Iboga Practitioner Methods with Elizabeth Bast

Elizabeth Bast serves as a writer and holistic coach for addiction recovery and sacred plant medicine who is trained in the Bwiti tradition of healing with iboga. Elizabeth supports traditional iboga ceremonies outside of the US and is the author of Heart Medicine: A True Love Story about her healing experience with iboga.

In this episode, Elizabeth shares the story of how in an attempt to help her partner with his opioid addiction and to address her own PTSD, they attended an iboga ceremony together. Elizabeth says that it was this experience that saved them and their relationship. The iboga and the ceremony created both a physiological disruption and a sense of spiritual healing that led to clarity on their challenges that allowed the healing to begin. After a couple of experiences with iboga, Elizabeth decided to get trained as a healer.

Elizabeth shares that there are many methods and settings in which iboga is administered and describes both the clinical and traditional settings and applications and what to expect from each.

While iboga can be beneficial for many people, it is not without its risks, some of which can be quite serious. Elizabeth explains some of these risks and why it’s very important to have a skilled facilitator as well as medical staff on-site.

One of the primary benefits of Iboga is that it has been shown to help people suffering from addiction through their period of detoxification. Elizabeth explains how she has seen the guided use of this psychedelic help people overcome a variety of different addictions. She also discusses the importance of integration practices to make meaning of the whole experience.

In this episode:

What led Elizabeth to seek out an iboga experience
What it takes to become a trained iboga practitioner
The difference between clinical and traditional iboga/ibogaine experiences
Potential health risks that come with iboga use and how these can be mitigated
Why everyone’s experience with iboga is different
The dangers of using iboga without proper supervision
How iboga is used to assist the detox process
How integration practices can help make an iboga experience more meaningful

Quotes:

“It was very challenging -- physically, mentally, spiritually. There was a lot there. But the next day, we came out and I could see my love again where I could barely recognize him the night before.” [8:56]

“It’s not easy. It’s like climbing a mountain inside of one’s self.” [24:11]

“As providers, it’s not our job to give people answers. It’s our job to support people in finding their own answers without any projection or bias.” [33:14]

“Integration is everything. Medicine work is about one percent what happens in ceremony and about ninety-nine percent what happens after.” [52:21]