Offline In My Secret Garden

Please, consider doing this revealing self-pampering trick for your wellbeing and to open your awareness to truth. Once again I went offline for a week. My phone locked in some other place than I am leaving me physically and virtually disconnected from the social chatter and media. I turned the portable device off. What a relief this simple act of allowing oneself to be with oneself brings! It was just me and nature, books, pen, paper, well and the basic survival stuff like a warm room to stay in, food and water. After a long time I felt I had a full control of my being, my days and nights were directed by what I set to do and consciously work on.

pure presence offline

I light up an incense, gaze onto the rippling lake, yes, I found It ∼ heaven on Earth — an absolute presence.

Being with oneself is not a sweet talk, but can be nice

I would love to stay virtually disconnected for longer, but commitments and responsibilities do not allow for such a luxury in today’s hyper-connected world. I have an emergency set up. Someone close knows where I am and there is a phone to reach me on.

What this offline time in space allowed me was to dive deep again into my mind, the heart, soul and some wholesome writing work. Brutal honesty, if you allow me. We all need to remind ourselves from time to time of who we are, what we need to do and what we want now in this point in life. This changes and sometimes we forget what we wanted initially. We disconnected from our purpose and worse, our values. A chapel, a church or a temple of any faith used to provide us this mindful shelter. We could go outside of the religious service to clear our heads from the everyday clutter, stress, worries. We still can, but so many of us non-religiously affiliated ban ourselves from such sacred places. These refuges, unless blocked by the religious authorities, are open to anyone and everyone. We all can do our inner cleaning there.

spiritual artArchitecture of Goa

We can also do it elsewhere. Nature is my god, so I go to her. Forest bathing or a pilgrimage of sorts. One can create a small ritual corner in one’s home, many artists do it also in their studios. The space for emptying and reflection can exist anywhere where the noise of civilisation does not distract and disrupt the precious flowing stream of consciousness. What I call the sacred. For me it is also intuitive. I seek this emptying regularly and it helps my wavering emotional self to harmonise.

I have done a weeklong phone detox during the first lockdown of the pandemic, because it was possible as I was not meeting anyone outside. Just think about that. How do you schedule your life? It is all on the portable device – the calendar, time, diary, health, notepad, notifications, safety alerts, step measuring, virtually most of our communication (except for those postcards I still send to and receive from some friends willing to do the work; to actually physically walk to the post box or office to buy stamps to mail the painterly greeting and note from one heart to another, plus I still write occasional letters). A card or a letter feel immeasurably more valuable than any text message or email will ever be capable of.

polaroid postcardsconnect

The hurdles of contemporary offline lifestyles

The first thing I missed were strangely not people (I nourished myself socially during the preceding there weeks to the brim anyway, called my parents and sister just before my time off), but music. I stream most of the songs I love from my phone app. My home vinyl player is not portable, so I had no other source of music than, voila! My laptop. Hello YouTube, long time no see. Alright, here I am still having my slice of tech with me, but one can do without. Use something from back then when we were not yet plugged in online. From a portable radio or dig out the iPod player, a disc-man or walkman baby, let’s roller blade!

Portuguese architecture

The money mind loves distractions

I planned to focus on writing my novel, so I had to bring my computer along. It haloed a post-it note: No email, no social media, only my book-related research! I had to add the exclamation mark to alert myself promptly. Curiosity was banned, unless relevant. Uff! I had the door of my monkey mind shut.

One week, after all is not that bad. Well, I forgot to take my watch, and that kind of left me in a limbo, totally lost in the absolute void of time. Not entirely though. The light outside and the darkness of the setting evening notified me along with the local village church bells. How liberating and calming at the same time. Suddenly, all time was really my time. I kept writing, ate some healthy food, drank tea and water, I slept and swam or walked every day. And you can do just nothing, no guilt, just be.

Wonders for the mind and the body! Trust me, disconnecting, you will have the silent space to connect with your deeper layers, with the lurking needs you had perhaps neglected for a very long time. Awareness requires space and as little distraction as there can be. Keep a journal at hand.

Chinese female artist

Higher awareness needs even more void in the daily routine. Perhaps, stop playing the music and let the music play itself. Bellow is my poetic way:

My Secret Garden

I hope She remains my secret garden, serene simplicity painted with a smooth stroke of peace.

Tranquility, only natural teeter of the birds singing to their soulmates. A random whizz of bees, a cuckoo — I wonder, what is all the music about?

As if competing with each other whose instrument reached a more fine-tuned sound. Nature’s delight.

Or

Is it a sailboat on the flowing curls of the sea that they sing about or to; or is it and?

— a reciprocal connectivity 

I let them to their business and turn inside my own.

My head — what is It telling? Is It shouting or whispering to me? The skull’s gutter constantly flushing thoughts, doubts, happy pondering, wandering and wondering in all that rattle that goes on inside when I am surrounded by the craze of cities. The space suffocating human activity goes on, engines, honks and squeaks. The sirens’ calls to the bound Odysseus and his deaf crew. More trees, we need more lungs that provide, not take. We need to hear, too.

Noise, noise, clacking, clicking, snapping, jetting, shuffling, huffing, puffing, whizzing, volume up to blasting away life that once was peaceful, maybe.

It amazes me how what we do disturbs more than most noises of the natural world. Save for thundery storm, it is human activity now that kicks us out of balance. We tremble, waver and wobble in the hurricane of manmade sounds.

The vibrations of portable phones, snake hissing in your pocket or a bag. Forget to take it onto a yoga mat! Its venom does not let the mind go its own way. Rushing into my head; is it urgent? I might ask, sometimes. Do I really have to leave what I am doing right now?

I silence the beast, but I have already abandoned my stream of thoughts. I do not like to pick up calls, my whole privy world already knows.

I like to keep time in my space, so the mind can go on like the wild ocean’s waves.

Like the moon controls the tides, consciousness manages our heads.

~R

Being with ourselves is human

What I gained during my time offline was not just the focus on what I needed and wanted to do at the same time, the undistracted week allowed for a revealing observation of others. When you are without a smartphone, you notice even more how others are addicted on these relatively recent devices. Their virtually present, but locally void faces are glued on the tiny screens continually absorbing the invisible heavy metals into their bodies. Alone or with some other person in flesh, while eating in and out, traveling, walking — oh, do we really hate being with ourselves? Just for some time go offline and be with nature, our nurturing planet that we have disconnected from so profoundly.

We do not seem to care enough and know where the in plastic wrapped food is grown and that oranges are just not good in summer and autumn, no matter what the altered breed might deliver. We eat unhealthy, nutrient-poor food, drink polluted water, have chronic pain and ADD in the so called ‘developed’ world. Sometimes, I think back about the village kids in the Himalayas that impressed me with their genuine joy almost two decades ago. Look at the city children, are the majority of them as sparkly? They are the future of potential unhappiness. 

meditation is being offline

I wrote more about how are being changed by the digital culture in this linked musing.

My first phone detox was simply within a rented apartment, I just locked it in the safe. This time I decided to wholly detox at the Chenot Palace in Weggis. While most guests kept browsing, calling, chatting in the robes even inside the treatment rooms, some while taking their bath tubs. I went for a full detox — offline. Cleansing goes beyond the food and what we drink, the mud wraps and hot baths, the heavy metals from the polluted environment as well as our devices keep accumulating in our bodies and we shall regularly disconnect from their luring company.

During my retreat I received the results of my heavy metal load as well as acupuncture during which I meditated so deeply that I felt rush of heat in my veins. My body and mind vibrated with energy, with something primordial. I walked in a nearby forest and wondered at every, by the dog walkers usually unnoticed, cushion of moss here, a lichen-clad boulder, a solitary tree skeleton speaking on a grass carpet with snowed peaks of the Alps in the background. It was pure magic and I did not take a photo. It’s alright, because, you know, I will carry this special image in my heart. I will use my memory, instead of giving this agency to my tech device, which is not making me any smarter, but rather, shall I say it? You know what I mean, the smart phones take something from us and we only realise it once we disconnect for some time. Please, keep this in mind. Others won’t miss you for a week and if you need to communicate, write a letter or postcard, anyone will appreciate that rather special act of attention.

If a week is impossible, then consider one day, weekend perhaps, I call that my day of nothingness and try to regularly include it into my schedule. It is much harder while traveling (depending on where one goes), but it can be done. Certainly this act of awareness will benefit your sense of wellbeing.

Detox at Chenot Palace on splendid Swiss lake

What a gorgeous tranquil location to detox and rejuvenate the aching, ageing body. Chenot Palace Weggis is the first wellness outpost in Switzerland of the well-established health retreat founded by the late Henri Chenot. From a hospital setting in Côte d’Azur the Chenot Method® was luxuriously upgraded at the Swiss Palace. The group also collaborates with fine hotels that adopted his eastern – through millennia tested experience – meets western science approach to physical and mental health restoration.

Vierwaldstatter lake near Luzern in Switzerland

Weggis, a Swiss village under the foot of the spiritually and wellness oriented Mount Rigi, nests on the shores of the Vierwaldstättersee, literally ‘Lake of the four forested settlements‘ near Luzern. Mark Twain, an avid traveler as I have encountered his traces already on the remote Bermudas, was particularly fond of this area known in English as Lake Lucerne. Conveniently, in the German speaking part of Switzerland, just under an hour car ride from Zurich, a train and bus or taxi hop from the city of Luzern, and about three hours from Geneva, you are transported into a calm zone in a stunning natural setting. The staff speaks fluent English. Greek, Italian, Czech, Polish, Portuguese, Russian or French are also widely spoken by the staff coming from all over Europe for the prestigious highly paid job. The best quality of therapists are attracted to the by healthy lifestyle driven Chenot Palace in Weggis.

