Since I began my journey with the Pachakuti Mesa Tradition, I have been studying more and more about the traditional healers of Peru. As a yoga practitioner and instructor, I am drawn to the information that cultures around the world hold regarding the human energy field and energy centers. Further to that, I never tire of learning how energy cycles around through our fields, and what the different beliefs are pertaining to energy field constructs.
How do our fields react and interact, and how these energies translate into our thoughts, our actions, our present health, and our health for the future? How can we clear our fields when we need to, how can we recharge them when we need to, and how do we best know when to do so? These are just some of the questions that drive me to keep learning and practicing. And it is because of these questions that I have found a home in the PMT practice.
In my childhood, it came very naturally – as I believe it does to all children – to see energy and work with it. It was so prevalent in my routine; wash my face, brush my teeth, comb my hair, clear my energy field, balance the energies. I had a conscious daily routine of energy clearing and balancing that I practiced as a child. I was a Dreamer, as in my dreams were always very vivid and I learned the language of my dreams in such a way to decipher messages and teachings.
Further dream teachings ensued as I got older, and I had a deep yearning to explore the practical energy healing methods that were being taught not only nearby, but in other parts of the world. I wanted to know as much as I could about the ancient ways, the tribal ways, the true magic within healing, and to find the center of the Sacred Hoop that circles all life.
Something I have learned along my journey is that the Q’ero people of Peru believe that there are seven energy centers in the body, just as it is in the East Asian healing systems. The first of the seven energy centers or ‘chakras’ is found at the base of the spine, next at the center of solar plexus, and the third is adjacently below the belly button. At the heart is where you find the fourth energy center, followed by fifth at the throat, then the center of the forehead just above the eyebrows – the third eye. The last energy center along this column is found at the crown of the head. Just as in the yogic tradition, aspects of the self and of life and of cycles are represented by each energy center – physically and spiritually.
The energy centers spin clockwise when they are healthy and well balanced. They should be vibrant and full-bodied when they are maintained in a healthy condition. However, the chakras may spin counter clockwise when unbalanced. They may also collapse, clog, or become sluggish. The chakras are responsible for drawing in and moving energy in its raw form – the Q’ero call it Huaca – into the respective energy fields. When the chakras become dysfunctional, the physical body is deprived of energy. This can bring one to experience emotional, mental, spiritual, and even physical imbalance. In some cases, it may lead to illness.
The world’s sacred balance and wholeness are represented by none other than our primary healing tool, the mesa. When one’s mesa is activated, the energetic forces move us into balance, also known as Ayni. Q’ero medicine, like that of other indigenous people in the world, works with an infusion of elemental power. In Peru, Huaca is as well known as the Asian Chi or Qi. Spanish conquerors of South America chronicled the Huaca – Pedro de Cieza de León believed that the word meant “burial place.” In the present day, it is understood to be a localization of power in objects, rivers, shrines, caves – places which have had sacred work performed as well as the objects or artes that may hold it.
As with the practice of mesa traditions, invoking elemental powers to activate healing and bring forth balance has been used for millennia around the world. As we practice establishing Ayni for our inner and outer worlds, we begin to grow an innate and intimate understanding of Huaca and our relationship with it. It will become clearer, from a heart-centered place, how we will move with it and how we will work with it in the world.
I truly look forward to the time when we will be able to embrace the concept that there is more than our Western medicine and psychology can provide. Many people struggle with anxiety, depression, and other diagnosed mental conditions despite the use of pharmacology and talk therapy. There are safe and potent alternatives which use distilled ancient knowledge and have been passed on from generation to generation.
The Pachakuti Mesa is a powerful tool that heals and transforms the force of life within the world. As we work with our mesas, may we remember the divinity, the dance, the Ayni that moves into being when we work our mesas for our own healing as well as to wisely serve others.
About the Author
Danielle Leigh is a Movement Therapist, Dancer, Choreographer, and Yoga & Pilates Instructor. She combines movement practices with energetic healing methods and modalities, including shamanic practice. She is the founder of Urban Soul Alchemy, a system of movement therapy and energy healing which facilitates healing, awakening, and expressive creativity.
As a writer, she writes her own blog and has written articles for numerous online health and wellness publications. She is presently writing a few larger pieces of work. Danielle is passionate about earth-honoring practices, and this is how she came to study with don Oscar and the Pachakuti Mesa Tradition. She is Founder and Director of a Food Recovery project in her hometown.
She is a Metis mama of three children and a wife to one husband. Most days, she has a biting tongue-in-cheek humor, and will happily work for strong coffee.
Email: urbansoulalchemy@yahoo.ca
Website: www.urbansoulalchemy.com
