The Role of Story in the Ibogaine Community

We all have our story.

Each and every person that is touched by the field of Ibogaine treatment has a story. The landscape of connectivity reaches beyond the practitioners offering the treatment and the participants who receive it. Family’s, friends and strangers alike are touched by the ripple effect that is produced when Ibogaine enters the field of an individuals life. Stories are altered for all who are touched by this medicine.

We all have our story.

In the field of Ibogaine therapy it is not uncommon for those who feel they were saved by this medicine to then become the ones who want to serve others who reflect where they once were. This act of service becomes a gateway to potentiate the healing that they felt was bestowed upon them. Those who are commonly perceived as outsiders of society are those who step into the role of a Ibogaine provider to serve the frequently shamed and punished members of society in an effort to humanely care for the drug inflicted. The reflections of likeness in the life story for Ibogaine providers provides an opportunity for a sense of belonging to a community of people who hold a story of not belonging within a society that primarily functions with particular acceptable social norms.

Providers and others on the care team who come to this field of service with the story of Ibogaine having been a major influence for their lives turning a corner toward the potential of greater health have each other as reflective examples that are relatable. This gift of reflective story provides relatability that promotes connection, a potent resource for continuation of healing for those parts that feel they were pushed out, shamed, shunned and deeply misunderstood.

We all have our story.

Not all who support Ibogaine drug detox have the personal story of being someone who had a potentially dangerous and habitual use relationship with drugs that was transformed after meeting the medicine. Others hold the story of witnessing many of those they love live a life that was filled with habitual choices to use substances and were touched by the byproduct of those choices.

Some providers are moved to action because they belong to families stricken with stories of loved ones lost to accidental overdoses, are close to stories of children and young adults who were prescribed medication that became an addiction that couldn’t be cleared without help and stories of said prescribed medications turning into the use of a substances that holds greater danger then the one originally prescribed. Some hold the wish in their heart that they could have done something to help change the story of those they loved while also tending to the wounds that are lived with within their own hearts as a result of their loved ones choices and actions.

We all have our story.
Compassion is key to the mending of wounds in relationship, with self and other.

When offering acceptance of those parts of ourselves that have been felt to be pushed out from a place of belonging we provide potential to re-root into our rightful place within humanity’s shared community. When we invite all the parts that have been shamed, pushed out, shunned and deeply misunderstood we no longer need a community of outsiders to stand outside of society but instead create allowance for them to become integrated into the unified field of humanity. The story that unites then becomes the one story of human life with all of its grand diverse expressions.

We all have our story.

The why of our relationship with this particular plant and its extracted alkaloids is unique to each person. The breadth of this medicines ability to support transformation is vast while also having its limits. We are a part of Iboga’s story and a part of the healing potential that it imparts. Our stories participate in the field of potentiality that is created when engaged with the potency provided by Iboga/Ibogaine. How we choose to interact with it and why we choose to do so matters. We are participating in the writing of the script while the play is acted out on the world stage. There is a spectrum of intelligence that invites folly and demise on one end and harmonious execution of right action promoting change for the betterment of all on the other.

We all have our story.

All are touched by and a part of the each others lived story. As a master teacher in relationship, Iboga reminds us We are All in this Together. There is an intelligence that invites the remembrance that we are indeed all in this together. Our thoughts and our deeds influence the world of which we are a part of. A key ingredient in the relationship with health is the sense of belonging and connection. The potential provided by the medicine of this plant teacher includes these key ingredients.

We all have our story. The stories we carry from our lived experience are influencing our choices, our actions, moment to moment. Mindfulness and self reflection are important, especially when choosing to play a part in writing our shared story. We can continue to participate in the play largely unconscious of our motives and the play will go on as it will or we can attempt to formulate conscious awareness of the part we are playing in our shared story.

We all have our story and we are all in this one story that we are writing together.