Tuesday, May 17, 2011

The Heart Medicine

I recently had the good fortune to interview Don Diego and hear the story of the heart medicine that he is offering in the May Dieta. I would like to share this story with you here as I prepare to embark for Sachavacay to diet with this master plant. Following Dieta I will be posting pictures as well as testimonials.

Don Diego tells us that during a period of study with his master, he was told that his master’s master was really old and was in a good space for teaching. Don Diego’s master contacted this man and he agreed to meet Diego. This master, who was in his 80’s, lived in an area of Peru called San Martin. Don Diego and this man became friends and he agreed to teach him. This man told Don Diego that when he was really young, witchcraft was done to him. No matter who he went to see, no matter what medicines were tried, nothing would heal him. He went into the jungle and discovered a plant called Ushpawasa Sanango. He dieted this plant for ten days and was healed.

Very few people work with this plant. Many have heard about it but do not use it. Under the guidance of his new master, Don Diego dieted this plant several times a year. In his own words, he describes meeting the spirit of Ushpawasa Sanango. “I began to diet the plant and I was open to receive the energy. One night I got woken up. I opened my eyes and everything was dark. Someone was pulling on my blanket and I thought someone was trying to steal it. Normally I wouldn’t have reacted, but a little fear was in me. I pulled my blanket back up, but again it was pulled down. I reacted by jumping on the person. My mosquito net broke as we fell down, wrapped up in the net. I felt the person moving. When I took everything away from around us, what I saw was not a person, but a being with short legs, no neck, small arms, and a v-shaped body with skin the color of blue-gray ash. I looked at him kind of scared and he responded with a smile and opened his arms and hugged me. This spirit was the mother of the Ushpawasa.”

From Pucallpa, Don Diego makes a long and sometimes dangerous journey to collect the Ushpawasa. Travel requires an hour plane ride, three hours by car, and an hour trek by foot or by horse across several deep rivers. He and his team arrive in San Martin after traveling this distance and make their base. From here, he walks with a group of people between 10-24 hours, in deep concentration, searching for the plant. It is in this area that he encounters the ceros, steep mountains and the cejas de selva, the place where the Andes begin to grow within the jungle. The journey is made across strong, rapid-filled rivers and waterfalls. The trees here have never been touched because access to them is too difficult. The journey is always made with a group because there are risks of snakes and many are needed to carry the sacks full of the plant. The bags are heavy and many miles must be walked.

Ushpawasa refers to the back of the leaves that are the color of ash. In brewing this medicine, only the root of the plant is used. It is washed and the bark is scratched away, leaving only the heart. After cooking for many hours, a greenish, bitter, potent medicine is created. During Dieta, Don Diego begins our journey with this plant slowly, giving small doses. This allows us to enter into the experience little by little. We might feel dizzy and weak. Our work in Dieta with this plant will produce a subtle opening in the emotions. Solitude is so important. Solitude allows us to tune into the experience. As our emotional bodies open, it is important for us to be in connection to them. Emotions begin to blossom and we are able to recognize them because of the privacy of our tambos. As we concentrate, our attention helps us stay connected to what is happening within us, allowing us to be in a concentrated state of sensitivity.

It’s common to have memories surface and find a strong emotional attachment to these memories. We will find ourselves in a variety of emotional states during this process. Be present with the emotions that arise. The Ushpawasa will help us deepen our connections to our emotions. As we begin to understand our emotions from a place of love, we are able to resolve the emotion inside of us. This plant gifts us with the opportunity to experience and recognize our emotions by bringing them to the surface and allows us to process them in the safe, loving vibration of Sachavacay.

Don Diego would like us to know that this will most likely be the second and last year that he will be able to give this rare medicine.

In loving service of Don Diego,
Nicole Gamblin

Saturday, May 14, 2011


Profound, sacred medicine for the path of spiritual evolution, harvested by Don Diego to be used in ceremony at Sachavacay.


These Ayahuasca vines give their physical bodies to become the medicine that participants in the May Dieta will be dieting.



Don Diego prepares the sacred medicine. Throughout the entirety of the process he remains in deep concentration.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

We Gather At Sachavacay

The time arrives for us to gather together for Dieta. For those of you who are returning, you will notice that all the structures are new. We have completely started fresh this year. The Sachavacay team has been hard at work preparing the space for our guests. I have also been preparing the space by cleansing and purifying the energies here. Through certain rituals, I have been planting the divine vibration within the Earth at Sachavacay.

A powerful energy has awakened on this land, as the divine will guides my work. This vibration from the Earth is conscious and divine. Placing our feet on the ground, lying on our beds, and bathing in these waters is so beneficial because we absorb the energies just by being on the land. Through this process of purification, Sachavacay is now contained within a bubble of sacred vibration. No energies from the outside will be able to enter and disturb our Dieta process.

