Q & A: Successive Iboga ceremony for sensitive past trauma

Working with Iboga for psycho-spiritual insight is a gradual journey. Each person experiences the change within themselves over a few years. It truly is an profound journey of transformation. After each Iboga ceremony, different aspects of the participants queries and reasons for coming for help are addressed.

Someone recently asked me, ‘I’m still really struggling with my own trauma from childhood so you think the deeper, consecutive ceremonies you all do will help? I’ve tried so often to release it with other Iboga facilitators, but it still is there.’

I have often observed an alchemy with the ‘sacred wood’. In the way how its not unusual for old trauma patterns to start resurfacing strongly in period of time after your consultation.

A common reflection of participants is how a resurgence of their ‘trickier’ thought patterns and behaviors seems to be more acting up more than ever. To the extent that old patterns that have been ‘done’ and ‘dealt with’ before seems to come up again.

It is simply amazing to witness.

The period of time before ceremony is what we call 'the cook'. In this ‘cooking’ time, the wood is drawing up the trauma and it may be the same old core conditioning ‘re-clothed’, playing out through the current life circumstances. The idea is that it is fully up on the surface by the time you come for ceremony.

For some individuals, their core issues can be addressed ‘straight-up’ by their first ceremony. But more realistically, anxieties and conditioning related to the trauma can be addressed over 3-5 ceremonies in 6 to 18 months.n

The first ceremony is providing the grounding in the body and mind to be relaxed and aware with the trauma and how it plays out. The duration of time in the retreat between the first and the second ceremony allows for time to let the impact of the ceremony land in the body and mind with the calming and grounding in the central nervous system to have personal insight in these areas of stress. The second ceremony is helping to further reset and reflect on the topic from a more relaxed place. In this ceremony there is a refinement upon the teachings that the Wood is sharing on these topics. Often the topics are sensitively dealt with through out the two ceremonies by the Wood and it can provide 'triage' on the trauma in the first ceremony, whilst the second ceremony is providing life teachings on how to relax even more deeply through the next stages of your personal work. There is more beauty to be experienced, more depth and the reset is even more established... especially after a conscientious time of practicing equanimity and mindfulness in the time in between the two ceremonies.