Shamanic retreat in Sachamama Ethnobotanical Garden: Dieting the plant teachers of the Peruvian Amazon Rainforest

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El Mundo Magico

Sachamama Ethnobotanical Garden

Allpa ayahuasca vine (Banisteriopsis sp.) embracing a chonta quiro tree (Diplotropis sp./A. Brack)

Dieting plantas maestras in Sachamama

What is the Shamanic Plant Diet?

The term "plant teachers diet" refers to the traditional training that one undertakes, in the Amazon, to become a shaman, a maestro. The concept of plants as teachers is of paramount importance in Amazonian shamanism. The actual dietary restrictions imposed by the "diet" are only an aspect - a conditio sine qua non - albeit an important one, of the training. The other reason why traditionally one may be required to do "la dieta" is healing, physical and emotional healing. These are the two essential - and parallel - avenues at the core of the experience with the plants: shamanic apprenticeship and healing. Anthropologist Luis Eduardo Luna thus reassume this concept:

"The plants which are used as plant-teachers have a double function. They may be used as medicinal plants for various illnesses, or as plant-teachers if they are used under the special conditions of diet and segregation."

Luis Eduardo Luna (Vegetalismo - Shamanism Among the Mestizo Population of the Peruvian Amazon - Acta Universitatis Stockholmiensis - 27, 1986:159)

The traditional apprenticeship

It is important to stress that the traditional apprenticeship may be a long commitment, that would require normally a minimum of three months of "plant diet", in the jungle. Icaros - the magical songs that the plant spirits teach to the apprentice - may be received at the end of an even longer period of diet, which may last up to six months. Thus, for a full and complete shamanic apprenticeship, done the traditional way, one should consider a plant diet between three and six months, up to one year and more. There are indigenous and mestizo maestros who routinely advance their knowledge, retiring in the selva, and doing the plant diet, at any stage of their training, whether novices or expert vegetalistas, young or old. Since in Amazonian shamanism the plant is the teacher, the larger the number of plants one diets with, the more advanced and comprehensive one's knowledge becomes.

In any case, no matter what your main drive is, curiosity mustn't be at the core of the reasons for doing this experience. Serious motivation and an "unbending intent", yes! A deep magnetic attraction for plants and the rainforest, an inner resonance with the shamanic path and/or a specific need for healing, should be at the core of your desire for following the plant-teachers diet.

Thus Luna describes the process of the plant diet for healing:

"The idea of following a particular diet is seen as a sine qua non both for becoming a vegetalista - i.e. for acquiring wisdom and strength - and for restoring one's health. Only by purifying oneself by following the diet is one able to contact the spirit world, learn from the plants, and regain physical health. All vegetalistas insist that following the diet is the way of wisdom. They all say that while they followed their diets their minds worked differently, they could observe and memorize more easily, even their bodies changed their smell, allowing them to study nature in a more direct way, and they had lucid dream, in which the process of learning continued. They all stressed that they did not become weak from this diet. Quite the opposite, although they lost weight, their bodies became stronger and were able to stand the difficult conditions of life in the forest and the diet prevented them from becoming ill. [...] The diet is seen as a natural way of restoring balance, because it helps to expel the pathogenic spirits or substance by allowing the person to be open to the action of beneficial plant and animal spirits. Several times during my field work I heard stories of people who told me that during the period they were following the diet, either in their dreams or in the visions elicited by by ayahuasca or other plant-teachers, an old man or woman coming to take away the illness in various ways, either symbolically, by sweeping their bodies with a broom, or by operating on them like a Western doctor. Such a dream would mean that curing was imminent."

Luis Eduardo Luna (Ibidem:160-161)

The intrinsic value of the plant diet retreat as a inner and sacred journey in the wilderness

Alongside the two main traditional avenues of healing and shamanic apprenticeship, we may envisage a third opening worth to explore for the plant diet retreat: an inner and sacred journey in the wilderness. In the proliferation of shamanic journeys openings in the modern world, the "teacher plants diet" is a unique experience that may offer you a revolutionary potential of deep transformation and perceptual shift, of a different understanding of the world and of yourself. The teacher plants open the gates of perception, but in order for that to happen one's intentions should be pure and strong, as preliminary condition of success. The settings where this may take place are unusual ones.

