The Smile That Carries 1,000 Years: A Poem of Voice, Ancestral Healing & Solstice Prayer

There are moments when a smile holds more than joy.

It holds memory. Silence. History.

In the summer of 2020, I was mid-journey in my Kundalini awakening.

At the same time, I was navigating an autoimmune flare that made it painful to speak.

My mouth wouldn’t open fully. I couldn’t smile.

And with each attempt, it felt like my body was whispering something ancient…

Not just my pain — but the ache of generations.

That experience became a doorway into something sacred.

It taught me how our body holds memory — and how even the smallest smile can carry centuries of silenced voices.

This week, as the bombs fall again in my homeland of Iran,

that memory returns.

It’s been eight days.

And my heart, like many of yours, holds both the grief of war and the longing for peace.

So today, as the Summer Solstice arrives with her golden light,

I offer this poem from my archives — written in a time when my voice felt lost,

but my soul

Smile of a Woman from the Middle East”

by Bahar Boostani

There’s a pain in every smile,

a deep sadness of unspoken words,

hidden in throat for 1000 of years

And now with each smile

as if the wound is exposed,

from throat to mouth

And that pain

of the soul

is the pain of holding self back,

of not saying the words,

for that 1000 years

I’m accessing a new part of me

a genetic or DNA part maybe

as if this part,

wants to roar

wants to shout loud

wants to cry out

even with every single smile;

but, it can’t open the mouth!

A Solstice Prayer 🌞

May the longest day bring you home to yourself.

May your breath soften what the world has tried to harden.

May your smile carry not the weight of silence,

but the light of remembering who you are.

May peace find your nervous system.

May peace ripple from your heart… across oceans, borders, and timelines.

May peace reach the children, the mothers, the cities, the leaders.

May peace find Iran.

May it live in all of us.

P.S.

If your heart is feeling tender, if you’re longing for quiet support or sacred space…

I’m opening a Sacred Women’s Circle this Tuesday, June 25th from 7–8:30pm UK.

It’s free to attend. No pressure. Just a soft landing space for your soul.

🌹 Come if you feel called.

Register here

Even one circle can shift something deep.

Even one smile, one breath, can begin the healing.