Natascha: Hello. You’ve made it to the Little Lost Forest blog. Today I’m going to be interviewing Jonathan, a Kambo practitioner. After doing my third session of Kambo. Hi, Jonathan. Thank you so much for our session.

Jonathan: Thanks, Natasha. I really appreciate you having me on here today.

Natascha: How are you feeling?

Jonathan: I’m feeling great. I’m feeling good. Nice and grounded.

Natascha: I’m just going to ask you a few quick questions. What inspired you to offer Kambo ceremonies?

Jonathan: Yeah. Beautiful. So. I’ve been an advocate and a body worker and a coach for transformational practices for ten, fifteen plus years. And so, in my experience, when I when I come across a modality or a transformational practice, something that really transforms and causes a huge shift in my energy and in my life, it’s made me really inspired to go study those modalities and then offer them as sacred service to the world as my passion and as my service, my sacred service. So in terms of the Kambo, it’s a heart medicine and it really recalibrates the heart, much like Kundalini yoga and breathwork and those types of things. The Kambo, after the first time I did it, I could really feel the medicine working, you know, physically, emotionally, spiritually, working on many, many different levels to cut cords, cut energetic hooks and cords of things that were not really serving my highest consciousness and my highest evolution. And what really inspired me about this medicine is it’s a fire medicine, and I’m a fiery being and use fire as my element. So that was really inspiring and also as well a non-psychedelic. So psychedelics are great and I’ve really enjoyed using them in my life, yet they’re not the end all, be all. And ideally psychedelics in a way they take us out of our body. And so where I’m at in my life now, I want to be in my body. I want to be quick and strong and fast and embodied in my body. The Kambo [makes shooo sound] drops us directly into an embodied state of self, of groundedness, strength in a really practical and applicable way. So. So that’s really what that’s really what what drew me in to the Kambo was just firsthand experience of a complete shift. A catalyst may have you in my own spiritual growth.

Natascha: Thank you so much for your service. What led you on your spiritual path?

Jonathan: What has led me, just in general?

Natascha: What was the beginning that began seeking out?

Jonathan: The beginning of my spiritual path. Yeah. The beginning of my spiritual path was was nature. So excuse me. I draw a lot of inspiration and power and vitality and reflection and meaning. Just from nature, just from the beauty, the reflection, the immersing my my soul and spirit in nature. And so growing up, I didn’t I wasn’t like an iPhone generation baby, thank God. And, you know, AOL was just like dial up internet and all the things. So anyway, I wasn’t a tech kid. And my parents. Did a lot of camping with me and my brother and sailing and fishing. And so I grew up in a nature based reality. Thankfully, my parents shared the same values and they bestowed those, those values onto me.

Natascha: What unique insights has this path given you?

Jonathan: The path of nature?

Natascha: The path of spiritual awareness.

Jonathan: The path of spiritual awareness. Unique insights. Wow! Hmm.

Jonathan: Well, I would say, you know, studying Buddhism and whatnot in college, just the ephemeral nature of all things, the fact that everything is in a way, temporary. So that includes our pain, that includes our suffering, that also includes our joy, our gratitude, the higher vibratory states bliss that we that the brain really seeks us to experience. But there is a certain. Acceptance. I think that comes with the realization that everything is impermanent. So it brings us what does it bring? It brings us into present awareness that if we’re having a hard day, if we’re having a hard feeling, a hard emotion, that this too shall pass. So really it’s a liberating. It’s a liberating thing for me.

Natascha: And that’s beautiful. In your experience, how has Kambo enhanced your clients lives?

Jonathan: Yeah. Great question. Well, I mean, the Kambo has, as I mentioned before, it’s a it’s a heart medicine and it recalibrates the heart to the heartbeat of the universe and to the heartbeat of the earth. And I think when people come and see me, they come and see me for a variety of different reasons. Candida, depression, addiction. Some people just want to like, supercharge their immune system and not get Covid or something like that. I think that that the Kambo, is a very powerful catalyst for change, and it shows us the areas of our lives where that need attention. And then it asks us, it also shows us what our fears are. In life, everyone has fears, so it shows us these fears in a very real and palpable way. And then it asks us to summon the courage to overcome those adversities and those challenges. And so, in a way, when any individual does their work, when they do the work to change, when they do the work to shift, to transform, to uplift their life, to uplevel their consciousness. Then everybody wins. Then all of the collective consciousness is raised because that individual is choosing to do their medicine work. So I think the Kambo has really been really profound for a lot of people with heart blockages, you know, because a lot of people have been hurt. They’re carrying trauma, PTSD. Some of it’s from this lifetime, some of it’s from ancestral previous lifetimes. And, you know, until that stuff is really looked at and healed, it can be really difficult to move forward in life in a clear and in a purposeful way. And so the the Kambo can really show us our trauma and help us to overcome it.

