Registration is now open for the Spring 2025 River Course!

Current Session info:
April 17 - May 29
weekly classes on Thursdays (recordings available)
6:00 - 8:00 pm PDT

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Dr. Tafur offers an online course as a supplement to his book The Fellowship of the River, entitled the River Course.

This online course introduces students to the art and science of ancestral spiritual healing techniques and their relevance to the expanding world of psychedelic-assisted therapies. Dr. Tafur’s book, The Fellowship of the River: A Medical Doctor’s Exploration into Traditional Amazonian Plant Medicine (FOR), will serve as our guiding text as we explore the role of spiritual healing in modern healthcare and moreover the intersection between biology, emotion and spirituality. Author, physician and curandero Dr. Joe Tafur will guide us through this series, drawing upon his years of work as a physician as well as his experience with Ayahuasca ceremony and Amazonian master plants.

We will explore how we can utilize sacred medicines (psychedelic therapies and sacramental plants) within a spiritual context. Building upon the experience of ancestral wisdom, we will explore the practical and potential benefits of doing so. Along the way we will integrate knowledge from the expanding world of evidence-based scientific research.

COURSE STRUCTURE

This course is broken into 7 classes, which can be self-paced. Classes are held Thursdays, 6:00-8:00 pm PDT, from April 17 - May 29. Class topics are described below. Classes include lecture and discussion. For those who cannot attend live, there will be a recording available.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

1.     Sacred Plant Medicines and Psychedelic Therapies for Enhanced Healthcare

Participants will learn how sacred plant medicines and psychedelic therapies can be utilized to address emotional trauma and impact mental/physical healthcare.

2.     Ancestral Wisdom of Amazonian Tradition

Participants will be introduced to the framework of Amazonian curanderismo, ayahuasca ceremony icaros (mystical healing songs), in order to more broadly understand spiritual/energetic approaches to healing. Through case studies from Dr. Tafur’s experience with curanderismo, participants will learn about the vital role of the emotional and spiritual dimensions of health.

3.     Biological Basis of Spiritual Healing

Participants will learn about the framework through which spiritual/energetic approaches appear to be interacting with the biological system, exploring relevant concepts including: the placebo effect, allostatic load, limbic healing/profound emotional healing, the psychoneuroendocrine immunologic network and epigenetic modification.

4.     Networking and Building Upon Knowledge

We will explore the art and science of spiritual healing with sacred medicines in a variety of settings, and the implications for the modern practice of psychedelic-assisted therapies for various healthcare professions.

CLASS TOPICS

Class 1 - Introduction: Spiritual Healing Loves Science. FOR chapters 1-4:

• The re-introduction of the emotional and spiritual dimensions of healthcare into modern medical model.

• Introduction to Curanderismo and Traditional Amazonian Plant Medicine.

• Challenges for the healer in modern medicine.

• History of Clinical Psychedelic Medicine/Origins in Indigenous Culture.
  
  

Class 2 - Psychedelics in the Clinical Setting Emerge from Sacred Plant Medicines. ch(s). 5-7:

• Proposed mechanisms in Psychedelic Medicine/Assisted-Therapies: DMN, Mystical Experience, Emotional Breakthrough.

• Lessons from the life of Richard Evans Schultes, incorporating ancestral wisdom and studying with traditional masters.

• Harm Reduction in the Psychedelic Therapy/Sacred Plant Medicine Movement.
  
  

Class 3 - Spiritual Healing for the Emotional Body, ch(s) 8-11:

• Traditional Amazonian Plant Medicine in Practice

• Spiritual Approach to Healing PTSD

• The Emotional Body: Limbic Healing and the Psychoneuroendocrine Immunologic Network

• The Placebo Effect/White Magic
  
  

Class 4 - Mystical Approaches to Modern Problems: ch(s) 12-14:

• Icaro/Healing Song

• Energetic Healing and Neurogenic Inflammation

• Implications of Repressed Sexual Abuse in Mental and Physical Healthcare

• Limbic Healing
  
  

Class 5 - Limbic Healing, Ayahuasca and TAPM. ch(s) 15-17.

• Susto/Soul Loss/Soul Retrieval

• General Theory of Love

• Curanderismo: La Dieta de Aprendizaje (Apprenticeship)

• Overview of Psoriasis Case/Treatment/Allostatic Load
  
  

Class 6 - Advancing Our Understanding of Spiritual Healing. ch(s) 17-20:

• Overview of Addiction Case/Treatment/Integration & Responsibility

• The Mystical Experience re-visited

• Advancing in La Dieta: The Song Follows the Vision

• Overview of Migraine/Case/Treatment

• Epigenetics, Inheritable Stresses and Release Through Spiritual Healing
  
  

Class 7 - Spiritual Healing and the Potential for Epigenetic Modification. Ch(s) 21-24:

• Updates on Epigenetics in Psychedelic Medicine/Modern Spirit Epigenetics Project

• Completing Basic Training in Curanderismo

• Overview of Crohn’s Disease Case/Treatment/Comorbidity and Biology

• Overview of Anxiety Case/Treatment/Spiritual Practice and Community

• Spiritual Healing in Modern Healthcare

• (Breakout Groups to Discuss Incorporating Course into Work and Studies
  

CERTIFICATE OF COMPLETION
Upon completion of the River Course and the final project, participants in the River Course will receive a certificate of completion. See examples of final projects from past cohorts here: River Course Assignments

COURSE FEE
$850
$725 for students

To ensure a connected experience, the class will be limited to 40 participants. You can read our cancellation and refund policy here: River Course Cancellation Policy

Some shares about Dr. Tafur & The River Course: