We caught up with the brilliant and insightful R. Demetri Vallejos a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, R. Demetri thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Looking back at internships and apprenticeships can be interesting, because there is so much variety in people’s experiences – and often those experiences inform our own leadership style. Do you have an interesting story from that stage of your career that you can share with us?
When I began training to become a traditional healer in the ways of ayahuasca / yagé, I knew to some extent what I was getting into, but nothing could truly prepare me for what I have been through and learned over the last seven years of being an apprentice to, in my opinion, one of the worlds greatest healers and spiritual teachers – Taita Alirio Burgos – Mutumbajoy.
To give some you some context, — I was laying in an indigenous traditional ceremonial hut in the heart of the Colombian Amazon when I realized where my choices will take me. I had just drank the sacred brew known as Yagé for the “nth time.”
In our lineage, one isn’t done learning from Nature until death. Nature is our book of learnings and teachings. I will remain an apprentice until the age of 60, when I graduate to becoming a Taita.
I am currently known by the word, “Yacha.”
A Yacha is an apprentice to the Taita’s. A Taita is a spiritual leader, or an elder in the tribe that has reached the ago of 60 years of older and works with the medicine known as ayahuasca/yagé.
Being an apprentice to such a tradition is absolutely life changing — something far beyond the realms of the ordinary world that many people experience here in the United States.
I have stepped into depths of leadership that only few are familiar with. The recognition of our responsibility to one another when one remembers that we are all children of the Earth is truly one of the most profound lessons I have ever learned.
As I continue to step forward along my pathway, I know that my heart will continue to pull me deeper into the jungles of Colombia to explore an ancient lineage in the heart of the Putumayo and that I will continue to learn the ancient ways of healing that are held deeply within the relationships to the earth, the elements, and to nature.
Enter “The Mutumbajoy Family” —
The Mutumbajoy are a branch of the Ingano people that are indigenous to the Putumayo, a department found in the Southwestern area Colombia.
We are one of the most ancient and ancestral lineages dating back thousands of years and over countless generations consistently working with ayahuasca as an ancestral medicine that bridges the gap between two worlds.
— One of spirit, and one of physical existence.
Our family has worked with ayahuasca to create healing and spiritual evolution in our communities in order to assist the world in (re)connecting (more) deeply with Pachamama and the Earth and the Cosmos; and to educate people on the importance of living in harmony with nature.
As an apprentice, I am deeply humbled and honored by the opportunity to share our families story and bridge the gap between the western world and the original ways of the Ingano Indians of the Putumayo.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
To tell you a little about my self for the readers, I was born here in Salt Lake City, Utah.
I had a normal childhood, considering the upbringing of a middle class family here in the United States. When I hit puberty, is she. I began what I would call my “awakening.”
Life initiated me into some pretty strong and intense emotions early on in life. I remember sitting in my bedroom one night crying for a semblance of understanding to why I felt the way I did and where such strong emotions were coming from at the age of 12-13.
After some time struggling with my parents and schooling, I was put onto medication (synthroid/adderall) and diagnosed with Hashimotos Syndrome and ADHD. I felt crippled by such a diagnoses and wanted to understand why? What was going on with my body? I had started to gain wait, I became suicidal, depressed, angry — this rage within me surfaced and I knew something was wrong. I realized the doctors didn’t know what was going on with me.
One morning, I was getting ready to take my Adderall, when I got curious and started to look at the bottle. When the word, “dextroamphetamine” ran through my mind, I was shocked because it was in that moment I realized that I had been prescribed pharmaceutical meth and had been taking meth for the past couple years trying to “fix” me.
To say the least, I stopped taking my pills that day and began the journey of self regulation and self medicating.
To go a bit further back and provide a bit of context, I began meditating at a rather young age. I was probably nine or ten when I observed my parents laughing to themselves, saying “psst! Look! He’s meditating!” We were on a family trip to the Little Sahara Sand Dunes in our Family RV. I felt like a Jedi from Star Wars. I wanted to be Obi Wan…. But that’s the past.
After that fateful moment with my pill bottle, I decided I would heal myself and be ok never taking adderall, ever again. I committed to figuring my mind|body out and learning what it it would take for me to find balance.
