The Nūn Centre offers a full range of alternative methods of healing and wellness in Zamalek. The leafy side street where the centre can be found sets the tone for what to expect when you enter the world of Nūn.
The beautiful, quiet villa is surrounded by a large garden. A “please-do-not-ring-the-bell; knock-instead” sign decorates the old-style, wooden door and emphasises the peacefulness that surrounds the centre.
Hana Holdijk and Nada Iskandar are the founders of Nūn, “Nūn, despite common beliefs, does not refer to the Arabic expression describing women,” Hana Holdijk, homeopath and Chi Nei Tsang masseuse, told The Daily News Egypt. “Nūn is actually the god of primordial waters; the original creator from which all ancient Egyptian gods sprang.”
“What makes Nūn different is how we approach healing, we are creating a holistic community of soul enrichment, and aspire to feed the soul before having to treat it,” Holdijk explains. The polite man asking us what we would like to drink during our interview seems to seamlessly illustrate this promise.
When asked if the current political climate affects the centre Holdijk tells us: “We started right after the revolution, and our business has been steadily increasing ever since. We believe that the unique therapeutic answers which Nūn offers are helping our clients to deal with the tension and stress caused by the revolution.”
Nūn offers a wide variety of services, from contemporary dance to nutrition therapy, yoga classes, energy therapy, traditional Chinese medicine, physiotherapy and even personal branding; all of which can be found at the villa. The centre is the only place in Egypt that offers Chi Nei Tsang massage, a technique that aims to simultaneously heal the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual aspects of the individual.
Designed to be a community centre for individual growth, Nūn is open for visitors to simply enjoy their day-to-day activities in its quiet, sunny rooms. The word has seemed to gotten around, on our way in we spotted a young mother taking her daughter for a visit to Nūn.
Besides the various treatment rooms Nūn has many surprising areas. “We have a special corner for handcrafts,” Holdijk points out as she is showing us around. “You can come over, make something, and have us sell it,” she explains, pointing to a display of clothes designed by one of Nūn’s clients. The miniature retail store sells mostly healthy nutrition products including food products which nutrition therapist, Nada Iskandar, prescribes to her clients, and health books from Diwan bookstores.
“We’re not exclusively a women’s health center,” Holdijk points out. “We have male clients too; though few, but some of them even take up our contemporary dance classes,” she smiles.
The Nūn centre does not require a membership, clients are welcome to pick and choose whichever classes or sessions which suit them best. The Nūn staff is of course always available to advise clients but there is no pressure to partake in anything. “You are always welcome to come over to Nūn, have a drink, use the WiFi and sift through our used-books collection,” Holdijk concludes.