Vierwaldstatter lake near Luzern in Switzerland

Time for oneself is the most precious mental activity as well as joy that can reset the body into equilibrium. A walk in solitude, a swim in an open water, an afternoon with a great book, a trip away from it all when imagination is freely strolling. More profoundly, a yoga retreat or a rejuvenating spa cure will shine the gems of our being. When a higher awareness of who I am and what I need and want to do unveil like a lustrous lake in a receding morning mist, I feel complete and the calmed body shows.

The golden sunshine hours, grass sprouting in verdant carpets of energy, birds in frolicking songs and budding trees, all nature in a seasonal unison announces that for us indulgent humans it is time for a spring detox. The lent period introduces warmer weather, and as nature awakens from winter rest, the couch-bound body calls for a reset in an invigorating environment. But also whenever your health needs, like after a bad food poisoning or a surgery, to recover smoothly, it is beneficial to take a break.

Swiss spa

detox in Switzerland

The Chenot Method® of detoxification incorporates millennia old eastern methods such as TCM system of meridians, European hydro and mud therapy, with the newest nutritional and technology-based science to reset the overworked body and the mind. You need to dedicate time for this and the Chenot Palace Weggis requires a minimum stay of seven nights.

While the paths of your meridians and lymphatic pathways are cleaned through daily energetic treatments, the toxin-burdened body shrinks away with each aromatherapeutic bath, signature mud wrap and jet shower. Three times per week a water exercise in the pool strengthens, and any water stuck in the accumulation areas is cleared away. I recommend adding a lymphatic facial that will redefine your puffed up contours within an hour. So much water is retained in our chin, under the eyes and the sides of your face. The suction cups effectively channel out this undesired accumulation, like deflating a balloon.

luxury bedroom for detox

The Chenot Palace in Weggis opened in 2020. In the pandemic years, not as strictly lockdown in Switzerland, most staff from other Chenot locations like Greece and Italy moved here, meaning that they have plenty of expertise in practicing the method. Completely renovated indoors, the two contemporary and two turret Swiss style buildings were accompanied by a state of the art extensive spa and medical area. The well-maintained Japanese gardens are a treat for the eyes even in winter as the giant bonsais gracefully welcome at the entrance and the waiting lounge in the medical wing.

On bad weather days, the cosy library lounge pamper healthily with non-alcoholic cocktails. The guests’ favourite is the Italian spritz (made with Lyre, low calorie tonic, sparkling water and a slice of dried orange), but I also like the refreshing, not sweet virgin mojito, and the Zero gin and tonic with a cucumber slice and a selection of Chenot low caffeine teas, plus herbal tisanes. The view over the lake from there lures you in even on a sunny day. There are plenty of art and design books to leaf through.

Walks from Chenot Palace in Weggis, Switzerlandlake Lucerne

Petit Palace is the oldest building close to the quiet lake rim road. The new wing above the reception can offer some partial lake views, but these mostly face the town and the Mount Rigi. More popular seems the new wing above the spa, but while it has closer lake and Weggis views with some interfering trees it is not as pure as the older buildings offer. The highest floors offer most open views reaching towards the glacier Alps. My room was on the fifth floor in the old larger building practically above the restaurant (I love it since it was further from the road offering vast open lake views). A comfortable sofa, a desk upon request, quality materials and bed quality, a tantalising pillow menu increase comfort. There is enough room for your private yoga or stretching practice. A bluetooth speaker to use for a preferred music library on my phone (when I took it with me since my second stay I further decided to detox from my portable tech devices) comforted my resting moments in the room.

Top floors only have smaller rooms. Contemporary, comfortable and luxurious naturally hued interior design was set the same for all the rooms. The doubles have an extra chair by the table. In the minibar all you find is an assortment of European waters. The high altitude Swiss Valser spring water is replenished daily complimentary, but it is also available in the waiting lounges. The new building rooms have larger bathrooms and the rooms in the same category, but the views are interrupted by other buildings as it’s at the back behind the old buildings. Tasteful, jolly art graces the walls all over the five starred Palace.

Art at Chenot PalaceBest detox in Switzerland

Detox plant-based, hypo-caloric menu at Chenot Palace

The diet at Chenot Palace in Weggis is very strict, but mostly very tasty. The plant-based daily menu comes daily in seven plates. The fasting-mimicking, fibre-rich, whole foods Chenot diet is based on organic seasonal vegetables when possible grown locally. A tiny fruit-centric breakfast with herbal infusion or caffeine-free coffee alternative like roasted chicory root (can be with a side of plant milk) starts you without physically breaking the fast yet. A simple fruit salad or an apple, pear or strawberry purée topped with berries, lemongrass or other herbs, a coconut milk flan with berries, a stewed apple topped with fresh whole berries and physalis were all nice but not filling much.

You can have barley coffee alternative if gluten is no concern to you (less strong, less coffee taste than the chicory, but more foaming in an espresso). Almond milk is recommended but the tastiest is oat (Oatly isn’t allowed because of some kidney aggravating additives). Soy is also available. An optional cinnamon to dust over lowers you sugar cravings. No caffeine is best for detox as are minimum stimulation (the omnipresent smart phones in the hands of most guests are rather shameful) and rest plenty.

Caffeine-free coffee replacementsfasting-mimicking diet

The low-density calorie, low sodium and high on water diet is in synergy with the daily treatments. It is minimally processed, alkaline-leaning concoction of seasonal ingredients of the highest quality, truffles and saffron pop up on certain luxurious plates. The local sourcing is unfortunately limiting the chef’s expression, but his Italian origin sensitised him to an elegant flavour balancing. While most dishes are sublime, one can hardly rely on the Swiss terroir short in sunshine seasons. The presentation of a fine dining restaurant sparks up your detox days.

Lunch can be raw foods, while dinner is always a gently cooked trio of a small vegetable starter, a wholesome plant-based soup and a tasty, usually vegetable-centric main course. dairy-free alternatives are made in-house, except for the tofu, which is delightfully smoked though by the kitchen team. A gentle use of spices and herbs compensate taste for low sodium and protein diet. Taste-wise, I didn’t miss the salt in most dishes. An additional trio set of cumin, curry, red cayenne (not very spicy) pepper can be added to your three course lunch upon request. I had also salt because of my low blood pressure.

At dinner a herb of the day (rosemary, thyme) is served with the middle course of warm vegetable puréed soup. In spring we had fresh black truffle shaved atop the Jerusalem artichoke cream, in autumn Piedmont hazelnut crisps topped the sublime topinambur puree. All soups with the additional herbs, mushrooms or cooked veggies toppings were excellent.

If you wake up hungry and cannot sleep, ask for a thermos with a fragrant hot broth. I love the more intense mushroom over the ginger and lemongrass option, but on some days it’s brewed weaker and then I prefer the later. They alternate each day on the communal tea and water counter from 2pm onwards.

the chef is savvy in using lightening methods such as almond-based mousse with less calories than the firm nut, also delightful was the fresh almond tzatziki. The diet is low on protein because building is the opposite of detox for the body, so plant-based low glycemic carbs and healthy fat consist together with the fibre and water most of the menu. The chef published a beautiful, for home use practical cookbook in five languages, also available in English.

My favourite plates were:

Coconut cream with berries and chia pudding

Almond pudding, mandarin coulis, lemongrass

Chia and avocado mousse

Almond tzatziki, cucumbers and light chickpea crisps

Hazelnut plant ‘cheese’ stuffed zucchini flower with vanilla coulis

Topinambur cream pasta with dried black olive crumble

Vegan egg beetroot tartare

Celery root cream soup

Black truffle topped green cabbage and shallot cream soup

plant-based desert
Plant-based detox
Plant-based detox
Plant-based detox
Plant-based detox
Plant-based detox
plant-based desert
Plant-based detox
Plant-based detox
Gluten-free vegan pasta
Dairy-free vegan risotto
Plant-based detox
Plant-based detox
Plant-based detox

Food is mostly delightful with some exceptions such as too dry-textured pasta (the rice cannelloni for GF). The rice tagliatelle with pumpkin sauce and hazelnuts that were too dry, but the autumn version with tJerusalem artichoke cream was sublime! A mushy texture of sweet potato cubes with green peas (called Dodo after a game) was so so, as were the starchy textured pumpkin gnocchi. Also the wonton pasta were too stiff to cut and I didn’t like the béchamel. The chef keeps improving though and an absolute hat down for working wonders with such a limited ingredients list. Considering that one consumes seven plates each day that’s a talent speaking through his overall achievement.

The Sicilian chef dares to combine unseeable ingredients like raspberry powder over zucchini velouté. He worked at a vegan restaurant before. The challenge is heightened by using seasonal, most local vegetables and not fermentation. I was told that the best season for ingredients here is spring from April-July.

booze-free alternativesHealthy diningdetox tea

Most advanced diagnostic, performance and wellness equipment for holistic health at Chenot Palace Weggis

You are meant to rest, not build muscle and strength much because the detox diet contains minimum proteins. A full medical staff is to assist you, and two doctor appointments are scheduled in each program and so is a consultation with a certified nutritionist. Superb hydro therapy, mud wraps (mint fresh along the inner arms and tights) on a hot floating bed and a jet shower are included in all programs for the first six days.

