Arkaea is working in participation with the Amazon Medicine Institute and partner organizations in the Ucayali region to launch the first Amazon Medicine Field School in 2024.
Immerse yourself into the Ancestral practice and culture of Amazon Medicine.
Visit unique indigenous communities and natural wonders.
Make new life-long connections
Follow the link below for more information and don’t forget to sign up to our newsletter to get updates on the upcoming release of the Amazon Medicine Field School.
Incubator on Climate Change Arkaea Visionary Leadership Series
In this revolutionary two-week Interdisciplinary Incubator to the Ucayali Region of Perú, researchers travel to the indigenous heartland of the Amazon and one of the most biodiverse regions of the planet.
Witness first-hand both the origins and consequences of climate change in one of the Earth’s environmental fronteirs and learn how it is impacting local and global climate, ecology, and weather patterns.
Consult with local and indigenous experts and hear powerful stories of resilience from local communities and organizations.
Collaborate with like-minded peers and mentors to brainstorm creative solutions to our planet’s most urgent dilemmas.
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Immersive Phase: Pucallpa and Ucayali
Researchers explore the city of Pucallpa for two days before heading to Santa Clara Shipibo community for a three day immersion of the authentic traditional culture of this unique community. From there, they will travel to specified locations in the Ucayali Region to observe its rich diversity and impact of climate change.
Iterative Phase: Aguas Thermales Reserve
Researchers embark to the Aguas Thermales Reserve “Rainforest campus” to brainstorm with peers solutions to the current crisis in climate change as it afflicts the region. They will also have the opportunity to deeply explore their own intrinsic motivations in their life and work. From there, they will develop a “creative proposition” (ten minute proposal) with feedback from their peers.
Dissemination Phase: Return to Pucallpa
Researchers return to Pucallpa to document their work and findings and then present their creative proposition to local students and teachers in a one day symposium at a localuniversity (tba).
** Arkaea Incubators can be proposed as an independent studies topic or fieldwork opportunity with your university
Shipibo photographer Isa Rono prepares for a shooting of the fascinating book, Kené Sikati Kirika
Buen Vivir
Buen Vivir means “living well” in Spanish but it is far more than just a recipe for wellness. It is term to describe a social and environmental movement — no, a paradigm shift that has its recent origins in the 90’s in Bolivia and Ecuador and but with roots that extend back deep in Andean history. Buen Vivir is gaining ground as far afield as Europe with parallel movements emerging in India and South Africa. It is a philosophy and a possible framework to return to a simpler, more harmonious life in a stronger and more resilient society.
In all ways, Buen Vivir is the medicine we need today. As a social movement, it represents the exact opposite of the values that are dominant in our culture. It values strong communities over individualism, economy over consumerism, harmony and reciprocity over competition, sustainable resource management over environmental exploitation.
The beauty of Buen Vivir is that it doesn’t require any large investment on our part, does not require us to become “a better citizen or human being.”
It only requires us to be happier…
A Shift in Values
The cultural roots of Buen Vivir extend back hundreds, if not thousands of years. They originate in the ancestral traditions of South America including the Aymara peoples of Bolivia, the Quichua of Ecuador and Peru, and the Mapuche of Chile and Argentina. Buen Vivir is also a political philosophy that is revolutionary in its potential; a call to arms to reorder our society and banish systemic poverty and environmental destruction.
Buen Vivir calls for a drastic re-appraisal of our value systems. It asks us to open our eyes to the persistent imbalances in our world. It taps into deeper feelings of alienation that gnaw at the heart of our society: lack of community and meaningful connection to life and nature.
Buen Vivir asks us to release the burdens that we carry. Whether it is the insatiable drive to be seen, consume more, accomplish more… It asks us to value time over money, to seek simplicity and a mindful approach to life. It argues for a way of life that respects our humanity: our limitations and potential. It reaches to the heart of what it means to be happy. The summit of a successful life in our culture is as unsustainable as it is inhuman. It can only result in exhaustion and despair.
Buen Vivir also asks us to take a long view of the choices we are making. We are not disposable. We are part of a continuum. Our lives have value for future generations. What we do now makes a difference.
The Welcome mural at the Santa Clara Shipibo community, Peru.
Daring to Dream Differently
In 2008, Ecuador became the first country to write “Buen Vivir” into its constitution. “Sumac kawsay” is a Quichua word that means “fullness of life and rooted in community and harmony with other people and nature.” They are values originating from many indigenous cosmovisions in South America. Alberto Acosta, the president of Ecuador’s Constituent Assembly reflected that “only by imagining other worlds will this one be changed.”
Real change begins by imagining the world differently. First we must value ourselves and then we must value our relationship to Nature. We are not resources to be exhausted. Nor are the trees, animals, rivers, and elements and all the citizens of Earth. We all have value and autonomy and cannot be owned and sold off to the highest bidder. Our relationships must be cultivated carefully if we are to have a future on this planet.
In 2012, Ecuador gathered with one hundred and ninety-two UN member states in Brazil for (Rio+20), the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, a mega summit to ratify the first agreement for sustainable development in the world. Foremost was a united commitment to “eradicate poverty, promote social equity, and to advance equal opportunity.”* It was the first time that ecological practices were collectively accepted as the way forward to combat deeply entrenched social problems in the world.
