Sense of Soul - The Mayan Wisdom Project

Episode Date: February 11, 2022

Today on Sense of Soul Podcast we have Solveig Barrios, she is the founder of “The Mayan Wisdom Project," a space for people to learn authentic wisdom of the Mayan indigenous culture, their traditions and achieve personal growth in an online community.  Solveig comes from a legacy of Mayan spiritual guides in Guatemala. Her father Carlos Barrios is one of the most renowned spiritual leaders of the Mayan communities, making him the first one to bring the ancient spiritual teachings to the Western society with his books and workshops around the world. Collaborating with some of the most renowned spiritual leaders of the indigenous communities of Central America, The Mayan Wisdom Academy. Their mission is to bring the ancient spiritual technologies into modern society to transform individuals and humanity. Their passion is to share authentic teachings of the ancient practices, such as their Cacao Training Program. You can find all of this and more here at their website. https://www.mayanwisdomproject.com Follow The Mayan Wisdom Project on Instagram @themayanwisdomproject  and on Facebook  Please rate this episode 5 stars and leave us a comment and review! Visit our website to learn more about us www.mysenseofsoul.com On Sense of Soul Patreon is community of seekers and lightworkers who want exclusive workshops, live events like sacred circles, ad free episodes, you can also listen to Shanna’s mini-series about her ancestral journey, “Untangled Roots” and Mande’s mini series about her two NDE’s,  Sign up now! https://www.patreon.com/senseofsoul NEW!! SENSE OF SOUL’S NETWORK OF LIGHTWORKERS! Go check out our Affliates page, adding new amazing programs each month. Check it out! https://www.mysenseofsoul.com/sense-of-soul-affiliates-page

Welcome to the Sense of Soul podcast. We are your hosts, Shanna and Mandy. Grab your coffee, open your mind, heart and soul. It's time to awaken. So excited about today's guest. Her name is Solvay Barrios. He's the founder for the Mayan Wisdom Project. The Mayan Wisdom Project is a space for people to learn through an online membership. They teach ancient Mayan spiritual practices for healing through video courses, meditations, practical exercises, and webinars. The teachers are renowned spiritual leaders from indigenous communities in Guatemala, and their mission is to open up the space for them to share their teachings with the world.

They help spiritual people interested in self-development to improve their lives and achieve growth. Today we have on Solveig and we are so excited to be her student today and to learn from her. Welcome to Sense of Soul. Nice to meet you. Where are you at? Are you in Germany? So right now I'm in Portugal where my husband and I are traveling. But yeah, we usually are in Germany. Okay. I love your name. What does it mean?

It means road to the sun. Whoa. So my dad is Guatemalan and that's why I'm so connected to my own wisdom. But he married my mom who's Norwegian. So Zulva is a Norwegian name. That's why it's so connected to my own wisdom. But he married my mom, who's Norwegian. So Zulva is a Norwegian name. That's why it's quite unique. Yeah. It's beautiful.

Thank you for taking time to talk to us, especially while you're on vacation with your husband. And so how long have you been married? Only two years. So it's very recently. So you go by your maiden name and his name, correct? No, actually, it was so complicated. We tried to get his last name. But in Guatemala, we have a funny system where we all have, you know, two last names.

Your first last name is your dad's first last name. And then your second last name is your mom's first last name. It's complicated. And then if you get married, then you get a third last name but because he's German we couldn't do it because then that would mean I would have two different names I would be and in Germany I would be so I would have legally two different names and we just thought that that would be really complicated for traveling or you know people wouldn't understand why I have two different names so we just made it simple by me

my name well I have to say I love that that is a you know a tradition yeah no it's super normal in Latin America I didn't even realize that in most of the world people only have one last name until I was like 18. I've done a few trees and helped people on their ancestry from over there and it's very difficult. It makes it more difficult? Yes because you're trying to track you don't know which name is which so like here in America we're all from different places so we have all kinds of different last names and then what's really interesting about the Norwegians though though, they didn't have last names. And after a while, the rest of the world said, hey, can you come up with some last names?

Because we need to, you know, distinguish who you are. And so they just ended son or daughter to the end of every name. That's why my name is Johanneson. That means son of Johannes. So that's exactly what it was. That's awesome. It is very interesting. it was until like I think two generations ago so I know for a fact that Johannes was my great-grandfather and then

so yeah at some point it stopped and everyone just kept like the last name they had last it's beautiful to or in Norway it's not just that sometimes your last name is the same name that your farm has your name and the name of your farm or your name and the name of your father if you have a farm usually you get the farm's name if you have if you don't then you get your dad's name in my in my house it would be like we didn't have farms, but everyone owned bars. So our last name would be after bars. Well, you do have a lot of those new regions in your tree as well that did that. Wow. I'm shocked that I didn't know that.

I love that. That's good stuff. I love learning. That's why I'm so excited to have you on. We find that a lot of our listeners are kind of in this curiosity stage where we want to learn as much as we can. I was thinking this morning how sad it is that, you know, it took me well into my late 30s to actually care about history and really want to dive into learning about other cultures and really feeling that oneness. I don't know if it's just part of like the world's conditioning, but I also think it had to do with when I was young, I was just kind of selfish to be honest. And you go through this awakening and you just can't get enough information and you want

to know others and you want to know their culture and you want to know their traditions. And so we are so excited to have you on because I know our listeners are just going to love you and what you stand for. So thank you for coming on. Thank you so much for having me. No, the pleasure is all mine. And thank you so much for opening up the space for me to come and join you for a bit and talk a little bit about the things that I know, which I hope you'll find interesting. I'm really excited. You know, what's interesting just to start off is that the Mayan people, there's this mystery about where they even went and how much of that DNA is still here today.

