Sastun: My Apprenticeship with a Maya Healer

another treatment. These herbs for the steam bath will last a week. Then I
will pick them fresh for you again.”
They nodded happily.
“Before you take her home, I would like to say the Maya prayers for
her, with your permission,” I said.
“Yes, of course,” they answered in unison.
It was a moving moment for me. I felt her pulse and, by its rhythm,
instantly knew which prayer to use. I repeated the prayer three times over
her right wrist, three times over her left wrist, and three times over her
forehead. As I looked down at her, cuddled comfortably in her mother’s lap,
our eyes met. She reminded me of a helpless, innocent creature one might
encounter in the bush. I badly wanted to help this child and said an extra
prayer for myself.
The family left in much better spirits than when they arrived. The father
carried his daughter in his arms to the truck, where he placed her tenderly
on her mother’s lap. He covered Shajira with a blanket and rolled up the
window. Good. Very smart, I thought.
Over the next few months, Shajira and her parents returned twice
weekly for treatments, prayers, and herbs. For the first month, there was no
improvement. But none of us lost faith. We consoled and encouraged each
other and continued with the treatment program. I conferred several times
with Don Elijio, who agreed completely with the course of treatment I had
prescribed.
By the fifth week, Shajira was able to stand up unassisted. By the sixth
week she could take halting steps, dragging her right leg. The treatments
were still painful, but she was now comfortable enough with me so that I
could manage to keep her laughing and hopeful.
Things really began to improve by the beginning of the third month. By
now she could walk from the truck to the treatment room. The next week,
she returned to school for the first time since her illness.
After twelve weeks, Shajira was 95 percent recovered. She still had
residual tenderness in the spinal column, but her sacrum was no longer
sensitive and she had regained full use of her legs.
I can’t tell you how happy it made me to see her running and playing in
the schoolyard.