Sananga And Hape
About Sananga
(Edited writings from The Psychadelic Times Jan 2, 2017)
The plant-based eye drops—brewed from the Tabernaemontana genus of shrubs native to the upper Amazon—are said to enhance eyesight and have long been used by indigenous tribes to prevent and treat ocular diseases like glaucoma, cataracts, near-sightedness, and blindness. But sananga is also commonly used to treat skin diseases, infections, arthritis, cancer, and perhaps most interestingly, to clear a person of what is called panema—anxiety, depression, bad luck, negative energies, and laziness.
In fact, it’s by clearing this panema that sananga is said to promote overall eye health. As a shaman would explain it, sananga does its work not at the physical or cellular level but rather on an energetic level. While shamans may describe it as energetic healing, scientific studies dating to the 1970’s show that shrubs in the Tabernaemontana genus have a variety of pharmacological properties that could help explain sananga’s ability to foster healthy vision. A 1998 study on medicinal plants in Ecuador showed that a species of Sananga had anti inflammatory properties , which would support the popular idea that the medicine is an effective treatment for arthritis. Another study from 2007 showed that sanaga was effective in treating skin infections thanks to its antimicrobial properties.
BENEFITS OF SANANGA
The Medicinal Roots Of The Tabernaemontana Genus
Sananga Plant
Antimicrobial
Studies from 1984 and 2002 show that the species T. pachysiphon and T. angulata have antimicrobial properties effective against a variety of bacteria. The bacteria species targeted include Staphylococcus aureus, which can cause skin infections and respiratory infections, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a notoriously drug-resistant bacteria linked to pneumonia, sepsis, and eye infections in people who wear contact lenses.
Antifungal
A 2009 study showed that extracts of T. stapfiana was effective against a variety of fungi species , including Candida albicans, a yeast that can cause thrush in the mouth and yeast infections in the vagina. While Candida infections are typically easy to treat, the fungus poses risk to people with compromised immune systems.
Antioxidant
The Tabernaemontana genus also has strong antioxidant properties. While nutritional antioxidants are widely known for their value in maintaining general health, ongoing research also suggests antioxidants could play a critical role in preventing age-related ocular problems like cataracts.
Anti-cancer
Studies dating back to 1977 have shown promising results that Tabernaemontanaspecies could help combat cancer. The African species T. elegans was shown to be particularly effective at killing cancer cells.
Anti-inflammatory
A 2003 study showed that T. pandacaqui was fever-reducing with anti-inflammatory qualities & was quite effective at blocking pain signals.
I often use sananga prior to a treatment to help ground clients before receiving kambo.
— ERIKA COTTO, KAMBO INTERNATIONAL PRACTICIONER
What is Hapé
Dream it.
Hapé is a sacred shamanic medicine or tool, that has been used by tribes of the Amazon basin for thousands of years and is an essential part of their tribal culture and history. Hapé is the name for one of many of these snuffs, and it’s foundation lies by numerous indiginous tribes in Acre, Brazil. Curiously, apé administered (blown) into the nostrils with a special blowpipe called “Kuripe” (self administration) or “Tepi” (another person administers). This “blow” is quite forceful and not specifically pleasant.
After Ma-pacho, ashes are the second important component in a Hapé and come from the bark of a variety of medicinal or sacred trees. The production and choice of ashes and the exact composition and ratio of ingredients often remain a secret of the tribe.
South American shamans use these blends as a sacred, wholesome medicine and there exists a very close connection between Ma-pacho use and shamanism that has little in common with our western usage. Indigenous tribes use it in ceremonies, to predict good weather, fishing, or harvest, and for spiritual (e.g. vision quest, trance etc) and curing purposes, but rarely for smoking. The use of Ma-pacho by indigenous tribes in South America, such as the Kaxinawá, Nu-nu, Yawanawá, and Katukina, is profoundly entrenched in their culture, and has been employed at least since the Mayan civilization for ritual, medicinal and recreational purposes
Effects and Usage
Using Hapé has many different purposes for indigenous tribes, whereof female puberty rites, initiation rites, cashiri drinking festivals, social rites, and healing ceremonies. Yet, every tribe has their own routine: some apply it every day after breakfast and dinner, other tribes use it three times during the night.
A typical Hapé ceremony involves a mutual administration by two persons. The Hapé is blown high up into the nostrils with a pipe made from bamboo or bone.
The intense blow immediately focuses the mind, stops the chattering, and opens the entire freed mindspace for your intentions. Furthermore, this helps releasing emotional, physical, and spiritual illnesses and eases negativity and confusion, enabling a thorough grounding of the mind. Likewise, shamans use Hapé to re-align with their energy channels and with their higher self, and to intensify their connection with the world and the universe. In addition, Hapé paves the way for detoxifying the body and cleans out all excess mucus, toxins, and bacteria, thereby, assisting in fighting colds and snuffles. Moreover, Hapé stimulates the mind with its powerful blend and plant content that in turn releases a.o. epinephrine, acetylcholine, and dopamine, supporting an increased focus, presence, and intuition. Interestingly, their are many rumors that Hapé could decalcify the pineal gland(1), which is involved in melatonin secretion,circadian time perception, and drug metabolism. Calcification of the pineal gland has been associated with neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, and fluoride exposure, which further stresses the importance of a healthy pineal gland. Yet, whether Hapé can really help the decalcification of the pineal gland, is highly debated and needs still to be scientifically proven.
