My journey has landed me in Myanmar, a place that has only opened its doors to the outside world for the past 5 years. Before that, it kept all its secrets and traditions in tact. Now, the people are learning to open their hearts and share their space with foreign concepts and cultural diversity.

There is something so pure about this place. As much as it still holds true to many Asian idiosyncrasies, it carries an undercurrent of strong values that no one can alter. Knowledge still getting past down through generations, families doing anything for each other, and their spiritual beliefs overshadowing any daily desires.

Thiri (sounds like ‘Theory’ – our translator) comes to pick us up at 8am to take us on a tour of their market. We walk the streets and stop at local shops where she explains how things have changed over the years. She says that people used to eat all meals at home with their family, and now they are eating breakfast on the go. After work they stop for street food, mingle with their friends and catch up on the social happenings. As we watch the cars blow their emissions gently down the street, we look at the food merging with the heavy chemical air and find her telling us that since all the change she has noticed that cancer has only become a problem over the past 5 years. That since these habits have become the norm, people are starting to notice the impact on their health.

She explained some local herbs at the shops and some of the natural solutions for farmers with their ongoing battle for growing food without pests. After the market tour we make way for the highlight and intention of this visit.

We drive up to a quant little house. The driveway has signs on it highlighting the fact that it’s a clinic open for business. We are greeted at the door with a bow and are then ushered upstairs to a hallway that looks more like a shrine. To my left, I find many statues of Budda with daily offerings a plenty surrounding each one. To my right, I see certificates and pictures scattered along the wall depicting a very well educated and loved man. One that got a lot of attention from countries afar and scientists around the world, trying to wrap their head around the potential healing this man has to offer. Dr. Emoto depicting the significance of this shamans work through his crystal pictures, and letters of gratitude from universities and research centers for his findings.

We sit down to a table full of fruit, tea, coffee and cookies. Thiri, my friend Cathy and I sit down with the 2 shamans and suggest we start asking questions. The man sitting in front of us is a relative to the infamous shaman Dr. U Shein we see spread across the walls. We are told that he handed down his secrets to the next generation before he passed away 2 years ago. See, the reason I was seeking out this clinic was because I read about the potential healing from a medicine Dr. U Shein created. Apparently it took him years of meditation and connection with the spirit world to create this thing called ‘Gold Ash’.

Gold Ash is a medicine that is designed to heal the immune system. To strengthen the defences of the body and help kill and remove anything that gets in its way. Dr. U Shein when interviewed before his death, explained that this medicine was created by incorporating all the natural healing elements such as air, wind, fire and earth. We are told that at one point in the process he would bury the substance for years to ensure the depth of healing from Mother Earth was fully developed.

I now find myself taking in the passed down wisdom from the humble shaman sitting in front of me. He believes we get sick if our immune system gets too burdened and doesn’t have enough support to remove harm. He says we need to keep the blood clean and the metabolic pathways functioning well. When I asked how spiritual health plays a role he checks my field for a potential curse and explained afterwards what would have happened to me if I did have one. We purified our hands and he put a laminated symbolic card in my hand, said a prayer out loud and waited for a response. I thanked the angels that the only thing that happened was my hand got hot. There was a female shaman sitting with us that demonstrated what would happen by making choking sounds and moving her chest and torso at a panicked pace. Fascinating stuff that is a full on reality in their culture.

Next I find myself laying on the floor. He pulls out a mental rod and says “no need to be frightened”. He then pokes and prods me and asks for feedback. He started to tell me what was going on inside my body. I had to agree as he brought up my symptoms that I was not forthright in sharing ahead of time. One thing that is a constant is that I need to get out of my head and more into my heart. As they rub the metal with force against my skull, I have no choice but to focus on the pain and reevaluate where I put my energy.

He sends me away with Gold Ash and a few local herbs to invigorate my body’s inner healing potential. The interesting thing about having a language barrier is your forced to feel the intention of his words. As much as it’s a barrier for my head, it’s an open portal to understand from the heart. Even though they showed me success stories and scientific analysis done from a Russian medical lab, the importance of these lose value as my spirit feels out the validity.

As we drove away from the humble abode, I start to think about the process of alchemy. It’s a process of the transformation of matter, with the propose of finding a universal elixir. I’m left thinking, do we all have the ability to be the alchemist of our life and our health? What elixir is your potion of choice?