What Happens During a Kambo Ceremony? What to Expect Step by Step
If you've never experienced Kambo before, it's completely normal to wonder what actually happens during a Kambo ceremony.
How long does Kambo last? What does it feel like? Why do you drink so much water? What does purging actually mean? And what happens when it's all over?
Rather than giving you a vague description, I thought I would take you through exactly what happens when you come for a Kambo ceremony with me, Claire Anstey, at The Kambo Clinic in Beckenham, South East London.
Before I do, I want to make something really clear.
This is how I hold Kambo ceremonies at The Kambo Clinic. It isn't necessarily what you will experience if you book Kambo somewhere else.
The Kambo itself remains rooted in traditional Amazonian practice. What I have created around that traditional process is my own modern ceremony, bringing together Kambo with the subconscious, metaphysical and therapeutic work I have spent more than a decade studying.
TRADITIONAL KAMBO IS ACTUALLY VERY SIMPLE
I think people sometimes assume that because Kambo comes from the Amazon, a Kambo ceremony should involve hours of chanting, musicians, drums and lots of different plant medicines.
Traditionally, Kambo is much simpler than that.
It has been used within Indigenous Amazonian communities as part of family and community life and in connection with hunting, strength, stamina, cleansing and wellbeing.
Kambo doesn't need a huge performance around it.
That simplicity is something I really respect.
At The Kambo Clinic, we don't try to recreate an Indigenous ceremony that isn't ours. I am not Indigenous Amazonian and I don't pretend to be a shaman.
I also don't believe that adding lots of other plant medicines automatically makes a Kambo ceremony deeper or better.
What I have done instead is retain the traditional Kambo process while creating a modern ceremony around it that reflects my own training and the way I have worked with clients for many years.
I don't change the Kambo. I change what happens around it.
WHAT IS DIFFERENT ABOUT A KAMBO CEREMONY AT THE KAMBO CLINIC?
My background isn't only in Kambo.
I have spent more than a decade studying subconscious transformation, hypnotherapy, metaphysical principles, Religious Science, conscious creation and what I describe within my work as Quantum Healing philosophy.
I bring elements of that work into my Kambo ceremonies.
Before the Kambo is applied, I guide you through a Conscious Quantum meditation and intention-setting process. The purpose is to quieten some of the everyday conscious chatter and bring your attention deeply towards why you have chosen to be there.
You may want to release something that has been weighing you down. You might be at a crossroads in your life or dealing with a relationship, career or family situation that you want to see differently. Perhaps you are trying to create something new.
Or maybe you can't articulate exactly what needs to change. You just know that something does.
That's absolutely fine.
Through the meditation, we work with the subconscious mind, visualisation, future-self identity, conscious creation and metaphysical principles. I want you connected to what you are ready to release and, importantly, what you are choosing instead.
We then take that intention into the physical Kambo experience.
This isn't traditional Kambo.
It's my modern way of holding a Kambo ceremony at The Kambo Clinic.
YOUR INTENTION IS PRIVATE IN OUR PUBLIC KAMBO GROUPS
I want to make this particularly clear because I know group ceremonies can make some people nervous.
If you attend one of our public Kambo groups, you are not expected to sit in a circle and publicly share your problems, trauma, intentions or reasons for being there.
Your intention is yours.
The guided meditation is designed so that you can work privately and internally with whatever you have brought into the ceremony. I guide the group through the process, but you take my words into your own experience.
There is something lovely about experiencing Kambo alongside other people, but that doesn't mean everybody in the room needs access to your private life.
You can attend one of my public groups, have an incredibly personal experience and never tell another client what you were working on.
I think that's important.
WHY CLIENTS TELL ME MY KAMBO CEREMONIES FEEL DIFFERENT
I've had lots of Kambo myself and attended different ceremonies over the years.
The Kambo doesn't need dressing up, but I have become fascinated by what happens when we combine this very physical traditional experience with deep intention and subconscious work.
Clients often tell me that my ceremonies are some of the deepest Kambo experiences they have attended, including people who have previously experienced Kambo elsewhere.
Some of the things people have reported afterwards have been quite extraordinary too.
I've had clients message me because an ex has unexpectedly called to apologise. I've had people tell me that a boss who had been making their life difficult suddenly started behaving completely differently towards them. I've heard about longstanding family rifts beginning to heal and situations that had felt stuck for months suddenly beginning to move.
Some clients call these things manifestations. Others have genuinely used the word miracles.
Can I tell you that Kambo made someone's ex pick up the phone? Of course not. I wouldn't make that claim and I certainly wouldn't promise that having Kambo will make a particular external event happen.
What I can tell you is what my clients report.
