VIVA, KAMBO!
I work with Kambo through precision, restraint and deep reverence for the medicine. I believe more is not better, and I do not measure a ceremony by the number of points someone receives or the intensity of their experience.
Every session is approached individually, with intentional placement, thoughtful dosing, sound, prayer and a deeply held ceremonial container. My responsibility is to listen, discern and serve the medicine in a way that honours both the person sitting before me as well as the spirit of Kambo and the keepers of the tradition.
WhAT SETS ME APART FROM OTHER FACILITATORS?
The Intelligence of the Medicine
Kambo is a remarkably complex biological substance.
The secretion contains a range of bioactive peptides and other compounds that interact with multiple systems in the body. Among the best-studied are peptides such as phyllokinin, phyllomedusin, sauvagine and dermorphin, alongside other compounds that have been investigated for their effects on cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, nervous and endocrine pathways.
This biological cocktail is part of what makes Kambo so fascinating—and also why I approach it with such care.
I am intensely interested in the meeting point between the biology of the medicine and the intelligence of ceremony: what happens when these potent compounds meet the human body within a carefully held, intentional container.
There is still much we do not know. Kambo is an emerging area of scientific interest, and I believe it is important to distinguish what has been studied from what is experiential, traditional or still being explored.
For me, reverence and discernment belong together.
We can honour the mystery without abandoning the science.
My Relationship with Kambo
I have been walking with Kambo since 2017.
My first experience with the medicine was profound—but the container I received it in was not. For me, this came as an extra shock because he was recommended by my Ayahuasca curandera at the time.
The facilitator was visibly uncertain throughout the ceremony, asking others for guidance on point placement and becoming overwhelmed when participants began having intense reactions. At one point, he was asking the girl beside me, a Chinese medicine student, where he should place points on my body! (P.S. that woman is now a doctor, and one of my closest friends)
There was little due diligence around the people in the room. No meaningful inquiry into where the women were in their cycles or what they were carrying into the ceremony. When the girl beside me began struggling deeply, I sensed something was not right. I asked her if she was bleeding and if she had a tampon in. She did—she was shocked and immediately went to remove it.
Another participant fainted, and rather than remaining grounded and present, the facilitator began to panic.
I found myself stepping into prayer and holding presence in a way that felt instinctive. I was more alert than I had been in any journey before. Kambo had activated Warrior mode.
**A side note…5 years later one of my initiations into teaching required me to hold space and serve others kambo while I was on it myself…when that time came, I laughed. I’d been here before!**
Anywho..I remember thinking: If this is my only access to Kambo, I don’t want anything to do with this medicine again. I loved Kambo, but I’d never sit with this man again.
So I walked away.
A year later, I met one of my dearest friends and the coolest, realest most down to earth healers I have ever known. She asked if I had ever sat with Kambo.
I told her the truth: Yes! I loved the medicine. I just didn’t trust the person holding it.
She told me I needed to meet her facilitator.
“He’s your Persian brother! You got to meet him.” She knew, before I did, something about our meeting would be significant.
She was right.
The first time I met him, I couldn’t stop smiling. I felt an immediate familiarity, as though I had known him forever. More than anything, I could feel the altar he carried—the cleanliness of his relationship with the medicine, the reverence, the integrity.
For the first time, I felt at home in ceremony.
I knew immediately that I wanted to learn from him.
He would eventually introduce me to one of my most beloved teachers, Maestro Manuel Rufino and over the years I continued walking with Kambo, learning, observing, receiving, questioning and deepening my relationship with the medicine.
Three years later, I asked for his blessing to begin serving.
His response was simple:
“Aho. Yes. Kambo needs your medicine.”
I carried those words with me.
I did not begin serving because I wanted another modality to offer people. I began because, over years of sitting with this medicine, I came to understand the responsibility of holding it.
My relationship with Kambo is built on reverence, discernment and restraint.
I do not believe someone should receive more simply because they ask for more. I do not believe intensity is synonymous with depth. And I am not interested in creating an experience simply because someone has paid for one.
I work with less. I work with precision. I pay attention to the person in front of me—their body, their intention, their readiness and the subtleties of what is unfolding.
