Tripping in Amsterdam

hopefully sara knows the correct doses 2 give her clients. and if the clients feel better after the treatment then sara can say she did her part. going back 2 the real world after the treatment wil b the real test. keep ur heads up im rooting 4 ya!

my prudence would never allow me to go to amsterdam to cure an addiction...

I really liked the music at the end of this. Does anyone know what the songs are?

A great mini documentary - well done Current.

Dear Sara,

I was so sorry to hear about the trouble caused for you by the out-of-control
visitor. I know this must happen from time to time because you seem to accept any
persons who present themselves at your door seeking your help in overcoming their
addictions to various substances. Your willingness to help them has deeply impressed
me and the results I have witnessed from the iboga treatments have been phenomenal.
My own experience with iboga under your direction was a valuable one and I most
appreciated the intensive concern and care you directed toward my treatment without
thought of recompense but simply because I needed help with my problem. Please feel
free to direct those with questions about what you are doing there to me at any
time, and I wish you continued success in your efforts to free people from their
addictions and make them whole again.

Love, John


John Sinclair

www.JohnSinclair.us

www.RadioFreeAmsterdam.com

EU Cell +31 61 511 1802
Mail: c/o 420 Cafe, Oudebrugsteeg 27
1012 JN Amsterdam, The Netherlands

USA Cell 313 231 5764

I have never met or seen anyone who needed anything more than their own will power to quit smoking ganja... I think the ibogaine was overkill in his case.

Ganga can also be used compulsively.
it isn't the Ganga/tobacco but the compulsive behaviour
that makes a person addicted to it.,in that sense it helped Swany to quit both.

This is really interesting. I love hearing about non-pharmaceutical approaches to addiction or mental trauma. Do you include some form of psychotherapy/talk therapy with the ibogaine treatments?

Hello,
Sara - as mentioned in a personal email, I am very sad to hear you are so disappointed. I hope the tone of the film doesnt beliittle your work in any way, as my original fascination was with the very good work that you do - and I think the film represents the positive side of your treatment. As for the factual innacuracies, I can only apologise. I have seen your lengthy list of people who have undergone your treatment, as well as the life changing results. Whilst Heroin addiction is the real story, we did discuss this treatment and its benefit for all forms of addiction. Swany's journey merely highlights this, and thanks to Jasen's testimony, we have evidence of it working.
If having watched this short, viewers leave with a sense that Sara's children are anything less than 'understanding and supportive', I will be very disappointed. As a father myself, the rhetorical question originally posted (an alternative family model), will be a common thought. HOWEVER, and I must stress this, your children are some of the happiest, and most grounded I have encountered. I sincerely hope you realise that I aimed to show the positive effects of your work, without producing a piece of propaganda. Through their first hand experience of seeing what addiction can do to people, I genuinely believe they become wiser - as opposed to the countless kids in the UK for instance, who'll become addicted themselves without knowing the effects.
Your story is a bigger story than what we saw here. I always knew that. Trying to illustrate everything in 8 minutes is difficult. I have to trust people viewing this will make their own minds up... and that what we offered here was an 'observational' portrait of events. If you look back at the film, you'll find no evidence of me twisting your story in any way. I regret the factual innacuracies (ages etc), but I dont regret ever coming to meet you and your family, and witness the positive effect you have on those in most need. I'm also sorry you're not happy with the term 'Iboga Mother' - what was explained to me by yourself, as the person who administers the treatment, and looks after them whilst they are tripping. Please do come back to me if this is incorrect.
Jan

This piece is wonderful, Sara you are truly a kind and loving person to be welcoming strangers in from all over the world into your home and helping them with what ails them. I, personally, do not feel that this pod placed you in a bad light at all. Even if the gentlemen who created this piece had some factual inacuracies they seem too minimal to really shed a bad light on what you and your family does. Addiction is a horrible thing, I know first hand from my use of Ecstasy. it's not easy to piece yourself back together once you reach bottom and i wish I could come to amsterdam and visit you. god bless

Hi im Swany from Jans film, Im glad to say I havent smoked a thing since my experience, which was both emmensly spiritual and life changing. Im sad to read the response that Sara made about some of Jans comments as I know he has nothing but the utmost respect for the work that she does. If it seems that he is dumbing down her work, I can only say in his defense that the whole subject demands a longer examination as its very hard to portray in such a short space of time. I was made to feel totally welcome by both Sara and her children, to mirror Jans reply, they were some of the most open and well rounded kids Ive ever met and Im sure that he did not mean to infer any comments about parental choices.

