Video channel
Foundations of Takiwasi: vision, values, and method - February 2026
A conversation between the executive director of Takiwasi, psychologist Jaime Torres, and Francisco Ortín, president of the Union of Therapists Cooperative from Spain. Throughout the conversation, the following topics are explored: what Amazonian medicine is, ayahuasca and why it is important to make a responsible and truly therapeutic use of it; common mistakes when seeking solutions through ayahuasca outside a therapeutic setting; the personal steps Jaime had to take in his spiritual and professional journey.
Author : Cooperativa Unión de Terapeutas
Audio : Spanish
Subtitle : -
Takiwasi and its spiritual dimension - February 2026
In this conversation between our therapeutic coordinator Veronika Kavenská and Francisco Ortín, president of the Cooperative Unión de Terapeutas from Spain, the difference between spirituality and religion in a therapeutic context is explored, as well as the role of faith and spiritual seeking in personal healing and the discovery of one’s vocation, and the importance of integrating spiritual insights into daily life.
Author : Cooperativa Unión de Terapeutas
Audio : Spanish
Subtitle : -
Master Plants: Chiric Sanango - February 2026
In this webinar we speak with biochemist Laura Monteagudo about the findings of a recent academic publication based on research conducted at Takiwasi on Chiric Sanango (Brunfelsia grandiflora), a master plant used in the context of diet retreats. This plant is associated with the elimination of “internal cold,” linked to deep fears, emotional blockages, and difficulties moving forward in life. Chiric Sanango does not offer quick solutions. Its action is often intense and challenging, both physically and psychologically, and requires guidance, discipline, and care after the diet. Precisely for this reason, the process can help strengthen body awareness, learn to tolerate discomfort, regulate impulses, and rebuild trust in social bonds—key aspects in the path of addiction recovery.
Author : Martín Huamán
Audio : Spanish
Subtitle : -
Addictions Today: Beyond Substances - February 2026
María Virginia Erazo, Gestalt psychotherapist and member of the center’s therapeutic team, speaks with Francisco Ortín from the Cooperative Unión de Terapeutas de España. Throughout the conversation, María Virginia’s personal journey is explored: a path shaped by the influence of her grandmothers, faith, and a tireless search for a more humane and profound model of healing; the origin of addictions: how family systems and deep emotional pain are the common root of various “polyaddictions,” not only to substances but also to sex, gambling, or screens; healing as a long-term project: why treatment is only the beginning of building a new life project that may take years to consolidate.
Author : Cooperativa Unión de Terapeutas
Audio : Spanish
Subtitle : -
In Defense of Traditional Knowledge and Natural Products - January 2026
Our Research Manager, Matteo Politi, spoke with Illuminismo Psichedelico about the traditional uses of medicinal plants and the possibilities and limitations of including them within Western medical approaches through processes of research, standardization, and biomedical regulation. The relationship between human beings and plants has changed profoundly over time. Is it possible to envision a transformation and reinterpretation of traditional Amazonian practices within the global context, taking into account intercultural dialogue and ethical challenges?
Author : Illuminismo Psichedelico
Audio : Italian
Subtitle : -
Training Seminar in the Takiwasi Therapeutic Model - November 2025
We are pleased to present the 5th edition of the Training in the Takiwasi Therapeutic Model. The growing interest and continuous requests from therapists wishing to learn about our model motivate us to keep promoting these learning spaces in a safe, therapeutic, and effective environment. The training we propose for 2026 (September 28 – October 10) combines resources from Traditional Amazonian Medicine and experiential workshops aimed at personal development. In addition, the program is enriched with theoretical seminars and the transmission of specific tools from our Therapeutic Model, offering a balanced and nurturing experience on different levels. More information: Seminario de Formación .
Author : Fabio Friso
Audio : Spanish
Subtitle : -
Outpatient treatment for women with addiction problems - November 2025
At Takiwasi, we have recently opened the possibility of outpatient treatment for women with addiction problems, thus responding to the numerous requests received in recent years. In 2023, we took an important first step with a one-month intensive seminar exclusively for women, which achieved very encouraging results. In 2025, we went further by integrating women into a mixed format, participating in medicinal plant sessions and therapeutic workshops alongside the men of our therapeutic community, under a semi-residential modality and with specialized support. Looking ahead to November 2026, we are preparing a new one-month intensive seminar for women with problematic substance use, aimed at providing them with tools for deep, integral, and sustainable healing, based on therapeutic processes and the traditional use of medicinal plants.
Author : Fabio Friso, Martín Huamán
Audio : Spanish
Subtitle : -
Addictions and Spirituality: Between Conventional Therapies and Medicinal Plants - November 2025
Conversation with Eduard Casas Bertet, social educator and president of the Associated Group for Health Services (GASS Association, Spain), about the differences between conventional approaches and alternative therapies—including the use of Amazonian medicinal plants—for addiction treatment. The essential role of the spiritual dimension in rehabilitation processes is addressed, along with reflections on the possibilities and challenges involved in integrating medicinal plant use into addiction treatment in Europe.
Author : Martín Huamán
Audio : Spanish
Subtitle : -
Amazonian Traditional Medicine as a Complement to Psychotherapeutic Work - October 2025
The 33 years of experience at Takiwasi demonstrate that Amazonian traditional medicine can significantly enrich psychotherapeutic work, both in healing processes and in personal development, provided it is used in the appropriate context and manner. The use of medicinal plants, together with other healing techniques, makes it possible to address issues with greater depth and to integrate the bodily and energetic-spiritual dimensions, which conventional psychotherapy can hardly reach. In this way, healing acquires a more integral, complex, and lasting character.
Author : Martín Huamán
Audio : Spanish
Subtitle : -
Amazonian Wisdom and Health - October 2025
Contemporary Amazonian culture, transformed by globalization, has lost part of its relational and ecological dimension. Among Indigenous peoples such as the Urarina, the use of plants still preserves a wisdom that integrates health, spirituality, and community, encompassing both human and non-human beings. Faced with the advance of extractivism and cultural erosion, there is a call to recover an ecological health based on reciprocity and respectful dialogue with ancestral knowledge. Talk in Spanish with Emanuele Fabiano, a researcher specialized in Amazonian anthropology and in the social and cosmological effects of extractive processes.
Author : Martín Huamán
Audio : Spanish
Subtitle : -
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