A few weeks ago I did a Henna training with Arts of Zaman.
Samia and I met at my wedding for the first time, I trusted her for doing my henna while I never met her before, She was a recommendation from someone I knew but I had trust in her skills just by seeing the photos of what she was doing.
We get along quite easily and continue through the year to see each other.
We did not meet that often but we gave space to each other and trusted God to reunite us when we needed. Our talks are often about deep concepts, we have minds that look alike so we understand easily each other. Through the years I saw Samia growing in her Art and being honest about the struggles she faced as an artist, as a woman, and as a human.
This honesty towards the people that follow reassured me in the fact that we are not alone in our struggles. We all face some. I saw her continuing and trying to get further with her art making her now well-known for her style.
For as long as I know she always wanted to put her art further than just tatooing her clients. That’s why she says “I draw on everything even skin” so when I heard that she was doing a training, it made sense to me that it was her next step. Through the years as a knowledge seeker, she gave so much information about the henna process, how it impacts the skin, and how to use it. Now, it’s time for her to share all the knowledge she learned.
I was lucky enough to try the training, as a friend she wanted me to give her my point of view on it. First, to be honest, I was happy about it because this is something I wanted to do but I think I was not expected to get that much.
I completely forget how it can be nourishing to discover a new passion, to start from scratch. Sometimes when you get out of your comfort zone you may forget that a new zone has been created. At a certain time, you can stop to grow so all the process needs to be reactivated again.
This is what happened to me this week-end. Before to tell you about it I will explain a bit more of what we did and how it works.
So the training is an entire week-end, let me tell you that freeing myself for an entire week-end, as a mom it’s a luxury.
But it was totally possible, thanks to God and my helpful mom. Because of that, it puts a little bit of pressure on it, because when you feel that you don’t really have time you want it to be well used right?
I know it would be a good use for sure, but I finished school years ago and I guess I was not ready to get into a school schedule again.
Well, this is what my brain tried to tell me. The training started on Saturday from morning to evening and finished on Sunday.
Guess what, I did not feel the time at all, the day passed like no time was running. I almost forgot how it is to check my phone. The first day when I got out of it, I had all these messages that I needed to catch on and I realized that I was not at all on my phone. I am not a lot on it daily except for taking photos and videos. I try to be very aware of that but it surprised me because it’s been a while since I did not pause for that much time and be focused.
It was a good reminder for me that it’s what I need.
I felt so full, excited, refreshed. We had so much information to understand, and trust me you won’t want to miss a thing. Samia is so passionate and detail-oriented that he makes everything about it fascinating. She takes a scientific side of it talking about why it’s important to use a good and healthy Henna powder, she talks first about where is it from, why the color can be different, how to buy it, the impact on our skin, and of course how to maintain the color, etc.
The entire process is explained. Then we started to practice, and she showed us how to create the paste and why is not good for us, for our skin to buy the one we can see in some markets. Making us not just autonom in making it but also aware of our use and the impact on our health. This part was very fun, she showed us a way who challenge the adults in us who don’t want to do certain things. Afraid of how she can be seen.
She also explained a bit of history and mostly how to recognize a pattern, how it is composed, and why it’s important to call them by the right call. I could feel that this part was essential for her. It’s the legacy that she passed,
it’s the legacy that she carries further than just when she was born. It’s truly a heritage. It may be not the only but the main point of the training. The art of henna is not just an expression of art it’s a way of recognition, a way for certain people and certain tribes to be identified, It’s an ornament to enhance beauty, and it can be a way to let go through the ephemeral aspect, of something that we live
As she said it’s like when the tattoo disappears the pain, the difficulty, or whatever we feel leaves with it.
So it can be a therapeutic practice for the client and a meditative one for the giver both in the end leave with something.
She gives us not just practical, theoretical, and historical knowledge but also a spiritual aspect of this ancestral form of art.
This is what I loved about it and what it brought me beyond the Henna, it furthers my life in a profound way that weeks after that I still feel I get to experiment and think about what I learned.
The day after was a day of practice and this part was the part that made me work on my modesty.
When we try something new and we have facilities we tend to forget that we can be bad at something.
Most of the time we don’t really like that, our egos don’t. First I did not, I thought I would be good at it.
I was not that bad but I was not good neither. I ended up loving being bad at something because it reminded me how in life everything is about practice, about the energy we put into it, and about the time we decide to set for the practice. I was so grateful and happy to enter this phase of knowledge, it’s so much growth.
I walked out of it and wanted to try way more things because I saw the impact on myself, on my life, on how I was interacting with the people in my life.
We underestimate for sure the impact of trying something new, of finding joy in a new passion. It’s the kind of investment that lasts forever, that gives food to the conversation you may have, that cherishes the soul. It provides something to play with to our inner child who can be so neglected by this new world. So Yes I learned how to tattoo with henna during a week-end, yes I could do it by myself now, yes I need practice, but oh wow how satisfying it is to know that I can do anything, how great it is that I am now a guardian of this ancestral art and that even if by any circumstances I don’t use it I would be forever grateful and thankful that it passed through me. I am grateful that I am part of this world, that I get closer to my roots and to the people of my origins and their history just by taking a week-end off, to learn a new craft with my talented and passionate friends.
The rest is yet to come.
Oh did I forget to mention that just that week-end just these 48 hours permitted me to unlock myself and understand why I was doing what I do?
Well, this story is for another time.
Thank you for reading me, see you soon.
Retrouvez plus d’informations sur la formation, les modules : Arts of Zaman
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