Fashion designer/icon, Norma Kamali is on a wellness kick. Well more then a kick, it’s a way of life. I mean look at her, she’s definitely doing something right (it’s probably the Organic Avenue diet and all of those Physique 57 fitness classes). Back in September she hosted “Conversations”, a dialogue on wellness solutions with notable speakers including, Twyla Tharp, Horst Rechelbacher, and Abdi Assadi, which I was very lucky enough to be apart of. She’s additionally has been hosting various wellness events at her store (sign up for her mailing list to stay informed). Her latest, featured a speech by Abdi Assadi, spiritual advisor, acupuncturist, and author of Shadows On the Path, on intuition.
I was first turned on to Abdi Assani over a year ago by my former roommate (and best friend) Mike, who ordered me his book, after I was going though some distress. Probably some ‘what’s my purpose in life crisis’ or freak out over my 16th breakup with my boyfriend at the time. If you’ve ever met Mike, you’d probably recognize his endurance level for any type of bullshit is at 0.05% –and even then, he’s probably only tolerating that much out of friendship. Mike was one of the lucky individuals who got through Abdi’s waitlist, and gets to see him professionally. An endorsement from Mike has more value to me than 3 Michelen stars, so needless to say, I’ve been fascinated with Abdi Assani ever since.
The only time I’ve seen Abdi in action other then at Norma’s MoMA event introducing “Conversations”, was at a meditation session he hosted at a loft in Soho. It was a definite downtown, yoga crowd and it was probably the last time my brain completely relaxed (my mind is always racing with the 600 things I need to do).
Now in my 3rd setting, waiting to hear him speak at Norma Kamali’s flagship store, it was a completely different scene — high fashion/business-type crowd, and predominately woman, of all ages. Fern Willis was sitting in front of me! For a moment I even forgot I wasn’t at one of my regular fashion events. I looked around and thought, ‘wow, my industry is either very intuitive, or needs a lot of spiritual help’. The event sold out.
He gave some examples of how to experiment with our sense of intuition in order to nurture it. Put cards on the table and guess what they are, or have a friend ask you to guess a number between 1 – 10, or which color they are thinking of (yellow, red, or blue) –go with your first instinct (it’s usually right).
It was also interesting to hear someone of his put intuition into perspective –that maybe our intuitive nature is just a personal experience that does not need to be analyzed. For instance, you know how sometimes you’ll have a dream about someone you haven’t seen in years and then the next day run into them on the street? It always makes you wonder if there’s a bigger purpose or meaning for the occurrence. You may have been intuitive enough to predict the occurrence, but it doesn’t have to mean anything beyond that. As humans we tend to question a lot, but perhaps it’s less about ‘why’ and more about ‘how’. Some food for thought.
Although intuition wasn’t my biggest takeaway, it was how much noise there is in the universe and how we all need to take a moment, learn how to meditate and stay centered. As Abdi put it, “the greatest thing you can do for the Earth is be centered”. And that’s very true, I hate making emotional decisions or saying things out of anger or frustration. I need to make sure I’m always centered before trying to resolve any conflict. I think it will make me a much better person.
Here’s how to relax: close your eyes and plant your feel flat on the ground. Then breathe –place your breath low in your belly (instead of a deep thoracic breath).
He also dropped in one of his anecdotes that he lives on 14th street (excellent information to have for stalking reasons). I will use my intuition to figure out where.