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New Mexican Road Trip: White Sands to Mesilla

by Pat Wetzel | Nov 5, 2018 | Road Trip, The Story

New Mexico Road Trip: White Sands to Mesilla

From Carrizozo, it is off to White Sands and then to the quaint town of Mesilla, just west of Las Cruces.

My route for a southern New Mexico Road Trip

White Sands is the largest gypsum sand dune area in the world. Two hundred and seventy five square miles of endless pure white powder, mounded into shifting dunes. Here are just a few photos from dawn to dusk at this remarkable site. Check out the Photo Gallery for much more on White Sands.

Click here to visit the White Sands Post and Photo Gallery

New Mexico Road Trip: Onto Mesilla

Hurricane Willa is working its way across the region. That means rain, rain and more rain. “Frog strangler rain storms”, as they say in Texas. The rain started just as we were departing White Sands, and it never stopped. Torrential downpours paused intermittently only to continue with a renewed vengeance. It would be a wet day.

And what better way to spend a rainy afternoon than investigating Mesilla and some of its haunts.

Haunted haunts included.

The Village of Mesilla was incorporated in 1848 when the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo moved the border south, placing Mesilla firmly in the U. S. In 1853, after some years of dispute, the Gadsden Purchase finally and officially made Mesilla part of the U. S.

Mesilla has always been a western town, known for its festivals and attracting a few outlaws like Billy the Kid, Pancho Villa and Pat Garrett. By 1881, it had become the most important city in the region and it was assumed that the Santa Fe railway would go through the town.

But it didn’t.

Mesilla demanded too high a price, and a rancher from Las Cruces, a much smaller village at the time, won the bid. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Nevertheless, Mesilla was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1961.

Like most Spanish towns, Mesilla is organized around a Plaza. There is a church at one end, a green area where people can gather, and the plaza is ringed by adobe buildings sheltering stores and restaurants. It is a delightful village, with the surrounding fields planted with cotton and pecan. Shops carry a range of things, from Ken Edwards pottery to leather items and clothes.

[rev_slider alias=”mesilla-nm”]

Mesilla is located along the Rio Grande, and with the water from the river and the periodic rains, the immediate countryside is quite lush. Which was quite unexpected in the middle of the southern New Mexico desert.

On this day, rain made picture taking nearly impossible, so a quest for a respite from the rain led to the bar at La Posta de Mesilla.

La Posta de Mesilla is an integral part of the history of this National Register town. This territorial style adobe building started life as the Corn Exchange Hotel. It was a critical stop on the mail route to California.

The route took 25 dangerous days to cross the country. Weather, distance (2,795 miles) and Indian raids made it a grueling trip. A writer for the New York Herald said of the trip:

“Had I not just come out over the route, I would be perfectly willing to go back, but I now know what Hell is like. I’ve just had 24 days of it.”

Needless to say, the route was not for the faint of heart. So arrival at Mesilla, complete with blacksmith and food for all, was a most welcome respite.

The building today is comprised of numerous rooms, each with its own history. But it wasn’t the history of the bar that beckoned on this blustery, rainy day, but the 100 tequilas and a bartender most adept at mixing them appropriately.

When you can no longer decipher the letters, your tequila is cut off!

So it was, nestled in a dry bar, with a friendly bartender and an absolutely perfect margarita, a rainy afternoon was passed.

The solution to an afternoon of torrential downpours.

Dinner was at the Double Eagle de Mesilla. This place is out of a movie set, with a story to match.

The entry to the Double Eagle, Mesilla, NM

First, as you enter, there is the Imperial bar.

It’s a 30 foot hand-carved bar, “supported” by four gold leafed columns. The foot rail was originally from the Billy the Kid Saloon (now the Billy the Kid Giftshop, where in 1881, Billy the Kid stood trial for the assassination of Sheriff William Brady. He was found guilty but the hanging never occurred; Billy escaped to live a bit longer, rustling cattle and generally creating a bit of havoc until his death later that year.)

Massive (and valuable) antique French Baccarat crystal chandeliers hang above the mahogany hand carved bar.