In my DNA tree, I actually had 1%. From my ancestry, this will be very interesting to find out more about that and so what happened to the Mayans no no this is a big myth that a lot of people believe for some reason and I run into this a lot of the time when I go on interviews that people ask me so what happened to the Mayans and I'm like nothing they're still there the culture is very much alive so what happened was by the time the Spaniards came to Latin America during the time of the conquista, which was around 500 years ago, more or less, basically, most of the Mayan is a really famous Mayan city in Guatemala. It is now a known fact that there were at least 4 million people living there at the time. And that's just one city, by the way, that doesn't account for all of Mesoamerica, which is the south of Mexico, all of Guatemala, Belize, the north of Honduras and El Salvador, which is the area where the Mayans live, not lived. And so basically, what happened in the time of the conquista when the Spaniards came is that the indigenous peoples

in the area were exterminated. Around half of them died because the Spaniards brought with them viruses such as the common cold, which for them, they didn't have the defense in their body because it was not existing at the time in latin america so things such as that killed like around half of the population then the rest like a big portion of the population died because they were enslaved and mistreated and killed by the spaniards. Still very much alive. Just currently in Guatemala right now, around 60% of the people are indigenous people who are descendant of the Mayans. We have 24 languages in Guatemala, and 22 of those are Mayan languages that are still spoken in the same way they were back then.

Of course, they have changed a bit as language does over time, but still they are ancient languages. You can read the ancient books of the Mayans, for example, the Popol Bukh is in K'iche'. A big chunk of the population still speaks K'iche', so they can read it in the original language in which it was written thousands of years ago. So it's not that at all the practices are very much alive the tradition is very much alive it's an oral tradition that has been passed on from generation to generation for thousands of years and they say that winners write the history so this is not something we learn about at school. And a lot of the facts, facts that we can find in history books about the Mayans are absolutely incorrect. And I dare to say

that with 100% certainty, because I have researched enough and I have been surrounded enough by this tradition to know the difference between what's true and what's not. And I can assure you with 100% certainty that a big part of the history that we learn in connection to the Mayans is not true at all. For example, the most common thing you'll find in history books in relationship to the conquista is that the Spaniards came to Mesoamerica. They wanted to take the gold. They gave the Mayans mirrors. Perhaps you have heard this one, and that they were so impressed by the mirrors that they just gave them all the gold

just like that. And that portrays an absolutely incorrect image of who these people were. They were, for a fact, more evolved than the Europeans were at the time. They had an irrigation system that went all the way from Mexico, all the way to Honduras that took water from the ocean, desalinated the water and provided drinking water for all of the nations, all of the Mayan nations with incredible technologies. They had calendars that not only measured time they understood exactly the galaxy they had calendars that measured the transit of different planets they had calendars that knew exactly what is going on in the galaxy at the whole time and how that's affecting us and they went as far as to determine the shape of the universe, which is later in the modern world proved by science

exactly that the universe is shaped in the exact same way that the Mayans said. They discovered the decimal system. All of their architecture was built in connection to astronomical events. And the pyramids, for example, measure all of the different astronomical events that are going on, including solstices and equinox. They created systems of agriculture that are so perfect, such as the Avish system, that they take into account the 13 foods that we need to eat to make us basically like superhumans. 13 different herbs that can heal any disease if you combine them perfectly,

13 different foods that are perfect for nurturing all of the animals, as well as 13 different foods that feed the earth and nurture the soil so that the soil becomes even better. That was the system of agriculture, just for corn, same for cacao. And so that's just a few examples. They had perfect models of the brain of the DNA. They were incredible doctors. They were able to perform surgery without opening up the body. So they were not impressed by mirrors. I can tell you that with 100% certainty. And so this is the things that we don't talk about, the things that we don't know about, because sadly, you know, that history is still very much alive. Talk to any Ahki, which means Mayan spiritual leader, he or she will tell you exactly the incredible things that the Mayans

discovered. They have the most accurate calendar in all of history their mathematic operations are so complicated that we need quantum computers and only now we're starting to decipher their mathematic operations so it's such a highly developed civilization and their people are still here still existing and that's what we're trying to do with our project is to spread that information to spread that knowledge and to spread the holistic practices that they created that are so perfect that include, you know, healing, being in connection to the mother earth, but that also includes science and how to make use of science in order to be in tune with the universe, be in tune with the planet, be in tune with all of the things in existence so that we can upgrade our life and become the creators of

our personal reality. So wow, you know, in your ancient scripture, is it the Popal Vu? Paul Wallace, prior guests that we've had on, he really took a deep dive into his book, Escaping Eden. There are so many similarities around the world, which is so fascinating. These people, there's no way they could have communicated yet they're talking about the same events the Mayan story about the great flood and one of the other things was like the demigods or like the council or archangels and so in the Mayan tradition they believe in many gods is that right no that's incorrect no okay no no no no sadly one of the very wrong facts that you will find in any history book is that the Mayans were polytheists.

That's absolutely incorrect. They only believed in one God. They don't even have a word for God. It's actually more like the creator, the creator and maker of all things. To answer your question, because this is very important when it's related to the belief of many gods. My aunt, Lina, who's a very famous researcher, she has won several awards. She's an expert of the Popol Vuh. That's actually her area. She has read the Popol Vuh countless times. She's an expert of this topic. I asked her once, like, why do people

think that the Mayans believed in many gods, if that's just not true? And anyone who still practices Mayan wisdom and Mayan spirituality can explain you that in one second is still alive. We all know it, but still history books say that this is, you know, not true. And she, she says, imagine that 1 000 years from now we would all be gone and some alien civilization would come here and try to study us they would take over the earth and they would try to study us as an ancient culture and so she said imagine they would go inside of a church and they would see all of these images in the church and they would be like ah they believed in many gods right obviously they have all these images here so that obviously has to mean that