I began to experiment with plant medicine as an alternative to the pharmaceutical meth I was given in good faith by doctors as a naive child.
At 15-16 years old, at first, it was Cannabis, then it was LSD and Psilocybin Mushrooms. I slowly began to experiment and go within myself during these meditations with the plants and have experiences of deep reflections within my own paradigm about who I was, what I wanted in life, and ultimately a choice that after a few experiences, fueled a deep passion for the investigation of psychedelic medicine and science and using myself as a Human Guinea Pig.
Hi,
My name is Demetri Vallejos, I am the director of Raw Dimension – MIND|BODY|SPIRIT and the “Temple of Hermes” — an ayahuasca teacher training facility deep in the heart of the Amazon.
I am based here in Salt Lake City, and for the past 16 years, I have been studying the work of many great thinkers in the medicine and the psychedelic space. Many of my mentors include: Stanislav Grof, Ann and Sasha Shulgin, Khalil Gibran, And the work of countless authors thst have influenced my growth and learning, ultimately leading me to where I am today.
I am a leader within the local psychedelic movement that has been growing underground here in Utah for the past several decades, and am working to build equality and equanimity within our communities when it comes down to learning and remembering our inherent connection to the Earth and to the original ways of life, before Colonialism.
As part of Decriminalize Nature. I help lead the local decriminalization efforts for Salt Lake City surrounding sacred plant medicines, and have been working to educate our policy makers on the importance of these important tools within our community.
At Raw Dimension, my clients are unique, in the fact that they are ready to step into a higher aspect of themselves.
Whether they are businesses or individuals, my clients are committed to expansion, GROWTH, and HEALING.
I assist my clients in finding optimal wellness and productivity through first understanding where they are in their journey throughout this cosmos and where they desire to go in life.
I am a psychedelic guide and Entheogenic Life Coach, that specializes in healing and expansion of all types: relationships, recovery and addiction, business solutions(B2B, Growth Strategies), spiritual evolution, rites of Initiation. I am also a certified massage therapist, graduating at the top of my class in 2015 from UCMT and have been open for business since 2016 providing energy work and body work for those that feel called to work in a traditional way in harmony with the Earth while learning about conscious creation.
I provide coaching to people who are healing from addiction, as well as people who are on a path of true self discovery and empowerment of self.
As I have been studying and training with one of the oldest lineages on the planet to have ever worked with ayahuasca, I want my potential clients and followers to know that I deeply value and am committed to sharing the wisdom given by my elders and to being a bridge for doctors, teachers, clinicians, bodyworkers, and healers of all kind to learn and remember to truth of our world.
I value and protect sovereignty and personal agency within our moral belief systems and promise to never violate that trust with my community.
We are some of the original wisdom keepers of the Earth, and we are ready to share our wisdom with our families and friends.
Here at Raw Dimension our mission is to create a space where healing begins and to awaken the Sacred Space within you. We are here to assist you in becoming the Divine Creator that you are through a series of Initiations into Unconditional Love and Sacred Space.
Our mission is to create a platform for Deep Transformation and Healing for our communities.
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
Yes. There are several books that have significantly impacted my practice.
A few of them are:
“Mastery,” Robert Greene; “Corpus Hermeticum;” “Metahuman,” Deepak Chopra; “The Emerald Tablets of Thoth,” M. Doreal; “It didn’t start with you,” Mark Wolynn; “Quantum Healing,” Deepak Chopra; “The Big Leap,” Gay Hendricks; “The Genius Zone,” Gay Hendricks; “Stealing Fire,” Steven Kotler and Jamie Wheal; “The Four Hour Workweek,” Timothy Ferris; “Holotropic Breathwork,” Stanislav Graf; “The Immortality Key,” Brian Muraresku
Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?
Faith is necessary. The ability to cultivate faith will shift your entire paradigm into something unstoppable.
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.rawdimension.com
- Instagram: @demetri_vallejos
- Linkedin: http://linkedin.com/in/r-demetri-vallejos-mutumbajoy-998953193
- Other: www.templeofHermes.org