The bar is certainly eclectic. Renaissance paintings hang on the walls. A Louis XV style mirror, French Baccarat chandeliers and a tin ceiling create a most atmosphere for just hanging out.

But even more fascinating than the Imperial Bar is the story behind the Double Eagle itself. It makes Romeo and Juliet look like a childs play.

From the Double Eagle website (you can read the complete story here):

The first owner of the house that is now the Double Eagle Restaurant, was the Maes family.

The family was in the import-export business. .. From the grand size of the house the Maes family built, one can see the family had big plans for the future–especially the mother.

…Her grand plans centered around her eldest son, a teenager named Armando…

Such a big house required many servants. One of the servants was a teenage girl named Inez, who is said to have been very beautiful, with long black hair reaching her waist. Armando fell in love…

Armando confessed his love for Inez, but the Senora refused to listen…Then, one day, the Senora returned early from a trip…she found beautiful Inez — in Armando’s arms.

Enraged , the Senora plunged her shears into Inez’s breast. Armando rushed to shield his beloved Inez. The Senora, unseeing, drove the shears into her own son’s back…Armando never regained consciousness and died three days later.

Armando’s former bedroom is now the Carlotta Salon and it is here that the young ghosts break wine glasses, move tables, and generally create a bit of kind, ghostly havoc. If you’d like to read more about some of the ghosts at the Double Eagle, check out this ghostly list at the bottom of the page!

Dinner was munchies at the bar, which included a Chile Relleno in tempura batter. After Carrizozo, I am on a chile relleno quest. But so far, there is no competition with the 4 Winds.

Click here to visit the White Sands Post and Photo Gallery

Next: Mesilla to Socorro via Hatch, Truth or Consequences and Bosque del Apache

The next leg of this three day trip heads back north, with brief stops along the way. Post to follow shortly!

My route for a southern New Mexico Road Trip

More Santa Fe Based Road Trips

White Sands
New Mexico Road Trip: The Road To Carrizozo
Photo Mission: Winter at Taos Pueblo
Timeless Truchas
Photographing Chaco Canyon
Autumn in Taos
Inside The Georgia O’Keeffe House in Abiquiu
The Not So Quintessential Ghost Ranch

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New Mexico Road Trip: The Road To Carrizozo

by Pat Wetzel | Oct 28, 2018 | Road Trip, The Story

Time for a New Mexico Road Trip!

New Mexico can be hot in the summer. Santa Fe’s elevation of 7,200 feet creates a comfortable climate. But just an hour south, the temperature will climb ten degrees and more.

I’ve been waiting months for the weather to cool enough to head south. Finally, fall! Time for a short New Mexico road trip: Three days on the road, starting with Route 285 South to Route 54 South to Carrizozo.

Here’s the 3 day route:

My route for a southern New Mexico Road Trip

Carrizozo is en route to Almagordo, which will be my base for White Sands, a place I’ve wanted to visit for some time.

And from Almagordo, to Old Town Mesilla and then to Bosque del Apache. (Visiting Hatch and Truth or Consequences along the way). Then back to Santa Fe.

I’ll be returning to Bosque del Apache in November for the The Festival of the Cranes, a celebration of photography and nature with tens of thousands of migrating birds. World renown photographers will be teaching classes and all the major camera and lens manufacturers will be there as well. Stay tuned for that!

Here’s the first leg of this trip, to Carrizozo.

New Mexico Road Trip: The Road To Carrizozo

Route 285 is a pleasant drive. It’s a great two lane road, in better condition than many “larger” highways. It cuts through the country, and in turn, through numerous small towns, many of which are partially abandoned.

An abandoned storefront, near the railroad, in Duran, NM

Duran is one such town. Not officially a ghost town, it has about 35 residents. Like many New Mexican towns, its livelihood was determined by access to the major transportation routes. The El Paso & Northeastern Railroad created jobs servicing the rail line and transportation for area ranchers. At it’s peak, nearly 300 people lived here.

But the railroad moved its operations to Carrizozo, Route 25 was built further west and over time, the residents of Duran moved on.

Duran was once a prosperous town, as reflected in some of the remaining architecture.

The lettering for the General Store and Hotel, located along the rail line, is barely visible.

