Eco Construction
Last month, Lucy Garay from Mexico, with the help of a guide from home, directed and opened the temazcal in the new wellness area at Sunseed. The traditional Mexican style sauna is used for purification ceremonies, connecting awareness of the mind, body and spirit.
The ancestral ceremony was a place where the warriors came to purify, learn to listen to the body, ground into the earth and practice self-control. The temazcal is a deep medicinal treatment that reaches multiple levels in the body; it touches the spirit, in the sense that it lightens any heavy feeling and cleanses the aura so that thoughts weigh less on the mind.
The conjunction of the four elements in the belly of the mother earth is the essence of the temazcal. The medicine is basically made up together with the songs, the consciousness and the willingness of the people to heal themselves. If you attend the temazcal, and you want to feel the fire energy, it’s because you’re on the path to change, Lucy says, and is the opportunity to get rid of anything you don’t need.
It’s a great medicine for many physical illnesses, for circulatory and respiratory conditions, and for the cleansing of the liver and kidneys.
Below are two songs and a transcript of a ceremony.
Below are some pictures of the construction of the temazcal.
It was started with a hole dug in the ground and a base made from pallets. Caña made the main frame of the structure.
A flagstone floor was put down and a stove was added with an escape horizontal chimney.
Plastic tubing was put around the base of the caña supports to prevent damage and rotting.
The structure was finally covered with rags to keep the heat in.
Lucy leads the opening ceremony.