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Ayahuasca and Traditional Amazonian Medicine - August 2026
Dr. Jacques Mabit was invited to participate in the Universe Within Podcast to speak with Jason Grechanik about his personal journey and more than four decades of experience integrating Amazonian traditional medicine with Western biomedicine and psychotherapy in the treatment of mental health. Throughout the conversation, Dr. Mabit explores the differences between Western and Indigenous worldviews, particularly in the way they understand human health, nature, and the spiritual dimension. He also warns about certain risks, such as the idealization of Indigenous traditions, the commercial use of master plants, and the lack of proper training among many contemporary therapists. Traditional Amazonian medicine cannot be reduced to the use of psychoactive plants; rather, it is a complex system based on rituals, diets, reciprocity, discipline, and a profound relationship with the invisible world.
Author : Universe Within Podcast
Audio : Spanish
Subtitle : -
Phytotherapy, Ethnobotany, & Ayahuasca - Matteo Politi - July 2026
Our Research Manager, Matteo Politi, was invited by Jason Grechanik to join the Universe Within Podcast to discuss his professional background and the research he conducts at the Takiwasi Center. During the interview, they explored a wide range of topics, including the pharmaceutical industry, phytochemistry, phytotherapy, Indigenous Amazonian medicinal practices, and the importance of integrating different knowledge systems to better understand the relationship between medicinal plants and human well-being. The conversation highlights the interdisciplinary approach that defines Takiwasi's work, where scientific research engages in dialogue with Amazonian traditional knowledge to foster a more holistic understanding of health, biodiversity, and the therapeutic potential of medicinal plants.
Author : Universe Within Podcast
Audio : English
Subtitle : -
Veterans Healing Retreat Testimonial - Matthew - July 2026
Matthew Surratt, medical doctor and former US Navy Seal, shares the profound journey he experienced at Takiwasi. What began as a scientific interest in psychedelics and traditional medicines became a deeply transformative process that challenged his expectations and changed the way of understanding true healing. In this testimonial, he reflects on the role of purgative plants, the master plant diet, the ayahuasca ceremony, and the importance of the people accompanying the process. “I wasn't looking for an experience to have a t-shirt at the end. I needed real medicine. I needed to find that answer from myself through something bigger than myself.”
Author : Fabio Friso, Martín Huamán
Audio : English
Subtitle : Español, Français
Medicinal Plants – Ginger - July 2026
Ginger (Zingiber officinale) is considered a hot, solar, fire-associated plant. At Takiwasi, it is primarily used as a purgative plant, helping to cleanse the body, release physical and emotional blockages, and eliminate negative energetic burdens. During the purgative ritual, the patient drinks a freshly prepared ginger maceration under the guidance of the healer. Its intensely pungent taste triggers a purgative response that promotes the elimination of toxins and prepares the body for a deeper process of restoration.
Author : Fabio Friso, Martín Huamán
Audio : Spanish
Subtitle : English, Français
Rose petal maceration to soothe grief and calm nervousness - July 2026
In the Peruvian Amazon, the rose is also part of local traditional practices. An infusion prepared by macerating its petals in water is consumed to support people through grief, loss, or to calm nervousness. The rose is regarded as a plant with feminine energy that fosters self-love and helps remove the thorns left in the heart by emotional wounds. At Takiwasi, this traditional knowledge has been further enriched through the contributions of European women healers who use this plant during retreats and plant dietas.
Author : Fabio Friso, Martín Huamán
Audio : Spanish
Subtitle : English, Français
Master Plants - Lupuna - June 2026
The Lupuna (Ceiba pentandra) is the tallest and most majestic tree in the Amazon, and it's also a master plant used in traditional dietas at Takiwasi. Our therapeutic coordinator, Veronika Kavenská, tells us about its therapeutic properties, associated with strengthening energy and feminine power, as well as developing a broader perspective on life, which helps to distance oneself from everyday problems and find new perspectives and solutions.
Author : Fabio Friso, Martín Huamán
Audio : Spanish
Subtitle : English, Français
Takiwasi, Science and the Jungle - June 2026
In this episode of Life Projects, Francisco Ortín delves into the heart of Takiwasi in conversation with Uriel López, psychologist and one of the professionals responsible for welcoming and supporting residential patients and participants in traditional plant diets at the center. With roots in Mexico and a personal journey of seeking that led him from an initial intention to study medicine to training as a psychologist and ultimately finding his path in the Peruvian Amazon, Uriel shares his unique perspective on healing, traditional medicine, and the meeting of two worlds.
Author : Cooperativa Unión de Terapeutas
Audio : Spanish
Subtitle : -
Naam: Seed of Wampís Women’s Autonomy - June 2026
Women of the Wampís Nation are the primary guardians of the Amazonian forest and are currently leading the cultivation of naam, a nut that is eaten toasted and has a high content of nutritionally valuable fats. Naam has been a traditional food of the Wampís people, although in recent decades it has been displaced by new consumption habits. Today, Wampís women are promoting its reintegration into the family diet, especially in the nutrition of boys and girls, in a regional context where high levels of malnutrition persist. Through their relationship with Nunkui, the Mother Earth, Wampís women demonstrate that economic and community strengthening arises from deep respect for cultural roots and ancestral knowledge.
Author : Gobierno Territorial Autónomo de la Nación Wampís
Audio : Spanish
Subtitle : English
Medicinal Plants - Black Basil - June 2026
Black Basil (Ocimum campechianum) is a medicinal plant used in various therapeutic practices of the Peruvian Amazon. Its leaves are used in plant baths and in the preparation of infusions intended to relieve respiratory ailments. At Takiwasi, it is used as a containment plant and in retreats/diets carried out within a ritualized and isolated context. In that setting, Black Basil brings benefits to the patient by refreshing and illuminating the mind, calming excessive mentalization, and providing tranquility and peace.
Author : Fabio Friso, Martín Huamán
Audio : Spanish
Subtitle : English, Français
The Labyrinth of Ayahuasca – Conversation with Manuel Almendro - May 2026
In this webinar, we speak with Dr. Manuel Almendro, Doctor of Psychology, clinical psychologist, founder and director of the Oxígeme Center in Spain. The starting point of the conversation is the book “The Labyrinth of Ayahuasca”, in which Almendro has synthesized forty years of coexistence and scientific research with healers and traditional curanderos from the Peruvian Amazon rainforest and the Mazatec highlands of Mexico. At the same time, this opens the way to critical reflections on the current process of globalization of sacred plants and their growing distortion within the standardized practices of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy.
Author : Martín Huamán
Audio : Spanish
Subtitle : -
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