Reciprocity & Respect: Our Commitment to Bwiti Tradition
Learn how Root Healing gives back to Bwiti communities, honors traditional practices, and ethically sources Iboga in deep respect for its origins.
Giving Back
The Bwiti have been the shepherds and protectors of Iboga for thousands of years and have generously shared their powerful spiritual tradition with us. In the same spirit, Root Healing seeks to give back and support the Bwiti communities from which this tradition & medicine comes in the following ways:
- We give a percentage of our monthly profits/bookings to the Bwiti village we work with trying to empower their own management of essential needs.
- Root Healing members work directly volunteering their time and work experience.
- Root Healing exclusively sources their medicine from the village, ensuring that all financial exchange goes directly into the hands of the Bwiti with no intermediary.
Honoring Tradition
All Root Healing retreats adhere strictly to the Bwiti tradition – which is the tradition that has been with Iboga since it was first discovered thousands of years ago. We believe that the Bwiti are the only ones that are truly qualified in saying how the medicine is used in ceremony because the medicine itself created and informs the tradition. Therefore, everything at our retreats from preparation, fireside teachings, to counseling and integration are solely Bwiti-focused.
Our providers have all undergone extensive training and our team is in constant contact with the village, making frequent trips to Gabon for further training and connection to the tradition.
Our Medicine
All of our medicine comes directly from the Missoko Bwiti village that we work with. It is traditionally grown, harvested, and ceremonially prepared by the Bwiti as it has been for centuries. This is essential for a number of reasons:
- It ensures the spirit of the medicine is respected and carried within the Bwiti tradition, of which it is a sacrament.
- It supports the Bwiti village, the people who have been its caretakers since the connection between Iboga and Bwiti began so long ago. It is said that you cannot have Bwiti without Iboga and you cannot have Iboga without Bwiti. At Root Healing, this is a core principle.
- This ensures that our medicine is always safe, spiritually potent, and fresh.
With that in mind, one last thing we would like to give our firm position on is this concept of Iboga conservation. There is this popular theory that we in the west need to step in and intervene in the conservation efforts of Iboga. From our point of view, this is a belief deeply rooted in colonialism and we do not support it. We trust our Bwiti family with the care of their sacrament which they have so generously shared with us. Root Healing does not support organizations created by people outside of Gabon, who believe that they should step in and “teach” or tell the Bwiti how to manage the conservation of their sacrament. While conservation is an essential and important principle, Iboga should always remain in the hands of the Bwiti.
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2026 Bwiti Iboga Retreats Schedule
- Connecticut
- Connecticut
- Connecticut MISSOKO BWITI ALLIANCE
May 2 - 7
- Connecticut
May 16 - 21
- Connecticut
June 6 - 11
- Connecticut
July 25 - 30
- Europe
- Europe
- Europe
April 17 - 22
- Europe
May 22 - 27 *
- Europe
June 4 - 9 *
- Europe
June 29 - July 3 *
- Europe
July 14 - 19
- Europe
August 27 - Sept 1 *
- Europe
September 11 - 16 *
- Europe
September 25 - 30 *
- Europe
November 5 - 10
- Europe
December 10 - 15 *
If you have any questions about our programs, let us know and we will be happy to help you.
As a small, heart-led team experiencing a high volume of inquiries, we must focus our personalized correspondence on those who have completed our Application Form. This form helps us ensure medical safety and alignment for the path ahead, but also helps us understand your needs better.
Once you submit your application, we will review it thoughtfully and personally reach out to guide you through the next steps.
If you don't hear from us right away, please know we are carefully working through requests in the order they were received. We appreciate your patience and your sincere interest in our community.
