Explore Alternative Healing, Amazonia
Alberto Villoldo is an anthropologist/psychologist/best-selling author who has spent over 25 years studying shamanic healing practices of the Amazon. In Amazonia, a new documentary on DVD from True Mind, he introduces viewers to the power of healing with jungle plants. Combining elements of spiritualism with healing, healers administer plants considered sacred to heal the whole person—the body, the spirit, and the mind.
One of the essentials of shamanism is “seeing,” or direct insight into the true causes of disease. Master practitioners from Peru’s Madre de Dios River in the Amazon watershed heal with a “brew” called “Ayahuasca” (“the vine of the souls”); Villoldo chronicles their work and explores the history of plant-based healing.
According to Erowid.org, “Ayahuasca is a powerfully psychedelic South American brew traditionally made from the B. caapi vine and admixtures such as P. viridis (and/or other DMT-containing plants). One of its primary effects is considered to be the vomiting (the purge) that accompanies the experience. The term ayahuasca is sometimes loosely used to mean any combination of an MAOI with DMT.” Its psychedelic qualities explain the visions its users experience. Villoldo refers to principals of brain science to explain the effects of Ayahuasca.
Amazonia includes interviews with experts discussing the use of Ayahuasca and people who have benefited from this form of healing relating their experiences. There are descriptions of the ceremonies in which the plant is used and explanations of its effects, many of which are spiritual. In listening to descriptions of the experience, one is reminded of the words of those who experimented with LSD in the 1960s, or at least the words of those who had positive experiences on acid.
Amazonia has a very new-agey feel, but the practice of shamanism and the use of Ayahuasca go back centuries. At the end of the documentary there is a disclaimer: “The Producer, Director, and Crew and Cast do not endorse the use of ayahuasca or any other plant substances. This film documents medical anthropology and shamans in their native habitats and does not endorse the use of any non-prescription plant medicines.” DVD release date: November 8, 2011.
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