I use intentional point placement, measured dosing, sound and prayer to create a container where the medicine can be met with respect.
And perhaps most importantly, I only work with people who are genuinely ready to enter into relationship with this medicine—not simply those looking for an intense experience or something to check off their list.
Kambo is not something I take lightly.
It has taught me that the medicine is only part of the ceremony.
The integrity of the person holding it matters, too.
Ways I Serve the Medicine
Kambo can meet us in many different seasons of life.
The way I work with the medicine is never one-size-fits-all. I listen for what is being asked of the person, what they are moving through, and what kind of container will best support the work.
For some, Kambo becomes a ceremony of release. For others, it marks a threshold—a death of an old identity, a return to the body, or an initiation into something new.
These are some of the ways I serve the medicine
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Microdosing Circles
Less Medicine. More Listening.
My microdosing circles are intimate, co-ed gatherings for those who feel called to work with Kambo in a more gradual and spacious way.
Rather than seeking intensity, we work with community and precision—allowing a smaller amount of medicine to meet the body while remaining deeply connected to intention, presence and the collective field.
These circles are not about seeing how much you can take. They are about learning how to listen.
I believe there is tremendous depth available when we stop equating intensity with transformation. Sometimes, less medicine creates more space to notice what is actually happening within you.
These circles offer a shared ceremonial experience while allowing each person’s process to remain uniquely their own.
Kambo Facilitator Training
Learning to Hold the Medicine
You can learn the points. You can learn the protocol. You can memorize the steps. But holding Kambo is a way of life.
I created this training for those who feel a genuine calling to serve this medicine—and who understand that being a facilitator is a privilege and responsibility, not simply another modality to add to your offerings.
This is a training in discernment, presence, relationship and responsibility.
We go beyond the mechanics of administration and into the deeper art of reading a room, reading a person, understanding when to proceed and when not to, and knowing how to remain anchored when the unexpected arises.
You will learn the practical foundations of serving Kambo safely and responsibly, while also being invited to develop your own relationship with the medicine, your own ceremonial integrity and your capacity to hold a clean, grounded space.
You will have council to always hold you accountable.
Because ultimately, people are not only receiving the medicine.
They are receiving the person holding it.
This work asks something of you.
It asks you to be present and humble. To keep learning. To know your limits. To respect the medicine enough to say no when no is the right answer.
If you feel called to walk this path, I would love to walk with you.
Kambo for Women
Womb. Body. Becoming.
For women, I often work with Kambo through the lens of the womb and the feminine body.
This may be a ceremony for reconnecting with the body, moving through a major life transition, releasing an old chapter, or creating space for a deeper relationship with one’s feminine identity.
The womb carries so much symbolism—not only around sexuality and fertility, but around creation, endings, beginnings, identity and our relationship to our own body.
I hold these ceremonies as sacred spaces for women to meet themselves more deeply.
Every woman’s experience is different. There is no prescribed outcome and no promise of what the medicine will reveal. My role is to create the container, observe carefully and allow the ceremony to unfold in its own way.
Kambo for Men
Rite. Responsibility. Initiation.
For men, I often work with Kambo through the lens of rite of passage and initiation.
There are moments in a man’s life when an old identity is no longer enough—becoming a father, ending a relationship, stepping into leadership, leaving behind an old way of living, or simply recognizing that it is time to become more fully responsible for the life he is creating.
These ceremonies can offer a deliberate threshold.
A place to acknowledge what is ending.
A place to meet what is asking to emerge.
And a place to consciously step forward.
I don’t believe initiation is about proving how much you can endure. It is about presence, responsibility, humility and the willingness to meet and truly see yourself .
KAMBO TRAINING TESTIMONIAL
from Erica Sainsbury, now Kambo Practitioner serving the Chelsea/Ottawa region @creatingfromthestillpoint
“My training with Sasha was an earlier, intimate offering—much shorter than the beautiful, more comprehensive training she is cultivating today—but even within that brief period, the depth of her mentorship provided me with a solid and grounded foundation from which to begin serving this remarkable medicine.
