Surrender Yourself, Theme for 2015

Raining in Istanbul today and we have to check out of our hotel.  Didn’t feel like touring, so we went to a Turkish bath.  They are called “hammam” here.  Really nothing like it in the states that I have experienced.

We went to the Aga Sophia Hammam.  It’s right by the Hagia Sophia, and was built by a sultan.  It’s huge on the inside.  Hammam’s are a part of Turkish culture.

I don’t know what you know about Turkish baths, but you strip down, put a towel on and go into a hot room.  You are totally naked.  The hot room is small.  An attendant mixes water and wets you down.

It’s quiet, and the steam is not overpowering but it’s there.  At that point, you can’t be more vulnerable physically and if you let yourself go there, mentally.

If it’s crowded, there might be other people of the same sex in with you.  In my case, I was alone.  There was really no one else in the hammam.

After that, you go out into a larger domed room.  An attendant dumps more water on you and then takes a loofah type glove and exfoliates you.  It’s time for the bubbles after that and I couldn’t remember the last time I took a bubble bath.  But, this one you laid on a hot marble floor and the attendant made bubbles that sat on top of you.  After that, they rubbed you down with the bubbles on both sides of your body.  It was like a mini-massage.

I think to be successful, you need to let yourself go. I was apprehensive about doing a hammam.  I had read online that they were tourist traps.  I suppose they could be if it was crowded and they rushed you through.  That wasn’t my experience.  But, I was in the moment and never tried to over think.

It’s interesting.  The physical sensation of the heat, the soap, the bubbles and the rub down.  The mental sensation of letting your brain go and not thinking about anything.  I’d recommend it to anyone.