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Centro Nijo A.C. was founded on four core values: Healing, Community, Culture, and Ecology. In creating our Centre of Alternative Medicine and School of Healing Arts, we are deeply aware that we cannot create healing in an individual without looking beyond the boundaries of the self, to heal connections with the community, culture, and the ecology of the land around us.
Healing, at its core, is about realigning energy that is out of balance. In science, energy is defined as the ability to do work, the way a charge of electricity can power a stereo. In our bodies, energy is a vital charge that powers our organs, movements, and holds our physical bodies together in our unique shape. Energy is movement, heat, fluidity, power, and it radiates beyond the boundaries of our skin. The body, like all things on this planet, is made up of atoms which are constantly in motion, creating a vibration which hums at a particular frequency for each person or thing. Quantum physics has showed us that the particles of these atoms can be affected by intention and thought. A change in the vibration of these particles—our most basic building blocks—due to thoughts or feelings of depression, anger, despair, or even a desire for rest can, in turn, change the frequency of the entire energy field of the body. When this happens, the outward manifestation is illness or pain. We believe that healing must primarily address the energy body, in addition to the physical body, searching for the roots of poor health in spiritual, emotional, and lifestyle issues. Our Centre and School are located on land in the El Zapotal community of Oaxaca, Mexico. For us, it is necessary to be connected to the people of this area, to live together in a way that is supportive and harmonious of all inhabitants. Our Centre of Alternative Medicine is here primarily to serve local people, offering a sliding scale basis to be sure everyone has access to adequate health care. The community classes we'd like to give are designed to fulfill needs established by the community, and are provided as a way to give back to people in the surrounding area—both Mexican and ex-patriots. We strive to create a space of cultural interaction through our workshops, between foreigners and locals, and between youth and elders. One of our goals is to foster these connections of laughter, understanding, and mutual support between “ninos” and “viejos”, to encourage respect for culture and one’s ancestors, and to ensure the preservation of traditional wisdom. The healing traditions represented at Centro Nijo are varied through cultural differences, but each has a direct line of truth through the body. As a group of people coming from all over the world, we are sensitive to the need to be culturally appropriate—not to appropriate culture. Although we live in an age of global information, we recognize the importance of learning, teaching, and preserving traditions within their original structure, and this is one of the main goals that Centro Nijo was founded on. We believe it is vitally important to be cognizant of the spiritual and political history of the land we dwell on, to give respect to it and to the culture of the people we live among and who lived here before us. We draw on the rich local traditions of our neighbors, and of the indigenous Huichol, Zapoteca, Tolteca, Mexica, Maya, and other groups within Mexico. One of our staff members, our Tradition Keeper, is even dedicated to researching the roots of these ancients cultures to continue to inspire and inform us of our grounding in this land. In addition, we are influenced by the unique international traveler’s community here, as well as by the countries our staff and volunteers come from—Italy, England, Mexico, and the US. Our founder also brings the influence of the time he spent living and studying acupuncture and meditation in China and Japan, and the effects of his current spiritual path as a Sun Dancer in the North Native American (Sioux) tradition. The philosophy of deep ecology makes us conscious of how the Earth fills us with wonder, feeds us, shelters us, and heals our pains, offering us all her gifts freely. A deep awareness of the earth connects us to our roots, to each other, to the energy that moves through everything, and to all our relatives—from past and future generations. Our aim at Centro Nijo is to live as lightly as possible on our Mother Tierra, motivated by a deep spiritual connection to the Earth and all its inhabitants. To this aim, we use a variety of alternative technologies, such as solar power for our energy, and rechargeable batteries. We conserve our water, which comes from our well, and are reforesting and cultivating native trees and medicinal plants. We re-use many non-recyclable materials, since there is no formal garbage pick-up or recycling program in the area, and our organic waste is fed to dogs, chickens, or composted in our worm-bin and compost heap, to become fertilizer for our plants. Our desire at Centro Nijo A.C. is to create a healthier, respectful, and balanced community, in harmony with all the biodiversity and cultural heritage of this area of Oaxaca. |
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