InTheTemazcal

The caminantes at Centro Holistico Casa Mágica ( Magic House Holistic Center ), in Acapulco, Mexico, have taken the temazcal a step beyond the ancient Mayan steam bath ceremony, integrating it into a modern holistic health center. The center provides temazcales, through its Circulo de Mujeres   Mariposa (Circle of Butterfly Women), and also offers yoga, massages, meditation, reiki, vegetarian food workshops, transpersonal therapy, hypnosis, tai chi, drawing, zumba, painting, acupuncture, and other services.  Cesar Salazar talking about the copalero, or copal burner, at Cása Magica. Photo Source: © Jeffrey R. Bacon, 2017 Hidden away, next to a bustling bus station, just a block from the Playa Hornitos beach, on Acapulco Bay, and just a few hundred feet from the  Parque Papagayo Acapulco , m y duality, Berenice " Gatuño"  Martinez , and I visited   Casa Magica last week. There, Cesar Salazar , Gilberto Chavez , Miriam Lucero , and a youngster ...

I wore this pendant, a gift from El Oso, which reminded me of the red road on which he led me. While today I mostly write of the temazcal from memory, at one time I lived it, attending twice a week and giving my time and effort in service as often as my work and energy allowed. I had become accustomed to the Circulo de los Osos (the Bears' Circle) and its caminantes as my family. Although I spent only a few years with them, those years coincided with important new apertures in my mind and material world experiences. A professional change in my life provided motive to move away from that group. Although I made the move willingly and thoughtfully, I found myself in my new world with little external emotional or spiritual support. The Coping Tools I Used Not long ago, when I rejoined my hermano , or brother, from the Circulo de los Osos , Oso Hector, he asked me to share with the others of his temazcal ceremony the answer to the question, "How did I endure my move...