The Church is locked but it’s tin roof reflects brightly in the autumn sun.

The road to Carrizozo

And then one comes to Carrizozo.

On this road trip, it was time for lunch.

The dining options in Carrizozo are limited. Everything is a bit run down, seedy even. The possibilities for a decent lunch looked dim.

I’ve long ago given up on the typical on-line restaurant reviews. Many are bought and skewed; some are even true. But I’ve come to rely more on my own instincts. I wander, read menus, sniff the air, talk to locals and generally try to assess the likelihood of a good meal. This day, I simply look for the restaurant with the most cars in its parking lot.

Hands down, it was Four Winds Restaurant.

The 4 Winds in Carrizozo, New Mexico

Decision made.

The interior did not look promising. A long counter with a window through which the food was passed from the kitchen to the dining room. Probably a good thing that I couldn’t see into the kitchen.

The menu was a smattering of Americana. Burgers to burritos. I decided to give the Chile Rellenos a go. My travel buddy opted for the Posole. I was hungry and whatever emerged would simply have to do.

Service was a bit slow. The Chile Rellenos finally arrived. The food was mounded on a plate, not too artfully.

I’d requested both red and green chile on the side.

Chile Rellenos, 4 Winds, Carrizozo

It looked like too much. Too much cheese; too much batter; too few vegetables, spilling off the plate in a careless manner.

Not to mention too many calories.

I have a saying about some of my own home cooking:

“Looks aren’t everything.”

And that certainly applied here. Because when I cut into the Chile Rellenos, I cut through a textured, perfectly fried corn meal crust and hot, molten cheese that readily oozed onto the plate. I couldn’t quite believe my first bite; so I had another. And another.

Crunch, goo and a bit of heat.

It was simply delicious.

And obviously homemade.

My travel buddy had a similar encounter, with an incredible Posole. Posole (“hominy”) is a traditional Mexican soup with as many variations as there are cooks. Generally it is a slow simmered combination of hominy, meat and spice.

Perfect Posole!

And this Posole rocked. Layers of rich chile flavor, pork and posole so perfect that it had to be someone’s grandmothers recipe.

And it was.

I have to wonder if this lunch is a fluke, or if the food is always this good.

Another road trip to Carrizozo is definitely in order.

***

New Mexico Road Trip: Carrizozo

Carrizozo started as a railroad town in the early 1900’s. The railroad, once the lifeblood of the town, no longer stops at Carrizozo. But today, many of the old buildings are being restored and a growing Arts District is emerging. Historic 12th Street is the focus of this renaissance.

One of the must sees is the Tularosa Basin Gallery of Photography which is devoted exclusively to photography of New Mexico. The gallery hosts an exclusive exhibition of the Winners of the 17th Annual New Mexico Magazine Photography Contest. These photos are simply spectacular. Visit the gallery’s website for hours and availability.

Tularosa Basin Gallery of Photography in Carrizozo

And here is a brief look at the road to Carrizozo:

Next Up:

New Mexico Road Trip: White Sands to Mesilla

Next stop: White Sands

The next leg: Almagordo (and White Sands) to Mesilla

More Santa Fe Based Road Trips

Timeless Truchas
Photographing Chaco Canyon
Autumn in Taos
Inside TheGeorgia O’Keeffe House in Abiquiu
The Not So Quintessential Ghost Ranch

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Timeless Truchas

by Pat Wetzel | Oct 21, 2018 | Road Trip, The Story

Truchas is a small town that one might overlook. It’s well off the beaten path and it hasn’t changed much since I first visited in the mid 90’s. The Main Street is now paved and the Old Road to Taos has been usurped by highway near Santa Fe. But the stunning mountains and houses speckled across the high hills at their base are pretty much the same.

I try to remember how I came to find Truchas twenty some years ago.

I believe I was just exploring.

