Kambo

If you’ve spent some time navigating the natural health world, you’ve probably heard about kambo (aka the frog poison cleanse), or spotted someone with a curious pattern of dotted scars on their skin. This traditional ritual uses poison from a tropical frog to purify the body and potentially heal disease. Shamans in the Amazon reportedly used kambo to give hunters sharper sight and smell. Today, kambo is used to detoxify, alleviate symptoms, and promote health and well-being. Here's how it works: a practitioner creates small burns in the top layer of your skin and dabs the poisonous substance into the wounds. People who've tried kambo say the effects—rapid heartbeat, pain relief, dizziness, elation, or sedation—are immediate, and last about an hour. The physical response is caused by a mix of bioactive chemicals that can dilate your blood vessels, make your face flush, rev you up, trigger diarrhea or vomiting…and ultimately, may make you feel much better afterward.