I have been working with practitioners of traditional medicine for years now. It has been so wonderful for me that I want everybody to come and experience the same blessings.

As an acupuncturist, I practice a kind of traditional medicine: working with the vital energy that enlivens us and keeps us in balance physically and mentally, stimulating our own internal capacity to heal, and bringing us more in touch with our own inner knowing about what we need, our intuition, and our source of energy and capacity. Yup, best job ever!

The practitioners we work with in Oaxaca share a similar foundation. Oaxacan Traditional Medicine is based on natural rhythms and cycles, it has been handed down through generations, it honors the connection between the mind and the body, and it treats the whole person. It recognizes the importance of spirit. I love that. If we are feeling “spirited” we know we are feeling healthy.

Too often these days in the western world, we are dispirited. Stress makes us anxious and depressed. We are disconnected from any sense of miracle or mystery and we only think about cheap quick fixes for a very deep systemic problem.

If you can step back from your routine and the patterns and tendencies that are ingrained in our culture, and in our upbringing, you can breath life into an internal fire and get excited about life again. Beautiful moving ceremonies can reawaken a sense of wonder and possibility. Prescriptions for healing can include rituals that you can do at home to enhance your sense of knowing and connection. When you add a bit of magic back into your life, the colors are more vibrant, your relationships more precious, and you have more capacity for patience, understanding, and compassion- all those things that we need to help us cope with the challenges we face in our life today.

And it is fun! I love the playfulness that emerges with this kind of earth based, spirit infused practice. Sacred playfulness, soulful ceremony- kind of a code for lots of laughing and deep appreciation for this miracle of a life.