they believed in many gods so that's kind of like what has happened with the study of the Mayan tradition people kind of have seen just the surface of it and assumed. So let me tell you the true story of dummy gods so that it's clarified. So the Mayans believe that there was, okay, first of all, the Mayans believe in the creator and maker of all things. What does that mean? The Mayans believe that creation is divided into four different parts. And those four different parts are, we call them a caculha. Caculha means rays. So there's the four rays of creation. That's chip caculha or chipi caculha, rash caculha, nim caculha, and hunrakan caculha. What does that mean? Chip caculha is the ray of creation that is very relevant for humans. Why? Because it is the ray of creation that refers to the neurotransmitters

in our brains. It means the ray of the brain and it speaks of the neurotransmitters and it speaks of how human beings perceive reality or create their own reality through the brain and how that allows us to interact, understand reality. But the Mayans believe that that also allows us to create our personal reality, different practices and spiritual technologies that enable us to practice neuroplasticity and how we can absolutely change the brain and that's Chipika Kulha. The Mayans believe reality is an illusion by the way is the green rain that means it's the ray that creates everything that is nature the mountains the volcanoes the animals the plants the rivers the oceans and so it's still not a ray that is separated from us

we belong to the green ray a lot of beings, when we say the ray of nature, we don't consider ourselves part of it, although we absolutely are. Then there's Nimka Kulha, the ray of the big house. It refers to the galaxy, although some say it refers to the universe or the place in which we live. And then Hunra Kanka Kulha, that's the rays of all of existence. Hun means one, Ra means foot or leg, and Tan means snake, the ray of all of existence hun means one ra means foot or leg and tan means snake the ray of the one foot snake so what does that mean it means the mayans say that all of existence exists

in this snake-like spiral that is the universe correct because science has proved that the universe is shaped like a macro worm so a snake-like spiral and within it exists everything that is considered to be nacht is the word the mayans use for reality that translates to the big illusion the mayans believe that everything is an illusion which was created by the human beings who exist who existed and who will exist for us personally what does that mean everything is energy we all know that, right? Basically, they say that our version of reality, our version of space and time is nothing but an illusion that was created by ourselves.

Why? Human beings only have the ability to perceive around 1% of reality, our human brain, meaning there are so many things happening around us right now and we have no clue and they also notice animals or other beings perceive reality different so for them that's like then who says that this is the one true reality and so one of the most important calendars which is called the calendar is based on understanding that illusion is based on understanding the energies which create our personal reality. Now, all of Nacht exists within Hunrakan, that's the everythingness. And outside of Hunrakan exists

the nothingness or the void, which is also very sacred for the Mayans. So the creator and maker of all things is Sakol Bitol. That means everything and nothing. You know, we don't have a word for God. It's just Sekol and Bitol. And it's deeper than that, by the way, for those of you who are listening who do know Mayan wisdom, you guys know I'm missing some parts. I'm just trying to summarize it a little bit. The Mayans believe that the wisdom for humanity was brought by a group of demigods, let's say, the Balamev. and the balamev have wives so it's four men four women

are their names so it's four men and four women who come from a place that's called so in the popol book you can read that the Mayans say that to each side, there are 400 dimensions. Now, the number 400 is very interesting because you'll see it repeated all over books and the whole tradition of the Mayans. It's very important to remark that when the Mayans say 400 is the same as when we say thousands. So if I say there were thousands of people in the stadium, that doesn't mean 1,000.

It could mean 5,000. It could mean 10,000. It's not a specific number. So when they say 400 dimensions, it just means many, thousands of dimensions to each side. Now, the idea is that there are two that are so in tune with our dimension that it's very easy to access them. And so it said that that's where the Valamev come from. That's where corn comes from and many important things that are connected to the Mayan wisdom. Some say they come from the Pleiades. Now, when I say that a lot of people get excited. But I want you to know that the vision that the Mayans have of the Pleiades is very different than what New Age spirituality talks about. And I just want to remark that as well, because it's obviously important. You share what that theory is. Pleiades is also mentioned

in the Bible as well. I mean, they're mentioned in ancient script all over. It's a very deep question. It would take me hours to go deep into that. The idea is that the Balamev are beings who come from there or from Pashil and Cayala. There's two different theories about that. And the Pleiades are just a very important set of stars, not only for the Mayans, but for many ancient cultures.

They do have a very important meaning in the Popol Vuh. We can see the story of two beings who come from Shivalva, Shivalva is the Mayan underworld. What does that mean? Every ancient culture, basically every culture has an explanation of that represents duality. The most famous representation of duality, we all know it as yin yang, right? So the black and white, but every ancient culture has it. And for the Mayans is the upper world and the underworld. And so the underworld represents the darkness is actually very beautiful. I wish I could get into that. Although again, it would take me hours, but it's a very beautiful explanation of how we can overcome our darkness as human beings, how darkness is natural, how duality is natural, and it's nothing bad. It's just us that have our

darkness and our light out of balance. And so it's about, you know, many beautiful things. But there are these two beings of Shivalvam called Huracan and Cabracán. And the story of the Popol Vuh is that Huracán and Cabracán love to come out of their cave, which is a door to the underworld. And they love to come out of there and they love to go in and play around. And so when they play, with every step they take, they make the earth shake

and they destroy the trees as they go and they when they play in the water they create tsunamis and so they're supposed to represent all of the natural disasters and all of that and that's supposed to be something of the underworld of shivalma and so in the popol we can read the story of how 400 men again 400 decided that it's enough that huracan and cabracan are always coming around and bothering us so much and how they have to like lock them in and so they wait until hurracan and cabracan go into their cave and then this 400 men gather big trunks of trees and wood and just start stuffing it all in the door of the cave so that hurracan and cabracan are trapped in

chivalvan they cannot come back to bother us anymore so hurracan and cabracan are greedy they are you know very egocentric they are selfish and they're supposed to represent all of the parts of us as human beings that don't serve us when it comes to our well-being or awakening or happiness and all of that and that's always something that shivalva represents the the different parts of us that keep us from the light and so these 400 men are fighting huracan and cabracan trying to keep them in the cave trying to keep them there until they spend so much time fighting them, until they can finally kill Hurracan and Cabracan in theory, because it is said that they still exist within the earth. And so what happens to these men when they kill, let's say, Hurracan and Cabracan,

