About Root Healing

A: Our mission is to promote and provide safe, effective, and holistic healing experiences centered around Iboga. We are dedicated to supporting individuals on their unique paths toward physical, mental, and spiritual well-being, offering comprehensive care from initial contact through integration.

 Our work is guided by five core values:

1. TRADITION: We strictly adhere to the ancient Missoko Bwiti rituals and wisdom surrounding Iboga, recognizing the inseparable link: "You cannot have iboga without Bwiti, or Bwiti without iboga".¹
2. SAFETY: Guest safety is paramount. We employ rigorous medical screening, have BLS-certified staff, involve medical professionals in evaluations and monitoring, and follow time-honored Bwiti practices which themselves incorporate safety elements.¹
3. STUDY: We embrace the Bwiti philosophy of "the study of life itself," committing to continuous learning through research, updated protocols, training, and collaboration. This ensures our practices evolve and remain informed.¹
4. EQUITABLE ACCESS: We believe healing with Iboga should be accessible regardless of financial status and encourage individuals to contact us to discuss options. Our US retreats operate under a not-for-profit church structure as one way we work towards this value.¹‍
5. RECIPROCITY: We are deeply committed to giving back to the Bwiti communities in Gabon, the original guardians of Iboga, through various means including financial support, volunteering, and ethical sourcing.

Root Healing offers boutique iboga and ibogaine retreats grounded in the Missoko Bwiti tradition and supported by modern medical research.

From our homebase retreat center in Tepoztlán, Mexico, with additional programs in Oregon (via our nonprofit affiliate, the Missoko Bwiti Alliance) and Europe, we offer six dedicated healing programs: Substance Use Liberation, Neuroregenerative & Physical Healing, Trauma & Emotional Healing, Behavioral Addiction, Reclaiming & Connecting to Life, and our Traditional Iboga Retreat.

Every program pairs lineage-led ceremony with ibogaine-grade medical safety — continuous EKG monitoring, advanced medical equipment, and an experienced clinical team — alongside complementary wellness therapies that deepen integration.

Unlike high-volume clinics serving 150+ patients a month, our core team personally holds the container for each guest, offering an intimate, heart-led approach where the relationship and the depth of the work are inseparable.

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Safety at Root Healing is anchored in the most advanced ibogaine medical protocols available.

Every guest begins with a thorough intake and medical review led by our medical team, including comprehensive cardiac and contraindication screening before arrival.

On site, our physicians and nursing staff use state-of-the-art safety technology — continuous 12-lead EKG monitoring, defibrillators, and full emergency medical equipment — with monitoring sustained before, during, and after each ceremony.

This medical foundation works hand-in-hand with the Missoko Bwiti tradition, whose facilitators carry safety practices passed down through thousands of years of ceremonial work with Iboga, and who are also trained in basic life support — so the people holding your spiritual container are equally prepared if your body needs them.

There are no handoffs between departments: facilitators, medical staff, and support team work as one unit, present with you through every moment of the journey.

You cannot have Iboga without Bwiti, or Bwiti without Iboga. The Bwiti tradition is the language Iboga speaks — the entire tradition (ceremonies, safety practices, integration etc.) were developed in direct relationship with the medicine over thousands of years, and they are inseparable from how Iboga heals.

While we deploy Bwiti somewhat like a clinical setting deploys a framework like IFS or CBT — as a coherent, structured approach with specific tools and methods — the parallel ends there. Clinical modalities are inherently pathologizing: they locate the problem inside the person as a disorder to be managed, and place healing outside them in the hands of an expert, creating dependency on the external rather than connection to the self. The outcome data on these approaches is far weaker than their cultural authority suggests.

Bwiti works in the opposite direction. It connects people to their true selves and their own innate power, treating each person as whole rather than broken. And unlike rigid clinical protocols, Bwiti is profoundly flexible, receptive, and adaptive — meeting each individual where they are and responding to their unique experience rather than fitting them into a predetermined model.

This isn't a fringe approach; shamanic and animist traditions were the framework 98% of our ancestors lived within. We are not reaching for something new — we are returning to the lineage of healing that humans have always known.