#80: Iruka Maria Toro
"Everything you want now, you will want forever. Listen to your visions and ignore the rest."
Iruka Maria Toro (@iruka_maria_toro) is an artist, herbalist, and bodyworker born and raised in Borikén. No matter the form (collaged Medicine Bodies, flower essences) or modality (Craniosacral therapy, Ayurvedic massage), there’s a sense of cosmic, divine play that permeates her work. You can book a divination reading with her here.
#80: Iruka Maria Toro
Cancer/Gemini/Capricorn
Upstate NY/Latin America
What does health, or being healthy, mean to you?
Health to me means a bright radiant life force that shines through my eyes and the way I move through the world. The way I make people feel is a reflection of my health. I feel healthy when I am light on my feet, light in my heart, and am easily moved by the creative ideas and visions on my path. Gratitude is health. Health means having an openness and willingness to flow, change, rest, joy, and love, despite whatever might be happening around me. Health is being my authentic self.
How would you describe your current lifestyle?
My lifestyle is in motion. I am learning to move around more gracefully, and find rest where I can. I am envisioning and building a new future for myself.
How do you start and end your days?
Right now, I am traveling a lot and adapting to where I am. I either walk to the local market and get a giant green juice with parsley, celery, spinach, lime, ginger, and pineapple, or I make a big cacao at home in my VitaMix with about 700 powdered herbs in it. I start out with liquids, medicine, and movement. I like to light an incense — these days, Hawaiian Sandalwood — and play some soft music in the kitchen as my consciousness comes online. I have a tiny long-haired chihuahua and when I am not on the road, he sits on my lap when I am drinking my juices and elixirs. We arrange flowers and listen to Meredith Monk, and Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru.
I have been doing a sweet guided Anapana meditation in the morning that I found on YouTube. It's a recording of the voice of S.N. Goenka which makes it feel really special.
I am an herbalist, bodyworker, and artist. My art practice is what holds all of my visions and interests together.
I spend a lot of my day working on ideas and projects. Researching. My library of books and apothecary full of plants are my pride and joy. I have been on a month-long journey through mountains in South America and am full of ideas for artworks and new formulas. I am spending much of my time writing them down and making plans/drawings. I am dreaming of very site-specific works and documenting them over time.
Lately, I have been going to a tiny bodega in this mountain town I am in. It has imported health foods and I am making these nori wraps full of fermented veggies, fresh organic avocados, raw olive oil. Sometimes quinoa, sea salt, jalapeños, and microgreens. Before this journey, I was watching a lot of videos of Dr Sebi’s children talking about his legacy. I started craving raw fresh foods despite it being a bit of an Ayurvedic cardinal sin to consume them this season.
Tea and ritual are a big part of my day. While in South America I have been trying out all the local warm drinks. Emoliente with Ayrampo seeds is my current favorite. Often I will walk across town for a combination of tea and socializing with a friend for a couple of hours. A real luxury. Today, it was my new herbalist friend who is also traveling solo. We talk about her plans to have an herbal conference in her home country.
Evenings are a combination of a warm, hippie, macrobiotic-babe kind of meal and a long, slow walk through the cornfields and mountains where I am staying. My bed has a huge window overlooking the land and I am able to fall asleep while looking at the stars. I have been focusing more on my dreams. These have been really beautiful days for dreaming and drawing. Lots of sheets of paper, bundled up in soft fabrics, and getting thoughts down until I pass out. Jasmine is blooming and there are flowers all around my pillow and tucked into my hair.