“Girls we’re down 3 runners today so everyone will need to d-d-d-d…..”. My older sisters’ cross country coach was stuttering while delivering his speech. My attention faded towards the other kids on the grass with me, designated to wait while our older siblings raced. They were all picking at something. Hair, earwax, boogers, the grass, a deep wedgie. Not today, I didn’t have it in me to lay around on the grass while my sister ran through trails, plus I forgot to bring a book with me. The girls’ on her team dispersed and I made my move. “Coach, I heard LA Gear sneakers are great for running. I’ve got mine on today and since you’re down runners.....”. Before I could finish my pitch there was a bib in my hand. “Great! Go j-j-j-oin the girls, your sister will fill you in while I reg-g-g-gister you”. And just like that I was on the team. My sister wasn’t exactly thrilled. In fact she was furious that I was now involved in yet another activity that she claimed as her own. With fury indented on her face she yanked me off to the side after my joyous announcement to her fellow 6th grade P.A.L. peers. “I can’t believe you Shari! You don’t even know how to run. God! Try to keep up. I’m the pace setter, the twins are blockers, and ShellyAnne usually finishes 1st because she sprints the last quarter mile”. Her words sounded like gibberish. I was too busy staring at the butterfly fluttering around her shoulder. “Did you hear what I just said?” “Yea sure sure” I gasped. With an exaggerated wave of her hands in the air our talk was done.
That day I ran 2 miles alongside my older sister in absolute misery. My feet ached, my legs itched immeasurably, girls were elbowing my boney 7 year old body and just as I was about to quit ShellyAnne ferociously sprinted past. I figured the end of the race must’ve been near and began sprinting beside ShellyAnne. That set off a chain of events that my sister and I still laugh about to this day. Up until that point my sister had never finished top 5 in any of her cross country races. She spoke of being content with her role as pace setter, with little ambition towards a 1st place finish. Not this race. There was no way her baby sister was going to beat her across the finish line. I placed 3rd, and it was the first time my sister placed 1st, with her best friend sandwiched in 2nd place. My mere presence and energy a catalyst towards her actualizing something she wasn’t in touch with wanting at the time. She hurled herself across the finish line, nearly knocking the braids out of her head from the impact her face made with the dirt path upon flying in midair to victory. Her face, arms and legs were badly scraped, with 4 seconds separating 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. The ride home with our teammates encompassed celebratory cheers, candy, band aides and my sister letting me nap on her bruised legs.
I think about that shared memory in lots of instances involving sibling rivalry, sibling comradery, competition, admiration and naivety. I visualize the family of Lorena Ramírez the Great and her families legacy of indigenous prowess as ultra marathon runners, with chancletas on her feet. Hence my association to the book I completed on this Lunar New Year. *I’d like to add, I have such softness and recognition towards individuals with speech impediments, such as lisps and stutters, a lot due to the positive associations towards my P.A.L. cross country coach.
There are about 25 books that I considered writing about from the hearts of Edwidge Danticat, Franz Kafka, Michelle Alexander, Stephen Mitchell, Lori Gottlieb and Cornell West; yet none of their texts captured the energy of January quite like Elena Avila’s bestseller “Woman Who Glows in the Dark”. Avila, a fully trained and initiated Curandera from Mexico with Aztec & Native American blood flowing through her, shares her perspective on the ancient and sacred aspects of Curanderismo, which itself is a mixture of Aztec, Native American, African & Spanish practices geared towards health. The art is simple in its purpose and efficacy, while leaving many unable to bountifully practice it due to various reasons. Can’t read it in a textbook, can’t take a 3-day training towards understanding it, there’s no 8-hour workshop to learn how to integrate Curanderismo into a person’s private practice and no certificate to mount on a wall. You are initiated in or you are not, with the central starting point being whether or not ‘it’s in your blood’. The shamanistic practice centers people of color and aspects of ancestral worship, a practice that globally is only questioned by Western medical practices and organized religion (two very big opponents!). Essentially the view is that symptoms can all be traced to an imbalance in the spiritual, mental, emotional and/or physical spheres & that the spiritual has to be addressed first. The spiritual part is literally sine qua non, which can be burdensome for anyone who has zero belief in aspects of each and every human being having a soul. The practice is also inconceivable to anyone that cannot differentiate spirituality from religion. Another important aspect is that Curanderismo does not discount or devalue Western medicine or pedagogy, it does however center itself . I must say, there is a growing number of industries dismantling pedagogy, practice and historical ghosting that has enforced institutionalized racism and white supremacy. Historical ghosting being the act of entirely ignoring the influence and practices of nonwhite, nonmale, nonheterosexual individuals by intentionally excluding their theories and practices. The best ghoster is the person pronounced at not even acknowledging the existence of another. (Side note: if you engage in serial ghosting talk to your therapist about that. If you don’t have a therapist, go get one).
I’m not going to dive into the objective and subjective aspects of the material in the book. It’s a really great read. Avila very directly states that indigenous medicine is real and efficient, while operating primarily as a psychiatric nurse. I can appreciate the strife she encountered by essentially “outing” herself to her professional peers by stating the limitations she perceived in the mental health field, which is heavily heavily heavily HEAVILY based on ideas, research, claims and practices led by white upper class heterosexual males. The aspects of a persons intersecting identities are utterly impossible to ignore pertaining to the influence that those identities will have towards the lens in which a person works. Insert Avila who is of the opinion that an integration of different methods, from different cultural avenues needs to be considered when addressing mental health needs. I felt such gratitude at the intentional tenderness that Avila put towards NOT excluding current mental health practices, but rather calling for an integration that centers indigenous practices.
Now I must say, at times I can be a separatist-as I don’t believe that all things are meant to be integrated into mental health practices. For instance, I don’t integrate in physical touch; I refer out to clinicians who can supplement that into a persons regimen such as an acupuncturist, massage therapist, personal trainer etc. Avila and I differ in that regard, and I value the difference just as I value our similarities.
With a growing presence of individuals desiring “alternative methods” in addressing mental health needs such as ayahuasca, soul retrievals, psilocybin, natal chart readings, divinations and sound baths [to name a few] it is encouraging that more ancient methods that were once outlawed are being exalted. There’s nothing new under the sun. The practitioners who have appropriated these indigenous practices may be “new” but the curative aspects of the practices are not “new”.
People are still trying to figure out how Lorena Ramírez can win an ultramarathon with no sneakers on, how the Dogon tribe can accurately locate planets unfounded to the naked eye with no telescope in hand, and how individuals have cured incurable diseases in places like Honduras (RIP Dr. Sebi) and Brazil (John of God). *I am in no way stating that I back the practices or personal lives of the two aforementioned men.
What happens to the unknown that stays unknown because it cannot be scientifically measured through a system of observation invented by individuals, who themselves secretly engaged in esoteric practices?
Rest in peace to Elena Avila, absolutely a great read!
