Episode 9: Plant Diets, Tobacco and Trees as Medicine | Jason Grechanik

“Trees have all of this medicine…fruits, the bark is medicine, the leaves. All of that is waiting; it’s potent, it’s dormant.”

Jason Grechanik has spent more than 25 years immersed in the study and practice of plants as medicine. As a tabaquero, he guides plant medicine dietas in Peru and internationally, weaving Amazonian tobacco traditions with Celtic tree wisdom. He facilitated for many years at the healing center Temple of the Way of Light and is the host of Universe Within Podcast.

In this conversation, we hear about Jason’s path, from learning with Shipibo healers to training with a mestizo tabaquero, and eventually working with the medicine of North American trees and Celtic traditions. We highlight the importance of respect and reciprocity when learning from wisdom traditions from around the world.

We speak about plant diets — especially with tobacco — and the practices involved like fasting, isolation and ingestion. Jason explains that dieting with a single plant can open a deeper connection to its spirit and describes the dreams during dieta as a “gateway to experience the teachings of the plant.”

Timestamps:
(00:00) Welcome and Opening
(02:45) How They Met in Peru
(05:37) Temple of the Way of Light
(08:35) Ayahuasca, Female Healers + Podcasting
(12:00) Working With Local Flora Abroad
(14:40) Reciprocity and Respect
(16:56) Plant Diets or Dietas
(20:38) Dreams While Dieting Plants 
(23:44) Other Plant Teachers + Tree Medicine (Europe)
(31:01) Dieting With Tabacco + Tobacco Varieties 
(34:46) Inside A Dieta Retreat
(36:22) Purging & Dosing Safety
(36:37) Diagnostic Tools + Further Training 
(41:30) Jason’s Tabaquero Teacher
(45:25) Learning from Nature’s Patterns 
(52:53) How to Follow Jason’s Work