Bobinsana Benefits: Healing the Heart, Spirit & Inner Child with This Amazonian Master Plant
- Aug 27, 2024
- 5 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
Considered a Master Plant in the Amazon jungles of Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, and Bolivia, Bobinsana is revered for their numerous, profound healing qualities for the mind, body, and spirit.
Traditionally worked with for emotional healing, dreamwork, grief, and reconnecting us to the more tender and innocent parts of ourselves, Bobinsana carries a gentle yet deeply profound medicine...
...particularly for all matters of the heart - physical, emotional & energetic.
One of my teachers in the Andes often says:
“The heart of a woman is a mystery.”
Over the years, I’ve witnessed this sentiment again and again as I’ve supported women through heartbreak, grief, betrayal, loss, self-abandonment, relationship transitions, and the long process of learning how to love themselves more deeply.
Through it all, Bobinsana is the plant I return to again and again for guidance, support & allyship.
Long before I fully understood who Bobinsana was, this plant had already begun calling to me.
And now, years later, the relationship I’ve cultivated with this gentle yet potent ally continues to deepen my understanding of grief, love, tenderness, and the mysteries of the heart.
Keep reading to learn more about Bobinsana's benefits & spirit.
The Benefits of Bobinsana Medicine:
A Plant Ally for Matters of the Heart
Bobinsana is traditionally used to treat all matters of the heart. From opening our hearts to greater self-love to healing long-standing grief associated with heartbreak, all parts of this delicate yet powerful shrub are used as medicine.
Bobinsana carries a gentle yet profoundly deep medicine.
One that can help us soften our defenses, reconnect to grief that has been waiting to move, and remember how to feel safe in our bodies again.
Bobinsana also teaches us that gentleness & vulnerability are not weaknesses, but allies for deeper connection, intimacy & emotional wisdom.
Connection to Dreams & the Subconscious
Bobinsana grows near waterways, their roots digging deep beneath river banks — illustrating their ability to work with the subconscious mind.
As such, Bobinsana has long been held as an ally to lucid dreaming and shamanic journeying.
Within Amazonian healing traditions, it is understood that plants carry both physical and spiritual intelligence.
Part of the healing process that unfolds through creating a relationship, or allyship, with a plant spirit is learning how to listen.
A Gentle Yet Profound Healer
Bobinsana carries a gentle, sweet, yet profoundly deep medicine, helping us to land in our bodies and feel safe there.
They are a tremendous support in helping reclaim the innocence and purity of childhood, particularly in cases of early childhood abuse or sexual trauma.
Bobinsana is also beneficial for healing the womb and supporting the female reproductive system...
...as well as helping those who engage with them to connect more deeply to a sense of self-love...
...while also allowing the beauty of nature and ourselves as a part of it, to be reflected.
Physical Healing Properties
Bobinsana is incredible for clearing heat and inflammation from the body and is often used by traditional healers to treat arthritis and assist with cooling + soothing inflammation.
In addition to their emotional and spiritual healing qualities, Bobinsana is also traditionally used to support the nervous system, treat fatigue & depletion, and aid in recovery after periods of emotional stress.
Building A Relationship with the Spirit of Bobinsana
Within folk healing traditions, plants are understood to carry both physical and spiritual intelligence.
For many people, working with Bobinsana becomes less about “using” a plant and more about cultivating a living relationship rooted in reverence, prayer, presence, and reciprocity.
In traditional Amazonian plant medicine, the ancestral process of forming a relationship with a plant is called a dieta, or shamanic dieta.
What Is a Shamanic Dieta?
A shamanic dieta, sometimes called a Master Plant Diet, is a traditional Amazonian practice for healing and apprenticeship with plant medicines.
A shamanic dieta involves extended periods of time in isolation while working with a particular plant, such as Bobinsana, as well as more widely known Master Plants like Ayahuasca and Huachuma, to cleanse, heal, and learn more deeply from the spirit of the plant.
During the dieta process, dieteros often follow strict guidelines around food, stimulation, social interaction, sexuality, media, and energetic input in order to deepen their sensitivity and strengthen their connection with the plant.
The dieta process is not about “taking” from the plant, but rather learning directly through one’s own embodied healing experience and relationship with the plant through the body, spirit, dreams, emotions, and mind.
At its core, the dieta is a practice of being deeply with oneself while giving uninterrupted attention to the healing process and the wisdom of the plant.
For many people, a dieta becomes a profound process of emotional healing, dreamwork, processing life experiences, and spiritual transformation.
My most recent dieta with Bobinsana included many weeks in prayer, silence, flower baths, ceremony, medicine-making, and continued apprenticeship with my teachers in Peru.
Flower Baths & Traditional Bobinsana Dieta Practices
One of the beautiful traditional practices often used alongside Bobinsana dietas is the use of herbal and flower baths.
Flower baths are commonly used throughout Amazonian and Andean healing traditions to support energetic cleansing & protection during periods of healing and ceremony.
When working with Bobinsana, sweet floral baths are often used daily throughout the dieta process.
These baths help ground & calm the nervous system, support emotional openness & sweetness, and deepen connection to the spirit of the plant.
The Sweet Herbal Baths available in my Healing Products Apothecary were inspired by these traditional practices and prepared with great care, intention, and prayer.
If you feel called to explore work with the plants more deeply, these baths can be a beautiful complement to working with Bobinsana tincture, prayer, journaling, dreamwork, meditation, and intentional healing practices.
Bobinsana Tincture: Sacred Plant Medicine for Soulful Healing
Harnessing the energy of my most recent shamanic dieta, I've prepared a beautiful tincture for the Healing Products shop that contains both Bobinsana bark and leaves, harvested and prepared with love and many prayers...
...for our collective healing and all children, especially the child within.
The plant material is sourced directly from trusted growers in the Amazon jungle while I am in Peru.
Because Bobinsana is still relatively rare in the States and difficult to source ethically and well, the last batch sold out very quickly.
A small amount is now available again, including:
1 oz & 2 oz Bobinsana tinctures
Sweet Herbal Baths traditionally used alongside Bobinsana
A limited number of handwoven Shipibo cloths, including one Bobinsana weaving
If you feel called to work with this medicine more deeply, you can explore the offerings below.
Looking to Work More Deeply with Bobinsana?
For hand-crafted herbal medicines and ritual tools:
-Explore a 1:1 Master Plant Dieta working with Bobinsana.
Like a "marriage" to a plant spirit, this is a deep yet gentle process of connecting profoundly with the Spirit of Bobinsana.
Learn More About Master Plants and how to build a relationship with your plant allies with these posts:
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