Page 12 – La Muse Blue

Full Moon Alive

A sleepless night during my second full moon quarantined on Miami Beach, stirred this poetic outpour. My bedroom has a panoramic view of the Atlantic ocean (I’m blessed and grateful), which every morning treats me with the only live public spectacle now allowed to me here to see safely – the sunrise. The open sky is too close to the city so I cannot glimpse any stars, save for the largest one to our Earthly eyes — the moon.

full moon

That night gusts of open ocean winds flagged my silk nightgown in a coup de force of enthralment. I was standing on the terrace, magnetised by the giant lightbulb of the moon glaring full or in some gasp of the changing moment, partly shaded by the fast paced clouds. In that moment I knew I would not sleep easily if I do not chanel some of that energy speaking to me in its commanding voice.

Reading for hours, midnight approaching. I was still afflush with vitality, and I was glad that the usual cradle of the book did not tame my sprinting mind. Lifting my gaze up to the moon, the whispering potency of the night, suddenly, I had to grab paper and pen. On my night table, aside other piled up literature, set face up a small collection of brief poems by the female Pakistani artist Noor Unnahar. Its moon-gray cover titled YESTERDAY I WAS THE MOON nodded to the occasion. It was not about the moon light though.

Miami skyline Pink moon Mysterious moon female poet

Now I am the morning

Yesterday I was the moon

Sleepless

My soul glaring

A fool

I did not know who I was

Back then, but now I know

A reflection is not a unique creation

Never say “but”, she said

The past is over, yet

Deep down I knew that

Strength

was a posture covering doubts

Eloquence

overshadowed innate sensuality

Speed

floundered calm mind

Carelessness

veiled a deep concern

Still, I surprise myself — will I?

Some day get to know

Who I am

Despite these flops of mind

Being alive, sensing

Perhaps I shall

Dwell

In a faraway cave

To be pure me

Not a doll

To be played with

But longing to fully be

Yesterday I was the moon

— But now I am the morning

~ Joy

stunning sunrise Steinway piano

Whatever happened in the past, yesterday does not define who you are today. It only says what you decided, experienced, felt. The past mistakes are not finite dead holes. Deep down, if you connect with yourself is the true you — in the past, present and future — become love. This authentic you can resolve to come back to the purest self, unhinged yet still kind, the balancing scale of inter-human co-existence.

I thought, as most of us did when I was in my late teens, early 20s even, that I totally expressed who I am, independent, unconventional, but I did not know in spite of my authenticity. There are so many layers to peel off, I wrote a poem on this in my late 30s (will certainly publish it in my adventuresome memoir one day).

I learned that I can only glimpse into my own self when I totally shut down emotions as in a deep meditation, when totally giving myself to nature, or when I allow them out off my chest. The wild beasts bursting into the open space are tamed by being let free from the inner cage I put them into. By recognising that these emotions are just a human part of me that passes soon, I feel more alive! And, the full moon reminded me.

romantic moon

This poem by Noor Unnahar resonates:

do not worry

about people

they’re wearing the same flesh

breathing the same chemicals

walking on the same solid earth

as you

so why should it matter

when

you are them and they are you

This empowers me, gives me courage to go forward without being burdened by others’ opinions. I purely am and create what I love. While I hope it connects, inspires and elevates others, I am not attached to my writing work. I hope you are empowered or more connected through our liberal female voices.

What we are other than one human race. We are animals profiting from the bounty of this Earth co-existing with plants in a reciprocal ecosystem conditioned by natural laws we cannot easily change. If you want to get more, you’ll have to give more. This is sustainability, but that goes far beyond the above poems, and I address this need for mutual thriving elsewhere here on La Muse Blue.

NOTE: There is no mutual agreement or online support exchange between Noor and myself. I purely chose to highlight her work because I bought her poetry book and like it. I prefer to support other creative people in an organic way. No push, but pure admiration and sharing what I feel we need more of either though collaboration or by recommending their creations.

Sensory awakening during fasting

A gong sound bath vibrated so deeply throughout my body that my senses of hearing, touching and seeing merged into a unified instrument of sensory awakening. Something else was happening, yet I could not name it. This was yet another experience beyond the Aristotelian five senses we commonly know. The sensory awakening felt unlike any daily life experience I knew.

Neuroscientists and some philosophers would argue that we have anywhere between 22 and 33 different senses. In fact, already in the 1960s an American psychologist, Dr. Richard P. Youtz “had tested an American woman who can identify colors by touch alone”, the New York Times reported in 1964. She saw through her fingers. When you fast your sense of smell, taste, hearing, touch, temperature (Thermoception), even vision increase. There is something about intuition. Each us may experience it in individually tuned pitches. It feels mysterious. You are being ‘more’ and differently. Higher perception becomes the gate to another world. Carefully step in.

sensory awakening

I realised that this sensuous awakening is the opposite of meditation. You dissolve into nothingness, the breath melts through your pores, as if the entire surface of your skin breathed for you in the deep meditation. Tuning out and completely detached from the body, the mind and whatever is out there are unified with the aether and the spirit. You are in your unconscious. This state of deep relaxation and withdrawing the mind from thoughts, senses and emotions is an ancient practice yogis call pratyahara.

But during a fast, your survival instinct battles more fiercely, which explains some of the sensorial escalation as well as diming out other senses. You are tired and more in the twilight mode than hovering in the unconscious realm. Still, each of us is unique and if you are an experienced meditator you will be able to use your skills to tame your emotions and the survival instinct steering the fire in you during the fast.

autumn foliage minimalist yoga room

Multisensory awareness when fasting

Strangely enough, while you almost do not eat, the annual purification of the body and mind climbed its religious and traditional ayurvedic, shaolin and zen boundaries into luxurious medical and spa retreats today. I have never fasted, always skinny and not religious, I felt no draw towards denying myself the indulgent pleasures of life. Yet, as my husband has been fasting for a couple of years, I began to hear about another side to this hungry state — broadening of one’s senses. I was intrigued to experience it myself.

Lanserhof is one of the best clinics for fasting and one of the most advanced holistic medical clinics in Europe. The most important though for me is that it is set in a pristine nature. If my senses were going to be pampered, this was the place. Psychologically and spiritually I also felt elevated.

contemporary fireplace

Sensory awakening

Hearing

I stayed at Lanserhof Am Tegernsee in Bavaria. The daily schedule fitted in sufficient sensual experiences. A nightly concert by the fireplace sonorously soothed us into bed. Perhaps only a warm cosy bed feels as pleasant as classical music during a fast. Since your ears become so sensitive, no loud, discordant tones please you, but your awareness of the composition expands. A morning birdsong sounded like a symphony.

Temperature

Fire was omnipresent in the pre-mountain region where heat lands only for a couple of summer months. More than a design accessory, the fireplaces at Lanserhof drew you like magnets under their aural reach. As your body cools off when fasting, any radiant warmth feels extremely cocooning. You need to dress warm and comfortably also for your touchy self.

sensual awakening

Touch

A qi gong on the wooden patio (in good weather) lead by Marco Korber, one of the experienced spa practitioners, balanced anxiety and curbed fidgeting mind. He is excellent in foot reflexology, which is very painful during the fast. But the sensory awakening of my qi energy was so potent that beyond my skin I could feel something so palpable surrounding my own body, that I decided to pursue more lessons in the future.

Taste & smell

Cooking classes from healthy bread baking and Lanserhof Energy Cuisine as well as nutrition lecture bring awareness to your eating at home. When you mainly drink water, you start to distinguish between the different levels of sweetness, salinity and minerality in this pure gift of nature. The herbal infusions that would normally taste flat to me, broadened like a grand cru Burgundy. A verbena brew flashed notes of lemongrass, linden with a sweetness of flower honey. All aromas were so potent that perfume was forbidden to wear around the clinic. I was wondering how close to a dog’s sense of smell I got during my short three days fast.

sensory awakening: purple sky

Vision

I did not sleep much during the fast, as most don’t. Our Elysium Loft suite was superbly comfortable. Natural pebbles, sand and white cotton tones, fireplace, wooden shades, Finnish sauna and a vast bathroom next to plenty of terrace lounging were luxurious. Yet, the interior did not comfort me as much as a cosy little cabin in the forest would. I needed a better view.

