Sananga

Sananga: What is it?

The sananga plant

Sananga or Cyperus articulatus, is a tropical plant that grows along the Amazon rivers and belongs to the Cyperaceae family.

Sananga is a native Amazonian plant, but it grows in many other tropical areas, including Africa and Asia. There are about 30 different types of Sananga, belonging to three species: Eleutherine bulbosa, Cyperus articulatus, and Cyperus prolixus Kunth.

Sananga is used by indigenous Amazonian tribes to improve vision and with it their hunting skills used as eye drops, in addition to being used for various medicinal purposes such as the treatment of epilepsy or the treatment of snake bites and fevers.

Sananga eye drops, benefits:

Sananga medicinal properties:

Effects of Sananga at the energy level:

– Sananga helps to open the inner vision, the third eye, the visions.

-Activates the pineal gland.

-Clear mental confusion.

-Helps align and open the chakras, particularly the third eye and crown chakra.

– Sananga helps to cleanse deeply on an energetic, physical, emotional and spiritual level.

-Helps release past traumas, releasing stagnant negative energies, closing holes in our energy fields caused by negative lifestyles.

-Eliminates negative energy charges and accumulations.

-Powers lucid dreams.

Effects of Sananga at the Physical level:

An important healing aspect of the Apocynaceae family is its antimicrobial activity. Sananga is also a powerful emetic, diuretic, antioxidant, anticarcinogenic, fever-reducing, anti-inflammatory, antimycobacterial, and antimicrobial.

Sananga is also helpful in some psychosomatic illnesses, since the eyes are the windows from which we perceive this world. Therefore, this natural medicine helps balance and heal imbalances in the perception of what happens around us, providing harmony and the consequent spiritual, emotional and physical healing.

To counteract malaria, it is applied by nasal infusion; When used for wounds, it is cut and applied externally; For digestive problems or nausea, it is applied as a tincture; For coughs and fevers, and for use as an antivenom, it is applied orally by decoction. The flowers and leaves are used to make a tea that has strong aphrodisiac effects and also increases lucid dreaming. Finally, when the dried rhizomes are mixed with tobacco and smoked, hallucinogenic effects are described.

Sananga also helps alleviate dental problems, counteract wounds, and heal various eye injuries.

Relieves nausea and vomiting, alleviates intestinal/digestive problems and sedates/calms. Sananga was widely used in the Shipibo tribe as a contraceptive, as an abortifacient and to avoid pain during childbirth, probably due to its ergot alkaloid content.

The Shipibo tribe also use Sananga drops to improve their ability to focus on crafts such as sewing, painting, and embroidering textiles, for which they are famous. From an early age, Shipibo women are initiated into this practice by their mothers and grandmothers. A Shipiba says: “When I was a little girl, my mother put drops of Sananga in my eyes so that I would have the vision for the designs of my paintings.”

Sananga drops are also used before and during Ayahuasca ceremonies, since after its use as eye drops, the visions become clearer and more detailed. Some tribes even use Sananga as an additive to their Ayahuasca drink.

Application and Dosage of sananga drops

It is recommended to find a quiet place and use it preferably in the afternoon, so that the eyes can rest.

It may be a good idea to have a partner help you apply it.

It is advisable to lie down to allow a good application, and leave your eyes closed during the session. 1 to 2 drops per eye are enough for one session. It then flashes to distribute the liquid. It is important to apply it to both eyes to balance the energy channel.

When applied, it produces a burning sensation that lasts up to three minutes, depending on the state of the user and how often the individual uses Sananga. This ardor gives way to a sense of wholeness and presence, deeply immersed in a timeless moment.

The next morning, your eyes may feel a little sensitive and dry, you can wash them with cold water and it will pass soon; it is part of the cleaning process that causes the Sananga.

Active principles of Sananga, ancestral eye drops

Sananga contains several alkaloids, including flavonoids, polyphenols, saponins, tannins, and terpenes, although its biological action is mainly attributed to cyperones.

One of the active ingredients found is ibogaine. Ibogaine causes a psychoactive experience that can lead some people to rapid transitions and/or visions.

The full spectrum of the effects and bioactive ingredients of this plant are still not fully understood. Also, as the plant does not reproduce by seeds but by vegetation, there are many different subspecies of Sananga with different alkaloid composition.

Preparation of Sananga, ancestral medicine:

The most common recipe is to dry the rhizomes or stems and pulverize them, and then prepare it as a tea or eye drops. However, each tribe has its own way of using this magical plant, the Shipibo tribe, for example, crushes the fresh rhizomes and extracts the juice to make eye drops.

Sananga and the Huni Kuin – Kaxinawá

The Kaxinawá tribe has the ancestral tradition of using one or two drops of sananga in each eye before going hunting; sharpens your eyesight, making it easy to spot game even in the dark. In addition to highlighting the visual textures, the depth, the colors, which, according to the Indians, helps the hunting instinct in its search for prey in the jungle.