible. And somewhere along the way, the transition had happened from baker to exhausted control freak managing a business that was slowly destructive.
What You’ll Discover:
- How a simple daily ritual in Balinese life transformed a Type-A entrepreneur’s approach to business control
- The unexpected business lessons learned from Bali cultural etiquette and temple visits
- Why understanding Balinese culture helped break the cycle of entrepreneurial burnout
- What makes Bali Palms’ Mind, Body and Soul Retreat different from typical hotel wellness programs
- How the concept of community responsibility shifted delegation from fear to trust
- Real results one year after implementing lessons from Balinese traditions
The Crisis That Led to Bali
When Success Becomes a Prison
The doctor’s words kept echoing: “Simone, your blood pressure at forty shouldn’t look like this. Something has to change.” Every business book about delegation and work-life balance had been read.
Good to Great and The E-Myth sat dog-eared on the nightstand. But knowing you should let go and actually doing it are completely different things.
The one real vacation a Caribbean cruise three years ago had been a disaster. The entire week was spent glued to the phone, managing crises. The couple barely spoke. They came home more exhausted than when they’d left.
The Decision That Almost Didn’t Happen
When Marcus surprised his partner with a two-week Mind, Body and Soul Retreat at Bali Palms for her 40th birthday, the first reaction wasn’t gratitude it was panic. Two weeks? Away from the bakery? The money alone (which could have gone toward that new deck oven) created guilt.
But what really terrified was learning about Bali Palms’ approach: this wasn’t a typical hotel where you could hide in your room checking emails.
Their retreat packages in Tabanan were designed for complete immersion luxury accommodation, all meals, transport, and curated activities that pulled you into Balinese culture. And the one non-negotiable rule: no phones except for one hour every three days to check in with home.
So the decision was made to visit Bali, despite feeling selfish and terrified and convinced of being too Type-A to ever embrace whatever slow, meditative pace they had planned.
Understanding Balinese Culture: The Foundation of Transformation
On the third morning at Bali Palms, still jet-lagged and anxious, watching the host, Wayan, create a small offering outside the villa shifted something fundamental.
She worked in complete silence, weaving palm leaves into an intricate little basket, then carefully arranging flower petals, rice, and incense into a pattern that seemed almost mathematical in its precision. The whole process took maybe ten minutes.
“Every morning?” The question came out thinking about the efficiency of it. “The same thing every single day?”
She smiled with this knowing look. “Yes. Every morning. This is how we maintain balance.”
These canang sari the small, beautiful offerings placed everywhere on the ground, on shrines, on cash registers weren’t about perfection. They were about devotion. The practice itself was the point, not whether each petal was perfectly placed or whether the offering lasted forever. By evening, they’d be swept away. Tomorrow, she’d make another one.
This wasn’t something you’d see at a typical hotel. At Bali Palms, the staff weren’t performing culture for guests they were living it, and inviting guests to witness and understand it.
Visiting Temples in Bali: Lessons in Letting Go of Control
The Dress Code as Sacred Boundary
Before visiting temples in Bali with the Bali Palms group, learning about the Bali dress code felt like just another tourist requirement. But Made explained it differently: the sarong and sash worn at religious sites aren’t just about modesty they represent a separation between the sacred and the everyday.
The sash specifically is believed to separate the upper body from the lower body, creating a boundary between the spiritual and the physical.
Understanding this aspect of Balinese culture made the practice feel less like a rule and more like an alignment. It showed Balinese people that you acknowledge and respect the sanctity of their sacred places. Bali Palms provided beautiful traditional dress for all guests, making this transition seamless and respectful.
Temple Etiquette and the Art of Observing Without Disrupting
At Balinese temples, Made taught specific etiquette tips: speak quietly, move mindfully, never place yourself higher than the priest or the offerings. These aren’t just local customs they’re about maintaining harmony in sacred structures where Balinese locals actively worship.
At one temple ceremony, watching another tourist (not from the Bali Palms group) push right into the center of a procession to get a photo, forcing the participants to walk around her, created embarrassment for her.
Then the realization hit: how many times had the exact same thing happened in the business? Pushing into the center, disrupting the natural flow, all because trusting the process and observing felt impossible?
The parallel was striking. In both contexts—religious ceremonies and business operations—the urge to control and be at the center actually disrupted what was already working.
What Balinese Women Taught About Boundaries
One aspect of temple etiquette that initially seemed restrictive actually revealed something important: Balinese women who are menstruating are asked not to enter temples or sacred sites, as they are considered to be in a state of sebel, or ritual impurity.
While this might seem exclusionary to Western sensibilities, observing how Balinese people respected this boundary without shame or judgment showed something valuable about honoring natural cycles and limits.
It raised an uncomfortable question: when was the last time any boundary had been honored? When had “no” ever been said to the bakery’s demands?