My sleepless nights reward was being up early enough before the sunrise, so I walked over to the spa house. Joining a gentle yoga sun salutation in a small group company or often alone. Getting up well before the sunrise one morning rewarded us with a purple-painted sky. One could not wish for a more stunning set up for a sun salutation.

The minimalist contemporary design of the clinic visually cued me to simplicity and comfort. In the lobby there were inspiring books, board games, and comfortable sofas to lounge in, lovely. The only thing my eyes were missing was art, something I could create myself in this period of significantly increased sensitivity.

Elysium Loft Suite at Lanserhof Tegernsee

Some senses are disrupted by insufficient food intake as that during a fast. That is why you are strongly advised not to drive or perform other sharp-mind and balance requiring activities during fasting. These are some of the senses that are muted when intentionally fasting.

Chronoception – sense of the passing of time (you are locked down at home versus visiting a new city, watching an arresting film, doesn’t time shrink, somewhat? On the other hand when fasting time passes very slowly, unless you busy yourself with distractions)

Equilibrioception – sense of balance (stand on one leg, train it if you cannot and soon you will, like a person learning to play a musical instrument, being on a plane your balance tells you more than your vision. When fasting you become more wobbly.)

Kinaesthesia – sense of movement (a ballet dancer can tell you how this elevates his perception, but anyone with close eyes sitting in a car or train moving can feel this)

Proprioception – knowing which parts of your body are where without looking (close your eyes and put your finger to your nose, type without looking on the keyboard, …)

human perception and sensory awakening

The sensuous awakening during fasting can be used for creative work but not for sensual pleasures. It is not recommend to engage in sex while fasting, in fact your libido weakens. The multisensory experience may not be unique to fasting. Psychedelic drugs show us somewhat different reality from that we see, hear, smell, touch and taste on a common day. I have never tried, but research and some popular shows (GOOP Lab on Netflix) explain more about the sensory awakening during the controlled used of these, in many countries still illegal, substances.

Elevating one’s senses and getting attached to it is a call for trouble though. This is a path of addiction. A post in Yoga International alerts on the importance of non-attachment: “the problem arises when we can’t let sensations go, and we get swept away by the sensory world, only to wash up on its shores exhausted”. This partly explains why so many artists suffer and cling to addictive behavior. Battling the sensorial overload one calls upon to create new art, the artist also needs to deeply relax, to empty oneself from all that stimulation in and outside. And, you do too. The faster can become attached to not eating and the sensory highs, which can lead to serious psychological problems (depression, nervous breakdown), anorexia, and ultimately death. This is why medical supervision is important during fasting. It not only guides you carefully to a deep cleanse, but also reintroduces your awareness into the healthy, balanced lifestyle that is about to commence once your fast is over. As in ayurveda, the seasonal fast (panchakarma) is supervised by a certified ayurvedic practitioner for the best balancing result.

Spiritual sensibility when fasting

Spiritual sensibility is elevated by fasting. As the body has nothing to digest, and the mind is tired, the spirit floats in a new dimension. If you reached the higher level state in meditation, then you may experience a similar sensation of lightness and nothingness.

hiking Alps Tegernsee Bavaria

For centuries, forcefully or voluntarily, for spiritual and religious reasons, people across diverse cultures have fasted. During the fast one not only gives up one of the life’s pleasures – food and alcohol – but cleans the mind from polluting emotions and cravings such as sexual desire. Your libido decreases when fasting, so do not take your lover on a fasting retreat.

For me the greatest lesson though was that my cravings do not equal my needs. They are rather a mind’s game seducing you more often than not on the wrong path. My relationship with food was illuminated, but I fasted only for three days, not enough to create a new habit or to change one’s mindset, so I slipped to my old ways once I travelled away. My lust for exotic foods again won over my reason, I am a sensual human after all.

Lanserhof Germany

It is recommended to undergo medically-supervised fasting for at least three weeks (I wrote about the potential health risks and detrimental re-toxificiation of the body after the fast if not done properly in this post). Lanserhof in Austria, Germany and Spain are ideally set luxurious medical fasting clinics where nature and local architecture support your resolve.

I am a creative sensitive person, so some of the spiritual sensibility was awakened in me sooner than with most people. As if the lack of food switched the lenses covering my eyes, I perceived my surroundings in a new profound depth. Every little detail resonated with my awareness in a greater sensation. There was silence in my heart. Perhaps it was that same tired feeling that helps with the flow of my writing right upon waking, or just the plain focus of slowing down.

faith Chapel in the Bavarian Alps

I fasted at Lanserhof Am Tegernsee. Bavaria is traditionally a Catholic region. Painterly chapels adorn the lush pastures, rolling hills inspire gentle forest strolls, while monasteries and nunneries offer respite inviting into their calm, regimented seclusion. The situation itself shifts one’s awareness, even the mindset, yet there are other, eastern modalities that awaken your spiritual self at Lanserhof. Solemn or group meditation, resting in the privacy of our terrace lounge chair, alkalising baths, morning awakening in nature, sipping a warm brew by the fireplace in the spa or the lobby lounge, all raised the bar of my Spiritual sensibility.

Tegernsee

Upon sunrise on misty morning the hills were coated in a dewy blanket so soft that I comfortably and trustingly yield to the moment. I felt so peaceful that I meditated without even intending. The sense of inner calm, away from the mundane and social distractions, untethered by rocking emotions opened my soul to a greater appreciation of pure existence. I entered into the realm of universal connection. Sometimes, I feel this when entering alone a chapel or some spiritually charged place like former sets of tribal rites, and even in some extraordinary natural space.

One evening, hesitant with a growling tummy, but curious as I often am I entered a gong bath.

I am not sure whether it was some very special energy in the room I shared with the other Lanserhof guests, but everyone seemed so peaceful after the hour-long sonoric experience. Perhaps it was just my mind going astray from the deprivation, but my fantasy got off the rails. While the gong vibrated through our bodies, my mind wandered into an adventurous and dangerous territory. Imagining fiery dragons following me as I struggled to escape some curtailed enemy, this time the gong did not comfort me, but roused unsettling emotions. Spiritual sensibility can be unpleasant. On the other hand, I also felt connected as if touching the hands of the others around me. I felt a very similar clairvoyant sensation when I meditated with monks in a temple in Luang Prabang.

Gong in a yoga studio in Arizona

Back to the earth in Germany. This being Bavaria, the region of many great classical composers, Lanserhof hosts nightly diverse musicians and once per week a grand concert. Titled “Classics for the senses” a more formal setting does not take away the beauty of the sound. Just close your eyes and savor. I was lucky to enjoy my favorite piano sonatine by Maurice Ravel and Love’s Dream by Franz Liszt in that night’s repertoire.

The week soothed, recharged, cleaned and clarified my mind and body. I dream of returning. Until then I know I can awaken my spiritual sensibility every day in nature, during meditation or reading. And so can you. Life feels so much more when you are spiritually engaged.

Staying at the clinic and having many activities included in the stay, many guests overschedule their days with no downtime, but I did not feel that rest or time on my own was useless. The opposite — we restore from inside out and that is not just about physiological, psychological, but also a more connected spiritual care. Me time nourishes me as much as healthy movement, rejuvenating spas and balanced food.

Lanserhof: Psychological effects and struggles when water fasting

The Psychological effects of fasting are positive and negative. It is a battle of the inner elements. Firing up anger and lion’s roars, watered by foggy brain, thrown off guard by the winds of change and lazily bound down to the Earth. After the first challenging days, especially when under supervised care of a professional fasting clinic, it all dissolves into nothingness. One has to struggle before finding peace or hike in the Himalayas. Well, we cannot do the later often, so let’s learn how to manage the psychological effects and struggles when water fasting.

hiking in the Himalayas

Water fasting under medical supervision

I never thought I could do water fasting. I am one of those rare, always hungry skinny people that eat frequently and a lot. In fact, over 36 years I have never missed a one full day’s meal! I was curious how it feels not to be preoccupied with what my next mouthful will be. To feel ‘pure’ more in my mind, but also in my body. As a yogi I am aware of the importance of a regular purification to achieve a balanced mind-body state, the blissful union when time dissolves. So on my husband’s next trip to Lanserhof Am Tegernsee clinic, I joined in for a shorter version of the fast.

