What does it mean to receive healing from sacred medicine—and what responsibilities come with it?
In this episode of Cura Medicina, Derek Dodds welcomes Alison Eakin for a thoughtful, heartfelt conversation about ayahuasca, prayer, Indigenous wisdom, and the importance of reciprocity. Alison shares how her first encounter with ayahuasca in the Ecuadorian jungle, where she sought help for a visual impairment, became a turning point in her life. She reflects on the long pause before returning to the medicine, and on how hardship, healing, and spiritual practice have shaped her path.
Alison also speaks about her relationship with an intertribal community and its sweat lodge and vision quest traditions. With care and humility, she discusses the value of learning within a lineage, respecting tradition boundaries, and recognizing that Indigenous ceremonial practices vary.
The conversation then turns to the 2026 Ayahuasca Forum in Spain. Alison describes a gathering of around 1,700 people, including more than 100 Indigenous delegates representing 35 tribes. She shares why Indigenous leadership and knowledge must have a meaningful place in conversations about ayahuasca’s future—from scientific research and pharmaceutical interest to ceremony, safety, and the danger of reducing sacred traditions to commodities.
Together, Derek and Alison explore what reciprocity can look like in practice: supporting Indigenous communities, protecting the Amazon rainforest, and remembering the people and living traditions behind the medicines many seek for healing. Alison’s stories of planting fruit trees, praying for relatives after an accident, and turning toward service offer a moving reminder that healing can lead us beyond ourselves.
Key Discussion Points
Alison’s first ayahuasca experience in Ecuador and the profound healing that set her on a new path.
How living with a visual impairment became a source of learning, purpose, and spiritual direction.
Returning to the medicine after more than a decade—and the role of trust, safety, and timing.
Alison’s experience with sweat lodge and vision quest, and the importance of learning through relationship with elders and community.
Why the 2026 Ayahuasca Forum in Spain marked a meaningful shift toward Indigenous leadership and representation.
The meeting of Indigenous knowledge and Western scientific research, including concerns about separating ayahuasca from its ceremonial context
- - - Connect with Derek - - -
curamedicina.com
instagram.com/cura_medicina_podcast
derek {@} curamedicina.com
- - - Derek's Books on Amazon. - - -
Animal Spirit Guides: A Practical Shamanic Path of Relationship, Ritual, and Healing
Ayahuasca: A Beginner's Guide
Sacred Geometry and Patterns of Divine Design
Hapé Sacred Tobacco: Plant Medicine Ally From The Amazon Rainforest
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My Vision & Prayer
May all beings be happy.
May all beings be free.
May all beings find their way home.
~ Om Mani Padme Hum
TAGS: Alison Eakin, Derek Dodds, Cura Medicina, ayahuasca, ayahuasca ceremony, Indigenous wisdom, Indigenous leadership, Amazon rainforest, plant medicine, sacred medicine, spiritual healing, prayer, reciprocity, Indigenous rights, cultural preservation, vision quest, sweat lodge, ceremonial traditions, ceremony safety, ayahuasca integration, ayahuasca forum Spain, traditional knowledge, psychedelic research, commercialization of plant medicine, Nomanawa people
