Listen to Your Body Dr. H came into the room at about 10:00 pm that Friday night. By then, my four-day headache and puffed temporal vein had subsided. I had taken two Aleve’s five hours prior, when I first decided to get a doctor’s opinion. Dr. H spoke to me like a preschool teacher speaks…
taylor garcia
Healer in Training, Part 6
My Patient, My Friend
A Patient Journey If we’re lucky, Felix and I meet for lunch maybe twice a year. We became instant friends years ago, both of us in near identical places in life. We call each other brother sometimes. We’re both busy men with careers and families, and so the very act of meeting up is challenging.…
Healer in Training, Part 5
Doors Opening
Treasure Maps The universe has a funny way of showing you the way. For me, it was an anthropology student’s dissertation poster. I was taking a break from the death and dying demonstration during my two-week course at the University of New Mexico’s Curanderismo seminar, wandering the halls of the Anthropology building. At that moment,…
Healer in Training, Part 4
Comida Como Medicina - Food As Medicine
Inside Out Healing A few recipes for your consideration… First, how I destroyed my insides: Breakfast –Fried Egg & Pork Sausage –Oatmeal with brown sugar and whole milk –Wheat toast with butter –Coffee with cream and sugar Lunch –Turkey, bacon, lettuce, and tomato hoagie on wheat bread drenched in vinegar and oil –Bag of Lays…
Healer In Training, Part 3
Talking to Heal
Camp Counselor From a young age, I noticed that people shared things with me. Their histories, their stories, their secrets, their wishes. This continued into adulthood with friends and work associates. Over the years, I’ve heard a lot of people’s deepest, and sometimes their darkest. I’ve received the calls for help. I’ve read the texts…
Healer In Training, Part 2
Forgiveness Rituals Start Young
Creating Ceremony Who knows what they were arguing about. One was taunting the other. The other retaliated. Or was it something that one had that the other one wanted? Whatever it was, the argument escalated into a knock-down-drag-out fight. I typically don’t referee my son’s arguments, but for this one I had to send them…
Healer In Training, Part 1
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
New Rooms, Corridors, and Stairways One of my favorite character archetypes growing up, if not my favorite of all was the magician. The wise old sorcerer. In Disney’s rendition of the King Arthur legend, “The Sword in the Stone,” I was more interested in Merlin’s fantastical abilities than I was in Arthur’s rise to royalty.…
Heal Thyself First, Part 5
Risaterapia (Laugh Therapy)
All The Emotions, All At Once Our last day had arrived. Two weeks had passed. Our journey as a group of healers-in-training was ending. Our class about curanderismo at the University of New Mexico was, in a word, transformational. At times, I tried to use the words fun, energizing, amazing to describe the program, but…
Heal Thyself First, Part 4
Parteras de Alma
Saying Goodbye While medical professionals are often who help women deliver new souls into this world, midwives still play an integral role in this magical moment, and they have for centuries. Yet what happens on the other side of life, when souls are exiting this existence? Who helps usher them to the next place besides…
Heal Thyself First, Part 3
Herbs For Healing
Release In The Botanic Garden In a wide open lawn surrounded by tall shade trees, we called to the four directions for our morning ceremony. With the small drum I had brought to the ceremony, I stood in the second inner ring and banged the drum when we called each direction. Once on the ground,…
Heal Thyself First, Part 2
Rescuing My Inner Child
Loved and Always Protected Rita, la maestra, said we each have an inner child inside of us—un niñito—that needs to be loved and cared for. Protected. She said that child often has things they have not said to their mother and father. That child is often holding onto pain and fear from their past. The…
Heal Thyself First, Part I
In The Temazcal
The Therapy Worked On the drive to Bernalillo from the westside of Albuquerque, I binged on potato chips. I knew it wasn’t the best food choice, nor was it considered dinner. It was a snack, and the flyer instructed participants to “only eat lightly” before the temazcal. In Julie’s yard, we assembled as somewhat strangers.…
Tea with an Elder
On The Pathway to Spiritual Healing, Part 1
Sign From The Spirit Most people go to coffee shops to either drink coffee or work or both. That was my intention last Monday when I walked into Little Bear on Central Avenue in Albuquerque, NM. I however, was seeking green tea, since I’m not much of a coffee drinker, and I wanted to open…
Advance
How Men Use (and abuse) Time
Occupation or Obsession? A world-renowned and well-paid guru once said men are often like trains on tracks when it comes to goals. This can be especially true with things like projects or work. We often start something and follow it through with a mad obsession. No matter how long it might take us, we just…
Not a Commencement Speech
Pomp & Circumstance
Oh, The Places You Might Go Here’s what we know so far: Covid-19 is never going away, and it’s going around again. Regular colds and flus are going around, too. My family just dealt with one last week. Children and adults are being murdered by firearm at alarming rates in schools, grocery stores, and hospitals—the…
Manners Matter
Gentlemen in Training
Politeness Wins The Day When I must pass in front of someone in a grocery store aisle, I still say “Excuse me.” When I order at a restaurant, I’m programmed to utter “May I please…” And I drop the universal, “Thank you,” maybe a little too much. For example, almost all of my business correspondence…