SANANGO
We primarily offer Uchu Sanango (Tabernaemontana sananho) and will sometimes have available Chiric Sanango (Brunfelsia grandiflora). Both are potent plant medicines in the Sanango family with long histories of medicinal use.
Sanango forms a bedrock of Maestro Alberto’s plant medicine culture. He considers Uchu Sanango to be the head or master plant of all types of Sanango. It is a very powerful healing medicine, highly-respected, though not very well known. We include Sanango as part of the ayahuasca brew and host special Sanango diets a few times each year.
Uchu Sanango
Uchu Sanango—sometimes referred to as lobo sanango—is considered the head of all sanango medicines. Sanango preparations are made from its inner root bark. Uchu literally means “spicy” in Quechua, and its medicine is indeed very spicy. Sanango is said to raise both physical and spiritual heat, which helps to purify the mind, body and spirit of toxic energies.
Uchu Sanango isn’t as well-known nor as frequently administered as other variants of sanango. One factor contributing to this is that there simply aren’t many sanangueros who still work with Uchu despite it being such an effective plant medicine. We are very fortunate to have Maestro Alberto offering this unique area of expertise—sanango medicines have been part of his lineage for generations.
Root Medicine
Uchu sanango’s healing properties are extensive. One main area of focus is the central nervous system—it penetrates deep into the body’s nerves as well as throughout the musculoskeletal system, bringing alignment to the core structure of the body. It also directly affects the brain and neurons, leading to a “reset” of the neural network and its interconnections.
Sanango is also known to improve one’s eyesight (i.e. enhancing physical and spiritual “vision”), enhance memory, cleanse the body and brain at the cellular level, help release toxins, and alleviate stress and tension. Sanango also has anti-inflammatory properties. Being a root medicine, sanango helps “dig into” and “root out” core issues that prevent one from living within one’s integrity.
The Dieta
Dieting with Sanango includes a limited diet of plain, bland, neutral food and a series of behavioral restrictions that prohibit sexual activity, physical contact with others, and the use of any beauty or hygiene products.
The first three nights, sanango ceremonies are held at 3:00 a.m. The physical effects are quite powerful: dizziness, vomiting and diarrea, heavy sweating, blurry eyesight, loss of fine-motor skills, muscular soreness and difficulty walking. Participants enter a dream-like altered state that can last for several hours.
Following the sanango ceremonies, participants observe the diet for several more days, at the conclusion of which commences a series of ayahuasca ceremonies. This integrates the dieta into a harmonious, lucid whole, where sanango and ayahuasca work together to align the energetic shifts that took place during the dieta.
Some of the diet restrictions will continue to be observed for the next 30 days. The result of this process awards the dieter with inevitable change in the direction of one’s intentions for living a better, more integral and purposeful life.
“Sanango is pure medicine, a master plant doctor. It gives you access to the spirit world and purifies the body. There is no alternative with Sanango. With it, you heal and you learn.”
