– Why Ayahuasca & the Shipibo Medicine Path? –
– Integrated Healing for Depression, PTSD, and other Ailments & Traumas –
Despite great achievements in technology and the treatment of disease, modern Western medicine has been unable to develop an integrated approach to healing that covers all aspects of the life in a human being. The treatment of these essential aspects – that we call body, soul or spirit, and mind – has become separated. Thus the doctor watches over the body, the therapist is responsible for the mind, the priest is in charge of the spirit, and at best there is a minimal relationship or collaboration among them.
But when we speak of a human being… What do we see…? Every human being is a universe in itself, a unique private world with a single non-repeatable history. When this human being is exposed to disease, trauma, physical or emotional violence… etc, the whole being is affected and the three essential aspects are harmed by the experience. It is not possible to cure a person by treating only the physical symptoms – even in the absence of symptoms of mental stress it does not mean that the mind is unaffected.
When we drink Ayahuasca we experience a deep relationship with our essential states – spirit, mind and body – and of their relationship as an inseparable totality. And we come to an understanding of the connections between these aspects and how they are affected by positive and negative experiences.
For this reason Ayahuasca is capturing the attention of the whole world. And for the ancestral knowledge of Amazonian medicinal plants, and the millennia-old spiritual traditions that have afforded the Shamans a deep understanding of the human psyche, of compassion and empathy, and for the amazing transformational healings of body, mind and spirit achieved for thousands of people today.
Ayahuasca and Shipibo plant medicine represents a profoundly effective healing discipline. A medical tradition that harmoniously encompasses the three essential aspects of a human being is a great achievement that has taken thousands of years of evolutionary learning. And it is a learning that has no end.
– Ayahuasca Therapeutic Healing –
– The Treatment of Ailments and Traumas –
Ayahuasca, when administered correctly, has proven to be extremely effective and successful in treating a wide range of health concerns including:
- Depression, Anxiety and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
- Addictions, including of Alcohol and Drugs
- Eating Disorders such as Bulimia
- Parasitic Infections
- Certain types of Cancer
- Problems with Pregnancy and Fertility
- Other medical situations of high complexity
When the Shaman is connected with the energy or the spirit of the medicine of Ayahuasca, he acquires what we call “A Medicine Vision”. In this state of mind, he is able to “see" the energies in the body, spirit and mind of the patient.
With his Medicine Vision, and with additional information provided by the patient (often supplemented with medical reports), the Curandero will initiate an appropriate treatment including, if necessary, the prescription of plant medicine treatments as required.
Prescribed treatments may include dietas with medicinal plants, dietary restrictions, purgatives, sinus flush, flower and steam baths with different plants and other various forms of therapy. Read more about the Therapeutic Treatments at Caya Shobo.
At this point we must offer a cautionary comment – not all Shamans possess the same level of Medicine Vision. Even amongst the Shipibo Shamans, renowned for their advanced healing knowledge, there exist wide differences in level of knowledge and spiritual attainment.
At Caya Shobo we work with Shipibo Onánya Maestros and Maestras who have progressed to a high level of Medicine Vision and knowledge, and who hold an exemplary ethic for healing and teaching in the way of the light.
Read more about the Shipibo People and their ancient Healing Traditions. Caya Shobo a key emphasis of our offering is to help you make a direct connection with the teacher plant spirits for yourself. We want to help you understand the secrets of the Shipibo plant medicine tradition and enable you to work with the plants in a positive and beneficial way. With correct dieta knowledge and practice our wish is for you to truly know yourself and gradually develop mastery over your own healing and learning.
During Ayahuasca Ceremonies the Maestro or Curandero will also administer important healing treatments, through the singing or chanting of ‘Icaros’.
Icaros are songs or chants that embody the spiritual energy and healing knowledge of the shaman, as passed down by his ancestors and enhanced through his own dream vision learning while in Dieta with the Master Plants.
The Shipibo Tradition is also unique amongst shamanic traditions in that the Icaros are spontaneously crafted according to the Curandero’s Medicine Vision showing him the unique healing needs of the patient in that moment. In comparison with other traditions based more around learned melodies, the more expert (and demanding) approach of the Shipibo Tradition allows the Curanderos to work more deeply and precisely in the healing needs of each patient.
The Icaro is used as a tool to transmit the Curandero’s energy and knowledge to the patient for various healing purposes such as:
- clearing of impure energies;
- calling in of medicine plant and animal spirits;
- initiating, repairing and closing plant dietas for healing and learning;
- re-ordering, clarifying and opening the systems of the body and mind; and
- bringing love into the heart and strengthening and liberating the Spirit.
The efficacy of an Icaro depends largely on the level of dietary experience, discipline and ancestral learning of the Curandero.
At Caya Shobo, we hold a high standard for these qualities in the Shipibo Maestros and Maestras, and Curanderos and Curanderas invited to be a part of our team.
Psychological support is also an integral part of the healing process. The guidance to help you interpret and integrate such powerful healing experiences as Ayahuasca can deliver, holds similar importance as the actual process of healing. How we see, feel and think about such profoundly transformative experiences is critical to our ability to integrate their benefits into our day-to-day lives.