Although I only spent a few days at the house, the whole process opened up and confirmed many things that I had thought about myself and life in general. The iboga experience is not something to be taken lightly I can assure you all.

I hope that Sara continues her work curing the addictions and opening the minds of people from all over the world.

Hi Swany,

it makes me happy to read your comment,
I know that Jan had good intentions and you too.

it all turn to be okay, I have no hard feelings, those parental comments were made by mistake but I could not know that at first. It wasn't what I expected from a loving person as Jan.

sorry about all the misunderstanding, it good that we can set things straight .

all the best,

love,

sara

I yelled "NO WAY!" when I heard that the trip could last from 30-40 hours.

My experience with hallucinogens was one of the most intense moments of my life. After the initial euphoria and happiness I had in my first 3 or 4 hours, I was later brought down with extreme depression and disconnection, "tumbling down the rabbit hole," as they say. My friends told me later that it was caused by the serotonin in my brain being at a very low level... I'm not sure. I turned into such a hypochondriac, thinking I went crazy, but this was remedied once I finally got up and started walking around again.

My trip lasted about 8 hours. I don't know if I'd be able to handle 40.

Sara, I think you are an amazing woman - what you do takes great strength and courage...and I think this film shows that.

As for the tone of the film, I know Jan spent days cutting and re-cutting it to ensure that it did not 'belittle' what you do. I know he has great respect for you and was hoping this could pave the way towards making the 'real' doc. I think this pod format is great for getting ideas out there but at the same time needs to be entertaining as well as informative - a balancing act I personally think Jan pulled off well.......
:)

the trip was intense but the 36 hours or so seemed like a flick of a flame, whilst under the iboga time really has no meaning, by that I mean you begin to see the levels of reality in ways that go beyond hours and minutes. I have during my 'rave' days done more drugs then most casual users, even dipping into pharmacueticals occassionally such as diazipam etc plus the more common acid and e's but this was as equally frightening as it was beautiful. I wouldn't reccomend taking the iboga unless you feel you are either spiritually ready or at a point in your life where this may be a last chance, as I said before this is in no way a recreational experience, but one which I'm 100 percent thankful I had. Saras aura also played a huge part in my successful trip as she made me feel very safe and secure, at times I was scared but a reassuring word from her eased my mind. On one hand I wish people could share my experience just to understand how utterly huge it is, but on the other hand maybe you shouldn't. If at some point in your life you find yourself with a shamen in Gambia or with Sara in Amsterdam, I hope you take away as much as i did, and remember, when the gods ask if you want to cone back...say yes :)

Do people ever become addicted to iboga when seeking treatment? Or perhaps not "addicted" in a traditional sense of the way they were "addicted" to whatever they're seeking treatment for but-- it just sounds like such a beautiful feeling that I'd imagine iboga is often abused.

Well, amazing at it was the while process is quite tough, no food for 24 prior and I couldn't walk for a couple of days, plus there is the violent vomit stage where I literally felt like my insides were being turn out! So, not something you'd want to do often, but experience is so big I dont feel I'll need to do it again. It tested me to the edge of sanity and fear but the euphoria and cleansed feeling after the 40 hours is amazing, and something that has stated with me even till now. I did think the same as you before I took it, may be changing one addiction for another but take it from me after an iboga trip you won't need to use anything again.

Great news from the horses mouth.

One thing we didnt get time to touch on, is why this treatment hasnt been developed? Howard Lotsof wrote of its benefits for Opium withdrawal back in the 1960s, yet Iboga is still seen as a 'recreational' drug. Sara talked of the problems with it being a hallucinogen and that it is largely classed as an unlicensed medication. The conspiracy theorists amongst us, might think the drug companies make more money out of methadone and other treatments than they would with a potential 'one hit' Iboga dose?

A 30-40 hour trip???

I've taken Iboga three times at Sara's...not to treat substance addiction, but for the purposes of consciousness exploration. It is in no way addictive. It is a hard trip, physically and psychologically. It is not possible to get up and walk around for at least 30 hours and violent vomiting often occurs. So it is far from being a recreational drug. It is a pretty serious proposition that requires some commitment. The right set and setting is essential with the right sitter who knows the experience. It is a therapeutic and spiritual journey. The hallucinations that occur may be beautiful or horrific..it varies from person to person and is quite unpredictable. I recommend it to anyone who wishes to explore their consciousness and feels the need to change and let go of armoured defensive behaviour and open up to life. I found that after taking Iboga I felt a renewed trust in life and considerably less fear...especially fear of death, which is the heart of the matter. I would say that all psychedelic experience is about our relationship with death and Iboga especially.

