Heritage of Healing
This podcast episode delves into the traditional practice of curanderismo, focusing on the relationship between an apprentice and her master healer, La Maestra Michelle. Michelle explains the various types of curanderos and their specialties, which include massage, midwifery, herbalism, and spiritual healing. The episode also discusses the interchangeable use of terms like curandera, shaman, and medicine person, as well as the cultural roots and misconceptions surrounding these practices.
Listeners are cautioned that the podcast is for entertainment and not medical advice. The episode highlights the importance of lineage and the apprenticeship process in becoming a curandera, emphasizing the long-term dedication required to master the healing arts.
Heritage of Healing
The Ancient Wisdom of Healing Trauma: Part 2
What if ancient wisdom holds the key to healing the deepest wounds of trauma? Join us on a journey through time as we uncover the profound methods used by Native communities to heal veterans returning from World War II. In a heartfelt conversation with Michelle, we explore a moving story of a Native man whose father found solace and transformation through sacred ceremonies, reconnecting him with a world beyond trauma. Discover how these age-old practices, which include cleansing, fasting, and community support, aim to restore the essence of an individual, and how modern science is beginning to see the light. As we reflect on the spiritual bonds with ancestors and nature, we grasp the strength they offer in overcoming life's most challenging moments.
Our discussion broadens as we explore tools for elevating energy and healing trauma, featuring the soothing presence of water, meditation, and sacred crystals. We delve into the power of herbal remedies and alternative healing modalities like acupuncture and Reiki, empowering listeners to reclaim joy and balance. We also embrace the wisdom of choosing our battles wisely, inspired by spiritual teachings that guide us to safeguard our peace and happiness. This episode is a celebration of personal agency and the roles and passions that define us, encouraging listeners to protect their peace and embrace spiritual wisdom for a more profound approach to life. Let this be a reminder that your journey is not defined by trauma, but by the grace and joy you choose to cultivate.
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Today, Michelle is sharing a real story about how a tribal community healed one of their own after he was sent to war. They healed him emotionally from trauma and prevented him from being plagued by PTSD. We are talking about very sacred and ancient ways to transcend from the pain of unthinkable atrocities yes, even the kind that you have personally lived through. This is a powerful continuation of our two-part podcast on trauma. Michelle, you shared with me that the Native communities in our area had a powerful way of supporting their people after they experienced traumatic events. Specifically, we were discussing how the tribal communities supported their own after being sent off to war in the World War II era.
Speaker 2:Can you speak more about that please? I think it's so important to understand. I'll start it with a conversation that I had with a Native man years ago and he was saying that when his father returned with PTSD he had been through the trauma of war and death, killing, killing. And this is outside of kind of the philosophies of the Native American ways, our indigenous ways. It's outside of that philosophy of being and that philosophy of respect and resolving issues in different ways. And so the father had come back and they immediately cleansed him in their traditional ways and prepared for a community ceremony. And that community ceremony and that community curing went on for several days. There was a fasting that was done for the man. There's the cleansing that is done, there's the realignment of the mind, there's the prayers that come and then the ceremonial pieces in the actual ceremony, where the whole community is there. The whole community is singing and dancing, the whole community is drumming, the fires are going, the waters are going, the altars are there and you are returned to who you were before that happening. You're returned mentally. It doesn't mean that those things didn't happen. You are returned through the ceremony and they would not carry the PTSD. Does that mean that they didn't cry sometimes at night, or revisit it in their minds or have a dream or a memory? Of course they do. They're human.
Speaker 2:However, the energies were doctors and healers who are in the mainstream, who are talking about how important it is to step outside of the trauma mentally and once you do, you reprogram everything within your own body. You see, the indigenous people naturally knew how to do this right In their ceremonies. Even in ancient times, they weren't exempt. There was death and war and illness and so on and so forth, but a different capacity and a different understanding how to handle those issues in life. And I think that we are going to collide.
Speaker 2:Science is going to collide and these people who are in the mainstream for example, joe Dispenza, people like him, who are really talking about it it's exciting that they're speaking about things that people like me have done all my life right.
Speaker 2:They're bringing those methods to the mainstream and it's awesome because it gives us another theory of illness and another way of healing, another understanding of of how exactly how powerful and profound we are as magical beings, as beings who can enter into our supernatural powers. Now, people like myself, people like the medicine. People are already in that. We've been in that for a long, long, a long time, far away ago. As we say, in our ways. We've been carrying these wisdom ways forever. We understand it and so it's a bravo to know that others are bringing it out and making people recognize that, although situations and circumstances happen like an indigenous man or men going into war and experiencing murdering people and the most heinous things of your, somebody in your squadron to know that, hey, I can hold that experience and grieve and move beyond it as well, not dismiss it, move beyond it.
Speaker 3:But when they're in the moment, when they are in the middle of the worst, what did they?
