American-Iranian Spiritual Poet based in Abu Dhabi, UAE
A couple of months ago, I got a most beautiful email from my niece Kira. She is actually the daughter of a very close friend. Somehow Kira and I have had a bond since the very beginning of our meeting. I always enjoyed our family visits but it was the time I had with her [...]
When 2 years ago a dear friend told me about a tribute that was being organized for Nelson Mandela, I was so touched that there is indeed recognition of such an incredible man. A man who has spent his life giving voice to those that may not otherwise be heard. A man who even when [...]
What a memorable and magical day I have had at UAEU. The warmth and welcome of the students, faculty and staff has left me full of life and light. The planning of my visit to UAEU started about 5 months ago when I was contacted by Elin Ahmadpour who is a member of the faculty. [...]
For the Future Planting trees early in spring we make a place for birds to sing in time to come. How do we know? They are singing here now. There is no other guarantee that singing will ever be. Wendell Berry Thank you to all the people who made this trip possible. Thank you for [...]
Bringing Poetry Therapy to the Emirates Literature Festival in Dubai was such a joy. It was wonderful to spend the day in Dubai among books, authors, publishers and friends. This year I had decided that I wanted to bring more than just a poetry recital to the Literature Festival. I wanted to bring the concept [...]
Event: Emirates Airlines Festival of Literature: This Moment Here Now Speaker and Presenter: Bahareh Amidi Date: 7 March, Thursday Time: 7:30 PM – 8:15 PM Venue: Intercontinental Hotel, Dubai Festival City Bahareh Amidi, (www.Bahareh.com) the Iranian-American spiritual poet and poetry therapist in training, takes you on a journey within YOU. Come and discover the [...]
I would like to dedicate this blog to each and every student that I met on my visit at the Emirates National School in Abu Dhabi. I would also like to thank each and every teacher and administrator that attended the workshop sessions. From the Arabic teacher to Mr. Paul who came from the boys [...]
I Have A Dream Speak Poetry I sit in silence I sit in silence and in no prayer I sit with my hands together I sit not even knowing my name Beyond the space where I sit I remember him I remember the person that reminded us of the beauty of no colors I remember [...]
I feel like a changed person since meeting Hamdah Khalfan Al Mansouri. The first thing that caught my attention was the empowering smile. The smile said Yes I can and also Yes you can. She has not walked, but she has traversed the universe with her passion and with her words. I feel fortunate [...]
Dear Travel Companions, How to begin to thank you for this wonderful gift of our time together today. How fortunate I am to have found you all at this point of my journey on this day. Today was the first official Poetry Therapy session I have held, the first of many I know. The session [...]
Dear Friends, it is such a pleasure and honor for me to continue in the footsteps of my mentor and teacher John Fox. During his visit to Abu Dhabi, he had a wonderful poetry writing and healing workshop at Cafe Arabia. There were many in the group that showed an interest in getting together on [...]
Here we are at the onset of another year. As always there are those of us that start thinking of New Year Resolutions. There were times that I with the help of one of my older brothers Hamid, who passed away 23 years ago, used to make resolutions each year. Hamid (God rest his soul) [...]
The great fortune of having a teacher on one’s path. I think it is true what they say when the student is ready the teacher appears. That has been the case for me all my life as I have come across really wonderful teachers in my life. I had the great honor of having my [...]
How does one begin to sit with the news of the shooting at Sandy Hook School in Connecticut. I am reminded of the times I have seen a child fall on the ground with a scratched up knee, and how my heart beats faster. Now to think of children’s blood being shed and on the [...]
Well here we are one more year in Abu Dhabi, I guess I will always be older than this nation. At forty-one, this young land but ancient soil seems to be a place where many have found a home. Over 80 percent of the population are expats. As I sit here now and write this [...]
Poet Bahareh speaks to Abu Dhabi week about her upcoming recital at the Date Palm Festival. The 6th Emirates International Date Palm Festival will be held at ADNEC Performance begins at 6.30 pm until 7pm. Bahareh will be performing with the young musicians from Bait Al Oud: Kariem Hashem, Muhammed Saadah and Hamzah Saadah. [...]