Balinese Etiquette in Daily Life: Learning Trust Through Community
The Pottery Workshop That Broke Through
The experience that really created change wasn’t at a major temple or tourist attraction it was at the home of a local artisan family. This was part of what made Bali Palms different: instead of keeping guests in a bubble of luxury accommodation, their cultural immersion activities brought guests into real Balinese homes and communities in Tabanan.
Made arranged for a small group to visit for a traditional pottery workshop, and this is where understanding the island’s culture moved from intellectual to visceral.
When arriving at their home, the grandmother, Ibu Ketut, greeted everyone with her palms pressed together at her chest the sembah gesture. Mimicking it back to her, something about that simple mutual respect created more presence than had been felt in years.
This is how Balinese people greet each other with honor, acknowledging the divine in one another.
Body Language and the Sacred Body
Inside their home, sitting on mats on the floor of the workshop, Made had earlier explained some crucial Bali etiquette tips about the human body. The head is considered the most sacred part of the body, the seat of the soul, so you never touch people’s heads not even children’s.
Conversely, the feet are the lowest part, so pointing with your feet at people or sacred objects is considered rude.
When accepting tea from Ibu Ketut, the instruction came to use the right hand. The left hand is considered impure in Balinese culture and broader Indonesian culture, so always give or receive with your right hand, even when handling Indonesian rupiah during purchases.
If you must use your left hand, touching your right elbow with your left hand shows respect for local customs.
Dining Etiquette and Presence
Sharing meals at Bali Palms revealed other aspects of Balinese etiquette. All meals were included in the retreat package, and they weren’t just served they were shared with intention. Always use your right hand when eating or passing food using the left hand is considered impolite across Indonesian culture.
When dining in a traditional warung or a Balinese home, it’s considered polite to wait for the host or eldest person to begin eating before you start.
But the deeper lesson was about presence. Balinese people eat with attention and gratitude. There’s no multitasking, no phone checking, no mental absence. The contrast to eating lunch at the bakery desk while responding to emails was stark.
The meals at Bali Palms honored this tradition beautifully prepared, served with care, and eaten communally. It created space to actually taste food, to have conversations, to be present.
Navigating Cultural Differences: Mistakes and Learning
Common Tourist Faux Pas and What They Revealed
In those first few days attempting to understand Bali etiquette, several mistakes happened that local communities handled with grace. The most embarrassing: accidentally stepping on a canang sari on a sidewalk in a touristy area outside of Tabanan. So lost in anxious thoughts about the bakery that watching where to walk didn’t happen.
Made gently pointed it out, explaining that stepping on these offerings which Balinese people create as sacred daily gifts to maintain balance disrupts the human-divine connection.
The feeling was terrible. But that mistake taught something crucial: being so caught up in personal thoughts meant literally trampling sacred things without even noticing.
Other Bali etiquette tips learned through observation and guidance from the Bali Palms team:
- In temple areas and religious sites, never stand higher than a priest or sacred objects
- Public displays of affection like passionate kissing are considered disrespectful outside tourist areas, though holding hands is fine
- Romantic gestures that might be normal in Western culture can make Balinese people uncomfortable in public spaces
- Speaking loudly or losing your temper in public is considered disrespectful and causes embarrassment for everyone involved
- When bargaining in markets, aggressive haggling is considered rude always maintain a calm demeanor
- Flash photography during religious ceremonies is intrusive and disrespectful
- Pointing with your index finger is less polite than gesturing with an open palm facing upward
What Fellow Tourists Taught Through Their Mistakes
Observing fellow tourists outside the Bali Palms experience revealed another layer. Those who treated Bali like any other tourist destination dressing inappropriately at religious sites, speaking loudly near sacred places, treating religious symbols like photo opportunities seemed to miss the entire point of being there. They were consuming the culture rather than connecting with it.
But recognizing this in others meant recognizing it in yourself. How many times had business advice been consumed read another book, attended another seminar without actually implementing the transformation?
One Year Later: The Results
Now, a year after that Mind, Body and Soul Retreat at Bali Palms, every Monday is completely off. No phone calls, no “just checking in.” The bakery hasn’t collapsed. In fact, wholesale accounts have expanded because Sarah has time to build relationships with new clients something that never existed when being trapped in the production cycle.
The struggle with control continues. Just last week, walking into the kitchen on a day off because of “forgetting something,” physically stopping the urge to comment on how they were shaping the baguettes was necessary.
But the learning has been that the practice of letting go is exactly that a practice, not a destination. Common sense now suggests that this is how sustainable business growth actually works.
The physical transformation is equally real: migraines are gone, sleeping through the night happens regularly, and the relationship with Marcus is better than it’s been in years.
Practical Advice for Business Owners Considering a Bali Retreat
What to Expect: Beyond Tourist Areas
If considering a similar journey, understand that authentic transformation happens outside the typical tourist attractions. Yes, major temples are beautiful and worth visiting.
But the real lessons come from engaging with local communities, spending time in areas like Tabanan where Balinese locals actually live, and being willing to embrace cultural differences even when they’re uncomfortable.