The High Road To Taos was far too seductive a road name for me to ignore. So I followed it. And at a bend in the road, an unpaved dirt street passed through a small village. It was that unpaved road that led me to the adobe home of Barbara McCauley and Alvaro Cardona-Hine. Here art, philosophy and an international perspective on the history of humanity merge, as Alvaro explains:

The small gallery, a tiny adobe building on the property, and a separate studio farther back on the property, held many paintings. Alvaro held classes in the studio where he taught many young artists, and the work of one took my breath away. It was as if someone had, somehow, put into form all my doubts and questions at that period of my life, on canvas:

“Presence” by Nancy Orenstone

The painting had a profound impact on me. It touched my soul, and I simply had to have it.

It was by a young artist Nancy Orenstone, who has since opened her own gallery with her husband, artist and writer Pierre Delattre, in Taos. Nancy is drawn to landscapes, yet it is her use of figures in some of her paintings that I find most intriguing. Pierre says of Nancy’s work:

Nancy Ortenstone’s art evokes the ambiguity between change and constancy, between natural forms—skies, oceans, landscapes—in their observed transformations, and the ageless, timeless white-light source from which they have emerged and to which they will return.

…How best to describe this white-light stillness that underlies the flux and flow of color in her paintings? Collectors have often said that they never grow tired of her art. One couple called her painting “an inexhaustible experience.” Why is that?

Because, it seems to me, that her paintings are not fixed images in space or time; they belong to the ageless and the timeless; they evoke a process of continuous change. This mystical relationship between the source of all created beings and its most beautiful manifestations is at the heart of her work.

And so it was, in the studio, buying Nancy’s painting, that I got to talking to Barbara and Alvaro at the Cardona-Hine Gallery.

I’d go on to house sit for them and for their bulldog, Tess. Tess snored horribly (as bulldogs sometimes do) but we became great friends. I have a soft spot for bull dogs and Tess was a doll of a dog. We walked everyday, into the forest at the end of town where towering trees shed their needles on the forest floor. At night, we’d look across the Rio Grande valley to the twinkling lights of Los Alamos, far away on the hill.

Truchas in 1995 was a bit rough around the edges (it still is, which is part of its charm). My first night housesitting, there was a knock at the door. I went to the door and opened it.

And there stood a man with a very large knife.

I opened the door to be confronted with a man with a very large knife!

I looked at him.

And he looked right back at me.

In silence.

For what seemed like an eternity.

I stood frozen, not sure what to do; not sure what was happening. What had I gotten myself into? I remembered Alvaro saying “we trust people” before he left. Why did those words suddenly come to mind?

The man at the door looked at me. He looked at Tess.

And then he smiled.

“Here,” he said, offering me the very large knife, handle end towards me. “I wanted to return this.”

I think I thanked him.

*******

It’s been some years now, but I recently met up with Barbara again. Alvaro passed away some years ago. Not much has changed, except for a beautiful, spacious new gallery addition that allows many of the larger paintings to be properly displayed. The studio has been converted to a small AirBnB. There is a new bulldog. And there is a new road, this time paved, but potted with plenty of potholes to retain that certain authentic je ne sais quoi that is rural New Mexico.

Tess’ replacement

An old truck on the Main Street of Truchas, NM, which is now paved.

Fall in Truchas is simply stunning. The craggy mountains, the groves of golden aspen, and the small town come together in a breathtaking panorama. It was here that Milagro Bean Field Wars was filmed many years ago. The town is nearly identical to the one portrayed in the 1988 film. Except of course. that Main Street is now paved.

Here are some outtakes from my trip to Truchas:

If you go to Truchas…

Map from Santa Fe to Truchas, NM, by way of Chimayo

It’s a beautiful drive to Chimayo, then up the hill to Truchas.

Chimayo is a world renown sanctuary, with a reputation as a healing site. It’s often referred to as the “Lourdes of America”, referencing the famous French religious site.

Beads hung in remembrance of loved ones at Chimayo

Local families have continued the Spanish Colonial weaving traditions. You can visit the shops of the Ortega and Trujillo families and browse their beautiful creations.

Chimayo is also famous for its heirloom chile, Capsicum annuum “Chimayo”, a chile that embodies both sweet and hot, which you can sample from the various vendors in town and at the James Beard award winning restaurant, Rancho de Chimayo.

Chimayo is famous for it’s local heirloom Chile. Eat more chile, the sign proclaims!

