We had the good fortune of connecting with Maria Lozano and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Maria, do you have a favorite quote or affirmation?
“At the end of the day, we can endure much more than we think we can.” -Frida Kahlo

The beauty in Frida’s quote for me is that it can resonate for various seasons of our life experience. It has helped me in reflection, and be able to recognize my own strength, resilience, and expansion in adaptability to challenges being experienced. Frida’s life was filled with experiences of tragedy, illness, and artistically political challenges (“the system” ” the partriarchy”, etc) and always continued to move forward with her strength to challenge the barriers that arose on her journey.
I appreciate how this quote offers a space to sit in our own reflections to nurture and uplift our personal strength and capacities in navigating through challenging times. When we invite ourselves to reflect on our accomplishments (and not all accomplishments will look like degrees, pay increases or other materialistic gratifications, but simple survival and thriving is an accomplishment) we are able to see how we slayed the dragon.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
The services that I offer are the beautiful woven layers of my experience, training in mental health and social services, and observed learnings from my mother and other maestras in community care, working with herbs and family remedios. In my joint roles as a post partum healing provider and clinical therapist, I help new parents and mujeres navigate an ocean of emotions and thoughts while living through new transitions and changes in their lives by holding space for words, breath, and sips of tea so they can meet themselves at their power. Folks who work with me know that their experience is valid and real, that their quest to find strength is based in being held in space while reflecting on the journey they have been experiencing. Folks that choose to work with me also know that they will be supported by someone who will integrate different healing tools inclusive of herbs, platica, movement, and breath paired with a bifocal lense of mental health and cultural humility.

As a woman raised in a traditional Mexican family, and being expected “to do better than we had” as my parents would tell me, mixed with the generational trauma of scarcity, poverty, and “pure luck/coincidence”. There wasn’t a map to inform this path to success my parents expected for and of me. Challenges presented themselves from the beginning of this journey. Challenges are not always personal. I remember talking to my mom once about natural/cloth pads and the reaction she gave was reflective of the disconnection between body and spirit. The challenge here: what generational stuff will come up when I dig deeper into my healing? Telling my family that I was starting to expand my healer’s path to include herbs and medicine making. Many if not all my family members jokingly would say “Oh so you’re like a curandera now? You’re like the family bruja or what?” These questions caused for me to not feel safe in sharing with family, so who could I trust and build with? My parents are immigrants from Mexico, born and raised shortly after the Great Depression. The determination of survival is deep in our blood and DNA. They both successfully migrated, gained legal status, became home/business owners, and sent three grown children through college out of pocket (mind you this is tuition in the 90’s and early 2000’s). My dad one day in conversation and storytelling about his journey about leaving his hometown in Jalisco, he said: “I thought to myself, if they can do it (learn how to read) I can to”. My father has taught himself with the help of a neighbor how to read at the age of 24. My father jolted the imposter in my brain. The challenge of: Imposter Syndrome. It comes with layers, and coats. It plans to stay longer than it self invited itself to stay. If my parents can accomplish all this, why shouldn’t I be able to accomplish what I envision for myself?

It, imposter syndrome, would rear its head telling me that I wasn’t knowledgeable enough to share herbal blends I created, that no one would relate to the stories that birthed the teas, there are far more knowledgeable and experienced REAL herbalist out there. Challenges come in different shapes and sizes. April of 2017 I found out I was pregnant. I had about three months into the business and vending at community events. I vended at events through the rest of the pregnancy, baby was born in November. I was glowing with joy; which was quickly overshadowed by grief in a time of joy. My mother passed away two weeks after I had my baby. The grief was layered. My birth doula, sister-in-law, and community sisters supported me in my healing. It was through the biggest obstacle in my life that the medicine continued to show up for me. I didn’t have it in me to work with the herbs. My excitement of being connected to plants and herbs was distant from my reach. My community of birth keepers, reiki, bodywork, and herbal healers truly held me and space to heal. It was bodywork, temescal and herbal teas that assisted in my regrounding. The teas that were given to me to aid in increasing my milk production while we worked through breastfeeding issues. The tinctures that were part of my regiment to aid in coping with grief, anxiety, sadness, and overall transitions. It was stepping into my healing with herbs, therapy, and postpartum support that I was able to combine the grief and joy to aid my healing from the parallels of birth and death.
It has been all these parts that have been some of my greatest lessons; they have all led me to reflect on my family history and personal experiences to be able to offer the services I do in my practice.

Medicinas Lupita is an entity that is rooted in providing care in community, free of judgement, and filled with compassion to support folks in their journey of reaching their personal healing manifestation.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Friends who visit me know that I will take them to eat and hang out at sweet spots around the neighborhood. We would grab some breakfast/brunch at La Terraza (they have some super delicious breakfast sandwiches and Cafe de la Olla), lunch would be either the local fish taco truck off of City Terrace Blvd or we would make a drive down to Cook’s Tortas in Monterey Park. Dinner would be either some rich and decadent Italian food from Barrio on City Terrace Blvd. We would spend an afternoon walking Cesar Chavez Blvd and stop to shop plantitas to add to our families. I would register us for some at home yoga classes through People’s Yoga. I would offer for us to take some hikes at Debs Park and at Ascot Hills.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I dedicate my life’s work to my madre hermosa, Maria Aguilar Lozano. She was my biggest and loudest cheerleader. My roots are grounded in family, the tierra of Zacatecas (and Jalisco), and the motivation to grow and share our abundance. Mom never let us forget that we were the seeds that were planted by our ancestors to continue blooming the dreams we conjure up. The second person who deserves a mad loud shout out is my partner, Lester Mendoza. He has supported me through the journey of dreaming up Medicinas Lupita and nurturing it to grow and develop to where we are today. My daughter, Cecilia, has been my greatest teacher on this journey. She has invited me to redefine flexibility, rest, and play- all important ingredients to owning and running a business..

Website: www.medicinaslupita.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/medicinaslupita/

Other: email: medicinaslupita@gmail.com

Image Credits
Olive la Vida: Karissa Raya

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