THE ALCHEMY OF BLESSINGS – KRISHNA MADAPPA
To enter into the sanctuary, which is Krishna’s studio, one must walk through the blessing of a heavenly veil of smouldering frankincense and copal. Immediately the calming of spirit takes place. Krishna greets you as if you were a weary traveler just arriving from months abroad, his smile genuine and true, his eyes bright with light like those of a holy person, saint, or perhaps one who has seen the divine. His hearty laugh and welcome remind you that you are now home and encourage you to leave the past or future at the threshold.
Once you enter, a feast for the senses ensues: statues of various intricately detailed deities watch over you from shelves above, colorful prayer flags hang reverently from the ceiling, tightly wrapped sage – local smudge sticks – lie in wait on a large Native drum, and to make the experience more transcendent, the sounds of melodic far eastern chants come from an undeterminable source. Last but not least, a plethora of aromas from oil essences, extracted from trees and plants of almost every continent, hangs thick and sticky-sweet in the air.
Bottles of essences, too numerous to count, line three walls of one room. Krishna, a man of infinite wisdom and kindness to match, selects an essence to gift me on my birthday. The bottle uncapped, we both breathe in the beauty of its purity, smiling after each inhalation. He intimately knows this world of essential oils, having grown up in the exotic Andaman Islands, the son of a senior forest official father and a mother who taught him the benefits of both Vedic and Ayurvedic practices. Today Krishna, a distiller of oils, researcher, clinician, educator, storyteller, healer, and shaman, brings an alchemy of blessings to all who cross his path. ~ Lenny Foster’s, Healing Hands
REMIND YOU THAT YOU ARE NOW HOME