Ep. 145 - Michal Scheffler - Ayahuasca, Bridge-Keeping, & Weaving the Word

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Hey everybody! Episode 145 of the show is out. In this episode, I spoke with Michal Scheffler. Michal was introduced to me by our mutual friend Marta (who I interviewed in episode 16). Michal has led a very fascinating and full life. He was a DJ for many years and holds two degrees in psychology. His interest in consciousness led him to Latin America and ayahuasca where he spent time with different indigenous groups such as the Huni Kuin, Yawanawa, Shuar, as well as the Santo Daime church. We spoke about this journey and then what led him to other teachers such as the Colombian taitas, Andean traditions, and the Tubu nation of the Colombian Amazon. We spoke about the power of the word, storytelling, his journey into fatherhood, his involvement in the Imago community, and a lot more. I think Michal’s wisdom is very apparent and it comes through his word and presence. I was really happy to sit down and speak with Michal and hear his wisdom and I trust you all will gain much from him as well. Also if you wait until the end, Michal sings one of his songs that came to him when calling in his son, on the Andean-Amazonian story of Origin. As always, to support this podcast, get early access to shows, bonus material, and Q&As, check out my Patreon page below. Enjoy!

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“Michal Scheffler (Sanken Koshi) is the founder and leader of IMAGO Community, a spiritual organization formally established in Brazil and USA, yet present across the Americas.

IMAGO stewards an altar that bridges the ancestral tools and wisdom of the Amazon and Andes into the new time.

While spending the last 11 years immersed in studying indigenous wisdom traditions, passing through a wide variety of diets and initiations led by the teachers of the jungle and the mountains, he predominantly trained in Brazil and Colombia.  The core of his offering is expressed through the weaving of the traditional chants of the Yawanawa nation with the ritual based on the geometry of word, song, story and dance.

While being guided by the teachings of the Law of Origin, Sanken Koshi has also walked a more formal path of university study. He carries two degrees in psychology and specializes in community building. He has observed that cultivating supportive community provides the integrity to create lasting shifts and benefit the individual process.

Fascinated by the reprogramming of consciousness, he adds a subtle academic approach to support the evolution and long-term benefits of the individuals and the collective.”

To learn more about or contact Michal, visit his website at: https://www.imagocommunity.org/

To view the recent documentary, Sacred Tobacco, about my work, visit: https://youtu.be/KB0JEQALI_w

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I will be guiding our next plant medicine dietas with my colleague Merav Artzi (who I interviewed in episode 28) in the Sacred Valley of Peru in November (SOLD OUT), again in the Sacred Valley in February, and April/May in Porto Covo, Portugal. If you would like more information about joining us and the work I do, visit my site at: https://NicotianaRustica.org

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Ep. 10 - Claude Guislain - Anthropologist and "Bridgekeeper," Indigenous Wisdom & Modern World

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Hey everybody! Episode 10 of the show is out. In this show, I spoke with my friend Claude.  Claude is a Peruvian anthropologist and ‘‘bridgekeeper,” an apt title for what he has become. I met Claude working at the Peruvian Amazonian plant medicine center, The Temple of the Way of Light. I find Claude to be a truly great bridge between many of the indigenous cultures he has studied and worked alongside with, and the outside world. He holds a depth of wisdom and an ability to communicate complex and different ideas in a very human and simple way. I could speak to Claude for hours, as we ended up doing in this show. Its three hours long but I think you will find Claude’s insights invaluable and very enlightening. This was one of my favorite conversations. I always enjoy talking to him and I think you will too. Enjoy!

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“With experience living and studying in the West, and apprenticing with Peruvian and Ecuadorian curanderos, Claude calls his mission at the Temple “bridge keeping”: the art of establishing and facilitating smooth communications and understanding between different worlds.

Claude was born and raised in Lima, geographically close but very far away from the medicine traditions of the Peruvian jungle. While living in Europe he learned about Peruvian shamanism, and the idea of teacher plants such as San Pedro and ayahuasca fascinated him enough to return to Peru. But Claude’s first experience with San Pedro sent him directly back to Europe to study anthropology before he traveled to Iquitos for his first experience with ayahuasca in 2003. 

Here, he found the perfect setting for his research fieldwork as he became deeply engaged in how local ayahuasquero traditions were being understood by Westerners and how traditional medicine practitioners were interacting and understanding their foreign guests. Right before graduating with an Anthropology License, Claude met an Ecuadorian mestizo curandero who traveled often to Europe and chose him as a helper and apprentice. After five years working with this man and his beautiful medicine in Europe and Ecuador, Claude again decided to return to the roots of the medicine in Peru. He has been working and learning from Maestra Ynes Sanchez and her family since early 2013 and collaborating with the Temple of the Way of Light since June 2015.”

These are the links Claude mentioned:  https://www.facebook.com/bridgekeepers and https://chaikuni.org

If you enjoy the show, it would be a big help if you could share it with your own audiences via social media or word of mouth.  If you’re watching on YouTube if you could take a second and Subscribe to the channel and if you’re listening on Apple Podcasts to leave a starred rating and a short review. That would be super helpful with the algorithms and getting this show out to more people. Thank you in advance!

If you would like more information on plant medicine and the work I do, visit my site at: https://www.NicotianaRustica.org    

And finally, with the pandemic, most people doing this work have been without access to work since March and the future is uncertain.  If you are able to and would like to donate to the show to help out with new content that would be deeply appreciated.  For just a few dollars a month you can subscribe through Patreon and it gives you some really nice added benefits like early access to shows, bonus episodes, and a chance to ask personalized questions.

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Music courtesy of Nuno Moreno. See his work at: https://m.soundcloud.com/groove_a_zen_sound and https://nahira-ziwa.bandcamp.com/  

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