the hologram of the being

i went into my hammam rendezvous yesterday anticipating a good steam and a firm scrub in a pretty environment with a few bells n whistles in between. i came out of it feeling like a phoenix that had risen from its ashes, reborn anew to live again.  this literally happened as i was asked to rise from my scrub down bed and seat myself on the edge of it, facing the wall to be rinsed off. i had been lying on a steamy clean cream coloured waterproof bed which was now strewn with little bundles of my exfoliated, dead, grey skin. some were not so little but they had a lightness about them that resembled fluffy ashes.  of course my embodiment of this experience extends to my spirit and mind or rather is my spirit which is my mind. according to Joseph Keller who studied with Ida Rolf, became the first president of the Rolf Institute and went on to found the Hellerwork Institute, 'the body is the hologram of the being. In an abstract sense it may be seen as an exact physical expression of a person's mind and spirit, manifesting the thoughts, emotions, intuitions, and everything else that makes a person both unique and distinctly human.'  that is, i do not inhabit my body, i am my body.  6 years ago my health began to take a downward spiral which lead me to take the path of least resistance to recovery through physical movement.  these past few weeks, i have been battling the blues and along with it, persistent lung issues. the process of opening up my pores, sweating out my blues and scrubbing away dead skin that i no longer needed literally opened up passages of release and allowed me to breathe again through every pore in my body.

the bells and whistles felt more like heaven sent gifts via the essence of eucalyptus that filled my lungs with every breath for almost 2 hours, the full body lather that followed the scrub, the smooth sensation of skin on skin, the incredible head rub, divine hair shampoo and the head to toe hose off at the end that felt like baptism. oh and the fresh mint tea is the best i've had in paris.

les bains du marais 31-33 rue des Blancs Manteaux, 75004.