Ganko

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I grew up in India watching my mother and women around me put on a bindi, a dot, on their forehead every morning. This ritual used to be for married women. They would apply a red powder called sindoor with a fingertip. Then stick on bindis became popular. Over time it evolved into a mark of beauty. Young unmarried women started wearing a bindi too.

This ritual is not just for women, some men wear a mark on the forehead. It’s called a tika or tilak. It can be different shapes, the tear drop shape is quite popular. Some men apply it everyday. In my family, the women applied it on the men’s forehead on special occasions like weddings and religious festivals.

When I left school, leaving the days of school uniform behind, I was free to dress as I like. I started wearing a bindi. It started as a dot. Gradually I started being creative with it and used to make patterns with liquid bindi.

What I did not realise till now is the value of this simple ritual. Today I am wondering if touching the middle of the forehead can help bring focus to the mind. What if our ancestors knew the value of touching the middle of the forehead for our mental wellbeing. It seems to me that over time the value of the ritual got lost and it evolved into a beauty ritual.

I stopped wearing bindis with western clothes. I don’t want to start wearing a bindi again. But I can start the day with touching the middle of the forehead every morning greeting the mind, thanking it for all that it helps me with and blessing it. I feel that this simple touch with this awareness can help attune the mind for what is coming in the day.

I feel something new is being activated in me today, something is surfacing from the unconscious to conscious awareness about the sense of touch.

This exploration with bindi, bindu in sanskrit, started with a dot appearing at the top of the calligraphy I brushed a few days ago. I love how the practice of calligraphy, meditation and Reiki enriches me and helps me value what is already there. Deep gratitude to all my teachers and the communities I get to practise with.

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