METASEQUOIA DIETS
PRIMORDIAL WISDOM // NOBILITY // ATTUNEMENT // VISION
METASEQUOIA // YAWANALEH
Sixty million years ago, when tropical climes covered the Arctic, a small redwood species developed an evolutionary competitive edge and spread the seeds of its handsome cones across North America and Eurasia. At the peak of WWII, a Japanese paleobotanist discovered fossils of this small and mighty redwood species. Nothing like it had ever been described in the botanical literature, so he deemed it extinct, naming it Metasequoia.
As an enduring jewel of the primeval epoch from which she rose, Metasequoia is a living Tree of Life, bridging Earth & Cosmos inside our bodies.
“Sequoias were G-d’s first temples.” -William Cullen Bryant
There are only a few hundred Metasequoia trees alive in the wild, which means that after 60+ Million Years, they came a hair away from extinction. Yet the heart beat of this master tree lives on. What does it mean to be enduring? What of our understanding are we ready to let die in order for something new to birth?
Yet, a redwood’s roots never die. When the tree dies, or is cut down, new trunks grow from the roots. Like so, the Metasequoia is a beacon of what is eternal, undying and real. This is an energy which cuts to the core of matters, patterns and paths, in both our lifetime and across those of the ancestors, to help us see wisdom beyond the noise.
THE PROTOCOL
STUDYING LEGAL SACRED PLANTS, WITHOUT PSYCHEDELICS
Deep study with plants connects us to the wisdom of the natural world in a way that is grounded and real. The most powerful way to engage this work is through sober, focused containers, while sitting in shamanic meditations with our plant teachers. To facilitate this enduring and traditional form of study, we turn to the ancient technology of tobacco.
1. Open the body with Shamanic Tobacco.
2. Connect to the spirit of our Master Tree.
3. Meditate, cultivate, weave in.
Three complimentary forms of tobacco work together to balance us while we connect to our Master Tree in shamanic meditations. Tobacco Tea is snorted into the sinuses like a neti pot and represents Water, working to purify and open the body. Tobacco Paste is swallowed into the stomach like a food and represents Earth, grounding and nourishing the medicine process. The Tobacco Pipe creates smoke, which acts as a bridge to our Master Tree, helping us discern the teachings, and represents Fire and Air.
1L of Metasequoia Tea is consumed each day. The medicine slowly builds inside the body, cleansing the kidneys, nourishing the heart, stimulating the mind, strengthening connective tissue & attuning the spine.
Through our shamanic meditations with tobacco we weave the medicine of Metasequoia into our being and awaken to the teachings of the plants.
WHAT TO EXPECT
THE VIBES OF A TREE DIET
Sacred Tree Diets are spaces for quiet remembrance. Processes are private, individual, inward, gentle and spacious. Medicine is served twice per day and an afternoon meditation divides breakfast and lunch.
Noble silence will be observed in common areas throughout the day. Each night, we will sit by a fire and process; weather permitting. The land is spacious and accommodates for daily sunbathing, yoga, and journaling while contemplating the sunset over the river. All meals are traditional plant diet preparations and are hand prepared, clean and simple: saltless oatmeal and boiled green plantain in the morning and vegetable soup in the late afternoon.
Medicine processes are typically very gentle but can include physical purging (vomiting), the processing of strong emotions, and the onset of physiological changes. Our space will be cared for by highly adept space holders. Safety, privacy and cleanliness are the highest priorities.
This diet can also be undertaken as a complete fast, without food.
The following restrictions will be held during our Tree Diet with strict discipline: Sex, masturbation, drugs, alcohol & other medicines, phones & screens, cosmetics & scents, soap & toothpaste, salt, meat, sugar, oil, spice, physical touch and talking (outside of necessities.)
THE SCHEDULE
OPENING DAY
3 - 6pm - Check-in
7pm - Opening Tobacco Ceremony
CENTER OF THE DIET
7am - Tobacco Prayer
10am - Breakfast
1pm - Meditation
4pm - Dinner
7pm - Fire & Tobacco Prayer
CLOSING DAY
7am - Closing Prayer
8am - Breakfast
10am - 12pm - Depart
INTEGRATION
A 6-WEEK PERIOD TO WEAVE THE MEDICINE WITHIN
Sacred Tree Diets are strong medicine process that can have life changing impact on our wellbeing. Ensuring the safety, efficacy and positivity of a Tree Diet requires holding an integration period for 6 weeks following the closing of our container.
6-WEEK INTEGRATION SCHEDULE
Tree Diet Closes // Two Week Post-Diet Begins
Two Weeks from Closing // Post-Diet Ends // Integration Call #1
Four Weeks from Closing // Integration Call #2
Six Weeks from Closing // Integration Call #3
The following restrictions are to be held for 14 days after the closing of our Tree Diet:
-Sex, masturbation & ejaculation
-Drugs, alcohol, cannabis, other mind altering medicines & plant medicine ceremonies
-Pork, red meat, shellfish, dairy, fermented foods, canned and preserved foods like smoked fish, white sugar, iced drinks, hot chilis, caffeine, heavy oils and deep fried food
-Sharing details about your process to others outside of the most intimate relations (this is totally encouraged at your discretion after the 14 day post-diet period)
-Strong violent, sexual media, including music
Check out a podcast with menswork facilitator Mikaal Bates after his 8-day tree diet with White Birch.
“This ‘tree’ has been working me from the inside out for months now. Even now, as I put words to page, I can ‘feel’ her splitting open the hardened parts of myself as water innocently seeps into cracks in the rock before the freeze to split the strongest stone. It is this being split open that has taken me lovingly by the hand and shown me how hard I have become in some of my softest places.” -Mikaal Bates