Our experienced facilitators are available to provide expert knowledge and counsel to support your healing journey while at the center and to provide guidance for your gradual adaptation to normal life upon returning home.
Read here for more information on Preparing for and Integrating Ayahuasca Healing at Caya Shobo.
A Note on the Pursuit of Shamanic Knowledge
At this point we offer an observation. Many people nowadays feel attracted to follow this path, and that is good. The world needs Healers. But most of the time those who desire to follow the call of the plants carry some confusion. For that is the culture of the West – an essential confusion with respect to the path of healing.
The fundamental notion of learning or advancement as introduced by the modern consumer market in the Western world is far from the reality of the discipline of Ayahuasca Shamanism. Part of this confusion is the idea that any benefit or accomplishment must be gained in a quick and easy way. Like, for example intensive Yoga or Meditation Courses, Lessons to Develop your Intellect in a Single Day, or How to Become a Spiritual Guide online with our 90-day course… etc.
This is not the case with Shamanism. On the path of learning the medicine of Ayahuasca, the initial step, as is always recommended by a good Maestro, is to “Heal Yourself First”.
This is not just a suggestion. Rather it is an essential condition in the initiation of an apprenticeship, as confirmed by thousands of years of practice, transmitted from Maestro to Maestro along ancient lineages, and carefully maintained and refined so that we today can enjoy the benefits of this knowledge for all of humanity today.
In practice this means rigorous discipline and purification of the body and the mind with years of Dietas, first with medicinal plants and then with Master plants that will guide the way of the apprentice.
For every student one of the more difficult challenges is the fight against the Ego. To recognize the presence of the Ego at each moment implies a permanent state of alertness and self awareness. Ambition can lead the Apprentice along a very bad path. This being a problem more generally widespread in Western students of Shamanism, but not so in the native students who have a culture more naturally attached to the community rather than to individuality.
There is a fundamental difference between what we want and what we really need.
At Caya Shobo we encourage you to remain open and, with humility, allow the medicine, the plants and the true Maestros to help us see what it is that we truly need.
Rafael was born into a family of Ayahuasca Curanderos in the Shipibo village of Santa Rosa de Dinamarca, 5 hours journey by riverboat to the south of Pucallpa. Growing up immersed in the world of Ayahuasca, he observed his parents and the men and women of his extended family always working in healing ceremonies and guiding plant dietas. At the age of 18, his curiosity to learn more about this path inspired him to open his first plant dieta, and he has since been learning and dieting with different master plants over the past 15 years.
Meeting Walter you immediately recognize his natural warmth and humility as a person, as well as his impressive capability as an experienced Onánya Maestro healer. His beautiful, lower toned voice and variety of melodic Icaros can transport you to a place of peace and reconciliation with your life’s experiences and your healing path. Walter is always solid in the middle of the storm.
Maestra Maricela is a highly experienced Shipiba Onánya curandera and Raomi herbalist. Born in the Alto Ucayali river village of Roya, south of Pucallpa, her father Nicolas Vardales is a well known Shipibo medicine man with a strong famileal lineage of medicine knowledge. At age 13, in receiving treatment for some serious health issues of her own, Maricela began to learn about the healing properties of Amazonian medicine plants. She continued dieting with different master plants until she started working with Ayahuasca in her early 30’s.
Immersed in the medicine world her entire life, Maestra Lucinda is the eldest daughter of renowned Shipibo Onánya Maestro Pascual Mahua Ochavano, born in the Shipibo village of Paoyhan or ‘Water of the Pearls’ located on the banks of the beautiful Ucayali river, north of Pucallpa. When she was a tiny infant of 4 months old her father opened her first learning dieta to bring her the advanced knowledge of the Noya Rao “Tree of light” of her ancestors.
Orlando also belongs to the famous family Mahua. His great-grandfather Manuel Mahua was renowned as one of the most powerful Onánya shaman in the entire history of the Shipibo tribe. Manuel’s daughter Manuela, grandmother to Orlando, is also a well – known living Onánya Maestra. Manuela brought up Orlando from early childhood and opened his first medicine plant dieta at age 7. 
Fernando Levi, also born in the village of Paoyhan, is the grandson of Pascual Mahua, and, like his father, his grandfather and many generations before him, Fernando has inherited the Shipibo name “Sani Piko” which means “The Great Medicine Men.” This legacy of ancestral knowledge and the discipline Fernando has brought to developing its power within himself is clearly evident in his Icaros, in his medicine and also in his extensive knowledge of master plant dieta for healing and learning.
Francisco (or Pancho) has been working with the Shipibo medicine path since his early 40’s, and is now in his late 60s.
As a teenager, Pablo felt the call of the medicine, but without access to knowledgeable teachers in his own family or community, he pursued his own learning path with Ayahuasca in the way of the ancient Shipibo Maestro Onánya – by entering the jungle alone and following the call of the plants in isolation dieta.