Radka Beach in Monaco

Psychological effects when water fasting

While my strength and energy waned after only the first day, my spiritual senses were elevated while strolling slowly the rolling hills. Journaling in the navy blue notebook “My Life” that was compiled by Lanserhof to set you on a new path clarified some inner blocks.

Even a three-days-fast felt so enlightening. I did not feel zesty, and could not participate in any physical and intellectual activity in the afternoons, but my mornings were productive. On the last day of my water fasting I was able to hike 5.5 km up a steep mountain, while others took the cable car! Taking an ’emergency’ energy smoothie from my doctor with me safeguarded my scaling up, yet I did not need it. I couldn’t run or bike up but in a moderate pace, still passing other hikers, I walked myself up. I felt empowered. I needed to physically challenge myself after a few years of a gentle, post wrist injury recuperation. This worked.

Chapel in the Bavarian Alps Tegernsee Bavaria

Fasting mental struggles

Another mild complication appeared to be that I am a foodie, analyzing every dish in detail and elevate food above its fueling purpose with culture, travel and creativity. Improvising at my home kitchen, I rarely push food away from my agenda. In fact, I get anxious without crunching on something for a while. Strangely, at Lanserhof my anxiety has diminished with every day’s passing. Getting beyond my comfort zone emotionally freed me. Like a magic pill for confidence (unlike that pint of my favourite pistachio ice cream, I devoured while writing this, that made me feel blissful but not confident) the fast had the same effect on me as deep meditation.

It taught me how our mind tricks us! Cravings are mighty tools of our emotions and our repeated thoughts enforce our behavior. Still, knowing does not mean doing, and I am back to my indulgent, yet mainly plant-based lifestyle. Like with meditation, the psychological effects of water fasting are short term. You keep that inner calm for a few days, perhaps, but you need to nurture the new feeling every single day. Most clients stay for three weeks, since this is the precise length required to form a new habit.

vegan ice cream

All three days I felt quasi-easy, my tummy was growling, and a foggy brain did not encourage any philosophical discussions. This is normal in the first few days of the fast as you hardly sleep. Also headaches can be very unpleasant. Particularly after some detox treatments like baths and saunas. I watered mine down, literally. Allegedly after the initial crisis and the body’s adjustment, the mind brightens and performs better than ever. I felt calm and alleviated headaches with additional hydration, so easy at Lanserhof where the local spring water gushes freely from all taps. I sipped on more liquids including the cosy warm herbal infusions each day than ever in my life. My favorites were the ginseng in the morning and barley, oatstraw or thyme in the afternoon. Indeed, I was fully in water fasting.

water fasting

Many composers, writers and other creative people have voluntarily fasted, hence my interest in how my mind will be affected furthered my resolve. I walked outside in the lush Bavarian hills every day after a meal or one of the liquid meal replacements. Composing poetry, contemplating beauty, it felt marvelous to bathe in the numerous forest paths surrounding the clinic. Once I got spontaneously into forest running, losing myself to the wild elements. I felt that this was my time, and that probably cleared the path for my creative work. I had to be flexible and sensitive to when my mind was open to cooperate. The elevated sensibility during a fast can assist with creative writing and other arts. Forget logical thinking.

This was a lesson to remember: Do not blame yourself ever, do not stir up guilt for what you should have done, it will come if you want it to come. Establishing the right, undisturbed environment for me-time is essential for anyone’s mental wellbeing.

Bavaria

There are however some psychological conditions that could be aggravated by fasting. These are drug addictions, depression and psychiatric disorders. Mental health is more fragile than physical health, therefore any change affects its stability profoundly. We need to work on our mind daily to find inner peace, joy and acceptance of life as it is. I am not sure if I could manage a longer fast purely for my mental balance, but if a serious health condition, proven to be improved by fasting, stroke my life’s path, I would definitely give it a chance under a supervised medical care.

If you can afford it, Lanserhof is the place to fast safely. (Staying at the original Lanserhof in the Tyrolean Alps near Innsbruck in Austria costs much less and the seasonal pricing varies a lot, so do not give up on medical water fasting due to its luxurious set up at Tegernsee)

Lumine in two poems

Lumine is a poem about inner light, shadows and the uncontrollable forces of death and life. In two poems born from different sources of incandescence. A candle and a fireplace lit in an Austrian mountain chalet sparked connection, while an early sun casting its rays from behind a cloud, restlessly flicking on the vast water surface of the Pacific ocean, stirred powerful emotions of chaotic uncertainty needed for creativity in that very focused moment during the budding pandemic.

St Moritz lake

Lumine is beyond heat, you see it when cold and it comes from the inside

Luminescence is “the emission of light not caused by incandescence and occurring at a temperature below that of incandescent bodies“. Candle or the sun are incandescent bodies. Since in our mind anything is possible, these poems illustrate the power of imagination. From a heat source of light can spark the bright luminescence of human creativity (our bodies’ temperature is well below the visible ignition point). As in music, that spark lights up emotions. In poetry, the soul of the poet is transcribed into words, in painting the visual energy of colours and shades, or in the shapes and materials used to form a sculpture, there is luminescence.

Fireplace in the Alps

LUMINE OF TRUTH

Fear, like an ocean stream

Floods the shores of my heart

My throat tightens in your gripping zeal

Paralysing emotions, an ordeal

Stamped on all human lies

The sunlight walking on the water

Illuminates days with honesty and hope

Only moving clouds cover its warming love

Their shield like night protects from naivety

For a dead, drenched stomp is nothing but a piety

—

Yet, sometimes a good lie

has the power to heal,

if you believe in it.

~Joy

Mediterranean

Such moments of engagement in a temporary enlightenment stirred by light transcend the invisible, unconscious in incandescence to luminescence. There is a potential to transcend darkness. One’s awareness of such a fleeting, visual treasure as the shape of light, changing within seconds in the measure of time, charms the mind with simple beauty of existence while tapping on the reality of change.

Our perception of natural change is palpable only because we live. In a few moments it is gone.

The momentous reality of a lifespan – shorter for some species like flies, longer for humans and even more expansive for trees – shall erase our modern focus on future. We must plan and be responsible by saving resources for more restraining times that surely will come, yet we must find joy here and now. Nothing else matters, as Hans Ulrich signs with his Danish band Metallica.

Illuminating art at Thielska Gallery in Stockholm

LUMINE OF AWARENESS

The candle light in my room

Is my mind in a flowing bloom

Focused, steady fire of existence

Yet, it moves

Like the mind shifting its cadence

Letting in the wind of ignorance

The candle light in my room

The knot goes on, a burning doom

The wax of thoughts

Even the presence moves

My upper chamber of distracting moods

The monkey is restless — questioning odds

Until its mind lasts and then rots

The candle light in my room

My will is stronger

The spark of inner light

Learning of my own melting anger

Its energy depleted, me fully living

I know that my strength is not to be a tool

—

Liberated from the chains of my emotions,

I am a luminous beetle at night.

~Joy

lumine

Lumine: life connected with and enjoyed mindfully

Feel the candle, a fire or the sun’s rays warming your skin, savour the pleasant moment that only you can continue or stop. Now you have the choice to make. The candle in the night is your calm state of mind that you can create by will to let go of anything you do not need. The emotions burdening you deep within can be brought to awareness and like the smoke from the candle rise up.

Imagine that you walk on the light reflecting on the sea or the floor in front of you. Stride on the lake’s surface, dip your toes into the light. Almost — like the desire of experiencing something magical, the proximity of that achievement in itself feels wonderful. Although we cannot realistically reach this mirage of light in flight, and it does not matter, we can create a moment with our own imagination that feels luminously great. Listen to what it says and then act, to clear that karma in the dark nest of your consciousness. We all accumulate it. One can deny it even through a smile. What looks like a bubbly, happy person, may well be a troubled being.

modern gas fire

The only forces that stop this fleeting creation walking away from us are the restless mind and time. The later, flowing away with the day is something we cannot change, but accept. Yes, we can. Dip the mind into restful, mindful presence.