Speaker 2:do. I think it's a remembrance. It's a remembrance of the creator, it's a remembrance of the powers that are around you, your unseen ones, your guides. It's turning and asking for help in those ways. Let's say you're in a war situation, or you're in a battlefield, in a court case or in a marriage or in a relationship and you haven't gotten out of it. For you to connect to this higher site that is within you, no matter what, it's always there. It doesn't mean it's easy to access, but it's always there. That is always. That field is always there. It doesn't mean it's easy to access, but it's always there. That is always. That field is always there. Those ones are always there and those methods are always there.
Speaker 2:So I can imagine, just thinking of it.
Speaker 2:Let's say I was a soldier in the war in World War II, and I could imagine myself as who I am, with my wisdom, waking up each morning and asking to keep my mind clear, asking to help me have that power of God inside of me.
Speaker 2:Because I'm not in that power of God right now, because I am in survival mode. I might get my ass blown up today, am in survival mode, I might get my ass blown up today, and so I could imagine calling in and asking my ancestors, my grandma, my grandpa, to surround me, my dead ones to be with me, looking up to the sun and asking the sun to fuel me and to cleanse me, and putting my feet in the ground, on the ground, and asking the earth to root me in the mountains, to surround me and strengthen me and protect me. Those are things, they go much deeper than that, but those are methods and ways that we operate and they're real and they're powerful. That we operate and they're real and they're powerful. So when we're in the battlefield, that's when we need that the most and when we're in the battlefield.
Speaker 2:The truth is, when we're in the battlefield we get suffocated by the battle and that's where we have to teach people and remember and learn that when you're in the battle of something whether it's a battle of cancer, or it's a battle of abuse, or it's a battle with court system or it's a battle wherever that you can't get buried underneath the battle.
Speaker 2:You have to rise above the battle in your mental body, in your spiritual essence, and you tap into those tools that strengthen and sustain you and they also heal you while you're going through. So if you looked at it, let's say you're looking at residue. Let's say you're in war and you go out there and you're like some young 19 year old man and you go out there and you're being shaped and the battle's coming over you and it's just blanketing you and you're in layers, like an onion. Your core is at the center and you're in these layers. If you know you're in a battle, you want to take the layer off each day and rise above it so that you don't become the battle, you don't become the disease. You remember who and what you are and you're much more than that battle. Yeah, you're in it and the battle's going to pass, but it doesn't have to be alive in you your whole life.
Speaker 3:There's so much we could talk about with this, but let's go to a little practical magic. So, for someone that is either in the throes of a trauma or working through healing, what might a master, kurandera, recommend to them to soothe or to begin to heal?
Speaker 2:This goes into something I'll say over and over again and it was said to me over and over again in my learning. It's coming back into your tool bag of alignment. So the first thing is the mental practice of looking at yourself and saying what are my strengths, what are the things, the capacities that I have, and how am I going to use those capacities now? How am I going to use them now? The other thing is seeing from above, from above, looking down at the situation, disconnecting, witnessing it, knowing that you have to deal with it. You are dealing with it, you're working with it, you're trying, you're stepping out of it, you're shifting your focus, you're creating other focuses as well. That's very healthy to create different focuses so that you can get out of that frequency, out of that energy. So you're, those are tools for alignment. And when I use the word alignment, I'm saying you're aligning with the power of love, the power of god, the power of the creator, the power of the creator, the power of the universe. However you see it, the source doesn't matter. You're connecting to it and you're remembering that not only are you connecting to it outside of you, but there's that spark of it within you, spark of it within you, and so I see it like a rod of energy that goes, let's say, from the heavens into your body, into the earth, and all of a sudden you're this strong, strong rod of light with roots in the earth, being able to access that energy, sustain yourself in the storm and the wind and yet bringing the force of the light from above and all around in you and igniting that light. Have that are ancient methods that are connected to the elements, that are connected to things that shift our frequencies. If you're just looking at energy, let's say you're looking at your situation and this is a spiritual site You're looking at your situation as energy. You're taking the emotion out of it, your situation as energy. You're taking the emotion out of it. And you're looking at it, at energy, and you're saying, oh my gosh, this stuff is like a pile of shit and it's so heavy and it's so stinky and it's so exhausting and I'm just doggy paddling in it all freaking day long, day and night. My mind is consumed with it, the thoughts are consumed with it, my words are consumed with it. My words are consumed with it. I'm exhausted with it. Nobody wants to hear it, I don't want to live it and you step outside of it for a moment and you say wait a minute. Hey, I like to jog, I'm going to go take a jog. That's going to shift your frequency. That's going to shift your frequency. It's going to shift your frequency.
Speaker 2:I like to listen to music. I like to be in the water, in the ocean or near the river. I like maybe I can't go to the river, I need to get in the bath or I like to meditate or pray or listen to drums or whatever it is. That is your tool bag, that's your special tool bag, your medicine bag. Hey, I'm gonna get my quartz crystal out and I'm gonna put it on my chakras. I'm gonna put my quartz crystal on my chakras. Or I'm going to saturate myself with the essence of flowers. I'm going to pray over my food and I love a delicious meal. I'm going to take a bath, whatever those things are.
