Temazcal

I spent this weekend in Oaxaca, and had a wonderful time. (Perhaps a little TOO much fun on Saturday night, if you know what I mean...) : )

Sunday was my friend Katharina's birthday, and as my birthday gift to her we both participated in a temazcal session. Temazcal comes from the Nahuatl word temazcalli, which means "house of heat." It's an indigenous tradition (used by the Aztecs, Mayans and Olmecs), used as a therapeutic cleansing on all levels - physical, mental, spiritual. The basic idea is that you enter an igloo-shaped clay construction, where water is poured over super hot stones to make it like a sauna. There are many variations of the temazcal, involving combos of incense, herbs, teas, spices, mud... I will describe what my experience was.

Katharina set up the appointment thru her boyfriend's friend, Victor, whose mother has a temazcal structure behind her house. Victor picked us up and drove us about 45 minutes outside of the city of Oaxaca, to a beautiful and peaceful spot in the countryside. While we drank a mint concoction (for extra hydration), his mother walked us through everything, what order we needed to perform each step to get the maximum benefit, what to be careful of, etc. We changed into our bathing suits and took a quick cold shower, then entered the little igloo. I guess these structures can vary in size, this one had just enough room for maybe 4 people to sit on built-in circular benches, 2 on each side of a little grill where super hot stones were constantly being heated. A thick fabric flap was placed over the entrance, to keep in the heat and keep out the light. It was quite dark, and already very hot and aromatic, I have no idea what kinds of herbs were burning on the rocks. There was a large earthenware bowl filled with tea (again, I don't know what combo of herbs was used), and throughout our experience we ladled the tea over the rocks to increase the steam, heat, and herbal aromas.

Katharina and I were in the temazcal by ourselves, we didn't have her as our guide, so we had to remember all the steps and warnings. The first thing we were instructed to do was to dedicate the session, specific goals that we hoped to accomplish or a higher power that we wanted to call on for help. She said that people's experiences tend to be much better if some sort of personal dedication is made. As we were sitting quietly with our eyes closed, feeling the steam flow over our bodies, I could feel my pores starting to open, one by one. It was an incredible sensation. As the sweat started to flow, we continued with our tasks. There were long branches of herbs in a pile, we split them up and softly tapped our skin with the herbs (I don't know what they were), starting with our arms and legs (all sides), and we took turns doing each other's backs. Fortunately we're not holding any grudges or anything, so we survived each other's beatings unscathed! The idea is that the healing and cleansing powers of the herbs can enter our system once our pores are open and receptive.

Then we moved on to the bowl of fresh aloe, and gooped it on head to toe, even rubbing it into our scalp (although avoiding the areas around our eyes so that it didn't get into our eyes with all the sweat pouring off of us). We sat back and just let it soak in, adding more tea to the hot rocks to keep the temperature and the steam up. It was surprisingly relaxing, even as I felt my body working hard to push out the toxins (and with all the tequila from the night before, there were PLENTY of toxins to get out!!) I have never sweat so much in my life.

We then received a gentle reminder from outside to continue with our exercises, so we began the self-massage, going from head to feet, a special maneuver for each section of our body to increase the circulation and relaxation. When we knew we just had a few minutes left, we practiced the "laugh therapy" that we had been taught, beginning with "ha ha ha" and working our way through the vowels. Apparently each one (when done correctly, truly laughing and allowing the laugh to take over your whole body) works to heal a different body system, in addition to being excellent exercise because of how many muscles spring to action. If I'm remembering correctly, the HA was for head issues, mental stresses, etc. HE was for throat problems, HI for heart/emotional, HO for stomach and digestive issues, HU for sexual problems. She believes that you can "self-prescribe" depending on what issues you're having, so if you have a sore throat and stomach problems, you should laugh with a HE HO combo... Pretty interesting. And so Katharina and I worked our way through the vowels, with laughter as hearty as we could make it after having all of our energies sweating out of our bodies!!

At the end we came out and took a cold shower (introducing body parts to the cold water slowly, starting one foot at a time, then arms, and slowly working our way up to our heart center). There was fresh juice and fruit waiting for us, and then we lounged around for about an hour on cushions she laid out for us in the sun. It was amazingly restorative and restful. Like a new beginning. I highly recommend it, and I am definitely doing it again, the next time without the excessive drinking the night before!!