I have been on MMT for 10+yrs, I would love a treatment that would take care of all the cravings, all the wants, dreams/nightmares, associated with using, I would also like to know though if the persons who partook of this treatment had also changed their people places and things, if they had also done a complete turnabout of lifestyle? or if this plant just magickally fixed it all? cause god knows if it does...I would be its biggest advocate!

Here is a brief report of my experience. Sorry if it's chaotic ;)

The first thing I felt was the electricity.
It occurred to me that Iboga was finding her way around my body to figure out what
needed curing on the physical plane.
Indeed, I had felt that sensation many times before in heavy speaking situations.
As for the odd bending of my arms, wrists, and fingers, I was to realize later on it
was the position my hands and arms usually took on during sleep.

The electricity eased off and I could rest for a while until the visions started.
I had expected the visionary stage to start more gently and intensify slowly over
time. When it started out so forcefully I got a bit scared it was just the beginning
and I was in for much more. Unexpectedly the visions shortly eased off to a very
mild experience.

The first hallucinations were auditory. I started to hear stone music, chanting,
etc. I heard a group of African warriors running up to me from behind my back. They
danced and stood in front of me to talk to me in a symbolic language. It seemed that
Iboga was playing music and visions based on what I knew, but she wasn't just
replaying the material, she was creating it. For instance, she would create new
pieces of Bwiti music based on her knowledge of what Bwiti music was like in
general.

The visions were very fast-changing, vivid, detailed and indiscernible from reality.
Mostly about African people, faces, African art, patterns, etc. One of the unusual
visions I remember was an underwater scene of jellyfish in a pink sea.
I could see through closed eyelids and the blindfold and at times I couldn't tell if
my eyes were open or closed.
Unfortunately I can't remember most of the visions.

All throughout the experience my mind was clear and I could think straight. My
consciousness remained unaltered. I found Iboga very easy to control. There was a
slight time dilation - a few hours seemed like a day.

The experience was hard on the body yet gentle on the mind and forgiving, though it
might not have been so if you hadn't been there.
All in all, it was quite peaceful and manageable as for my expectations.

After 8 hours I put on my Bwiti music which shut down the music created by Iboga.
When the acute visionary stage was over I was taken on a journey through the Lower
World. This part was sad, one of death and decay, but not the least bit scary. I
revised my attitude to stuttering and my inherited and acquired baggage. I
remembered past events associated with feelings of low self esteem and Iboga told me
to feel okay about them.
Despite the dark undertone it was nurturing and loving. After 36 hours it became
brighter and more joyous.

When I woke up on Tuesday morning I was still seeing tracers, identical to the ones
I get from the Vine.

I feel a major change has taken place. I'm more in control of my speech now. To
improve it I need to attune to this change and work more on the technical side.
I'm less self-conscious and more open to change. I can do things I was too anxious
to consider doing before.
Iboga told me not to be so hard on myself or care what others think.
My speech was still bad right after the experience but - strangely - it feels like
it's getting better every day. I hope this trend will continue :)

I will consider repeating the experience in the future, maybe at a higher dose.

Thank you very much for the care you've provided.


All the best,

R.V

As per Iboga, I have been pretty woozy the whole time, though, and even now am still
recovering, but I am sure it did many good things, although I am still shocked by
what I saw as per Jerusalem. I still cannot believe it when I think about it, but it
was a clear as being there.

One great thing: I notice that my jaw, which had been very tight, leading the
uncomfortable crunching in my left jaw, and teeth grinding (from past e use
especially, I think, even though usually just once a year for a multi-day dance
party) literally opened up, fixed, so that the pressure is off, and my teeth do not
grind. What a blessing that is! I am so happy with this, I think I will not be doing
e and crys again, if I can resist (I usually do anyway, but when I do, it seems to
have some bad effects, like this). This really was an unexpected benefit, and I hope
it lasts. I am rather enjoying my jaw being normal again. What a relief!

However, my throat is just close to recovering, so that has taken a while. I think
I'd rather take acid than vomit acid, haha! :-) Nah, just kidding.

Probably, also, I think I should do Iboga one more time, I think, in part to make me
stronger, but also I am curious if I might get any more insights from it (preferably
not about my own death though). Still, I find it a very strange plant, especially as
it results in all those beings staring at me, and trying to send lasers into my
eyes, etc. In a way, it is quite scary when I think about it, even though its seems
to offer great healing benefits, and ability to see into the future etc.

Impressive.

It's twisted, yes, but find myself thinking about my many addictions -- however petty and insignificant they may be -- and imagining how excellent it would be to use them as an excuse to try this out should the opportunity arise.

Who needs excuses?