SHIPIBO TRADITIONS

Below is a description of some of the healing techniques from the Shipibo tradition that are included as a part of all programs held at Lakshmi’s Flower of Life retreats.

Vomitivos: On the first morning you wake up at Lakshmi, you will participate in a vomitivo.  This technique is used by the Shipibo to cleanse the body, stomach and intestinal track prior to working with Ayahuasca.  The vomitivos are made purely with Herba Luisa (lemongrass) and consist of drinking a bowl of lemongrass water followed by several bowls of warm water until the body naturally regurgitates this back up.  (It doesn’t sound pleasant, but most people feel great and more clear after this is done 🙂

Flower Baths:  As a part of every program, each guest will receive a daily floral bath. These baths are made with medicinal plants and clear negative energy, as well as help to attract the plants to you in ceremony.  It is best to air dry after these baths and wait several hours before showering or bathing after this.

Cleansing with tobacco

Shipibo Shamans have used tobacco (mapacho) in rituals and sacred ceremonies for hundreds of years as a means of connecting with the Creator, Mother Earth, the Spirits and the Soul.
Tobacco is considered the most sacred of the indigenous medicinal plants and is used in all Ayahuasca and San Pedro ceremonies, as a means to connect with the Creator.
It is also used as an offering, to give thanks, for protection and to cleanse the physical body.
The Maestro will blow the smoke of the mapacho with a sacred pipe on each participant’s crown chakra, hands and around the body for guidance and protection.

Medicinal plants steam vapor bath

Medicinal plants can have beneficial effects when used in steam baths or in saunas. They provide a perfect place for calmly therapy. One of the main advantages of vapor bath therapy with medicinal plants prior every Ayahuasca ceremony is that the steam and the warm air can open up the pores, so the vegetable matters can easily be absorbed through our skin created a perfect balance for the mind .
Furthermore, steam baths can facilitate detoxification and breathing, which allows the inhalation of released essences of plants like eucalyptus, black and white patikina, achiote, ajosacha, catagua, ayahuma, toe, are the most effective plants that are easily available in the Peruvian Amazonian jungle.

Icaros: Icaros are the healing songs of the plants and the healers act as vessels for these songs to come through in ceremony.  The healers receive these songs directly from the plants during their dietas (when they are apprenticing, connecting and learning from the plants) and very often these songs can help to open up a person’s experience in working with Ayahuasca or induce a cleansing type of purging.  Each person will receive an icaro from every healer during each ceremony.