as the world becomes increasingly homogenised by the reach of globalisation, a growing number of people across the globe are seeking a truth not yet diluted by corporations, and who believe western medicine has failed to treat their physical and mental ailments.

i spent a month with a group of these global citizens who are looking for answers to their problems deep in the Peruvian jungle.

This is what i found.

Many believe the world has become a sick place; that humans have fallen out of balance with natural rhythms and systems; that resources are being consumed far quicker than they can be replenished, that technology designed to bring us together has instead fostered segregation and isolation. Huge populations have become divorced from our impact on the world, big business has shielded us from the realities of how the clothes we wear, the products we use and the food we eat are really produced.

The World Health Organization estimates that 332 million people suffer from depression – around 4% of the world population.

This figure rises to 6.7% in the US, and carries an estimated cost of $210 billion each year. Someone, somewhere takes their own life every 43 seconds, with a global estimate cost in excess of $1 trillion .

Current treatments for depression are ineffective in 80% of patients,

even when success is said to be achieved if the symptoms have merely been numbed. Treatments for physical conditions often follow the same model: alleviating the symptoms rather than rooting out the cause.

The rise of opioid-based painkillers has led to an epidemic of addiction, abuse and overdose in most developed Western nations. The trend has been blamed on pharmaceutical companies’ thirst for ever-increasing profits. Two of the biggest government lobbying groups in the US – the American Pain Foundation and the American Pain Society – who successfully pushed for changes in the law to allow the widespread prescription of these drugs, have since shut down after media reports of how they were funded by major pharmaceutical companies.

New forms of treatment for both mental and physical pain has been steadily rising from the indigenous cultures of the world, and has gained momentum with westerners seeking alternative relief from the afflictions they suffer.

Indigenous treatments consist of a mix of psychoactive and non-psychoactive plant medicines taken in ceremonial settings. That this blend of science and spirituality, of plants and ritual, can succeed where modern western medicine has failed, has left many practitioners of established Western medicine mystified.

The Beckley Foundation, a US-based research group, has successfully treated psychological disorders such depression, anxiety, and PTSD using ayahuasca, an entheogenic brew made out of the Banisteriopsis caapi vine and other ingredients. They also found the traditional spiritual medicine was able to stimulate the birth of new neurons in the adult brain, a phenomenon previously thought impossible. This could open up the possibility of cures for brain damage, Alzheimer’s, dementia and Parkinson’s disease.

However the illegal nature of the substances in most Western nations is hindering research. Big Pharma is taking note, slowing the progress as it twists the arm of governments to help create a maze of red tape whilst simultaneously investing in patents surrounding the research as they look to protect their future profits.

On the trail of these old world treatments, I spent a month at a centre in the Peruvian jungle named Niwe Rao Xobo or ‘Flying Tree House’. My hosts were a Shipibo family of healers, who welcomed a group of westerners who had travelled across the globe to seek help from the family’s ancient traditions and medicine.

The Shipibo family I documented come from a long line of tribal healers and are regarded as among the pinnacle of Shipibo ‘Meastros’ or teachers. The family do working with the now familiar vision-inducing ayahuasca, otherwise known as ‘the Medicine’, but choose to focus most of their time on the lesser known Master Plant Dietas, which combines the use of ayahuasca with other so called Master Plants.

These Master Plant Dietas originate from an ancient right of passage taken by adolescent healers who were training to become Maestros. Often lasting months or even years, trainees would venture alone into the jungle in order to connect deeply with nature and receive messages from plant spirits.

The Shipibo believe plants are sentient beings that are able to communicate both with each other and if we are open to it, with us. Today’s westerners are guided by the Maestros who work with these plant spirits and are said to be able to realign energies within the body, enabling the healing of both physical and psychological conditions.

The Dietas are not to be taken lightly and are designed primarily for those who have previous experience with The Medicine and are seeking deeper healing. It’s a far cry from the casual use of other psychedelic drugs that many have experienced in the West, requiring a deep level of commitment and is more akin to a stay in a psychedelic intensive care unit than a holiday camp.

‘Pasajeros’, or passengers, are encouraged to stay in near isolation for much of their stay and adhere to an extremely restricted diet, not just during time with the family but also for around a month before and often months following the treatment. This enables a deep inward journey and connection to their chosen Master Plant. These restrictions, if adhered to correctly, are said to create a lifelong bond and ally with their plant as well create a powerful life reset.

Even though the science does back up this process to a certain extent, it requires a huge leap of faith to be able to suspend disbelief in these ancient rituals and dive head first into a world that most westerners know very little about.