The optional Cryo (-110°C!) trend is not for me. I noticed that particularly the male guests fancied freezing in the enclosed well below freezing cabins. You saw them wearing warm hats while in their bath robes at lunch. For someone with low blood pressure and other health conditions, the so called Wimhof method can be dangerous. I much preferred the inflammation and pain reducing photo-biomodulation under led lights emitting specific red light wavelengths.

My cardiovascular health was assessed and arteries were inspected for functionality. The report showed my arteries were in the shape of a decade younger person. I was elated, but the doctor cautioned my joy since this is just compared to an average person.

Bone density and the thickness of skin and the distribution of collagen in the tissue was measured. Also your fat versus muscle ratios can be seen form the scan. Come after all the annual feasts.

You get heavy metals (where have I collected that aluminium in my body?), minerals and vitamins checked. Some deficiencies can be acutely addressed by vitamin infusions administered by friendly, experienced nurses. Your energetic balance is inspected, which may cue to existing health issues not just physically but also emotionally. This energetic test impressively reflected my current health imbalances. Measuring it again after the week most of my organs and glands were back in equilibrium.

Nu Calm neuroscience applying technology relaxes as deep as a profound meditation or your best night’s sleep. It is beyond just noise-cancelling headphones with covered eyes in a reclined setting, the sound you hear does more than any YouTube alpha, delta et al. wave stream.

Bonsaicontemporary design spa Switzerlandcontemporary design room in Switzerland

The high-tech equipment as well as the attractive natural lakeside location with snow-capped Alpine views make the stay at the Chenot Palace Weggis extraordinary. Roger Federer drove over with his wife to test the methods of performance improvement available on site. Neurac® from Norway balance’s musculoskeletal pain. Directed by an excellent physiotherapist Julia or an osteopath revealed the weaknesses caused by my old injury that caused chronic pain. An incorrect training can also shuffle badly the weaknesses and imbalances between muscles. These can be corrected with the aid of the suspension slings manipulated professionally by the therapist.

There is a cardio altitude room within the gym. The hypoxic conditions force your heart work harder and the oxygen is more efficiently distributed, so when you exercise back in normal altitude it feels easier. There you also find a bird-like weightless antigravity training treadmill and Vacu-therm for fat-burning walks under infrared rays that also help to reduce cellulite. The antigravity lift felt sublime, as if my legs were feathers. There is nothing that I experienced to date that felt so easily elevating.

Swiss spa retreat
Swiss spa retreat
Swiss spa retreat
Swiss spa retreat
Swiss spa retreat
Swiss spa retreat

Find what you need: detox with recovery, rest or improved performance

At the Chenot Palace Weggis three signature programmes – basic Advanced Detox, Recover & Energise, Prevention & Ageing Well – offer targeted results. I recommend the basic detox program so you have some spare time to add anything reasonable that the doctor and the friendly therapists additionally recommend. It gets then more targeted to your needs.

Gentle walks in gorgeous surroundings, complimentary morning group stretching classes and aqua gym are suitable accompaniments to intense detox. While incredible hikes surround you, do not force, since you do not want to faint after the daily hot bath and wrap. The lake facing lap pool is comfortably warm because during the intense detox the body temperature drops. You can feel bone-deep cold.

There are two 90 degrees Finnish saunas, one separate for ladies, and a steam room. I missed the more gentle bio sauna because during detox one should not expose oneself to extremes, so mind these facilities.

Overall I cannot more agree with Chenot’s retreat’s mission: “Wellbeing seeing as a positive vitality, not merely the absence of disease. They are for people who come with the intention and purpose to reset or looking to make a serious long term change to their lifestyles.”

If it is more convenient for you, there are also outposts in the mountains of Azerbaijan, a space within One&Only in Monte Negro and at the Selman hotel in Marrakech.

Best mindfulness practices that will elevate your life

meditation

Ancient, tested mindfulness practices from the east

Meditation can be difficult, too high a hurdle to jump over without collapsing during the time-consuming failing attempts. It reacquires discipline and practice. Most of us give up before its blissful effects can penetrate the body and mind. Even if you have the ideal setting, a noise-free room, there will be days when neighbours will be drilling into the walls, their kids racing on the floors right above you or someone manicuring their impeccable garden with a motorised mower.

Practicing on your own, feelings rather than aligned positions focused form of yoga is much easier and a realistic habit to stick to. For some people it is as much beneficial as sitting still during a deep meditation session. Being in your body, acknowledging the sore muscles from a game of tennis yesterday, the stiff back and tight hips, even a dislocated vertebrae in need of a gentle twist to ‘click’ it back – all that brings awareness of your body’s needs, but at the same time it tunes your mind on a smooth jazzy frequency. Yoga practice can become mindfulness in movement, but it is better to practice on your own. Too many distractions float to the surface of the studio that can make mindfulness practices more challenging.

iaido martial art

Gentle stretches and slow, precise movements of the body are also the main aspects of Tai-Chi and Qi-Gong, far-eastern mindfulness practices when you work with your body’s energy. For Tai-Chi I very much relished in Master William C.C. Chen’s Tai Chi Chuan technique suitable for beginners. His studio os based in New York. Also the resident teacher at the Golden Door in California opened my practice into more flowing, dance-like savouring of the present moment. For Qi-Gong online I recommend Master Fumin Wang Guo.

calligraphy lesson

Martial arts are about mastering focus and guiding the mind beyond fear and other hurdles that could weaken you, potentially cost you life. Personally, I tried the Japanese sword art Iaidō (居合道). Ironically, it is not about violence at all, the weapon is just a tool to fully engage with, to merge with into oneness. So is the traditional practice of calligraphy. Anywhere I grasped the brush, dipping it carefully in the dripping ink, with gentle movement of my arms transferring the writing tool to the paper, I was fully present. Whether it was a formal studio, a temple in Kyoto, a practice after a lunch with a friend in private kaiseki room in Tokyo and even a noisy cafe in the bustling Marrakech Medina, the location did not matter, for it was purely about my mind being set on the activity. Mindfulness practices like these require honing a skill.

Japanese kanji caligraphy

Breathing is a well-known and researched technique indispensable not just for our survival but also aiding with all body & mind connecting practices. The energising flow of an inhale and the releasing power of each exhale, both require enough concentration to distract us from other activities and disturbances. At the same time breath directs the body’s life energy (qi, prana, …) to balancing pace.

Harmony and longevity are terms used often in the eastern world. I wrote about them in my long-life musing. Mindfulness is one of the most potent non-material tools that can help us to live longer and be happier. The key is to let go, while observing. This sounds almost contradictory, but when we free ourselves from intense emotions we have time and space for objective observation. We liberate ourselves from our subjectivity.
Alpes Maritimes in the Nice backcountry

TO RELEAVE YOUR OVERLOADED MIND TRY THESE TECHNIQUES:

Next to meditation, yoga, qi-gong, tai-chi martial arts and breathing, there are other tools you can implement into your daily life to increase your mindfulness.

I enjoy ikebana, Japanese mindful flower arrangement attuned to the changing seasons in nature.

Radka Beach in Londonikebana
Su-Mei Yu, the author of The Elements of Life advises using your beauty time (not just ladies) to unwind and bring attention to your mind. When making a face mask at home, lie down and relax while it’s nourishing your skin for the recommended 10 to 20 minutes of its penetration. It is an opportunity to clear your head and skin at the same time.

During a massage at a spa, just focus on each part of the body as the therapist touches the skin and become aware of any stiffness, soreness or other signals that our body is expressing.
Being on a quiet beach, the perfect place where nature with its relaxing hiss of the waves, let the sound guide your mindfulness practice. Just close your lids, and feel the sun rays penetrate through your skin. Warmth in itself is calming.

luxury stays in Mexico
Nature rejuvenates our spirit, but a strenuous hike requires our attention being dispersed in the environment, so we do not slip and injure ourselves. Take a break, sit down on a comfortable stone or a bench and savour the clean mountain air, the fragrances of the forest and the meadows or the mineral breeze swooshing refreshingly from the sea.
Music is another marvellous tool that can tune us into the state of deep focus. It depends on the type of music though. Plus, each of us likes different type of music and needs to test what works best. I wrote about the power of sound in my other musings. The piano music composed by my French friend Tom Zaruba that can be played on La Muse Blue’s poetry page works magic. His album tilted Slow Down invites you to do just that with both your body and the mind.

There is no one mindfulness practice that is better than other, it is more about finding and practicing the one or more you like, those that you can realistically include in your every day lifestyle. Consistency becomes mastery. Become strong.

On Control in our Unpredictable Life and the Untamed World

Control is a natural mechanism of survival and wellbeing. Why otherwise would we subject ourselves to restraint? Even the animals do it as they learned from their past experience what works and what does not. Lions wait patiently for their prey to come closer, their lust understands the reward’s allure. A squirrel teases a snack on your park bench luncheon in a shy cum daring series of approaches until it gets what it wants — that crumble of your sandwich. 

Still, control is about more than just a survival necessity, at least for humans. Emotions can derail us and we need to cope. Particularly, the irrational can be rather frustrating when it does not originate from you. If you are the creator of the incomprehensible as is the case in art, then it is magical. When I write poetry, I cease any control whatsoever. That which results might be incomprehensible to the bare eye, but when you ponder it further or life presents you with some challenge, suddenly the light sparks bright.

There is further the question of fragility as opposed to unity. Even though they are not necessarily the opposites and can be present in each other, unity assumes strength while fragility weakness. Therefore, control is about maintaining the strength through unity, not separating from the whole.

