What is Kambô?

Known as the Giant Green Monkey Tree Frog in the West, the waxy secretion from this Amazonian amphibian carries the reputation for being one of the most powerful natural substances to bring the mind-body-soul connection back into balance. 

Traditionally, Kambo is used to ensure hunting success by increasing strength, energy, endurance, and heightening the senses, as well as being used as a general jungle medicine to treat snake bites, malaria, infections, pathogens and fever. One of it’s other well known uses is clearing away ”panema”, which loosely translate to dark, heavy, negative energies.

Alongside indigenous use, many thousands of people around the globe are recognizing Kambo for being a multi-dimensional healing medicine for a wide variety of illnesses and challenges across all levels of being:
The physical, mental, emotional, energetic and spiritual.

History of the Frog:
Kambo is found all across the Amazonian basin, from Peru to Brazil to Colombia and beyond. Various tribes have their own
traditions and legends about the origins of Kambo.
Here is one of the most well known legends comes from the Kaxinawá people, also referred to as the Huni Kuin, indigenous to Brazil.

What happens in Ceremony?

Kambo is an extraordinarily intuitive medicine.
We could look at Kambo from the scientific side, assessing the various peptides and their physiological response on the body, or, from the metaphysical side, looking at how it works holistically and energetically. Either way, Kambo seems to know exactly how and where to navigate within our individual systems, with each experience being unique in it’s own way.

The safest way to administer Kambo is through the skin, into the lymphatic system. A special stick or vine is used to burn small “gates” onto the very top layer of skin; akin to a very mild blister. This blistered skin is carefully removed, leaving a small opening. 

A small wooden stick contains the dried secretion, which is reconstituted with water and divided into small points. Approximately 10-15 minutes IMMEDIATELY prior to having Kambo applied, a reasonable amount of water is consumed to help mitigate some of the heat rise in the body and to assist with the purging process.

The Kambo secretion is then applied onto the small burn sites. This allows the secretion to enter the body via the lymphatic system, where the effects are felt almost immediately.

Traditionally, men have the medicine applied to their upper left arm or chest, while women typically have it placed on their lower right leg.

Kambo treatments can also incorporate chakra points, as well as auricular (ear) and meridian points. The type of treatment will depend on prior experience, subsequent treatments, and one’s intentions for taking Kambo.

During the experience, Kambo is scanning and navigating it’s way around the body. 

While there are never any guarantees as to what Kambo will offer, most people report a combination of uncomfortable and intense sensations, generally coming on immediately after Kambo is applied onto the skin, and passing with 20-45 minutes. A warmth and flushing of the skin often arises, with an increase in heart rate, and growing pressure in the head and upper body. People may experience slight swelling, dizziness, shaking, trembling, tingling, sweating, nausea, pain, cathartic release, purging, defecation and even fainting.

Although fainting may sound disconcerting, it’s a completely normal process in the context of working with Kambo. The physiological process behind fainting is due to the temporary reduction in blood pressure, however it doesn’t just stop there. It’s likely that there are energetic processes at play, with the system potentially needing to ‘reboot’ to allow for larger actions to occur, such as the discharge of dense heavy energy, or subconscious trauma release.

The purging process is certainly encouraged and for the most part an inherent physiological response, allowing and aiding the body to release the toxins and energies that aren’t serving us – physically, emotionally, mentally and energetically. 

Purging can come in a number of different ways – from the top end, the bottom end, and as mentioned, through profuse sweating, shaking, crying, or any other kind of cathartic release. In some instances however, it doesn’t come at all. Whatever the case, the purging process is a process to embrace. We don’t view it as being sick. Instead, we view it as getting well.

As mentioned, there are never any guarantees in the discomfort one may experience, with people occasionally reporting deep states of calm meditation, alongside feelings of euphoria and bliss.

Immediately after the process, you’ll feel
invigorated, or exhausted.

Either way, it’s important to rest up to let the full potential for Kambo’s mind-body-spirit healing power to unfurl. The subsequent days after a treatment is when people generally begin to feel the real benefits of Kambo, feeling clean, clear, rejuvenated and energised. For some, the after-effects are more subtle.

There are a number of people that will experience a herxheimer response, also known as a “healing crisis”, in the days following their treatment. This is a detoxification reaction to the body clearing out large amounts of toxins.

If you’re knowingly, or unknowingly, carrying a latent illness, it’s entirely possible for new or old symptoms of this illness to bubble up to the surface. Kambo has the potential to uproot dense and dormant energies, so that your body can continue to clear out whatever needs to be removed from the system, aligning to its own innate healing wisdom.

As with any kind of transformational work, integration – the period of time after the actual experience – is one of the most important aspects of the process. If you’re going back to an unhealthy lifestyle, the benefits won’t be as pronounced. The key here is to work in conjunction with these medicines; taking the necessary steps to align to deeper levels of health, wellness, virtues, values, heart, soul and spirit.