The "don Juan" of Carlos Castañeda spoke of "stopping the world", of practicing the art of "not doing", to interrupt the flux of habits and consolidated ideas that we have about the world, very much a like a Daoist "not doing". An "interruption" of the world as we know it, that is - an interruption of the normal way of living and relating with the world - is what Saints, Sages, Yogis and Prophets of all ages did, retiring in the wilderness to find themselves and open to the Spirit, cultivating their inner essence away from the rumours of civilization. Even Huang-Ti, the mythical Yellow Emperor who ruled the four corners of the world, took refuge for several months on a mountain, to find himself! Fasting, celibacy and isolation in the wilderness were the conditions where revelations took place and illuminations were received, for thousands of years, worldwide. Without going too far in cultural parallels, think at Jesus and his forty days spent alone in the desert!

How long should last the plant-teachers diet?

This depend on how much time you have available, on your main drive for you to diet the plants - e.g. shamanic apprenticeship, healing or "vision quest". Ideally, each plant should be 'dieted' for a full four week-period (at times, even five to six weeks, depending on the plant, on the maestro, and the purpose of the diet). That is how, in fact, the traditional 'plant diet' of curanderos and shamans in the Peruvian Amazon is done. This, however, may pose to most western people more than a problem, since they would be required to undertake a full apprenticeship of one year and more in length (see also the traditional plant diet as done in Onanyan Shobo).

A more flexible approach has been devised in Sachamama for those wishing to experience the 'diet' without the rigid commitments that the traditional 'plant diet' would pose. Having said that, you shouldn't underestimate the demands that this training has in its actual form. A shamanic plant diet worth its name shouldn't be less than three months in length, to be effective. On the other hand, you may always retain the "Amazonian vision quest" value of the experience, even joining for a lesser period. Many people doing a diet for just six weeks have also undergone profound perceptual changes.

A good insight into the plant world, and at the same time enough for creating the conditions of an inner change may vary from six weeks up to twelve weeks, depending on individual reactions and responses. Three to six months and over (up to one year) is the recommended period to those motivated by a firm commitment in learning shamanism, who also have the time to dedicate to a deeply transformative experience.

"Everything is connected and by virtue of this connection we are related to trees and spirits. To know about the spirit world we need the plants. By 'drinking' the plants we can see and get to know the spirit world. Man can have access to every realm, and thus, in this fashion, curanderos have discovered the arkanas. Every curandero has his own way and his own idiom, the icaros, and every plant has its own icaro, too. Therefore the icaro is essential for talking to each plant."

Francisco Montes Shuña

On the shamanic side of things, the standard and traditional "release-time" for receiving icaros - the essential "working tools" of every vegetalista - comes usually with a six months of plant-teacher diet. However, in Sachamama we have had the special and extremely rare case of a dietera particularly gifted, who was blessed by the plant spirits in a span of time of only three weeks, after which she received her own icaros... to the amazement of don Francisco! This remains, however, an exception to the rule. Set aside shamanic apprenticeship and healing - for which long commitments are required - the intrinsic value of the plant diet is that of an inner journey of self-discovery, of a vision quest in the amazing environment of the Amazon Rainforest. This is one aspect of the plant diet: a retreat in the wilderness in search of the inner self. This value is intrinsic to the experience, and may paradoxically be even independent from the actual shamanic training side - which is and remain, however - the main reason for which one should be doing it. You will learn about the plants, the way the shamans of the Amazon do! Worth to take note of, there are shamans who diet the plants throughout their entire life!! It is possible to diet the plants in Sachamama for up to one year in a row.

What's the main difference between the plant-teachers diet and a normal ayahuasca retreat?

The difference between the "plant diet" and a normal retreat is the special settings and conditions where the first takes place, in the Amazon Rainforest, where the shamanic teachings are received under the guidance of the maestro, whilst fasting, observing special dietary restrictions and been in a relatively more wild and undisturbed reserved area of the centre. The main difference is in the intensity and the unicity of the experience. The plant diet has a potential of transformation of one's life that the normal retreat may not have!

Although people on a plant diet regime are not strictly required to live in isolation in Sachamama, you should consider this to be of benefit to your experience, to an extent that you yourself will decide how much to expand or contract, accordingly to your individual needs and limits. Dieteros participate in visionary painting classes, for instance, and are encouraged to use the workshop area - in the main centre of Sachamama - to experiment with natural plant dyes and colours, to paint their visions. The area where the dieteros stay is exclusively reserved for them and off-limits to other people not doing the diet. The different tambos where the dieteros stay are all set apart, more plunged into the jungle, and secluded from the main area of the centre. Whilst dieteros may interact with other visitors, they may not enter in physical contact with them (e.g. must avoid kisses, hand-shaking, hugs, etc.) to avoid unbalancing energies. At some point in their apprenticeship, they usually help the shaman in the curación, during the healing sessions with ayahuasca. You must be willing to smoke mapacho (although not necessarily to inhale it) in order to be accepted as a dietero. Other restrictions apply.

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