Elias’s name in Shipibo is Inin Tsoma, which means a brave and strong man with a beautiful way about him that generates love.
Elias is the coordinator of our Shipibo healing team. He was born in 1974 in the Shipibo community of Santa Isabel de Bawanisho. He is married and is the father of five children: three girls and two boys. One of them is on the path of learning to become an Onanya. He is a high-level Onanya with a heart of gold, a joyful spirit, and an amazing gift for healing, which was recognized when he was very young.
His father was a well-respected Onanya in the community, and his mother was a vegetalista. When Elias was ten years old, his father shared with him that he was going to die soon. He therefore wanted to teach Elias about the world of plant-spirit healing, which his father told him would be his path in life and to carry the family healing lineage.
Soon after this conversation, they went to Kumankay Lake to find the famous Noya Rao tree. His father told him that this tree was very powerful and that he was to start learning from it. They stayed at the lake for 15 days, and the spirit of the tree began to instruct him how to diet and what to diet through dreams. On returning home, he had an ayahuasca ceremony with his father, where his father transmitted his knowledge to him through icaros. One month later, his father died.
Elias then experienced many difficulties and challenges after his father died. He needed to work from the tender age of eleven to support his mother and younger siblings. At sixteen, he entered into the military. Throughout this time, he was guided by the spirit of the Noya Rao tree and continued dieting many different sacred plants until, at the age of twenty, he made contact with his uncle, an Onanya, who invited him to drink medicine with him.
This opened a whole new level of learning, and his uncle guided him through learning to harness the power and wisdom of the plants he had been dieting, and direct them to heal people through icaros.
Elias led a double life for a while, security guard by day and healer by night, and soon gained a reputation for his powerful healing ability. Word of his ability spread, and he was eventually able to devote his time to healing fully. He was invited to work all over Peru, first with local people and later with Westerners.
Elias loves what he does. He’s deeply dedicated to the path of plant-spirit healing and works with much love, integrity, and passion. He is deeply grateful for his father’s guidance and gift, which has helped him and thousands of others.
