For a group travelling in Guatemala wanting to connect with Mayan spirituality the spiritual guides recommend an introduction of the Mayan Calendar, the 20 Nawales and each persons birth Nawal, before going into a ceremony. Since there are no general explanations done in a ceremony and a lot of it is in Tzutujil, the local Mayan language, it´s for outsiders often not that clear what´s going on. The Maya would say, don´t worry, listen with your heart.
When we work with groups I offer a 3 hours workshop for this introduction, where through different games and activities the participants get to know their birth Nawal, the basic structure of the Mayan Calendar and the meaning of a Mayan Ceremony. With this basic understanding of the Nawales one can get so much more out of a ceremony and might be able to listen with the heart, because the brain got it´s food, as Nana Feliciana expresses it.