History of the Piste Foundation

As told by Sylvia Pelcz-Larsen, founding member of The Piste Foundation.

My interest in Mayan studies began in 1987 in Boulder, Colorado, during the Harmonic Convergence. Literature on all things Mayan just appeared in my life. Over the course of 20 years I have gained a clearer understanding of what some might call The 2012 Phenomenon, often misunderstood to be a time when the world will suddenly come to an end through some detrimental cataclysmic event along the lines of horrible natural disasters. This is not necessarily the case. One possible disaster during these end times though, is failing to recognize the enormous opportunities we have as human beings to shift the current global confusion towards a sustainable planetary consciousness.

The Mayan Long Count calendar, which comes to an end on Dec.21st 2012, is the end, as well as the beginning of another very long cycle. A few thousand years back, the Mayan people foresaw that the timesthat we are currently living in would bring about tremendous shifts in human consciousness. So big in fact that we might feel a bit overwhelmed. This feeling is palpable in all areas of the world. As a practitioner of alternative health care I began seeing the effects of this phenomenon clinically. We simply live in incredibly stressful times.

I decided to bring my students to Chichen Itza, Mexico for advanced studies. I thought: what better way to understand the current world situation than to be at one of the sites where these times had been predicted so long ago? I thought we could gain some insight into the mysteries of what the Mayans seemed to know so well and bring it back for the sake of improving our clinical work. I believed it could help us understand clinical practice from a new perspective, and it has.

The trips turned out much differently than I had expected. Through a series of sependipitous events, I became acquainted with some of the local official tour guides. It was to one of these guides, Abel Adonay Padilla, that I jokingly offered to start a free clinic in his town, Piste, in return for some really good food. He immediately took me up on it. I decided immediately to set up a non-profit organization, and the Piste Foundation was born.

The Mayan people have an ancient traditional wisdom that understands our current global condition. The Long Count calendar is in alignment with astronomical events that can be observed with modern scientific instruments. In other words, their wisdom has been validated through scientific observation and documentation. Unfortunately, in places like Chichen Itza, the locals are so stressed and overwhelmed by tourism, that their wisdom is not easily available to us. Chichen Itza was recently voted a new 7th Wonder of the World. This is good, yet adds more pressure to Piste, a fairly small town.

The Piste Foundation provides alternative health care to the Mayan people of small towns in close proximity to ancient Mayan sites throughout the Yucatan Peninsula. The clinics are set up to alleviate the physical and emotional stressors that people who live in towns like Piste experience. Leading less stressful lives allows more of their wisdom to express itself to the rest of the world. I believe this wisdom will support a sustainable planetary consciousness. It is an opportunity not to be missed!

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