When you dare to dream differently, great things happen…
What are the Values that Can change the World?
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En la base de las prácticas curativas amazónicas se encuentra la “dieta”, el proceso de retirarse a la selva tropical durante un período prolongado de tiempo para beber la medicina de las plantas y aprender directamente de la naturaleza. Los curanderos amazónicos creen que el mundo natural tiene muchos regalos para nosotros y si somos fuertes y abiertos a su sabiduría, podemos desarrollar nuestras percepciones y recibir las enseñanzas y curaciones necesarias para vivir en nuestro poder.
“Cada ser en la naturaleza: los árboles, los ríos, los animales, tienen sus propios ‘genios’ (espíritu/inteligencia). Cuando aprendas sus nombres, vendrán cuando los llames”.
¿Por qué es tan importante el tiempo en la naturaleza?
La investigación científica moderna apenas comienza a ponerse al día con lo que los maestros indígenas han sabido durante milenios, que la felicidad y la buena salud dependen de nuestra relación con la naturaleza . De hecho, nuestros cerebros y cuerpos están programados para ello. A continuación se presentan algunas de las formas en que sumergirnos en la “naturaleza profunda” puede mejorar nuestras vidas:
Mejora la creatividad
Reduce el estrés y la ansiedad y revitaliza la mente y el cuerpo.
Restablece el cerebro y el cuerpo para una mejor regulación hormonal (sueño, libido, bienestar)
Fortalece la mente y mejora el enfoque y la claridad.
Despierta nuestra intuición y capacidades extrasensoriales.
¿Tienes problemas con un bloqueo creativo o un problema preocupante? Algunas terapias de inmersión en la naturaleza pueden ser el remedio. Los estudios han demostrado que cuando pasamos largos períodos de tiempo en la naturaleza, nuestras mentes se relajan en un estado de ensoñación natural, lo que los científicos llaman “DMN” (red de modo predeterminado). Experimentamos más actividad intraneural que impulsa nuestro pensamiento lateral y asociativo. Tomar un descanso en la naturaleza de las constantes distracciones y el ajetreo de nuestra vida cotidiana también le da un descanso a nuestra corteza prefrontal, el área de nuestro cerebro conocida por el funcionamiento ejecutivo, como la planificación y la resolución de problemas. Podemos experimentar un sentido expandido del tiempo. Podemos desarrollar nuestra propia sabiduría interior y recuperar un sentido de perspectiva con lo que es verdaderamente significativo en nuestras vidas. Con las presiones del trabajo y las responsabilidades cotidianas, a menudo podemos perder de vista el “panorama general”.
En 1982, Edward O. Wilson acuñó el término biofilia como el “impulso humano de afiliarse a otras formas de vida”. Este concepto ha sido adaptado por arquitectos y urbanistas para expresar el poderoso efecto terapéutico de la naturaleza en nuestro bienestar. Se ha demostrado que incorporar espacios verdes en nuestras ciudades y hogares o incluso vivir cerca de un parque o árboles puede afectar el bienestar y acelerar la recuperación de los pacientes. Incluso algo tan simple como tener una planta en maceta en nuestro escritorio en el trabajo puede aumentar la productividad.
tiempo profundo
Si estos pequeños ajustes ecológicos pueden ser tan beneficiosos, ¿qué sucedería si se sumergiera profundamente en la “gran naturaleza”, como en la selva amazónica? La práctica tradicional de permanecer en una cabaña personal aislada o “tambo” en la selva tropical es la forma más auténtica y poderosa de experimentar las plantas medicinales. Permanecer en un tambo permite que el cuerpo y la mente se desintoxicen de las influencias sociales y ambientales negativas. Con el tiempo, nuestro reloj biológico se recalibrará a los ritmos naturales de la naturaleza. De repente, empezamos a dormir mejor ya soñar más. Nos sentimos más conectados a tierra y nos sentimos más “en sintonía” con la vida.
Los períodos prolongados de “tiempo profundo” en el bosque también ofrecen claridad y fortalecen la resiliencia. Podemos enfrentar nuestros miedos directamente y ser desafiados de una manera primaria que no tiene igual en la sociedad moderna. Rodeados por la poderosa presencia del río y la selva, nos sintonizamos con sus misterios. Desarrollamos una “mentalidad chamánica”, abierta a las ideas de los sueños y las experiencias visionarias. Desarrollamos una conexión más profunda con el mundo que nos rodea.
There been a current trend of healing centres to offer accelerated programmes working with plant medicines. Guests are finding themselves in crowded tourist compounds that may not have access to solitude in nature, a necessary component of the healing work. This experience can sabotage their healing process. Being exposed to the negative energies of others and without adequate time for the body to readjust and ground itself in nature, guests can not go deep into their personal inner work and receive the healing they need. Often they come back home more unwell than before.
