This is a story of memories and remembrance that brought me deep into the path of wanting to fully feel into the body, innerstand the body's healing abilities, and how deeply connected I was to this world of Holistic Healing that so often is referred to as, "alternative medicine"....which honestly could not be further from the truth. Many of these practices has been around for thousands of years, but somewhere along the line of our journey into humanity they were labeled as secondary to Western Medicine.
I am a huge advocate of holistic healing first and foremost and I do think Western Medicine has it's place and time, but I am huge advocate of body wisdom, the body as an intelligent healer, and being your OWN biggest wellness advocate in your life. I am not a doctor. I am simply sharing my own magical journey that I found as I navigated this path.
First, let's set the tone for how I became so invested in the ancient, healing arts.......
I began my journey into holistic healing and naturopathic studies as a young 13 year old. I was fascinated by herbs, plant medicine, energy healing, shamanism, and anything that showed how the body could innately heal and repair itself. There was always a DEEP inner knowing of this sacred memory that vibrating inside me. Something that knew there was more to healing, health, and wellness aside from what mainstream society and Western Medicine was telling us.
As a young teen I can remember clear as day this HUGE book filled with holistic healing tips, recipes, practices, and tools in it that my mom got from a monthly book club membership that she was part of. She didn't order it, it was simply sent to her as an added bonus for being part of this monthly club. A part of me thinks that this was sent her way not for her, but for me. I remember seeing this THICK, beige, paperback book sitting in her room. My curiosity piqued and I was so drawn to picking it up...so I did. This book had to have had at least 600 pages filled with herbal remedies, tinctures, poultice recipes, talks about energy healing, benefits of meditation, plant medicine, and so much more. My mind was so blown wide open and engaged as I flipped the pages. So, I did what any teen did in the late-90's...I took it outside with my while I sunbathed to read. (ha ha)
That book opened up and rocked my world...."healing by using plants? Healing anxiety with meditation? Releasing pain with energy work? Detoxing the body by us food as medicine? Relieving a headache by inhaling peppermint oil? Pulling poison from the body by creating a poultice?", my mind went wild in the best way. It was like the text awakened codes inside me of worlds of existence that I had lived and experienced time and time again. It felt real. It felt like second nature. It felt like home. There was not a moment while flipping through this book that felt foreign to me.
This was my first taste of this world...a memory remembered and now awakened. The next time my world would be blasted open with memories was about 2-years later as I watched tv. I was sitting on the couch and I think it was "60 Minutes" that was on....it was covering a tribe in the Peruvian jungles who called themselves, "Shamans". My eyes glued to the tv....not wanting to miss a minute. The show followed around one main Medicine Man of the tribe and watched him perform healing sessions. I was so engrossed in this and just new deep inside, "THIS IS REAL!!!!". I remember sitting there feeling this deep sense of knowingness that this healing I was witnessing wasn't something "too far out" from my mind to grasp. I felt a deep connection to the way the Shaman blew smoke over and into areas of the body. It felt like I had watched this process of chanting, extracting energies out of the body in a distant memory, but it wasn't this current life I was living. As I sat on the couch watching this be televised I was once again....blasted wide. Another layer of remembrance being activated.
To be continued......