Plant Medicine & Daily Rituals with Mafer Bretón
Mafer Bretón is the creator and founder of Relato Nativo, an apothecary based in the mountains of Oaxaca, Mexico. We were lucky enough to use some of her beautiful goods in a recent photoshoot, and wanted to learn more about the person and the inspiration behind the products.
In her words …
Relato Nativo started as an exploration of medicinal plants and herbalism, for self-care and self-healing for me, my husband, and our four children.
The goal is to reconnect your body to the perfection of Nature and bring its benefits of beauty and well-being to your daily routine and self-care rituals. We seek to inspire you in the creation of these rituals and allow you to rediscover how your self-love is the medicine for this Earth and also discover deeper connections with your own unique beauty through the exploration of your own inner path and the use of our eternal best allies: the sacred plants.
Ritual is of the utmost importance in my daily life. Almost everything that I do, I like to do it from a place of consciousness around the aspects of ceremony and ritual, since I have been learning to appreciate the specialness of each act, each moment, each movement, each sound, and each aroma.
I do not do yoga from a disciplined practice, I do yoga with a focus of connection with my body. When I feel that I need to reconnect in a physical way with parts of my body, yoga really works. It centers me and balances me. It gives me a lot of peace and makes me feel good about my own body.
I have only recently begun practicing on The Ritual Rug and I really love it. I like that it has natural fibers that break from the traditional synthetic yoga mat mold. I love that I see the tradition of weaving of my people reflected in the weave of the mat and I think that practicing on it becomes more natural due to the vibration of the material.
Currently, I am inspired by the forest that surrounds me. Waking up every day among the tall trees and mist, the sun that shines on the land where I walk barefoot. My little tribe motivates me, my children fill my days with strength. Also my project Relato Nativo has been an engine for so much internal growth. My personal searches and discovering how to enjoy life have been very important to me in this last year.