Author: Robert T. Trotter Publisher: University of Georgia Press ISBN: 0820340715 Category : Medical Languages : en Pages : 229
Book Description
The practice of curanderismo, or Mexican American folk medicine, is part of a historically and culturally important health care system deeply rooted in native Mexican healing techniques. This is the first book to describe the practice from an insider's point of view, based on the authors' three-year apprenticeships with curanderos (healers). Robert T. Trotter and Juan Antonio Chavira present an intimate view of not only how curanderismo is practiced but also how it is learned and passed on as a healing tradition. By providing a better understanding of why curanderos continue to be in demand despite the lifesaving capabilities of modern medicine, this text will serve as an indispensable resource to health professionals who work within Mexican American communities, to students of transcultural medicine, and to urban ethnologists and medical anthropologists.
Author: Erika Buenaflor Publisher: Simon and Schuster ISBN: 1591433126 Category : Body, Mind & Spirit Languages : en Pages : 216
Book Description
A tutorial on the ancient practice of limpias to heal the mind, body, and soul • Offers step-by-step instructions for the practice of limpias, shamanic cleansing rituals to heal, purify, and revitalize people as well as physical spaces • Examines different types of limpia ceremonies, such as fire rites for transformation, water rites for cleansing and influencing, and sweeping rites for divination • Explores the sacred stories behind limpia rituals and traces these curanderismo practices to their indigenous roots Exploring the essential tools and practices of Mesoamerican shamans and curanderos, specifically the ancient Yukatek Maya and Mexica (Aztec), Erika Buenaflor, M.A., J.D., provides a step-by-step guide for conducting the most common practice within curanderismo: limpias. These practical and incredibly effective shamanic cleanses heal, purify, and revitalize people and spaces with herbs, flowers, eggs, feathers, fire, and water. They are also powerful tools for self-empowerment, spiritual growth, soul retrieval, rebirth, and gracefully opening up pathways for new beginnings. Drawing on her 20 years’ experience as a curandera and her graduate studies focused on Mesoamerican shamanism, the author traces modern curanderismo practices to their indigenous roots. She explores the sacred stories behind limpia rituals and examines different types of limpia ceremonies in depth, such as fire rites for transformation, water rites for cleansing and influencing, and sweeping rites for divination. She outlines how limpias work holistically to enable one to let go and cleanse the body, mind, and spirit of limiting beliefs, traumas, and broken stories; heal acute and chronic illnesses such as depression, insomnia, and anxiety; and revitalize and activate sacred spaces by renewing their essence and clearing negative energies. She explains the healing properties of the plants used in limpia rites and how to perform the medicinal chants used by the curanderos. In addition, the author details how the practice of platicas, heart-straightening talks, supports limpia rites by encouraging one to vocalize their needs as they eject traumas and unwanted energies from the body, setting the stage for self-awareness and healing. Sharing the story of her own complete healing from a catastrophic injury with limpias as well as inspirational testimonies from others who have experienced limpias, the author provides a personal and thoroughly practical guide to the ancient shamanic method of limpias to promote healing and personal transformation in our times.
Author: Eliseo “Cheo” Torres Publisher: UNM Press ISBN: 0826336418 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 184
Book Description
Eliseo Torres, known as "Cheo," grew up in the Corpus Christi area of Texas and knew, firsthand, the Mexican folk healing practiced in his home and neighborhood. Later in life, he wanted to know more about the plants and rituals of curanderismo. Torres's story begins with his experiences in the Mexican town of Espinazo, the home of the great curandero El Niño Fidencio (1899-1939), where Torres underwent life-changing spiritual experiences. He introduces us to some of the major figures in the tradition, discusses some of the pitfalls of teaching curanderismo, and concludes with an account of a class he taught in which curanderos from Cuernavaca, Mexico, shared their knowledge with students. Part personal pilgrimage, part compendium of medical knowledge, this moving book reveals curanderismo as both a contemplative and a medical practice that can offer new approaches to ancient problems. From Curandero ". . . for centuries, rattlesnakes were eaten to prevent any number of conditions and illnesses, including arthritis and rheumatism. In Mexico and in other Latin American countries, rattlesnake meat is actually sold in capsule form to treat impotence and even to treat cancer. Rattlesnake meat is also dried and ground and sprinkled into open wounds and body sores to heal them, and a rattlesnake ointment is made that is applied to aches and pains as well."
