2. A Floresta dos
Unicórnios
(Unicorn Institute)
The unicorn, a symbol of unity
between science and mystical
tradition, reason and intuition,
was inspiration for the birth of
the Unicorn Forest Institute
(FLOU). As a non-profit
organization, FLOU Institute
exists to create an integral core
of knowledge, experience and
technology; stimulating
relationships – 'convivência' –
and the design of healthy
communities compatible and in
harmony with nature.

3. A Floresta dos Unicórnios
The Institute develops educational projects, courses, workshops and
immersion opportunities with the objective of propagating biocentric
learning experiences focused on creating a culture of peace and sustainable
living. The institute’s activities occur at three different venues. One of these
locations, where the indigenous healing ceremonies take place – FLOU
Granja – also functions as a conservation area and receives and rehabilitates
wildlife, through a project licensed by IBAMA, (a government structure
responsible for the environment and resource management) originating
from the illegal traffic of such animals.

4. The Healing Ceremonies
at FLOU Institute
Since 2007, FLOU has been
supporting and disseminating the
wisdom and practices of the forest
people. Recognizing the importance
of honoring the diverse expressions
of the aboriginal ethnic groups, and
in helping preserve Brasil’s rich
medicinal and cultural legacy, the
institute opened its doors to
holding workshops, cultural events,
healing ceremonies and other
celebrations that support
maintaining indigenous wisdom and
practices.

5. The Healing Ceremonies at FLOU
Our ceremonies happen at our
dedicated oca, “Yube Shube”, baptized
by the Kaxinawá/Huni Kuin natives, as
Home of the Anaconda Spirit. The
anaconda is responsible for bringing
the sacred teachings of the ayahuasca
to the Huni Kuin.

6. WHAT ARE PARTICIPANTS LOOKING FOR
AT OUR CEREMONIES?
The participants who come to our rituals are usually looking to:
• Explore their consciousness in search of self-awareness and a greater
understanding of other realities that co-exist but that we rarely are able to
access in our mundane reality – with the objective of bringing harmony
and integral health into one’s life.
• Identify and recognize traumas, limitations, as well as behavior patterns
that are recurrent and addictive and that bring toxicity into our organism.
Find solutions to all kinds of personal problems and put into place
changes.
• Improve their physical health.
• Treat complex spiritual situations or questions (past lives, obsessions,
constellations)
• Bring vitality, enchantment, new perspectives and purpose to one’s life.
• Experience healing at a collective level.
• Access millennial wisdom found in native practices and in the energies
inhabiting nature.

7. THE HEALING CEREMONIES AT FLOU
The ceremonies are always conducted by native representatives of
different traditions and permeated with their sacred chants and
dances; this allow us to open channels with the spiritual fields and
knowledge available in nature and the universe as a whole.

8. The Healing Ceremonies at FLOU
Rescuing the ancestral culture, forest medicines and healing
practices, contributes not only to celebrating cultural diversity,
but is an opportunity to strengthen a spiritual path woven
together with a culture of peace and a sustainable development
paradigm.

9. Sustainability at Unicorn Forest
Sustainability is not just a field of
interest, but a space at the
intersection of intuitive
understanding, be it scientific,
technological, or psychological, and
begs sociocultural, political,
economical, historical,
anthropological consideration, as
well as education and health. We
trust that if we cultivate the coming
together of knowledge allied to an
ethical care for all life, this will help
us effect the change we need to
make in society.

10. Allying Sustainability and Spirituality
Our economic, political and social
structure has not been able to solve
complex human and community
problems. An innate lack of
understanding of the
interdependency of all life, has borne
into us individualistic and
materialistic behavior. As complex
beings, we possess distinct
experiences not only at a biological
level, but also sociologically,
psychologically, and spiritually. A
complete lack of attention to our
deepest dimensions has taken us
towards systemic dis-ease.

