My Private Sit Down With Ketut Liyer From “Eat Pray Love”

And Elizabeth Gilbert!

Author’s image: Sitting with Ketut Liyer at his home in Bali

There’s a little card in my wallet that’s been there since 2012. It’s bent and soft at the edges, like a well-loved photo or a prayer folded into a pocket.

It’s the business card of Ketut Liyer — the cheeky Balinese healer made famous by Elizabeth Gilbert in her book Eat, Pray, Love.

Yes. That Ketut.

And yes. I met him.

Not on a group tour, not through a booking site, and not by chance — although, looking back, the whole thing does feel like a perfectly orchestrated wink from the universe.

I was in Bali with a girlfriend, escaping the chaos of life as a single mum searching for some clarity, maybe even some magic. We sat around the pool watching the birds fly around us, listening to the frogs and hillside chants. We breathed in the fresh mountain air, did a spot of yoga, and wandered curiously around the streets of Ubud.

One afternoon, I casually mentioned to our driver that I’d love to meet Ketut. It was a burning urge in my heart to be in his presence, even though I had no idea how that would work, or if it was even possible. The driver smiled like I’d just asked for directions to the nearest café and said, “I know him. I’ll take you there.”