Atitlán Herbals

A family herbal practice and healing-garden tours on Lake Atitlán, Guatemala

The garden announces itself before anyone speaks. Lemongrass and chamomile come first, then the rarer plants, and a local indigenous healer who treats illness with leaves, seeds, stems, bark and roots. This is how the Mayan Medicine Tour begins, and it is the clearest view into what Atitlan Herbals does. The practice started in 2013 as what its founders call a life-changing family journey. By their account it began as a way of treating their young daughter, Love. Genoveva Velasquez had been an engineer in Guatemala City. She left that career, travelled through Latin America and Europe looking for something more in tune with nature, and settled at Lake Atitlán. There she began making medicinal plant extracts, healing balms, botanical skin care, natural baby care and liquid castile soap. The work happens in a lab at home, with herbs grown in their own garden and bought from women's cooperatives in San Juan La Laguna. Her co-founder, Luzio Luna, grew up on his grandmother's herbal farm. He studied Native American and Mexican ethnobotany, then Chinese medicine and acupuncture as a framework for understanding indigenous herbalism in the Americas. He specializes in a Japanese system called Kototama Inochi. He has lived in Guatemala for 18 years and has taught more than 20 local women Shiatsu, so they could treat their communities and earn a living through lake tourism. Visitors can take the one-day tour, which runs seven to eight hours at an easy to moderate pace. It visits medicinal gardens in San Pedro and San Juan, including one run by a women's cooperative that farms without pesticides or synthetic fertilizers. A three-day immersion goes further. Beyond the lake, the practice offers online consultations that combine Traditional Chinese and Traditional Mayan medicine, along with herbalism courses.

Traditions: Traditional Mayan Medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Herbalism, Shiatsu, Qigong, Kototama Inochi

Programs: Mayan Medicine Tour (1-Day), Atitlan Herbals 3-Day Immersion, Online Consultations, Beginners Herbalism Course, PCOS-Free Method Online Course, Shiatsu Massage, Herbal Medicine Consultations, Liquid Castile Soap