Bahareh talks about her work with the community and Poetry Therapy, and her upcoming performance with Speak Abu Dhabi at the Paris Sorbonne University.
Hamdah is an inspiration for me and her words take me deeper into my flight. Read her interview in the National on her journey through poetry and her experience with Speak Abu Dhabi. Read Article!
Poet Bahareh speaking on her community outreach and Speak Abu Dhabi poetry show at the Paris Sorbonne University. Read Article!
Come to Cafe Arabia to hear John Fox, CPT speak on the healing power of poetry and how it can help you * gain insight and express caring * celebrate and affirm your blessings * cope better with losses and change * build community and find more meaning John Fox will share this with you in [...]
TAMAKKAN PRESENTS- OPTIMISING ENTREPRENEUR PERFORMANCE IN 2013: WELLNESS OF MIND, BODY AND SOUL December 9 | 6-8 pm | Al Mamoura Auditorium, Abu Dhabi | Free seminar PROGRAMME INCLUDES: JOHN FOX, Renowned American poetry therapist and founder of the Institute of Poetic Medicine, California: “Writing Poems as Stress-Relief and a Bridge to Possibility” BAHAREH AMIDI, [...]
Come and join internationally respected poetry therapist and poet John Fox in using poetry and poem-making to recharge body, mind and soul — as an antidote to the intensity of daily life. This kind of creativity, rooted in healing and self-discovery, rather than literary critique, enhances quality of life. Poetic language, language that comes from [...]
Poet Bahareh talks about bringing ‘Speak Abu Dhabi’ to the Paris Sorbonne University Read Article!
Please Check details and join on our Face Book Invite Page ‘Speak Abu Dhabi’ – a first-of-its-kind series of poetry performances uniting the past and the present, the local and the international – is back in Abu Dhabi. MASTERS OF POETRY: RUMI, DARWISH, BAUDELAIRE English, Arabic, French PerformancesThe first edition of Speak Abu Dhabi celebrated [...]
It is October once again, and somehow everywhere I look there is pink. Yes, it is Breast Cancer awareness Month. Do I want to know how I can beat the odds and not be the one out of eight women with breast cancer. Yes, I do want to know. If there is a knowing [...]
As I sit with the news of Malala Yousufzai’s shooting… I start to consider the importance of being shot in the throat and head. The head where the mind lives and grows and the throat that gives life to the thoughts. Poem about the Voice of Women and Girls all Around the World When I [...]
Some times I sit by the computer with out a blink of an eye or a breath. I want to say something about how I feel, but the words do not come out. This is one of those times. When I heard and read about the young girl named Malala that was shot in [...]
It is truly hard to believe that another Speak Abu Dhabi event is just around the corner. For those of you who were with us for the first in the series you remember that it is night of Poetry and music. It is a night of words and vibrations. Mostly though it is a night [...]
This would be like any child’s dream right? To have one of their favorite teachers actually come for a visit! And now that very same thing is happening for me! My teacher of Poetry Therapy is coming for a visit to Abu Dhabi. John Fox will be here from December 5th until December 15th 2012. [...]
It all started the Moment when Laila and I met. It was a very casual meeting of people, and soon became a beautiful meeting of hearts and souls. I was in California for a month during the summer, taking some courses in Poetry Therapy and also visiting family. I met Laila by chance at my [...]
The essence of Olympics to me somehow was lost, I am not sure if it was because of the games or because of my own state of being. Then I started watching the opening ceremony for the Paralympics games and I felt the Essence of the Universe coming together to watch and celebrate athletes competing [...]
I recieved an email about a month ago from Vivek Mukherjee asking if I would do poetry recital at a fund-raiser for Operation Smile. At that moment in time, I did not know much about this wonderful organization. I accepted happily, but as time goes by and the more I learn about Operation Smile, the [...]
