Cultures everywhere have concepts of air or wind -- not a bad translation of ki or chi, as in Reiki, Tai Chi, Aikido or Qiqong. This is from friend Wendy Ward last month, who is with the Peace Corps in Paraguay (see somewhereinparaguay/ for more stories.) So Ive been suffering from muscle strain and back pain since Sunday, barely able to move and unable to work. Today a group of local senoras discovered this when they came to visit and they told me it wasnt a muscle that was the problem. No, I had a problem with my wind (I can hear some of you snickering already,perhaps in agreement. Its okay. Go ahead, laugh). While lecturing and tsk-tsking me for not coming to them for help, they moved my clothes out of the way and proceeded to massage me and roll cigarettes over the problem area. They insisted it would be much more effective if they lit the cigarette and held the butt against my skin to draw the wind out of me. Now, Paraguayans have a lot of herbal knowledge and homemade remedies for just about everything but I was pretty skeptical with this voodoo-sounding bit. But lo and behold by the time they left, I could touch my toes and walk at a normal pace again...more progress than after a week of muscle relaxants. And admittedly, it felt really good to be nurtured by these lovely women. Whodathunkit? Paraguay: you never cease to surprise me (and my wind).
Posted on: Sun, 16 Mar 2014 00:38:45 +0000
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