I Tried Kambo, The Amazonian Frog Medicine Known As “The Vaccine Of The Jungle”

I voluntarily poisoned myself last weekend with frog venom in an effort to heal unresolved trauma.

My journey with strange natural medicines began during the downfall of my first business. In 2019, I was beaten down, burnt out, and overwhelmingly confused about what to do. I had spent the past nine years building a company that initially achieved glorious success, only to watch it implode under my failed leadership.

This triggered an extreme existential crisis. My head was swimming with daunting questions. Why did my company fail? What did I do wrong? Do I need to get a normal job? Who would even hire me after I destroyed my own business? Should I start another company? That didn’t work very well the first time… Why am I here? What am I supposed to do? Is there a God, or is it just dirt and rocks and physics?

A couple of years earlier, I was at a friend’s bachelor party in New Orleans. I was walking down Bourbon Street with my friend Aaron, who had just purchased a joint from some sketchy character behind a bar. This was pre-2018 Farm Bill, so black market weed was your only option in most states. He offered me a toke and I politely declined, explaining that it makes me paranoid. It was like a scene out of the Just Say No PSAs. Nancy Reagan would have been proud.

He proceeded to explain that the paranoia was likely from overconsumption, not the plant itself. He told me to try taking a micro-hit. It was a bachelor party, we were on Bourbon Street, and I decided, “fuck it, let’s see what happens.” I inhaled half a second’s worth of smoke and a minute or so later I was experiencing the blissful, relaxing effects that my weed-loving friends had always described. Nancy Reagan is full of shit!

This was the beginning of my new, responsible adult relationship with the cannabis plant. I quickly discovered that gummies were my best option for ensuring that I was able to consistently consume the exact right amount of THC every time. For the next seven years, I smuggled gummies back to Texas from legal states any chance I got (eventually I made my own gummies). This magical plant helped me through the most difficult and stressful period of my professional career, while curbing my desire to use alcohol.

Discovering the benefits of cannabis opened my mind to the world of sacred plant medicines. I became fascinated with people’s stories about Ayahuasca, and the success MAPS was having in their clinical research on MDMA and psilocybin therapy.

Back to 2019. I was desperate for answers and intrigued by the idea that a properly facilitated psychedelic experience might lead to personal insights and life direction, so I signed up for an Ayahuasca retreat.

It was the most bizarre, uncomfortable, and profound thing I had ever experienced. It upended my entire belief system and forced me to re-examine my motivations for everything. It was not a quick fix and initially left me more confused, with even more unanswered questions. However, one thing was certain, something much more magical is going on behind the scenes.

It took me several years to integrate my first experience, but eventually answers started to emerge. I could write 10,000 words about it, but will save that for a future post.

One year later, in early 2020, I started working on the idea for Texas Hill Country Provisions and Chill Country. It was a daunting endeavor to start a new business from scratch again, but my motivations were different this time. I no longer had fantasies of great riches and grandeur. I just wanted to build a humble business that could support my family, allow me to do fulfilling creative work, and help me accomplish meaningful goals beyond financial success. I am happy to report that this is exactly what we’ve accomplished 🙂

I’ve attended three Ayahuasca retreats over the past seven years and will be returning for the fourth time in May. In preparation, I decided to participate in an Indigenous Kambo ceremony last weekend, and it was a WILD experience. I did the “full inoculation,” which consists of three ceremonies over three days. I recorded the second ceremony and will be posting it on our new YouTube channel soon to give you a better understanding of the entire experience.

Chris (my co-founder) participated in one of the ceremonies with me, and we discuss our experiences on our new podcast, The Chill Country Report. Watch and listen to the first full episode on Spotify, YouTube, or Apple Podcasts.

You can also watch this condensed recap of our Kambo experience:

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For both Ayahuasca and Kambo, I’ve worked with Jessica Arroyo of Medicine Wheel ATX here in Austin. She is an amazing facilitator with deep knowledge and experience in a wide range of Indigenous medicines.

Disclaimer: Things like Ayahuasca and Kambo can lead to profound insights and healing, but it’s essential that they are administered by a highly knowledgeable and trained facilitator. Certain substances, like Ayahuasca, are not legal in the US, and all entheogenic medicines come with real medical risk. I am not a medical professional, and this is not medical advice.

• Category: Healing, Nature Is Medicine