About one month and a half ago I hurt my back while I was exercising. At the moment that I got injured I thought that it was just a minor muscle strain and kept on exercising. When I was done exercising I took a shower and went outside to where my car was parked.
I went to my car, opened the door and while I was placing my laptop computer on the back seat I felt an acute pain that ran from the bottom of my back and went down both legs. The pain was unbearable and I almost collapsed on the ground because I felt as if my legs were going to buckle.
I waited a few minutes in my car fearing that I wouldnt be able to drive to school and that my back injury was severe. I was lucky enough that the pain went down a little and I proceeded to drive to school. From that day on I couldnt make any large movements with my right leg (like lifting it high or kicking ) nor support my weight on it. Furthermore I had this throbbing pain whenever I would sit down or would walk for a long period of time.
Thanks to the creator for having given me the opportunity to learn about my culture and traditional medicine because I knew that in order to fix my problem I didnt need pain pills but that I needed the services of a Sobador/a or Huesero/a.
A month went by with me suffering from my ailment and lack of exercise when a woman that I had met told me that her sister was a traditional healer from the Yaqui tribe and that she did sobadas. The woman gave me her sisters phone number and I went ahead and called her that same day. The healer told me to come over that evening and I did.
There I was in my formal clinic attire after getting out of my medical rotation site driving in the humble Yaqui tribal region. When I got to the house of the healer and I sat down to wait for my turn her husband was surprised when I told him I was a medical student. The husband said "It is extremely rare that people with medical training comes to see us many even ridicule our traditions."
I responded to the husband's comment by telling him, "that is extremely unfortunate"
Well my turn came and the healer first did a type of spiritual cleanse by burning herbs and then proceeded to work on my body by doing a type of gentle massage combined with a technique where she would pass her hands over my body without touching it. I would feel sensations of heat and cold, pressure etc. When the healer was done with me I felt a huge sense of relief.
From what I can tell Yaquis use similar healing techniques to those used by the Curandero/as of our Nahua and Mayan peoples. and I spoke about this with the healer and her husband.
I drove back to my apartment under a gentle monsoon shower and slept well that night.
The next day I felt sore as if the day before I had done a heavy workout. After two days I started working out and I didnt have any pain and my leg movements were normal.
I give thanks to the creator for having put me in contact with this traditional Yaqui tribal healer here in Arizona. Thanks to her healing gift and that of her husband's as well I am able to exercise like normal and return to my daily routine without having to experience pain.
Having personally experienced the benefits of traditional ceremones solidifies the appreciation that one has for the knowledge of our native peoples of the lands of Anahuac and the rest of the "Americas!".