Natascha: What does the Caboclo inoculation offer?

Jonathan: Yeah. So the Caboclo Inoculation is a modern-day take on taking three sessions of Kambo within a 28-day lunar cycle. So the Caboclo people are a tribe of indigenous that live in Brazil and they left the Amazon to come out into the cities. So they started this tradition with Kambo. And the idea behind it is that Kambo works accumulatively in the system to detox the body, spirit and mind. And so if you do one session, if you do another session shortly thereafter, it’s going to go a little bit deeper and then it’s going to go a little bit deeper. So much in the way that sometimes, you know, an ayahuasca ceremony, if there’s a two-night ceremony, the first night is about working through energetic congestion. That’s maybe outside the energy field or right on the edge of the energy field. And then the next night, the medicine moves more, more inward to the physical because it’s already cleared out the energy, the energetic realm. So in the same way Kambo is, is similar. That way, every time that you take Kambo, you’re flooding your body with beneficial bio peptides, which are short chain amino acids which do an amazing job at detoxing the cells, and also causing white blood cells on the liver to start rapidly, rapidly producing. This in turn greatly enhances the immune system of the body.

Natascha: Where do you where do you see yourself in the future?

Jonathan: [laughs] Yeah great question. Well, I see a family in my future and I see it just continuing to be an educator and a teacher of Kundalini yoga and also retreats like that’s been like a big calling for me for, for many years is how to create and market and successfully pull off. Transformational, immersive retreats where people come and have an amazing experience with nature, food, all these things that are medicines, right? Nature as medicine, food as medicine, breathing, breathwork, yoga, alignments and perhaps Kambo as well. So all the different heart medicines. So that’s what I would love. That’s what I am creating. It’s what I’m working on and would also get me out of Humboldt in the wintertime, which would be lovely.

Natascha: Thank you Jonathan, for sharing your knowledge and watching over me and giving me the medicine. I really appreciate you and thank you to everyone that reads the blog.

Jonathan: Yeah, thanks a lot Natascha. That was that was really a beautiful transformation to witness. So, thanks for showing up for yourself when you do your work. When you win, I win. We all win. We’re all here to do our work. And so, we’re up leveling humanity one day at a time.

Natascha: So true.

My voice was frail during that interview. I had just finished my third Kambo session, which meant twenty to thirty minutes of intense purging and detoxing. I followed up that session by going to work with frog (swollen) lips. So, let’s get into this, shall we? 

What made me take Kambo? I saw the Kambo sessions marketed on a signal group called “What’s going on?” An Arcata-based group. A friend had told me she was into trying it perhaps two years ago. She mentioned they take an incense stick and some medicine and go through an experience. I think this is all she told me. After my sessions, when I told her I had done the Kambo, she said she hadn’t tried it yet. So, I had very little knowledge of Kambo. I don’t even think I researched it before my first session. I knew it would be healing. I was smoking mole bowls (a mix of tobacco and marijuana in a bong) at the time, a nasty habit I had been exposed to in my college years in San Francisco, and I set the intention to stop smoking moles. This was my intention. I had a quick orientation over the phone with Jonathan, agreed to a donation, and met up a few days later in Arcata to a quaint healing facility. He recommended three days of a vegetarian diet prior to the Kambo session and that we do not drink any water for eight hours prior to the session. I went upstairs into a flat with a waiting area, bathroom, kitchen, and two rooms. 

I did a group session, and we were asked to bring two liters of water, a pillow, and a yoga mat. I laid out my yoga mat in front of Jonathan, who sat on his knees next to a drum and a ceremonial serving tray. On the tray was a small statue of a green frog. Another woman joined us. He asked us if we wanted an alignment, and taking turns, he took us to the other room to give us one. By the end of the alphabiotic alignment, he said something along the lines of how your legs are now equal lengths. It felt great, and I’m generally scared of any alignment work.

He had the other woman and myself speak about our intentions, and then we began the ceremony. We saged one another, washing away bad energy. Jonathan chanted and then started by thanking the directions, the participants, and the medicine, and intensively bringing awareness and appreciation to the indigenous of the Amazon and Brazil who had taught this practice. He awoke our higher consciousness and spoke of the sun’s power, burning within our hearts. He called in our ancestors. He asked for there to be a physical reaction that would tell us when they had landed. I had an incredible shift at this moment, calling on the help of my ancestors and feeling their presence with me in the room. After this meditation, he asked us how much medicine we wanted to take. He said, “Think of it like you are doing any entheogen. Do you like to microdose, or are you a heavy doser?” He suggested the most we take during our first session was five. The lady beside me decided on four, even though she said she would usually dose lightly, and I went for five. Jonathan began to burn a coal incense. With a knife, he scrapped off the medicine from a wood stick that came out of a wooden box. The medicine was clear with a slight tint of yellow. He placed the doses onto a quartz crystal. Then he showed us the patterns the burns would be in. I chose a straight-line pattern. Than he asked where we would like the burns placed. The traditional way was for women to get it on the inside of their ankles and men on their triceps. I decided to do it on the backside of my heart, next to the spine. He told me this is a very powerful place to put the medicine. He then burned small dots into my back with an incense stick in a line.

