‍Introduction & Disclaimer

In the last two years of living in Mexico City, I have gone to about ten temazcal ceremonies, and I have really enjoyed them. The purpose of this piece is to share my experiences of temazcal ceremonies with you so that if you are considering the experience, you might have a better idea of what to expect. However, I am from Europe, and I am writing in English about a cultural institution that is not my own. Obviously, my experience of it is going to have its limitations, and I do not claim to be an expert on the practices or cultures of the Nahua or Mayan peoples. The details of this piece are subject to change if I learn new information. Still, I hope you find something useful in what I’ve written here so that you can attend, experience, and enjoy a temazcal ceremony for yourself.‍

What is a temazcal?

A temazcal (or temescal) is an ancient Aztec, Zapotec and Mayan ceremony. The word temazcal comes from the Nahuatl word “temāzcalli,” which means “house of heat.” Temazcals have been practiced for thousands of years in pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican cultures. They are a one-off evening or day activity held in a sweat lodge, which is typically a large, round, cemented clay hut with a low ceiling and a low door. The outside of the Temazcal hut itself often has symbols of animals on it, such as jaguars and eagles.

A temazcal ceremony occurs when a guide, usually an indigenous person, leads a small circle of people through a cleansing experience, which symbolizes rebirth. The ceremonies during the evening last about two hours, but during the day, they can be longer, up to about four or five hours. Most ceremonies are in Spanish, but they can also include prayers, chants, and blessings in Nahuatl. Nahuatl is the language of the Nahua people, descended from the Aztecs. About 1.7 million people in Mexico and the United States today speak the Nahuatl language.

You can attend temazcals across Mexico, including Tulum, Cancun, Oaxaca, Mexico City, and Tepotzlan. Additional ceremonies are also held across Central America, including in Guatemala. If you don’t speak Spanish, you might need a translator so you can understand what is happening and fully experience the experience.

What is the temazcal ceremony like?

I attend ceremonies about once per month at Ectagono, a sustainable urban farm in Mexico City. When we arrive, they pass around a cup of cacao to each person in traditional jarritos or Mexican clay cups.

The ceremony starts when up to 15 people in bathing suits gather in a line. The guide will often chant or pray and then blow the smoke of copal over each person before they enter the sweat lodge. The copal has a really beautiful and distinct smell that helps to clear the mind and be open to the upcoming ceremony (at least in my opinion). Copal is the sap from the copal tree, which has been used since pre-Columbian Mesoamerican times. “Copal” is the Nahuatl word for “incense.”

Each person enters the dark, small sweat lodge one by one. Inside, people usually enter from the left and follow around the circle in the middle so that each person sits to the right of the door. The sweat lodge I go to is about 4 feet high, so it is not high enough for me to stand in it.

The guide and their team usually heat volcanic rocks in a fire for many hours until they are absolutely blistering hot. Once everyone is seated, the guide and their team use a pitchfork or another tool to carry each burning volcanic rock and place it at the center inside the dark, circular hut.

Sitting inside the temazcal is dark and hot, as the burning volcanic rocks in the center release a lot of heat and steaming squishy sounds. My guide, Huitzi, says that the sounds of the hot rocks are the stories of our ancestors because the rocks have been there long before humans. The hot stones also glow red and yellow with small flames.

Through chanting, singing, and storytelling, the guide often asks people to share what is on their minds, either their story or a proposal of intention or question to the group. It can also be a great way to reflect on the environment and feel more connected to Mother Earth. This continues as the guide pours water on the rocks or fans them, and the inner space gets increasingly hotter, similar to an intense steam bath or sauna. Before sharing, people often ask for permission to speak.

At the temazcal that I go to regularly, we usually meet at Ectagano around 7:30 p.m. The temazcal ceremony lasts for about two hours. The heat inside, especially with a lot of people, can be very intense, and at times, people have to leave the temazcal to breathe, regain oxygen, and cool down before they faint or pass out.

During the ceremony, they usually pass around honey, which you can rub all over your body, and also a wedge of orange, which you can eat for sustenance. After multiple rounds of chanting, singing, and sharing, the ceremony ends, and then the participants are “reborn,” i.e., they exit the clay hut and breathe the fresh air outside again. This process is meant to resemble the experience of birth physically, or in this case, rebirth.

This is followed by a cold-water plunge, either in the form of a shower or water in buckets. In my experience, the cold plunge afterward works wonders for the mind, the body, and the soul. Lastly, they give us a tea that tastes like lemon grass and chamomile.

What kind of things can you discuss and learn in a temazcal?

Once a person is permitted to speak during the temazcal ceremony, they can discuss whatever they like and share it with the group. Usually, people might bring up a problem they are having in a relationship, a grief they are experiencing from the death of a loved one, or the struggle of not knowing where to go in their life.

I find the ceremony very helpful as a way to pause from the daily bustle of my life in the city and to reflect and be open to what I might be feeling. It can also be a great way to process grief or bring up difficult memories and share those with the group to help you heal, as a sort of collective offering and processing of life’s challenges.

The last time I was in the temazcal, I looked into the sizzling red volcanic stones of the fire, into the little red and yellow lights in each of them, and I thought about how old the Earth is and how the rocks will still be there long after we are gone. Stone is, in itself, as old as time since the Earth’s formation. It was kind of an amazing thought.

A temazcal is great for a quick emotional and spiritual reset. It doesn’t take that long, but you can hopefully get out of your mind and into your head and your body. I like doing temazcals because I enjoy the extremes of hot and cold, and I gladly welcome any opportunity to escape from my day-to-day life. The ceremony does a lot for my physical and mental well-being. I don’t meditate enough, but if I did, I probably wouldn’t feel the need to escape so often from my normal life.

