Stable. Gounded. Strength.

This morning Kyle asked me what I was thinking when I was blowing smoke of copal from the sahumador para limpiar todo antes de prendemos el temezcal (this is hard to directly translate, but it signifies clearing out any bad energy before we start the temezcal). At first I wan´t sure how to explain my feelings or sensations, but later I threw out the word stability, then groundedness, and then strength. Kyle came up with the term, ´stable grounded strength´and we left it at that. And so begins my explanation of starting up the temezcal by myself for the first time! I woudl like to think that today marks a significant transition of my stay here. I woke up feeling different, stronger, and full of joy. I had a breakfast of fresh fruit, hot oatmeal with milk, and tea, and Kyle told me that it was time I learned how to start the temezcal. After blessing the temezcal with copal smoke, I cleaned out the inside, and started up the fire in the backside. Thirty minutes later I was full of soot and ash, but what fun it was! I must have thrown in about 20 pieces of wood to start it up, and as the temezcal heats up, I will only add more wood. So far it already feels bien caliente (really hot). We will see how it is in a few hours...it takes at least three hours to heat up properly...


(Me after starting the Temezcal)

Dani and I took another treck to Temixco in search of miel, honey, for my throat, which is a bit sore today. The simple walk ended up being a grand avdenture, as always. We walked downtown to search for honey, but on the way stumbled upon many things....We found miel, but decided to compare its price with honey in the bigger market, and on the way to the bigger market we stubmed upon un festival en el centro! Había chinelos, who are men with mustaches in crazy, fun, colorful, and sparkling custumes. They also wear tall, silly hats and dance to a band of trumpets that makes you want to jump up and down and dance like a goofball! Along our rounds of Temixco, we happened to stumble upon peanuts, chocolate, and horchata! Life doesn´t get much better than that....


(Un Chinelo)

Now that I have started this blog I can´t seem to stop. When I am thinking to myself, my mind races with thoughts and ideas that I want to write in my blog. What fun!

Okay, so the temezcal that I started this morning....five hours later, was SUPER caliente! It felt absolutely amazing to feel the intensity of the heat but at the same time continuously throw cold water all over my body! When I exited the temezcal, I could feel my energy moving throughout my entire body. It was absolutely fantastic, thrilling, and energizing! My life is full of natural highs such as this...dancing also does the same ting...When I was giving thanks for my presence and the presence of others around me in the temezcal I had an epithony that the temezcal is not only to release negative energy. It serves a purpose to release todo, joys, sorrows, pains, revelations, etc. The intensity of the heat releases sensations from my body and the cold water washes it all away. Powerful...fantastic...amazing!

Let´s see...other cleansing treatments I shoudl probably share with you....When I was in Zihuataneo with Estela, we walked to the beach early in the morning, practiced yoga on the sand, dug holes in the sand, screamed out guts out into the ground, buried ourselves, and buried everythying once again. We then ran into the water, jumped, sang, and felt completely renewed and energized.


(La playa)

There are tons of activities and exercises like this around here...sun baths, for example...literally bathing yourself in the sun. Lots of cold water, herbs, smoke from the sahumador, etc. Etc.

Everything is flowing right now for me...my language, my thoughts, my energy, my friendships. It is not only energizing, but renewing and refreshing.