American-Iranian Spiritual Poet based in Abu Dhabi, UAE
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 [...]
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 [...]
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. [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
How does one allow oneself to write about Autism when one is not From what I have read, watched and seen and heard I realize that it is a state of BEING Being here and now and Present at times with TOO many thoughts around Being here and now and Present and with NO ONE [...]
Let us say that we each wanted to make a vow today Let us say that we each wanted to hold a hand today Let us say that we each wanted to plant a tree today It is really in the reality of accepting that we are not doing favors for others but only in [...]
When Stefanie asked me to speak to come in and speak to her art class, I was a bit puzzled. I thought why would an art teacher be inviting me to speak to her class about poetry, but then she told me that each year she does a unit on calligraphy and the use of [...]
What a real honor to have been invited to the Dubomody Performing Arts Festival, to be at the same venue as poets known around the world was indeed one of the most incredible feelings. Each person brought with them a bit of their past, their journey and their views of life. Sit back, relax [...]
For this mothers day, I chose this picture taken by Atiq-ur-Rahman, Gulf News of a son who is a champion in front of the world, and yet he shows such subdued respect to his mother who bore him to life. MOTHER’S DAY: On this day if you were to say only two lines to your [...]
The enormous body of the horse does not only signify his strength, but his wisdom The quiet demeanor of the pony does not speak of the silence but of the thoughts going on in the animal’s head The softness of the skin is the welcoming invitation to touch and feel the warmth of life The [...]
I was asked to speak to the students of the Applied Technology High school by a dear friend whom I had gotten to know through volunteering at the labor camps, Rita to come and visit her school. She is the librarian at the school and they had started to celebrate Library Week at their school. [...]
EMPOWER RURAL WOMEN – END HUNGER AND POVERTY. “Invest in rural women. Eliminate discrimination against them in law and in practice. Ensure that policies respond to their needs. Give them equal access to resources. Provide rural women with a role in decision-making.” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day is: [...]
THE WHITE CHERRY BLOSSOMS IN JAPAN The white cherry blossoms of the beautiful Japanese trees being washed away by the tsunami. The nuclear reactor is only the sign of the angry feelings upon the sky. The shaking of the earth in the earthquake with the magnitude of hundreds of thousand of lives. The reality of [...]
The realities of life start to make sense when generations can understand the reason for life When a father has Alzheimer all others may not be able to bear all that he does not recall The unborn child is even affected at the cries of the father bearing judgement and life And now for a country [...]
CAMELS IN THE DESERT I see the baby deer sucking at his mother’s milk. I realize everyone is milking the earth of all it has. All the natural resources, the oil, the trees, and all that is under the sea. We are giving nothing back in return except for pollution of the air, the water [...]
Have you ever wondered who builds these Sky scrapers? Yes, indeed, the wonderful designers, and the great architects! But in reality it is the workers that work 12 hour shifts, often 24 hours a day. These workers leave their families back home in the hopes of an honest wage. Two years of not going home [...]
Deep in my heart there is a light deep in my soul there I see a sorrow a sorrow for having lived for a moment and then again having fallen asleep as I write the tears blur my vision just as when I breath the unpure air of this unreal world my sight is blurred [...]
Sadness is much like a colony of mushrooms that start to overtake a dark forest. First there is the forest, then there are the trees, then there is the darkness and the damp air and moist soil, then there is the cooing of the owls and the calling of the kayotes. Then in that space [...]
Today I attended opening ceremony of the GLobal Issues Conference at American Community School. http://acs.sch.ae/globalissues/index.html. The conference is based on the idea of educating the youth about our global issues, and letting them take roles in workshops over the weekend to put ideas to work, and then to actually take the ideas back home and [...]
Well here is the day, I started posting Valentine’s Poetry last week I even mentioned I started thinking about this day a year ago right after this day had come and gone. But you, you have left it for this last last minute to call your friend to ask what she recommends you do. Little [...]
I start to anticipate Valentine’s day the day after Valentine’s day I start to remember when I was in secondary school and every one got dozens of those small cards and candy shaped hearts and ONE special card and One special candy heart The hearts I had been given those days all had letters on [...]
On this day of love and hugs and kisses It is important to recall that there are those who have lost a love One can lose a love to another One can lose a love due to lack of respect and giving worth And yet it is possible one may have lost a love to [...]
