The compelling drama of American herbologist Rosita Arvigo's quest to preserve the knowledge of Don Elijio Panti, one of the last surviving and most respected traditional healers in the rainforest of Belize.
Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating: Summary: Indigenous healing at its best. Comment: This is a great book documenting an apprenticship with a Maya Healer. The most important lesson taken from the book is the destruction of the Balizian Rain forest and thus the destruction of numerous plant species going extinct and wiping out potential cures for humankind. The wisdom teachings by this teacher are awesome and forthright. They advocate on behalf of an ancient way of knowing no longer important to Eurocentric peoples who are more concerned with their own greed and selfishness then with contributing to heal the earth for the benefit of all.
The chapters related to spiritual healing are worth the price of admission alone. I give this book my highest recommendation.
Furthermore, if you work in the healing arts, I would also recommend the author's program in Mayan Massage techniques. Customer Rating: Summary: Cue the violins... Comment: This was some of the most self-serving, melodramtic drivel I've read, well, ever. I usually put garbage like this aside, but I'd just been to Belize and promised a friend I'd read it. Customer Rating: Summary: Wonderfully interesting and easy to read, I couldn't put it down! Comment: This book was written very well, but was still packed with ethnobotanical information and experiences. It read like a novel. I enjoyed witnessing the change in Arvigo as she became more accepting of Maya beliefs and less fixated on the thinking of american practitioners; the struggle she had with changing her thinking process and finally being able to kind of mush them together into her own way of healing. For example at first she would introduce a plant and what it was used for and how it had a certain chemical(s) in it that would give it that healing property. But as she learns more about the plants she has to adopt a spiritual understanding on how these plants work to heal. And I loved the ending! Customer Rating: Summary: Thank goodness Sastun is back in print! Comment: I read this title when it came out years ago and have collected a few extra copies for loaning out over the years...now my hoarding is over.
This is truly a breathtaking story about the fragile links between traditional healing and current day healing. Truly, one of the most remarkable books I have ever read. Customer Rating: Summary: The healers and ecology Comment: I really enjoyed this book. It tells about Arvigo's true life experiences with a healer. She shows us that it is up to all of us to save our planet. It is also true that we don't have to reinvent the wheel. She was able to get help from the New York Botanical Garden. Arvigo is really a brave woman.
