Who takes Marc Jacobs shoes to the jungle?

Actually, I'm rather looking forward to unplugging from my culture, even as I'll be draped in its clothing.

This, despite the responses I've gotten from others. For example, a friend of mine said recently, "Your trip isn't too short, you'll be jonesing for an internet connection by the end of it." Even my travel companion is concerned about how I'll do without running water. But I'm hardier than one might think, when I've good reason to, and this all had me reflecting on the importance of what we're doing by traveling to Peru for this experience.

It's not obvious to everyone why one would want to travel so far when ayahuasca and other shamanic work can be had much closer to home. There are many reasons, but "unplugging" is one that I wasn't even aware of when making the decision to travel. The importance of "setting" in the "set & setting" mantra of responsible entheogen use always applies, but the particular importance of this setting, the Amazonian jungle, only came to the fore of my thinking after connecting these conversations about the "hardship of no modern conveniences" with the recent Mission St. healing work I helped with and our conversations about the systems of reality that we all plug into.

What helps us plug in, and stay plugged in, to stories of reality that disempower us? Certainly all forms of media, including advertisements and billboards. But I'm guessing that on a deeper level the very structures of our lives, the very things I'm supposed to miss such as electricity and toilets, keep us plugged in to a "modern American" reality that is simply our story, a story not shared by everyone on the planet.

When I told my acupuncturist that I am trying not to attach to the expectation that the ayahuasca experience will be life-transforming, she said, "I think the trip alone will be life transforming. This is the first time you've ever had to show a passport when going somewhere? I think getting off the plane will be life transforming."

In my work, the line between personal healing and career advancement is blurry, if it exists at all. The more of his own healing a helper does, the better able he is to help others. Part of what I do, a part of my practice which is growing, is help others empower themselves to live the kind of lives they want—as opposed to the kind of lives they were taught they could have, are told they should have, or that others want them to have. That this deep retreat, probably as far from our systems of oppression that one can possibly get (we won't escape completely, colonialism and all that), will help in that endeavor leads me to embrace whole heartedly this blessing of the jungle environment that could otherwise be interpreted as hardship.

Up until now, I have really only felt one thing about my upcoming trip: stress. Now, I finally have some excitement as well.

And I have kickass new boots to ruin in the mud and muck ;-)