Rancho de Chimayo was awarded the James Beard Foundation America’s Classics Award in 2016 for their attention to the history and rich culture of New Mexican food.

Rancho de Chimayo is on the road to Truchas.

If you’re looking for authentic, pass on the cooking classes and tourist places in Santa Fe, and head to Chimayo where the foods of tradition continue today.

Just up the hill, Truchas has numerous small art galleries. A tour each fall opens the galleries to the public and it’s a fun way to visit this village and enjoy some local art. From there, back to Santa Fe is about an hour. Up the road, the High Road to Taos, of course lies magical, mystical Taos.

More On Truchas and Chimayo and Environs

Chimayo is worth a visit on its own. The church, the grounds and the town are world famous. Walking about, however, one might develop a bit of an appetite. Do head up the road, around the bend and enjoy lunch at Rancho de Chimayo.

If a personal visit isn’t in the cards, and should you get a hankering for some good New Mexican food, here are some items to help you recreate some of the culinary legacies of the Land of Enchantment:

From Amazon:

Situated just 30 miles north of Santa Fe off the High Road to Taos, the highly acclaimed Rancho de Chimayo Restaurant has been serving traditional New Mexican cuisine in a beautiful setting for half a century. The atmosphere at this traditional Spanish hacienda, surrounded by mountains, is rivaled only by the fine, native cooking served in the grand early tradition by generations of the Jaramillo family. In 1991 the restaurant published a modest paperback cookbook for their silver anniversary. Twenty-five years and 50,000 copies later comes this beautiful new edition, just in time for the 50th anniversary celebrations. All recipes are completely revised and updated, with more than twenty delectable new dishes added. As an extra bonus, the book also features charming archival images as well as stunning full-color food and location photography, making this a beautiful keepsake of a special place as well as a mealtime companion to turn to again and again.

If your preferences go to red chile, here is one option.

And of course, if your preferences are green:

Or if you’re like me and simply cannot make up your mind, go for both, AKA Christmas style.

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What is #CancerRoadTrip and how did it come to be? Read this post to get the backstory!

Follow me on Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and at Anti-Cancer Club. Connect with me! I may need a place or two to stay along the way!

Autumn in Taos

by Pat Wetzel | Oct 8, 2018 | Road Trip, The Story

Autumn is always a spectacular combination of color, scents and scenes. In New Mexico, the aspen groves cover vast swaths of the mountain sides. Ranging from golden to almost red at times, the mountains take on an autumn palette.

With a new camera in hand (my old one is having focus problems) I naturally had to hit the road. And what better road to hit than Route 68 which heads north, along the Rio Grande, to Taos.

Fall color New Mexico, Cancer, CancerRoadTrip, Taos, Fall

The Rio Grande

Click Here for the Photo Gallery.

More on Fall in New Mexico

Wine and Chile
The Burning of Zozobra
The Art, Culture and Beauty of Santa Fe

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If you’re interested in learning more about photography (or cooking or film or any number of topics) check out MasterClass All-Access Pass for on-line excellence:

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What is #CancerRoadTrip and how did it come to be? Read this post to get the backstory!

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Wine and Chile

by Pat Wetzel | Sep 30, 2018 | Food, Foodie Forays, The Story

I must confess that I did not take a single picture during this week of Santa Fe’s Wine and Chile Fiesta.

Not of food, that is.

CancerRoadTrip, healing, cancer, Chile and wine

View from the Santa Fe Opera

And that’s because I attended Saturday’s Wine and Chile festivities, enjoying offerings ranging from oysters to lamb chops, and wines from sauvignon blanc to some excellent pinot noirs. Two hands were needed to manage both food and wine; no room for a camera on this foodie foray!

But on an upcoming trip to the Paso Robles area, pictures will be taken. Paso Robles is one of my favorite pinot regions. The cool sea breezes and warm days produce remarkable pinot noirs; but more on that later.

The Santa Fe Wine and Chile Fiesta

The Wine and Chile Fiesta in Santa Fe is a gathering celebrating the food of Santa Fe, matched with many of California’s best wines. Dinners at various restaurants throughout the week offer food and wine pairings, with most meals in the $150/head range. So many restaurants, so little time! But I passed on the individual dinners, lunches and various culinary events to attend the Grand Tasting at the Santa Fe Opera.