11. Allying Sustainability and Spirituality
FLOU Institute is founded on
exercising spirituality that is
socially and environmentally
engaged. We believe that
building towards a planetary
citizenship happens through
the creation of a universal code
of ethics, based on the birth of
a collective consciousness, and
solidarity between individuals
who are creative, free, open to
knowing, to love and
friendship, and deeply related
to the biosphere and the
mysteries of life.

12. Allying Sustainability and Spirituality
This spirituality reveals itself concretely in our day-to-day
activity, as a qualitative energy to our presence, and translates
into actions of fraternity, sympathy, kindness, care and love. This
feeling nourishes us with a sense of wholeness, light, peace, and
gratitude.

13. Shamanic Medicine and Empowerment Plants
The use of plants that expand the horizons of our consciousness
has been part of the human experience for
millennia. Meanwhile, contemporary western society only
recently has realized the importance these plants have had in
shaping the history of cultures all over the world.

14. Shamanic Medicine and Empowerment Plants
The empowement plants (as they are commonly referred in Brazil) are
of great importance, as they have been aiding in the discoveries of new
treatments that have been at times more efficient and less invasive
than what the traditional western medicine model has to offer.
According to Richard Schultz, western psychiatry has not advanced as
rapidly as other areas of medicine, in part for not having at its disposal
the adequate tools to deal with such a a complex entity as the organ
that is the brain. Psychoactive plants could help expand psychiatry’s
comprehension of our inner workings.

15. Shamanic Medicine and Empowerment Plants
Western science and medicine has received its legacy from the
Scientific Revolution, which has lead us to put almost complete focus
and to lend importance to rational thought and the material aspects of
reality. Western medicine aims to treat only the physical and
psychological dimensions of the patient, without the capacity of
understanding systemically the manifestation of the disease. Many
Eastern and worldwide native traditions work by treating the patient
with the aid of sacred plants, taking into consideration the subtle
energetic fields. The soul is an embraced aspect of the healing process
and never divorced from the body.

16. Shamanic Medicine and Empowerment Plants
These plants connect us to ancient sources of healing
used by our ancestors, who understood disease as a lack
of balance and harmony in the totality of the human
being, which should always be in constant connection,
dialogue and transformation within the web of life.

17. MYTHS AND AYAHUASCA: THE SPIRITUAL
LANGUAGE OF IMAGES
Shamans have the natural capacity to travel into the
depths of the human condition, accessing the world
of images, symbols and archetypes. The world of
images is more profound and closer to translating
spiritual knowledge and experience, than verbal
language, which is limited by the aspects of duality
and rationality. Not just by chance, this wisdom of
the mysteries of life has survived millennia as
transmitted through myths - stories which embrace
the metaphorical universe.

18. MYTHS AND AYAHUASCA: THE SPIRITUAL
LANGUAGE OF IMAGES
According to Joseph Campbell, myths are clues to spiritual potential in
human life. It isn’t enough to have only a rational, material
understanding of life to transform crystalized unhealthy patterns in
one’s life. To untie or loosen knots from the root cause, it is necessary
to dive into more profound processes. This can be done with the help
of empowerment plants, like ayahuasca, which communicate with us
through the world of images and archetypes.

19. AYAHUASCA
Is a millenial vegetable drink,
resulted from the decoction of two
plants endemic of the Amazon: the
liana Mariri, Jagube, Pajézinho
(Banisteriopsis Caapi) and the
leaves of a bush from the coffee
family, known as Chacrona, Rainha
(Psichotria Viridis).
Kaxinawá drawing by Zezinho Yawabane
It is utilized as a sacred instrument
to connect to the spiritual world by
over 70 different ethnic native
groups in Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia,
and the Peruvian Andes.

20. AYAHUASCA
Referred to by many
natives as the “vine of the
soul”, “abuela”
(grandmother), and
“teacher plant”, the term
most commonly used
derives from Quéchua
(Inca): Aya: soul. Huasca:
rope or liana. The
Kaxinawa referred to the
plant as “Uni”.

21. CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
Ayahuasca is composed of, among other substances, harmala alkaloids
(harmine, harmaline and tetrahydroharmine) from the Banisteriopsis
Caapi, which functions as a weak serotonin reuptake inhibitor and a
selective and reversible inhibitor of MAO(monoamine oxidase) an
enzyme found in the digestive tract, liver and nervous system. This
inhibition allows the DMT found in the leaves of the Psychotria Viridis to
diffuse past the membranes in the stomach and small intestine
unmetabolized to activate receptor sites in the brain. Both plants are
responsible for a metabolic change similar to that achieved in profound
meditative states, or during deep sleep. Its pharmacological action is
linked to the production of endogenous substances released by our own
organisms, and there have been no documented physical or neurological
damages caused by the consumption of ayahuasca.

22. POSSIBLE PHYSICAL REACTIONS DURING THE
CEREMONY
Ayahuasca is a purging medicine. For a deeper
cleansing to occur (physical, psychological,
emotional or spiritual), the healing process may
provoke nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or slight
amplification of blood pressure and cardiac
rhythm. Participants may also feel intense cold, or
body tremors. Tremors and shaking are due to a
re-awakening of the body's vital processes, as well
as emotional and psychological discharges,
necessary to allow the body to re-establish natural
harmonic rhythms. These reactions are all
indications of a purification process and help
facilitate the journey of self-awareness. Studies
conducted in the mid 80’s and again in the 90’s by
CONFEN, now CONAD (National Anti-Drugs
Council) indicate that the continuous ingestion of
ayahuasca does not generate physical or
psychological dependence/addiction, does not
compromise the social behavior or productivity of
individuals, nor harm their mental performance.

23. Impacts of Ayahuasca
Ayahuasca works with
energetic, physical,
psychological and spiritual
aspects of the human
condition, inducing amplified
states of consciousness, giving
us access to the more subtle
mechanisms at work in the
universe. The majority of
participants consider her a
vehicle that facilitates a deep
state of introspection,
meditation, interior cleansing,
and self-awareness, and in
many cases a beautiful path to
spiritual awakening.

24. USES OF AYAHUASCA
Ayahuasca often takes us to parts of our memory linked
to the interior life of the body (genetic and hereditary)
as well as the exterior, or social life of the person and
their connection to the world in the past, present, and
future.

25. USES DA AYAHUASCA
There has been an increased interest in the use of
ayahuasca in the treatment of various chemical
addictions to alcohol and drugs, physical diseases
and other pathologies. Today, Brasil and other
South American countries harbor venues working
with addiction treatment, even in more complex
cases as addiction to crack, cocaine, and
methamphetamines.
Scientists in various countries are broadening
their research to include an enhanced
understanding of the workings of ayahuasca and
other entheogens (substances that help manifest
our divine self) for the treatment of depression
and psychological unbalance. In Brasil, ayahuasca
is being studied and researched by
neuroscientists at UNIFESP (Federal University of
São Paulo). We have also seen an increased use
of ayahuasca in therapeutic circles conducted by
psychiatrists and psychologists.

26. BENEFITS OF THE HEALING CEREMONIES
At the closing of the healing ceremonies at FLOU Institute, the
participants frequently show states of vitality, renewal, serenity,
lightness and bliss. Many feel they have opened energetic
channels, eliminiating blockages and re-organizing the organism
in an integral manner.

27. BENEFITS OF THE HEALING CEREMONIES
Many comment on the overcoming of life problems and challenges, or a
deeper comprehension of traumas and an enhanced resilience for
problem solving. This happens often due to the increased capacity in
“seeing” many different points of view and possible realities regarding
any one situation, as well as through nourishing our empathic and
compassionate states. The ceremony also brings clarity and courage to
help people in severing connections to old patterns and facilitating a
transition to new horizons/life patterns.

