Dear Tiatira Com,
Is there anything more delicious than sinking into a warm bath? It’s like a languid, liquid hug that pushes that day’s cares into the background and moves to the fore your need, probably unacknowledged until that moment, for self-care.
In the way most of us practice this ahh moment, we are merely sketch artists. In Japan, the bath is a work of art. It is a time to meditate, to release our worries to the mists that rise off the waters and to share our collective culture.
It is the sharing that may give you some pause. Westerners bathe in private. In Japan, bathing is a group venture, natural for its residents but unsettling, at first, for newcomers.
Writer Don George, who has a long, deep connection to Japan, spends a great deal of traveling — and occasionally, relaxing — there. He is comfortable with the ritual, and his article reveals how you can be as well.
The reward? Besides feeling better, you will have a deeper view of and an appreciation for a ritual that embraces the whole person. That is the gift of travel.
Stay curious.
Warmest Regards,
