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Ábrete Corazón - February 2020
The "ikaro" is the song or melody used by healers during ritual works, especially during ayahuasca ceremonies. The ikaros are key elements of traditional Amazonian medicine and represent the essential means for transmitting wisdom and healing knowledge. In this interview Dr. Rosa Giove, co-founder and responsible for the biomedical monitoring of the Takiwasi Center, tells us about the origin of the ikaros she sings, what is their role and what is the message of Ábrete Corazón, her most famous ikaro.
Author : Gary Saucedo, Fabio Friso
Audio : Spanish
Subtitle : English, Français, Italiano
Ayahuasca: political, legal and health concerns - December 2019
Lecture given by Manuel Almendro, PhD in psychology, clinical psychologist, founder of the Oxígeme Process, held on November 13, 2019 in the auditorium of the Takiwasi Center, Tarapoto, Peru. Starting from some themes presented in his latest book “The labyrinth of ayahuasca. Research on shamanism and indigenous medicines”, Almendro synthesizes almost forty years of coexistence and scientific research with traditional healers and shamans of the Peruvian Amazon and the Sierra Mazateca in Mexico. Intermingling solid academic rigor and personal accounts, the author introduces us to indigenous worldviews, making a critical reflection that highlights the general decline and the abuse in the use of sacred plants that is causing death and desolation worldwide, while delving into the therapeutic potential that permeates the traditional medicines. Combining his experience in the psychological field with medical research in indigenous traditions, Almendro points to the creation of new protocols for healing mental and body diseases.
Author : Martín Huamán
Audio : Spanish
Subtitle : -
The ritual ceremony of purgahuasca - November 2019
The ritual ceremony of purgahuasca is one of the therapeutic procedures from the traditional medicine of the Awajún ethnic group that was included in the therapeutic protocol of the Takiwasi Center, thanks to the teachings provided by the master healer Walter Cuñachi. Purgahuasca is a little concentrated ayahuasca preparation that is taken as in a purge session. This preparation mainly has a great vomitive effect, with secondary visionary or teaching effects. In the Awajún tradition, purgahuasca is an initiation ritual, so that through this means young people can discover their vocation and know the way to follow in their adult lives. More information: Drug addiction treatment by the traditional medicine of the Awajún tribe.
Author : Gary Saucedo, Fabio Friso
Audio : Spanish
Subtitle : English, Français, Italiano
Cat’s Claw – From the forest to the world - November 2019
Takiwasi Laboratory has been working since 2011 with Chirik Sacha native community located in the Peruvian Amazonian region of San Martin to formalize the commercial use of Cat’s Claw. Cat’s Claw (Uncaria tormentosa) is one of the most studied Amazonian medicinal plant in the world. Thanks to these studies we were able to understand the biological mechanisms that lie beneath the many properties that Amazonian inhabitants have identified in this plant since ancient times. Cat’s Claw stimulates and strengthens the immune system, it’s an adjuvant in treatments for aids, cancer and autoimmune diseases, it’s an anti-inflammatory for joints and effective against arthritis, arthrosis, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. After several years of legal procedures, and with the support of National Forest Authority, Serfor, in November 2018 the Cat’s Claw forest management plan has been officially approved. This will give to the Chirik Sacha native community the chance of generating a new source of economic income through the responsible use of the Cat’s Claw trees and at the same time conserving its communal forest. Surprisingly, it is also a great achievement for the country as whole, as it is the first exploitation license of a non-timber forest medicinal resource in the entire Peruvian Amazon.
Author : Lenin Quevedo
Audio : English
Subtitle : Español, Francés
The Forest of the Nuwas - October 2019
The Nuwas Forest is a successful example of a process involving recovering biodiversity and ancestral knowledge. With the help of Indecopi and Takiwasi Laboratory, and the financial support of Conservation International, the Nuwas (women) of the native Awajún community of Shampuyacu, in the Peruvian Amazon, have managed to identify and register 110 species of medicinal and aromatic plants. Since 2015, the Nuwas, with the help of Takiwasi technicians, specifically investigate which plants could be used to be marketed as infusions. The infusions, registered under the brand “Nuwa” and owned by the community, are based on clavo huasca and ginger, combined with aguaymanto, cocoa husk and vanilla. They have already been presented at some local fairs such as ExpoAmazonica in Iquitos, and will be released for commercial sale in 2020.
Author : Oscar Miranada & Andrés Merino
Audio : Spanish
Subtitle : English, Français, Italiano
Retreat/Diet Testimonial - Eugenio - October 2019
In his testimonial about the retreat/diet in Takiwasi, Eugenio tells us that diet is one of those experiences that marks a before and after. This process allows to find in the plants some travel fellows that provide particular characteristics such as sensitivity, emotions and firmness, useful to walk the path of life.
More testimonials about the retreat/diet: Testimonials.
Author : Gary Saucedo, Fabio Friso
Audio : Spanish
Subtitle : English, Français, Italiano
Forest management plan of Cat’s claw - October 2019
Cat's claw (Uncaria tormentosa) is one of the best-known Amazonian medicinal plants. It stimulates and strengthens the immune system, it is an adjuvant in treatments for AIDS, cancer and autoimmune diseases, it is an anti-inflammatory and effective against arthritis, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. The Takiwasi Laboratory has been working since 2011 with the native community of Chirik Sacha, located in the Amazon region of San Martín, to formalize the sustainable use of Cat's Claw through a forest management plan approved by Serfor. The work of Takiwasi Laboratory is oriented to guarantee the integral quality of the product, which goes from taking care of the quality of the raw material to the protection of the ecosystems where Cat's Claw grows, and in this way invite customers to participate in the conservation of the Amazon rainforest through their responsible consumption.
Author : Lenin Quevedo
Audio : Spanish
Subtitle : English
The Voice of Intelligence in the Ayahuasca session - September 2019
Lecture by Jacques Mabit, MD, during the workshop "Local Knowledge and Traditional Medicine", VI International Book Fair of Cusco, September 4, 2019. During the Ayahuasca sessions, the person that drinks this medicine comes into contact with an intelligence that communicates with him/her and provides information as a teaching. After the ayahuasca ceremony, it is very common to listen participants say "Ayahuasca told me this or that thing", "I was told or shown or taught this or that thing", etc. In this short presentation, we would like to draw a synthetic profile of this Voice or rather Intelligence that expresses dialogically with the people that drink Ayahuasca. Link to the full text of the intervention: The Voice of Intelligence in the Ayahuasca session.
Author : Antropología & Cultura
Audio : Spanish
Subtitle : English
Retreat/Diet Testimonial - Sasaba - August 2019
Sasaba Zazopoulos is a clinical psychologist and yoga teacher. After having gone through a grieving process she approached the world of medicinal plants and found Takiwasi where she volunteered for some months and participated in several sessions with plants, including a retreat/diet. In this testimony we can appreciate some of her considerations on the therapeutic work carried out thanks to the master plants taken according to the ritual practices of traditional Amazonian medicine as applied in Takiwasi. Among the most important features Sasaba points out the intention and attitude that one must have when working with plants, the importance of the post-diet process and the integration facilitated by the accompaniment of therapists and the tangible benefits that have to do with a profound change in each of us, especially in the way we relate to ourselves, and how this change can be perceived directly also by the family and social environment.
Author : Gary Saucedo, Fabio Friso
Audio : Spanish
Subtitle : English, Français, Italiano, Ελληνικά, Português
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