The other day at work was slammin' and non-stop! When I finally arrived home (14 hours after I had left home) I made dinner for everyone, threw in a couple of loads of laundry, and filled the dishwasher.
Finally around 11PM I was ready to relax. I poured a glass of wine and sat on the couch. There was a muffled knock at the door and I was my old friend...Insomnia.
It never fails. My body was so tired my knees actually felt like buckling, which was in direct contrast with my brain which was still running the marathon it had started when I punched into work. But you see I was in a bit of a pickle because I had to wake up just a few short hours later AND DO IT ALL AGAIN! I didn't really want to ingest enough coffee the next morning to move myself to palpitations, no, I had to figure out a way to calm my mind...QUICKLY. This was a bit of a personal emergency.
Meditation did cross my mind but I know myself well enough to realize this would be like treating a forest fire as if it was a birthday candle that could be blown out. NO.
I knew the only thing that would calm me. It's really been the only thing that ever has.
A Zen Bath...
I lit my new Tahitian Coconut Candle
I ran a steamy hot bath infused with a bit of chunky sea salt I keep on a rustic bookcase, yes,
in my bathroom. I don't know if being an Aquarian has anything to do with it, or the sneaking suspicion that I've always been a bit of an empath (soaking up energy and vibes and needing to 'bathe' them away). But my bathroom, though run of the mill, can become a spa/zen/sanctuary in two minutes flat!
This was a tub I created in the half bath in a camping cabin a couple of years ago. Yes that is a large tote (at 4'11" I fit quite comfortably!) My view was a roaring fire in a stone hearth in the middle of the night with my sons snoring in bunk beds.
People that know me very well are somewhat intrigued by my ritual of bath. And when friends come over for the first time they look in my master bath with and inquisitive hushed manner. My bathroom at the townhouse is a standard bath. Nothing fancy. A double sink. laminate counters. A toilet. A stall shower that badly needs a redo. And a cast iron regular tub. I've been known to turn a tiny bath into a bathing sanctuary and sometimes create my own bathtub (see above!)
The bookcase throws everyone, but I was my Godmother that told a story of reading in the tub that got me hooked! My other Aunt Mary elevated a bath to an event adopting a French accent "Let's take a Bahhhth" It's really in the blood I think...
Chunky Sea Salt to bathe out impurities...A broken but lovely rosary drapes the glass vessel
and in the center is a little wayward chunk of amethyst, my birthstone.
Some of my amethyst collection sits on a shelf of the bookcase with a very cool celestial bracelet my son found on a visit to Lake George ($7 and it came with earrings! The hills on the bracelet
are sea shells...
Books I Love and grab for a few pages from time to time...You will find Coleridge-Selected Poems, 3 CookBooks, Deepak Chopra, Dream Interpretation, At Day's Close-A chronicle of Night throughout history, Farmers Almanac Home Wisdom, As a Man Thinketh-A Century Old Publication of Positive Thought, Steve Alten's The Loch, and whatever catalogs catch my fancy :)
My Lovely Lovely Pothos plant which lends a tumbling timeless feeling. There is a broken Iron Cross I pulled out of a dumpster and painted black. One side is longer - almost pointing the way to the practice of asymmetrical and imperfect spirituality. From the bottom of it a handmade moon pottery ornament hangs, it was from a potter that moved back to Arizona to be near family.
I shut the lights and lit the candles and ran the water. I soaked. I let my thoughts and the briny water wash over me. I was cloistered in steam and oatmeal almond scents. The living candle light flickered over the amethyst like an ancient cave...I was transported, I was calm, I was zen, I was ready for bed, I was in my own bathroom.
Atmosphere is everything - So I've been told.
Good Energy to you and your rituals...always take care of yourself...however simple.
