Cole Rehbein
Tomás Enos speaks to plants, plants speak to you, you speak to the natural universe now.
Allergy sufferers may cringe to hear it, but spring is my favorite season. Longer days, warmer temps, the rebirth of plant life, the return of the birds—and under it all, omnipresent in the wind, is an unshakeable sentiment of growth and change. Helping others come to terms with this seasonal sentiment is the work of Tomás Enos, who holds a doctorate in ethnobotany, at Milagro Herbs (1500 Fifth St., Ste. #6, 820-6321). He was eager to share his wisdom when I visited. Using only the things he's learned, his hands, and the plants around him, Enos brings clients into an integrated state of balance and gives them the guidance to maintain it.
What is an "integrated state of balance," and why is it so important to search for it in the springtime? "We are complete people—spiritual, emotional and physical," Enos says. These oft-used categories to describe the parts of our nature, however, can sometimes distract from a deeper truth—the fact that we come from the Earth, we evolve alongside it and are "hardwired into it," to borrow Enos' phrase.
If spring is a time of change and rebirth, then the quality of the season will be reflected within us. To create and maintain a solid ground for this change and growth is what we should attempt in the springtime; thus, Enos says, an "integrated state of balance" between our inner selves and the outer world. Spring cleaning is one aspect of how we ground ourselves during this season; the sinus filth that comes from allergies is an example of how the body becomes unbalanced. The knowledge we have about ourselves, and the words we use to convey it, must be grounded in the cycles and patterns of nature in order to create effective medicine. Enos achieves this grounding through his knowledge and use of plants and the seasons.
"In the 1980s, I was looking for a point in my life. … I wanted to see if I could make my way with just my knowledge, just what I had in here," he says, gesturing broadly towards his head. As an herbalist, Enos' extensive resume includes lecturing at the University of New Mexico, instructing in ethnobotany and herbal medicine and consultancy for numerous private and public organizations. He founded Milagro Herbs 28 years ago and has kept it growing since, with four other herbalists employed by the shop to maintain the hand-crafted and personal nature of his products.
Enos focuses on learning about the plants that are indigenous to this area and using them in his products. There is something he calls the "season of New Mexico," a unique quality that is created by the plants, the earth, the atmosphere and so forth. While it may be helpful in some cases to isolate certain active chemicals that plants create and to use plants that come from other continents, Enos asserts there is something incredibly important about having a complete, personal knowledge of the properties of local plants and their histories. The ancient art of curanderismo benefits from more than 10,000 years of knowledge tradition; "As long as there have been people in New Mexico, there has been curanderismo," Enos says. "It must be orally transmitted—there are few books." There are many layers to curanderismo, including knowledge from Indigenous Americans, Spanish settler-colonialists, Ayurvedic traditions and modern medicine.
The curandero provides healing not just with herbs, but also with knowledge and intention. Enos began realizing this purpose in the mid-'90s by offering sporadic classes, but everything came together in 2011. "The time was just right. There was increasing interest, and there's a big sector of society looking for natural remedies," Enos tells SFR. He began offering a complete, 250-hour "Foundations of Herbal Medicine" course that covers everything from identifying plants on the ground and their potential uses to preparing essential oils, creams and tinctures.
"It's community healing!" Enos says with enthusiasm. "When someone begins realizing that their lives are improved by the plants, then they share them with others, and soon the whole community will be more balanced than before."
In September, toward the end of the course, students display their preparations in the parking lot of Milagro, keeping the handmade, creative traditions of herbalism alive. (If you are interested in the course, the 2018 session begins on April 17; registration for the few remaining slots is available online at milagroherbs.com.)
Few tools are needed to do the curandero's work; perhaps the most complicated is an herb grinder or a distilling still for essential oils. There is an important and pure relationship between the knowledge in the mind and the work of the hands. The mind directs the hand to touch the earth directly, to pick from it and to share it for healing. For Enos, this is one of the most fundamental and dignified of human acts.
And for you allergy sufferers, here's some advice: To live with spring, we must recognize that there is wind, dryness and pollen blowing about. For balance, we ought to seek things that are calming, moistening and cleansing. The tastes of the season are bitter and sour, and the organ most at work is the cleansing liver. "Try some nettle. Try a dandelion and arugula salad," Enos advises. "Dandelions pop up in the spring for a reason; eat plenty of fresh vegetables and fruits that are coming into season." Fortifying the liver and immune system, you may notice your allergies lessening as you come into balance with the Earth.
