Community Healing Event - September 10, 2011
Honoring Traditional Medicine and Community Access
Albuquerque, NM – August 2011 – The Kalpulli Izkalli and the Topahkal Traditional Medicine Clinic is honored to invite the community of Albuquerque and the surrounding areas to the 5th Anniversary Celebration and Community Healing Event, the Doña Predicanda Perea Encuentro de Medicina Tradicional, on Saturday, September 10, 2011, at the Westside Community Center at 1250 Isleta Blvd., SW.
The goal of this event is to continue to connect our community to their own healing. We are all focused on empowering each other to be one with culture, health and environment. Therefore, the gathering will include Aztec and Native American ceremonial leaders and dancers conducting Blessing / Healing Ceremonies in honor of local community healers, Mexican healers, Native American Healers and young and apprenticing healers, as well as talking circles "to feed our body and soul" with Mother Earth's medicine. There will be more than 30 healers from New Mexico, Mexico, and Indigenous/Native Nations offering therapeutic massages, sobadas tradicionales, limpias (spiritual cleansings), Reiki (energy healing), acupuncture, Earth baths, and many other healing modalities and ceremonies. High blood pressure screenings, diabetes screenings, a Children's tent with fun activities, information booths, talking circles, informational presentations, food, and entertainment by local talent will be a part of the festivities of the 2011 Encuentro and 15 Year Anniversary Celebration.
Every year the Kalpulli Izkalli and the Topahkal Clinic draw more than 500 community residents, including community and healers from throughout the state as well as healers from other states to participate in the Dona Predicanda Perea Encuentro de Medicina Tradicional, a community healing event. The purpose of the Encuentro (Gathering) is to connect our community to their own healing, expose community healing assets and resources available for self-healing and healthcare decision-making, and to honor those who have come before us who have blessed us with their age old wisdom and knowledge of healing. More than 30 healers from New Mexico, Mexico, and Indigenous/Native Nations will offer therapeutic massages (sobadas Tradicionales), limpias (spiritual cleansings), Reiki (energy healing), acupuncture, Earth baths, and many other healing modalities and ceremonies. The gathering includes Aztec and Native American ceremonial leaders and dancers conducting Blessing / Healing Ceremonies in honor of local community healers, Mexican healers, Native American Healers and young and apprenticing healers, as well as talking circles "to feed our body and soul" with Mother Earth's medicine. High blood pressure screenings, diabetes screenings, a Children's tent with fun activities, information booths, informational presentations, food, and entertainment by local talent, as well as hands-on workshops and talking circles will be a part of the festivities of the 2011 Encuentro and 15 Year Anniversary Celebration of Kalpulli Izkalli.
We are a grassroots, intergenerational, resource and action center that has been working to transform the health and environment of our community since 1996. We work with the understanding that how we heal ourselves is directly related to how we see and interpret ourselves and the possibility for individual and community transformation. Our Health and Healing programs include the Promotoras Tradicionales Project, a collective of women who promote community healing and empowerment through traditional healing practices and education, who also run a donation based traditional medicine health and healing center, the Topahkal (House of our Medicine); and the Cihuapahtli (Women's Medicine) Apprenticeship Program that develops leadership among young women. Through our health and healing programs we seek to provide a mechanism for individual and community empowerment and self-healing that offers culturally-appropriate preventative health and healing outreach/education and services that allow our community to make informed healthcare decisions for them and their families and engage them in systemic social change regarding health and healing issues.
For more information, contact:
Adele Nieves 313-910-4461
Sylvia Ledesma 505-452-9208