The walls are painted bright tropical teal and psychedelic murals of the ocean and sacred geometric shapes are the first things to greet you when you walk into Salt Lake City’s local water distribution store, Water & Wellness. The second thing to greet you is the sound of Ramon Flore’s cheery voice and his friendly smile and wave from behind the counter. But today, after 30 years, the only sign of Ramon is the mystical paintings he’s infused with healing intention, artwork in the shop that took him just over a year to complete. 

Water & Wellness shop owners, Alex and son Walter Hoggan, have considered Ramon an extended part of the family since before the shop opened in 1996. “I love Ramon to death and I’ve known him for over 25 years, all the way back to when my dad Alex first started the store,” Walter says. “He truly is one of a kind, and clearly he’s left quite an impression on a lot of people and customers . . .” 

Ramon had put in his notice at the shop, saying simply that it was time for him to help people in other ways, and just like that, he was gone, leaving a community full of people wondering, ‘Where on Earth is Water & Wellness’s Ramon?’

The Heartbeat of Water & Wellness 

Ramon Flores is a mysterious man — at least, that’s what the young men behind the register will tell you if you go asking about him. Walter also describes Ramon’s sudden appearance at the shop all those years ago as somewhat mysterious.

“Alex was amazed once Ramon got going,” says Walter. “Ramon became part of the family almost immediately.” Walter describes Ramon as “The heartbeat” of Water & Wellness, and he says Ramon did a little of everything at the shop, from LightFlowing, to painting, to teaching classes, educating, cashiering, and helping manage inventory. “But his real work was the loving, the hugging, the laughing, and the inspiring,” Walter says. “He was a grounding presence for everyone who walked through our doors.”

After emailing the shop owners, I was able to pass my phone number along to Ramon, crossing my fingers he’d be up for an interview, as so many people before were curious as to where he had gone. A couple days later, I was thrilled to see my phone light up with a text from the mystical and mysterious Ramon. During our conversation over the phone, I was fascinated to learn that for more than three decades at the shop, Ramon practiced a holistic form of healing he called “LightFlowing.” Ramon says LightFlowing can be compared to Reiki healing, but it’s really just a form of energy work he does by talking to a person’s light. 

“I talk to the light, because light is — it’s everywhere,” Ramon explained. “That’s why you are called a human, right? Because hue means the color of your light and man means manifested, so it is the color of your light in manifested form, and you are continually changing it, varying it, and creating different aspects of your life every instant by what you are focusing on, and that’s how you change everything in your life. You alter anything in your life by how you perceive yourself.” Ramon says anyone can talk to the light if they just remember to be still. “The kingdom of God is within you,” Flores says. “First, go within, because everything is within you — all knowledge.” 

How to Talk to Trees and Telepathy with Dolphins 

Before coming to America, on the white sandy beaches and in the dense jungles of South-Central Mexico, Ramon would teach his students how to communicate with the light and with nature. “I would always talk to the trees, talk to animals,” He says. “Your body is nature, so you are nature. You’re walking out there into yourself . . . Your soul, that’s cosmic, because that comes from the stars.” 

Ramon explained how to talk to trees, saying first that you ask permission to enter its energy field and let the tree know that you come in peace. “Then touch the tree and send it love, just send it love, and the tree will start sending love back to you. It’s a living, conscious being. Those trees can live 400-500 or 1000 years or more, and they’re alive. They’re conscious, and you can ask them for a healing, you can ask them for an answer to a question, or you can even ask them to send messages to others for you.”

Trees weren’t the only beings Flores would talk with, and he recalled times where he would send telepathic messages to marine life, including dolphins. “I would send them an image of myself standing where I want to meet them, and then I would go there with a bunch of friends and students.” He recalled how the dolphins would jump in the air, and the group would enjoy swimming in the ocean with them. 

Ramon says anyone can talk to trees, animals, light beings, or even telepathically to other humans. “Anytime you send your thoughts, people can see you.” 

The secret to life, according to Ramon, is to learn how powerful you are. “You have the power of the entire universe flowing through you in every word you speak, every feeling you have; you are creating it [your experience], especially if you believe it’s true. If you believe it’s true, it will manifest.”

30 Years of Friendship and Community

Ramon’s favorite part of his time at Water & Wellness was his interactions with the customers. “Because I could see myself in all of them,” Ramon says, pointing to the idea that each individual in your life serves as a mirror for something within you, and that it was important to recognize the divine in everyone. “They were all very kind, very loving, graceful people, every single one.” 

“Customers loved him beyond belief,” Walter says, emphasizing Ramon’s capacity to make so many people feel special, sending everyone who walked out the door smiling. His absence has definitely not gone unnoticed, and there’s actually a clipboard where people who are trying to get ahold of Ramon are leaving their names and numbers, and a handful of individuals were even looking to send him goodbye gifts.

“When I need a pick-me-up, that’s when I know it’s time to go get water,” Lavon Issacon said in a raving review of the shop. “I always feel better once I’ve gone in. The water is just the bonus! I love me some Ramon and Walter!” 

Long time customer Kae Sulpizio said in a statement about Ramon leaving, “I love and miss him there; he is a sweetheart.” She mentioned that Ramon always made sure she was taken care of without her ever asking. 

Michele Ermel has been coming to the shop since the place first opened, stating that as an 81 year old, the people at Water & Wellness would help her carry water out to her car and the extra mile has always touched her. “(Ramon) makes me feel cared about,” she says.

Wherever the Wind takes Him…  

“It’s weird having him gone,” Walter admitted. “We miss him dearly, but we feel his presence and the love he’s still sending our way.” Ramon believes deeply in those around him, and at the shop he encouraged everyone he came across to follow their dreams. “He was the lifeblood of the business and the true face of Water & Wellness, and his spirit lives on here.”

Leaving the shop after such a long time, Flores says he misses everyone. “But I know that we are all one, so it’s like me missing myself, right? But I love everybody there.”

Flores says he’s following his intuition and when asked where he is now, he just laughed and said, “I’m omnipresent, I’m present everywhere.”

Photos by Dung Hoang.