When I first got to Peru, I was excited about the adventure of uncovering the mystery behind healing. What threw me was all the pollution and chaos I felt. Here is a country full of healers and yet, the fumes were nauseating and the filth around me was disturbing.

Right beside the loud ‘motorkars’ and homeless families is the beautiful Amazon. The potential for healing from the plants it possesses is more then you can imagine. I can’t help but think that Mother Earth has provided us with all the answers and medicine to help us grow, yet she feels like her potential isn’t being used properly or to the depth that she allows.

I had the pleasure of interviewing a handful of local shamans in Iquitos. These Amazonian healers all come from the roots of the indigenous people that live their lives outside in communion with nature. I have since learned that they are all living in the city trying to survive. Many shamans in this area have a bad reputation because they use their powers to try and make as much money as possible. In a way, can we blame them? They are not in their natural environment anymore and are trying to survive in a relatively new one with whatever comfort they can manage. When interviewing them, they all said that they communicate with the plants. That the plants hold the energy of the spiritual masters and that these masters work through the plants to deliver their medicine to the people who need them.

One of the shamans said that purification is the most important thing you can do to raise your healing potential and that if you do it properly it can last up to a year before you have to go back into the jungle to do it again. Purification is the process of doing ‘the diet’ (eating very clean with no salt, sugar, oil etc) and doing ayahuasca (plant medicine that reconnects you with the spirit world and helps to clear your field of negative energy). It sounds like they go into the jungle to charge up their batteries so they can handle their current state of city life. I can’t help but wonder why these tribes didn’t return to the jungle rather then endure a life of poverty and processed foods.

I met a woman that had just spent 3 months in the jungle working with the plant medicine. (This includes much more than ayahuasca) She said that the healing she received was more than years of therapy could have given her. That she connected with herself, found her centre, and reorganized her patterns physically, mentally/emotionally and spiritually. There was a level of contentment within her that I found intoxicating.

The shamans said that when they do ayahuasca they can see darkness in your field and they remove it with the help of the spiritual masters that show up in ceremony. When asked where this darkness comes from they all replied that it comes from mistreating self, harming ourselves and not cherishing our bodies. They all believe that it is their connection to one of the original healers, Jesus christ and that his energy and their belief in him allows them to heal others. It sounded to me that they would focus on love and light to remove the hurt. That sounds beautifully healing to me!

Could it be that all of our so called sickness that is starting to overwhelm our culture could be from ignoring the potential these plants have to offer not only on a physical level but on every level of healing? That we go about our day trying to ‘make ends meet’ in a society that demands an unnatural way of living that leaves no time for connecting to our our inner spirit and purifying our bodies?

Our logical brains keep searching for the answers to wellness. Maybe it’s time we open the potential we all possess inside and all around us for the depth of healing we are all searching for.

Are you ready to unlock your inner wisdom and see what potential shows up?