History and Lineage of Arvigo® Therapy (taken from arvigo® website)
Today, traditional healing in Belize is a blend of ancient indigenous traditions and Christian rituals dating back to the time following the conquest of Latin American by the Spanish. Maya people in the Colonial period were able to survive by keeping traditional rituals a secret while accepting Christianity. Fast forward to the future when Chicago born Rosita traveled to Belize in the 1980's with her family to set up life in a natural environment working as an Herbalist and Naprapath (a physical similar to an osteopath, who treats ligaments, tendons, and other connective tissues).
It was here she met Don Elijio Panti, the great traditional healer of Belize. Their unique relationship and her 12-year apprenticeship with him is well documented in Sastun: My Apprenticeship with a Maya Healer . Don Elijio was a respected elder who had no apprentice to learn the traditional ways because the younger generation in Belize viewed the traditional ways as old school. However, since Western medicine was beyond the means of most Belizeans, people still came to him for help. He treated his patients with humor, traditional rain-forest remedies, prayers and spiritual bathing. Because his success rate was so astounding, Rosita was eager to learn from him.
This proved a bigger challenge than she had imagined since traditional ways were typically passed down to one of his own people to be kept alive within his community. This knowledge had been part of the Maya culture for millennia, and Don Elijio didn't want to see it lost. He knew this "gringa", a female foreigner, would eventually go back to her homeland and family; therefore, he refused her requests to be his apprentice. Nonetheless, Rosita set her mind to win Don Elijio's respect.
"Where is the one who will open his heart to this hard work?" Don Elijio Panti
Over a year's time, Rosita visited Don Elijio weekly, assisting him in collecting plants, preparing herbal formulas and caring for patients as he worked in his clinic. The was no easy feat; she left her home and family to make the several hours journey through the rain forest to Don Elijio's remote village in San Antonio. Finally, after a year of diligent service and numerous requests Don Elijio consented to accept Rosita as his apprentice after having a dream that night where the Maya spirits revealed she was to be his successor.
Rosita's diligence had paid off. She would be his apprentice, but with on important proviso, she had to promise to keep the work alive and remain in his beloved Belize to aid those who sought healing. Rosita spent the next 12 years assisting Don Elijio and learning ways along with his encyclopedic knowledge of hundred of herbs. She cared for Don Elijio until his death in 1996 when he passed away at the age of 103.
Since Don Elijio's passing in 1996, Rosita has continued to hold her promise to him, preserving traditional knowledge learned from him as well as from other healers such as Miss Hortense Robinson and Miss Juana Shish. The Ix Chel Tropical Research Foundation promotes and supports the annual Bush Medicine Camp for local children to learn traditional healing, sponsors school programs and gives back to local charities. She has engaged with universities and clinical researchers to begin documenting the traditional healing knowledge. So far, over 3,000 plants have been researched with many clinical trials undertake at the National Cancer Institute of America. Messages from the Gods, written with Dr. Michael Balik from the NY Botanical Gardens, NY, is a guide to the useful plants of Belize, documents plants in their habitat along with traditional wisdom and application of them.
The Arvigo Institute is based in New Hampshire providing workshops worldwide in traditional healing as well as Arvigo® Therapy. The course of study has blossomed throughout the world and in many cultures providing alternative and complimentary therapy for health and wellness.