‍How often should you do a temazcal?

Most tourists usually do the ceremony once. I do a temazcal about once per month. I am grateful to live in Mexico City, so I have access to these things on a regular basis. However, the ceremony is not recommended if you have a heart condition or are pregnant, so be sure to check with your doctor whether it’s safe for you to do one, given your health condition. ‍

Symbolism in the temazcal

My understanding of the symbolism of a temazcal is obviously limited because I don’t speak Nahuatl, but here are examples of symbolism that I have gathered so far.

One of the things I love is the guide’s stories and his reverence for women. He always says to women: You are more powerful than you know. He also talks about the mothers, our mothers, and our abuelas. He usually encourages us to be grateful to our mothers for bringing us to life. It’s nice to hear.

“Sientense libre,” he often says: feel free. Free yourself.

As far as I know, the fire outside the sweat lodge, which in the place I go to is in the space of a jaguar’s face and where they heat the volcanic rocks, is exactly nine steps away from the front door of the temazcal itself. This symbolizes the nine months that a baby develops in the mother’s womb. The sweat lodge itself is round and dark and hot and is made to mimic the womb as much as possible so that you go in there and then you think about your life and your experiences, you reflect, and then you emerge, you are able to breathe again, and you are reborn.

The guide also often called on “los abuelos,” our ancestors, or “el fuego,” the fire. Huitzi has many more stories about the jaguar and eagles and his people’s relationship to the forests of Oaxaca, where they are from.

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Tips for a better temazcal experience

Not all temazcals are the same. Here are my recommendations for how to have a more enjoyable and expansive temazcal experience, especially if you are attending for the first time:

• Try to meet your guide ahead of time. The guide's energy can really throw things off if you don't like them or if you find their energy scary or aggressive. Only go with a guide that you really like and trust. My guide, Huitzi, is a very chill person. Sometimes, you can get guides who are real egomaniacs. The guides are mostly men, so make sure it’s a man you feel comfortable with
• Try to go to a temazcal ceremony with people who you like and trust. It’s totally okay to also go with strangers, but sometimes, people can bring a lot of struggles into the space. It can be nice to have a gender balance as well, so you’re not the only woman in the temazcal experience.
• Bring a bottle of water. You’ll need to hydrate afterward.
• Bring a change of warm clothes to wear after the ceremony. Also, a hairbrush and deodorant will help. Usually, I just clean off in the cold plunge, get warm, and then I shower properly when I get home.
• Bring a bathing suit to wear during the ceremony. I usually prefer gym shorts and a sports bra because I feel more comfortable wearing them. Take off any jewelry or watches because they’ll get scolding hot. Also, avoid wearing makeup because, quite like a sauna, it’ll end up running everywhere.
• Don’t eat before the temazcal. It’ll just make you ill and nauseous once you’re inside.
• If you’re claustrophobic or you’re sensitive to extreme heat, try to go into the temazcal last so that you can sit near the door. It is cooler near the door, and it can also be helpful to know that you can exit whenever you want to and leave more easily.
• Avoid mixing the temazcal experience with other substances like shrooms or other random medicines. I once did rapé, a traditional form of tobacco, after the temazcal, and I wretched and almost threw up. I also took chocohongos (mushroom chocolates) another time. Don’t bother: you don’t need it, and you’ll just feel ill.
• Think about what kind of intention you want to bring into the space. Maybe there is something challenging or sad that you are working through. Or maybe you’re very grateful for someone in your life or a specific relationship.
• If you don’t have a specific intention or issue you want to address, just be open to whatever might come up for you physically or emotionally during the ceremony. The temazcal itself can also be really good at showing you where there is inflammation and pain in your body, so be open to listening to your body for that. I struggle with carpal tunnel, so one physical benefit I experience in the temazcal is pain that draws my awareness to the inflammation in my wrists and soothes that. Other forms of trauma can also come up for your, so be prepared. Here is a story about my trauma which has often come up in the temazcal for me. ‍

‍Broader Social Commentary ‍

With "spiritual tourism," we can often get in our heads about whether an experience is really “authentic.” I think it doesn’t make sense to question the authenticity of a ceremony like this as long as an indigenous person is leading it. Temazcals and other traditional ceremonies, such as peyote or other plant medicines, have evolved a lot, and there are even a lot of non-native people leading these kinds of experiences.

In my opinion, there is no such thing as a more “authentic” experience, but I would encourage you to experience a temazcal from indigenous people. They are able to maintain their culture and their traditions by profiting from tourists, so as much as possible, look at the people whom you are supporting financially by attending their ceremony and see if these are the kinds of people you want to be giving your money to.

The reality is that many of these more indigenous cultures, spiritual practices, and languages existed before they were decimated in the United States and the Americas by conquistadores and white settlers. As someone who grew up in England with Irish blood, I can tell you firsthand just how much colonialism has destroyed indigenous languages, cultures, and pagan rituals, such as those of the Gaelic, Cornish, Celtic, or Druid people, in my own country. Without speakers of these ancient languages, many of their indigenous practices have died, along with the loss of these oral traditions.

Even if we will never have a truly “authentic” Mayan ceremony, the practice of these institutions like a temazcal is an awesome, powerful, and, dare I say it, “healing” experience. It is truly beautiful that the descendants of these communities are still alive today and that some of us will get the opportunity to experience that.

I’m writing a whole series of articles on different mental health solutions that I’ve tried. You can read more about it here.