MASTER PLANT DIETAS
Master plant dietas are not for everyone. If done properly, these are intense and challenging experiences that require a certain level of commitment and devotion.
The term dieta is simply the Spanish word for diet. However, the ideas underneath this word represent a centuries-old indigenous tradition practiced throughout the Amazon. Much could be written about these ideas and much remains shrouded in mystery, but any proper master plant dieta is built around a few core fundamentals.
Fasting. Isolation. Ayahuasca ceremonies. Consuming a master plant, or plants.
Fasting and isolation are powerful tools and teachers all by themselves. Fasting empties out our physical systems and switches on and off key functions of the body. It also restricts our access to food, a source of constant comfort and distraction in our everyday routines.
Isolating ourselves from people, phones, and virtually all information input takes us deep into a state of stillness and silence ― a state that many of us have never experienced even for a single day. Many who go into this state for at least a few consecutive days describe it as one of the most challenging things they have ever done.
Why put ourselves through such a difficult, boring, uneventful experience? Well, because it is an ancient, tried and true method for allowing our bodies to heal themselves and our minds to reset. All together, this can lead to long lasting feelings of satisfaction, self-empowerment, and clarity.
MASTER PLANTS
Like many indigenous cultures of the Amazon, the Shipibos recognize that every plant has a specific set of characteristics ― in a sense, a personality or identity. Some of these plants are considered to be powerful teachers and healers, maestros.
These master plants might be huge trees, small shrubs, or anything in between. You might consume a brew made from the bark, the leaves, the roots, or some combination of these. This is the Shipibo medicine cabinet. Their understanding of how each plant interacts with dietary factors, the mind, and the body is as complex as it is fascinating.
We consume master plants in a dieta state for the purposes of learning and/or healing. These master plant dietas can be used to treat chronic forms of illness and disease ― in conditions as wide ranging as psoriasis, infertility, insomnia, addiction, anxiety, pre-diabetes, early-stage cancers, and pre-clinical Alzheimer’s. People on spiritual or shamanic paths of their own can also choose master plant dietas as a means by which to expand their own consciousness and understanding.
With master plant dietas, it is not always clear what knowledge or tools are being gained or why. It is often an unfelt, unheard process at first, only becoming manifest in the weeks and months that follow. A vital new insight drops in. An old relationship finds closure. Our singing voice suddenly opens. An unexpected opportunity appears. Triggers lose their power. Habits shift. Health becomes effortless. In hindsight, it almost always feels as though a new chapter started in the wake of a dieta.
Also, Shipibos understand these dieta experiences to be the core of how someone becomes an ayahuasca maestro, or onaya. You can learn more about these terms, how this process seems to work, and what Shipibo maestros say about their relationship to master plants by watching our Informational Video Series.
NEXT STEPS
Master plant dietas are not for everyone and not appropriate for every moment in time. At Amakaya, a minimum of 10 days is required for the ceremonies, fasting, isolation, refeeding, and reintegration process. Depending on the intentions of the dietero (you), a specific schedule and selection of plant(s) will be decided with our Shipibo maestro.
Some intentions, particularly regarding chronic illnesses and disease, require more than 10 days. In all cases, after these initial days of dieta, the seeds of the new chapter have been planted. Then, there are weeks of dietary restrictions and months of devoted self-care that must be respected for the process to bear fruits.
If you would like more information or feel called to begin planning a Master Plant Dieta for yourself, reach out to us.