There are many techniques of natural healing exist today, range from ancient Ayurweda to homeopathy, from hydrotherapy to acupuncture, not to mention widely known aromatherapy and various herbal-based alternative medicines. Bali also has its own techniques of natural healing, one of them is boreh.

Boreh is pasta-like substance made of mixture of natural ingredients such as roots (bebungkilan), such as lesser galangal (cekuh), tumeric (kunyit), ginger (jae), and alpina galangal (isen); leaves (don-donan) such as liligundi; rice; herbs, and spices such as cloves (cengkeh), sepet-sepet, nutmeg (jebug garum), pepper (mica), and tabia buun (a kind of chili which usually grow on mud wall of traditional house compound) Sometimes these ingredients are mixed with tree bark (babakan) such as the bark of mesui, pule and kelor tree.

Making boreh is quite easy, all you have to do is put all ingredients on a mortar then ground them with a pestle, then add some water to create pasta-like mixture. The paste is smeared on the affected area and left until it dries. Not all the above-mentioned ingredients are used to create boreh, it is depend on the illness that will be cured using the boreh. For example, stiff joints usually treated with boreh made of the mixture of rice, lesser galangal and clove.

The popular function of boreh is to keep the body warm during the rainy season. Boreh also promotes the blood circulation. The spices and herbs which are used in boreh work digestively and support the secretions of toxic substances. In addition, the ingredients like cloves and rice cause a softer skin.

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