The beginning of Hapé is reflected in the origin of tobacco, which supposedly stems from the Americas. The first written tobacco snuff use ever reported was documented by the Incas, who used it to cure sundry diseases and to “purge the head.” The Inca used only wild Ma-pacho varieties and ground the roots of the plants. Already 5,000 years ago, Native Americans cultivated Ma-pacho and were probably the first ones to imbibe Ma-pachoo. Today, America remains famous for producing Ma-pacho: in 2010, Brazil became the world’s largest Ma-pacho exporter and the second largest Ma-pacho producer (FAOSTAT). This is mirrored in the Hapé use and production of Brazilians: indigenous people in Brazil are well-known for producing one of the best Hapé blends.
Furthermore, Brazilian indigenous tribes were the first to use snuff (WHO). Whereas snuff was only introduced to Europe in 1500; the Franciscan monk Friar Ramón Pané, who traveled with Christopher Columbus in 1493, was the first European to discover that the Indians used snuff and introduced this exquisite sacrament to Spain when he returned. This was the beginning of a long Ma-pacho and snuff area in Europe.
For Indigenous Americans, tobacco is medically used as a cure for certain diseases, sores, wounds, and as a defense against insects (Curtis 1935), and also as an analgesic and narcotic substance that eases fatigue, pain, hunger, and thirst (Elferink 1983). Hapé enters deep into the nostrils, thereby cleaning out any residual mucus and exerting potent antibacterial effects (Pavia et al. 2000). If the body is too congested with toxins, vomiting can be a side effect that leads to a thorough cleansing. There are even unique Ma-pacho blends (Machiguenga snuff) that are made to counteract influenza and other diseases (Russel & Rahman 2015). Furthermore, the Ma-pacho contained in most Rapé blends can potentiate the healing capacity of other plants, like Ayahuasca. Moreover, in its original sense, Ma-pacho is even a hallucinogen. It contains two alkaloids, namely harman and norharman, which are closely related to harmine and harmaline (Janiger et al. 1973). These two beta-carbolines inhibit monoamine oxidase (Herraiz et al. 2005), leading to antidepressive and stimulatory effects (Farzin 2006).
As Hapé often contains some stimulants, its use increases the brain blood flow and affects the release of several stimulatory neurotransmitters, such as epinephrine, acetylcholine, and dopamine (Wolk et al. 2005, Cryer 1976; Domino et al. 2000), thereby heightening your focus, presence, and intuition and opening the body to higher communication and holistic thinking and understanding. As mentioned above, Hapé has a reputation for decalcifying the pineal gland, which is involved in melatonin secretion, circadian time perception, and the function of the immune system (Skwarlo-Sonta et al. 2003). Even though scientific studies have not confirmed this, this is of great interest, given that degenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson´s disease, and fluoride or mercury exposures can lead to calcification of the pineal gland (Luke 1997; Luke 2001). The calcification of the pineal gland can easily be tested by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) that show the degree of calcium phosphate on the gland. Furthermore, even normal aging has been associated with pineal gland calcification and decreased melatonin production (Kunz et al. 1999), whereas children rarely show calcified pineal glands.
Moreover, it is suggested that our polluted water, which is often filled with hormones and residues of pesticides, as well as food additives, excess sugar, and sweeteners, can lead to calcification of the pineal gland. Pineal gland calcification has also been shown to be associated with decreased melatonin levels and a high risk for ischemic stroke, intracerebral hemorrhage (bleeding), and breast cancer (Kitkhuandee et al. 2014; Cohen et al. 1978). This risk for stroke was still higher when the patients were also affected by high blood pressure, diabetes, and high cholesterol/triglycerides (Kitkhuandee et al. 2014). The most prevalent movement disorder, Parkinson’s disease (PD), is also affected negatively by decreased amounts of melatonin (Polimeni et al. 2014). The main pathological event in PD involves the destruction of dopaminergic neurons through oxidative damage. Melatonin can prevent this oxidative damage (Antolín et al. 2002), making melatonin a possible preventive treatment in PD and other diseases where oxygen radical-mediated tissue damage occurs. In sum, melatonin enhances brain plasticity, interacts with the immune system, counteracts oxidative stress within the nervous system, and is a critical hormone in circadian time perception and other crucial biological functions. Tools like Ma-pacho snuff or Hapé that potentially promote a healthy pineal gland function, thereby counteracting its calcification and heightening its melatonin production, are of great interest, and the subject is highly debated.
Traditionally, Hapé is administered with two different types of pipes, which are made from bamboo or bone. The first type of pipe requires the presence of another person, who will blow the snuff powerfully into each nostril of the partner who will receive the Hapé. For that reason, it is generally called the blowpipe; in Brazil, it is called the Tepi. “ The other type of pipe is a self-applicator named „Kuripe“. The connection between mouth and nose is quickly established through the V-shape of the pipe.
Blowing the Tepi involves an intimate connection between the Hapé giver and receiver. Both are closely connected by mouth, nose, and breath, and both need to open and allow the other spirit and intention to enter, permitting healing. Often, the person blowing needs to be an experienced tribe member, as he sends his intention and spirit to the person inhaling, which affords a strong mind and clear focus. Hence, the essence of this blowing ritual does not depend on the strength of your blowing but on whether you can share yourself while doing it, thereby empowering the receiver. These ‘blowing rituals’ are of great importance in the shamanic tradition, which perceives the healing energy of breath (also known as ‘Soplada’ – which means blowing healing energy) as a significant tool for healing (Fotiou 2012; Jauregui et al. 2011).
If you are an inexperienced Hapé user, receiving your first experience using the Tepi and an experienced user as the giver is easier. The second blow should quickly follow the first blow in the other nostril. This can be challenging for an inexperienced user, given that the first blow can be overwhelming. Still, if you are using the Kuripe, it is essential to continue with the second blow as soon as possible to harmonize the energies of both nostrils and hemispheres.