what is kambo like?
2020. Whenever I went to post about my journey with Kambo this year, I would question myself, 'Why am I sharing something so personal with the public? What will people think of me.' Stepping into healing work that isn't quite fully understood by the rational mind has been a journey. Trusting myself and remembering the magic and transformational alchemy it has culminated in my life keeps me sharing. Kambo is not a comfortable experience, but in my eyes is just as prevailing in its ability to release somatic trauma held in the body as ayahuasca. All of this while kambo is not as long-lasting of an experience or quite as dangerous for someone with an innumerable weight of traumatic experiences. I know firsthand that, without the proper preparation, personal tools, and space holders, just how dangerous ayahuasca can be in regenerating and sometimes amplifying a traumatic experience. I have witnessed this in a friend where the nervous system froze up, entering protection mode and creating more stress, anxiety, and pain held within the body. My relationship and ancestral Kambo clearings brought awareness to a story that has played out many times in my life and what feels like going back much further into our human bloodline. Our culture glorifies self-sacrifice as the ultimate form of love. I have witnessed myself playing out this pattern in my life, giving my time and energy over to people not able to fully receive or reciprocate my love (at least in the way I perceive and prefer love to look and feel). Leaving me feeling drained, resentful, unhappy, feeling a victim, not emotionally connected in the relationships I engaged in, and sometimes both parties becoming abusive. Conclusively, the message reiterated that God, spirit, and the universe ultimately want us to love ourselves first. That is not an act of selfishness but a mandatory step for our journey forward. The post includes pictures of the burns created on the arm (or leg, usually for women) when administering Kambo. Also included in the photos is a pachamandala prayer to spirit for clarity in guiding my energy to where it belongs in my work and life, to where it will be reciprocated or, most notably, received in its fullness. For me, the act of reciprocity is the ultimate teaching of Pachamama. She teaches me to tap into my body and intuition in knowing when and where my precious time should go.
A link to a description of ayahuasca is here.. https://www.sanahata.com/post/ayahuasa
What is Kambo? Kambo is a healing ritual used mainly in South America. I named it after the poisonous secretions of the giant monkey frog, Phyllomedusa bicolor. The frog secretes the substance as a defense mechanism to kill or subdue animals that try to eat it. What do people use kambo for? Indigenous people have used kambo for centuries to heal and cleanse the body by strengthening its natural defenses and warding off bad luck. People believe it increases stamina and hunting skills. These days shamans and naturopathic practitioners still use it for cleansing the body of toxins, as well as treating numerous health conditions like addiction, Alzheimer's disease, anxiety, cancer, chronic pain, depression, diabetes, hepatitis, HIV and AIDS, infections, infertility, rheumatism, and vascular conditions. Like many of the medicines I work with, they apply to many levels of healing, from the physical to the mental/emotional and the spiritual, more abstract energetic levels of healing. What does Kambo feel like? A Kambo ritual generally starts with drinking around 1 liter of water or cassava soup. Subsequently, the therapist or Kambo practitioner creates minor burns via a glowing timber, often around 3-5, traditionally at the ankle or upper arm. After scraping away the blistered skin, the secretion is applied to the wound, reaching the lymphatic system and quickly the bloodstream. The first symptoms reported are a rush of heat, redness of the face, and promptly emerging nausea and vomiting, dizziness, and edema, sometimes following within minutes.