Still, we do not always take the lessons from our past mindfully and seriously into the present. Plus, some of us are more inclined to strict control due to our insecurities. These are even sadistic extremists in need of having the guiding force entirely in their own hands. No sharing is possible for such megalomaniacs’ and authoritarian partners’ grip to power. Even in the everyday management of house and people. Being in charge of unpredictable others can breed anxiety in a perfectionist. Awareness and empathy help. When someone does not perform to your expectations, rather try to teach them calmly and patiently first, and if it fails a number of times switch. Nobody has equal standards and we cannot expect for others to be in tune with our demands and even wishes that nobody can see in every aspect of existence. 

ABSTRACT ART

Others are more relaxed about wielding influence over their inner and outer reality. These are open creative minds, intuitive individuals, with generous hearts and liberal spirits. The invention, the new, the arts, they rely on ceasing control. Most discoveries, even some ground-breaking findings arrived purely by accident happening usually out of one’s control. My idea of creativity is that there are no rules. This boundlessness opens the gates to infinite possibilities that do not harm because it is just art.

The loose grip does not mean that they seek no leash on our (I shall disclose my own leaning) lives. Some direction is needed to float through life as harmlessly as one can. When the wellbeing of others is concerned, one must consider the consequences of one’s behaviour before it is too late. And this is not an easy feat. The pandemic had taken us through muddy responsibility when our behaviour could cause death or contribute to other’s sanity. Passion blinds us to danger. One must balance the scales between longing for adventure, liberty and mindful selfless consideration. Even liberty-seekers need some sense of control for grounding.

balance and control

In any case, we shall practice mental control. Over millennia many techniques were conjured to curb our racing appetites and minds – fasting, martial arts, yoga, meditation, pranayama, auto-suggestive training, and other modes of desired direction used by top athletes for example. I use multiple disciplines for increasing but also for loosening my control, as I believe it is important to know how to go in either direction, to regulate rather than stipulate only one way. Inflexibility is the most inhuman, robotic behaviour and mindset. I have devised rather unusual control-liberating activity — my analog photography. I refused to learn the technical side. I just allow the results to surprise me. I feel the light in the moment when I decide to snap and all the rest is up to serendipity. I allow for the magic to manifest.

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Paul Valéry, the Franco-Italian poet, grappled art first with his perfectionist sense of poetry and above all his acceptance of being totally freed from his ambitions. Via inquiry into other arts and science, he found the middle ground through a personal crisis of intellect and sentiment. His further studies of the sciences and integrating them within his poetic form resolved his dilemma. Unity won over fragility. 

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Beyond the rational, there are some outer and inner aspects of being human that are extremely challenging to be tamed. Extremes are clear in their intentions, but the peace keepers, the harmony influencers have the toughest job of all. Psychologically as well physically. Their path can be conflicting.

Suffering and liberty are related beyond their antagonistic aspect. Our desires and dreams can make us suffer as well as express the inner seeking of freedom. It is natural, yet our cultural and social rules and taboos complicate this equation. One’s sense of dignity and pride are affected. Judgement shall be relinquished for the sanity of humanity.

Prague Slavin cemetery

Connecting the invisible with the easily perceivable, control is often beyond our power but mindfulness can guide us to the areas of our life we indeed can influence. Perhaps the most important is that this is meaningful, otherwise ego-driven pursuits of directing events and people our way are unethical. Use control when you can for your and our shared benefit, that is a sum of what I wanted to convey above. This requires deep thought, but sometimes just pure trust in intuition.

Lefay: east-meets-west in nature

Lefay resort meets the eastern wellbeing classics in an open-minded coupling with Western wellness to harmonise your body, mind and soul through nature, nurture, spa and professional body therapies. In just five days of the Active & Balance program, I learned so much about what my mind and body need not just in that specific moment, time of the year, but also holistically in life.

This energy recovering, balancing discovery package is only available to experience here at Lefay Dolomiti, the newer location of the established Lefay resort on the Lake Garda.

While we were geographically disappointed that the Lefay Dolomiti is not in fact in the Dolomites, the stunning, changing light reflecting UNESCO World Heritage natural area is about 10km hike from the resort to Madonna di Campiglio for just the views or to the core of the jagged sedimentary rock formations about half an hour drive. The Lefay resort Dolomiti is set in the valley running from Pinzolo ski town it faces all the way down south perpendicular to the Garda Lake.

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Nature’s seasonality challenges the body and mind

Conspicuously enough or it just may have been the late summer whimsical weather pattern in the Trentino mountains, each day could not have been different outside. The first summer season day in the seasonally tuned program coincided with the warmest day of our stay. Then we moved to the stiffer autumn swiftly with some cooling off and rainy spells. Winter was chillingly upon us as it snowed overnight in the higher altitudes yet it melted into the water element within hours. And the fourth day springy energy strolling over mossy path in the woods of Amola park kicked us into our heels. The weather played wonderfully challenging games on us and the team at Lefay, but they take you outdoors even when it drizzles so hoodies, water resistant overalls and long pants are advisable to boot into your hiking shoes.

We were further able to change a few of our scheduled mornings in nature to more view-awing locations since we had our own car. The young, energetic guide is on the national Italian ski team, so she welcomed the more active boost into the otherwise rather physically sober program. Suitable for less active population. Yet, flexibility proved to be Lefay’s moulding strength, and we were accommodated with open arms.

My favourite encounter with nature was our stroll through another mossy forest to a wild waterfall in Val Brenta. We were encouraged to use all our senses, inhaling the Alpine scents, touching the rough skin of trees, tasting the sap, walking barefoot over natural reflexology path into the blue-cold river running down from the melting glaciers. We concluded our seasonal connection with a silent meditation on whatever comfortable spot we spotted around ourselves. I found a perfect moss cushion over a stomp on which I wished to remain for the rest of the day.

During our walk through Val Brenta it emerged in my consciousness that: One river contains  different energies depending from which side of the bridge you experience it. A lesson for life.

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High tech spa meets tuned in rejuvenation at Lefay

The Lefay resort offers one of the most complete sauna experiences in Europe, perhaps even in the world. The Dolomites have recently embraced the most wowing spas ever built, we have so far experienced three, but the Lefay spa is the most holistic of all. Chromotherapy, aromatherapy and other western well-being tools like cardia-boxing and pilates strength training meet the classical Chinese health knowhow, organic (mostly locally sourced plants) phytotherapy, now international yoga and meditation here in one resort.

Indoors in the spa each afternoon we had lined up a tui na body work treatment and a specific sauna or bath experience to awaken or more consciously encounter each element and its corresponding season. All the therapists I had were excellent, which is rare. Particularly Kristina had a special touch and a wonderful attitude, truly a lovely person and an excellent embodiment of harmony we tried to achieve, well rather tune into. Her practice of qi gong had certainly sensitised her to qi and I could feel the intense energy movement on my body during the treatment.

We started with the summer season in our program. Anyway, the first day was hot and later in the hot sauna ritual, where I was guided to sweat while gently stretching, listening to fiery piano and aromatherapy, so my body and mind got fired up by expelling any anxiety. The Finnish sauna ceremony was adjusted to my requirement to have slightly open door as my own body does not tolerate extreme heat any more, and perhaps there is not much of this tensing emotion in held in my body at all. Also known as Aufguss, the towel-wrapped guide also fanned aromatic oils towards me and had an ice ball ready to stomp my feet over for cooling off midway through the 30 minute yang maximising session in the Red Phoenix zone. At the end I took a cold shower plus walked through the Kneipp knee-high pools to balance the heat with cold yin energy. My senses were certainly expanded and my sense of joy sparked. Alpine salt scrub and a tuna meridian massage rounded up the heart region touching day.

What the resident Classical Chinese Medicine practicing doctor disclosed during our one to one session followed by an acupuncture was that the most challenging is the metal element of autumn. The inflexibility of the material and aspect in nature includes us and our lungs call for attention. The space of the White Tiger was all about humidity, the potential sadness that comes with leaving the summer yang. Two steam rooms evaporated weakness and melancholy from our bodies and a private yoga session with a Japanese shiatsu instructor also our minds.

Fear comes from the dark crevices of winter. The Black Tortoise was a dimly-lit crystal room that has to be reserved for extra charge for all guests not participating in the program. Inside awaited us an intimate ambiance through experiencing floating in a dense salt ‘lake’ and a cave room to relax in before a scrub and hot (kidneys love warmth) mud wrap assisted by the spa therapists. The yin calm of the water element associated in China with winter’s time of rest enveloped us in restful mood. The effortless floating is for most first timers here the favourite sensation in the spa. At first, I stepped in doubtfully of how long I might last just floating on the surface of one of the three individual pools (designed so as not to interrupt by accidentally bumping into each other’s body while floating). Half an hour later I did not want to leave, rest feels wonderful if you let it.

The spring element comes to life in wood which embodies growth. The aromatic bio-saunas with mild temperatures and essences of either orange or rosemary of the Green Dragon dissolve nervousness and reduce impulsiveness in their calming, gentle atmosphere. This is an ideal season to detox the liver from sluggish wintry energy and the accumulated anger.  Forest bathing, known as shinrin-yoku in Japan was scheduled for that morning, but it rained and stormed so hard that I was instead given a qi-gong lesson that I inquired about earlier.

The central water massage crepuscular pool was advised to be used to ground through the earth after each elemental experience. Face and head massage also helps you to recenter. As in Ayurveda and yoga, this area of the body is the most potent connecting point with higher consciousness. Overthinking and being too much in one head, pondering the past and playing with the future throws us away from what is important now when we can change reality by participating in the present. The final stretching of the meridians akin to yoga, shiatsu and qi gong movements totally released any remaining stiffness and stress from my heavily-travelled body.

