At Chacruna: Healing and Knowledge with Amazonian Shamanic Diet

Matteo Politi

Working as Director of Research at Takiwasi, a pioneering center for the rehabilitation of drug addicts and research on traditional medicines, located in the high jungle of Peru, gave me the chance to get firsthand contact with the ancestral practice known as dieta (diet). This consists of a retreat in isolation with the ritualized intake of specific medicinal plants from the local flora that are perceived as proper teachers, accompanied by a special diet and strict physical and psychological norms. In the approach to mental health challenges, including addiction, Takiwasi successfully combines psychotherapy, conventional Western medicine, and Traditional Amazonian Medicine (TAM), where the dieta represents one of the most important therapeutic practices of this unique protocol... continue reading.