For the past 17 years of walking alongside the Master Plants, one of the questions I have been asked the most is:
“How do the plants heal?”
And my answer has always been the same. Before we ask how the plants heal, we must first ask another question…
What does it truly mean to heal?
Many people come to a ceremony hoping the medicine will remove their suffering, heal their anxiety, depression, fears, or even a physical illness. And without a doubt, the Master Plants hold tremendous wisdom and power.
From the perspective of the shamanic tradition, the role of the shaman is to help restore balance by releasing what has become blocked: stagnant energies, emotional burdens, fears, spiritual heaviness, and everything that prevents life from flowing naturally again.
The plants cleanse. The plants teach. The plants expand our awareness. They allow us to understand our inner world from a completely different perspective and see aspects of ourselves that we could not see before. But there is one part of healing that no plant can do for us. I like to compare it to going to a hospital.
When we arrive at a hospital feeling ill, the doctor asks questions, performs examinations, looks for the cause of the problem, and then chooses the appropriate treatment. It may be medicine. It may be surgery. The shaman and the Master Plants serve a similar purpose.
The ceremony is part of the treatment.
The plants are part of the medicine. But after leaving the hospital, there are questions that no doctor can answer for us. And those same questions exist on the spiritual path.
What made me sick?
But also…
What created the reality I am experiencing today?
Why do I continue repeating the same patterns?
What wounds, fears, beliefs, or decisions brought me to this point in my life?
What is it that I truly want to change? No shaman can answer those questions for us. No plant can live our life for us. Seventeen years ago, I arrived in the Amazon rainforest of Iquitos to meet the man who would become my teacher. There was no electricity. No bathrooms. Nothing familiar. I was terrified.
At night, whenever I needed to go to the bathroom, I would quietly wait for someone else to leave first so I could follow them. I didn’t want anyone to discover how deeply afraid I really was. And yet… There was something greater than my fear.
My desire to heal.
My desire to understand why I was suffering. It was my depression that forced me to stop and ask myself questions I had never had the courage to face.
Who am I, really?
What is the purpose of my life?
Why am I here?
The Master Plants did not answer those questions for me.
Ceremony after ceremony…
Dieta after dieta…
Day after day…
They helped me remember.
They helped me become quiet enough to hear myself.
They helped me observe my inner world with honesty.
They helped me understand the spiritual world from a completely new perspective. But there was something they could never do.
They could not choose for me.
They could not face my fears for me.
They could not build the life I wanted for me.
I chose to stay in the jungle.
I chose to walk through my fears.
I chose to stop living as a victim of my own story.
I chose freedom.
And I continue making that choice every single day.
That is why I believe that true healing is not only about releasing energy or having a profound ceremonial experience.
TRUE HEALING begins when we have the courage to ask ourselves the difficult questions and take full responsibility for transforming what we discover.
Because if we do not change the root of the way we think, feel, live, and relate to ourselves, suffering will simply find another way to express itself.
The plants may open the door.
The shaman may show us the path.
BUT NO ONE CAN WALK IT FOR US.
Love and gratitude
Naysha
Taita Inti Retreats 