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May food by thy medicine

No wellbeing program can ignore nutrition. At Lefay we were very pleased with the food, more seasonal Mediterranean diet than Chinese, for Western palette challenging flavours. Italy has not let us down and we felt indulgent even.

We had a choice of tea with either the spa menu or a buffet breakfast where we could find the “light”, all high GI sugar-free, mostly dairy-free and some gluten-free pastries, seasonal fruits, make your own juice from assorted cleaned vegetables. We loved the herbed tofu scramble with turmeric one morning, that unfortunately was not made by all the cooks the same. The pastries were delightful without being overpowering. As in TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) the correct balance of the five flavors, colours and aromas in one meal is considered essential for the yin/yang balance. The nutritionally balanced, high fibre (prebiotic) meals were satisfying.

At lunch there was a harmonising, inflammation-reducing, three course menu available, but we usually chose two plates. A vegetable-centric starter, pasta or protein-rich main (chicken, fish) and then erythritol-sweetened dessert, perhaps with some ripe fruit. In the afternoon we were sipping on that day’s herbal blend for each season, mostly assemblies from Northern Italian meadows rather than rather unusual and unwelcoming Chinese herbs and who knows what that is used in TCM. Here, the “classical” approach is favoured over what has been commonly practiced in Chinese medicine since Mao’s era.

A two-course dinner of cooked vegetables (like in Ayurveda raw foods are understood as difficult to digest) accompanied by plant-based protein for restful sleep ended up with a herbal infusion of your choice. Besides the seasonal blends, there were calming, detox, and other herbs on hand.

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Sleep and regular rest is essential

The rooms at Lefay are luxurious, the beds very comfortable with a wide choice from pillows.

A gas-powered fireplace in junior and suites calms you, mostly the views include some green nature, the shower is spacious even though the open-plan glass wall separation may feel rather like being on a nudist beach, and you get a kettle, tea and water free of charge. The views are disrupted by the rather average ski town, but higher up the mountains elevate the spirit.

As in the Daoist philosophy there are some positive and negative sides of anything. At Lefay the pluses weighed down the not so welcome realities. Most importantly, I would prefer to have the philosophy and explained better during the program’s introduction. Nevertheless, the printouts we received succinctly educated me on about a dozen pages in the most clear way than any book on Chinese medicine I have read to date. The philosophical core of the five elements connected with human psyche’s emotions and the inner organ’s wellness has never agreed more in some aspects with the scientific findings in Western medical approach. No-one can refute the effect of stress on cardiovascular health, digestive disorders, ulcers, and its defective push on many chronic illnesses. 

As our environment indeed affects us, cold, heat, wind, humidity, wildfires, they all shift not just our vitality but also the quality of air we breathe and that directly impacts our wellbeing. It is logical then to train one’s body for the heat of summer by hot sauna and cold exposure, to add some contemplative, calm practices to the darker winter days, to whip ourselves with some active body awakening practices in spring when the days become longer and to accept the transition to shorter autumn days without sadness though pranayama, meditation, qi-gong, yoga and other mind-calming, focus practices. In the east or the west, traditionally we have included alternative customs and rituals into each seasonal variation.

The vast resort is open to families with kids, indulgent couple weekends and for the sport enthusiasts’ active retreats, so you will not be totally immersed in a secluded, silent meditative space, but in the real world, be it a special spa space with a luxurious bedding. Unless you become a hermit or a solo ocean sailor, you have to face others. One needs to figure out a way to protect one’s energy and wellbeing from the chaos out there. You have an opportunity here at Lefay to face, question, ponder and realise what works for yourself, just be open to what every day brings along and how it makes you feel without judgement but acceptance and it will go not only smoothly, but you will find more balance in life overall. I did.

Steirereck: white glowed, produce-driven atmospheric park cuisine in Vienna

Steirereck, the half-centenarian from own farm to fork gastronomic refuge in Vienna’s Stadtpark was on my must dine wish list for years. While my expectations from the two Michelin starred restaurant were high, I was not let down. Once we got into the hard to reserve magnificent dining destination we had to come back as full-fledged connoisseurs of harmoniously innovative Viennese cuisine sourced responsibly, seasonally and cooked into impeccable concoctions of creative zest. For atmosphere it is best to dine in the glass, steel and trees reflecting restaurant in summer when the windows are open into the verdant park or in autumn when the leaves turn crimson warm.

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The most romantic fine dining in Vienna

Set in the urban hive of outdoor pleasure in Vienna’s most central park, the family-owned, Pogush farm-based produce directed Steirereck im Stadtpark is a far more connected fine dining restaurant than the only local three star Amador. The later remotely directed by a renowned Spanish chef Juan Amador in an outskirts winery setting just had not impressed our taste buds at all.

The name comes from Steiermark (Styria) where the Reitbauer family comes from and the German word for a corner (Eck) because the first Viennese location was located on one until it moved in 2005 to this more prominent spot. The service is impeccable, friendly yet very professional. Approachable, eager to offer you more bread from its legendary bread trolley. The locally refined choices from the best bakeries in Vienna, one of the hallmarks of bread diversity in Europe, next to their own creations such as black pudding bun and the best seeded gluten-free bread I’ve had at a restaurant.

Steirereck im Stadtpark strikes a delicious balance of creativity and produce. We have also enjoyed countless delectable Viennese meals at its casual sister restaurant downstairs. Meierei im Stadtpark would deserve a star from the Michelin Guide.

Austrian bread

Understated quality at Steirereck

The farm in Pogush (owned by Margarethe and Heinz Reitbauer) supplies both restaurants – Steirereck though gets the best cut. In the countryside Pogush, Styrian cuisine plays the high note at the farm’s inn restaurant. Ahead of the Dan Barber’s Blue Hill at Stone Barns and Manhattan, the Reitbauer Family created a truly whole feeding supply circle of farm to table experience in Austria. The art of hospitality is dear to the owners. “If you booked a room on a day from Thursday-Sunday a table will be automatically be reserved for you in our restaurant.” The chef is open to working with other Austrian farm or wild produce. Any time a stellar apple, wild game, or tomato passes by his palette, the menu proudly announces the location it was sourced from.

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Vegetables in the spotlight

Upon our first visit, after a family bbq and heading to the meaty mountains, their vegetarian menu option lured me to balance my animal consumption. For vegetable lovers spring is the best season. Asparagus, May turnip, Albina Vereduna beet, kohlrabi, puntarelle and other greens brighten up the produce highlighting menu. Citrus fruits naturally acidify the plates.

My second meal at Steirereck I selected a la carte also some impeccable seafood. All the meat and fish are sustainably raised, wild-caught or hunted. The increasingly rare a la carte option is more flexible, and welcome for the seasoned diners frequenting gastronomic establishments regularly as we do. Anyway, sometimes you just feel like having a specific dish or three. What about an adventure with the unusual sisterhood of Caviar & Lentils with Banana & Bacon on the recent spring menu?

Michelin AustriaSteirereck Michelin star restaurant in Austria

Austrian cuisine had already been a blend of Austro-Hungarian regional traditions, yet in the 21st century the cosmopolitan Vienna-based chefs donned a contemporary, artistic coat to whatever excellent produce grows and grazes around.

The ‘Marchfeld’ artichokes during my veggie tasting were so scrumptious that also a la carte most recently I relished another take on the young artichokes. Braised with madeira wine and thistle oil and others preserved with earl grey tea and bergamot citrus. These gently warm spiny flowery vegetables were further paired with bergamot thyme, savoury nettle chips, caper leaves, green (fresh) almonds and roman sorrel in an elegant chicken velouté. This was not a vegetarian dish as most of the vegetable-centric plates on the regular menu are about highlighting the garden produce, not about dietary restrictions. This is how vegetables were also traditionally embellished in the southern french cuisine by the iconic Michel Guèrard and Alain Ducasse still promote savvy simplicity of seasonal bounty. The French vegetable king Alain Passard in Paris also often pairs animal ingredients in tiny amounts to highlight the magnificent plants his two organic gardens yield. Liberated culinary art like any open creative pursuit does not have strict boundaries between the types of produce combined in a recipe. The focus is on anything that tastes great together goes. 

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Many other uniquely bred vegetable species shine on the menu. The Rosa bianca eggplant with Mieze Schindler strawberry (named after the breeder’s wife) were transformed into strawberry salt and also its juice with tomatoes. Served with steamed may turnip variety, pepperworth (had to google that slightly tingly one) emulsion, mustard greens (spicy leafy veggies) and Red Orache (seriously, I need an edible plants dictionary!) This mountain spinach from the amaranth family is grown as warn-weather alternative to spinach. At Steirereck you will expand your flavour vocabulary. The eggplant was first marinated with lime and the strawberry salt, grilled and then baked to softness and finished with an exotic depth of coffee oil. A marvellous dish!

The vegetarian menu included wholesome mushroom ‘Beuschel’, with forest perennial rye bread soufflé. Oh la la, delight assuring you won’t crave a pizza after the meal. A gently braised Fennel with bergamot and a slice like a tostada topped with herbs and crunchy rye croutons was lighter yet still substantial for the oil herb sauce added some welcome weight.

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Sustainable produce of the land and the seas

From fishing rod to the plate come river or lake fishes like char, catfish, sturgeon, trout or eel. Even lesser known species like Perlfisch. Sometimes also sea or ocean bounty arrives on the carefully considered plates at Steirereck. Usually seafood like clams that are on the lower food chain and cannot be found in the proximity of the landlocked Austria. I relished the Venus clams honoured through delicate braising with vermouth and anise seed. The later further flavoured a flamed summer squash and so did dried perilla leaves (known also as shiso) in a unique concoction with preserved watermelon in scented oil. This sea meets the garden freshness swam in an emulsion reduced from the clam-watermelon creation. The fresh Mountain trout was served with kohlrabi, pineapple sage and mustard caviar.