If you want to channel out your fire energy, I recommend to listen to Lumine, a powerful song composed by Barry Richard Goldstein. It stirred these poems in me.

I also mused about the power of light in our everyday life and art, and published a poem on light earlier. Both were inspired by the current urgent need for positive energy. We live in a strange time, airlines grounded, theatres and restaurants closed, beaches sealed off, concerts cancelled and any group gatherings discouraged. Social isolation may feel dark, even depressive for some vulnerable individuals. Wine does not plaster over the feeling for a long time, beware.

Globally, we need the spark from human creativity now more than ever since the gloom of the World Wars. And worse may yet to come. Hope and connecting with others intimately make reality easier to bear.

Rejuvenate at Miami South Beach through organic food, spa, yoga and the ocean

If Las Vegas had a beach it would probably look like South Beach. This long strip of pure sand washed by a pristine Caribbean-blue ocean is to Miami what Leblon is to Rio de Janeiro. At Miami South Beach, nature persuasively encourages to rejuvenating one’s soul and get the body feelin’ good. Yet, there is more luxurious or rustic chic pampering at the Miami Beach spas, yoga rooms, healthy organic cafes, plant-based restaurants, creative, locally-sourcing juice bars and well-portioned taco eateries. During my recent stay I tasted again my old favourites, discovered new places and harmonised my well-being before embarking for New York. Here are my healthful tips for your next trip to the tropical Miami.
The Settai Miami South Beach

Get movin’ and rejuvenate on Miami South Beach

Getting the svelte beach body has a cultish following in Miami, and now you can get there more naturally and happily ever after. Beyond the noisy and with sweat-soaked gyms, anger-releasing boxing rings, and mindless, repetitions-counting classes, there are yoga studios, core-building pilates groups, and above all the seasonally appealing well-curated spaces on the beach, where you can sun-salute, push up, jump, dip in, roll and twist as much as you desire. Just get there before the heat of the summer and the tropical humidity crawl in to spoil the pure joy from the outdoors. Before the morning bells chime nine or after five ticks off the afternoon between December and April, savouring the outdoor activities out on the Miami beach gets you elated. Scoop a handful of the fine-milled natural scrub and rub it over your feet, shedding any dead skin, that accumulated over time. These are the sweet spots for the Miami Beach joy.

First, if you still want to party, start in the afternoon at the swish Nikki Beach, sip on freshly squeezed juices, no need for champagne, just great music and swing your body right to left, up and down and around. In that heat who wants one’s head to turn around like a merry go round? Me not, so skip that booze and dance like a muse.

Upgrade a staycation into an immersive healthy locals lifestyle

Whether you stay at your house, apartment, at a rented holiday retreat or one of the ultra luxe hotels like the art and design rooted Faena or the South Asia chic Setai, you will not be excluded from any of the kicks of healthy lifestyle that the locals eagerly share. Alongside the beaches there are crossings of creative outdoor workout stations scattered all over the Lummus park, plus when the air cools a bit, there are public tennis courts, swimming pool, baseball and soccer fields right in the middle of South Beach at the Flamingo Park.
There are so many places to stay, but for well-being the only requisite needed is a well functioning, not too noisy air conditioner. The rest is on the beach. The North Atlantic ocean washing its shores is quite chilly for swimming, but the surfers zigzag the waves and the windsurfers fly like birds lost in a hurricane, flipping seemingly haphazardly on the numerous breezy days. Most of them know their stuff, they have been training for years, so you go out there only when the cost guards raise green the flags. More info on the US lifeguard flags here.

beach yoga Miami South Beach design
If your room is tight to roll out a yoga mat or the online yoga apps get too worn out, turn off the yogi autopilot, be more social and join the local ohm tribes gathering at Synergy yoga. This is the oldest yoga studio in South Beach, and comes with a warning as Synergy relishes in the naturally hot, humid and quite crowded classes. Really immersive stuff, like in India. The sharp, Jivamukti trained Brazilian teacher Victoria now directs the yoga teachers’ program at Synergy, and plays the accordion while chanting at the end of each class. I love the view from the small studio. As the sun sets, the heads of the palms cast mysterious shadows, a meditative and grounding sight while holding challenging balancing asanas. The Green Monkey Yoga has a cleaner and leaner feel, and their unlimited week pass will motivate you to come a lot to get most of it. Miami South Beach has so many yoga studios that you will find your soul space. Sadly some closed during the Covid strain, but the above reopened in 2021.

Spa time

Wheeling on a rented city bicycle (available throughout the beach strip) through the Venetian Highway and breaking at the Belle Isle lands you at the hip Standard Hotel. Founded on the core of wellness, there are yoga classes, a juice shop, Roman waterfall hot tub, Arctic plunge pool, mud lounge wraps, hydrotherapy pools and even a swing lounge (hammocks) so envelop yourself in the tropical gardens, the outdoor spa and the rooftop pool at the Standard. Here, plenty of cool looking youthful faces tan their bodies before realising that the sun will give them wrinkles. Get a hat or sit under a large umbrella, since for your daily dose of Vitamin D, you need only about 15 minutes on a direct sun (as my GP advises).

Faena Hotel Miami

Sunrise Miami Beach Faena Miami
For ultimate luxury head to the most holistic spa on the Southern tip, the Tierra Santa Healing House at the Faena hotel, that fuses luxury with a hip fix in the swing of Le Club 55, St. Tropez or La Huella in Punta del Este. Surrounded by handmade embroidery, colourful South American naturally dyed pillows, cosy blankets, body-wrapping shawls, you may be seduced to buying one of their pricy boutique trinkets. I bought a Tibetan sound bowl, so from now I can carry the meditative state of mind back to Europe with me. The wet spa is the most complete in town – inclusive of an eucalyptus and peppermint infused steam (hamam), a large marbled teppidarium for socialising, cooling in a claustrophobic ice room, lounging on a warm marble platform, and more. Before the wet spa ritual soaping with a sliver of an organic soap that you slice into your own copper bowl and rinsing all the beach dirt, toxins, and any anxiety away under any of the waterfall simulating showers, can change your day. This is just a start though. An organic, hand-crafted range of muds, scrubs and oils is used in some body rituals and hydrotherapy. I totally surrendered into my masseuse’s hands during the Flor Blanca massage, long strokes incorporating Swedish style remedy. Tiera Santa facials use the concentrated natural products by Biologique Recherché and can be customised as you like. My skin was hydrated, plump, and glowing for hours after my hyper customised 80min facial. Ocassionaly, a cosmetic dermatologist is available for a consultation. Weren’t it raining, I could freely lounge on their beach chairs as my treatments exceeded 80min. Complete with hair and nail salons, it is easy to freshen your outward beauty at Faena.

The spa at the well-established Asian dark wood and elaborate artworks decorated Setai hotel employs top level therapists. Although quite small, each spa suite offers soothing views of the three long palms lined swimming pools (each with a different water temperature, I like to swim in the middle medium warm one), and a sunset vista if you hit the right appointment time. Eastern philosophies fuse on the treatment menu here. A foot reflexology can be as strong as you would get from any serious needly-fingered foot therapist in China and Hong Kong.
The more up-beat, inland canals facing Croydon Hotel offers a more discreet form of rejuvenation. On the top the boutique Ayurvedic Spa heals those who do not like to crowd with too many people lounging around as it happens at the Standard. Saturday morning yoga (10am, sign in ahead) accommodates four yogis inside a homy room and if the weather permits, the rooftop will host a larger class.

