A Kambo ceremony, or Kambo ritual, is a ceremony developed in South American tribal societies in which a Shaman or healer applies a secretion harvested from the Giant Monkey Frog to small burns on the skin of the participants. This causes the participants to purge, cleansing the mind and body of bad elements and negative energy referred to as ‘Panema’. It is used by the tribes-people to increase physical and mental performance prior to a hunt, and to treat various medical conditions.
Today Kambo ceremonies are practiced throughout the world by trained practitioners for a variety of beneficial purposes. Training to be a Kambo practitioner will not only enrich your life with deeply rewarding work, you’ll also create professional opportunities, loving friendships & gain true geographic freedom through this highly empowering & specialized skill set.
The first stage is opening the gateway. Your practitioner will make a series of small burns on your skin - usually 4 or 5 on your upper arm for first time participants - using an incense stick, or small vine. This is just to remove the very top layer of the skin. It really doesn’t hurt as much as it sounds like it might - it only touches the skin for a very brief moment. This is to open the gateway for the Kambo.
Next is drinking your water. This is purely to make sure that you’ve got something in your stomach that isn’t too unpleasant to purge. Your practitioner will guide you as to how much you should be drinking, but, expect it to be at least 1 litre of water.
After drinking water, the next stage is the actual application of the Kambo. Your practitioner will prepare some small dots, or points of Kambo, and place them on top of the small burns on your skin. This allows the Kambo to enter your body and work its magic. You may notice a little bit of a burning or stinging sensation around the area, and also maybe some skin discoloration. This is very standard, so don’t worry if this happens.
At first you will feel a bit of extra blood flow around the top of your body, particularly your head and neck. You may experience this as a sensation of mild heat or pressure - with your skin starting to flush. You may start to feel your pulse in your skin.
This rush will start to recede and you will start to feel a bit restless, uncomfortable, and nauseous. This feeling intensifies as the Kambo really goes to work releasing all those toxins and negative energy. This builds and eventually you will start to purge.
Purging varies between people and ceremonies. Often you will start to purge relatively quickly, bringing up the water that you have consumed. Sometimes it might be later and you can expect to see some bile come up too, as that’s where a lot of the toxins are concentrated, and it’s those that are really making you feel sick.
This rush will start to recede and you will start to feel a bit restless, uncomfortable, and nauseous. This feeling intensifies as the Kambo really goes to work releasing all those toxins and negative energy. This builds and eventually you will start to purge.
Purging varies between people and ceremonies. Often you will start to purge relatively quickly, bringing up the water that you have consumed. Sometimes it might be later and you can expect to see some bile come up too, as that’s where a lot of the toxins are concentrated, and it’s those that are really making you feel sick.
There will come a point, often within around 15 minutes of starting to purge, when you are purging bile, that you’ve hit the ‘hump’ of the purge, and you will start feeling much better and far less nauseous.
Once you’ve finished purging you will feel spent - Kambo is an ‘ordeal’ medicine - so expect to feel like you’ve completed a big journey. However, within another 15 minutes or so you will start to feel a really calming wash of relief and serenity come over your body and mind. This feeling can persist for many hours after the ceremony.
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