People arrive here from all directions. Some know exactly why. Some just felt a pull they couldn't explain. Kambo doesn't ask why you came — it just meets you where you are and moves. If you're reading this before your first ceremony, something already said yes, and now the mind wants a map. Fair. Here's what can honestly live on a page, and what's better kept for the room.
Before: the preparation
Once your screening confirms Kambo is safe for you, you receive the full preparation personally: what to eat and when, which supplements and substances to pause, and the exact water protocol — the one piece of preparation that's genuinely about safety, so it's walked through with you rather than left to a list. What preparation is not: extended fasting, heroics, or arriving "cleansed." A normal eating pattern in the days before is the safest way in. You don't need the right words, and you don't have to be perfect for Kambo — you can be in the middle of it, still struggling to put down the very thing you came to release, and Kambo will meet you exactly there.
The gates
Kambo enters through small superficial burns on the skin — traditionally called gates, made with the end of an incense stick. Only the thin surface layer of skin is removed, and the process is very quick; we don't burn deep enough for blood to surface. The burns are traditionally placed on the arm or leg, though they can go elsewhere on the body. The points heal over the following weeks and fade with time.
You'll drink 2–3 liters of water, then the Kambo secretion is scraped from a stick into the gates. How many you're given, and where, is decided together, based on your body and where you are with the medicine — but we always burn a single test point first, to make sure you feel okay to proceed, and your number of points is discussed with you before anything else is burned. If it's your first time, you'll most likely be given 3–5 gates. After the test point — about 5 minutes — the rest of the Kambo is applied.
The ceremony itself
Experience a deep physical and energetic cleansing of the body. Here's the honest shape of it: opening and intention, the application — 1 to 20 minutes from burn to removal — and a peak inside the first 2–15+ minutes.
Soon after your gates are applied, the effects are usually felt within 10–15 seconds — a slight rise in temperature and a rush to the crown. This is when it matters most to focus on your breath: breathe deep and slow, and observe what you're experiencing. Your heart rate rises over the next couple of minutes as the peptides move through your body, intensifying for about 3–7 minutes. Nausea is to be expected, as physical purging, emotional purging, or mental purging takes place. Other effects can include pressure in the head and neck, stomach discomfort, numbness, and swollen lips. We'll cover this process in depth, in person.
And then the purge, which is not a side effect but the point: the body releasing what it's been carrying, at the cellular level. Some people cry, some shake, some breathe through it quietly. You're lucid for every minute of it — Kambo is not a psychedelic, and there is no trip. Just you, your body, and someone who knows exactly where you are in the arc.
And about that arc — there is a very specific journey inside those minutes, and it's walked through with you completely before the medicine ever touches your skin — every minute, so nothing that happens in ceremony is a surprise. That conversation belongs in the room, where it lands the way it should.
The medicine comes off, and the room gets quiet.
Your blood pressure drops slightly below normal, and this is about when the flu-like symptoms set in. We've all been in bed at the peak of the flu — nauseous, achy, weak, not feeling well. You're not scared, because you know it's just the flu, a gradual come-up. This is like a flu bug that comes on fast and is over in about 10–15 minutes. The gates are removed around the 20-minute mark, and for most people, the flu-like symptoms have mostly passed by then. You'll still likely feel tired and want to rest and relax — it takes anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour to gain all your energy back.
After: the part people come back for
After Kambo, people often see massive energetic shifts. Within hours to a few days, and even weeks later, you'll start to notice a mindset shift — an internal shift that leads to more clarity in your day to day. You may also notice a tangible difference in your overall well-being: a renewed sense of understanding, direction, clarity of mind, and a reduction in depression and physical pain. Immediate and short-term effects include enhanced mood, alertness, clarity, focus, and energy, along with increased resistance to stress and tiredness. The benefits can definitely outweigh the discomfort that can happen during the ceremony process — we're taught to avoid discomfort, but it's through discomfort that we grow.
Rest that day. Integration is part of the medicine, and you're not dropped at the door: Jaz stays available in the days after and walks you through what to expect. This is the layer people mean when they say Kambo helps them reclaim and remember their powerful, anchored, present self — the ceremony is hours, the return is what you keep.
What Kambo has been known to support
Kambo has been known to support and help with: chronic fatigue, migraines, addiction, depression, chronic pain, fertility problems, fibromyalgia, PTSD, lymphatic system cleansing, intestinal issues, candida, parasites, inflammation, IBS — and more.
It's also been known to help dissolve emotional blockages: insecurities, grief, lack of desire, sadness, mental, spiritual, and physical weakness, low self-esteem, panic attacks, conquering fears — and more.
What first-timers most want to know
Will I purge? Almost certainly — and it's release, not failure. Do I need experience? None; many people's first ceremony is their first earth medicine of any kind. Is it safe? It has real contraindications and real screening — read the honest safety guide and the complete contraindications list, then decide with clear eyes. Will I be alone in it? Not for one minute.