Encompassing the Amazon: Ayahuasca, Vegetalismo and Cultural Survival February 18, 2010

Susana Bustos, Ph.D. and Robert Tindall (author of The Jaguar that Roams the Mind) spent a year in the Peruvian rainforest immersed in the vanishing culture of Amazonian Shamanism.

Encompassing the Amazon: Ayahuasca, Vegetalismo and Cultural Survival aims to introduce people to the healing ways of this tradition by combining travel narrative, music, slides and in-depth discussion of some of its main themes: the three pillars of Amazonian medicine (purging, work with psychoactive plants, and diet), the subtle inner logic of indigenous healing, and its efficacy in treatment of addiction and some physical diseases - including cancer. Finally, this presentation addresses the greater cultural, ecological and translation issues involving the importation of Amazonian healing practices into the West, including the role this ancient medicine can play in healing our contemporary ecological crisis.

Official Website: http://www.sfbotanicalgardensociety.org/sfbgs_course_template.cfm?s=5013