Natalia Rivera Banuet / The SWC Sun
ANCESTRAL WISDOM—Jessica “Corazon Yahuitl” Flores Rocha blends ancestral herbalism with modern treatments in healing spaces.
Jessica Flores Rocha is a third generation healer. The San Diego native is an energy healer specializing in mexica practice & ancestral medicina. Rocha’s lineage is Rarámuri (meaning the people) or Taramuri (the mountain people).
“I remember being seventeen and wearing my first rebozo (a long handwoven shawl) for the first time and people telling me I look like a señora.” Rocha said “But it just felt very natural… My grandma wore one all the time, and even my grandpa (being a man), rebozo aren’t for men but my grandpa always wore it like a bufanda (scarf), and he wore the same style my grandma would.”
Rocha heals people with multiple approaches through reiki (mind-body-spirit practice), chakra alignment (7 energy centers in our body), sound healing, and tarot card readings.
Rocha has always worn her Mexican heritage on her sleeves. Sometimes literally. She remembers running around San Diego wearing baggy jeans and Mexican shirts – the kind with flowery embroidery near the top. People would often ask if she worked at Old Town.
“You didn’t see that on the streets,” she recalled “You saw it as a costume, or you saw it as a work uniform in the work industry.”
Jessica Xochitl Dominguez is a licensed marriage & family therapist (also councilmember of Institute of Chicana/o/x Psychology and Community Wellness). She met Jessica Flores, her tocaya (someone who shares the same name) in March 2023, both participating in a retreat in Mexico City.
“What I like about working with Jessica Flores is that it’s very seamless because we have the same conocimiento (knowledge) about how we move in the spiritual world, how we want to show up in a good way,” Dominguez said “Even though our backgrounds are very, very different, we’re like a venn diagram that has a lot of overlap than there is, you know, differences.”
Rocha and Dominguez created Mi Yolotzin, Mi Corazoncito based on their various healing methods, knowledge and support en comunidad (in community) through retreats.
On April 12, Mujeres Brew House located in Barrio Logan organizes an quarterly Limpia (cleansing) Event gathering local healers and vendors, hosted by Gaby Garcia curator of Lone Labs, Tribute Nights, and Children Entrepreneur Markets. The alleyway of the Brew House with azteca dancers and walking along the tents with different variations of healers and filled with smoked-herbal scent.
“I went through a really really dark time and I needed help, spiritual help, mental help and I didn’t seem to find that in our community,” Garcia said. “So then I had in mind or a vision where I can put like-minded individuals in one place.”
Garcia met Flores through social media and has been participating in the Limpia event for 5 years; doing reiki and limpias for individuals.
“To be honest, I handpicked everyone by energy,” she said. “I look at their profiles and if that energy is there, I can’t really explain it… Because it’s my responsibility to handpick everyone here, we are here trying to help people heal or be with them in their healing journey and that’s very private and important that I pick the right ones.”
“I still see myself that way when it comes to being in the mexica community. I’m that person that steps forward because I’m curious, but then I’m also that person that I’m not going to falsely commit” Rocha said.