Indigenous cultures of the Amazon have for millennia lived in deep immersion with the rainforest. Contrary to the belief that the Amazon rainforest is a wild uninhabited green frontier, the Amazon rainforest has been populated in the past, home to great indigenous societies over thousands of years until they were nearly driven into extinction by disease and exploitation by foreign invaders. Even today, the forest is not only their home but mother and protector. In the prehistoric biome surrounding Santuario Huishtín and the Aguas Thermales Reserve the fierce Cashibo peoples once roamed and hunted. Further into the bosque, you will encounter the shy Ashaninka forest tribes, once one of the most endangered and populous indigenous groups of the region. Deeper again to the East will bring you to the Sierra del Divisor, a huge unexplored region where there lives uncontacted Matses and Isconahua Indians as well some of the most abundant and rare flora and fauna of the Amazon.
For these peoples, the forest offers sustenance, medicine, shelter, and materials for crafting anything that is needed. Reciprocity with the rainforest is key to their survival. The forest also offers the gift of knowledge. Through their keen observation the behavior of plants and animals, the movements of the sun, moon, and stars, the ebb and flow of rivers, indigenous wisdom keepers have developed a deep knowledge of the inner workings and infinite relations on which life on the planet depends. This type of knowledge demands close attention and a receptivity to the communication of other forest beings, human and non human.
The extraordinary boiling river at the Aguas Thermales Reserve. Traveling seven kilometers through the rainforest, this geothermal phenomenon was part of the hunting ground of fierce tribes such as the Cashibo. The Shaman’s Apprentice
For the apprentice vegetalista, called to the Amazonian shamanic path of knowledge, it is essential to develop this kind of relationship to nature. Voluntary immersion and isolation in the rainforest is essential to receive this knowledge uninterrupted. The influence of social relations, of any other human contact, is as equally prohibited as certain kinds of foods on the shamanic dieta. Human consciousness is a field of energy that can be influenced, disturbed, or infected, particularly when under the sensitive conditions of working with plants. An apprentice must withdraw themselves from other human contact as much as possible or risk breaking their diet and becoming cruzado (crossed). Becoming cruzado can result in a host of unpleasant symptoms: emotional confusion, physical flu like symptoms, gastrointestinal issues, and neurological disturbances. From a shamanic view point, cruzado is an interference with the work of the spirit doctors and can invite revenge in the form of illness.
The traditional apprenticeship is not for the faint hearted. The plants challenge you in unimaginable ways and bring profound gifts you can not receive any other way. However, keeping the strict diet in solitude can be a strenuous affair. Amazonian shamans that still practice the old ways lament that their traditions are dying as young people are not willing to keep the discipline of the diet. Don Guillermo Arevalo writes, “many who are interested in shamanism don’t want to submit themselves to diets. They prefer to have recourses to books on occult sciences.” [1] In the view of vegetalismo, studying from magic from books without practicing the diet, can lead you down the dark path to brujeria (sorcery).
Favour of the Spirits
One of the goals of the shamanic apprenticeship is to make contact, gain favor and receive protection from the spirits of nature. A vegetalista must learn how to dominar the genios (to summon the spirits of the plants and achieve their protection and power). The genios (also known as doctores, madres, espiritu) are summoned with the icaro, an enchanted song that the healer learns directly from the spirits themselves while dieting their medicine in the rainforest. The spirits of the plants that give their protection, however, can turn on the apprentice at a moments notice. They are believed to be jealous and vengeful if the diet is not completed correctly. Such “celosia” can potentially lead to illness, madness, and even death.
Maestro vegetalista Santiago Enrrique Paredes Melendez teaches that there are two paths to knowledge in vegetalismo: the path of light and the path of darkness. To follow the path of light, you must purify the mind, body and spirit. Even more importantly is the heart as an organ of light and knowledge. A pure heart brings clarity, truth, and power in the light. Only the authentic path of the diet in solitude in nature can provide the environment for this kind of cleansing necessary for this magical work. The Amazon rainforest is a living pharmacopeia of millions of plant species, many of which possess phytochemicals that can as equally harm as heal. Some plants are very toxic and must be used with only the discretion of an experienced healer. There are particular plants and trees in the rainforest that can be used to develop the powers of the brujo (witch). These are off limits and must be treated with respect. Under the careful tutelage of an experienced shaman, you will be challenged, tested, and guided to the light with the loving support of the genios.
The Power of the “Dieta”
Maestro Santiago Enrrique connects with a giant machinga, a powerful healing tree with a reported ability to heal tumours.
The Shamanic Apprenticeship requires a special kind of calling and dedication. A vocation that is ongoing and lifelong, the apprentice must adhere to the path, forgoing life’s immediate distractions in favour of a greater reward: the gift of spiritual knowledge and power. They must commit to years of study with their maestros, immersed in the forest and drinking the medicine of powerful maestras (plant teachers) in a series of dietas. Every plant and tree has its own protocol: its own restrictions and time lengths. With each successful completed dieta, the apprentices gains the special knowledge and protection of that plant. Often these dietas require complete isolation in tambo, a small thatched hut in the forest. They must remain there during the period of their diet with the human contact only from those who bring their simple meals of plantains, potatoes and rice that form the bland staples of the strict diet. Only in this environment can the student receive the direct teachings of the plants uninterrupted in their full illumination.
