YOLO Journal Issue 12 - Flipbook - Page 28
meals, and waking up to birdsong. But
climbing up to the balcony of Rafael’s
main house offers a more sweeping
picture: a path to the yoga shala and
beach to the east, the tidal forest and
lagoon to the south, and in the distance,
the shiny green Sian Ka’an forest rustling
with a warm wind.
In this peaceful haven, twice a day
Rafael leads us in a tonic mix of vinyasa
and hatha yoga on a platform hovering
above the cenote. Our traditional sweat
lodge ceremonies, or temazcals, begin in
the afternoon—Kia, the Mayan priestess, greets us with a chalice of smoking
copal, then we sit in the hut heated by
red hot volcanic rocks as she invokes
the ancestors, or abuelos. Periodically,
long bunches of chamomile are used to
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sprinkle water over the rocks and to cool
our sweaty faces with scented rain. Just
as the heat becomes almost unbearable,
a new cycle of purification begins, and
after several hours we all exit the hut—
sticky with sand and leaves, which we
wash off silently in the cenote under the
crescent moon. In a fireside ceremony
and meditation, we explore the healing
properties of cacao, a sacred drink of
traditional cultures, thick and warm in
its cup. And later, under the shala roof
by candlelight, four musicians play a
magical blend of Indian ragas, Andean
songs and ancient rhythms, connecting
us all in a resonant harmony. We take
the flowers scattered across the blankets
and drop them one by one into the water
with a last prayer.