Author: Brett Hendrickson Publisher: NYU Press ISBN: 1479861294 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 256
Book Description
Mexican American folk and religious healing, often referred to as curanderismo, has been a vital part of life in the Mexico-U.S. border region for centuries. A hybrid tradition made up primarily of indigenous and Iberian Catholic pharmacopeias, rituals, and notions of the self, curanderismo treats the sick person with a variety of healing modalities including herbal remedies, intercessory prayer, body massage, and energy manipulation. Curanderos, “healers,” embrace a holistic understanding of the patient, including body, soul, and community. Border Medicine examines the ongoing evolution of Mexican American religious healing from the end of the nineteenth century to the present. Illuminating the ways in which curanderismo has had an impact not only on the health and culture of the borderlands but also far beyond, the book tracks its expansion from Mexican American communities to Anglo and multiethnic contexts. While many healers treat Mexican and Mexican American clientele, a significant number of curanderos have worked with patients from other ethnic groups as well, especially those involved in North American metaphysical religions like spiritualism, mesmerism, New Thought, New Age, and energy-based alternative medicines. Hendrickson explores this point of contact as an experience of transcultural exchange. Drawing on historical archives, colonial-era medical texts and accounts, early ethnographies of the region, newspaper articles, memoirs, and contemporary healing guidebooks as well as interviews with contemporary healers, Border Medicine demonstrates the notable and ongoing influence of Mexican Americans on cultural and religious practices in the United States, especially in the American West. Instructor's Guide
Author: Erika Buenaflor Publisher: Bear ISBN: 9781591433408 Category : Body, Mind & Spirit Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
A step-by-step shamanic guide to navigating the non-ordinary realms, locating lost soul fragments, and reintegrating them • Explains how the soul is a form of sacred energy that can escape when someone experiences trauma or stressful situations • Explores how to work with the 5 Mesoamerican cardinal directions to connect with lost soul fragments, create the ideal space for them to return, and ensure a lasting soul retrieval • Details how to enter a trance journey for navigating the spirit realm through shamanic breathwork, shamanic dancing, toning methods, as well as hand postures Drawing on her more than 20 years’ experience working with present-day Mesoamerican curanderos/as and the ancient shamanic healing traditions of the Mexica and Maya, Erika Buenaflor, M.A., J.D., provides a step-by-step guide for the curanderismo practice of soul retrieval. She explains how the soul is a form of sacred energy that can escape when someone experiences trauma or is threatened by challenging and stressful situations. Its absence can be responsible for a host of negative conditions including physical ailments, depression, insomnia, and dysfunctional behavior patterns. Exploring how to retrieve this sacred energy, or soul fragments, as well as resolve cases of soul theft, the author details how to journey through the non-ordinary realms of the Underworld, Middleworld, and Upperworld to locate lost soul fragments and reintegrate them. She explains how to enter a trance journey, providing instructions for shamanic breathwork practices, shamanic dancing, sounding and toning methods, as well as hand postures (mudras) to facilitate trance states. She explores how to perform soul diagnosis, create a loving and nurturing space for soul fragments to return, and work with the healing wisdom of the 5 Mesoamerican cardinal directions: South, West, North, East, and the Center, which marries the other directions and offers a portal to other worlds. She offers pressure point exercises to release the energies of traumas and contemplative exercises to continue the reintegration of soul fragments after the trance journey. She also explains how to connect with animal guardians to aid you in the soul retrieval process. Revealing how to achieve a lasting retrieval of soul energy, Buenaflor shows how the dynamic process of curanderismo soul retrieval can heal many forms and degrees of trauma and help people move forward in life with more clarity, self-awareness, empowerment, and greater depths of authentic self-love.
Author: Eliseo “Cheo” Torres Publisher: UNM Press ISBN: 082633962X Category : Medical Languages : en Pages : 176
Book Description
Healing with Herbs and Rituals is an herbal remedy-based understanding of curanderismo and the practice of yerberas, or herbalists, as found in the American Southwest and northern Mexico. Part One, "Folk Healers and Folk Healing," focuses on individual healers and their procedures. Part Two, "Green Medicine: Traditional Mexican-American Herbs and Remedies," details traditional Mexican-American herbs and cures. These remedies are the product of centuries of experience in Mexico, heavily influenced by the Moors, Judeo-Christians, and Aztecs, and include everyday items such as lemon, egg, fire, aromatic oil, and prepared water. Symbolic objects such as keys, candles, brooms, and Trouble Dolls are also used. Dedicated, in part, to curanderos throughout Mexico and the American Southwest, Healing with Herbs and Rituals shows us these practitioners are humble, sincere people who have given themselves to improving lives for many decades. Today's holistic health movement has rediscovered the timeless merits of the curanderos' uses of medicinal plants, rituals, and practical advice.
