What is Kambo anyways?

Kambo is an ancient indigenous medicine taken from the venomous secretion of the Amazonian Sapo Tree Frog. It’s a poison that the frog uses for self defense. When applied topically on the skin Kambo activates a radical physical, emotional and mental cleansing process. Kambo has been used for centuries by local tribes to enhance their hunting abilities. It’s considered warrior medicine. Some of the primary effects after participating in the Kambo ritual are nausea, and vomiting.

Kambo is the name given to the venomous secretion of a tree frog that is applied topically on the skin by the indigenous tribes of the Amazon to heal and strengthen the mind, body and spirit.

How does it work?

During a Kambo treatment, the medicine is applied to the skin after small superficial burns are made with a red hot ember vine or incense stick. Only the very top layer of the skin is burned. Once the burns have been made, the Kambo resin is applied to the wounds and this allows the medicine to communicate with the brain via the lymphatic system.

Within a few minutes, the participant will feel hot and flushed and a wave of nausea will set in. Typically, this will induce vomiting. The process usually lasts around 15-20 minutes. Afterwards, you are supposed to achieve restored health, and/or better hunting, due to the toxins and bad principles leaving the body.

The medicine contains a cocktail of bioactive peptides and neuropeptides which have a powerful effect on the body and brain and allow the body to heal itself.

The indigenous tribes use Kambo for many reasons

Physically, it is used to fight disease and illness, as a remedy for snake and other venomous bites, to heal fevers and to increase fertility. It is also used before a hunt by the tribesmen to sharpen the senses and increase physical prowess.

Spiritually, it is used to remove ‘panema’, which the tribes define as dark, heavy or negative energies that manifest as sickness, bad luck, depression, laziness and a clouded mind. By removing ‘panema’, a person is free to live an abundant life full of good fortune, vitality and to stay in peak physical and mental condition.

Other Potential benefits

• Improved mood and reduced anxiety – possibly from the interactions that lead to reductions in the main stress hormone, cortisol, within the bloodstream.
• Pain relief – certain elements have anti-inflammatory properties that can reduce the inflammation associated with some type of pain, as well as other compounds that have some opioid-like effects, and that can also cross blood-brain barrier, causing pain blocking effects within the brain itself.
• Anti-cancer properties – an indirect result of the action of some compounds leads to reduced blood vessel growth, which is a property used in a number of treatments that can help to restrict tumour growth in cancers with targeted delivery.
• Treatment of addiction – helping to reset certain chemical pathways in the brain that are fouled by addiction. Some of the peptides are opioid-receptor binding, meaning that they bind to the receptors in the brain that opiates normally bind to. This could help those with opiate addiction by helping to normalise brain hormonal responses without the need for opiate ingestion.
• Lowered blood pressure – many of the peptides have vaso-dilatory effects, meaning that they widen blood vessels. This allows more room for blood to flow and so contributes to lower blood pressure. Indeed, these are what cause some of the light-headedness and dizziness that can be felt when taking Kambo.
• Heart protective properties – in addition, this widening of blood vessels can increase blood flow to the heart. Along with some of the other effects on smooth muscle, this has the potential to aid heart health.
• Anti-microbial properties – many of the compounds have effects to fight against fungal and bacterial infections. Actually, this is one of the reasons why the frog from which Kambo is harvested secretes this substance in the first place – to help protect its skin from fungal and bacterial infection, which are a particular menace to amphibians.