Jungle Medicine: Kambo

I am writing to share my most recent experience with the jungle medicine, Kambo. It is one of the most fierce purges I have ever experienced – with profound results to match. Kambo is a medicine made from the toxins of the skin of an Amazonian frog and the application itself is an initiation. Small holes are burned into your skin with a special stick and the venom is applied through the burn marks. You drink two full liters of water immediately before to ease the passage. The onset of sensations is immediate. Your heart starts to pound loudly in your chest. Your throat swells (but will not close). A pressure builds from the spine up into the head as intense nausea starts to set in. Sometimes your face even starts to swell up – making you look like a froggy human creature. Sometimes there is tingling in the hands and feet. You have a bucket in front of you for when the release finally comes – sometimes within a minute of application up to several minutes. You vomit violently into the bucket and it is common for it to be full of bile, toxins, mucous and whatever else that is better out than in. Sometimes you have a purge from the bowels as well – even better – both at the same time! The benefits are well worth the short amount of suffering and discomfort.

A great article with specifics and more scientific aspects:    http://www.heartoftheinitiate.com/files/Kambo-Scientific-Research-Healing-Treatments.pdf

I am inspired to share my experience because it was such a profound humbling and a reminder of how the plants (and frogs)  teach us about surrender. About embracing pain instead of trying to escape it. About truly and sincerely letting go of being in control.

It has been about 4 years since my first Kambo treatment and I felt called again to receive it about 3 weeks ago. I am going to post my photos of my purge so if you are squeemish – consider yourself forewarned 🙂

I was amazed at how much I struggled with resistance the first round of the three treatments. I received 3 points above my left ankle. Being a low-ish dose, it took a while for the purge to come and I immediately felt myself go into stubborn resistance to all the discomfort I was feeling. I saw my mind go into a repeating loop that said “I HATE THIS. I am NEVER doing this again. I am NOT going to finish all 3 rounds. I HATE this! This is horrible. I am never doing this again. I cant wait for it to be over. I hate this…….” and on and on. This resistance seemed to intensify all of the sensations and I was shocked at how difficult it was for me to shift into a place of willingness. As it all started to calm down, a wave of emotion washed over me and tears streamed down my face. I was reminded that this resistance was a very old protective mechanism. An ancient way of coping with overwhelm through shutting down, disconnecting from my body and feelings, going into my mind and bracing myself until its over. Feelings of compassion towards my younger self flooded me and I honored myself for being brave – and reminded myself that its safe to feel.

   (there is a tissue paper in this one)

The second treatment was by far the easiest and most enjoyable. I received 5 points on my right ankle. Instead of going into resistance when I felt the sensations coming on, I surrendered and just said “thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!” throughout the entire experience. It was a deep effortless purge and I felt anchored in the peace of acceptance and surrender. Tears began to stream down my face as I embraced the feelings of grace that were being woven through me and around me. I felt so grateful and empowered. I remind myself that I always have to choices: I can resist and suffer – or accept and be at peace. I can resist and suffer – or surrender and be transformed. Feelings of bliss remained for the rest of the experience.

   
The third treatment proved to be the most intense and difficult. Not because I went into resistance again but because I started experiencing all of the sensations of the medicine before the ceremony had even started. I woke up that morning feeling heavy and a little sick to my stomach. I remember going over excuses in my head and began plotting my escape. Luckily, I did not succeed in talking myself out of it. As I sat there drinking my water and preparing myself, I started shaking uncontrollably. I felt nauseas and even the tightening in my throat. I had to go to the bathroom 2 or 3 times before we even began. I struggled drinking all of the water I needed to because I felt like it was going to come right back up. I admit I began to feel anxious and wanted to intellectualize what was happening.. But soon enough was able to just trust in my body and in the medicine and that they both knew exactly what they were doing. I received 7 points on my left ankle. Immediately all of the usual sensations were intensified x10 it seemed, and no amount of surrendering was going to make it any easier. I was being WORKED. I was being taken to my limits and then pushed just over them. As we all came to, I noticed every person in the room was in the fetal position, equally as humbled as I was. Being our final of 3 sessions, it was a powerful note to end on.

   
What I am most excited about sharing is the EFFECTS that I am experiencing. The day after my last treatment I felt reborn. Full of energy and inspiration. My mind feels so much more calm and clear. My senses are heightened, and I notice a tangible desire to take better care of myself in all respects. I feel that it cleared stagnant energy that I have been holding onto for a couple of years now and I feel the inspiration to CREATE again. I also feel a renewed sense of motivation to do things like….. write in my blog and rewrite my website – and here is the first post in two years with a more current expression of myself in my bio and description of my work. I love results.  I look forward to seeing how I feel over the coming weeks.

If you feel called to receive this medicine I highly recommend Eran Fakir in Pisac. He holds beautiful space and I felt very safe and supported throughout the entire process. You can reach him at Fakir@protonmail.com

I also recommend Adrian Rivas (who is travelling now and Im not sure where) as I had my first experiences with him and trust him completely with advanced cases also. You can contact him on Facebook.

Thank you Kambo for your magical healing and thank you all for visiting my site and sharing in my life. Viva Kambo!

Meredith Shippam