Buddha

Eat well, local, organic and balanced plant-based food in Miami Beach vicinity

To rejuvenate on the hip Miami beach, you won’t need to try hard since there is an abundance of local, organic and quite nutritionally balanced plant-based food to peck on.
PURA VIDA Starting a day with a cleansing shot of freshly squeezed wheatgrass with ginger and lemon will get your bowels moving and alkalises. Then after your morning run, yoga, beach stretch or swim go back for a proper refuelling organic breakfast at Pura Vida. Take your time, since the almond milk chia parfait, bagels, eggs all ways, oatmeal as well as the trendy acai and dragon fruit-based raw bowls with cramps-preventing banana, fresh seasonal fruit, coconut flakes and granola are all served all day long. Beware that these wholesome bowls and smoothies hide some 600 calories in one serving! Get active and you will feel the positive vibrations of these zen foods. Locally sourced as much as possible, organic and most of it also delicious, Pura Vida can also set you for a picnic on the beach. To take out, the superb guac & chips, with their own gluten-sparing multigrain chips, the hummus with toasted whole-wheat pita, or a combo of both with veggie sticks are great to share. My favourite salad there is the SOBE of marinated artichoke, greens, chopped ripe mango, roasted red pepper, alfalfa and shaved almonds with a side (great for take-out so it does not get soggy) ginger and nut dressing. I was not that keen on their wraps, and some smoothies are more of a meal, except for the Super Greens with the only added sweetness of pineapple and honey, and the Acai Goes Wild, that is more berry-fresh, than banana and nut butter heavy. Get your probiotics, and grab a bottle of Health Ade Kombucha stacked in their fridge in a few flavours.

JUGOFRESH If you just crave a quick acai bowl or a zillion”superfood” add-ons loaded smoothie on the go pop over to the Jugofresh juice bar inside the Wholefoods market. Right by the entrance you get “cold-pressed juices, smoothies, foods, and good vibrations. All made fresh daily with high integrity and mad love.” Follow them on Instagram for pop up yoga classes around the city.

superfood shots Asian vegetarian bowl

LILIKOI ORGANIC LIVING is the most holistic lifestyle cafe in the Southernmost tip of Miami Beach. A bright, welcoming and beautifully painted room invites on for a lunch or dinner. The plates are quite large so ideal for friends or family sharing. The vegan kale salad was one of the best I have had to date, not boring, nori and the cheesy tasting nutritional yeast with toasted sunflower seeds added enough flavour, not too heavy-sauced, but tender after a long marinade. You can add fish, chicken, falafel or avocado as well as a long list of other mostly organic sides at Lilikoi Organic Living, but any plate will do just without. Japan (ramen) meets Tex-mex and some Italian inspirations on the mainly locally sourced and seasonal menu supporting eco-friendly fisheries and discarding any unnatural dairy suppliers. Cheese and dairy feature in many plates so keep the portion under control. The daily gluten-free pizza is tempting, but it does not mean it is any more healthy for you than the regular thin crust. Counter Culture kombucha on tap – strawberry and herb when I sipped on it, while the milkshakes and smoothies make the kids happy. Their alkaline Kangen water is dispensed for free to any customer.
Lilikoi Organic cafe

TOCAYA ORGANICA For an evening shopping spree head to the Lincoln Street’s pedestrian-friendly zone, and order customised tacos at Tocaya Organica. The two tacos and two sides is a good deal that makes for a very light dinner. I loved the cotija cheese crumbled on the top, naughty, I wished there was more than the scant amount. The line-caught mahi mahi was fine and organic meat is always a good option, unless you are a vegetarian, for which the vegan taco filling comes as a saviour. You can even go for a lettuce cup instead of the house corn tortilla, but do not skip the plantain and corn chips with a trio of salsas, since they will blow your mind! The side of refreshing quinoa salad, while simple grilled cauliflower a bit yesteryear. Their salads are too large and get boring with every forceful spoonful. The organic ingredients using local Mexican joint is now reaching East to Los Angeles, with two branches opening just recently.

To close any healthful journey, a romantic, candle lit dinner under the wings of palm trees across the bridges in Wynwood is the perfect treat. And you can even have little organic or biodynamic wine with it!

Plant at the Sacred Space is the most elegant healthy dinner setting in Miami. The plant-based, ecological and thoughtful cuisine inspired by the former chef Matthew Kenney crossed the millennial boundaries of what more restaurants should offer. Now, the chef de cuisine Horacio Rivadero, who has led the kitchen since the restaurant’s inception helms the organic menu here. Santè, to your next stay in Miami!
Address book:
Green Monkey Yoga: 1800 Bay Rd, Miami Beach
Synergy Yoga Center: 844 Alton Rd, Miami Beach
Jugofresh at Whole foods market: 1020 Alton rd. Miami Beach
Lilikoi Organic Living: 500 South Pointe Drive, Suite 180, Miami Beach
Pura Vida: 110 Washington Avenue, Miami Beach
Tocaya Organica: Lincoln-Marti School, 920 Lincoln Rd, Miami Beach
Plant at Sacred Space: 105 NE 24th St, Miami, FL 33137

LETTING JOY IN

This poem was subconsciously in creation phase of my mind for years, perhaps decades. Then, one winter morning as the sunlight entered my Mediterranean bedroom, I gasped and grasped a pen in LETTING JOY IN. The mirage of light was trespassing through the double glass of my windows and was further filtered by pure linen curtains, and I was smitten. That wholesome moment of awe poets feel so intimately nurtures curiosity and joy.

My soul was connected to the source of this marvellous incandescence, but the LETTING JOY IN poem did not feel complete, not yet.

I abandoned it for a few weeks. The vicious Covid19 virus spreading, ousted me from Europe and aerial hopping Southwest to the hyper-charged Miami Beach, creatively blocked me. While I am a well-heeled vagabond, the stunting boulders of fear and that utterly discomforting feeling of not knowing what will happen next, uprooted my mind. Almost a week had passed until I reconciled with this potent and disruptive energy. Aware that mindfulness is a mighty cure for a distracted spirit, deep meditations above my emotions settled the chaos, I was mentally flowing again.

Then, one ocean-front morning the light came back to me, LETTING JOY IN, knocking on my creative consciousness and teasing my mind to imagination. Again it appeared with the dawn of a new day. It was back, on a different twilight, continent and room. The rays sneaked through the gap of the curtains, letting the Atlantic briskness in and onto the surreal, moon-like, rugged surface of my room’s ceiling. Fascinating, this theatre of light was a Sunday morning brightened by its starry presence. The poem in waiting was ready for its completion.

LETTING JOY IN

When today’s light crosses the porous borders of my room

Beyond the walls nature enters my conscious zoom

I impart the vast horizon, we merge

Two lovers united in a lustful surge

Drawn inside the geometric art

Part by Part

— Until —

Nothingness becomes whole

Abstracted entirely from all

Yet concrete like the sun, touched

Traveling into my arms, kissed

Allow whispers not halted by walls

Seduce me to answer his soulful calls

Gasping in ecstasy, eternity in contemporary art

A few moments bathing in that magic light

The presence in moving, metasensual canvases behind

Illuminating openness to awareness roaring in my mind

Create, become the light, he said, for it is me and we are one.

Light poem light in poetry

The geometric quality of light was observed not just by the astronomers or physicists, quantified by mathematicians, but also in art. As much as my Light poem, its visual shape inspired the flow of creative imagination.

Kandinsky wrote that with the emergence of the “structural treatment of nature, representation disappears. Starting from a single natural object, Picasso and the Cubists produce lines and project angles till their canvases are covered with intricate and often very beautiful series of balanced lines and curves. They persist, however, in giving them picture titles which recall the natural object from which their minds first took flight”. Read his famous essay Concerning the Spiritual in Art to learn more.

LETTING JOY IN awakened some old memories of meaningful journeys taken, deep feelings lived out and an adult’s imagination stirred. Focus is a spotlight and mine has shifted from the catwalk and the photographers’ object into the solitary backstage of a journalist, later a creative writer and poet. My life has become a vast source of light in my work by seeking beauty in the mundane. I am aware that change abound, darkness can dim our character with disruptive chaos in uncertain times. Light cannot be taken for granted, but you and me through our can do attitude and behaviour can be the source of hope. Read my recent musing on light to understand better.

Light: illuminating musing on the nature’s and manmade art

The first word you ever spoke was: light.

Thus time began. For long you said no more.