THE EXPERIENCE

arriving into the city of Pucallpa; an hour or so flight (or 20 hour bus ride) inland from the Peruvian coastal capital of Lima, I quickly transfer to a nearby hotel where I’ll spend the night. The following morning I’ll make my way to the jungle which will become my home for the next month.

my emotions bounce around from total confidence and relaxation to being filled with self doubt and fear. Having previous experience with some mind expanding practices goes some- way to alleviating my anxiety but the thought of a month in near isolation in the jungle is a heavier weight on my mind, to go deeply inwards is often the most terrifying of ideas. That evening I meet some of the other Pasajero’s i’ll be sharing my adventure with as we talk over our last supper.

Talk turns to previous experience with The Medicine and the reasons we find ourselves here just a few days into the New Year, having had to abstain from the majority of the pleasures of the festive season in the preceding weeks in preparation for our upcoming occasion. The group is a mix of those with many years of experience, right down to first timers, Brian an i.t manager from London is apprehensive having never used any sorts of psychedelics before.

“I almost didn’t come here, even this morning I thought about running away, I’ve no idea what to expect!”

The next person I chat with is Sissel, a grandmother from Norway whose dazzling eyes and uplifting spirit immediately alleviates my fears and uncertainty with her tales of how her two previous Dietas have affected her life. Having previously suffered a total loss of childhood memory due to an unknown trauma, she found herself in a deep depression, the work with the family was able to heal the wounds and bring back the spark I can see so clearly.


“I have a childhood I don’t remember, which has impacted me a lot - not knowing why...I had a lot of trouble connecting inside, it was like I was living this life and just waiting for the end... After dieting everything has changed...I can really see how precious and magical this life is...It has a profound healing.”


The following day we head out in taxi’s that look as though they’ve done a couple of laps around a demotion derby track all becomes clear as we head off the paved roads and onto the winding boggy clay tracks that will take us into the jungle. The roads narrow and become more water logged as we make our way deeper, our driver gracefully slides around the corners as the wheels spin through the mud.

Eventually word comes through that the road that takes us all the way to the centre is impassable due to the rain the previous night. We detour to an alternative entrance where we must walk the rest of the way through the jungle. As we come to a stop we’re greeted by the smiling faces of the family, a warm welcome of hugs and kisses ensues as they throw the giant rucksacks on the backs of their tiny framed bodies and dis- appear into the forest. The mood is jubilant as we head along the mosquito infested muddy track, with bright red birds of paradise flowers guiding the way as they glimmer against the lush green vegetation at the sides of the path.

As we walk I talk with twenty something Ignacia – a business executive from Chile who now bases herself in Copenhagen.


“I’ve been working with the family for a year and half...I wanted to go deeper in my work with the plants and that’s why I decided to do a Master Plant diet...it has been one of the most precious gifts I’ve had in my life... It’s an opportunity to realise our full potential...an adventure going back home to ourselves...Instead of having holidays now- I just come for a diet”

We arrive into camp and are quickly assigned our tambos – the small wooden structures where we’ll be spending much of our time over the following weeks. After a quick turn around we head to the Maloca – the large round ceremonial space that will house our Ayahuasca ceremonies.

Here we meet the family who will be our guides for the rest of our time. The family come from a long lineage of healers, originating from a Shipibo village deep in the Amazonian Jungle, for generations their family have been working with Amazonian plant medicines as a way to heal the sick in their community.

The Shipibo healing methods are shrouded in mystery, these ancient practices are not openly shared, protecting the wisdom that has been used in the Amazon for thousands of years.  What is clear, is that they do not view the physical, psychological, and spiritual as different entities. Healing is holistic, if a physical problem occurs -it is the bodies way of showing us that there is a misalignment within our energy, in part using these surface signals as a guide, they are able get to the root of the issue, once this energy is realigned - the outward signs of our pain will cease to exist.

With us today we have six Maestro’s, these are the people we will be working with most closely. They have all completed long isolated plant Dieta’s in their training to become Maestro’s, with these Dieta’s often lasting years at a time. It’s the sort of dedication and commitment that is seldom seen in today’s world.

Maetra Ynes is the matriarch of the family, having recently celebrated her Seventieth birthday, she now has fifty-five years of deep work with the plant spirits. All the Maetros began training at a young age, Maestro Jose- Ynes’s son started his journey at the age of seven, completing a one year Dieta by the time he was ten.

We also meet Ynes’s cousin Isais, and her daughters, Laura and Lila, together with Lila’s Partner Damian. They all exude a humble confidence, their joyful spirits are clear to see as they gently giggle between each other.

Maestro Jose acts as the voice of the family, translating into Spanish the Shipibo words of the others when necessary. He is the youngest Maestro of the family, living part of his time in the nearby Shipibo city of Pulcalpa, he understands the cross over of where these ancient traditions meet the needs of today’s Western problems, his speech is always in simple visual metaphors.

