Comments on: Slowing-Down Space

By: To embody | Anchors and Masts

To embody | Anchors and Masts — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 12:24:08 +0000

[...] writes here about her bathing ritual and its connection with baptism, the sacramental holiness of the element [...]

By: Christine

Christine — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 21:23:18 +0000

Beautiful poem Pam, how perfect!

Thanks so much Leah and yolanda.

By: yolanda

yolanda — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 18:33:44 +0000

I really enjoyed this post. Thanks for sharing it. You have such a way with words.

By: Leah

Leah — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 18:00:37 +0000

so very beautiful–thank you!

By: Pam

Pam — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 17:14:00 +0000

You will see by the poem I wrote some time ago that I relate very much to your writing today. Since it is titled, “No one guesses”, it is not something I have shared worldwide! (until now)

No one guesses
why I take a bath
each evening.

It is my way
to return
to the womb.

Warm waters
envelop me
in a small space.

When I let myself slip
beneath the water,
outside sounds
become muffled.

Body sounds are amplified.
A heartbeat, a gurgle,
rhythms of maternal waters.

I am taken back
to an existence
that memory cannot reach.

But I know the sensations.
The sense of being safe,
loved, cared for.

I can be still
and totally relaxed,

letting my thoughts and dreams
just drift and float
on the water’s surface.

When I step from the bath,
it is as if I am
emerging again into life.

I am renewed
by this mysterious connection
with my earliest beginnings.

By: Christine

Christine — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 16:51:37 +0000

Wow, thank you all, I am moved by your responses. This was a very heartfelt piece of writing and seems to have made some heart connections, for that I am grateful.

eileen– I find taking a bath in mid-afternoon to be a decadent delight!

bette– I love the image of invoking the Spirits of all women.

heidi renee — you might be surprised how un-dreamy and small my bathroom really is, but the wonder of some candles, and yes a good scrubbing.

By: Heidi Renee

Heidi Renee — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 16:29:53 +0000

My best friend asked me, a couple of months ago, when I was whinging about how my kids were growing older and didn’t need me to mother them so much, so how can you begin to mother yourself?

I had no answer for her. Today you helped me peel that back just a little. Thank you. My bathroom isn’t nearly as dreamy of a space as your’s and the tub needs a good scrub before I lower myself into it’s “womb” but I can see how this act would be an entrance into mothering myself.

Thank you, it is beautiful.

By: Cathleen

Cathleen — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 15:31:46 +0000

Simply beautiful… connecting with others yet holding the tension of those who can not receive such a gift.
Thank you for this blessing!

By: Bette

Bette — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 14:48:00 +0000

these are the most beautiful and meaningful words i’ve read in a very long time that took me to the core. i love how you also became different women from other cultures, connected through the sacredness of water.

somehow the act of pouring your own bath water is more meaningful in a spiritual way then for it to come out of the faucet. its like invoking the ancient Spirits of all women.

thank you, christine.

By: eileen (the dream)

eileen (the dream) — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 12:20:33 +0000

Though my routine of preparation for the nightly ritual of the steamy bubble bath is a bit different, it is much the same. It is recounting the day – a prayer for peace … for myself, my family, my friends, and the world at large. It is a time to be with my husband in the glow of candlelight to share the events of the day and speak what is on our minds and in our hearts. There are times during the day, when I steal away to the bath – solo. Water … “womb-space” indeed.