28. BENEFITS OF THE HEALING CEREMONIES
Participants demonstrate greater sensitivity, presence, solidarity and
healthy detachment (letting go of old habits), provided by
experiences with sacredness, and a profound re-evaluation of life.
This state of fulfillment tends to produce significant changes in the
ways we perceive and act in the world.

29. PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE SPIRITUAL PATH
Every spiritual path demands continuous effort, dedication and
discipline as we are constantly challenged to evolve and develop.
Working with ayahuasca is no different, and thus demands first
and foremost our full engagement of intent, trust and
preparation before we merit its profound teachings.

30. PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE SPIRITUAL PATH
Once we have entered the
ceremonial process, we expand our
consciousness and broaden our
capacity to see. We leave
differently than when we entered
and cannot go back to the original
form. A clearer and expanded
consciousness demands a much
greater responsibility in the world,
as well as a more coherent lifestyle
based on an ethical code that cares
for life as a whole. This often means
leaving our comfort zone to redirect
our path, so that we can enjoy
greater health, happiness, freedom
and purpose.

31. PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE SPIRITUAL PATH
Ayahuasca can be a very effective and profound guide in healing, but will not
resolve all of our ailments on her own, and will not substitute the share of
work corresponding to each participant. In the western mindset we are
accustomed to delegate our health issues to doctors and medication, the
solutions to our economic problems and poverty to economists, and our
spiritual ascension and healing to gurus. We often believe that we do not
possess the strengths, or capacity to heal, act, and transform our reality. It is
only when we empower ourselves and become active participants in the
process of healing that we will be genuinely free and capable of making
effective and long-lasting changes in our lives.

32. PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE SPIRITUAL PATH
From our perspective, we must connect beyond the subtle levels
of energy during the healing ceremony, and remember that part
of the spiritual path (and perhaps one of its greatest teachings) is
to establish coherence between what we believe, speak and act.
The true spiritual path materializes itself through our behavior
and habits, and in the quality and care we nourish in all our
relations.

33. Ayahuasca in Brazilian Politics
SENAD – The National Antidrug Administration is a branch of the Brazilian
government that outlines national politics in reference to drugs. They define
narcotic substances with the ends of penal pursuit and represent Brasil
alongside the international community in regards to the prevention, traffic,
consumption and repression of illicit drugs. After a series of multidisciplinary
teams from this organization researched and tested ayahuasca at three
different moments (starting in mid 80’s), the team drafted the decision to allow
the religious use of ayahuasca in rituals through the presence of these
elements: 1) re-expression of an ancestral religion of aboriginal origin practiced
prior to the formation of our current judeo-christian culture; 2) a lack of abuse
or harm to mental and physical health resulting from its religious use; 3) it
contributes to the affirmation of a Brazilian cultural identity, especially that of
the Amazon.

34. Online Resources
•http://plantandoconsciencia.wordpress.com •
http://www.xamanismo.com.br/Capa/WebHome
• http://www.madreayahuasca.com • http://www.ayahuascawasi.com • http://www.ayahuasca-info.com/pt/introduction
VIDEOS:
FLOU
Healing
Ceremonies:
http://youtu.be/rL5nZjS7QxU
Ayahuasca in Bolivia: http://youtu.be/xMvKYNrbHUo
Statement by Gilberto Gil: http://youtu.be/d7MXwSl8KhI
Doc: Sacred Vine: http://youtu.be/N13cUTpc-kc
Doc. DMT – The Spirit Molecule:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4FaDMak-TQ
Doc. Time For Change:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fw8CP3Ply0M

35. Remember
Ayahuasca is only one of
many vehicles available
for supporting the
discovery of our inner
consciousness. It is
fundamental that
prospective participants
exercise due diligence in
researching and reflecting
on whether they are
called to be involved in a
ritual healing. FLOU is
here to support you!

36. WWW.FLORESTADOSUNICORNIOS.COM.BR
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/florestados.unicornios