The path you are on has been chosen by you and is solely your responsibility. What I provide here should be viewed purely as information to be pondered and not as advice of any kind. I am not a medical professional so I must leave it to you to do with as you see fit.
There is a certain amount of sacrifice required as part of your personal spiritual healing journey. We understand that we may need to give up something in order to make space for something else; for example, giving up smoking for better health or giving up anger to make room for love.
“In Amazonian vegetalismo or plant spirit shamanism, one must purify the body in a special shamanic diet or dieta. A dieta facilitates the cleansing of one’s body spiritually, physically, and psychologically in preparation to invite the spirit of the plants to enter the healing process. It’s for this reason that cleansing and detoxification of a dieta is a useful and important first phase of any healing plan, for it is believed that in the order to allow the universe to bring new things into your life, one needs to clear oneself of negative and harmful energies and toxins. A dieta is achieved through physical dieting, such as abstaining from certain foods and habits. It is also achieved through a psychological, emotional, and spiritual dieting by removing harmful and distressing energies or influences from one’s life (people/events/situations/locations) and by cultivating a space of peaceful mindfulness through meditation, art, dream, and connection to nature.”
It is recommended that before you partake in a healing ceremony that you begin the cleansing phase of the dieta by dramatically cutting back on sugars (including refined flours and processed foods in general), salts, fatty and fried foods, alcohol and pork several days before your ceremony. You might also consider abstaining from sex for a number of days before your ceremony. In addition, you should pay particular attention to your use of pharmaceuticals and recreational drugs; which can mask or otherwise interfere with your healing process.
Our practice of dieta is beneficial practice for anyone, at any time, when a ‘healing boost’ is needed. I consider myself extremely lucky to be married to a Middle Eastern woman who practices a clean lifestyle and lives on a very healthy diet consisting mainly of staples, fruits, and vegetables; with occasional helpings of fish, chicken, but rarely any red meats.
Anyone who is serious about the shamanic path will have little difficulty with these simple instructions. This isn’t just about the food, it is also about the dieting of spiritual, emotional, and mental thought processes that keep us in a repetitive feedback loop.
It is my sincere hope that you will be rewarded with health, great calmness, and clarity of thought. The following recommendations are simple enough and when performed in combination will give good and worthwhile benefits.
Think to yourself, “Each moment I feel discomfort is a moment I am healing and growing.”
- Avoid foods that are aged, preserved, dried, fermented, pickled, cured (meats), rancid, old, outdated, overripe, or even slightly spoiled, and red meat. Please refer to the list.
- Inform those who need to know that you are preparing for an important event and will not be available. If they care about you they will respect your wishes.
- Turn off the noise! TV, electronic devices, obnoxious people, noisy and busy places, etc
- Pay due attention to your intake of crap (visual, oratory, and nutritional). ‘Crap’ is defined as anything which introduced from ‘outside’ of the mind and body that does nothing to benefit your mind or your body.
- Spend your time in peaceful surroundings; quiet room, the park, nature, etc.
- Practice ‘Walking Meditation’ in everything you do and everywhere you go – pay attention to your breathing and manage your thoughts.
- Spend time with someone who (truly) cares about you and understands you.
- Avoid drama. Ask yourself, “Is this personal? Is this about me? How can I forgive this person? How can I forgive myself? Do I need to engage with this? Is this serving me? How can I approach this situation with compassion and loving detachment?”
- Reduce your intake of stimulants e.g. coffee
We see, from this list, that this is a lifestyle choice. It is important that you approach the dieta without judgement. Do not become obsessive. Do not become self critical if the if the task becomes overly difficult and you are not able to meet all the criteria. Do the best you can and be happy that you have tried.
Please feel free to contact the organizer with any questions you might have.