The Bobinsana Master Plant Dieta - Resilience, Emotional Awareness, and Self-Love
By Kat Courtney
Bobinsana (Calliandra augustifolia) is a potent, gorgeous, powerful Amazonian plant. Sirenita Bobinsana is a watery wonder who grows along the Amazon River, and she gets decimated when the rains come (and they always do). But just days after the storm passes, this pink pom-pom queen rises again, with full celebration and resilient joy.
This is her medicine, and this incredible power to trust and weather any storm is one of the main reasons Bobinsana is a true Master Plant teacher. She’s often the first Master Plant people on the shamanic path connect with in a dieta, and for good reason; her other well-known superpower is helping humans to cultivate more self-love. Who couldn’t use a little (or a lot more) of love from within?
I first met Bobinsana many years ago in a Master Plant Dieta, and her heart-opening sweetness knocked my socks off. I had felt called to her for many years, but knowing she would be a massive ally for me, I was discerning about the set and setting. My experience met every expectation and then some. She showed me my resistance to love, and my attachments to fear. And she opened my heart in such a potent, tangible way, I left the retreat awestruck and glowing. Now, in ceremonies, when I need to feel my heart, I reach for Bobinsana.
If you desire to work with a beautifully feminine jungle Master Plant, Bobinsana is your girl.
The Essence of Bobinsana
Bobinsana is one of the handful of elite Master Plant teachers that tribes like the Shipibo-Conibo have revered for centuries. She is a decidedly feminine mermaid spirit, with big floofy fuchsia flowers that make her feel like an exuberant cheerleader, which she is on so many levels. Every part of the Bobinsana tree holds her medicine; her flowers, leaves, bark, and stems are all used in a Bobinsana tea form for all kinds of spiritual medicinal usages. The entire plant of Bobinsana can be a medicinal plant.
She’s masterful at helping with digestion, and for lowering inflammation all through the body. Her roots, too, are extremely potent; so much so they even have a stimulating effect, so we tend to work with the roots in the morning, and the flowers and leaves at night.
What is a Bobinsana Dieta? Or a Master Plant Dieta in General?
A Master Plant Dieta is an ancient Amazonian indigenous tradition that essentially involves the marriage or union of a human spirit with that of a master plant teacher. Master Plants are defined as very wise old plants that also want to work with human consciousness (not all of them do, and who can blame them!) When we “diet” a plant, we undergo a strict food diet protocol, as well as sacrifice various distractions and creature comforts, and we spend as much time in meditation and communication with our plant as possible. Most Master Plants – Bobinsana included – are consumed via tea form.
Plants like Bobinsana can also be dieted in either complete isolation, or in what we call a “dieta suave”, or “soft diet”, which is a social experience. In the latter, we still handle our work and relationships as normal, still following the strict guidelines, and making the relationship with our plant the priority as best we can. Bobinsana is supportive on the body and easy to digest so that she can be worked with in either capacity. Regardless of whether one diet is in isolation or in a social setting, having a properly trained guide to open, hold, and close the dieta is essential. The facilitator makes the connection, keeps it strong, passes along messages, protects the dieter, and helps them integrate the lessons in the aftermath.
In an isolated setting, working with Ayahuasca is almost always included in a Bobinsana dieta, but it isn’t at all a requirement. Ayahuasca ceremonies help to amplify the connection and the communications, but a Master Plant Diet is just as effective and magical in a social setting where one does not have access to Mama Medicine. The benefits can be attained either way.
Potential Benefits of a Bobinsana Dieta
On a physical level, Bobinsana has these healing benefits:
Diuretic
Stimulating (her roots especially)
Anti-inflammatory
Tonic
Anti-cancer
Anti-rheumatic
Some of the emotional and spiritual healing effects of Bobinsana include:
Connecting to lucid dreams
Heart-opening
Heals heartbreak and emotional turmoil
Helps cultivate more self-love
Generates feelings of comfort, empowerment, and joy
Teaches resilience and how to weather the storm
In my personal two dietas with Bobinsana, I experienced an intense process of confronting my shadow around the attachment to fear and anger. For multiple days, I felt Bobinsana lovingly showing my own pre-conditioning around clinging to these painful frequencies, and as I stayed accountable and listened to her wisdom, my heart began to open. By the end of my dieta with her, I felt so incredibly joyful, connected to my heart, and connected to all of consciousness. She was and still is my champion for claiming heart-spaced joy!
