Dieta(s): share your experience

[northape]

I also want to mention spices again since i think they can be overlooked. The vast amount of spices that are used all around the world have amazing benefits, from supporting, bone, heart, skin, liver, blood, et cetera. But beyond that they also can be anti inflammatory, anti fungal, anti parasitical, et cetera. I wont name all the benefits but the list goes on.

I like spices myself, but they are considered untraditional. From what I understand, spices on their own have slight psychoactivity. It's not something perceptible day-to-day, but it can be felt when using harmalas. A traditional diet is bland for a reason - we don't want to introduce any extra energies into the medicine space. The same applies to stimulants like coffee. All the plants you use together with harmalas could be considered an admixture, so it's better to start from a clean base and introduce one plant at a time. I like drinking common sage tea during my ceremonies. It gives extra energy and a positive focus to the journey.

 

[COSMIC_SWIMMER]

I like spices myself, but they are considered untraditional. From what I understand, spices on their own have slight psychoactivity. It's not something perceptible day-to-day, but it can be felt when using harmalas. A traditional diet is bland for a reason - we don't want to introduce any extra energies into the medicine space. The same applies to stimulants like coffee. All the plants you use together with harmalas could be considered an admixture, so it's better to start from a clean base and introduce one plant at a time. I like drinking common sage tea during my ceremonies. It gives extra energy and a positive focus to the journey.

I did not know that, im not well versed in the different traditional uses of aya and the diets. But i was not suggesting to use them with aya, only that they can help serve to benefit things like digestion and overall health which can then create a better foundation for the medicine when taken at a later time.

I also dont think we should get too deep into the weeds of what is traditional use. Tho i do believe we can learn a lot from tradition.
I think modern science and understanding can be used with tradition. There is no reason to believe we need to add many different add mixtures or use full plants for aya instead of using a cleaner extract. Chances are they did not know the chemistry/science of extraction to purify while living in the jungle. I dont think we need to imply all the other compounds in the plant help guide the experience, which some might. But i think theres a way of looking at it from a more Integrative point of view that incorporates modern with the old.
We can imagine a time in the future where we have more advanced technology and live in harmony with nature.

I dont want anyone to think i think of myself as a authority on this topic, i am just sharing my thoughts. I am here to learn and grow.

 

[northape]

Yeah, all is well here. We're just talking
I fully get your perspective and subscribe to it myself. All I did was point to why it's maybe omitted in the tradition, that's all.
This topic goes back and forth between diets and plant diets, so I may be confused about the direction

I feel there is solid subjective evidence for the existence of plant spirits, but it's not a well-accepted view. Some agree with it, while others say it's all in your mind.
Both could be true, though. It's all in our minds, and we're just living with a modern scientific perspective. I feel everyone should find their own truth and what works for them.
Your opinion has the same value as mine, no matter your experience with harmalas. You're a living being on this planet, and what I value is your lived experience.

 

[dreamer042]

Okay, I'll bite. Mostly because I feel like the foundational point of the whole practice is being missed here.

A dieta is not about yucca and fish, with or without salt and manioc beer. It's not even really about ayahuasca. It's about forming a relationship with a specific plant.

The description "diet" is a bit of a lossy translation, as the food is only one part of it. A “dieta” in this context is more a kind of ayuna, a fast, not just from oily, salty, or tyramine rich foods, but from all the distractions of daily life. It's the removal of stimulus, excitation, and sensory input, a kind of pratyahara if you will. The bland saltless food, the isolation, the silence, the darkness, the avoidance of smells and sex and technology; the heart of it, the reason for all these taboos, the whole point, is to apprentice a single plant through copious, sustained ingestion of it and almost nothing else.

The initiate is expected to emerge carrying that plant's icaros, its arkanas, and the fuerza to hold space and work with its energy in ceremony. That's where the ayahuasca comes in, as a facilitator, the tuner that opens the channel to the espiritu of the vegetal you're dieting. The vine is typically not the plant being dieted.

It looks like everyone got lost in the scaffolding that’s meant to support the work and mistook it for the work itself. Rather than asking if oatmeal or potatoes are better to heighten sensitivity, ask sensitivity to what? Which plant are you working with and toward what purpose? Is your intention healing, protection, learning a specific lesson? Optimizing the meal might smooth out the purge, but perfecting the delivery and skipping the plant won't teach you an icaro.

Now, something I've thought about a lot, and I suspect it's what this thread is actually reaching for without quite saying it. How do we bring this practice into a modern life that has no tambo in the jungle to retreat to?

What does a 21st-century dieta look like amid a 9-to-5, bills to pay, a family to feed, and a regular gym routine? Probably a lot like the healthy lifestyle everyone already talks about. A little less screen time, a little more mindfulness, some time in the backyard with your teacup or a day hike with a big bottle of plant potion in your pack. Maybe eating a little lighter and more seasonally, temple-food style, so nothing on the plate is shouting over the plant. It’s your life, just with the plant ally threaded through it. It’s a lot of tea, a handful of flowers mixed into the bathwater, some pungent steam off a boiling pot, a little bowl in the vaporizer or a whiff of incense or potporri, its a few leaves added to your lunch salad or your dinner soup.

It doesn’t even require specially imported Amazonian botanicals. Go to your garden,pick a plant, and really work it into your life. Slow down a little bit, cut the distractions where you can, and actually pay attention to this new addition. Who knows, you might just wake up one day with a song in your head, or heart.

See how your next brew goes with a plant ally at your back, versus just chomping down 6 lbs of unsalted potatoes.