Kambo gifts you the strength and clarity you need to live your truth. He strengthens the masculine or solar aspects of yourself, increasing your energy and willpower.

Dizziness, nausea, and violent vomiting, which can last for several minutes, quickly follow the burning sensation. A Kambo cleanse is a healing ritual that originated in some South American countries and is one of the latest health trends sweeping the internet. “It has its basis in folkloric medicine or rituals in certain South American tribes,” said Bryan Kuhn, PharmD, a toxicology management specialist and pharmacist at the Banner Poison and Drug Information Center in Phoenix. Because of the purging, there’s usually a bucket nearby and you’ll have a water bottle with you too.

Matsés Kambo Sticks

Adrienne Santos-Longhurst is a freelance writer and author who has written extensively on all things health and lifestyle for more than a decade. If you’re going to partake, know the potential risks and dangers, including illness and death, and take precautions to minimize your risk for serious complications. Read more about Peruvian Matses Kambo Practitioner Training here. The first part of the process involves drinking about a liter of water or cassava soup.

Do you feel the call?

Before the ceremony, Todd had Lauren and Katie put Apple Watches on so that he can monitor their heart rate in real time. “The vitals are a great way to quantify the biologial shifts through Kambo,” Todd explains, adding that he monitors glucose before and after the ceremony because the “blood sugar rises and then lowers at the end” of the ceremony. With their vitals checked and their Apple Watches in place, Lauren and Katie were ready for the ceremony. Researchers do not yet understand the full effects of kambo on the human body. While people tend to perform cleanses safely, some may experience severe side effects after taking part in the ritual.

It’s always advised to take kambo with an experienced practitioner to support a positive experience. By treating this sacred frog secretion with respect, many people experience a powerful cleansing of negative energies, decrease their physical pain, and treat a wide variety of physical and psychospiritual ailments.