is that all of them elevate themselves and can move to the Pleiades. And so the idea is that they all fly up and they become part of the set of stars that is the Pleiades. And they're up there to remind us as human beings that when we look up to the sky, that it doesn't matteriades, we can remember the 400 men who were able to overcome this Shivalva, who were able to overcome the darkness. And so it's a representation of duality yet again. What is the only reason that we can see the stars at night? The only reason we can see the stars at night is because they have a dark background and so the

idea behind shivalba or the underworld is that it is your dark background that enables you to become a star as a matter of fact the representation of light in the mayan world which is a pool the one that means light is represented in the popol buhas who has to go through every level of shivalba meaning every level of darkness that's light the one who went through every level of shivalva meaning every level of darkness that's light the one who went through every level of darkness and overcame it and left the darkness in the darkness who can then come and become a bright star that shines so bright that not only to himself or herself but to everything or everyone who's around him or her. And just like that, it is said that the Valamev come from there. The Valamev are these four beings for men, for women.

It's eight of them. And two of each, one man and one woman, went to the four corners of the earth and gave their wisdom to the four races of humanity. Each one of them is a protector of one of the four races. And so it is said that each one of them gave some of their wisdom to the four races of humanity. And then if you gather all of that wisdom together, then that's how you have the wholeness or the the full truth and so those are examples of of the representations of the Pleiades and by the way I'm not explaining the Pleiades are much deeper and that's just one story that is connected to the Pleiades that is

one story that is connected to the Valamev who would be considered the demigods but you know don't trust when it comes to learning about mayan wisdom because it's there's so much wrong information there's so much misinformation out there the history is so profound it's really hard if you don't know so much about it to determine what's true and what's not a lot of it is even mixed. The Mayans and the Aztecs are mixed a lot in history where they were not the same. But, you know, if you Google Mayan calendar, a lot of time the Aztec calendar will come up and people will think that's the Mayan calendar and it will be tagged as the Mayan calendar, even though it's not. So that's what I mean. Like Google will just,

you know, give you a lot of misinformation. And unless you know what the calendar looks like, you might end up thinking, oh, that's the Mayan calendar. And just like that, you know, you might end up thinking that a lot of misinformation is true or is real. So I don't recommend it. I recommend talking to an expert or reading the Popol book, but the version by Sam Kolob or learning from indigenous peoples. that's a good way to go yeah there's even a lot of free information my aunt even lina barrios if you want to google her

she wrote 16 books they're all free they're all on google and they're all in spanish though so if you speak spanish that's makes it a little bit easier she just made so much research that's authentic for example and just like her so many other people She just made so much research. That's authentic, for example. And just like her, so many other people have put out so much true information. But if you just Google, it's not like the first thing that will come up.

So yeah, well, I learned a lot just on your Instagram. It gives amazing information for someone who's like a beginner and wants to learn. And I'm assuming that this is what your purpose is, where your purpose and your passion comes from is wanting to educate people on the truth. Exactly. It's so profound. I have never understood why so many people try to change it or edit it or, you know, like make it different than what it is, because the truth as it is, is so profound,

a lifetime is not enough to learn all of it when it comes to the mayan tradition it is so profound you cannot even imagine i mean what we share on instagram what we share in the academy what we share in in the different areas this is like 0.5 percent of the things that are shareable not even we're not even talking about the things that are the elders want to protect and the the things that are shareable. Not even, we're not even talking about the things that are the elders want to protect and the things that they want to keep like a secret still. It's amazing. It's just so profound that I never saw the point on trying to edit my own wisdom because it's so perfect as it is. Well, the way you just described the pleians and that story was so beautiful in itself. So what is the relation between the Incas and the Mayans? I mean, I'm sure that there was some connection. I'm sure that there was,

I do believe that this different traditions and these different cultures were able to, you know, like interact with each other, other most likely I cannot say that with 100% certainty because I wasn't there so I don't know but yeah sure there's a lot of similarities and not just between the Incas and the Mayans amongst the majority of true ancient cultures really not only in in the Americas but also in in asia and africa even in europe so i think that there are so many different words and so many different practices that most ancient cultures have that are trying to get us to look at the same thing like if you go deep into them they're all trying to teach us basically the same thing and they're they just had different ways or different practices to get to the same

understandings to the same revelations i think it's just because all of these ancient cultures were so absolutely profound i would never say the mayans were the only ones because they absolutely were not most ancient cultures got to the same conclusions about life and reality and the universe and earth and and who human beings are and how you know the oneness of creation and all of these beautiful things so not necessarily because they were all connected it's because they were all observant you know i'm not saying they were not connected perhaps some of them did connect. And that's awesome if they did, but because they were all true scientists in a way, and they were

in constant observation of the universe of reality, the Mayans say, for example, that human beings don't have five senses, but that we have 20 senses and the senses are more realistic. Yeah. The senses are connected to the four bodies which the four bodies are the physical and material mental emotional and spiritual but that in modern day society we have focused too much on the mental and the material and the physical so we have lost a lot of them that those are important, by the way, the physical, mental and material. If we only to the spiritual and the emotional, we're also out of balance. Just, you know, it's about, you know, being the perfect balance between all of them.