Santa Fe Chile Rista Photo Credit: Unsplash

Peaked white tents set up in the upper parking area at the Opera provide shade and seating, while thousands of people meander among Santa Fe’s favorite restaurants. Accompanying them are wine producers, many of whom were from California. And they brought some wonderful wines for tastings, ranging from a Silver Oak Cab to a Paso Robles Justin series of reds.

Takes on local food, like stunning grilled shrimp tacos were scattered among the offerings. But most of the food choices transcended geography, and were simply delicious. Wagu Beef; fried oysters; raw oysters with a green chile salsa; paella; honey pork on arugula salad; the list goes on.

I obviously decided that this event was not for the diet conscious, although much of the food, served in beautiful, artfully arranged, small portions, was actually fairly healthy. Well prepared crustaceans, fish, meat and vegetables met with some excellent wine offerings to create a fun and memorable afternoon.

90 wineries poured samples of every varietal imaginable Photo Credit: Unsplash

Not to leave out the art community, this year’s Santa Fe Wine and Chile Fiesta poster artist was Ed Sandoval, who currently hails from Taos.

The history of this event goes back to 1991 when Mark Miller, Al Lucero, and Gordon Heiss got together to organize a one day food event that would grow into the world class, one week celebration that the fiesta is today. Over three bottles of Joseph Phelps 1985 Insignia at Cafe Sena, the first Wine and Chile Fiesta was launched. The full story behind all this on the Santa Fe Wine and Chile Festival site, www.santafewineandchile.org.

Seventy restaurants and ninety wineries made this year’s Wine and Chile Fiesta a total success. Sommeliers, guest chefs and local chefs all provided food and demonstrations throughout the week. If you’re a serious foodie, this week in Santa Fe is one to put on your calendar for next year. Proceeds from the event go back into restaurant and culinary education in Santa Fe.

Downtown Santa Fe

More Foodie Forays With CancerRoadTrip

Life is short. Good food nourishes one’s body and soul. Here are a few other (among many!) foodie posts on my travels.

Foodie Forays 2017
Culinary Travel Karma: Dublin and Killarney
Art, Flavor and Elegance at Resturant Martin
Oyster Quest

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What is #CancerRoadTrip and how did it come to be? Read this post to get the backstory!

Follow me on Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and at Anti-Cancer Club. Connect with me! I may need a place or two to stay along the way!

Sound For Healing

by Pat Wetzel | Sep 21, 2018 | Featured, Healing, Road Trip, Santa Fe, The Story

Using sound for healing is an art thousands of years old. Sound, after all, is energy and it was discovered long before X-rays and sonograms and many other modern medical wonders.

And sound can heal.

A chance meeting brought a form of sound therapy into my life. In addition to the omnipresence of lymphoma always lurking in the background, I’ve been dealing with Dupuytren’s Contracture which is causing my fingers to curl and become severely crippled. I am quite concerned about loosing the use of my right index finger, and thus the use much of my right hand.

The medical options include needle aponeurotomy, steroid injections, and enzyme injections. These interventions tend to last only for a short period of time. Surgery does not offer any good statistics or guarantees either.

In short, these options address the symptoms, but not the underlying disease. Welcome to modern medicine.

So I’ve been on a lookout for options. That’s when travel serendipity struck yet again.

I was invited to give a talk about CancerRoadTrip. Afterwards a woman came over and introduced herself: Laurie McDonald.

Meeting Laurie is so Santa Fe. Here is a highly educated and accomplished woman with a resume that would kick butt anywhere. She has a BFA, from the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design; an MA, from the University of Houston; has studied sound therapy in New Delhi/Chennai, India with the Nada Centre for Sound Therapy (and earned a CNCMT); and is a Certified Acutonics Practitioner, in Santa Fe, New Mexico (www.soundtherapysantafe.com). And an author (Travel for STOICS). And a pioneer in working with sound therapy and vets for PTSD; and a film maker with clients such as the Whitney Museum of America Art in New York.

