Luz (Kawoq Forest)

It is a profound honor to hold the sacred responsibility of caring for Kawoq Forest. As someone of both Maya and European heritage, I grew up between El Salvador and the United States, joyfully wandering mountains and forests throughout the continent.

I first arrived at this cliffside sanctuary in February 2016 for a month-long 200hr Yoga Teacher Training (YTT) with the Kula Collective. At that time, I was living and working near Antigua, Guatemala, where I served as a midwife in a local clinic. Throughout my midwifery path, yoga, asana, and meditation have been invaluable in helping me support birthing families with safety and integrity.

Midwifery and this work of tending the Forest are rooted in similar values: embodiment, presence, and compassionate awareness. Nearly seven years later, as I step into stewardship of Kawoq Forest, I bring my midwifery training to this role.

I experience Kawoq Forest as a living ecological being that calls for the same devoted presence and reverent care as a birthing family or newborn. I am dedicated to carrying forward the transformative legacy of the Forest as a sacred gathering place where people of all nations and genders can come together to play, pray, and restore.

My deepest dream is to help subsidize my own birth work, as well as the work of other Indigenous midwives, through the Forest so that birthing families can receive peaceful, safe midwifery care regardless of economic circumstance.