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Empirical uses of tobacco to prevent and reduce the toxic effects of COVID-19, vaccinations and the after-effects of intoxication

The global health crisis which started in early 2020 with the appearance and spread of SARS-CoV-2 and the disease labeled COVID-19, places each person in front of difficult choices to make for their health and that of their loved ones. Contradictory, biased, censored information further complicates “informed” or “enlightened” decision-making.

The essential questions that arise center around determining possible preventive measures, the treatment given to symptomatic individuals, the approach to the after-effects of the infection or intoxication (Mild COVID, Long COVID), the choice to be vaccinated or not, as well as the prevention of the possible toxic effects of the vaccines for both vaccinated and non-vaccinated individuals in the presence of those who have already received the vaccine.

Traditional Amazonian medicines point to the empirical use of therapeutic black tobacco as an essential remedy in all these cases. This claim is backed by the data acquired from science and the research leads currently underway on tobacco.

We propose in this article to identify some guidelines around the role and place of tobacco in the context of the COVID-19 epidemic and to point out the possible empirical therapeutic uses of this plant in responding to different individual situations and choices with which we are faced.

Jacques Mabit

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Research article on ATOP -
Ayahuasca Treatment Outcome Project

An article has recently been published in the scientific journal Frontiers in Pharmacology that describes the study protocol developed for the innovative research project Ayahuasca Treatment Outcome Project (ATOP), with a special focus on the evaluation of addiction treatment services provided by the Takiwasi Center, ATOP's first study site.

Abstract
The present study describes the protocol for the Ayahuasca Treatment Outcome Project (ATOP) with a special focus on the evaluation of addiction treatment services provided through Takiwasi Center, the first ATOP study site. The goal of the project is to assess treatment outcomes and understand the therapeutic mechanisms of an Ayahuasca-assisted, integrative treatment model for addiction rehabilitation in the Peruvian Amazon. The proposed intervention protocol highlights the significance of treatment setting in the design, delivery, and efficacy of an addiction rehabilitation program that involves the potent psychedelic tea known as Ayahuasca. After describing the context of the study, we put forth details about our mixed-methods approach to data collection and analysis, with which we seek to gain an understanding of why, how, and for whom this specific ayahuasca-assisted treatment program is effective across a range of outcomes. The ATOP protocol employs qualitative research methods as a means to determine which aspects of the setting are meaningful to clients and practitioners, and how this may correlate with outcome measures. This paper delineates the core principles, methods, and measures of the overall ATOP umbrella, then discusses the role of ATOP in the context of the literature on long-term residential programs. To conclude, we discuss the strengths and limitations of the protocol and the intended future of the project.

Rush B, Marcus O, García S, Loizaga-Velder A, Loewinger G, Spitalier A and Mendive F (2021) Protocol for Outcome Evaluation of Ayahuasca-Assisted Addiction Treatment: The Case of Takiwasi Center. Frontiers in Pharmacology 12:659644. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2021.659644

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What if Someone Tries to Patent Ayahuasca?

Advances in scientific research in recent decades have brought unprecedented attention to Ayahuasca, the sacred plant brew of the Amazon. Researchers are confirming what the Indigenous people have been affirming for centuries: Ayahuasca is an exceptional medicinal concoction, with diverse properties and potential therapeutic applications.

Western society is looking to exploit this immense potential. Shamanic tourism has lived a couple of decades of boom and we recently learned of a patent application for ‘synthetic ayahuasca’ that has been pending for a number of years.

A reflection article by Matteo Politi published on the website of International Center for Ethnobotanical Education, Research & Service - ICEERS.

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Online Course: Consistencies Between Christian Initiation and Amazonian initiation

We would like to invite you to enroll in the online course “Coherencias entre la iniciación cristiana y la iniciación amazónica” taught in Spanish by Dr. Jacques Mabit, executive president and founder of the Takiwasi Center.

Presentation
The approach to traditional Amazonian medicines by Westerners is often conceived from a negative reaction towards their own Christian roots, be it due to ignorance of the authentic content of the Christian faith, dissatisfaction with the teachings or examples of believers, or rejection of the structure of the Church perceived as moralistic and dogmatic. In a paradoxical way, ancestral wisdom commands to receive the inheritances of the ancestors, accept them and reconcile with them. The experience of the Takiwasi Center shows us that not only are there no fundamental contradictions between the Christian faith and Amazonian shamanism (correctly understood and practiced) but rather numerous and surprising coherences and convergences, both in practice and in the references of the Scriptures. This course attempts to highlight the relevance of bringing these two paths of knowledge closer together and articulating them appropriately in favor of opening new paths for the healing of the body, mind and spirit.

Structure and duration
The course is based on 5 pre-registered videos and is structured in five parts:
     - Part 1. What Christianity and what shamanism are we talking about? - 1 hour 13 minutes.
     - Part 2. The clinic of our therapeutic practice 1/2 - 1 hour 20 minutes.
     -
Part 3. The clinic of our therapeutic practice 2/2 - 1 hour 17 minutes.
     - Part 4. Meeting points between shamanism and Christianity 1/2 - 1 hour 15 minutes.
     - Part 5. Meeting points between shamanism and Christianity 2/2 - 1 hour 15 minutes.
Total duration of the course: 6 hours and 20 minutes.

More information and registration

New research article on the Dieta

In Peruvian Amazonian medicine, plant diets (dietas) are a fundamental and highly flexible technique with a variety of uses: from treating and preventing illness, to increasing strength and resilience, to rites of passage, to learning even medicine itself. 

This paper draws on data from Amazonian healers to examine plant diets as medical practices, while also considering their fit within the “set and setting framework” that is central to psychedelic research. We argue that the framework is not sufficiently broad for understanding diets, and thus the investigation aimed to expand the conceptual field of Amazonian medicine, particularly in the context of a renewed psychedelic science and its theoretical concepts.

O'Shaughnessy, D. M., & Berlowitz, I. (2021). Amazonian Medicine and the Psychedelic Revival: Considering the "Dieta". Frontiers in Pharmacology, 12, 639124. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2021.639124

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Retreats/Diets at Takiwasi

The Retreat/Diet is the deepest therapeutic practice of traditional Amazonian medicine. It consists of a 8-day retreat in isolation, in a very simple hut in the jungle, with the ritualized ingestion of the so-called "master plants", accompanied by a special diet and strict physical and psychological norms. This process allows to expand perception, re-connect with repressed emotions, cleanse and strengthen the body, and connect with the holy dimension. It favors dream production, remembrance of past situations and experiences that weren’t well-processed and deep introspection.

Each participant is accompanied individually by a psychologist from the Takiwasi therapeutic team with interviews upon arrival, during the retreat and at the end of the process in order to take full advantage of the benefits provided by the intake of the master plants.

The dates of the following Retreats/Diets for 2021 are:

  •  14 - 24 July
  •  18 - 28 August
  •  15 - 25 September
  •  13 - 23 October

For more information and to start the registration process please write to: terapia@takiwasi.com

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Help us with your Donation

If you wish to support the activities of the Takiwasi Center, there are several ways to do it.

You can choose to give your contribution to the protection and conservation of Amazonian teacher plants through the project Adopt an Ayahuasca, or contributing to cover for the cost of the treatment and rehabilitation of our patients that suffer with drug addiction and have limited economic resources

More information

Centro Takiwasi
Prolongación Alerta 466, Tarapoto, Peru
Tel: +51 (0)42 522818 / +51 (0)42 525479

www.takiwasi.com
takiwasi@takiwasi.com

 

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