For me, the combination of acupuncture with the energy of sound made sense for a connective tissue issue. I’ve had superb results from acupuncture over the years. I’ve used it for tennis elbow; for general well being; to manage horrific chemo side effects.

As a result, acupuncture is among my first line choices for healing. Combined with the energy of sound, it made sense to me for a connective tissue problem. So I thought I’d give it a go.

Laurie warned me to keep my expectations low; she made no promises. But I’m a few weeks into this now and I’m seeing real improvement, particularly in my right hand. If I can just stay the progression, I’d be happy. But progress! Beyond my wildest dreams.

But it shouldn’t be. Over time, through travel and travail, I’ve come to look for healing disciplines that treat the cause, as well as the disease. It’s here that modern medicine bats .500. I’m on a quest for the other half of that equation. And sound for healing may be part of that equation for me.

To discuss sound for healing, let’s start with a look at acupuncture, because my current explorations are combining both.

Acupuncture

Acupuncture

The history of acupuncture goes back over 8,000 years, long before modern medicine even existed. Think about the centuries of practice and experience in this tradition. The Chinese use it for everything from healing to anesthesia during surgery.

The basic principle, derived from thousands of years of use, study and observation is based on Taoism which promotes a balance between yin and yang. Using over 2,000 acupuncture points that have been identified in the body, fine needles are used to adjust the flow of energy and restore health and balance. Acupuncture is also used in pain management, as one New York Times reporter learned from personal experience.

Richard Nixon’s opening of China opened the door for acupuncture to be introduced to the U.S. But is was when New York Times reporter James Reston successfully used it for surgical pain during an emergency appendectomy while in China, and his ensuing articles about his experience, that mainstream America started to notice.

Over the centuries, acupuncture has become a vital part of healing for many people. Given my experiences, the idea of accessing the acupuncture points using sound vibration made enormous sense. Particularly in dealing with the connective tissues issues in my hands.

Sound For Healing

Using sound for healing is part science, part art, and part ancient tradition.

Sound is simply the vibration of matter. And humans are systems of vibratory matter.

Matter tends towards harmony. The process is called entrainment. Entrainment explains why metronomes synchronize and why people can bond deeply over a conversation. Humans vibrate in resonance with their surroundings.

The ancient Tibetans and other cultures understood the importance of sound. The Tibetans used the deep rich song of singing bowls in their healing practices; the shamans of Peru use the repetitive beat of drums to bring on a deep meditative state. In our own culture Martin Luther King, knowingly or not, used the sound of his voice and the cadence of his speech to resonate with his audience.

Sound is energy. How do we use it? What impact can it potentially have on our lives and health?

From Dr. Mitchell Gaynor, MD

Sound can change our immune function. After either chanting or listening to certain forms of music, your Interluken-1 level, an index of your immune system, goes up between 12 and a half and 15 percent. Not only that, about 20 minutes after listening to this meditative type music, your immunoglobin levels in your blood are significantly increased. There’s no part of our body not effected. Even our heart rate and blood pressure are lowered with certain forms of music. So, it effects not only our soul and our spirit, but it effects us on literally a cellular and sub-cellular level.

Sound transcends time and traditions. It brings up memory and emotion.

And if both the ancients and the neuroscientists are to be believed, perhaps sound is a channel to the mind and the body’s memory of emotion.

Photo Credit: Fancycrave, Manali, India

Sound and Harmony

Researchers have discovered that cells resonate at particular harmonic frequencies. When these cells are healthy, they vibrate at “optimum balance,” like tuning forks. Obviously, disease is dissonant or disharmonic, having a negative effect on cells.

Cancer, like many other diseases, may reflect an imbalance in the body. Modern medicine often does an excellent job at fighting disease, but finding deeper personal, emotional and psycho-spiritual healing is what many cancer patients need.

I have come to believe that finding peace and harmony is a critical part of healing. Cancer fractures your life. Futures are gone; relationships may change; physical after effects may impact your ability to do things.

The need to heal, and to regroup, is a need for harmony.

To my mind, it’s about finding that energetic balance, whether it’s through the coherence of meditation and heart such as HeartMath; through acupuncture or yoga; through massage or sound.

