Comfort & Relaxation Rituals
The hammam: steam, soap, and a long pause
The hammam in my old neighbourhood in Fez is below the level of the street. You go down five worn stone steps...
Section
Comfort & Relaxation Rituals
Calming evening rituals, bath traditions, breath practices, and quiet comforts borrowed from older ways of living.
18 entries in this section
Comfort & Relaxation Rituals
Foot soaks: warm water, salt, ten minutes
My mother in Treviso kept a deep enamel basin under the kitchen sink, and on cold evenings, when she came in from...
Comfort & Relaxation Rituals
Slow reading: an old habit worth keeping
My grandfather in Bangalore had a reading chair. It was wooden, with a faded green cushion, and it sat next to a...
Comfort & Relaxation Rituals
Traditional scents at home: incense, oils, dried petals
The first thing I notice when I walk into my aunt's house in Fez is the smell. It is not a perfume,...
Comfort & Relaxation Rituals
The evening candle: a small flame as a habit
There is a moment in my kitchen in Casablanca, around seven in the evening, when the light outside the window has gone...
Comfort & Relaxation Rituals
The hot bath: a slow soak across cultures
My grandmother in Friuli kept a small wooden stool by the bathtub. She would sit on it sometimes, after the bath had...