I'm fascinated by what can happen when somebody goes through an intense physical ceremony while also becoming incredibly clear about what they are releasing, what they want and how they intend to move forward.
Sometimes nothing dramatic happens at all. You simply realise that you feel different.
And sometimes I get a WhatsApp message that starts with, "Claire, you're not going to believe what's just happened..."
I love those messages.
YOUR KAMBO CEREMONY STARTS BEFORE YOU ARRIVE
Once you've booked, I personally contact you and we complete your screening.
I need to know about relevant medical conditions, medications, supplements and anything else that could affect whether Kambo is appropriate for you. If something comes up that I need to investigate further, I will.
You will also receive clear preparation guidance explaining your fasting and what you need to do before your appointment.
You don't need to follow a complicated dieta before Kambo. I don't want you dramatically changing your normal diet for days beforehand unless we have specifically discussed something with you individually.
Follow the preparation instructions I give you and come to the clinic as planned.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU ARRIVE AT THE KAMBO CLINIC?
Our Kambo appointments allow plenty of time because I don't believe this is something that should be rushed.
The active Kambo experience itself is short, usually around 20 to 30 minutes, but the ceremony is much more than those few minutes.
We have time to settle in and prepare properly. We work with your intention before beginning the physical Kambo process, and afterwards there is proper time for you to recover, eat and allow yourself to come back into the room before leaving.
If you're attending privately, we can talk in more depth about what has brought you to Kambo and what you want from the experience.
If you're attending a public group, your personal intention remains private. There is no expectation that you share personal information with everybody else.
I want you to feel comfortable, not as though you've accidentally arrived at group therapy.
THE CONSCIOUS QUANTUM MEDITATION AND YOUR INTENTION
Before we begin the physical part of the ceremony, I guide you through the Conscious Quantum meditation.
This is where I want you to stop thinking about everything happening outside the room and actually connect with why you are there.
Depending on what you're working with, I may guide you towards something you're ready to release, a situation you want to see differently or the version of yourself you are choosing to become.
You don't need to force anything and you certainly don't need to manufacture some enormous emotional breakthrough.
Just listen and allow your own mind to do the work.
In a public group, everybody hears the same guided process while privately applying it to their own intention. Nobody else needs to know what you're thinking about.
Once that work is complete, we move into the traditional physical Kambo process.
THE KAMBO GATES ARE MADE
Before Kambo can be applied, we create small superficial burns in the skin called gates.
At The Kambo Clinic, I make these very lightly. We only need to work with the superficial layer of the skin and there is no benefit to being unnecessarily heavy-handed.
If you're worried about the gates, placement or possible scarring, tell me before we begin. We can talk about where they will go and what you can expect as they heal.
I've also written a complete guide to Kambo gates and scars on the blog because this is something lots of first-time clients understandably want to know about.
WHY DO YOU DRINK WATER BEFORE KAMBO?
Water is an important part of the way I practise traditional Kambo.
You don't arrive having spent the morning drinking litres of water. I give you specific preparation instructions about when to stop drinking beforehand.
The water for your Kambo is then introduced as part of the ceremony shortly before the Kambo is applied.
For a standard treatment, we generally begin with around 1.5 to 2 litres under practitioner guidance. I monitor what you're drinking and how your body is responding rather than encouraging you to endlessly consume water.
This is important because more water isn't automatically better. Water intake needs to be properly managed by a trained practitioner.
But there is another reason I personally love working with the traditional water purge.
I think of the water as a carrier.
Your stomach is relatively empty because you have fasted, and shortly before the Kambo begins you deliberately introduce water. When your purge happens, your body therefore has fluid available to move and release.
For me, it also creates a powerful emotional element to the ceremony.
Within my own metaphysical understanding of the process, I work with the idea of that water carrying out what you have consciously chosen to release, including old emotion and what I would describe as stuck energy within the body and quantum field.
I want to be clear that this is my metaphysical interpretation of the ceremony rather than an established medical or quantum physics claim.
But it is an important part of the way I work.
We have already spent time connecting with your intention and subconscious mind. When the physical purge begins, I encourage you to connect that release with whatever you have chosen to let go of.
For me, the physical and intentional parts of the ceremony work beautifully together.
THE KAMBO IS APPLIED
The dried Kambo secretion is prepared with a small amount of water and applied to the gates.
It begins working quickly.
Everybody experiences Kambo slightly differently, but you may feel heat or flushing, your heart rate can increase and you may experience pressure or fullness in your head or nausea as your body begins responding.
I'm not going to tell you that the active part of Kambo feels like a relaxing spa treatment.
It doesn't.
It can be intense.