And so the science of the Mayans was not only something that can be understood through the mind this is so important this is what the majority of the western cultures or the western people are missing it we explain so many things in the academy for example and one of the teachers nana calixta told me the other day she was like it doesn't matter how you explain it or how we explain it she said the problem is that a lot of people will still not get it because they will try to understand it from the mind and for the and from the reason and there are things that you're just not supposed to try to understand from the mind and from the reason and so that's I think like one of the reasons that a lot of the time in the Western world, people get so immersed into, you know, like looking at all these details that are all

related to knowledge and they're not related to wisdom. Knowledge is theory. Wisdom is the ability to put the things that you know into practice by taking action in reality, in your spirit, in your mind, in reality in your spirit in your mind in your emotions in your body and your soul and so that's something that not only the mayans but most ancient cultures were good at not only at understanding things from like a scientific but in a mental so the mayans created the perfect convergence like most ancient cultures did between science and spirituality they were not only trying to understand it through a mental rational point of view but they also

believe that spirituality plays a big role in understanding science but the perfect balance between the two things and so most ancient cultures mastered that so they were able to look at things at a way deeper level they believe that you can transcend space and time and you know you don't have to go through space and time to understand you know something and take years of research but you can actually transcend space and time and there is different technologies for that in order for you to understand the universe in order for you to understand reality and i just think that the connection to mother earth how observant they were the way in which

they were able to transcend trying to understand things just from going beyond the mind in order to try to understand science i mean their scientific discoveries were so crazy we barely understand them now in modern times. Like modern mathematicians are still trying to decipher many things because they were able to go beyond the mind. And that way they were able to discover things that are beyond the mind. And I just think that most ancient cultures were able to do that. And that's why most ancient cultures were able to come to such similar conclusions about life, reality, the universe, the self and existence, because they just were all able to be in absolute balance. And they were able

to go beyond what we believe is possible and use this incredible tools and technologies that they had in order to discover or answer the questions that they ask themselves. I mean, you hear a lot of the scientists just absolutely baffled. And all they can come up with is that some aliens must have come down and helped them. Because some of the technology, the things that they built, they're just so baffled that that's all they come up with. That makes so much sense. That's very true.

Yeah. Tapping into that spiritual and getting those divine downloads of information. You come from a long line of some pretty amazing spiritual leaders, including your father. You are so knowledgeable. I'm just mind blown. I'm pretty much speechless. Can you talk about that lineage? And as a child, were you taught this? Were you curious when you got older? Did you just dive into more research?

You know, where did all of this knowledge and wisdom come from? Yes, I was just very lucky. Because my dad and my aunt and my uncle all got really deep into Mayan wisdom. Although I do come from that line of incredible teachers, incredible researchers, incredible historians, incredible spiritual leaders who are my dad, my aunt, and my uncle. And I do, you know, I am Guatemala. And so, of course, I do have my ancestry as well. I will never be as incredibly knowledgeable and as incredibly wise

as the people who truly do come from real long lines of that, which are the indigenous people who I work with. But the story is that my dad, you know, when he was around 17 or something, he started going to university. And at the time, he was really into, you know, yoga and meditation and more like that type of practice. And he was a yoga teacher. So totally different story, similar, but different culture, different tradition. He was studying anthropology at university. And then one time, he got asked to go and do some field work, a group of students were asked to do so. And he accepted because he could get, you know, full credits for all his classes for a few months of,

you know, some research. So he thought, Oh, that's easy. That's easier than studying. So like, let me go do that. They went really deep into a very profound area of Guatemala, where it's mainly only indigenous people. And back then before smartphones and technology and all of that, you were really disconnected if you went there there was no you know wi-fi that sort of thing so it's really really cold there it's really cold it's terrible actually super cold that that cold where it goes all the way to your bones no matter how but still every morning he was getting up like 5 6 a.m going outside and doing yoga and meditating and all that and one morning it was really foggy because it also gets really foggy there he saw in the distance this like glowing orange light and he

was like what is that so he followed it to discover a an akik a mayan spiritual leader doing a fire ceremony so the akik was sitting you know in front of the fire and he had this like stone with the image of a monkey on it and so my dad asked him very disrespectfully by the way he interrupted him in the middle of his ceremony he was like what are you doing he didn't even say hello or anything so the guy is like good morning yeah i'm just doing my practice just kind of like you know leave me alone i'm busy and he's like no but what are Yeah, I'm just doing my practice. Just kind of like, you know, leave me alone. I'm busy. And he's like, no, but what are you doing?

Why are you praying to a monkey? So the guy's like, okay, fine. Look, I'm going to explain to you what I'm doing. And he says, do you by any chance have a photo in your wallet of someone you love? And my dad is like, yeah, that's such a weird question. But yeah, I have a photo of my mom. He's like, okay, show me, show me the photo of your mom. And my dad's like, yeah, that's such a weird question. But yeah, I have a photo of my mom. He's like, okay, show me, show me the photo of your mom. And my dad's like, but still, you know, he takes out the photo of his mom.

And he's like, is that your mom, the spiritual leader? And he's like, yeah, that's my mom. And he's like, are you sure that's your mom? Yeah, I'm sure that's my mom's is my dad. And so the guy is like, okay, well, no, that's not your mom. That's a photo of your mom and he said so you asked me if i'm praying to a monkey and my dad told him so your monkey is a god how ridiculous is that so not such a nice guy my dad when he was young but still uh

so the guy tells him answer your question no my monkey is not a god. The thing is, we don't have a word for God in the Mayan tradition, as I explained before. But if I had to explain it in Spanish, he told him, then I would say that I believe in the 1000 faced God. And he said, What does that mean mean it means that my god would represent itself in every single part of existence so he said no my monkey is not a god but a monkey is a manifestation of god just like everything else in reality is a manifestation of god so he said in this occasion on this specific day which i'm sure is but because but is the energy of the monkey I am connecting to this manifestation of my god but in another day I'll connect to another manifestation of my god and

everything in reality is a manifestation of my god I am it too you are it too and then this guy goes ahead and explains my dad exactly what the universe is what reality is my dad is so shocked because at the time my dad is really into quantum physics before it was trendy not like now everybody knows about it yeah yeah before in the thing my dad was already trying to research about that and understanding it and my dad is like this is the first person i have ever met in my life who understands quantum physics and is able to explain it to me and this guy is an indigenous man and in Guatemala sadly indigenous people don't have access to education still nowadays it's terrible and we're not even going to get into that topic of discrimination and opportunities but this guy doesn't know how to read and write he didn't go

to school he's barefoot he's not wearing shoes not because he was a hippie who doesn't want to wear shoes but because he couldn't afford shoes so you know my dad is like how is this poor person who didn't go to school who's indigenous and in Guatemala there's a lot of discrimination against indigenous people he's like how is he explaining me quantum physics when he obviously doesn't even know the term quantum physics and so so my dad is like that's so crazy I can't believe it so basically you know the days pass by every morning my dad is outside doing still doing yoga and meditating every morning and one morning coincidentally same guy walks by his house. My dad, he doesn't even notice because his eyes are closed sitting there meditating.