Being in the presence of Sachavacay and combining our journeys with our concentration makes the effects of the vibration here even more potent. We become more closely connected to our divine essence. We begin to live in this essence, in our divinity, in the presence of God. Concentration helps our bodies receive more of these energies and allows the energies to move through us.

This vibration affects our lives. If we maintain our concentration, this vibration can be a constant influence. By maintaining our focus on this energy, we become better able to hook into it. When we hook into this vibration well enough, the vibration stays with us.

For those of us travelling to Sachavacay, please be prepared. Come ready to focus the mind during ceremony and in moments of solitude. Maintaining silence allows us to go deeper inside of ourselves to discover our divine essence. There is powerful work occurring while we are in solitude. Take time to practice concentrating so that when we leave this land we can go home and maintain our connection to the divine that we discover through the use of the plants.

If there are any questions, please feel free to post them on the Facebook page. There are many others who have journeyed here before and who can share their answers with you. Safe travels to all and I look forward to sharing this sacred time together.

~Don Diego

The Purpose of My Work

My mission is to bring people closer to the divine. There are many paths to the divine. My work is not about giving people one way to the divine. My work is about sharing a vibration that will open a door for people to experience the divine. This vibration will impact people in all that they do. My only mission is to share this vibration. There are so many ways to share it. I do it through the plants.

This essence I speak of is the essence of everything. It lives within all things. When we connect to this vibration through concentration, when we quiet our minds, we begin to understand who we are. We are here to remember who we are and to live in a focused way. We must fill our lives with this essence, to bring our lives in alignment with the divine. Through concentration, we hook into this vibration and begin to understand its profound nature. Sachavacay is a land where we come to experience this vibration through the medicine of Ayahuasca.

For many years people have been asking me about Ayahuasca, about the visions, the feelings, and the preparation. While these things are important, I want to go deeper, to help people understand why we drink Ayahuasca. We are looking for happiness. The reason we go through this experience is because we want to feel happy inside. The happiness comes from realizing ourselves. That’s the whole purpose of the vine—self-knowledge, self-inquiry, and discovering who we really are. Most importantly, we come to realize this part of ourselves is always there.

~Don Diego

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Stone Ridge, New York - January 2011



Below is a slideshow of our group in Stone Ridge, New York. We were blessed to have the opportunity to build our own Sweat Lodge under cold and snowy conditions. It was absolutely amazing!







Special thanks to our Brothers and Sisters in Stone Ridge!

Love & Light,

Miguel





Monday, February 21, 2011

Dieta Preparation



With impeccability Diego honors the ancient ways, incorporating the gifts of spirit into his daily path. He shares with us the medicines of divine intelligence and imparts the truth of existence so that we may all know Divine reality. He shows us by his leading example that spirit becomes manifest as we allow ourselves to be cleansed and healed, preparing the body as a vessel of love that transforms the world with the most beautiful light. This life is a rare gift and we are so lucky to be sharing it together.

Upon returning to the land of
Sachavacay, much work is needed to prepare the space for Dieta participants. The jungle life takes its toll on these man-made structures . Diego walks the land and inspects the tambos, taking inventory of the work needed to be done in order to restore the tambos to their level of rustic comfort. Paths and walkways also need clearing as the plants let go of what they no longer need.


As the trees
shed their branches, (helped along of course by those frolicking monkeys), the palm fronds placed upon the roof take the damage. Diego and his team work diligently, harvesting directly from the jungle what they will need to mend the damage. It is with great gratitude they use the resources available to them to create these living spaces deep within the jungle.


At times, the jungle works quickly to recycle the materials once borrowed from her body. Diego uses what he can from the jungle, but what the jungle does not directly provide must be carried from away. Maintaining the integrity of the land means using only plant based materials. Wood rots quickly in the steamy wetness of dense green, so Diego constantly recreates with natural materials. While plastics and metals would prove long-standing, Diego does not allow these energies to live in Sachavacay. He uses what the land provides and works hard for its upkeep.

Diego's journey to Sachavacay prepares the space with beautiful new loving vibrations. He returns home to infuse the land with energies recently expressed in ceremony. In sacred ritual, he roots these energies into the earth and allows the essence to saturate and spread. For all those who sojourn to Sachavacay, we receive the blessing of this
land. These energies deepen our connection to source and help us raise the vibration of our spirits during Dieta.

We were there in the beginning, waves always rising and falling. The river knows the way to enter the garden where the plants, the songs, and the silences help us remember who we are and why we are here. The enchanted purity of Sachavacay awaits all those who make the journey.