Speaker 2:To shift the energy, to shift the frequency. You're shifting the frequency from that lower vibrational frequency to a higher one. How do we do that? Our focus, our alignment and heightening, bringing joy back in. I know how difficult it is when you're in the battle, when you're in hell, to find joy, but we have to learn to do that, because this experience, if you look at whatever your experience, is like one dot In a field that's humongous Of all of what you are. It's one dot and you cannot let it swallow you.
Speaker 3:Is there anything people can do safely if they are struggling to find the joy and to do the things, the things? Is there anything herbally or even perhaps by going to a table of a curandera or something that they can tangibly go, physically be a part of, to help move things? What would that be?
Speaker 2:Oh, absolutely, I would say. You can do acupuncture, you can do a massage, you can go do Reiki. You can come see a curandera, you can take a bath. That's going to shift your frequency for sure. You can read something inspirational. Take your mind, take your focus somewhere else. Go meet with your friends and listen to them. Listen to them and bring that out.
Speaker 2:There's so many things. What are the herbs that we can take? What are the teas we can take? We can do chamomile and we can do lavender and we can do tinctures of marijuana. If that's something that's going to be a tool to relax your central nervous system while you're in the battle of war, absolutely use those tools. Use those tools.
Speaker 2:I'm not saying anything illegal. I'm not saying go and go and jump on the bandwagon of doing all kinds of hallucinogens or this, that and the other. Be responsible and look at the things in which will assist you when we're in disharmony. We need to bring harmony in. We need to feed ourselves, we need to hydrate ourselves, we need to rest, we need to decompress, we need to read beautiful things, inspiring words, paint, walk, jog, whatever it is, and those are accessible things, things, and they're right there around us. Going to a reiki practitioner, coming to a kurandera, going to a masseuse absolutely you're going to remove those toxins. They're going to restore you. You're going to feel better. It's not going to heal you instantaneously, right, but it definitely is a piece of the healing along the way. And when you get out of the battlefield, if you do those things along the way, you're not going to have 20 layers of the onion, you're going to have maybe one or two, which makes it easier to heal, right.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. What's the one thing you want to leave people with as they think about the topic of trauma or PTSD?
Speaker 2:I think the last thought is for people to know that they are not that trauma. You are not the trauma. You are not that situation that happened to you. You are not that. Yes, you have to experience it, whatever it is that you went through or that you're going through, but you are not that. You are much more, and it is so critical for your own well-being to remember all of these other capacities of what you are.
Speaker 2:Let's say you're a parent. You say I'm a mom. Let's say I'm a mom and I'm a school teacher. And let's say I'm a mom and I'm a school teacher and I'm a daughter and I'm a mom and I'm a school teacher and I'm a daughter and I'm a sister and I'm a best friend and I'm an artist too, and I'm a bike rider and I'm a daughter and I'm a sister and I'm a best friend and I'm an artist too, and I'm a bike rider and I'm a hiker or I'm a jogger, I'm a baker, and those are things that bring wellness and balance to the situation. So, when you think about it as being on a scale, if you're only in the trauma and you're focused on the trauma, if you're only in the trauma and you're focused on the trauma and you're living in the trauma and you're thinking in the trauma and you're feeling the trauma and the trauma has consumed you. You're out of balance. And so that's the part in which you have some control to say, I can hold this trauma for a second and go have an ice cream with my baby or my daughter or my mom, and I can go have an ice cream and enjoy that moment. I can get up and get showered and enjoy the water, I can drink my coffee and I don't have to be thinking about whatever asshole did this to me.
Speaker 2:This is another thing. Is that when we think about trauma and we think about what somebody else does to us, how they betray us, how they hurt us, that's on them, that belongs to them. It doesn't belong to us. And that is also an ancient method and an ancient way of understanding. Is that what another person does is on them, what we do is on us. And why would we want to carry somebody else's evil inside of us? We're not going to do that. There's no freaking way.
Speaker 2:Yes, while you're in the battle, you have to fight the battle. I'm not saying dismiss the battle. Somebody like Christ, yeah, he would dismiss the battle. And those are those capacities of understanding at a very high level of frequency. You begin to pick and choose what you're going to fight. You begin to pick and choose what you're going to stay in and what you are going to let be what cultivates what's inside of you, what you're going to let rob you. Be what cultivates what's inside of you, what you're going to let rob you.
Speaker 2:When you look at a situation and a trauma and you say, am I going to let that evil rob me of my joy, of my capacities, of my graces? Oh hell no. Oh hell no. When you start to think about it, no, you're not. No, I'm not going to let my ex or that man or that woman who cheated on me, robbed me of my peace and my happiness no, I'm not. Yeah, it hurt me, but I'm not going to let them rob me for my whole life. Oh, no, I'm not.
Speaker 2:And those are very important teachings and very important things to learn how to cultivate. They make us different when we cultivate at that level and when I brought up Christ, when you think about that level of spirituality and that level of wisdom flowing down and spiraling in, we operate differently when we're at that level. We operate completely differently, because we know that when you're working on the spiritual level, that's much more profound and powerful than on the physical level. It doesn't mean you don't address the physical level, it just means that those levels are also extremely accessible and very powerful and potent to use and create. Thank you for your wisdom, michelle. Thank you very much. Blessings to all.