Ways to Learn from Plants: Sitting in Dieta

In the Amazon, Ayahuasca sits at the center of a circle of master plants. These include plants with odd sounding names like Ajo Sacha, Bobinsana, Remo Caspi, and Chulla Chaqui Caspi. The list also includes more widely recognized plants like Tobacco. Beyond this circle of master plants sit an array of countless other plants with vast potentials for healing. One contention is that those potentials for healing are linked with both the complex chemical interactions of life and an ineffable connection with our spiritual birthright, the Divine, and our dreams. In this contention, the human organism is the most elegant of multidimensional instruments; it is a temple. Another contention is that human beings and the rest of life on this planet are chemical structures run by a DNA operating-system capable of being effectively overwritten by Western medicine, as if it were computer code to be updated, hacked, or patched. For this second contention, the Spirit plays no role other than data-points plotted off the curve.

For those interested in further exploring the first contention or testing the outer limits of the second contention, there is the dieta. Following is an approach for stepping into dieta as practiced in the Amazon.

An excellent plant to begin your dieta with is Ajo Sacha. Ajo Sacha is also known as jungle garlic or false garlic, because of its strikingly similar taste and smell to that of garlic. As a master plant, Ajo Sacha offers an excellent initial cleanse for preparing the way for other master plants.

If this is your first time, your initial dieta will last three days and three nights. On the night prior to your first day of dieta, prepare 16 ounces of ajo sacha tea. Take 16 ounces of hot water and add to it between four and six rounded teaspoons of ajo sacha (2 to 3 rounded teaspoons per 8oz of hot water). This can be prepared in either a French press or a large glass. Set your drink by the bedside or out on the kitchen table, then set your alarm for 5:00AM the next day. (If you normally get up at 5:00AM, set your alarm for 4:00AM.) Get up at 5:00, drink half your tea (8oz), then go back to bed to either sleep or rest until you would normally get up. Leave the remaining tea out, covered by a cloth to keep bugs out. At 5:00 in the afternoon, drink the second half of your concoction, then prepare another 16oz for the following day. Repeat this cycle for three days. On the morning of the 4th drink a small amount of lime juice with a pinch of salt to close off your dieta.

While on dieta, you’ll be eating simple food with no salt. Meals would typically include: rice, potatoes, yams, carrots, beets, cucumbers, and small amounts of non-bitter leafy greens. The idea here is to get a clear signal on the plant you’re sitting with by keeping your diet simple. For much the same reason, you’ll also be on a media diet. That means no internet and very minimal cell-phone use. You’ll also limit your social interactions as much as possible. You can write or practice learning music. The idea is to substantially limit your complexity of food, social interactions, and media. This will give you a chance to tune in and distinguish the feelings generated by your interaction with your chosen plant while on dieta. In some cases your initial interaction with a plant can feel like nothing . . . essentially less than a cup of coffee. With a little exposure time, what felt like nothing will begin to feel like possibly something, then something, then definitely something, then quite pronounced.

With repeated dietas, your response to the plant can feel something like a reverse allergy, that is: a healthy and beneficial sensitivity to both the plant, you own moods, and the environment at large. In short, the process itself can feel a lot like simply sitting with your intuition, reflecting on your own moods, emotions, and feeling states. On dieta, trying to distinguish the line between your awareness and what you’re aware of can be baffling. That’s ok. You may not have the emotional lexicon to describe what you’re feeling in language, but as that vocabulary grows it creates a syntax for clear reflection. In other words, dieta with one plant will give a point of comparison for the next plant on dieta. Even if you can’t name what you’re feeling, you’ll grow accustom to knowing what you’re feeling. What’s more, a familiarity with these moods can be invoked, in much the same way that a mood can be summoned by invoking the name and memory of someone you love or hate. You come to see that you’re invoking moods all the time, that you’re not at the mercy of someone else’s bad day, week, or millenia . . . that personal change is possible even if ingrained habits and knee-jerk responses have been laid down for generations.

Plant dietas can have a profound effect on your dream life as well. Some of these dreams can be startling vivid. You may notice that you have dreams involving unusual personalities in unique settings. In the Amazon, this is said to be the spirit of the plant coming to meet you in your dreams. Regardless, allow yourself to come to your own linguistic decryption of these quite mysterious affairs. You may find yourself in your dreams transforming into an animal of one type or another or awaken from dreams with a deep sense of longing, joy, or wonder. Whatever you see or feel, these experiences will come at their own pace, and you’ll need to be there to catch them. Have patience. Set time aside.

Nonetheless, on any given Tuesday you may find there’s no time to head down to Peru to hang in a tambo-shack hammock. So, even if you can’t follow the full dieta-regimen, you can sit in what’s called a social diet. In a social diet you drink the plant tea and then go about your day, eating your typical diet. The idea with a social diet is to assess any over-emphasis on procedures, especially as they function as blocks to getting started. So, if finding the perfect moment is standing in your way from sitting on dieta, make the perfect moment now.

For high-quality Amazonian Master Plants and dieta supplies, visit AmazonianPlants.com. It’s filled with plants ready for getting started right away. You’ll also find online store purveyors Serhiy and Anna happy to personally answer your questions about dieta and master plants. Bon Appétit!