Los Angeles, California
Wednesday, 14 August 2013
Taking time for yourself is key IF you’d like to unlock the secrets of your well-being. For many people rushing from one urgent activity, one news story, speeding to click away from this blog and onto the NEXT one is simply their version of living! Forever chasing an elusive MORE IMPORTANT moment that is always on the edge outside of NOW, NOT in the present tense. EVER!
RUSHING, relentlessly, rarely leads to BLISS. Don’t DO IT! Take a BREATHER!
The most ancient of Sages can be imagined saying that, “It isn’t the destination but rather how one arrives which really matters.” I am convinced that you can’t enjoy the ride without taking time to smell the rosemary, the eucalyptus, and the organic lavender. Roses are powerful, too. When was the last time you really looked at their spiraling grace and winding intricacies of their natural splendor, perfect geometry? So… make time for beauty, self care, silence, meditation, reflection, and sheer introspection.
Bathing, for example, can be more than mere hygiene routine. Add ritual and silence… light a candle or two, let the voice of the sublime penetrate your soul as you soak in a tub of warm, hot, ice-cold, salted, oiled, and/or fragrant water. Ah!
And… IF you are lucky you come from a SPA culture. You know about bathing with others or being scrubbed like a fish on a market table by a lady in black underwear and rubber slippers.
This is true BLISS! To be tossed around by the rhythmic waves of rushing water and wrapped in seaweed, draped in mud, rolled in sugar, sprayed with honey, doused with cucumber spritz.
Ah!
The JOYS of the the JADE STEAM ROOM!
Over the years, I’ve been to many SPAS in Los Angeles, especially, but in other cities too. Once, we even visited a bathhouse in Japan. Another time I frolicked with boys and girls in a delightfully hot and stinky bubbling sulfur pool outside of Florence, Italy. Which was lovely, but so long ago… I barely remember. Yet, we wore swimsuits… I was dreaming it was nude… but, that wouldn’t be the case… of course and others shared water space with you, which is a sacred form of communication from one soul to another.
I’m grateful that there exist places where one can go and bath with others and that bathing, grooming, and living are not pleasures entirely confined to the privacy of the home. Specifically, I’m glad that I live in LA where the Korean Baths rule my world. Especially the Olympic Spa on Norton. They nail the idea that it must be predominately S I L E N T in a SPA in order to help activate the mind/body connection and put one in the right state of mind for facing the noise, making more noise, and getting back to healing Q U I E T!
Peace OUT,
Frau Kolb