Man was your second, and a frightening, word …

writes R. M. Rilke on the God’s creation in his Poems From the Book of Hours.

R.M.Rilke

I cannot measure up with my countryman’s spiritual prowess with words in poetry, yet his elevated consciousness touches upon my own creative soul. Rilke was Czech writing in German as most of the educated bourgeoisie in the Austro-Hungarian realm. We wrote in French too, as some emigrated (Kundera) from the socialist oppression, the rest wrote in Russian and increasingly in our own, complex tongue. Now, free to roam where we desire, most millennial and worldly Czechs like myself write in English. Time only shows if our efforts illuminate the beauty in our hearts to the awe of the wider world, yet we must remain patient. Perhaps Chinese script usurps the stage for our writing souls. Language does not matter. Back to light, as it means life or death.

The power of light: mysterious and puzzling

Light attracts me. Seducing me through its bright creative force, I wander around its shades and shapes, often wondering what does this ephemeral, minute masterpiece mean? This nature’s brush on the canvas of the Universe has fascinated humanity ever since our sensory perception magnetised us towards lucidity. Our mind actively inclines towards clarity rather than the passive dimness of sleepy darkness. Light never seems the same. That is mysterious and puzzling.

art photography light

Always changing and traveling dressed in distinct blues

Light is the might of visual reality. White, green, blue – layered, filtered, diluted or highlighted.

That glare on the face of the restless Earth colours her landscapes with a wide palette of brightness.

The Alps radiate a white zing of a beam.

The whiplash of the ocean’s vastness strikes the eye from the reflection of the sun.

Do not be confused by the noise. What barks loudest has the least to show. Light is silent, the invisible vibration of potent energy.

The deserts receive warm, ripened deliciousness reflected on their sandy orange peel.

Arizona

In California, the Pacific Ocean’s lash on the cracked coastal skin renders the light crisp white, while around the Hawaii islands the air whisks the ocean light into a somewhat genteel blue.

The Caribbean kitsch bores me after a couple of days of plain gazing.

Incomparable with the sharp Portugal’s coast, where the light gave the explorers an itch to sail far beyond the edges of the horizon.

The Mediterranean, its rocky coasts, feel so mellow and calm on most days. The natural contrast of harshness with the taming force of the rocking sea, elevates the beauty in the paradox. This ‘Middle Earth’ is where I dwell and where my gaze often wanders for a soothing kiss when I write. I daydream, of course.

sandy beach Miami ocean Waiheke island

Look, isn’t this beautiful? The various shades of light are nature’s art we set to imitate at first, but when we realised we cannot match up, we turned inwards to our impressions and abstractions. The canvas and the matter became the expressions of inner feelings, imagination and struggle.

Art cannot exist without light

Most visual art works with its effects. From photography to painting, but even poetry uses symbolic light to elevate, highlight or emotionally illuminate. That light is also the blank space on the page surrounding the poem. In the meaning, emotional strings are always attached, and light is always positive.

The Impressionists used colours, yet it was the subjective momental feeling that inspired their creation. A still life of a lotus pond in Giverny by Monet can be cast in very dark tones, often skilfully exhibited in a bright-lit room as on Naoshima island in Japan or the Musée de la Orangerie in Paris. Playing with the moods of light though, some of the lotus scenes were painted with a bright palette. Light serves as a contrast and its level changes the feeling of anything we see. Tapping on the surface of of the moment seen in changing lights, the Impressionists revealed “the vagaries of human perception” alerted Karl Ruhrberg in Taschen’s masterpiece Art of the 20th Century.

Monet lillies Musee de la Orangerie Paris

Symbolism and nature

Spiritually, light can mean doubt in the materialistic tyranny for the soul: “Only a feeble light glimmers like a tiny star in a vast gulf of darkness. This feeble light is but a presentiment, and the soul, when it sees it, trembles in doubt whether the light is not a dream, and the gulf of darkness reality”, wrote Kandinsky over a century ago in his famous essay The Spiritual in Art. It also embodies change and duration: “Our soul rings cracked … for this reason, the Primitive phase, through which we are now passing, with its temporary similarity of form, can only be of short duration”, the father of abstract art adds.

In the Dictionary of Symbolism composed by Allison Protas: “Light is one of the most universal and fundamental symbols. It is the spiritual and the divine, it is illumination and intelligence. Light is the source of goodness and the ultimate reality, and it accompanies transcendence into the Nirvana of Buddhist doctrine. It is the SUN, and it is the avenger of evil forces and DARKNESS. Light is knowledge. Purity and morality are connected terms as well. The masculine principle of evolution is symbolized through light. Cosmic energy, creative force and optimism are all related to light.” In short, everything progressive, life itself is symbolised through brightness.

light in impressionism

From nature to artificial dysbiosis

Stars illuminate the night’s sky. The solar reach in its perfect balance with the Earth’s movement changes days into dark nights. From fire came a wick, the spark of electricity, then technology lit our lives in a never ending incandescence. Beyond nature, we have playfully and out of necessity introduced more light into our daily lives. It is not natural. Some of it is beneficial, other, like the electronic blue light that confuses melatonin production, can affect us negatively.

light in environmental art

The emotions of light

It can be sharp or mellow. The later soothes our soul, calms our energy, increases happiness and perhaps even longevity.

I experienced the discomforting, stripped under the spotlight feeling of being alone on the stage. Barely catching the eyes watching me, blinded by the sharp light cast upon my silhouette, I performed to the final applause of the audience. A catwalk can give models a sense of isolation, even a humiliating unease. In the contrast of attitude, that light bordering dimmed surroundings lifts you away from the interpenetrated social scene into some confident space, a shield where you are lonely, but powerful.

Light inspired a few poems I wrote recently. One entered my bedroom upon a sunrise. The other emerged in a mountain chalet under a candlelight. Yet another glimpsed through the closed shutters of my oceanfront hotel room. The later two became Lumine in two poems.

We need the spark of light in any challenging situation and dark times. We need it now.

Cafe Salon Naka-Oku: feminine home cooking on Naoshima

When visiting Naoshima, the abundant artscape on this small island in the Seto Inland Sea of Japan calls for a break. If you long for wholesome, feminine home cooking then Cafe Salon Naka-Oku is the perfect casual restaurant in Naoshima town to recharge your legs for more art miles.

The Cafe Naka-Oku is hard to find. Despite being a few minutes from the townhouse, your western phone map won’t show the tiny path cutting through the vegetable patches of the residential edge on Naoshima. Just follow the tiny sign and you will shortly arrive at the wooden cottage surrounded by green flora. People lining outside spark the light bulb in your brain. Arriving 15 minutes before the opening on a sunny day like ours, we did not mind the naturist wait. Once you miss the first seating however, you are set to linger and gaze into the forest behind the restaurant until the first round of diners finishes their meals. Beware, spiders are all over Japan, and Naoshima’s trees and bushes are wired through spider nets.

best lunch on Naoshima Japanese food on Naoshima

Set like a masters painting in nature, the wooden house of Cafe Salon Naka-Oku seduces visually with beautiful Japanese retro meets antique interior. Despite being quite small, there are a few distinct dining areas to eat. The designer was playful. Ceramic bowls planted with leafy greens hang on wires from the ceiling. Behind the bar, an exhibition-worthy display of China blue glazed cups with matching saucers pulls curiosity in. Even the rectangular window, ideal for singles on a digital detox, frames in a contemplative vista. The pomegranate tree bulging with plush red fruit in November, like the wild persimmon trees dotted around the island, provide more outdoor seasonal cues. Inside, raw, untreated meets polished wood, hanging lamps, dinging clock, hand-woven baskets, all combined somewhat slow down time. The long bar veiled away from the kitchen is also set perfectly for the solo diners more typical in Japan than elsewhere.

best food on Naoshima slow time

When invited in take off your shoes, wear the provided uwabaki over your socks and slip them into the box at the entrance (called genkan), and be ushered to your seat. Here, even your bag will be pampered in a straw box under your seat.

Cafe Salon Naka-Oku is a canvas for homely provisions including the warm service of the ladies who work here. On a windy autumn afternoon, walking inside embraces you with a cocooning welcome.

