Roots and Bridges
coming in 2025!
A Weeklong Journey into Grassroots Healing, Acupuncture, and Cultural Solidarity in Guatemala
What to Expect
In a world plagued by trauma, inequality, and climate disruption, Crossroads Acupuncture and Qachuu Aloom / Mother Earth Association invite you to step into the work of barefoot grassroots healing in the America. You’ll have the chance to do your own healing, while walking with the everyday heros struggling for the dignity of their communities in the highlands of Guatemala.
This is a on-of-a-kind weeklong immersion of cultural exchange, clinical practice, and personal renewal.
Global Solidarity & indigenous Wisdom
You’ll build meaningful relationships with our Barefoot Health Promoters serving some of the most vulnerable groups in the Americas. You will dive deep into indigenous traditions of resilience, trauma-informed care, and nonviolence. If you want to learn how to cultivate sustainable grassroots health projects, apprentice with Crossroads, this immersion is for you.
Daily Practices for Embodied Healing
You’ll learn mind-body practices to support your personal healing journey. You’ll leave with simple, trauma-informed tools you can carry forward in your life and work.
to the roots of barefoot medicine in Guatemala
1978: A humanitarian doctor put needles in the hands of local Mayan youth in the Rio Negro area of Guatemala, and empowered them with the skill of applying basic acupuncture points. A few years later, death squads terrorized the country. Some people managed to escape and flee to the forest bringing their acupuncture equipment with them. Their farms were burned and their livestock killed, and for 3 years they were forced to survive on edible plants, small animals, and they took care of each other with the teeny tiny needles.
Our immersion program this year will trace the roots of the Barefoot movement in the Americas to the Rio Negro region, where you’ll get hear first hand about their heroic struggle and partner with them as they continue to aid survivors of the genocide.
How to apply
✅ A brief cover letter explaining why you’re interested in this work, and what you hope to contribute to our cohort of students and the communities we serve.
✅ Your current resume, including at least one professional reference.
✅ A copy of any licenses or certifications you hold as a health provider (if applicable).
who can join us
✅ Harm reduction, recovery, or community health workers (New Mexico-based or international)
✅ Nurses, doctors, acupuncturists
✅ Acupuncture/Acudetox educators and providers hands-on experience with Community Acupuncture and the NADA protocol
✅ Community organizers and social entrepreneurs working in trauma recovery or public health
✅ Students or practitioners seeking hands-on experience in grassroots and global health settings
Total cost with discount: $2000 if you register by July 10, 2025.
$2500 after July 11, 2025
Includes:
Lodging for 6 nights
Breakfast and Lunch for 7 days
Daily acupuncture, meditation, yoga, breathwork, and guided somatic release work
Transportation from the airport to the immersion sites
Clinical internship and apprenticing opportunities (Pending applicant qualifications and experience)
details on our program
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Build meaningful relationships with local indigenous leaders and fellow participants—grounded in mutual respect, learning, and solidarity.
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Train with Dr. Ryan Bemis in Acudetox and trauma-informed acupuncture as practiced in recovery centers, global health, refugee care and disaster relief settings. Educators welcome to gain real-world teaching experience at the grassroots level. You’ll also learn advanced auricular techniques, and how to do group based community acupuncture.
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Explore Somatic Release techniques, including TRE (Tension & Trauma Releasing Exercises), Qi Gong, and discover how to integrate them into community-based care as well as into private practice acupuncture and trauma therapy.
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Partner with indigenous community health workers supporting survivors of genocide and underserved populations in the Guatemalan Highlands. Learn from their stories, resilience, and ancestral healing practices.
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We’ll be tapping into our inner resilience with meditation, qi gong, breathwork, yoga, and acupuncture—for you to take with you on your personal healing while learning to also apply these tools in community healthcare settings.
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Explore the history of community-based acupuncture in Latin America, from its origins in the 1970s amidst civil war to its role today in global health. Meet the heroes in Guatemala who have carried this tradition forward—using acupuncture as a tool for survival, resilience, and grassroots empowerment. We will learn how they have—and how we can—use simple, accessible mind-body technologies to respond to violence and trauma in our world today.
“Offering acupuncture is like planting a seed of peace
Msr Rene Blanco, Vicar, Diocese of Cd Juarez, Mexico
"I used to just be a housewife. But now I am a health promoter. Now I can learn other things to improve on myself.
– Cecy, Barefoot Health Promoter, Cd Juarez, Mexico
Be a part of our vision for the world
Where people have the tools and capacity to care for themselves and for their own communities.
“Without solidarity, the noblest of achievements will be washed away.”
— Paul Farmer
building bridges of solidarity
Through shared stories and hands-on experience, you’ll gain a deeper understanding of how grassroots healing unfolds in communities responding to trauma, systemic violence, and historical injustice—and how you, too, can be part of this living legacy.
Barefoot acupuncture in the americas
Stories from our past projects
“Ryan Bemis and Crossroads Acupuncture offer an amazing auricular acupuncture course and NADA certification. The class was bilingual, which added greatly to the experience. Ryan’s presentation was evidence-based and highly engaging. I count this training as one of the best clinical experiences of my career. As a social worker, I gained deeper insights into cultural humility and strengths-based practice.”
— Suzanne Stern Brant, LCSW
about barefoot Acupuncture
The Barefoot Doctor movement offered care for millions of people in rural and underserved areas in Asia starting in the 1950’s, filling a need where urban-trained doctors would not work. The World Health Organization adopted this model and started similar community health training projects. Over the past 50 years, a variety of global health programs cultivated this model in addiction and recovery, refugee, and community health projects.
Our project grew out of Barefoot Doctor projects in the Americas, including the National Acupuncture Detoxification Association (NADA) and the Guatemalan Acupuncture and Medical Aid Project. Replicating these models of popular acupuncture education, we have designed and refined a core curriculum to replicate these models within global healthcare.
breaking down
barriers
to integrative healthcare
As a 501-3-c non-profit organization, Crossroads supports the growth of clinics for the homeless, for people with addictions and psychiatric problems. We also train nurses and counselors how to offer acu based care within jails, hospitals, recovery programs, refugee care, and disaster relief.