Everyone is different and everyone resonates (no pun intended) with different modalities. The key is finding something that suits you.

So it is I’m on an exploration of sound for healing, at least for my hands.

Laurie McDonald uses a system called Acutonics, which uses vibrational sound on acupuncture points. This system was developed by Ellen Franklin, PhD and Donna Carey LAc in Taos, New Mexico.

Acutonics brings together the wisdom and efficacy of Oriental medicine, psychology, science and the arts, with the energy of sound. Precision engineered tuning forks are chosen for their specific vibrational frequency and are placed on the various points in the body. The harmonic combinations and the use of acupuncture points are used to manage, move and rebalance energy.

The idea behind using sound for healing is simple, while the execution is more complex.

Practitioners may study for years to develop the fine sensibilities of providing vibrational sound healing. The tuning forks provide feedback. Is the sound moving smoothly, or encountering resistance? Is the harmonic frequency the right one? Are the acupuncture points chosen wisely?

Is sound healing?

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Synergy in Sound for Healing

Sound does more than simply resonate within the body. It has the ability to touch deep into one’s psyche and emotion and it is here, science is coming to believe, that healing occurs. Neuroscience is catching up to age old wisdom, recognizing that mind and body are one.

Candace Pert was a scientific leader in this quest. Her book “Molecules of Emotion” chronicled her successful quest to show that neuropeptides linked the mind and the immune system. Her research showed that your thoughts impact your biology.

The mind and body, she argued, are one.

If thoughts are energy that release neuropeptides, what of sound that touches an emotional chord within?

From Dr. Gaynor’s book, The Healing Power of Sound:

“According to Beverly Rubik, a leading expert on energy medicine, energy fields form inside and outside the body carry information that changes and perhaps even regulates cells throughout our bodies. …Sound waves are yet another form of energy that can conceivably influence neuropeptides and their cellular receptors. And if we recognize that our own biological healing systems are influenced by energy fields, we can begin to understand why sound and vibration are important new tools for healing.”

Gaynor relays a story of one patient, who finds peace with his cancer by delving into the pain of his adoption. Using sound for healing, he connects with his pain, and in connecting with it, he is able to release it. Years later, he is living with cancer, but otherwise healthy.

Anecdotally, I hear many, many stories of how deep healing impacts biology. What helps us to reach deep? Is sound perhaps one modality?

If mind and body are one, is the resonance of energy through sound part of the neuroscience of healing?

Can sound help us by-pass our social conditioning to find a deeper internal resonance for health?

What are the sounds in your life?

Photo Credit: Marius Masalar

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CancerRoadTrip is a trip of curiosity, soul and deliverance.

Curiosity because I can’t help myself; soul because it’s what gives life substance; and deliverance from the constraints of my culture. I sense a deep need to see more, to experience more and to know more than the superficial tumult of the waves on the modern surface of our society.

My life has, and continues to be, a journey. Starting with the existential threat of cancer with all it’s emotional ups and downs; to discovering the transformative effects of meditation; to acupuncture; to sound; to other cultural perspectives of health.

Independent of cultures, certain healing traditions seem to emerge in my travels.

From the stories of the Tewe people, to the shamans of Peru, there is a story of soul, connection and harmony that is missing in our mass produced, consumeristic, judgmental society. The connection is deep, it is of the earth and it is spiritual in nature. The Ka Ta See talk of finding one’s song. Here the idea of sound becomes a metaphor for soulful exploration and harmony.

Barbara Culbertson (shaman, friend, and wise woman) said to me that our lives today are 180 degrees from the wisdom of the ancients. I agreed when she said that, but as time goes on, I wonder just how far we’ve veered from our connection to the earth and our place in the universe.

Photo Credit: Joshua Earle

What is it that opens the doors to deep connection?

What timeless modalities unite us with the wisdom of the past, to find the truth of the soul?

And what impact does this synchronistic way of life have on our health, our families and our communities?

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Sound and Harmony

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Synergy in Sound for Healing

The mind and body, she argued, are one.

What are the sounds in your life?

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Independent of cultures, certain healing traditions seem to emerge in my travels.

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