What people often don't understand before their first ceremony is how short that intensity actually is.
For most people, the active experience lasts around 20 to 30 minutes.
The intense part happens with me at the clinic. Kambo doesn't continue making you purge for the rest of the day and you aren't expected to go home and spend days recovering from it.
PURGING INTO THE BUCKET ISN'T THE SAME AS VOMITING
This is one of the biggest misconceptions I hear about Kambo.
People see somebody purging into a bucket and understandably think, "They're vomiting."
But when I talk about the traditional Kambo water purge, I don't think of it in the same way as simply being sick.
You have fasted, so your stomach is relatively empty. Shortly before the Kambo is applied, you deliberately drink a significant amount of water under practitioner supervision.
When your purge begins, much of what initially comes into your bucket is that water.
Yes, physiologically the process can involve emesis, but sitting beside somebody during a Kambo ceremony, I use the word purging because it describes the whole experience much better than simply saying you are vomiting.
And importantly, purging doesn't only happen into the bucket.
THERE ARE LOTS OF DIFFERENT WAYS TO PURGE DURING KAMBO
Some people have a very strong water purge into their bucket.
Other people's bodies decide the main route is going to be their bowels, which can mean suddenly needing the bathroom. If that happens, I help you safely to and from the toilet.
You may urinate more. You may sweat heavily. Your eyes can water, your nose may run and your body may shake or tremble.
There can also be an emotional element to the purge.
I've had people cry during Kambo. Sometimes those tears are connected to something very specific and sometimes the person couldn't tell you exactly why they are crying. They simply need to let it happen.
For me, all of this can be part of the release.
I don't judge whether somebody has had a "good Kambo" by how much liquid is in their bucket.
That would completely miss the point.
WHAT IF I DON'T PURGE INTO THE BUCKET?
Don't worry about it.
This is especially important in a public group because you might hear somebody beside you having a huge water purge while you're sitting there wondering why the same thing isn't happening to you.
Your body isn't in competition with theirs.
One person might purge predominantly into their bucket while somebody else needs the bathroom, sweats heavily or has a strong emotional experience.
I am watching what is happening with you rather than trying to make everybody in the room respond in exactly the same way.
You don't need to recreate somebody else's Kambo ceremony.
Have yours.
And remember that your intention remains private throughout our public groups. The person beside you doesn't know what you're releasing and you don't need to know what they're working on either.
WHAT IF I NEED THE TOILET DURING KAMBO?
Then you go to the toilet.
Please don't be embarrassed.
I've been doing this for years and there is very little a human body can do during Kambo that is going to shock me.
This is also one of the reasons I care so much about practitioner-to-client ratios.
During the active Kambo experience you can feel physically weak or light-headed. I don't want you suddenly standing up and trying to make your way to the bathroom alone.
Tell me and I will help you.
Our public groups are deliberately kept small so I can actually look after the people in the room. Larger privately arranged groups have additional appropriately trained support.
That's not a luxury.
It's practical.
THE PURGE IS ONLY ONE PART OF THE KAMBO EXPERIENCE
The purge gets a lot of attention because it's the bit that looks dramatic in photographs and videos.
But for me, it isn't the whole ceremony.
We have already done the preparation, subconscious work and intention before the Kambo is applied. Then you have this incredibly physical experience, whatever form your particular purge takes.
Within my metaphysical practice, I encourage you to allow that purge to represent release.
If you're carrying anger, grief, resentment, fear or an old relationship that you know you're finished with, this can become the moment where you stop intellectually talking about letting something go and actually experience release through your body.
You don't have to share my metaphysical beliefs to experience Kambo with me.
But many of my clients love this part of the process because it gives the physical purge a deeply personal meaning.
THEN THE KAMBO COMES OFF
Once your process is complete, the Kambo is removed and the intense part of the experience is over.
I really want first-time clients to understand this because reading about Kambo online can sometimes make it sound as though you're signing yourself up for days of being unwell.
You're not.
The active Kambo experience happens during the ceremony.
Then we move into recovery.
RECOVERY IS PART OF THE CEREMONY
You have fasted, drunk a significant amount of water and may have purged, so I want you to stop for a while.
Get comfortable. Lie down if you want to. Have a blanket, close your eyes and allow your body to settle.
You can talk if you feel like talking or stay quiet if that's what you need.
There is no rush.
This is one of the reasons I don't like the idea of "lunch-hour Kambo". Yes, technically the active Kambo can be over relatively quickly, but I don't understand why anybody would want to rush everything that happens around it.
You have just done something intense.
Give yourself a little time.
THEN WE FEED YOU
Food is part of our recovery process at The Kambo Clinic.