So the guy is like, Carlos, Carlos. And my dad opens his eyes and he's like, yeah, I'm meditating. And the guy's like, what are you doing? He said, this is so weird. I have never seen anyone sleep while sitting down, says the guy. And my dad tells him, no, no, I'm not sleeping. I am meditating. And the guy's like, what does that mean? What's what's meditating? And so my dad thinks, okay, now it's my time to shine. Now it's my time to prove him how wise and spiritual I am. Like he's not the only one. So, so he starts explaining him what

meditation is. Obviously I don't have to explain you what meditation is obviously I don't have to explain you what meditation is I think we all know what it is and the guy says okay that sounds really interesting and he's like why do you do it and my dad's like so that one day I can reach nirvana enlightenment is and the guy is like oh wow that's, that's so cool. And so through meditation, you can reach that nirvana or that enlightenment. And my dad's like, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's super, super cool. Super great. Yeah.

And the guy's like, oh, wow, that's so amazing. Maybe you can teach me how long does it take to get to nirvana? And my dad is like, I don't know, 30, 40 years, maybe if I meditate often. And the guy starts laughing he's like he's like that's ridiculous he's like why would it take so long and my dad is like well that's just the way it is and the guy's like come come come on I'll take you to nirvana right now so they go to the guy's house it's a very ancient mayan practice which is something that is still practiced nowadays which is really cool like it's i've done it and it's so amazing they tap your head in

specific ways so that they can activate your pineal gland and so basically within 20 minutes my dad says he starts to see this golden light that's like so far away from anything he has ever seen in this universe he he says it's like the craziest experience of his life he's just like an absolute awakening the only way to describe this date and and words is if if a magic being would come to you in that moment and ask you, I will answer any of the questions you have about the universe and God and reality. In this state, your answer would be, thank you. I have no questions. So it's like this incredible state. And so my dad is like, wow. And then the guy is like, okay, so I have a meeting. So you have to come back.

I'm going gonna bring you back and my dad's like please no don't don't bring me back yet but the guy you know brings him back and and my dad is like wow the guy's like so was that nirvana and my dad's like yeah that was absolutely yeah that definitely was nirvana and the guy's like well there you go so now what are you gonna do and my dad's like I don't know I guess you took 30 years off of my life's plan so now I don't know what I'm gonna do and and my dad's like can you just please you know can you be my teacher and so he agrees and that was my dad's teacher and so that's how he met his teacher and and so that was so lucky for me because I was born with with my dad

having gone through all that journey he had 45 plus years of experience in Mayan wisdom and research he wrote books about it and I don't know the story of how my aunt Lina and my uncle Gerardo got into it but they all got into it and and I was so lucky because my dad was so connected to so many indigenous people all around Guatemala spiritual leaders from all of the different Mayan nations and I just traveled since I was a kid and met all of them to this day I work with so many of them they are my teachers and so I'm'm, I'm just lucky. What an amazing story. Yeah. Thank you for sharing that. Yeah. Your dad sounds like a smart ass, you know, very enlightened one. Yeah. Yeah. Like your dad and my dad, Shanna.

Right. Exactly. That's so awesome. Oh my gosh gosh thank you for sharing that story that was truly amazing no that's a fun story I love sharing that story is that guy still around oh no no no no long long long time ago but his wisdom is still around because in the Mayan world everything's passed on from generation to generation. And it's an oral tradition. It means even though there are books such as the Popol book and others, the majority of the tradition is not written, but it's passed on verbally. So always be around. So I noticed that a lot of the precious land is being affected on your Instagram. You're asking people to donate to help because of the

mining. Like what else is going on? Sadly, minery has been something absolutely terrible in Guatemala. It's not nothing new. This is not a new problem that we're running into right now. This is something that has been happening for decades. There have been different big minory companies that have been extracting gold. We have so much gold in Guatemala, as well as nickel and other very specific minerals. Some of them actually only exist in Guatemala and in China. So some of the minerals are very unique. The companies are Canadian companies. The gold company was Goldcorp from Canada, as people who live in that land have to be in agreement with that and they have to accept that that happens. That law has not been fulfilled for decades and every single one of the people who were strong enough to actually try to stand

against it were either incarcerated or murdered or, you know, falsely accused of some crimes so that they could be put in jail. And recently, some big news in Guatemala, actually, right now, you can Google it and you'll find so much information about that. In the Quechua Nation of El Estor, the people were trying to protest against the binary and the national police under the instructions of the government came and burned down and destroyed the houses of 90 indigenous families in Guatemala so that they could kick them out so it's really scary because we were even hesitant to do our fundraiser because in Guatemala if you speak out about this type of thing, like your life is in danger because this is not just like, you know, something that you can stand up against so easily, especially the indigenous peoples, if the indigenous people the K'ichi people are only trying to defend the land that has been theirs for generations the land that feeds them the land that also holds hundreds if not thousands of ancient altars and they're trying to protect the biodiversity and the nature that exists there but of course we're talking about so much money when it comes to minery that

obviously that weighs more than the opinion of the indigenous peoples for the government and for the companies who are you know interested in doing this is absolute destruction of the earth i actually highly recommend a documentary you can find on youtube about minery in guatemala which is called el oro o la, which means gold or life. That will help you understand really well the minoring situation in Guatemala. That is so sad. I do find it very amazing that the indigenous people are willing to share their wisdom, their traditions, and their practices with people that have done nothing but hurt them?

