A workshop on ayahuasca healing is one of the primary highlights of an international symposium on integrative traditional medicine to be held in Vancouver, Canada September 27 through 29, 2008.This symposium focuses on fundamentals of traditional medicines with the objective to better integrate their practice with Western medicine. By returning to the source, the conference will provide a deeper insight on the spiritual values and basic principles that support the therapeutic practice of traditional medicines. The rediscovery of the essence of traditional medicines will also help in the conceiving of new research approaches that fully respect their fundaments, while generating useful results with harmonious integration.

The topic of the ayahuasca workshop will be: Ayahuasca Healing Beyond the Amazon. Its moderator is Kenneth Tupper from the University of British Columbia. According to its promotional brochure, the workshop will focus on ayahuasca, a psychoactive brew (prepared from two plants indigenous to the Amazon) that is used in both traditional indigenous healing practices and modern syncretistic religious rituals. A panel of researchers and practitioners will discuss ayahuasca’s rapid globalization in the past decade and its various contemporary therapeutic and spiritual uses. Specific themes include an overview of the psychological and physiological effects of ayahuasca, the role of culture in mediating the ayahuasca experience (and issues of cross-cultural transferability), ethical issues pertaining to ayahuasca’s uptake in modern Western contexts, and policy challenges arising from the tea’s legal ambiguity in some countries. Ample time will be given for audience participation and discussion.

The objectives of the conference are to provide updates of the science and research in traditional medicine and to promote the awareness of basic principles of traditional medicine. This symposium will be of interest to health care professionals from all disciplines within conventional and traditional medicine (i.e., Chinese medicine, Native medicine, Ayurvedic medicine, Tibetan medicine, etc.), and researchers, educators, practitioners, and students who work and are interested in integrative traditional medicine.

The conference will be held at the BC Children’s Hospital, 4480 Oak Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada. For more information visit: http://www.crish.org/international.html

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