Author: Erika Buenaflor Publisher: Simon and Schuster ISBN: 1591433797 Category : Body, Mind & Spirit Languages : en Pages : 185
Book Description
A practical guide to ancient Mesoamerican solar and lunar rites for healing and transformation • Details shamanic rituals and practices for each period of the day, including dawn, sunrise, noon, sunset, and midnight, to best harness the energies of the sun, night sun, and moon for specific purposes, such as divination, journeying with animal spirit guides, or spiritual wisdom • Incorporates shamanic breathwork, dreamwork, mantra chanting, mudras, dancing and movement, toning, chakra work, crystals, herbs, and limpias (shamanic cleanses) • Explores how nighttime energies are affected by the phases of the moon, offering specific practices for each phase Ancient Mesoamerican shamans and modern practitioners of curanderismo--a Latin American shamanic healing practice--divide each day and night into distinct periods based on the sacred rhythms of the sun and moon, with each time offering opportunities to connect with specific celestial energies for healing and transformation. In this hands-on guide to working with the sacred energies of the sun, night sun, and moon, curandera Erika Buenaflor details the rites, rituals, and deities for each part of the day and night and explores the sacred tools and techniques used by ancient Mesoamerican shamans for harnessing solar and lunar energies. She explains how the sun is the source of soul energy that heals, animates, strengthens, and revitalizes us on many levels, while night energies are transformative and conducive for connecting with nonordinary realms. She explores rituals for dawn, sunrise, and midmorning to harness the energies of creation and new beginnings; for noon and afternoon to promote peak strength and spiritual wisdom; for sunset and dusk to bring about transformation, perform divination, and journey with animal spirit guides; and for midnight and predawn to facilitate shamanic dreamwork, connect with the ancestors, make offerings, and regenerate at the deepest levels. She also explores how nighttime energies are affected by the phases of the moon and offers specific practices for each phase. By intentionally tuning our activities to the rhythms of the sun and moon, we can invite in their sacred energies of abundance and healing for more healthy, creative, mindful, and happy lives.
Author: Elena Avila Publisher: Penguin ISBN: 1585420220 Category : Health & Fitness Languages : en Pages : 353
Book Description
“An autobiographical account of how a psychiatric nurse specialist became a folk medicine healer; this also explains the origins and practice of one of the oldest forms of medicine in the New World.″—Kirkus Praise for WOMAN WHO GLOWS IN THE DARK “This is a book that we’ve been awaiting for years—one that unites the best medicine from the ancient past with the deepest needs of the contemporary heart and soul.”—Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Ph.D., author of Women Who Run with the Wolves, The Gift of Story, and Faithful Gardener “Elena Avila’s book is a combination manual, memoir, and healing chant. I’m so glad these stories and secrets – which have been known orally by our culture for ages – are finally down on paper.” —Julia Alvarez, author of How the García Girls Lost Their Accents “Avila shatters myths about curanderismo and reminds us that it’s just as important today as it was centuries ago.”—The Austin Chronicle “In this age of impersonal and technologic health care, Elena Avila’s book gives the reader permission to rely on what has all too often been forgotten. Her message—that healing cannot occur without the heart, instincts, wisdom, and compassion of the healer—is given with grace and simplicity.”—Barbara Dossey, R.N., M.S., HNC, FAAN, Director, Holistic Nursing Associates “Truthful, often painful, always riveting, WOMAN WHO GLOWS IN THE DARK reveals how the practices of curanderismo can heal the soul sickness not addressed by Western medicine.”—Rudolfo Anaya, author of Bless Me, Ultima “Grounded in the earth, at home in both modern and indigenous medicine, Elena Avila is a true emissary of healing, casting a brilliant glow into the dark of all medicine that denies the soul. As a human, I cherish Elena’s light. As a psychiatrist, I welcome her insight.”—Judith Orloff, M.D., author of Second Sight and The Genius of Empathy “Avila is entertaining and often humorous...Without climbing on a soapbox, [her] narrative demonstrates what’s missing from most American medical practices, and how many patients could be helped so much more than they are now.”—Kirkus Reviews
Author: Robert T. Trotter
Author: Eliseo Torres
Author: Erika Buenaflor
Author: Eliseo “Cheo” Torres
Author: Brett Hendrickson
Author: Antonio Zavaleta
Author: Erika Buenaflor
Author: Eliseo “Cheo” Torres
Author: Erika Buenaflor
Author: Elena Avila