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The meat options always include some pork, more wildly-grazing breeds like Magalitza from Steiremark that are cooked with an utmost respect for the kill. Sustainable farming practices were the only acceptable option for the Reitbauer family and it stars in the quality. The recent Paprika chicken with herb gnocchi on the summer menu was a sublime version of a Czech dish I am familiar with.

Deserts are fruit-focused during their ripe season. Plums, strawberries, apricots, cherries, nectarines, sometimes combined with vegetal notes, but during summer usually light and refreshing. Beyond summer and autumn harvest, chocolate, local poppy seeds and by flour-defined pastry skills enter the sweet finale at Steirereck. The local Prater entertainment fair themed multi-desserts are laid from churros, cotton candy, and other sweet delights next to ripe fruit on ice for the tasting menu fanfare. Flavoured shaved ice was presented at the end of summer tasting to cool us off before walking off into the evening park. Of course there is a traditional cheese trolley with impeccable selections that is not to be missed if you can. Not that I want to encourage alcohol consumption but from my experience, an extra glass of wine with a long gastronomic meal somewhat miraculously fits more food in.

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The wine cellar abounds with Austrian labels, some with good age, but overall has a global reach. The current head sommelier René Antrag understands well that “Guests now are more open to being surprised”, and it shows in the trust they put into going for a wine pairing. We like to combine both, so usually pick some well-priced bottle with reasonable age when it makes sense and then according to the food we choose one or two extra glasses not just from the menu but also from the daily changing pairing. In Austria we tend to go with local or a German white wine because they suit the cuisine, however updated to contemporary style.

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In front of you is placed with each course a small card with a detailed description of the ingredients used in the plate served. We appreciate this gesture in the contemporary fine dining world favouring obscurity over transparency in nondescript tasting menus. Who remembers, especially after two glasses of wine, all that the the strangely accented waiter said while pouring sauce over one of the seven or sixteen courses served during one meal?

Michelin Austria

The only, slightly bothering, but noticeable flaw at Steirereck was that most of the plates, save for the desserts, were rather too salty on my first visit, yet I did not find them so at all during our most recent meal this July. Traditional Austrian fare beams with salt and catering to the local palates during the pandemic years made sense. This year the world travellers are back in full force so spilling more salt onto the savoury courses would not please the more refined palates of its international diners. The Chinese traveler relish in the pork dish, while the grannies sip on the herbal infusions from the Austrian fields.

While there are many newer, casual yet exiting gastronomic restaurants to try in Vienna, I would most excitingly return only to two – Steirereck and the vegetarian Michelin star Tian. Their culinary perfection of finding the right balance on each and every plate is striking.

An old school couvert (‘Gedeck‘), perhaps for the abundance of bread selection, is added to your bill at €9.5 per person.

Mon to Fri: lunch 11.30 a.m. – 2.30 p.m. Dinner from 6.30 p.m.
Closed on weekends and public holidays

How do you feel about bees as nature’s clues about us?

Bees are the symbol of hope, life and vulnerability across many cultures. The symbolism does not end here. The ancient Egyptians, the Greeks, Hindus, Jews, Christians, Muslims, and other mythologically and spiritually oriented groups literally blossomed with divine analogies between the bees and God/s. Infant divinity’s nourishment, the earth’s and even human creation provided answers to fundamental questions about the nature of life that our ancestors asked being as interested as we are. 

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Photo of me holding a comb tray by Stanislav, a beekeeper.

Nature created to nurture

What bees do beyond honey, propolis and wax production, pollinating and feeding? Perhaps we need bees not just as major pollinators and beautifying, healthful, useful produce makers, but to teach us and to reflect on something about ourselves and our society. Across cultures, bees used to be cherished and valuable beyond their provisions. Perhaps this was connected with our ancestors’ greater awe, gratitude and respect of nature on a vaster social scale than in industrial and post-industrial eras when our focus had shifted to mass-production of goods for human consumption mainly. Isn’t then the answer to contemporary unsustainable culture a shift towards a greater awareness of natural behaviours?

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Holistic life analogies

The Chinese and Daoists were fascinated by the morphing of honey into wax, the products of one entity, the bee. The contained (yang) – honey was made into a container (yin) – hexagonally shaped wax by its creator – the bee. The perpetuity of change in taoist philosophy might had been easily deduced from observing the bees’ behaviour. One substance in different manifestations that hold each other and so form the whole to serve each other’s purpose. 

The Christians find a similar, yet simpler analogy in Christ as “honey in the rock”. The Biblical Psalm 81:16 casts that “soul is to body as honey is to comb — divine essence housed in an earthly vessel”.

Bee keeping is not just traditional, but also a religious pride in Egypt, the Arabian Peninsula, Iran, Israel and Syria. The Koran ascribes divine power to bees as the exemplars of dutiful useful behaviour. The Sûrah XVI revealed at Mecca carries title — The Bee:

“And thy Lord inspired the bee, saying: Choose thou habitations in the hills and in the trees and in that which they thatch; Then eat of all fruits, and follow the ways of thy Lord, made smooth (for thee). There cometh forth from their bellies a drink diverse of hues, wherein is heeling for mankind. Lo! Herein is indeed a portent for people who reflect.”

The spiritual individuals and their society seem to have harnessed a greater respect for such useful gifts of nature. The self’s ego is diminished by the divine force when facing that which shall imbue our hearts with joy and minds with humbleness.

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Blasphemous fraud affecting honey customers

Speaking of God and honey, there is plenty of fraud going on contemporary globalised trade. Much of the honey labeled does not come from the claimed country and the cheapest ones tend to be of “syrup-laced honey from China and other exporters” such as Ukraine, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and Turkey. The Financial Times reported recently in an article titled: Beekeepers abuzz over ‘honey laundering’ that  the European Commission found “almost half of the honeys surveyed broke EU rules, with ingredients such sugar syrups, colourings and water.” Traceability is also a huge problem in the weak labelling law system not just in the usually rather strict EU. The nutritionally zero value sugar water is incomparable with the enzyme and Vitamin rich nectar of the bees.

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HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT BEES?

We know they are important, even necessary for life as we know it on this planet, but do you feel admiration, awe, gratitude, or is it fear, worse even ambivalence that affect you when meeting face to face with the sting-ready insect that does more useful work than any other animal does for humanity?

Bees do not just produce honey, propolis and royal gelly for the cosmetic, natural health and food business, their industriousness keeps nature set in its cycles of fertility and the necessary restive dormancy. The life and death cycles necessary for continuity.

How is it so easy for you

To be kind to people he asked

Milk and honey dripped

From my lips as I answered

Cause people have not

Been kind to me

Rupi Kaur

Ever since I was stung by one accidentally when the little me was hiking with my family, I feared these defensive creatures. Encountering the whole truth of wild mother nature was not just a sweet bliss of its ripe produce and transformed alchemy of nectars, it hurt and it swelled. I was afraid. Like a snake rattle, hearing the buzzing sound nearby rises my hair. Around bees I am anxious to jump into any proximate body of water to submerge myself in a self-protecting isolation. Slam the door, the window, get away from this stinging flier! And this reaction came after just one bite. Maybe I need more to fully grasp its harmless pinch, but who volunteers for pain? Only sadists, stoics and psychopaths do.

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MY BEE POEM

Collected essence of sunshine

Blossoms nakedly in its obscenity

Of perfumed nectar, an irresistible 

Warmth of contact with the divine

Alchemy venerating waste, transformed

Golden pollen digested in honeyed bliss

Tastes as sweet as the lover’s kiss

A rainbow of awe showered humanity

Praising this animal queendom ruled 

By fertility fed by royal gelly for longevity

Humm, buzzing, fear-rising

In stinging imagination

Threatened by sound

But governed

By fierce protection

Of continuity

~RB

Learning from the apian life

Over the recent years I was alerted more urgently to the looming climate disaster, so I kept reading on the irreplaceable value of bees. It does not hurt to study the object of your fear after all. I realised that I must shift my relationship with these magnificent labourers of dedicated love. Curiosity is our greatest teacher and it can introduce highly unexpected knowledge.

Intriguingly, I found an analogy between snake and bee. In the ancient Hindu scriptures the bee humming sound awakens the sleeping Kundalini (energy) serpent. Perhaps, I feared the snake’s awakening inside me each time the fearful buzz approached me. An inner challenge ringing from the outside environment from which we cannot insulate ourselves. This connection with nature can only be cut by lack of awareness (=consciousness) or death, one being most likely synonymous with the other.

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Next to their luring sound, the aromatic pheromones released and shared by the ruling queen bee bind her tribe in a potent, organised hierarchical society. Any queen bee takes care of all the procreation, while the rest feeds and protects her prolific egg production. So much on the shoulder of one leader!

Maybe it was the bee that inspired autocratic human systems distinguished by exceptionalism.

Bees’ life cycle, while exemplary in their cooperative activity might seem cruel. The female workers kill the male drones by the end of summer. Perhaps that is also why they tend to be more aggressive in this period also towards humans. September can be dreadful for the male bees and myself. Killing the by now useless (not that I am, but naturally I am a threat with my human largesse and they have a weapon to use, be it deadly when used also for themselves) to preserve the food for long winter is the ultimate example of the survival of the fittest in the animal realm. The intuitive protection of the Mother Queen lying as much as 2,000 eggs a day as the securer of continuity is fascinating. Hence her goddess status amongst her kin’s dependants and the ancient symbolic enthusiasm amongst diverse cultures.

