“Don’t be your own doctor, but your own apothecarist.
Ancient Persians had a rich culture. They contributed to and influenced the advancement of many arts and sciences, including medicine, mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, literature and poetry, and various fine and decorative arts. Ancient Persian art-science, or what Dr. Mahtab calls ‘Persian Cultural DNA’, has been a roadmap to living a medicinal lifestyle, culturally enriching the disposition and emotions that dominated the heart-mind-body*. This way of life manifested through gracious words, gracious thoughts, and gracious deeds. What is the heart-mind-body? The geometry of the Ancient Persian Perspective was centered on EQ (emotional intelligence), and they regarded the home as the starting point of everything. They believed that optimal health started with a healthy home, and without healthy and balanced emotions you cannot acquire the safety and security of a home. In their perspective, EQ developed from conscious efforts to be well and uphold personal resilience under all circumstances. They maintained that our EQ connects our wisdom to our senses, our relationships, and the Earth. Therefore, emotional intelligence was viewed essential in connecting our mind to our heart and body, rendering the hum+n’s essential powerhouse, the heart-mind-body. Learning how to heal not only with medications, and how to live healthily through simple daily practices has been the Persian way of life for centuries. However, this wisdom has been side-lined since the 1980s due to politics and gender inequality; hence she is bringing it back to the forefront of her lifestyle project. Pioneering research and integration of Ancient Persian humanistic culture and mythology (the Persian Cultural DNA) and adapting it to modern lifestyles has been Dr. Mahtab’s mission in Intrigue Yellow®. Becoming your own modern apothecarist (or Apothee) is adopting the same mindset in your lifestyle. Through the project, Dr. Mahtab will intrigue your learning by incorporating Modern Medicine into the Ancient Persian Wellness Wisdom, to shift from poetically inclined cultural teachings to empowered action, for building a contemporary, emotionally intelligent, and heart-driven Hum+n* Restorative Lifestyle. In future posts, each pillar will be addressed more in detail, so you can follow the instructions closely for each concept, and gradually adopt these restorative habits and rituals to instill balance and beauty in your heart-mind-body. Every post will have several components: FICTION - storytelling for all ages: the persona of the floral-crowned Apothee tells a story, elaborating on the lifestyle concepts in practice (more extensive stories will be available through a subscription to IY Plus). FACTS - evidence referenced from IY scientific committee and prominent scientific literature FUNCTION - Dr. Mahtab’s theories and their integration into Western Medicine, and tools for daily rituals and nourishment Some definitions for better understanding the concepts: Heart-mind-body: the hum+n’s essential powerhouse, which comes to being by the token of emotional intelligence (EQ) connecting our wisdom to our senses, our relationships, and the Earth, and as such essential in connecting our mind to our heart and body. Hum+n: the “human” away from ideologies of masculine dominance, and rather cultivating a balanced feminine/masculine power. The plus sign also acknowledges encompassing other genders beyond the male/female binary. ME: acronym that stands for Mother Earth, and also represents the “everywoman”. “Happiness is wisdom, nurtured and nourished daily, not a drug!” -Dr. Mahtab