It has been exactly three weeks since the completion of our first session of courses for poetry therapy. I have been wanting to write about the experience almost everyday, but each day I have not. I am not sure why, perhaps because the experience was so Grand that I do not see it fit to [...]
On this father’s day I feel fortunate to know what a true father looks like On this father’s day I am lucky to have sensed the touch of a kind heart Who was with me at birth and with whom I was at death My father helped me believe who I was And that was [...]
It is hard to find the place in my throat where a sound may come and I may say a few words. On such days, as today, another 13, 19, or more die. But on such a day, the children do not die of famine, disease or earthquake. They die of a fire inside a [...]
Nayla Al Khaja shared one of her short films with us called Arabana, during TEDx Abu Dhabi. Please only watch the film knowing it is the story of abuse and neglect of a little girl and only if you are in the space and mind to watch such a movie. While watching the film I [...]
To be a part of TED was truly an honor and a pleasure. I mean just to say you are going to a TED gathering brings with it all those wonderful images and thoughts of all the wonderful speakers that have come and gone but never really gone out of one’s mind, psyche and being. [...]
Where does one begin to describe such an experience, a night full of love, light and friendship. A night where voices were heard for the first time and a night where voices continue to echo in my heart and soul. As you know, “Speak Abu Dhabi, was a night that the Masters Rumi, Gibran and [...]
Memorial Day How does one mark the days that one does not remember How does one mark a grave with no name but only with a life inside no longer It is in service that most of these burials have happened and it is in remembering that we remind ourselves it is good not to [...]
This morning, which is May 14th 2012, I was looking at the newspaper much like any other morning, when I came across an article which TOOK me. I had read the title on the first page “Dubai Creek expands in Dh600 million plan”, “Syria rebel leadership in turmoil”, “Infant drowns in bucket of water”, “Camel [...]
MOTHER’S DAY: On this day if you were to say only two lines to your mother, what might it be? Perhaps… Mother dear, you gave me a warm home when I did not even know the meaning of home Mother dear, your arms protected me when I awakened you at all odd hours of the [...]
Today I would like to honor all those nurses around the world who wear white on their shoulders and blood on their hands. Today I would like to honor all those nurses around the world that sit at the bedside of your mother and mine when we are too weak or busy. Today I would [...]
The Book Fair Experience is one that I had had before, but never before in light of being a POET. The highlight of the event was being a part of something so big and grand. Reading, writing, reciting, listening, interviewing, and interweaving. It was absolutely fantastic!!!! I met such wonderful people. We had a dinner [...]
For a person who has FELT the SCREAM, I am not at all shocked about the price. I do not want to yell or scream. I only want to say that indeed Edvard Much was able to catch a glimpse and paint the “Portrait of the Soul”. The soul that has felt loss knows what [...]
A wonderful article in todays National about our event…… Thank you to Rebecca McLaughlin-Daune for the very complete tale of the evening. And to Lee Hoagland for the Imgaes. Please Read more about the Event
Dear Travel companions, I am writing to invite you to an event of a life time. I say that in the sense that it has all come together for me as a poet, as a therapist and as a human being. To share the stage with the Grand Masters as well as other poets [...]
What a magical morning I have just spent at the Royal Stable in Abu Dhabi with Children, Parents, Trees, Birds and Bees and Horses and even Angles with no wings. “These children are students with special needs from AIS and this event is organized by the moms 4sn. Students with special needs invited one of [...]
Sultan The name of someone grand I see a mother call her son He is one born with down syndrome But he will always be the king of the land for her Her love is not negotiable the syndrome of the child invisible Other related Poems: A Poem on Autism Horses and Special Needs [...]
“I know God will not give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish He didn’t trust me so much.” (Mother Teresa) I remember meeting a lady about 3 years ago while watching our daughters swim We shared a few niceties and then the question of how many children do you have came up [...]
The Beauty of Friendship There are times when a beast can best hear a gentle heart beat There are times that special needs means only that a child needs to hold the rein of a horse and feel its power There are times when one can not explain the beauty of a friendship It is [...]