In the Aeneid, Sophocles measures human diligence with bees activity.

Such is their toil, and such their busy pains,

As exercise the bees in flowery plains,

When winter past, and summer scarce begun,

Invites them forth to labor in the sun;

Some lead their youth abroad, while some condense

Their liquid store, and some in cells dispense;

Some at the gate stand ready to receive

The golden burthen, and their friends relieve;

All with united force, combine to drive

The lazy drones from the laborious hive:

With envy stung, they view each other’s deeds;

The fragrant work with diligence proceeds.

“Thrice happy you, whose walls already rise!”

I just cannot escape the bees. My cousin hobbies in bee-keeping after work, a husband’s friend’s start-up raised tens of millions to safeguard honey production, and last year the chronicle of my birth-region, who interviewed me challenged me to come to his friend’s “friendly” beehives and hold some trays of combs oozing with the sticky nectar and hundreds if not thousands (!) bees uninterrupted in their work.

I was invited to face my fear — one against the whole tribe. It turned out that the bee keeper was a woman, a rare sight or perhaps it is because bee keepers tend to their hives rather invisibly. What one often sees when traveling through the European countryside are the coloured wooden boxes by the hedges of a forest, in the proximity of a meadow or flowering bushes.

I would not leave anything to chance, therefore I requested a full protective suit. Most hobbyist bee keepers eventually use only the gloves if any. My cousin said casually that he does not use any and if he gets a few stings, alright that is what they do to protect themselves poor things. His compassion moved me. Looking at a few ancient depictions of a figure about to savour the sweet sticky nectar straight from the hive’s buzzing cave, I learned that human desire never ceases us to tempt to danger. One could be allergic without knowing, so a few stings or even just one can be deadly. The ancient jars, cave paintings and papyrus bore witness to risk for a sweet reward.

Apiarists know their flocks. They are aware when they are angry because of the pheromones that smell somewhat like bananas according to some reports. Literally, they go bananas when upset. They group into an attack. In that scenario I was told by most beekeepers one should remain still, almost as if blending with the surrounding nature, calmly let them pass by. 

In my bubble of safety I watched the bees filling the hexagonal wax chambers with honey while holding the tray carefully. I kind of half shut myself down. That is how this first intentional encounter with my fear felt. Yet, unless I move to the Antarctica or in the highest altitude of the Himalayas I have to meet the bees. Even in the polluted urban areas the buzzing pollinators go about their job.

What I realised around this experience was that I must find what we have in common, what interests we share and what we can give to each other, in other words to become friends. If we want to call ourselves evolved like Hippocrates (an avid fan of honey) and not hypocrites, we shall grow above the survival of the fittest law of wild nature and rather judge life based on fairness. Humans feel after all.

Luminesunset in Japan

WHY they matter to humanity?

Sunshine lovers as the bees are like myself managed to find their way into my circle of friends. If you ever want blueberries, cherries or most vegetables, you cannot do without bees as the wind won’t work here. Only technology could, but that would be costly. The buzzcopters are by far the most important pollinators. There are about 20,000 species of bees in the world. Most of them do not make honey, but each pollinates a specific flower, some even have evolved body shapes more suitable to enter some intricately shaped blossoms. 

Extinction of bees would alter ecosystems and human food systems. Fruits would be too expensive to robot-pollinate so without the bees’ assistance, less natural food would be affordably available to nourish the growing global population. While they are resistant to droughts, they are sensitive to cold and large shifts in temperatures. Climate change is disrupting mild climates, fluctuates temperatures in sudden, erratic restlessness. It breaks down regularity of the seasonally shifting qi energy. Their vital role in agriculture as well in the interconnected environment is indisputable.

I read a heartfelt but sad bestselling story of a a Syrian refugee for whom bees were everything in life. It was given to me by my nature-aware dad the last Christmas. They consoled his loss of a beloved only son and his suffering while undergoing a dangerous journey by sea through Greece to England. In The Beekeeper of Aleppo, Christy Lefteri recounts problems across cultures and how bees connect our society with another. The author introduced me to the knowledge of some  bees’ adaptability. For example the British black bees are more resistant in cooler temperatures, she writes. They keep working under 15 degrees Celsius and when compared to most European bees they are more resistant against viruses.

.mind-opening booksBee shaped glass at a gastronomic restaurant

While I am not attempting to explain bee behaviour and keeping scientifically or practically, I want  to illuminate the importance of these buzzing insects to humanity. Beyond producing potentially the first sweetener of our from paradise cast out lives, this supporter of fertility and biodiversity on the only Earth that we know we have, deserves our attention and support. I had to overcome one of my greatest fears for the sake of sustainability, you can do less than that, just use your buzzing consciousness.

The calmest place in Geneva: the mysterious aura of La Cimetière des Rois
The calmest place in Geneva in summer is not by the busy lake, but under the shades in the Cemetery of the Kings away from the frolics of the town.
It may sound ironic, even counterintuitive, but one can feel rejuvenated after nesting at a cemetery for a while. Once, just before heading to one of my favourite tea rooms and sweat wagashi treats, I nibbled my lunch mindfully on a shaded bench of one vast Tokyo cemetery. I even scribbled a few poems under the willow trees of another in Copenhagen. So often while gazing ahead on the Mediterranean blues, I contemplated my desired eternal resting site on the prow of the hill in St Paul de Vence.
Most recently, on the eve of a concert of my favourite contemporary piano composer in the plush the Théâtre du Léman, another live performance graced my day. As I attended to the birds orchestra perched in the crowns of the majestic trees in Geneva, two professional singers were stretching their chords in a tree studded corner. This not always vocal metamorphosis from mortality to eternity present so peacefully at cemeteries fascinates me. There are no ball games, no cyclists swishing by and only a few dare to picnic. These adorned spaces of bodily rest calm me and induce spacious focus that feels meditative and inspiring. Try it yourself, but beware as with everywhere else, only a few really feel like soul places, unique, mysteriously binding you to their aura.
flaneurSwiss street art

Naturally, the mood also depends on the cementerio (like Recoleta in Buenos Aires), cimetiére (Per Lachaise in Paris), cimiterio (Staglieno in Genova), friedhof (Petersfriedhof in Salzburg), hrbitov (Vyšehrad cemeteryin Prague), kirkegård (Assistens in Copenhagen) amongst many other sites of post-mortem respect, but somehow the older are more interesting.

Cemetery of the Kings in Geneva
Cemetery of the Kings in Geneva
Cemetery of the Kings in Geneva
tombstone
Cemetery of the Kings in Geneva
Cemetery of the Kings in Geneva
Cemetery of the Kings in Geneva
Cemetery of the Kings in Geneva

 

From stone through sculpture, from primitive aesthetics to cultured sophistication, the naturist art at La Cimetière des Rois, the oldest cemetery in Geneva hosts the most prominent of its inhabitants from centuries under the French clasp and the later Swiss era that attracted global intellectuals in. The Argentine phenomenon Jorge Louis Borges grew up in Geneva and was also buried here.

In the Plainpalais district not far from the historic museum, théâtre and university areas, Geneva’s Cemetery of the Kings is more used by the savvy locals than tourists. The with trees clad space has since 1482 welcomed a few noble descendants of nobility (naturally, a baron’s grave is quite imposing), the city’s mayors, illustrious personalities like philosophers (Austria-born Robert Musil), painters (the leader of Genevan romanticism François Diday), poets (next to Simone Rapin, one Grisélidis Réal – “poet, writer and prostitute” is also buried there), religious reformers (Jean Calvin), writers (Jorge Luis Borges), next to world peace builders, ground breaking doctors, to the banking scions of the Pictet family.

Cemetery of the Kings in GenevaCemetery of the Kings in Geneva

If one is to find respite in the burdened mundane existence then a smaller scale, not as overwhelming burial site better serves a contemplative moment on one’s own. Perhaps only accompanied by the whispering spirits of the deceased. Well, a lot can still happen at a cemetery besides burial.

As I observed at the Cemetery of the Kings in Geneva, the resident fat rabbit amuses strollers in a vivid − nature meets men encounter. A mature gentleman on a shaded bench was extracting world news from a paper, cigar puffing out his bemused mouth, what a way to relish the everyday! I was turning my gaze away from a wandering couple binding their love by kissing unashamedly right in the middle lane.

Not just because of such entertainment, the Cemetery of the Kings is my favourite spot in Geneva. The lake might be as liberating, temporarily, but better on a sailboat. If one is bound to the shore of this Franco-Swiss metropolis that overall grew beyond its charming past, disruption and not enough space available for the mind to unwind, spurs the heart to release and the soul to open its wings somewhere.

La Cimetière des RoisCemetery of the Kings in Geneva

Some of the grave sites are not even made, sculpted or carved. I adore the present assemblies of a simple natural stone, some with a tree trunk winding around its eternal body and/or coated with mossy fur. These feel to me like the nativist kami or forest spirits one meets along pilgrimage trails in Japan. Such a place may invite a poem in a creative soul, peace in a bereaved’s heart, a reflective essay into an intellectual’s mind. The philosopher Nietzsche mentioned Genova’s Staglieno as “the most beautiful among the worlds most beautiful” as he found peace in his very alive moments at that Mediterranean cemetery. Praised by Byron, Dickens and Stendhal, the Certosa di Bologna cemetery with its monumental tombs that feel like an open-air-museum also moved the sensitive souls of the creatives. But you do not have to be an artist to appreciate calm moments on your own in the buzz and crowds of our current overpopulated world. Just go with the flow of the honourable space carved for our ancestors.