Sasha has always been my favourite person to receive Kambo from. She holds the medicine with a rare combination of steadiness, reverence, and genuine care, complemented by an enlivening inner fire, spirit, and humour. She carries a deep respect for its origins and essence, while never losing sight of the humanity of the person sitting before her.
What I appreciated most as her student was that she never encouraged me to replicate her way of working or become a reflection of her practice. Instead, she supported me in discovering my own relationship with Kambo in service. She nurtured my intuition, reflected my natural strengths, and instilled in me the confidence to develop an authentic approach to serving. I left not only with greater skill, but with a deeper sense of responsibility and reverence for the privilege of holding this work.
Years later, Sasha remains someone I trust deeply. She has always been generous with her guidance whenever I’ve sought it, and I continue to admire the integrity she brings to her practice. She honours her own boundaries, respects her energetic sensitivity, and approaches Kambo with the clear understanding that it is a powerful tool—not a cure-all. This perspective has profoundly shaped the way I now integrate Kambo into my own practice, as one meaningful element within a much broader healing journey.
If you are considering learning from Sasha, you will be learning from someone who embodies both humility and mastery. She teaches with reverence, empowers rather than instructs, and creates the space for each practitioner to develop an authentic relationship with this extraordinary medicine. I am deeply grateful that our paths crossed, and I continue to carry her teachings with me every time I serve.”
What I Share — And What I Keep Sacred
There is much more to my work than what I share on this page.
My process is deeply personal, specific and intentional, and there are aspects of how I work with Kambo that I choose to keep within the ceremonial space rather than explain publicly online.
Some things are meant to be experienced, not explained.
Some teachings have been entrusted to me through years of relationship with the medicine, my teachers and the lineages I have walked alongside. I hold those teachings with care, and I do not believe everything needs to become content.
So while I want you to understand my philosophy, my standards and the way I approach this work, I will not publish a step-by-step blueprint of my process here.
There is a difference between being secretive and being discerning.
I protect what has been entrusted to me.
KAMBO JOURNEYS
Kambo is a secretion from the Giant Monkey Tree Frog and used by Indigenous tribes of the Amazon for deep physical, emotional, and energetic cleansing. In a ceremonial setting, it is applied to the skin to support detoxification, strengthen the immune system, and clear stagnant energy from the body and energy field.
Kambo is known for its purgative effects, often bringing rapid and powerful cleansing of physical toxins, stored emotions, or energetic blockages. While the experience can be intense, it is also deeply grounding and clarifying, leaving many people feeling lighter, more present, and reconnected to themselves.
Each circle includes preparation guidance, opening meditation, the application of Kambo and a light lunch. This experience is enhanced in a group setting, and how I first fell in love with this special medicine.
Please note: Kambo is not suitable for everyone. There are specific medical contraindications, and all participants are carefully screened beforehand to ensure safety.
One week · In person · An initiation into the work
Level One is where the relationship begins.
This one-week, in-person training is designed for those who feel genuinely called to deepen their relationship with Kambo and learn the foundations of holding a conscious ceremonial container.
This is not a teacher-training, and completion of Level One does not qualify you to train or certify other Kambo facilitators. It is the first level of my training path: an invitation into self-initiation, foundational facilitation and the responsibility of working with Kambo in community.
Throughout the week, we touch on:
— Kambo application and foundational point work
— An introduction to Chinese medicine points, meridians and energetic pathways
— Sound as a ceremonial and facilitation tool
— Jungle resins and other traditional plant allies, including their appropriate and responsible use
— Preparing and holding a strong ceremonial container
— Working with intention, presence and discernment
— The foundations of co-ed microdosing circles
— Developing your own relationship with the medicine through self-initiation
This is not about collecting another certification.
It is about beginning to understand what it means to hold medicine for another human being.
I will share the foundations, frameworks and practices that have shaped my own work, while encouraging you to develop the discernment to eventually find your own voice as a facilitator.
Level One is the beginning—not the destination.
PLEASE CONNECT FOR A CALL BEFORE REGISTERING. DEEP INTAKE REQUIRED.
Let’s Work Together
If you're interested in working with Kambo through the SASHAMAMA lens and training, fill out the form below.