Preparing for the Bobinsana Dieta
Bobinsana is medicine in the indigenous definition, which means she can help us on all levels of our beings. But she doesn’t do the work for us, she helps bring to the surface toxicities and emotional blockages that we can gain more autonomy and sovereignty over, partly through conscious awareness, and partly through embodiment. The indigenous understanding of healing isn’t about a magic pill or herb, it’s about support and information from nature. We must feel to heal, and there are no shortcuts, but plants like Bobinsana are incredible allies in our healing process.
When we enter into a Master Plant Dieta with Bobinsana, it’s crucial to have a couple of core elements in preparation:
A clear and sincere calling to be in partnership with Bobinsana, or whatever plant you are merging with
Strong, heartfelt intentions; a foundation for what you are bringing in a vulnerable way to this powerful plant ally
A willingness and commitment to following the dieta protocol, which involves no salt, sugar, spice, sex, red meat, alcohol, and similar distractions
Before entering into the portal of the dieta, it’s best to taper off salty and spicy foods, alcohol, and even media distractions, so you can ease into the process and be ready to connect with the plant right out of the gate.
All Master Plants have some level of precautions and contraindications, so before embarking on a dieta with Bobinsana, make sure you are working with a trained and knowledgeable guide that can ensure your physical, emotional, and mental safety.
Embarking on the Bobinsana Dieta
The logistics of a Bobinsana dieta are not complicated, but they are challenging. There are strict protocols in place for several core reasons:
We eliminate various distractions so that we can fully focus on the connection with the plant whenever we have the time and space to do so (at least twice per day.)
We eliminate foods that are spicy or otherwise flavorful, as a bland diet supports us in connecting more deeply with the plant spirit.
We commit to celibacy to reserve our energies and to be in complete monogamous intimacy with our plant partner.
Opening a Master Plant Dieta is a really magical process. It’s the same whether you are in person with your practitioner / guide, or if its remote. The guide will sing in the spirit of the plant through the power of song and intention, making the strengthening the connection. Once this is complete, the dieter can begin to drink and work with their plant.
It’s best to commit at least 1 week in person for a dieta, or 2 weeks if you’re doing this remotely. I personally think 1 month is the perfect time frame for a social dieta, as this gives plenty of time for the plant to root in, and so much communication and insight can come in via that time frame. But in the end, the plants will take whatever we can offer them, and even a 1 week social dieta can be magical if you have dieted previously and know how to drop in quickly.
Every plant has different dosage and frequency guidelines, but for Bobinsana, she is what we call an “all you can drink” dieta, in that there are typically no limits to the frequency and dosage we can safely consume. The body loves her as much as the spirit, so she’s not one we have to be careful of in terms of quantity.
During the dieta, a proper guide will also schedule regular coaching sessions to help the dieter make sense of the experiences Bobinsana is co-creating. We like to do meetings every other week, as well as a final integration session about 1 week after the dieta is closed. Additionally, the guide should be available anytime for questions and extra support, as the experience is unpredictable and often brings about emotional challenges. So whoever you work with, make sure they are a truly able and available partner, as the process is supposed to be difficult at times; that’s often the core of healing.
Finally, the dieter should commit to having as much time in silence as possible. In a traditional isolated diet, silence is often the norm for part or all of the dieta duration. It’s in the silence that we can really hear and feel the plant’s communication. Even in a social dieta, making space for quiet time is essential.