From Sunrise to Sunset: nonfigurative poem on fission and fusion ∀ for all

Today is the International Yoga Day (becoming one is its ultimate quest), the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year when the sun’s light graces our human existence on the Earth with the most open gate to connecting within the solar system, so the ancients in many diverse cultures believed. Stonehenge gets the most packed with curious souls on this day. It is also our ninth wedding anniversary. ‘Love conquers all’ was written on my friend’s wedding gown this past weekend. This latin proverb remains timelessly chiming in our consciousness. Love is about union and that is this fusion of separate entities is a higher level of shared existence humanity is capable of. Well, with some effort.

naturalist artbest sculpturesLove quotes

Connecting this opportunity, the sun with my soul, I meditated this morning. Soon once again realising how wonderful is this simple tool accessible to all of us patient enough to find their inner space through breath, focus and giving ourselves a meaningful snippet of time from our day. This non-activity is creativity, ideas and soul-nurturing opportunity to squeeze into our packed schedules.

In the soulful moment of connection with my environment, when my nervous system was calmed, relaxed from its tensed activity of thinking, I opened the dam within. That unconscious content released into a flow of writing, which I am publishing unedited bellow. I was never afraid to make mistakes or to expose myself raw, uncensored, natural — simply how I am, but writing poetry brought me somewhere else. This is not me, most of my poems go beyond me, they transcend my ego and the self, they come from another plane and I cannot name it, is it the Muse knocking on my mind’s open door?

best female artistsbest female artists

NOW through character: From Sunrise to Sunset

What’s that we are unwinding 

in the evolutionary path

of life and death cycles

—

Is it a motion towards oneness?

Or

A revolving setback

≅

Towards our only Earth

the home we were born in

all equal, but for geography

≈

To unite we must become selfless,

simpler, unpolluted, user-friendly

unblemished mass of flesh,

freed minds, irreducible hearts

that breathe as one existence

concurring in this unique place

in time filled with space

≠

But, this is not humanity

diverse like the infinite

realm of the universe

∩

So what are we doing now

in our intent extinction

of diversity — we annihilate possibility

of individual souls to colour this world

abundant with dispersion,

unfastened choices,

branched out multitudes

gagged by homogeneity!?

∈

While there is always something

good in any bad thing and in reverse

the only difference being their relative quantity

the measure of evil against divine equanimity

∀

Who builds the dam to protect us

from the upcoming sun-setting flood

that won’t soak into the dried up soil

we depleted, disrespected, exploited

in our blasphemy to shared existence?

~RB

best female artists

Grand Ocean: Anna-Eva Bergman

Symbol key:

≈ almost equal to

≅ approximately equal to

~ similar to

≠ not equal to

∩ intersection

∈ element of

∀ for all

Parisian architecture

From Sunrise to Sunset

This existential call rings up from our collective unconscious mind. In the current political, ecological, spiritual and technological turmoil, can the arts summon our strength, illuminate our conscience more effectively than conventional activism does? The arts have for some, liberated time by now expressed truths we must face — like the fission of our common existence. Through a multiform message system the participants communicate something important through shared awareness. I wrote about the importance of spiritual art already, but here I mean to stress the arts’ social role. Beyond beauty, concepts, selfish expression, there are questions in some great art tickling our conscience. We must engage.

Mountain in one line by Anna-Eva Bergman:

spiritual artminimalism

Like Georgia O’Keefe and Anna-Eva Bergman, the later Norwegian-born artist, known more during her lifetime as being the wife (twice) of abstract German-French painter Hans Hartung, I am fascinated by mountains, pebbles and stones. Something dwells on their peaks. Is it the key, the solution to our current existential problems? I devour observing a nearby mountain horizon, so proximate that I can trace all of its curves, creases, riffs, it’s rocky flesh sometimes covered by trees, the lungs of the Earth. Its body is close, yet not suffocating. The mountain’s inviting distance inspires intimacy without claiming my space. Tall enough still to glimpse the pinks and purples before the sunset.

Currently, I am leafing through a fascinating biography of this challenged artist who lived through two world wards while suffering in hospitals due to her fragile health. Luminous Lives by Thomas Schlesser, the director of the Hartung-Bergman foundation in Antibes, is an account of her artistic, personal and spiritual journey towards her nonfigurative naturalist depictions that I was smitten by at this spring retrospective at the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris (MAM).

Incense

This poem was inspired by an incense. The plant mass of burning ash I often light when writing indoors. Older than a candle and spread east to west, this smoky device has been used in spiritual ceremonies, in tribal rites, to commemorate the deceased and to clear the surroundings of bad spirits. Today it is more widely spread in the western meditation practice, in more intimate yoga studios, in wholesome tea rooms that I love to ground myself in, but the more in the zeitgeist concept stores I come by, the more incenses I find. Its scent thickens the atmosphere with grounding presence.

mindful spaceteatime

sage dilates my nostrils, burning

 flesh to ashes penetrates me viscerally 

  cheeks swell like a blushing cherry

  the smoking air, strong, pulls the lace

 around my breasts for the lungs to embrace

the longing heart’s shivering body of nerves

 

  this oxygen-bound, dried mist of a tamed blaze

travels through my aching body filled with life

reminding me to cede all that useless strife

— by breath alone come out of the maze

you were caught in weak like a mice

lost in the vain mind throwing dice

oh, this delicate life seeming at ease

dependent on timely contraction and release

on what goes in and what comes out as I float

above, I see clear, it’s joy that makes it count

~ Joy

The shape of this poem (on a computer screen for mobile turn your phone to horizontal) is intentionally mimicking the fuming incense first from the left and further down from its right side border.

incense burner incense burner

My use of the incense is purely practical. The smoke relaxes me, it helps me to focus, it eases any lingering anxiety and thoughts, plus it smells so nice. While I have never inhaled a draw from a cigarette (it just smells terrible, how could I?), I shared some bonding rounds of scented hookah lounging on divans from Abu Dhabi, through Istanbul, Marrakech to London. My one and only puff of marijuana concluded in ceaseless raptures of irrational laughter I puzzlingly did not enjoy. The fake effect of joy from it put me off. I prefer being connected, not disjointed from myself. I want to feel the real or the imagined, but with the sole aid of my own creative mind.

The only smoke I truly relish is that of the 6000 years old ceremonial tool that was the very first fragrant material used by humans. The ancient Chinese and the Egyptians burned plants to induce the specific smell bound in them. It is like liberating the aroma’s spirit dwelling inside. I spent much of my 20s living in Asia where burning incense accompanied many of my adventures. In the Buddhist temples on the Kumano Kodo in Japan, the stupas scattered around the bustling Bangkok, the tranquil Luang Prabang, the uncountable Hindu divinities’ shrines in Nepal and India, taoist edifices around Hong Kong, Shanghai and Taipei.

The Japanese refined the ritualistic incense ceremony into kōdō that similarly to tea ceremony chadō induces the zen tranquility of the mind. Recently, I was drown to the Earth element made of vetiver, cypress and patchouli stirred in the area of an ancient rainforest in Guatemala of the Nippon Kodo incense maker that has been in business in Tokyo since 1575. The infatuation with incense has never ceased to work on us spiritually.

Mayan incense burnerincense burner

From the lonely mountain chapels to the urban hustle, the incense scent’s omnipresence filled me with calm. The smoky indescribable energy works its magic anywhere  — from your bathroom to your desk. One does not need to burn it in a dedicated sacred place.

I learned from an interview with a contemporary LA-based artist of my vintage (’83 has rather pleased from Australia through France, Italy to Cali), that I am not a lone creative in this incense sway. Some use it while painting, others when taking their meditative break or sipping tea to keep their spirits high in the creation unique to their own kind. The scent of good coffee is a sensuous realm on its own, its force just clashes too harsh with an incense to my sensitive nose.

Orthodox ChurchFragrant incense sticks

The forms of an incense

An incense as a source of pleasant smoke does not have to be shaped into a stick. Bound or ground dried plants like holy basil and sage packs are used for scent releasing by burning. Even resinous materials like the oliban of the boswellia tree family found in Northern Africa. Any decent Arabic market sells them, I bought my first such incense in Marrakech. One needs a coin-shaped charcoal and a lidded censer pierced with openings for the smoke to come out and to burn it safely. The last tool I only acquired recently. While traveling from Northern Italy through the mountain pass into the Swiss Engadine, at my request we stopped at a UNESCO protected nunnery dedicated to St. John, where next to jams, herbal tisanes, and cookies made by the nuns, they also sold packets of blended incense. Their ‘Paradise mix’ intrigued me (the irresistible promise of heaven!), so I snapped it together with a gold-leaf censer small enough for travelling and easy to put on an even surface anywhere. Our winter mountain retreat smelled divine the entire month.

At the Met museum on Manhattan I witnessed splendid incense burners. The bronze art works were inspired by animals like a bull and cat. Imagine the fumes coming off their eyes and nostrils!

incense burner

Large, suspended from the ceiling or handheld censers are still being used during religious ceremonies. From orthodox churches, mosques to catholic cathedrals. In Mexico they penetrated the everyday presence as scent accompanies the soul to a reflective realm affecting human wellness. We need the spiritual in life, it does not have to be religious, but it must be present to comfort us in the turmoil that existence in flesh, wood, or fibre is.

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