A friend recently asked me how I was doing. Without thinking too much, I said: “I’m a little bit more brokenhearted, and a little bit more whole.” She needed an explanation, and I didn’t follow up with the conversation. I’ve been feeling that answer for the last few days, giving it space, letting it sink […]
A Glimmer of the Master Plan(t): A Brief History of Plant-Human Symbiosis in the Amazon and a Design for the Future
In the Paleozoic era, sand made from particles of primeval volcanic matter washed up on the shores of the supercontinent Pangea (derived from the Greek pan – “all,” and Gaia – “mother Earth” or “land”). Around this time, tiny nonvascular plants known as bryophytes evolved from unicellular algae in the great ocean, marking the beginning […]
Uniting around a Common Vision – a Sustainable Future for Plants, People, and the Planet
Dear Temple community, From May 31st to June 1st, we had the great honor and pleasure of attending the third World Ayahuasca Conference, in beautiful Girona, Catalonia. The conference was organized by our friends from ICEERS and we were proud sponsors alongside many friends and allies. The conference comes at a pivotal moment for the […]
The Peruvian Rainforest through the lens of Amazonian photographer Jorge Salvador Pizarro García
Through the lens of young Amazonian biologist and photographer Jorge Salvador Pizarro García, Amazonian flora and fauna are not only magnified but celebrated. From brightly colored frogs and snakes to the blooming flowers of medicinal plants and trees, Jorge documents the astonishing diversity of natural life in Peru’s Amazon. The Chaikuni Institute was delighted to […]
Remembering Wholeness: Ayahuasca and the Structural Violence of Modern Life
“Why does one write, if not to put one’s pieces together? From the moment we enter school or church, education chops us into pieces: it teaches us to divorce soul from body and mind from heart. The fishermen of the Colombian coast must be learned doctors of ethics and morality, for they invented the word […]
Tragedy in Pucallpa: the Death of Maestra Olivia Arévalo
It is with profound sadness that we announce the death of Maestra Olivia Arévalo. She was killed on Thursday 19th April, shot multiple times allegedly by a Canadian man near her home in Victoria Gracia, a community close to Pucallpa in Peru’s central Amazon region of Ucayali. We hope that the authorities in Pucallpa will now lead […]
Bringing the Jungle to the Conference Room
Dear Family of the Temple, I wish you a happy new year and a wonderful new journey around the sun. Many of you have joined us at our rainforest home in the Peruvian amazon, and are aware of the multi-faceted nature of the healing work that we offer to our global ayahuasca family. Besides the […]
The Temple of the Way of Light and the Chaikuni Institute at Breaking Convention 2017
This summer, The Temple of the Way of Light and the Chaikuni Institute proudly partnered, once again, with Breaking Convention, a multidisciplinary conference on psychedelic consciousness, featuring more than 150 presenters from around the world, including our Research Coordinator Adam Andros Aronovich. This amazing conference took place at the University of Greenwich, Old Royal Naval […]
Yoga and Ayahuasca Integration by Brian James
“You gotta have some practice. Otherwise, it’s just going to become a memory. And practice means daily — doing something that evokes something of that experience, connecting to what you saw there.” — Gabor Maté, on integrating the ayahuasca experience into daily life Ayahuasca Integration As I see it, there are two aspects of […]
Congress of the Latin American Association of Anthropology, June 2017, Bogota, Colombia.
Earlier this month, the Temple of the Way of Light was represented in an historical event: an academic symposium focused on the social uses and the political economy of ayahuasca. This gathering took place during the V Congress of the Latin American Association of Anthropology, from June 6-9 2017 in the beautiful city of Bogota, […]
