Playing with Fire

As far as I’m concerned, there are only two uses of fire: to light tea candles for my aromatherapy fixes and to cook oatmeal (which I do a lot of each time the weighing scale squeaks disapprovingly at the frequency of having ice cream cake for dessert).

Obviously, I haven’t heard of agnihotra, a kind of healing through fire. 

A friend sent me an SMS invitation to join an agnihotra healing at her healing space in Quezon City. Without really knowing what it is, I said yes. These days, the demons of depression are threatening to come in full force so I don’t really have the right to say no to anything that spells “healing”, even if it comes with a word that’s not easy for me to pronounce.

agnihotra (noun): the science of healing and purification through the medium of fire.

The fire is prepared in a pyramid-shaped copper vessel by mixing dried cow dung and ghee (carified butter). Some mantras are spoken and meditation is done until the fire is extinguished. This spiritual technique is performed twice a day at exactly sunrise and sunset. It is during these times when the whole environment gets charged with positive energy and it gathers around the copper pyramid. This positive energy neutralizes negative energies in the environment and brings about healing.

The session was like going through a detoxification process. I felt like all the toxins from my body, physical, mental, and emotional, was flushed out.There was something about the smoke from the burnt cow dung that facilitated a deep meditative process. My mental chatter went to a complete stop. The agnihotra practitioner said that if the practice is done regularly, the benefits would include:

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• An experience of peace as mental tensions disappear
• Agnihotra renews brain cells, revitalizes the skin and purifies the blood
• Plants, animals and humans receive nutrition from the vibrations of Agnihotra atmosphere, become happy and grow well
• Agnihotra smoke gathers particles of harmful radiation and on a very subtle level neutralizes their effect.

The agnihotra practitioner, who facilitated the healing session I went to, shared that fire healing has helped him overcome his addictions, restored his balance, and put a complete stop to his mental chatter.

I have every intention of getting into the practice.

Now I wonder if it can help me overcome my addiction to ice cream cakes…But then again, I don’t think I would really want to stop being addicted to the one thing that never disappoints and never fails to be there for me when everything else runs for the door and slams it on my face. (It’s just sad how I place my trust in the hands of refined sugar and butter). If only my weighing scale would stop being so disagreeable about it…