Dieta Bobinsana Guidelines
Here are the foundational elements of the Bobinsana Dieta guidelines; this is not a comprehensive list, as all guides have different protocols, but this is the basic structure that most of us work from:
The list of things to cut out of your diet for maximum connection to Bobinsana:
Salt (ok to have very small amounts if your body needs it)
Sugar
Spice (including things like turmeric and cardamom)
Garlic, onions, leeks
Red meat and pork
Fried foods
Processed foods
Citrus (lemon, lime, orange, etc.)
Vinegar
Aged cheeses (ideally to go dairy free if possible)
Vegetable oils (small amounts of good quality olive oil and coconut oil are ok)
Other things to eliminate from your lifestyle:
No sexual activity whatsoever
Minimal social media (for your work only)
No media (unless it’s directly supportive of the dieta process)
No social outings unless absolutely necessary
No other master plants, unless you need them for your physical well-being
No other psychedelics / mood-altering substances, especially Cannabis. The exception is if you’re going to a sacred Plant Medicine ceremony during the dieta.
For those that work with Rapéh and/or Sacred Tobacco, he is most welcome and very supportive of the dieta process. We just advise you not to work with any that have additional master plants, unless, of course, it’s Bobinsana!
Integrating Your Bobinsana Diet After The Dieta Closes
It doesn’t matter how magical, informative, insightful, and healing the Bobinsana dieta is; if you don’t commit to integrating the lessons, the experience won’t be life-changing. Integrating means wholeness and embodiment, and it requires additional effort and focus in the aftermath so we can make the most of the efforts we put into the dieta itself.
There’s no one way to integrate, as everyone’s results are different, but the core of integration involves the following foundation:
A daily spiritual practice where you connect with yourself, check in with your emotions and have periods of time where you are in a state of being not doing.
Introspection on the insights that the dieta brought in, via journaling and creative expression. It’s wise to make a list of the major aha moments the dieta gave you, and then draft a bulleted list of changes that are required to honor those reflections.
A willingness to make actual changes in your life. Diets always expose the reasons for our suffering and frustrations, and if we aren’t willing to make small and large shifts in our lives, relationships, jobs, and self-care, we will inevitably go back to the same old patterns.
All somatic modalities are helpful in the integration phase; yoga, meditation, prayer, dance, time in nature, journaling, singing – anything that helps you get out of your head and into your heart + body helps to bring the lessons into every cell of your being. We do not think our way to wholeness; it has to be experiential.
It’s also important to ease back into foods and behaviors that are not on diet; we suggest introducing things like sugar, spice, alcohol and red meat one at a time, slowly, over a period of a week or so. This helps to ease back into the contrast of everyday life, and to not jar our systems with overstimulation. Slow and steady is the way to go post-diet to support the integration process.
Closing the Ceremony On The Bobinsana Diet
A Master Plant Dieta with mighty Bobinsana is a powerful and mystical way to reconnect to our hearts, and to bring in a burst of self-love and acceptance. Even if you can’t make it to the jungle, you can connect with Bobinsana via a social diet, or “dieta suave.” If you feel called to merge with this Amazonian beauty, reach out to us here or visit our coaches page – Lindsay, Neil, and myself (Kat) all hold Master Plant Diets with Bobinsana, ad we’d be so honored to work with you!
Next blog: A Master Plant Diet with Queen Rose
About the Author
Tina “Kat” Courtney is a traditionally trained Ayahuasquera and Huachumera; she apprenticed for over a decade in the Shipibo-Conibo and Quechua-Lamista traditions. She’s the author of Plant Medicine Mystery School Vol 1: The Superhero Healing Powers of Psychotropic Plants. Kat is a pioneer in the Psychedelic Integration space, as well as an expert in cultivating life-changing relationships with plant spirits. She leads Master Plant Diets both in person and remotely and is available for coaching and consultations about this and all shamanic topics. Kat is also a certified Death Doula, honored to help people make peace with the inevitable and beautiful transition into the afterlife. She has spent her adult life cultivating a bonded and trusting relationship with the darkness, and she’d love to help you do the same.
