what is kambo like?
2022. 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 perilous 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.
I decided to continue my relationship with Kambo to gain more insight and connection with this powerful medicine. I did another series of sessions a week for 8 weeks, a spring cleaning. I was born with awful vision in one eye, and at age 27, I developed an eye disease called Keratoconus in the other eye. I lost most of my sight within two years, which was incredibly scary. One of the most miraculous benefits I have received from Kambo was the magnificent improvement of vision in both eyes. This medicine has relieved me so much physical and emotional relief when I feel incredibly overwhelmed with life.
The spirit of the frog feels like an incredibly old and wise man. He has shown me that one of the most essential parts of growing and healing is learning to be comfortable with the most uncomfortable sensations and feelings that come with being human. He pushes me to my tipping point of pain and discomfort and then allows the most still and calm waters within to flow. I felt the frog's hurt and pain as the medicine was extracted from the frog's glands. I felt the spirit of the frog telling me not to feel bad for him that he chooses to endure pain and discomfort to pass down healing, and that is where healing truly comes full circle. To be able to give back what we have received in service.
The post includes pictures of the burns created on the arm (or leg, usually for women) when administering Kambo.
A link to a description of ayahuasca is here.. https://www.sanahata.com/post/ayahuasca.
What is Kambo?
Kambo is a healing ritual used mainly in South America. It's named 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. It was also believed to increase 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 of the face, sometimes following within minutes
