It's been a busy week in the studio and I'm finally caught up. It feels good. Only one more show of the season and then I have to get cracking on holiday gifts for my family. I took the
handmade pledge and with only two exceptions (my brother and husband) my gifts will be handmade this year.
I don't know what will happen next year...or how I'll handle the holidays if I declare, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.
I'm excited because I may enroll in
this class. I've not been the best steward of my body over the years. I'm better now, but still paying a price...I have a great deal of weight to lose and some bad habits (not sleeping enough) that need to be changed.
I like the idea of pairing my first class with my need for help learning how to respect and tend my body.
I know at this stage, someone visiting this blog may be thinking "
Laura, ask not what the Baha'i faith can do for you..." but, this is how I do things...what
I can do for the faith will come later.
I immerse myself in the writings and prayers and then find ways to practically apply them to my own life. It's how I learn. If (or when) the time comes, it may be how I share.
I think I've been a little worried with this blog that perhaps my way of coming to understanding may seem fairly self-absorbed and while it may be and perhaps someday I'll reread these entries with a different view, for right now...
I learn as I go.
I love taking pleasure in even a line or two of a prayer and then applying it, usually in a
very literal way, as a means to opening up understanding of the next line.
For example,
this one has lots of references to fragrance..
sweet-scented streams, fragrant breezes of Thy joy, essence of the fragrance of Thy beauty...
I used to be a practicing aromatherapist, so anything that mentions scent and fragrance immediately pulls me in. It's like my code language. When I see the words I can't help but to begin to envision ways to use them to help me reflect on what the true meaning of the prayer or meditation is.
In this case, when I read the line "sweet-scented streams" I knew that a fragrant bath was in order and that I should incorporate scents native to Iran/Persia such as marjoram, lime, cardamom and rose into my bath. I knew when I read (and reread) the meditation, that I'd create an environment very much suited to my kind of learning.
I know that Baha'is are all over the world, but because I'm new to this, I find myself interested in Persia (I think it annoys my mother that I don't say Iran, but everything in reference to the
culture of Iran is still called Persian...or so it seems).
I already knew about
Ibn Sina (Avicenna) from my studies on essential oil distillation, so it's fun to make connections and I knew I just
had to include
rose otto in my bath...rose has always been a favorite whether it's Bulgarian or Turkish and scents like rose, marjoram and lime would have most certainly been familiar to Baha'u'llah as they were used in the medicine and cuisine of his time and region.
So, as I settle into the tub and into my reading more in-depth, I feel somehow connected by the scents and I'm tending my body at the same time.
Scents have the power to relax us or stimulate us...they have a profound and scientifically proven effect on the
limbic system of the brain and for me, the fragrance from plants and flowers connects me to the spiritual world as well. We all find our own way to navigate learning and understanding the words of Baha'u'llah and his reference to fragrance is mine.
The connection made through fragrance makes it easier for me to work my way through other words/sections that I don't understand.
Just a tip for those of you who may like taking warm baths with pure essential oils (the life-force of plants), if you mix just a few drops with honey the essential oils will disperse into your bathwater with ease...and always be careful...some oils are too strong to use more than a drop or two.
Does anyone know if there is a list of specific flowers and spices that might be referenced (if any) in Baha'i writings? I'd love to know...
p.s. I didn't have any pictures of streams, so in went a picture from my rose bush...it's a
tea rose. :)...Aghaaha! Please don't let my bad sense of humor keep you from coming back.
p.s. double s: I just discovered this poem by Persian poet
Hafiz...it's not
truly related, but it is beautiful and we can all relate to the fear and subsequent reward of opening.
How
Did the rose
Ever open its heart
And give this world
All its
Beauty?
It felt the encouragement of light
Against its
Being,
Otherwise,
We all remain
Too
Frightened
-Hafiz