Bali Palms’ location in Tabanan, away from the crowded tourist areas, matters. This isn’t Seminyak or the most touristy parts of Ubud.
The Bali many tourists see is a different story from the Bali where Balinese people actually navigate daily life. Being immersed in the real rhythm of the island, rather than the performance of it, is what allows genuine learning.
Best Practices for Cultural Respect
When you visit Bali, these etiquette tips will help you move beyond being just another tourist:
At Religious Sites:
- Always dress modestly and wear proper traditional dress (sarong and sash) at temples
- Remove shoes before entering Balinese temples and homes
- Sit cross legged or with feet tucked when sitting on the floor, never with feet pointing at sacred objects or people
- Speak quietly and move mindfully in sacred structures
- Never climb on temple walls or sacred structures for photos
- Respect that some areas are off-limits to tourists
In Daily Interactions:
- Learn basic phrases in Bahasa Indonesia or the Balinese language even just “terima kasih” (thank you) shows respect
- Use your right hand for giving, receiving, eating, and handling money
- Greet Balinese people with the sembah gesture (palms together at chest) in more formal situations
- In touristy areas, a smile and “good morning” works fine, but the traditional greeting shows deeper respect
- Dress appropriately in villages cover shoulders and knees even when it’s hot
- Watch where you walk to avoid stepping on canang sari offerings
Understanding Local Values:
- Remain calm in all situations losing your temper is considered a serious loss of face
- Public displays of affection beyond hand-holding make local people uncomfortable
- The Balinese government and local communities take cultural preservation seriously
- What’s considered polite in Western culture might be considered disrespectful here
- Cultural artifacts and religious symbols aren’t decorations they have deep meaning
The Ongoing Practice: Maintaining Balance
Creating Personal Rituals
Offerings still happen in a personal way. Every Monday morning the day off a candle lights in the kitchen at home and ten minutes are spent just sitting quietly before the day begins. It’s a version of Wayan’s ritual at Bali Palms, a practice of letting go inspired by what was learned about Balinese life.
Some mornings it feels peaceful, and some mornings the mind races with bakery worries. But showing up for it anyway happens, because the learning has been that’s how balance is maintained not by achieving perfection, but by honoring the practice itself.
What Business Books Don’t Teach
All those business books on the nightstand taught systems and strategies. But they didn’t teach what Balinese culture reveals: that the human body has limits, that community responsibility is stronger than individual control, that sacred practices create sustainable rhythms, and that forcing outcomes disrupts the natural balance that allows things to thrive.
The Balinese approach to balance isn’t about finding some perfect equilibrium where everything is calm and easy. It’s about showing up every day to maintain harmony, even when it’s hard, even when wanting to control everything.
This is what Bali Palms understood in designing their retreat packages: transformation doesn’t come from luxury alone (though the accommodation was beautiful), or from yoga alone (though the practice was valuable), but from being immersed in a completely different way of approaching life, work, and community.
Who This Journey Is Really For
This testimonial is specifically for entrepreneurs and business owners trapped by their own success. For people who’ve read every book, know what they “should” do, but can’t seem to actually implement it. For those experiencing physical symptoms of stress migraines, insomnia, high blood pressure because the business has become a 24/7 demand.
The middle class of business ownership is a strange place: successful enough that you can’t just walk away, but not successful enough to afford the infrastructure that would free you. You’re the bottleneck. You’re essential. And that essentialness is slowly destroying you.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most important Bali etiquette tip for business owners on retreat?
The key lesson is that Balinese etiquette is about maintaining balance, not just following rules. A common mistake tourists make is stepping on canang sari, sacred daily offerings, which disrupts harmony between humans and the divine.
This reflects how burnout causes you to overlook what’s important. At Bali Palms, guides present these practices as paths to presence rather than mere rules.
How can visiting temples in Bali help with business burnout?
Visiting temples teaches you to observe without disrupting, respect boundaries, and recognize that some things are sacred and shouldn’t be controlled. Temple etiquette speaking quietly, moving mindfully, and never placing yourself above sacred objects mirrors the business lesson of stepping back, trusting your team, and not disrupting natural flow.
The dress code (sarong and sash) marks a boundary between the everyday and the sacred a boundary many burned-out business owners need. Bali Palms’ temple visits aren’t rushed tourist stops but moments for genuine reflection.
Is it disrespectful for tourists to participate in Balinese cultural experiences?
It’s not disrespectful if approached with genuine respect for local customs and a willingness to learn. Disrespect occurs when cultural artifacts and religious symbols are treated as mere photo props, when sacred sites’ dress codes are ignored, or when public displays upset Balinese locals.
The key difference between cultural appreciation and consumption is your attitude: are you seeking to connect and learn, or just to take? Balinese people appreciate sincere efforts to understand and respect their traditions. That’s why organizations like Bali Palms, with strong local ties, foster authentic and respectful cultural exchanges.
Disclaimer: All names mentioned in this article have been changed to protect privacy. However, the experiences, insights, and stories shared are based on real events.