Healing with Iboga
My Journey with Plant Medicine Iboga
I arrived at the beautiful Costa Rica yoga spa March.22, a radiant full moon and readiness to awaken. I believe we are born to be nourished by the earth. Produce, herbs, roots that we can intuitively seek to ingest as nourishishment.
About 6 months ago I discovered Iboga; a root bark from Africa that has been used for thousands of years in the Bwiti culture for physical healing and spiritual growth. I often speak of the connection we have to “source” or life force energy. The fundamental line that runs through our spines supporting life. I felt a strong calling to try this plant medicine that is known to awaken this connection. The Costa Rica Yoga Spa (where I co-hosted a yoga retreat) offers the ceremony and it seemed to be a perfect fit. I did my research and I knew I wasn’t signing up for a walk in the park, there would be some difficult aspects to face as a part of the renewal process.
I came to place in my life where I would see a plateau in psychotherapy, people who struggle with depression, anxiety and addiction. Finding it hard to see a way out of the ego driven lifestyle we all face in some way. I was moving through a chapter in my life with some big decisions on the horizon and as peaceful as I can be as a yogini, I too felt I was in need of a greater shift.
This is what my Iboga ceremony did for me:
It allowed me to reconnect with something fundamental, fond memories with my mom when I was a young child warmed my heart like fuzzy blanket, I had to call her the next day and tell her how much I love and appreciate her. My grandmother appeared praying, covered in purple light, the insight was showing her healthy lifestyle, devotion to prayer and ability to surrender her burdens being her fountain of youth.
These among many other insights the plant showed me.
Approximately 70% of people will have these dream like images during the meditative experience.
Iboga created an opening for my heart to expand in some way it was closed before. There was clearly some emotional healing that needed to be done that no level of personal development or meditation was able to help.
On a physical level the Iboga treatment was challenging, it was to be expected. I felt very weak for 2 days after treatment and needed a lot of coconut water and rest. When I awoke after the third day it was like a re-birth. My heart felt so clear. I felt ready to love greater and fear less. My anxieties were diminished and I felt like I could relax on a deeper level. It felt as though the intelligence of the plant scanned through my body like a wave searching for any blockages to my ultimate existence. The discomfort I felt was simply the purging process of physical toxins and anything vibrating at a low energetic frequency.
There are many testimonials of Iboga healing and providing insights for heroin addicts among other chemical drugs with profound results. However it doesn’t mix well with western pharmaceuticals and there is a time period required to get off such drugs before taking Iboga. Other diseases Iboga has reported to heal are lupus, eliminating parasites, arthritis, parkinsons disease, depression among other things. I am writing this post to encourage anyone who sparks an interest to do some research into plant medicine and seek help it you feel exhausted of hope.
Iboga won’t erase all things negative in your life but it will physically cleanse you and reconnect you with source energy. It will re-awaken your cells to their brilliance. It is the start of creating a new memory in your system that will awaken love and life-force that may be blocked within you. The insights Iboga can provide come from your higher self. Your most vibrant form of consciousness.
The insights are meant to be remembered as tools to guide you back into an amazing life. It is our choice in life to move forward or stay stuck in unhappiness. Life will always throw shit at you, the path is riddled with obstacles and experiences to try to throw you off course. The journey of living with spirit is one of least resistance. It is about taking every negative bit of manure in your life and using it as rich fertilizer for your most abundant expression of blossom and harvest.
You deserve to live a vibrant life filled with joy!
The practice now is to take the insights that I gained from my experience and put them into practice. I believe with greater conviction that the things I am drawn to that make my heart sing will create an abundant life. My greatest blockage is doubting the intelligence of life. Abundance, love, well being all exist as a wellspring within myself just waiting to overflow. It is the blockages that need to be healed and addressed so we can flow. You can’t heal or change what you don’t acknowledge and we can use the energy of our blockages as fuel to grow and experience new horizons of being. I believe each of our paths is unique.
More compassion for each other and less judgment is required.
Trusting our intuitive guidance from within. The guidance of source energy. The same intelligence that allows trees to take root and exchange carbon dioxide into oxygen so we can breathe freely.
The magic I speak of isn’t some airy fairy made up idea. It is the great mystery of life that we are gaining a greater understanding of in modern science. In fact, the more we discover scientifically, the more we realize the inevitability of change and evolution. The mathematic and scientific discoveries compared to the fundamental messages of most religions begin to merge on a deeper metaphoric level and can lead to a greater understanding of what it means to lead a fulfilling life.
I believe with conviction that we are all connected in this great web of love consciousness or life force. It is the denial of this energy and disconnect from the earth and each other that creates a low vibration frequency for disease to manifest.
We can rest easy in the knowingness of divine order, trusting we are all taken care of from the moment we are born to the days we take our last breath.
The greatest gift this trip has given me is one of tribal love, the human family and seeing past our division into a compassionate and accepting place where we can be at ease.
We must each be our own pillars of strength and conviction in spirit. It is a beautiful dance of connectivity like a giant human garden of humanity with endless variety of flowers and weeds, barks and medicinal plants. Each different and uniquely integral to the healthy functioning of the whole.
I am now approaching the final days of my yoga retreat with “Returning Home”. The Costa Rica Yoga Spa is truly a sanctuary for healing and transformation. The permaculture gardens have been nourishing for our bodies, we sweat out our toxins and set intentions in the sweat lodge and enjoyed lots of free time for the beach, surfing or napping in a hammock. Our retreaters are having a blast and we are facilitating the expanding of heart chakras, widening our circle to include beauties from around the world. Today we saw a special older man they call the witch doctor, he is a great healer here. So humble, jolly and lives a simple life. The Santa Clause of Costa Rica perhaps!
Sending Love from Costa Rica,
Pura Vida!
Juliana
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