The beverage offering is humble yet intriguing. I went for a warm persimmon leaf brew, which I usually miss outside of Japan. Organic seasonal juices, local Shodoshima olives cider and a wide selection of coffee beverages, shoju and cocktails surely recharge you more. I was amused by the warning on the beverage menu: “Please note that alcohol is not available for those driving a car”. On a car-free island, where only special public buses operated by the Benesse foundation transport visitors and local workers, one must smile.

lunch on Naoshima Japanese curry rice

In our lunch set A (¥380, 580 with dessert) a drink or glass of Japanese draft beer was included.

To start we got a small Potato salad. Simple, whipped with yolk-bright corn kernels, this was a refreshing cold snack opened our appetites for the wholesome dishes to follow. You get quite large portions for Japan. As our steaming platefuls arrived, each of us gasped at the comforting fragrance of the food. This is what you want to eat on a breezy, cool day. My husband ordered Japanese curry rice with a rich curry sauce, a spice-balancing splash of coconut cream and neon-bright edamame beans. He was all over the moon. As a rice lover, the steamed yellow curry flavoured Japanese-grown rice was very much to his liking. His spoon got lost in my own portion rice once.

I liked his curry, but my meal was the real deal. You must love eggs, for the frisbee of an omelette covered my entire rice, my protein load was generously filling. Watch and you will crave some eggy pleasure, guaranteed! Spooning into the hot hill of moist eggy pleasure revealed the molehill of steamed rice underneath. Italian organic tomatoes were used for the juicy sauce refreshingly completing the rich dish.

Seasonal locally-caught seafood, seaweed and homemade cakes such as in Japan popular baked cheese and chiffon cakes are other temptations worth considering, but full enough we kindly emptied our seats for the waiting customers outside. The generous portions set Cafe Salon Naka-Oku apart from the miniature Tokyo office lifestyle portions and bring it closer in size to the foodie Osaka. The later about two hours journey on a combo of a ferry and car from Naoshima. The train nearby is not a shinkansen, so it is slower.

Queue up early enough for this is one of the best (the favourite of ours and the foodie couple we turn to for Japan tips) places to eat on the art island.

Address: 1167 Hommura Nakaoku, Naoshima-cho, Kagawa-gun 761-3110, Kagawa Prefecture

Phone: +81 87-892-3887

Open for Lunch 11:30-15h & Dinner 17:30-21h. Closed on Tuesdays and public holidays.

Jerusalem: Religion ‘MADE TO LAST’

I’m not alone to be mystified by Jerusalem. The ancient city on a rocky hill under a siege of a dusty desert hardly wows with classical beauty though. It is the contrast with the monotonous and poor Palestinian settlements together with a bemused vista of the infertile Dead Sea (which is a lake) and its religious history, that elevate the walled Holy City onto a celestial cloud of reverence. The once a pagan settlement in the hills between the fertile Mediterranean and the arid Arabian desert has passed a long journey through sacrifices, crosses, crescent moons and bomb attacks.

map of Jerusalem

Unite or divide? A question worth of religious contemplation

The epicentre where religion was MADE TO LAST is perhaps a proof that human violence is impossible to fully contain. A slogan on a t-shirt of wood carving artisan in the Christian part of Old Jerusalem inspired this story. The sacred draws in power. Faith has a great value for not just the believer but also for the ruler. Hence, religious cohesiveness has been used for millennia to keep nations tame. [My poem about liberty]

Jerusalem

Like a magnet, that precious mystery of faith has coerced and divided humanity. United, the church blooms as a community. Sectarian disagreement fuels malice, terrorism fuelling wars. The fanatical fundamentalists of our century are the Crusaders of the Middle Ages. Weren’t we better off united? If that were as easy. As many unique personalities there are, as broadly coloured the opinions and beliefs. Respecting others’ faith, while following the good, universal, not regressive but inclusive values that we worship, somehow escapes the awareness those blinded by emotional rage. Sadly, the current division of Jerusalem manifests, this is an ideal that can only be temporarily achieved in the perfect alignment of the stars under armed surveillance.

Holy city Old city Jerusalem

Feeling the Holy City

Jerusalem’s history wells in tears of cultural struggle, separation, survival and diplomacy, yet it is more. The by blood and miracles inspired history captured in the holy books of the West and the Middle East wows millions of crowds into its split core. I felt the sorrow when walking through its crumbling twisted alleys. Not peace, but discomfort run through my veins. Jerusalem’s religious importance kneels worshippers down onto its limestone carpet on which Jesus walked and Muhammad is believed to ascend to the heaven. The energy is unsettling, marked with suffering and strife. Still, you must go. Experience the city that lured the Babylonians, Romans, Persians, Ottomans, Crusaders and other armies into its spiritual coffers.

Jerusalem is such a historically important city, that it has been known under a quantum of names in different languages. According to the Jewish Midrash, “Jerusalem has 70 names” in Hebrew. In the Amarna letters called Urusalim (URU ú-ru-sa-lim) or Urušalim (URU ú-ru-ša-lim) (1330s BCE) but also Beth-Shalem, the house of Shalem. Today, Jerusalem is called Yerushalayim in Hebrew (יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ‎ a derivation associated with Greek ἱερός – hieros = holy) and Al-Quds in Arabic (اَلْـقُـدْس‎). The city is also known among Muslims as Bayt al-Maqdis (بَـيْـت الْـمَـقْـدِس‎), which means “House of Holiness“.

Holy City

Attractive trophy: protected, revered, exploited history of Jerusalem

The oasis sits on a generous reservoir of underground water and is supported by a lake nearby. The naturally supplied desert town attracted its first settlers over five millennia ago. Scissored between the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean, Jerusalem is a desert fort blessed by the proximity of fertile land and sea. Yet, the Old Town is dusty, almost stale, today.

Countless conquest redefined its purpose. King David made Jerusalem the capital of the Jewish Kingdom, his son Solomon built the first Jewish Temple on the hilltop then outside of the city. Spiritually charged wars were fought on the fertile Canaan’s grounds and its impressive stone walls were rebuilt. To our surprise the leading archeologist who guides us settled the number on a mere dozen total breakdowns of the city. One of the destroyers was the king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. There were wall-less periods, and not all the walls were destroyed by invaders but earthquakes that hit the Eastern Mediterranean region.

fortified city walls of Old Jerusalem

The most recent wall was built by the Ottoman ruler Sulleyman in the 16th century. Resourcefully, he built on the existing wall and recycled scattered stones from the area – some from smashed graves, others with chiselled inlets for wooden beams holding the roofs of homes. The remaining five layers of the city walls, each adds a tinted tale of time, wealth, and the importance of Jerusalem from the Jewish through the Arab to the Western culture. While the byzantine wall is haphazard, the Crusaders polished large symmetric quadrants into perfectly manicured glory, the architecture of the walls was very distinct to each period.

The city today towers a sticky territory contested between religiously and politically misaligned Israelis and Palestinians. The air feels unsettlingly thick. Heavily armed Israeli guards check for potential violence. Beyond its eastern walls is the West Bank, all desert, rocks and salty density of the Dead Sea split with Jordan and Israel. You can glimpse its shores from the rocky hilltop that houses the old city.

Christian Jerusalem food in Israel

Puzzling out the Old Jerusalem

In the heavily walled Jerusalem all the major Western religions intersect. Our guide was a Jewish archeologist, who founded a tour guide company aside from his digging activities in and out of Israel. Gratefully, he took us around the queueing Christians in the Church of Holy Sepulchre. I am religiously neutral, accepting the wisdom of all that manifests in my own life. My husband is a spiritual protestant, but his analytical brain guides his life. We were interested in understanding what draws people to faith so deeply that some devote most of their lives to religious service. The Bible’s Old and New Testament as well as Quran are fascinating resources not only spiritually, but also the stories in them illuminate the importance of Jerusalem that cannot be deleted from human history.

cross symbol The Church of Holy Sepulchre in the Old Jerusalem

Walking through its crooked, tight limestone streets whispers about the cultural manners of its forcefully peaceful inhabitants. As we walked though the debris of stale food, human and cat excrements, we did not feel like buying any refreshments in the Christian quarter. A covered market of each community stretched around a dedicated street. We were advised to buy food only in the Jewish area, so we lunched casually and safely in the Jewish section overlooking the Mount of Olives, where Jesus taught his disciples. Munching on falafel, hummus, Israeli salad, minced lamb and tahini we peered over to its grey segmented graveyards. Next to this dusty grey hill are the Gethsemane gardens. Meaning oil press in Aramaic, this tiny garden is still resplendent with ancient olive trees, but disappointing for those expecting sizeable natural space.

