Cultural Integration

“If you reject the food, 

ignore the customs,

fear the religion
and avoid the people,

you might better stay at home.”

– James Michener

I had quite the interesting experience the other day with a "masaje" or "massage" in English. I have chronic back problems that involve a lot of pain and inflammation. They have been aggravated lately and hurt badly, so I talked to Narcissa at the school the other day to see if she knew of anyone who was a good masseuse. She made some phone calls and set up an appointment for me that evening. I walked to the appointment not knowing what to expect. I was curious to find out what kind of medical background and technical training was involved in the profession here. It would be quite easy to tell someone who had training from someone who did not. Ecuador also has a culture that incorporates "traditional" medicine, so I didn't know what to think. I was however, hoping they could help me!

When I met the masseuse she seemed quite friendly and professional. After I laid down, she entered the room having donned a white medical coat. "Okay", I thought, she definitely seemed normal. That made me relax a little bit. She told me in Spanish that she needed to do "cleansing water". I said okay...  completely unsure of what, exactly, she was talking about. The mental image I got was of a priest sprinkling holy water. I told her if she could fix my back, she could do whatever ritual was necessary! As I was laying there with my eyes closed I felt an intense rush of heat across my face and chest combined with a "whooosh" sound! She was spraying some type of liquid directly over top of me and lighting it on fire! I was caught off guard to say the least. She walked completely around the table repeating the process. Each time she ignited the air above me i jumped a bit because it was a little disconcerting. During the rest of the massage, she was using a lot of essential oils that I couldn't really identify. The technique for the majority of the massage was customary deep tissue medical massage. This involves warming the muscle and attempting to release the tense, inflamed tissue. After the main part of the massage, she performed reike, which is an eastern medical tradition of moving energy. Reike uses hand movements accompanied by a loud bell, which is chimed in specific locations around the body. The bell sent a shock through my system every time the sound waves reverberated through my body. I found it fascinating that the massage ended up being a mix of shamman-ism (the use of traditional indigenous methods such as fire), eastern/oriental medicine (reike), and traditional Western medicine (the medical deep tissue therapy). Wow, what a cultural integration!!!