What is kambô?
Kambô is a secretion of the Giant Green Monkey Tree Frog, also known as Phyllomedusa bicolor.
Some also refer to Kambo as Sapo, the Brazilian word for frog. This potent secretion consisting of many bioactive peptides and neuropeptides is applied to your skin after small 'gates' are burned on the upper layers of your skin and a within minutes of application the body starts to purge.
Kambo is one of the strongest natural anti-inflammatory, antibiotic, antimicrobial and anaesthetic substances found in the world and one of the strongest, natural ways to strengthen the immune system. It also detoxes the liver and the intestines so it’s a powerful cleanser.
Immediate and short term effects include enhanced mood, alertness, clarity, focus, energy and increased resistance to stress, tiredness, hunger and thirst. The mind becomes still, you feel lighter and everything becomes easier to manage.
In the longer term, Kambo empowers the immune system, rousing the body’s defence systems to their natural functions so that existing health problems are improved or resolved and future ones are less likely to occur. In spiritual terms, Kambo works in a mystical fashion as a light that opens the way, helping us to overcome obstacles and release blockages on an emotional level. It clears our energy field and realigns the chakras enabling us to break negative habits and live and think more naturally.
Traditional use of kambô
The Indigenous tribes of the Amazon believe that kambô keeps away bad luck, disease and increases energy levels, stamina and hunting skills like sight, sharpened hearing and greater awareness. The giant monkey frog (Phyllomedusa bicolor) secretion is a rich combination of bioactive peptides and neuropeptides.
Besides the physical benefits of kambô, the emotional, energetic and spiritual aspects have been widely known to the indigenous tribes.
Each tribe has their own story about how they found kambô and make it their own. Kambô is most widely adopted in Brazil, Amazonas.
The Kaxinawá legend
The Kaxinawá story tells that the members of their tribe were very ill and their medicine man (Pajé in Brazil) had done everything that was possible to cure them.
All known medicinal herbs known were used, but none helped. Under the effect of sacred plant medicine, he received a visit from a female spirit of the forest. She brought a frog in her palms, from which she took a white secretion, and taught Pajé how to apply it. Returning to the tribe and following the guidelines he had received, Pajé was able to cure his tribal members.
From then on he was known as Pajé Kampu or Kampu. After his death, his spirit lives on in the frog, where it continues its mission to protect the health of those who defend the forest.
The secretion became known as Kambô but in some tribes it is called Sapo, Dow-Kiet, Kampu or Vacina da Floresta.
Usage spread, and for thousands of years, Kambo has been used as medicine by the Kaxinawá people, and by many other indigenous groups including the Amahuaca, Katukina, Kulina, Yawanawá, Matses, Marubo and Mayoruna. It is still used widely amongst indigenous people in the Amazon to this day.