Iboga Insight

Information

Practically speaking preparation for Iboga treatment may involve many different aspects. The categories of these are:
Research and deciding if this experience is right for you.
Physical health preparation.
Choosing and contacting a safe and experienced provider.
Choosing a guide, coach of therapist who works with Iboga and beginning sessions.
Calculating expenses and gathering funds.
Health screenings.
Making travel arrangements.
Making changes to one’s life circumstances that support the process.

Research and decision making
There are very many resources online, from research explaining the pharmacology and the effects of the medicine in the body, to trip reports and testimonials. Google is your friend here. I caution you by reminding you that Iboga experiences have some general themes, but be wary of attaching too much significance to other people’s subjective reports or explanations. It’s best to approach this medicine understanding the potential benefits and also the potential dangers, as well as you are able.

Physical Health Preparation
If you have decided that Iboga is something that you are actively going to seek out, then you should at this point be working to prepare yourself for the experience. If you are able to do so then it would be wise to work on optimisation of your physical health, getting fitter, losing excess weight, consuming healthy foods. Supplementation may also be a good idea, but only under the supervision of a health professional. Commonly used supplements, for instance NMN, have been shown to interact with Ibogaine, in this case lessening its effectiveness, or cancelling its effects. Due to the complex nature of potential interactions, we will need to be cautious and give our treatment provider the details of all the supplements we may be taking. A treatment provider may ask you to take something like magnesium supplements, which have a proven benefit. I will not go into this subject further, as it is not my realm of expertise, but an experienced treatment provider will be able to resource and direct you.

Choosing and contacting your provider
The next concern will be doing your research thoroughly and choosing a safe and experienced provider, who works within your financial means.
There is a vast array of providers working in this field. There are large scale operations, who have huge funding. These work with many patients at once and may have good people working within them, but the pressures of psychedelic capitalism usually mean that the personal touch is lost or diminished.
There are also small scale teams who have great experience and expertise, who offer a safe and very personalised treatment.
And there are also renegade individuals, who are dangerous and have no real business working with this medicine. We have to be extremely careful to ascertain who we can trust when choosing a provider to work with.
The safest option may appear to be a large organisation with a very glossy and professional website, lots of staff with big smiles, but it is possible to find treatment from people who are more experienced, just as safe and will have more time for you on an individual basis, offering more in depth care, for the same cost. This would be my choice and it was the choice that I made.
You can find more guidance on how to choose a safe and effective provider on this website. I am unable to make referrals, for legal reasons. My job is to support you psychologically and practically, but I am unable to offer you medicine or direct you to the medicine. I do however have a good knowledge of the best treatment providers internationally. Perhaps you have found your way to my website through one of these, or maybe you are still looking to find the right provider.

Choosing your guide
My own expertise is working in this role, so this website will I hope resource you to make a good decision about who to work with.
When choosing a guide, I encourage you to make a decision based upon both the details of the individuals experience and training, but also your intuition about them, from the content they put out, their picture and the way that they come over when you make contact and speak on the phone or video call. I would personally look for someone who is warm and kind, down to earth and authentic and well educated and professional. My own core values in this work are integrity, authenticity and compassion. These could be seen as just marketing jargon and so I encourage you to make contact with me also and to trust your intuition on a free introductory call.
Some people may have a strong preference for working with a woman or someone of a certain identity group, in which case, I cannot provide this, but I am able to reach out to trusted colleagues at your request and to see how we can assist you to find a best possible fit.
Ideally you will coordinate and connect your guide and treatment provider and schedule the treatment, factoring in ample time for pretreatment sessions. It is advisable to commence weekly or twice weekly pretreatment sessions to properly prepare you for your experience and to develop a secure and trusting alliance with your guide in anticipation of post treatment integration work. It is very important that there is trust and that you feel that your guide understands you fully before treatment takes place.

Finances
Once you have made a decision and talked costs with your provider, you need to factor in the costs involved, from the health screenings, travel, treatment and time away from work and maybe away from home, for processing and integration. The cost of pre-treatment and post-treatment integration sessions also needs to be factored into your costs, so that you’re not left navigating this journey without guidance.
You should gather funds, or have funds available to be able to commit solidly to your own process. For some people finances can become a point of contention. The mixing of therapy, what I consider a sacred substance and money, don’t exactly fit neatly together, but then again, I and other professionals live within the same economic frame as everyone. This is a career and our expertise carries a price that reflects our own investment, education and specialisation over years.

Health Screenings
As you approach your treatment, at the request of your treatment provider, you will need to undergo a series of health checks to ensure that you are in good enough health to undergo treatment.

Making travel arrangements
You will likely have to travel to the location of your provider. This will need to be organised in advance. Things like making sure you have an up to date passport, booking flights, trains and taxis, packing bags and arranging other details will have to be attended to, in order to make the journeys to and from your destination as stressless as possible.
On occasion I am contracted to chaperone or travel with my clients along their journey. This can be a good option for those who can afford such care.
It may also be a good idea to travel on to a second destination for some time after the treatment, for time away from home, to relax and process and to commence the post treatment integration work.

Life Changes
Perhaps the greatest practical consideration is that of changing our life circumstances, gradually and incrementally, in such a way that supports the changes and transformations that we wish to see in ourselves.
We may choose to do some of this work before we leave home, for example doing a deep clean and tidy of our home. There may be many practical things that you can do for yourself before you leave, some easy and some more challenging, that support your process.
When you return, there is a lifetime of adaptation and integration, as there is for any of us. We are all evolving, growing, changing and as such we all have an ongoing challenge to master our minds, behaviours and lives.
The coaching aspect of post treatment supports you to make the changes that you want to see in your life.