A large part of my “Return Home” process was getting rid of the Candida overgrowth which was giving me chronic yeast infections for the first half of the year.
One of the most common questions I get from you all is asking HOW I overcame this horribly pesky fungus that so many of us suffer from.
I’ve been hesitant about writing about this for several reasons.
Some of it is too personal to share & I don’t want to violate other people’s privacy, nor my own.
Also, I want to be clear that by sharing what worked for me does NOT make me an expert.
It also does NOT mean these same practices will work for YOU.
I’d also like to point out that most of my healing strategies are a reflection of my privilege.
Not only were some of these treatments quite costly, but they also became a full-time job, as well.
What I can say with certainty is this:
I needed to clear out physically as much as I did mentally & energetically one order to full get rid of it.
Yes, I changed my diet by cutting out all processed sugar (I still ate fruit despite everyone saying it was “bad”), alcohol & gluten.
I also did a 10-day water fast with twice daily colonics & IR sauna treatments.
I sought out weekly acupuncture & used the herbs recommended by my TCM doctor.
This was mostly all physical cleansing.
Mentally, emotionally & energetically- I started talk therapy, EMDR & ended relationships that felt like empty wells.
I upped my meditation practice- committing to stillness DAILY, no matter what.
Regardless of ALL THIS, the yeast infections persisted until my Ayahuasca Retreat at Nimea Kaya in Peru.
This is where things start to sound a little crazy.
Without going into too much detail, what I will say is that there was a lot of work done on my womb during my first ceremony.
It became very clear that shame from past sexual traumas had manifested into physical illness and discomfort for most of my adult life.
The yeast infections were the final straw in forcing me to look at the area in a more holistic manner.
That ceremony showed me that although I thought I’d long since moved past these traumas- my body clearly hadn’t.
Time becomes pretty fuzzy (and completely non-linear) in this state of mind, so I have no idea how long the womb repair took.
What I do know is that it felt like days.
It was incredibly painful.
And, in the end, I felt my uterus clenching and contracting as if I were giving birth.
This went on until I literally felt too weak to even sit up for a drink of water.
I felt as if I had devoted every last ounce of energy left to clearing out my physical and energetic body.
I was depleted.
But somehow also lighter than ever before.
That ceremony was brutal for me.
It lasted from 8 pm through to 10 am.
I felt as if my soul had been ripped in half, and every energy center within me was open to the point of pain.
I didn’t sleep at all.
I was exhausted mentally, emotionally, and physically.
All I could do was cry for the entire next day.
And I had to do it all over again the following evening.
I was terrified to enter that same depth on my second trip- especially after no sleep.
But I trusted.
I drank again.
And this time, Mother Aya held me a lot more compassionately than the first time around.
However, the point of this post isn’t to go into detail about all of my ceremonies.
The point is to tell you how I overcame Candida overgrowth.
After my Ayahuasca Retreat, I didn’t expect to have some sort of magical healing occur.
And maybe it was from my lack of expectations that that somewhat radical cure was able to happen at all.
I used to always get the yeast infection during the time of the month when I was ovulating.
My following cycle after the retreat, I noticed that an infection didn’t pop up.
I didn’t want to get my hopes up, so I just kept it to myself.
A week after ovulating, and still no infection- this was officially the longest I’d ever gone without one.
At this point, I was just happy to reach that mark- so I excitedly shared with my mom and a few of my closest friends.
Another week passed- nothing.
And another, and another, and another.
Here I am today, six months later- and still no yeast infection to date.
Maybe I didn’t want to write about it, because I was afraid that I might “jinx” it or something.
Who knows.
What I do know is that the healing which occurred in my ceremonies was something that came from another world.
Something that I couldn’t access with my human brain alone.
Yes, it was terrifying at times.
Sure, it was painful and sad and scary and dark.
But, hot damn it was worth ten million times over.
And not just because I don’t get freaking yeast infections anymore.
But because my mind and heart are centered and peaceful in a way that I didn’t even know I was lacking.
Look, if you have Candida overgrowth, I’m not saying that you should drink Ayahuasca and POOF- it will magically disappear.
I think we all know that it’s a lot more complex than that.
All I’m saying is that this was what ended up being the solution for me.
Does that mean I wouldn’t have been able to clear it up without the retreat?
Probably not.
I’m confident that I’d have gotten through it all one way or another.
What I’m saying is that this certainly sped up the process.
And it also showed me how much deeper it was than just an excess of fungus and microbiome imbalances.
Our bodies are intelligent beyond our comprehension.
And every single encounter, relationship, and experience- no matter how seemingly big or small- impacts us.
It’s fascinating, really.
How grateful I am to have had the opportunity to witness this firsthand.
Wishing each and every one of you all the best on your journey home back to yourself.
Don’t give up.
You’re almost there.
Posted in Personal