I hadn’t slept in over 48 hours. I was past the point of exhaustion, into a clear minded, heightened state of awareness. The world looked new, colors flashing as if they were being invented before my eyes, sounds like crystal chimes in my ears.
I put on Deva Premal, and lit only by candlelight, I slowly sink into the hot bath, the bubbles enveloping me like a cocoon. I run them up and down my body, scooping up handfuls and blowing them into the air, entranced by the prisms of color. I run my hands over every inch of my body, my hair, tracing my face with my fingertips, making love to every inch of myself, my feet, my arms, my neck, my legs, every nerve as sensitive as the bubbles I pop. Rising from the tub I envelop myself in oil, loving the silky feeling on my skin.
I smudge the entire house with sage, cleansing it of all negative energy. I light incense, inhaling the smoke and cleansing my inner body of stress.
Dressing in a long flowing black skirt and tank top I change the music to a Sufi/Persian mix and poise myself in the centre of the room.
And I begin to dance.
Whirling like a dervish, leaping, twirling, writhing like a snake, the movement of my hips hypnotic in the reflection in the window.
I stamp the rhythms and toss my head until my bones vibrate, then crouch down, tumbling, and then leaping to my feet, for the Earth cannot hold me, and I rise, arms upraised to the sky, to Kali,
I spin until I am unaware of anything around me, only the sound of my breath, the blood pumping in my ears and the exalted laughter pealing out of me at the power of my body and the Gods.
I dance for untold hours, and then collapse to the floor, in a state of pure spiritual and physical ecstasy, and, finally, fall asleep.