Christianity

Bread as the symbol of sharing in Christian religion

Human needs are nourished by faith

Connecting with suffering in Christianity, the gold-shimmering mosaic of dead Jesus and the sad disciples surrounding his crucified body in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre symbolises hope in death.

The most important sites to Christians is the Golgotha where Christ was crossed (forget the rocky hill, now it is all covered by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre), the grave from which he was resurrected and the stone on which his body was wrapped by a wealthy Bethlehem disciple of Jesus. This dark building complex is connected with the Armenian and a tiny Ethiopian Kidane Mehret Church. We learned that the oldest Christian state was in Africa. The Ethiopian Queen Sheba had a child with the king Salomon, yet their descendants took the Christian religion as their own. Adjoining the church is the Debre Genet monastery (Monastery of Paradise) belonging to the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. The Armenian and Ethiopian quarters form the smallest neighbourhoods of the Old City.

Ethiopian church Jerusalem

The largest slice of the walled town belongs to the Muslim quarter, where the cleanliness did not get much better yet. The buildings were scantly maintained and the market goods veered into gold, colourful veils and scarves. We did not enter the third holiest muslim site, the Temple Mount and the recently gold-leafed Dome of the Rock, since the waiting time seemed for more than a few hours. Known to Muslims as Haram esh-Sharif and venerated as a holy site in all three big monotheistic religions. Prophet Muhammad preached to his followers to pray facing the direction of this hill in Jerusalem and is said to ascend to the heaven from here. Intriguingly, only later this was changed for Mecca, already a holy site.

Western religion symbolism of light

Not far from the massive dome (originally in real gold) of Temple Rock (once the Second temple of the Jews destroyed by the Romans) is the Western Wall, the only remaining part of the First Temple of Judaism. Change seems to be only sure thing even in religion. This rock is where it is believed that Abraham intended to kill his son, but God stopped him. The most polished and sanitary was the Jewish quarter. Nearing the Tower of David, we entered the site where the revered Biblical king was buried. Women entering separately as they must do at the Wailing West Wall, the synagogues as well as in the mosques.

Jewish Jerusalem

Jerusalem wall

The goodness symbolism in Jerusalem: angels and light

According to Rabbi Leo Trepp, in late Judaism, the belief developed that people have a heavenly representative, a guardian angel. Previously, the term `Malakh’, angel, simply meant messenger of God. This Jewish symbol for the good spirit gave birth to Christian and Muslim angels.

Our morals and values seem not enough for our mind to lean on the good decisions, but we need protective force guiding us to goodness. Further, darkness symbolises ignorance in most philosophical and theological schools. Gold sparks light, and for that it was used in religious buildings.

In Islam, angels (Arabic: ملاًئِكة malā’ikah) are believed to be celestial beings, created from a luminous origin by God. Rilke , a non-muslim but highly spiritual and as many artists inspired by religious symbolism included “their depiction in Islam to represent the embodiment of transcendental beauty” in his famous Duino Elegies.

John 1:4, “In Him was life; and the life was the light of men”. Inside the dark Church of Holy Sepulchre, the natural light stroke us so powerfully through the frescoed dome assuring us of the Biblical teachings.

Christianity Christian faith

Life in Jerusalem in the 21st century

Many live in the Old City just to serve tourism, selling trinkets, polishing wooden crosses, refreshments like freshly pressed pomegranate juice in the fall, tangerines and oranges in winter or melons in the heat of summer. Yet, most craftsmen and businesses are located outside the walled city on one of the endless hills surrounding Jerusalem. People outside the more youthful restaurant business are rough. All drivers we took squeezed as much as they could from us, annoying taking extra time to drive through most congested roads and the street vendors joined in the hassle of bothering us. I didn’t enjoy the Arabic male camaraderie and self-assertion here. Regularly, I was cut in a queue as women battled their way whenever needed. A thank you came only after splurging out generous American tips. To their credit, the Israelis must be tough. Their situation can hardly be envied by any other nation state. Surrounded by its old foes – Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the self-proclaimed Palestine – only the sea does not teeth into the Zion state. Well, not until climate change bites away its coast ardently. Clean energy, recycling, waste management do not seem to bother the local government. The light sparks from the vibrant technology sector in Tel Aviv ready to inject its climate-solutions into the world.

Jerusalem

Since the formation of Israel post World War II and the Six-Day War in 1967, Jerusalem fully belongs to Israel, borders Palestine and its former custodian Jordan takes care of the muslim part of town. Threat is imminent. The locals live under the armed watchdog of the Israeli army peacefully, respecting each other’s religious peculiarities. The female and male soldiers police the contentious Jerusalem, but the sniper towers (women are reportedly faster to snap the trigger) made me feel uncomfortable. Terrorism looms over the contested land from all directions. Hizbollah keeps its cells active. Prep yourself for road checks and wired zones. The most important modern buildings inland were dug in the underground. From the sprawling campuses of the must visit Hebrew University on Mount Scopus (beautiful gardens), the Israeli Museum, the National Archives to other culturally important and government buildings.

Geopolitically, the Israelis do not belong to Asia, neither to Europe or Middle East, “we are America“ our guide said. The birth cord was never cut after the founding of the country post World War II. The US supplies its military knowhow, weapons, antimissile technology and more ‘life-supporting’ vitalities such as junk food. The American motherly nourishment is sealed on the photos inside the King David Hotel, where numerous American presidents shook hands with the local political leaders.

Israeli Museum contemporay art in Israel

My favourite parts of Jerusalem are the Israeli Museum and the Machane Yehuda food market also known as the “Shuk” where people seemed the most happy. Whether it is the amazing food or sharing the feast with family or friends, but something sparks up the joyful spirit in this covered, multicultural assembly of hedonism. On weekends (Thursday night, Friday and Saturday) particularly, the locals feast, sing, dance and revel in the abundantly delicious life. The King of Halva has been sweetening the tongues for decades, but even more saliva-oozing are the chocolate rugelach butter pastries from the Marzipan Bakery. Most food here is kosher, and there is so much to try!

Rugelach Marzipan bakery Jerusalem market

Lively eateries and restaurants surround the Machane Yehuda market. Some are as casual as a beach shack (Azura), others hives of celebration from lunch till late at night (Machneyehuda, incredible! Must be booked well ahead).

I also relished a small park in the wealthy Yemin Moshe neighbourhood between the King David Hotel and the old town. The tourist-free view from the park is better than anywhere else. Inside dwells a small archaeological treasure – an open grave clearly showing how massive the wheel-shaped rock used to close graves was. Many hands were needed to assist with opening it, therefore Jesus’s escape from the grave was perceived as a miracle.

Jerusalem grave art in Jerusalem

Saint Augustine wrote in Confessions of a Sinner: “… we were impelled to do good after our hearts received the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Before then our impulse was to do wrong.” Perhaps some of us were born with more of that guiding Holy Spirit in our mind, so we are more ‘naturally’ inclined to do good. Until wars, violence, hatred, racism and other ills of humanity worsen the common good, we shall listen to the whispers of the good spirit attentively.

IMPORTANT NOTE OF THE AUTHOR: I do not mean to offend anyone’s beliefs. I’m aware of its potential contentiousness, yet visiting Jerusalem opened my soul’s doors to some internal questioning. This article is as much a travel guide as an open-minded musing on what unites and divides humans. Peace is better than war. We need the rule of law. Some of it was found in the religious scriptures, yet sadly can be misinterpreted. The bottom line is that we do not want the evil and chaos (if one does not call them the same thing) to rule over humanity, do we?

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