Yeah, they are very protective of their knowledge and their wisdom. It is just said that right now is a good time. According to the Mayan perception of time, there are cycles and this is a good cycle to start sharing it. And by the way, I just want to say that 2012 was never the end of the world and the Mayans never said that. 2012 was the end of a cycle which is called the 13 baktun and it's a cycles of 5200 years and each one of those cycles it you know brings a different energy so the cycle after 2012 is what we call the hovaahao it's a different cycle it brings a different energy it brings the energy of you know awakening it brings the energy of like releasing the old many new things and it's a good time to start sharing the guy who said that the 2012 thing

that his name was jose de weyes and he was not Mayan. And actually the Mayan council of elders asked him several times to stop calling himself Mayan, but that's where that came from. I just want to clarify that they never said that they tried to make it stop, but I guess people love the apocalypse story. So many assumptions, right? And I think that we are in a time people are really wanting truth. And there's a lot of truth seekers out there that are saying no more. And that's why Shanna and I do what we do. Less assumptions, more connection, and you create connection through authentic conversations. And that's where you know, it needs to be. Do you agree? Absolutely. we don't have to assume we don't have to create something new

because everything already exists and indigenous peoples all over the planet already have it all figured out so right now it's time to give them the floor back because it is a floor again that they paved for us so that now that spirituality is becoming trendy, basically, it's not our space or our place to be the ones who want to come here and discover it all. It all has already been discovered. And if we just, you know, open up the space and give them the floor, they already have all of the wisdom and all of the information. And so we can become students of them because they are the true authentic teachers. And I don't mean only the indigenous peoples

of Guatemala and Mexico and El Salvador. I mean, the indigenous peoples of the whole world. I think a lot of the world is in a space right now where they just don't know what they can trust anymore. Clearly the internet, the news, the TV, you know, even I don't even trust fact checking sites. I think people don't even know where to turn or where to go anymore. And it sounds like the Mayan wisdom project is a place where they can go and they can trust what they're receiving.

Yes. So that's our mission. That's our goal is to bring true and authentic mayan wisdom to the world to create a bridge between the mayan world and the rest of the world so to say and so that people can start to access this they are interested in accessing this information and the mayans always say we open up our hands and whoever wants to come and hold their hands then that's amazing. And whoever doesn't, that's also amazing, too. So it's just information that is beginning to be there for everyone. It wasn't in the past. And so it's very exciting that little by little, so many of the have are starting to open up to sharing some of that wisdom. And honestly, even the basics are life-changing when it comes to mayan wisdom it's so profound but even the super basic concepts of healing already hold within them

the potential to change your life and so that's what we're trying to do we're trying to make use of technology in order to give people access to this wisdom and to learn from trustworthy, you know, teachers who have decades of experience in practicing the Mayan tradition and spirituality. They all come from different Mayan nations. We work with people from the Sutujil, K'iche', Kakchak'chikel, K'ekchi groups, or K'ekchi, or nations, I mean, who, you know, come from such incredible lineages of herbalists, and Mayan spiritual leaders, and healers, and midwives, and so many different spiritual, you know, practitioners. And so what we do is we

try to share that wisdom with the world. We do it in different ways. We have the Mayan Wisdom Academy, which is a membership. That's a great place to start because we have a 30 day trial for $1 so that people can come in and check out if they like it before they actually go all in, let's say. the 30-day trial is really cool you will access a video course with my dad who is that you know really cool guy who is telling the story about you know like an introduction to who the Mayans are and some of the practices and how to you know break reality and become the creators of our personal reality we have a video course with Tata Juan Manuel about the energies of the Cholquix calendar and how they affect your personality.

We have so many webinars and you can access all of the past webinars with the trial as well as a live webinar monthly. And we have, you know, practical exercises and meditations and so many different cool things. We have a community of members, which is really nice. We have a great family, a great group of people who have joined us. And so, and, you know, we're always around there to answer your questions. And as we delve deep into the academy, we go into different practices, different areas of mind wisdom. We talk about herbal medicine. We talk about crystals. We talk

about those things. We talk about the meaning of life and reality and space and time and how you can master your mind, how you can master your four bodies. So many different things. It's hard to even put it in a nutshell, but it's a 12-month program and it's really cool. And the first month is on us basically so that you can see if it resonates before you truly go deeper into that. So I recommend that. The other way is we have a cacao training program for those people who are interested specifically in the cacao medicine with 100% Indigenous teachers.

So, you know, producers, farmers, spiritual leaders, historians, historians nutritionists and all of them are indigenous because again that's our goal is to give the floor back to them and and we also have private sessions so one-on-one with the indigenous spiritual leaders from Guatemala so that's a summary of of what we do and you can find all of that on our website which is mayanwisdenproject.com so yeah I had the honor of going to a cacao circle a little ceremony one time it was this nice man he was actually I think from Puerto Rico he had come and he was on a mission and he was explaining his practice I, he was not a shaman. He didn't consider himself such, but he was in training.

He came from, and so I loved what he said because he was saying, not only did he tell stories, but he told us the history behind that lineage of how they are doctrined into being this medicine man of, you know, to help people. And he literally said, every single step of planting it is a ritual, you know, feeding it, the land itself is sacred. And the, you know, once once you're picking it, every single part of it is so intentional and sacred and is generational.

