THE MEDICINES WE CARRY
Sananga
The medicine that asks us to be present.
Sananga is an Amazonian medicine traditionally prepared from plants within the Tabernaemontana genus and administered through drops placed into the eyes.
The experience is brief, direct, and intensely physical. There is very little room to disappear into thought when the body is asking for your full attention.
Within BUFAYA, we often work with Sananga as a medicine of grounding, clearing, breath, and presence.
THE MEDICINE
Sometimes presence begins with having nowhere else to go.
What is Sananga?
Sananga comes from the Amazon, where it carries a traditional relationship with vision, clarity, perception, and the body. Different communities and medicine keepers may prepare and work with the medicine in different ways.
Unlike medicines that may unfold over several hours, the most intense part of a Sananga experience is usually much shorter. Its brevity does not make it passive. Once the drops enter the eyes, the body responds immediately.
Eyes water. The breath changes. The instinct may be to tighten, resist, or move away from the sensation. This is often where the relationship with Sananga begins.
THE EXPERIENCE
The body becomes difficult to ignore.
The sensation of Sananga can be intense. The eyes may burn and water, and the first instinct can be to tense against what is happening.
We encourage something different.
Breathe. Notice where the body is tightening. Stay with the sensation rather than immediately trying to escape it. Gradually, the intensity begins to settle.
What remains can feel surprisingly quiet. The breath has slowed. Attention has returned to the body. The mind may feel less crowded than it did only minutes before.
Sananga does not give the mind much room to negotiate with the present moment.
Sananga · Ceremony
Breath · Body · Presence
BEFORE DEEPER CEREMONY
A return to the body before going further.
Within BUFAYA, we often recommend Sananga before medicines such as Bufo and Ayahuasca.
We work with it as a grounding and clearing practice before entering deeper ceremonial experiences. The intensity of Sananga brings attention away from everything happening in the mind and directly toward the body and breath.
That return can be important before moving into an experience where so much may arise.
People may also describe entering ceremony with a sense of greater clarity, or feeling able to see what arises with less noise around it. Seeing clearly does not always mean seeing more. Sometimes it means becoming present enough to recognize what is already there.
OUR RELATIONSHIP
How BUFAYA holds Sananga.
The ceremony may be simple. Our presence within it is intentional.
Once the drops are administered, we remain close. We help guide the breath and encourage the person to stay with their body rather than tightening against the intensity.
Clearing may also be part of the way we support what is moving through the experience. We pay attention to the person in front of us rather than trying to create a complicated ceremony around them.
Sometimes someone needs encouragement through the breath. Sometimes they need clearing. Sometimes they simply need another person beside them who is calm enough not to make the intensity feel like something has gone wrong.
Sometimes holding space means doing less while remaining completely present.
VISION & CLARITY
Seeing is not only something we do with our eyes.
Sananga carries a traditional relationship with vision and perception. Within BUFAYA, we also understand clarity through the experience of becoming more present with what is happening inside of us.
Sometimes clarity arrives as insight. Sometimes it is simply a quieter mind, a deeper breath, and the feeling of being fully back inside your own body.
FEELING CALLED TO SANANGA?
Come back to the body.
Not every medicine asks us to leave the familiar behind. Sometimes the medicine brings us directly back to what has been here the entire time: the breath, the body, and the present moment.