I opted to go first, sitting upright (like he instructed) on my yoga mat in front of an empty bucket. I began drinking the water. Jonathan drummed as I drank and drank. I drank so much water it came up, and I thought I had already taken the medicine. He told me to keep drinking, and I did, and then he asked if I was ready to take the medicine. At this point, I had already spat out water. He then placed the five doses onto my back. I could feel the medicine on my back. I could feel the medicine like a rush inside my body. I didn’t know what to expect. I wasn’t tripping, but I was hyper-aware of my body. A few minutes went by, and it wasn’t so bad. Ten minutes later, I started to feel nauseous. I began to purge, and I purged a lot. Twenty minutes, maybe thirty, after he wiped the medicine off and began a ritual with the lady next to me. I felt hungover, but I was no longer purging. Afterward, I was glad I had followed through with my goal and sent a picture of my frog lips to my friend.

Immediately after my session, I had no cravings for alcohol, tobacco, or cannabis. My liver seemed rejuvenated, and my mind was clear, like my third eye had opened, and I could see things for what they were. 

The following day, I questioned myself. I no longer craved to drink, but why would I want to stop drinking? This wasn’t my intention going into Kambo. I like drinking; it helps me manage my stress, and I have fun with my friends when I drink. Then I thought of all the goals I set out when I was a young adult: I wanted to write a book, do animation, and, most of all, sail the world. Before taking the Kambo, I had fallen into a depression. I told my partner, “I no longer see a future. All the goals I have ever had seem to be distant memories now.” So when I started questioning myself why I wouldn’t want to drink, these thoughts came up, and I told myself that I wanted to see a future again where I’m alive when my kids are old and happy with my partner. I want to see a future where all my dreams come true, and I have worked hard to achieve them. Most of all, I thought, I want to be my best self for my children so they can have a mommy who is present with them and not intoxicated. With these thoughts, I knew I had to contact Jonathan again and tell him I was ready to continue on my path of Kambo by completing the Caboclo Inoculation.

The next session was done a week later. He drove me to the beach, where we sat in a ceremony in a secluded dune. This time, I intended to feed my creativity, become a writer and an artist, and fulfill my goals. Again, I drank the water to his chants, and he placed the medicine in a line on my back—this time, I did seven hits. A beautiful image came to me, one where I was in a prayer pose, and a deer with antlers was over my head, birds and butterflies were coming off my arms, mushrooms, and flowers supported me on the ground, and the frog was in front of me. An elderly male to the left of my head and an elderly female to the right were there to help me get through my processing. When the medicine hit me, I pucked into the sand in agony. I moved away from the watery vomit and rolled in the sand, trying to find comfort in the earth. Jonathan directed me to breathe to try and soothe the sensations. In twenty minutes, he wiped off the medicine, and the ceremony came to a closure. 

After my second session, I went to an EDM show with my best friend at Blue Lake Casino. I drank NA drinks and danced all night. My energy and personality wasn’t less of from being sober. We had a blast. 

In my third Kambo session, I asked myself why am I even doing this again. I’m putting my body through agony, and even though I feel great after, the purging process is so intense; why would I do this to myself? We completed the ceremony, and I left feeling like, well like a frog. (Did you know frogs only jump forward? Not backward?)

During the time of taking Kambo, I had distanced myself from my partner. I felt he needed to be more supportive of me taking on the role of a breadwinner, working long shifts, and not getting the time I craved with my kids. After my third session, I was able to communicate differently with him. I didn’t give him what he wanted to make peace. Instead, I told him what I needed to feel fulfilled and supported. This is straightforward advice to give someone, but doing it can be hard when you feel stuck in routine, and your partner won’t listen to you. I starved him of my attention until he would listen, and when he was ready to listen, I didn’t let him fall back into routine. I asked for the things I needed: time with the kids, time with him, and to be non-competitive with chores and daily practices. Our business has taken off since my Kambo sessions. I feel like Kambo helped me achieve these things, and I hope I can continue moving forward with a clear mind to reach more of the goals I have set out.