That made that ceremony so much more richer than really anyone I had ever been to. And the wisdom that he brought was truly beautiful, poetic and lasting. How Mandy, i talk about it all the time it's one of those things that his words spoke directly to my soul and i'll never ever forget very beautiful what you're sharing and that's exactly how it is it's so deep

so deep the the reason we started with the cacao training program it's a nine-week program the next you know it's live so it's not there all the time because cacao is also becoming like spirituality because becoming so trendy and so we also want to give the floor back because it's mayan you know its origins are in mexico and guatemala and all of the area of mesoamerica and so there's such a rich history to it. And our teachers have spent decades studying the authentic history of cacao. And you're right, it's, you know, we have a farmer who explains in the program exactly how you grow the tree. And there's this whole ceremonial way of doing it, of treating the land, they have a system, again again what i was explaining before of the agricultural systems are so deep because cacao is connected to specific trees and the land and the

biodiversity around it and it's so interconnected symbiosis it's truly beautiful and then we have the spiritual practices with cacao the circles the rituals the ceremonies and and we just want to as as a gross ceremonial cacao movement we just want to give the floor back to its authentic teachers from its authentic land as well as to give people guidance on you know learning to you know differentiate what's authentic and what's not that's so important as. And so our teachers are just explaining people exactly, you know, what they need to know is not like you can learn it in nine weeks. It's a lifetime journey, of course, but covering all of the basics so that people can truly understand exactly, you know, what cacao is about, what the medicine is about, what the purpose is, the history, the culture, the spiritual context. And so it's a beautiful program.

And it's over Zoom. That's amazing. Yeah, it's all virtual right now. Yeah, that's our goal. Use technology so that people don't have to go all the way to Guatemala to be able to discover this, but that so people can do it from wherever it is they're located. You know, I just, I appreciate your knowledge and wisdom very much. And thank you for this small piece of, you know, that 1% or probably not even that of information that you have just taught me in this last hour.

Thank you so much for opening up the space and for having me. It's really been a lot of fun to share. I really, really hope that our listeners go and look into your academy. I feel like Mother Earth is crying. She needs us. And I love how you keep saying to give the indigenous people their floor back. That is so important. I love that you keep repeating that because that's where it's really at. Thank you. And you're correct. The earth is definitely in need of us and especially right now. So it's a really good point that you're bringing up. So thank you for doing so. I think that there's this space where people are intimidated to ask questions. They don't know if it's okay to dip into someone else's culture. And I think you're creating exactly what

you said, this bridge to take away that intimidation and welcome people and say, no, we want you to learn. We want you to know, we just want you to know the truth yeah yeah do you know I'm pretty sure that your ancestors are freaking thrilled that someone like you came through to receive this knowledge to share and to continue that in your lineage I'm only at the beginning of my journey of learning I'm not a spiritual leader by by the way, myself or anything like that. Yeah. I just know about technology and I'm helping them so that they can make use of that to share their message, spreading the word.

But really, if what I'm saying is interesting, then what they have to say is much more interesting and much deeper. But yes, I acknowledge that. And I appreciate that I have the opportunity also of being able to share this information and this wisdom because it's always been there and it's so profound it is so absolutely amazing like you haven't you still have no idea like yeah so crazy no it's I'm still learning every day, every week, every month I discover new things. And every time I'm equally like mind blown. So it's so deep.

You do a beautiful job. Appreciate you being humble, but you're a messenger and you're doing a beautiful job with it. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate both of you. Well, we want to give you a chance to kind of just shout out again, the website where people can go. Maybe I would love for you to even drop name of your Instagram page. Yeah. So it's the website is my own wisdom project.com my own wisdom project.com in it. You'll find all of the information of all of the things I was just mentioning before so you'll find the academy the cacao training the sessions you learn who our teachers are what our mission is everything and we're also on social media though right now we are on Instagram and

on Facebook as the Mayan wisdom project and we always try to share this type of information and different concepts. We try to explain them and simplify them so that people can, you know, open up the doors and begin to understand a little bit better what exactly Mayan Wisdom is all about. So we try to share very valuable information, you know, for free on social media. We also have free events every month. Every month we have a free cacao ceremony. It's also on Zoom. It's virtual. Every month we have a free cacao ceremony it's also on zoom it's virtual every month we also have free events so that people also have the opportunity to come in and check out exactly what a mayan ceremony looks like what a fire ceremony looks like for real what a cacao ceremony looks like so just as a way to educate people on what this is what we do now awesome

and now it's time for break that shit down there is nothing that you have to discover because all the information in the universe is already out there and it already exists and we all have it within ourselves and if you ever look for a teacher try to learn from an authentic teacher an indigenous teacher who can really shed light on this incredible ancient traditions even though it's not mayan that's okay because all ancient practices all ancient cultures all ancient traditions had so much figured out really and it is so absolutely profound and so deep and so just balance is a key word remember that you are not just your mind you are your four bodies which is the physical and

material the mentally emotional and the spiritual so open up the space for all of them remember that you have the power to become the creator of your personal reality that everything is an illusion and you can transcend that illusion so that you can really become the creator and create the reality you desire. And that's not a spiritual concept. That is a science. Spirituality is just the technique to actually practicing that. And there is just so much information out there. We don't have to discover it anymore. it's all been discovered so really just try to access it again just be respectful no cultural appropriation nothing like that let's not practice modern day colonialism but let's again give that floor back to the

indigenous people who this truly belongs to and we're always around if you need us so just contact us don't be shy and we'll figure out how to help you if you ever need help that was awesome oh my god so i have to ask is there a word for that balance when you find that balance between all of those four the concept of the winak which is when you're able to transcend your own energy and it's like when you're able to overcome yourself so that you can master all energy the four bodies is just like very basic it's just like the way to start because you have to be able to put them in balance if even one of your four bodies is not in balance then everything else in your life is out of balance there are so many concepts though i couldn't you know tell you there's one name or one word for one thing it's just so holistic and it is so profound that I wouldn't

even want to try to put it in a nutshell because it's not even possible yeah so that makes sense well your break that shit down was amazing thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate this space. Thank you so much. Thanks for being with us today. We hope you will come back next week. If you like what you hear, don't forget to rate, like, and subscribe. Thank you. We rise to lift you up. Thanks for listening.