Temazcal: A Mayan Sweat Lodge experience
While a sweat lodge wasn’t a burning desire of mine in life (pun intended?), as soon as i saw it as an optional experience for my first yoga retreat to Tulum I knew I was meant to do it. As we followed our guide down the beach, one of the retreaters began to express their nervousness. I’m usually pretty aware of my emotions and nerves, but for whatever reason I wasn’t feeling nervous at all. Which.. isn’t the norm for me.. Usually first time experiences rev up some of that anxious energy, but for whatever reason I wasn’t feeling anything like that. Which of course made me wonder.. did I know what I was getting myself into??
We entered the sacred space outside of the “womb” or the stone dome structure where the ritual would take place, and were greeted by three guides. After warmly welcoming us they were very clear that they were not shamans. We were all going to be contributing our own medicine to this ceremony. They described this experience as a symbolic death and rebirth. We enter the womb as one person, and leave another. The nervous energy peaked at this point, as we shot excited and anxious looks at one another. We could begin to feel the heat from the hearth where the lava rocks were being prepared. One by one we were saged and asked to create an intention for the experience. We were then given an offering to drop into the fire with our intention, making all of us and our wishes a part of the actual fire. And then one by one we were told to enter the womb, walk around clockwise to our space. Once we were all seated together in a circle the ceremony began.
One by one the heated lava rocks were brought in by pitchfork, and as each rock was placed down a one word prayer was whispered by the guides, and we were encouraged to participate. While the word itself evades me now, it was shared that this was a prayer to balance the masculine and feminine energies. Once the first round of stones were in the womb, one of the participants was given a piece of copal resin. She was asked to share her intention while gently tapping each lava rock with the resin, and a second participant across the circle echoed the intention while lifting a set of small antlers up to the skys- in order to the reinforce the intention. As the final rock was being graced with an intention, a generous bit of fire sparked and sent a bit of fear into all of us. Followed by the giggle of realization that everything is actually ok.. thankfully.
As we sat on the Mexican blankets and began the detoxification process of sweating, the 3 different guides took turns speaking from the heart, channeling their individual messages. One sang a song, a tribute to the temezcal process, and encouraged us to sing along with her once familiar. Just as chanting OM before a yoga class, or singing in the choir, there’s something so connecting and clearing about singing together in a group. It also requires a bit of confidence, a working relationship with fear (ohhh ever present fear), and strength in your voice. It felt vulnerable and yet so important. Being in such an intimate group, hearing the individual voices of the 6 other participants shifted the energetic from the nervous energy, to strength, courage, and purpose.
As we endured three different rounds of heated rocks, it was as if we were pulling back the layers of protection in order to get to the root. Just as we do in Ayurveda. Keep seeking the deeper meaning, the true meaning. The message that has calcified in our bodies, and like drying clay, becomes less maleable. The heat, the sweat, the singing in unison, intentional vibrations, they all worked together to soften that dried clay in each of us. Just like the idea of warm water first thing in the morning for your digestive system, the sweat and ceremony were washing away the hardened, outdated ideations, and we were releasing in order to start fresh. As the rounds continued, the sweat kept pouring, and my intention slowly began to shift, and I felt deeper clarity.
One of the aspects of the ceremony that I appreciated the most was how important our guides felt it was to honor ancestors. We were taking part in this traditional Mayan ceremony, so to honor this ancient ritual, and to grow to understand its context here in the Yucatán Peninsula was of the utmost importance. I am not going to lie, when I discovered we were eperiencing this at a nearby beach resort I had my doubts about the authenticity of this experience. But I can say with certainty it was shared with the utmost care, and I do believe our group was in deep reverence and truly humbled to have the experience. Each guide made a reference to their own personal lineage and ancestors, and encouraged us to take some time to spend in gratitude for our lineage, but also connecting with our ancestors.
I immediately felt the presence of some of my passed family. Whenever I have an experience with a healer/guide/psychic my dad immediately appears. And now my mom was quick to join. The theme of the masculine and feminine kept tossing around in my mind, and I felt my mom’s father and my dad’s mother engaging one another about their roles in forming my relationship to the male female balance, and how my grandfather brought more of the playfulness, and coy grace, while my grandmother was the anchor for my strength and courageousness. A little role reversal, but gifts they passed on to me now-no doubt.
As we were encouraged to lay down to better support ourselves through our final round, with my head so close to the curved walls, I observed something which I almost didn’t believe myself. I could hear long, slow deep breaths coming from a female voice behind me, but there was no behind me. I could clearly hear the two participants next to me, but this sound was coming from directly behind me, the wall of the womb. I felt a calmness and a supported sensation. It wasn’t scary or fear invoking. It was as though the veil was so thin and I could actually hear the breath of my mom.
Later that night, as we naturally congregated to digest our experience together, another member shared she had the same exact experience of hearing breath behind her, and I was pulled to remember and make note of the experience. I do feel deeply connected to my lineage, and my ancestors, and I am so grateful to have had this experience where I truly felt supported by them. As part of my work, I want to echo my teachers in encouraging people to do the deep healing work of one’s lineage, but not to forget to stand on the shoulders of your ancestors as well. While we have inherited much to heal, we have also inherited much to be grateful for, and this experience brought me closer to this awareness, and so much clarity.
By the end of the ceremony, as I sat with the group around a beautiful table of fresh fruit and water, I realized my intentions had evolved to become courage and grace. It felt so natural to set those two ways of being as my intention, but the wildest realization is that those were part of my high schools mantra, “Courage for the deed, grace for the doing.” Of course I had not taken much thought to it while I was there, but the realization that this was actually a seed planted intentionally over 20 years ago… and here I am rediscovering it and choosing it… A miracle in and of itself. And to have these traits as qualities identified by my grandparents as what they hope to ensure I remember of them.. message received.
While I sit here in Denver trying to unpack this experience, I am beyond grateful for living at a time when we can actually travel and be able to participate in another culture’s ceremonies. I am so grateful for this experience, and trust whole heartedly it came when it was meant to, and so grateful for the community that participated with me, allowing me to go to the depths I may not have gone to alone. I’ll continue to unpack the impact, and allow for full digestion of this incredible experience. To courage for the deed, and grace for the doing. And so it is.
