I had my first hammam experience two years ago in Athens at the must visit, Al Hammam Traditional Baths. Since then I have been eager to do it again and where better than in Marrakech. The hammam experience is just that an experience for the senses. It is unlike any typical service at a traditional spa.
Hammam comes from the Arabic verb hamma, to heat. Aptly named for the experience centers around different levels of heat: hot, warm, and cool. I love the heat particularly in controlled settings like a steam room, sauna, or hammam. I have no problem sweating when I’m naked. It’s when I’m clothed and trying to make it to work without looking like I just took a sweat bath that I take issue.
The hammam experience literally strips you down. Typically you are naked, so it puts you in a vulnerable state. You quickly become at ease being in your birthday suit and by the end it feels completely natural. Besides the varying levels of heat, hammam is a cleansing. A woman scrubs your entire body to the verge of discomfort. It is that fine line between pleasure and pain. You are shedding visible layers of dead skin. A snake sheds its skin to allow for continued growth. Although mammals skin grows with them, I like the image of a snake that outgrows the skin it’s in, who then sheds the outer layer; beginning again. The scrubbing process is a renewal that for me is both mental and physical.
But that is not even my favorite part. I am all about the rinse cycle. The other day as I lay on the heated marble floor I could feel the heat beneath me seeping up into my bones and then washing over me as a warm bucket of water is emptied over me. It is that moment that I wish I could recreate at home, but you can’t. A shower doesn’t give the same sensation. When someone else is standing over you and dumping a bucket of warm water on top of you, it is all about the surrender. You don’t know when, but you know it’s coming - like a wave you see in the distance, but can’t yet gauge its power. The moment that you get to feel the weight of the water against your body is one I wish I could put on repeat. It makes me feel connected to the element of water (my favorite) in a way I don’t get anywhere else.
There is another thing about the hammam experience that I have never felt elsewhere. There is a tenderness and respect that the woman working with you pays your body that erases any feelings of insecurity and vulnerability. She is treating your body with care and it makes me think that this is what infancy felt like: someone else tenderly taking care of you and treating you better than you can treat yourself.
The childlike feeling continues with the last step of the cleansing process: washing of the hair. She washes your hair for you and it’s different from when you’re at the salon with your head in a bowl making innocuous chit chat. There is no talking. You are sitting up with your head back as she washes your hair and rinses it with the buckets that she places directly over your head. There is no polite shielding of your eyes here. Again, it’s about the surrender. You close your eyes and let the water wash over your face and hair. The first time I did hammam and she washed my hair, I wanted to weep.
Needless to say, for me the experience is not only physical but mental and spiritual as well. I am not a religious person, but as you enter the last phase of the hammam, I can’t help but think of a baptism. You have been scrubbed, cleansed, and the final stage is to submerge yourself in a cold bath to regulate your body temperature. Your head goes under the water for a few brief seconds and you come back up feeling revitalized.
It is a unique experience that re-connects me with my body and my senses. I did it twice while here in Marrakech. My first experience was at Les Bains de Marrakech. My second experience at The Royal Mansour was even better than the first. The superior experience wasn’t only due to the fact that the Royal Mansour is one of the nicer spas in Marrakech. You can have a bad experience at a five star spa. It was about the solitude. Hammam is typically a communal experience. I was fortunate to do the second experience solo: just me and my attendant. It was quiet, calm, and reverent. I walked away with a greater appreciation for my body and all that it does for me with my mind, body, and soul aligned.
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