PROFILE:

Temazcalera Miriam Margarita Gutiérrez Rodríguez

Miriam grew up in Chapala enamored with the lake and the mountains, her love of nature seemingly innate. She followed her passion into a career in Urban Planning and the Environment, taking a job with the municipality of Chapala in environmental compliance in 2006. She loved her work and also the gift of using her education for good. Part of her, though, yearned for a more direct connection to nature.

She spent her summers exploring the hills around Lake Chapala. These small journeys led her to Katuza, a well-known shaman from Ajijic. He introduced her to the temazcal ceremony. A temazcal is an indigenous Mexican form of a sweat lodge. Walking into the ceremonial space at Tepatate, in the hills above Ajijic, she was immediately taken by the shape of the temazcal itself. As intended, the domed, igloo-like structure reminded her of a pregnant woman. She crawled into that womb of brick and clay, experienced the ritual of this ancient ceremony – the heat, the song, the ice-cold water, the scent of eucalyptus, rosemary and sage – and left reborn.

She began to attend the ceremonies every Sunday, learning a little more each week. She made her own maraca, then a drum. She fashioned a copalera from clay. A copalera is a container used to burn copal, an aromatic tree sap resin. The smoke is used to purify spaces and participants prior to the ceremony. She learned the history of the temazcal ritual. She grew to understand the importance and magic of holding space for people to heal. She felt the presence of the local guardian spirits and of her ancestors.

When her contract with the city ended, Miriam struggled with her next steps. She had a career, a commitment to finish her master’s degree and a host of personal and familial obligations. She sought advice from Katuza. He simply replied, “no corras detras del mundo, dejas que el mundo venga a ti.” Don’t run after the world. Let the world come to you. She stepped off her career path onto the road of her heart’s desire. She would become a temazcalera.

For the next year, she joined the young band of gypsies who interned with Katuza. She learned to gather, grow and prepare herbs and other aromatics. She internalized the structure of the ceremony which roots itself in providing the space and circumstances for the participants to be totally present. She grew to understand the emphasis on breathing; breath is neither in the future nor the past. She observed many ceremonies and led some.

Her restless soul called her to the coast for nearly a year. And though her time there reconfirmed her connection and commitment to nature, she missed the life of a temazcalera. She returned to Lakeside and started performing the temazcal ceremony at Monte Coxala. And while the experience wasn’t unfulfilling, it lacked the authenticity she sought. Contemplating her next move, she took an urban planning job in Ixtlahuacán in 2011.

By this time, her family recognized her desire to be on the spiritual path. She admits their support was mixed. Perhaps fearing she would leave Chapala in pursuit of her uncommon dreams, her father surprised her by suggesting she set up her own temazcal on his land in Riberas. Walking this land, Miriam knew she had found her purpose. She continued her job in Ixtlahuacán, but with the help of Katuza and her other temazcalero friends, she cleared and leveled some of the property to create her own temazcal.

On the spring equinox of 2013, Coyohaulli Temazcal was born. The name Coyohaulli is Nahuatl for “sounding snail” or conch. Miriam chose this name to honor the cosmic spiral, the cyclical nature of life and healing and also the ancestral use of the conch shell as an instrument to call in the ancestors before a ceremony. She is in her element (or elements, as all five – earth, air, fire, water and void – are part of a temazcal ceremony) as the directress of this ancient and inclusive ritual.

Though her path has been far from straightforward, Miriam continues her journey as a temazcalera. She credits the temazcal and yoga as the two practices which helped her conquer her grief when her father passed away in 2014. She envisions the continued curation of sacred spaces where people of all walks and nationalities can partake in healing modalities. To this end, she opened a yoga studio, Shakti Studio, in Chapala in 2018 and offers temazcal ceremonies about twice a month.

“Mother Earth shares with everyone equally.” Miriam reminds us. “Sitting shoulder to shoulder in her womb participating in this ceremony opens bridges between each other and heals both her and us.”