“In modern life we have manicures, we do our hair, we wear nice clothes, but we have not cleaned the inside, we clean the outside but not the inside, we’re still dirty on the inside”

With his words hanging in the air we each introduce ourselves and talk further about our intensions for the Dieta – the reasons that bring us here vary greatly, from physical healing to depression, grief, loss of direction in life and issues of past trauma.

next we meet Sophia, although young in years she has a lot of experience with working with The Medicine within different indigenous cultures, having found herself growing up in various cities around the world she felt drawn to work with the family to help guide her future direction.

“I have worked with Plant medicines for many years and the experiences have radically shifted my life, guided my growth and taught me many lessons. I was inspired to come to Niwe Rao for a Dieta because I knew my medicine work was leading me down a new path, though I wasn’t sure what that would be.”

Frederick is a slim bespectacled young man from Denmark, having already been at the centre for a month prior to the rest of us arriving, he is fully in the process and already is showing the weight loss that the restricted food of the Dieta creates. Seeking answers to his long term depression and disconnection in the world he decided to come to the family for a deep healing process that will last a total of ten weeks.

“The reason I came here was because I wanted to changed my life, I’ve been dealing for many years with depression and loneliness and disconnection, these are the things that I’ve been finding here, I wouldn’t say it’s been easy but it’s been worth it.

The group continues with the introductions, each one as deeply personal the last. Bridget is a young Californian girl with a bright spirit, as she explains her reasons for being with us tears begin to well in the eyes of others around the circle.

“My intension is to deeper integrate and understand the time with my daughter, about two and half months ago I became a mother, and after five days my baby passed away”

Messages of support continue, the openness and vulnerability people show is already bringing the group together. Maestro Jose’s words aim to cement this togetherness, likening our journey to that of a football game. 

“Everyone in the group must work as a team, for each of us to succeed we must all succeed.” 

He simultaneously offers us words of encouragement and warning, we must be prepared for the journey ahead. The plants and the Maestros are there to teach us but cannot do the work for us, only we can learn the lessons that are on offer. We are told of the process to come, warned of it’s ups and downs, the joys and the challenges we will face and that all this is to be expected. He reminds us that we must give in to the process, to let go of our preconceived ideas of the world and to have faith in the plants and trust in the Maestros, to open ourselves up to what is possible.

“The process is a rollercoaster, the mind can create war or it can create paradise, it can create conflict or it can create peace”

Tomorrow we will find out for ourselves when our first ceremony takes place.

My first morning in camp begins with the aptly titled Vomitivo- a process to cleanse the system from the energies of the outside world. We are asked to drink a large bowl of lemongrass water, following this we drink bowl after bowl of warm water until our body begins to reject it and our gag reflex kicks in, at which point rather than stop the drinking, more water is forced down until giant streams are shot out in projectiles around the surrounding grass. The Maestros come around as we struggle to force yet more water down, massaging our stomachs and cheerily offering encouragement, the fun continues until each of us has managed to eject the stretched contents off our watery stomach three times over. Looking around at my fellow watery eyed Pasajeros, I feel the bond between us growing. I drag myself back to my tambo not quite knowing what just happened.

Much of the day is spent alone, time in isolation is encouraged, undistracted by outside influences, we are able to calm the mind and open ourselves up to the inward journey. Simple creative endeavours are encouraged, some choose to draw, paint, write or play music. Not only will these pursuits help to reconnect us with our inner selves but are also said to help connection with the plants.

The buzzing vibration of a singing bowl rings out to call us to the next ceremony, thankfully this is a much nicer sounding occasion- the flower bath. Flower baths are used prior to ceremony to help purify our energy and to attract the plant spirits during it. The bath is made from a mixture of flowers freshly picked by the family that morning and Agua Florida – a commercially available cologne widely adopted by south American Shamans for it’s cleaning properties, the mixture is diluted with water in giant colourful troughs which the Maestros bathe us in from head to toe. With the heady smell surrounding us and petals stuck to our skin, we dry in the heat of the sun, in quiet contemplation of the evening ahead.

Having had time to relax and reflect on what is to come, the walk to the Maloca for first ceremony is a serene one, the underlying excitement and nervousness still swirls within me, but the edges are softened and smoothed as if a blanket of snow had been laid over them.

The Moloca is a large circular construction, the beds for each Pasajero have been arranged around the edge, with the space the Maestros in the middle. Dimly lit by candlelight I tiptoe to my bed and relax in preparation. An Hour or so later the Maestros begin to trickle in, making their way to their central places, the sounds of matches sparking into life punctuate the silence as the Maestros light their pipes, puffing great plumes of Mapacho smoke into the air. Mapacho is traditional unprocessed tobacco and is regarded as a sacred master plant itself, it is widely used in Shipibo culture, helping protect the space and to clear unwanted energies, it is also used as an offering to the plant spirits as they are said to be attracted to it.

