The Medicine of the People

in #travel7 years ago

I hold plant medicine very dear to my heart and highly recommend it to anyone searching to understand themselves better. In that sense, I do not want to deter anyone away from giving it a go due to the thought of being isolated.

I recently had the pleasure of talking to a dear friend of mine who I met in Peru. She had read one of my articles and gave me some much needed advice about the way I write about isolation on a plant diet. I write from my perspective of things, but that doesn't necessarily cover the whole picture. With that being said, I want to make a few things clear about isolation and plant diets.

What is a plant diet?

A plant diet is an incredible experience where you cut salt and sugar out of your diet and connect to a specific master plant. I've dieted three different plants, and they all have something different to teach. My first plant diet was with a tree who taught me about addiction and how I could eliminate it out of my life through finding my inner power. On my last plant diet, I connected with two plants at the same time. One shined light on my dark areas and showed me where and how lusting over men and obsessive compulsive patters came to fruition. The other plant taught me about the true love and compassion I held within my heart. Each plant diet is different for everyone. I have found that the plant mirrors your inner self, your true self, your true potential and will challenge you to face your shadow self so you are able to eliminated it and become an even better version of yourself.

On plant diets, no matter how long, it's best to keep to yourself so you can give whatever plant you are dieting time to connect with you. This is called isolation and can be hard, but it's well worth it.

Here are some of the things I want to clarify about isolation.

Isolation does not mean you are far from civilization

If you decide to do a plant diet, you are placed in a little hut called a "tambo" (just on the edge of where the retreat meets the jungle) or in a suit closer to the center of the retreat (you have neighbors). You get to choose between the two. If you are doing a longer diet, it can be challenging being in the middle of the center. Some people end up moving to a tambo later in their diet for a deeper connection. The retreat that I go to has rainforest surrounding it, which really gives you the feel that you are out in the middle of the jungle because, well, you are. But at the same time, the kitchen is only a 2 or 3 minute walk from the jungle area.

The ayahuasca center has people you can talk to anytime

If you are going through something very personal, there are always people readily on hand to help you through it. If you need advice, there is always someone there. Two weeks into my process, I was getting a taste of energies I had never understood before, and it really shook me. One of the people who worked there put me at ease, explained what I was going through, and how I could help myself.

Also, there are meetings where you get together to talk about your experiences from the Ayahuasca ceremony that was held the night before. I didn't always go to the meetings because I was very sensitive to what others were talking about, but if I needed to talk to the shaman about something I was going through, I always had the option to go to these meetings, or ask to meet in private.

I noticed that the longer I was on diet, the harder it was to be around other people. Plant diets make you very sensitive to other people's emotions and energies, so this is why I decided to spend 98% of my time in isolation.

Sharing of your medicine

This is how I spent the other 2% of my time on my diet, and I very much enjoyed it.

During a plant diet, you drink Ayahuasca up to 4 times a week. People who do longer diets don't normally go to every ceremony. Personally, I loved going to as many ceremonies as I could despite the fact that I was physically pretty weak. You get together with a group of other individuals. For some, it's their first experience with Ayahuasca and plant medicine, others (like me) had been there for a long time.

Of course, after a life-changing experience, people want to talk about it! This was by far one of my favorite times when I stuck around after ceremonies to listen to people sing, play music, and share their medicine with one another. The dear friend I mentioned at the beginning of this article would sing and read her poems. She'd dance around the maloka and have everyone rolling on the floor, almost in tears from laughing so hard.

On her last day at the center, she shared one of her medicine poems with me, and it touched my heart so deeply that I couldn't help but cry. It was one of the most beautiful poems I had ever heard. It was her medicine.

After ceremonies was a sacred time where we shared pieces of our souls we had only recently discovered. It made me realize how much the world needs love, and the beautiful possibilities that can come out of giving that love to one another.

Yes, a large portion of your time is spent in isolation on plant diets. But you are never really alone. You have your plants, and your medicine. You appreciate that hour after ceremonies laughing with one another and sharing your medicine. The bonds you make when you do plant diets with others is untouchable and unbreakable. The people I have bonded with through this process is unlike any other relationship I have ever had.

As I've stated numerous times, I definitely recommend plant medicine especially for my anarchist friends, because it shows us where the programming all began. From there, we are able to heal.

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Let the plant heal us.

its interested plant diet and plant medicine for me @maceytomlin

Sacred plant medicines are fast becoming my favorite subject to talk about. Steemit feels like the perfect place to open up about this. Thank you for paving the way, and braving this new territory with your sharing, sister.

Thank you for such a lovely reply @cabelindsay

I'm happy to know there are people interested in the topic :)

I discovered this amazing plant medicine a few years back, I've had some wild rides, from 10/10 to down right scary , and I don't scare easily :( Anyways, plucked up the courage to go again this coming Friday .. & seriously excited now. Been off alcohol for a full week which has been such a blessing ... hoping to break my habit once and for all.

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