Once you're ready, you sit down and eat.
Depending on the ceremony, we provide simple nourishing foods such as hummus, bread or crackers, fruit, dried fruit, soup, peanut butter, salad and couscous.
You have fasted and you may have purged. I want you to eat properly and allow your body to settle before you leave.
I don't believe fasting, having an intense Kambo experience, being handed a protein shake and immediately sent out of the door is good ceremony practice.
There is no prize for doing Kambo as quickly as possible.
THEN YOU GO BACK TO YOUR LIFE
This is the part I love.
Your homework after Kambo is simply to live your life and notice what happens.
You don't need to spend three days analysing every second of your ceremony. Go back to work, see your friends, train and do the things you normally do.
Pay attention to how you feel.
Perhaps something that had been consuming your thoughts suddenly doesn't have the same hold over you. Maybe you find yourself making a decision you've been avoiding or responding differently to somebody who normally triggers you.
Sometimes the change is internal and subtle.
Sometimes something happens externally that makes you message me immediately.
Don't force it.
Just notice.
For me, that is where the intention we set before the ceremony becomes really interesting. It isn't about sitting at home waiting for the universe to deliver something.
It's about going back into your life and seeing what feels different.
WHAT HAPPENS AFTER YOUR KAMBO CEREMONY?
You aren't simply sent home and forgotten.
At The Kambo Clinic, we contact you by email to see how you are getting on and you also have access to your practitioner via WhatsApp following your ceremony.
I don't expect you to need me. Most people leave, get on with their lives and feel absolutely fine.
But I think it's important that you know I'm there if you have a question.
You may also notice increased energy, focus or clarity over the following days. Everybody is different, so I don't want you trying to manufacture an experience because somebody else told you what happened to them.
Notice what happens to you.
IS EVERY KAMBO CEREMONY LIKE THIS?
No, and I think that's important to say.
Another properly trained practitioner may hold their Kambo ceremony differently, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with a very simple traditional approach.
What I've described here is the modern Kambo ceremony I have developed at The Kambo Clinic.
I respect the traditional practice. I don't imitate Indigenous rituals that aren't mine, I don't claim to be a shaman and I don't believe adding lots of other medicines automatically makes a Kambo ceremony deeper or better.
Instead, I bring my own experience and training into the space.
The traditional Kambo remains at the centre of the ceremony. Around that, I incorporate subconscious work, guided meditation, intention, metaphysical principles and conscious creation.
Then we give you time to recover, feed you properly and provide aftercare once you leave.
That combination has evolved through years of working with clients and experiencing Kambo myself.
WHAT SHOULD YOU EXPECT FROM YOUR FIRST KAMBO CEREMONY?
Expect the Kambo itself to be intense, but don't be frightened by that word.
The intense part is short and you are supported throughout it.
More importantly, expect your practitioner to know your relevant medical history before applying anything to your body. Expect them to explain what they're doing, to be there if you need practical help and to give you enough time to recover afterwards.
And please ask questions.
If you're considering your first Kambo ceremony with me, Claire Anstey, at The Kambo Clinic in Beckenham, South East London, you can contact me before booking if there is anything you're worried about.
I would much rather answer ten questions before your ceremony than have you arrive frightened because you've spent the night reading random Kambo stories on the internet.
Our public Kambo ceremonies are limited to a maximum of five people, and private one-to-one and privately arranged group ceremonies are also available.
Every ceremony includes your preparation and screening, bottled water, practitioner support, the Kambo process, proper time to rest and recover, food afterwards and aftercare.
But the thing I hope you leave with isn't simply the feeling that you've "done Kambo".
I want you to leave curious about what happens next.
Because sometimes the most interesting part of the ceremony starts when you walk back out of my door.
RELATED READING
What to Eat Before and After Kambo
https://www.thekamboclinic.com/claire-ansteys-blog/what-to-eat-before-and-after-kambo
Kambo Aftercare: What to Expect After Kambo
https://www.thekamboclinic.com/claire-ansteys-blog/kambo-aftercare-what-to-expect-after-kambo
How Much Does Kambo Cost in the UK?
https://www.thekamboclinic.com/claire-ansteys-blog/how-much-does-kambo-cost-uk
Kambo Practitioner Near Me: How to Choose a Safe, Experienced Practitioner
https://www.thekamboclinic.com/claire-ansteys-blog/kambo-practitioner-near-me
Kambo Scars and Gates: Does Kambo Leave Permanent Marks?
https://www.thekamboclinic.com/claire-ansteys-blog/kambo-scars-gates
Learn More About Kambo Ceremonies at The Kambo Clinic
https://www.thekamboclinic.com/the-kambo-ceremony