The energy in the space is calm and still, the time has come for our first drink, one by one we make our way to Maestro Ynes. Sitting in front of her she looks at me and begins to pour the dark treacley liquid into a small wooden cup. Once finished she whispers into it and hands it over. I sit cup in hand thinking about my intension for the night ahead, asking the medicine to help heal my ailments and to show me what I must learn. As I throw back the large shot, the extremely earthy bitterness of The Medicine registers in my mouth, a taste that’s as hard to describe as it is to stomach. My mouth waters uncontrollably as I head back to my matt.  

The world begins to become ever more intense, until it builds into a rollercoaster of kaleidoscopic visions, flashing past at a hundred miles an hour, I feel my fear starting to rise and try hard to stay calm but the intensity is still building. I reach for my bucket, my body feels as though it is vibrating strongly and a deep murmur builds inside me, as I lean over, what feels like a torrent is ejected from my body, keeping in mind the fear that I was holding I imagine this as it falls into the plastic bucket in front of me, more purges come until I feel empty, a calm euphoria comes over me, I lay back on my bed smiling as I play back the messages I just received.  

The night continues walking through this foreign realm, I feel a distinct personality within The Medicine, as if talking to another entity, Ayahuasca is often referred to as The Mother, with many people claiming a deep connection and line of communication with ‘her’. It’s becomes harder to explain once experienced for yourself.

As the ceremony comes to a close songs begin to ring out from fellow Pasajeros around the Moloca, a lightness takes over from the seriousness of the previous hours, it is a beautiful moment to share, as I turn around I can see the silhouetted jungle canopy lit up again a blanket of piercing stars, the moment feels as magic as I’ve ever felt. I slip off into a deep sleep.

The following day we meet with the Meastro’s to discuss the next step in our journey. Ayahuasca ceremonies only make up a small part of the Master Plant Dieta. It is said that the use of Ayahuasca is present as a conduit to open up a connection between the Pasajero and their chosen Master Plant. These Master Plants are not directly psychoactive and are said to communicate in a far more subtle manner, with messages often coming in the form of dreams, thoughts or feelings. The reason for using these plants is for their incredible healing powers. These are the plants the Maestros have traditionally given to the sick, with the knowledge of their various healing properties being handed down through generations. There are nine Master Plants the family are offering us, they are each said to not only have differing healing properties but also personalities and teaching methods, which will show themselves through the process. Some are know to give strength, open up the heart, bring physical healing and a myriad of other benefits.

The Maestros will assign one Master Plant to each of us, this is done partly on what we have told them about our ailments and intensions and partly on what they have seen in ceremony the previous evening, as they sit comfortably slouching around each other their speech switches back and forth from Spanish to Shipibo as they discus the previous nights findings, their softly mutters words feel warm and comforting to my ears.

As they talk it’s hard not to try to imagine the world through their eyes, their view on how the world operates is very different from the one I have grown up with, more akin to cutting edge quantum physics than the mainstream materialistic view of life and death.

The energetic dimension we glimpsed the previous evening is a world they have grown up with, having one foot in this world at all times. The deep relationship they have with this other realm means not only are they able to view it as we had, but also navigate and control it, a matrix like world which underlies everything we hold real.

They’re keen not to open up their methods to us too much to us, but its clear from fragments of translated conversations that during ceremony that they are able to see us as energetic beings, to read our past misdemeanors, see our strengths and weaknesses, our lives past and present, as if we are a great book that they can flick through at will, finding the crumpled pages to be straightened back into place.

Over the following weeks the warnings of Maestro Jose come into focus, the process is filled with highs and lows, it’s far from a holiday for most of us, in group meetings we share our experiences, the visions that have brought forward our greatest hopes and fears, confronted us with the truth of our lives, the things we have done and the paths we have chosen.

The days contemplating in our tambos are punctuated by visits from the Maestro’s to perform blessings and healing treatments. The blessing come in the form of Soplars, a process where Icaros are whispered into their Mapacho laden pipes, before thick clouds of smokes are theatrically blown upon the energy centres of the body, including the head, hands and body, a technique that helps to clear unwanted energies, center the mind and provide protection for the process we’re within.  

As the days turn into weeks I slowly begin to submerge deeper into the process, letting go of the preconceived notions and beliefs I brought with me. I feel the connection growing between myself and the plants, whether rightly or wrongly the feeling of a two way conversation takes place, being able to see clearly the intelligence and personality of the plants.

Lessons are being taught not only inside ceremony but also throughout the days and nights, they come in the form of messages, dreams and mental tests, where emotions of fear and negativity must be replaced by feelings of calmness, forgiving, love and positivity. As Jose had warned us the battle takes place in our minds- the more we resist these challenges the harder they become, there is no way to run, we must just trust and give in, the more we struggle, the more suffer.