Los referentes metodológicos

Two or three m o n t h s later, I found myself in Cuernavaca, Mexico, n o t far from Mexico City, giving another Earth/Sky workshop. A lit- tle over o n e hundred people were present and about twenty of them happened to be from Colombia.

O n e of these Colombians, a w o m a n in her early forties, seemed like any other modern woman, until our group would perform a cer- emony, a dance or a chant that was "real," meaning something that made the people aware of the presence of G o d . At that point, her personality would change completely. She b e c a m e uninhibited and primitive; she would dance with the movements, abandon and inten- sity of one w h o had given herself over to the chanting and m u s i c — n o t something you would expect from a modern woman.

To me it was beautiful to watch her, b u t the other Colombians were embarrassed by her actions. As this w o m a n continued with her "unusual mannerisms" every single day of the four-day workshop, the others in her group b e c a m e more and more impatient with her.

On the third day, the group was in a large circle holding hands and chanting certain sounds to heighten awareness. In her unusual

Learning from Indigenous Tribes • 53

nature, this w o m a n broke the circle and went into the center, wildly dancing to the chanting. After about fifteen minutes, the Colombians couldn't stand it anymore and motioned for me to stop her. I didn't really want to b e c a u s e her m o v e m e n t s were so beautiful to m e . However, out of respect for the others, I entered the center of the circle to take her b a c k to the group.

As I a p p r o a c h e d her, she was facing away from m e . I lightly t o u c h e d h e r on the shoulder, and she s p u n around. S h e l o o k e d past m y eyes i n t o m y s o u l , and h e r b o d y e m i t t e d this strange s o u n d that s e e m e d t o s u r r o u n d m y body. I n s t a n t l y I was n o longer in a r o o m in Cuernavaca. I was in a foreign place with grass huts and p e o p l e standing around in white clothing, looking at m e . It was as real as reality. A dog even ran by.

I was not in my own b o d y anymore, b u t in a female b o d y watch- ing the surroundings. A strange, u n k n o w n feeling surged through me that felt almost sexual, yet wasn't. Let's j u s t say it felt really, really good. And then, j u s t as I was beginning to accept my n e w reality, I suddenly found myself b a c k in the r o o m in Cuernavaca looking into the eyes of this very strange woman. I had never had an experience like that before—and I've had s o m e pretty unusual experiences.

At that m o m e n t all I k n e w was that I wanted to feel that way again. So entirely giving up my place as leader of the group and in the middle of the chanting, I t o o k the w o m a n by the h a n d and headed for a corner in the huge room. I sat her down, looked into her open, brown eyes and said, "Please do that again."

T h e w o m a n smiled and made the s o u n d again, and o n c e more I was no longer in Cuernavaca, M e x i c o — I was in Colombia. For two hours, according to the people in the group, who had stopped chant- ing and were watching, I was in an altered state of consciousness.

In the short time I s p e n t with her, I learned and u n d e r s t o o d what was really going on. It b e c a m e so clear to m e . Actually, two old Kogi M a m a s explained it to me while I was in this female b o d y in C o l o m b i a .

54 • LIVING IN THE HEART

T h e y said, " W e traveled down the m o u n t a i n to a n o t h e r tribe nearby, to a woman in that tribe w h o has special abilities. We asked if she would help us reach you, and she agreed."

Apparently, the woman, w h o s e n a m e was E m a , laid down on a b e d made of thick grass, in a round grass hut. Her spirit left her b o d y and traveled farther down the mountain, to the b o t t o m where a C o l o m b i a n w o m a n was living in an old Spanish a d o b e h o u s e . E m a entered this w o m a n ' s b o d y — I don't k n o w if she had permis- sion to do s o — a n d put the idea into her m i n d to go to my work- shop in Mexico so that she, Ema, could teach me the "language that has no words."

W h a t is even more interesting is that the Colombian woman had no money, no passport or visa, no birth certificate or any other man- ner to prove her identity and no airline ticket. Yet she managed to find her way to Mexico to c o m e to the workshop. S o m e o n e bought her an airline ticket, and before I left the U . S . , the angels had told me to give her a free workshop. But still, h o w did she get through cus- toms without any identification? H o w did she manage to travel from Colombia to Mexico and b a c k again by air with no complications? I guess they j u s t couldn't "see" her.

W h a t I was learning from E m a with her strange sounds in the cor- ner of the room was far more than j u s t h o w the Kogi Mamas did this spatial transformation with me. W i t h my newly found abilities, I was walking around in the real world on Kogi land, in a female body, with old Mama shamans all around me. I knew that they knew it was me in this body, and one by one these shamans would c o m e very close to my face and make strange sounds.

E a c h time a s o u n d was m a d e I w o u l d i m m e d i a t e l y disappear into yet a n o t h e r reality where they began to teach me a b o u t their history, c u l t u r e a n d spiritual b e l i e f s . B y t h e t i m e this v e r y real e x p e r i e n c e was over, I k n e w everything a b o u t this w o m a n w h o s e b o d y I was using. I k n e w h e r h u s b a n d and three children a s t h o u g h t h e y were m i n e . Two o l d M a m a s w e r e b y m y s i d e

Learning from Indigenous Tribes • 55

throughout the w h o l e e x p e r i e n c e , and I c a m e to k n o w t h e m like they were family.

O n e of them was Mamos Bernardo, and he b e c a m e my guide over the next few m o n t h s . I felt like I had j u s t b e e n reborn into a new, incredible world where all the old rules had b e e n thrown out. My old, familiar world seemed more like a dream than reality, whereas this n e w world was real.

My session with Ema ended as suddenly as it had begun, and I was b a c k in my own b o d y in Mexico, giving a workshop about some-

thing that at that time I thought was totally unrelated.

Slowly, over the next few weeks, I began to understand my n e w experience and began to accept the way the Kogi Mamas were teach- ing me so gracefully. I learned that the sounds came not from the mind, by thinking and words, b u t from the heart, from a sacred space within the heart; they were directed by dreaming and feelings and emotions. (Both mind and heart produce images in the body, but only the heart creates images that seem completely real.)

Here was definitely a m e a n s of c o m m u n i c a t i o n that w e n t far beyond anything the mind was capable of. I had j u s t experienced the

"language that has no words," and I was never going to be the same again. I felt simultaneously honored and excited about the possibil- ities. T h e language with no words could also be used as c o m m u n i - cation between all life forms—not j u s t between humans. T h e Kogi Mamas told me to try communicating in this manner with animals so I could see this truth for myself.