What this sacred practice really is — and how to approach it with discernment
What is a dieta anyway? Why are so many people getting into it these days?
Dieting is a deeper layer of study related to the plant medicine path. It’s a commitment to maintain certain austerities — yes, around food, but also around emotions, sexuality, stimulation, and other aspects of daily life — for a set period of time. In most traditions that work with this practice, it involves communing with the spirit of a particular plant.
To clarify: Some people in the west use the word “dieta” to refer to the preparation they undertake before sitting in any ceremony (mostly regarding a specific food diet they follow leading up to the ceremonial experience), but in our view, this is a misuse of the word.
Of course, each tradition will have its own word to refer to the practice – the Shipibo call it “sama”; the Yawanawa call it “seya”.
In some traditions, the purpose of the dieta is to meet and “bond” with the spirit of a specific plant — receiving the gifts of that particular plant spirit and gaining shamanic skill through the relationship cultivated with that plant.
In other traditions, the focus is less on the specific plant, and more on the sacrifice made during the diet. The discipline itself is seen as the mechanism that brings transformation later on — though these traditions also acknowledge that diets are a means of building shamanic capacity.
That said, dieting is not just for “serious students” of the path.
It’s also a beautiful, effective tool for personal transformation and growth. One of our teachers likes to say that, “Dieting is for everyone.”
We agree wholeheartedly, and simultaneously, there are some important pieces to acknowledge with the modern phenomenon of dieting, and the swell of popularity around the practice.
Just because dieting may be for everyone does not mean that anyone is qualified to open a diet.
Offering diets to others without proper training and skill can actually be dangerous.
Let’s be clear: There is more than one way to connect with the spirit of a plant. You don’t ultimately need a Maestro or a Pajé to open a diet for you in order to discover the healing properties of a specific plant, or to connect with that plant on a deep & personal level.
Obviously the plants are not “owned” by anyone, and as living beings themselves, they are always available for us to forge relationships with, in the ways that feel authentic for us.
But opening a dieta is completely distinct from this type of self-guided exploration.
Opening diets is a highly specific, lineage-based skill that typically requires years — often decades — of disciplined study.
And in our view, that study needs to be within a single tradition, because each lineage carries its own cosmology, agreements, and methods that do not translate cleanly across traditions.
In many lineages, the beginning of developing the capacity to open diets for others is completing an entire year-long diet yourself.
Facilitating ceremony is already a massive undertaking that requires extensive training. Opening diets is another level entirely. Yet we’re seeing similar patterns emerge in both spaces:
People sit in 10 ceremonies and think they’re ready to facilitate.
People complete one diet and think they’re qualified to open them.
We’re here to offer some words of caution for those who may not know – not as criticism, but because truly, you just don’t know what you don’t know.
If you see a woman on Instagram doing a sexy dance and offering to open a rose diet for you… Please ask questions first. What tradition is this diet a part of? Who trained this person?
And please know that if the answer is something like: “I’ve studied under many traditions,” this is actually a red flag.
Why? Because in dieting, your agreements matter. The agreements you make with the plants — and the agreements made implicitly through the spiritual container — have real consequences when broken.
If the person opening the diet isn’t crystal-clear on what those agreements are, or how they’re created, participants can accidentally cross them without even realizing it.
Some diets are gentle, and mistakes aren’t catastrophic. But as you enter deeper into this territory, the diets are very deep and very serious – certain mistakes can, without exaggeration, cost you your life.
We’re not saying this to instill fear, but to clarify the level of discernment required.
The person opening your diet is literally building the container through their prayers, songs, and shamanic cultivation. If someone decides they can do this because they think, “It’s all just intention,” the container may be unstable — or may not exist at all.
The container is essential — it literally holds you and your process for the duration of the diet, providing support on a subtle (but deeply felt) level.
This person is also calling your intentions into existence through the power of their prayers and their own shamanic cultivation.
It’s like hiring someone to build a house when they’ve only watched a few YouTube videos. The structure they create may look convincing, but it won’t hold up under pressure — and you’ll be the one who pays the price.
When you enter a diet, you become highly sensitive & vulnerable — much closer to the spirit world. Challenges arise — that’s normal. But if the person who opened the diet wasn’t qualified, they may not be able to offer you proper guidance through that passage.
Being in a diet is not the same as day-to-day living. Mistakes can still be amended (much of the time), but the rules of this realm are different, and they require a nuanced awareness. You deserve to know that the person holding your container is equipped to help guide you through this delicate terrain.
And practically speaking: dieting is a sacrifice. It costs time, energy, money, physical vitality, comfort. There should be a meaningful result. If the guide isn’t skilled, the diet may not bear much fruit at all — making it a poor investment of your resources.
Before entering any dieta, consider asking:
- Am I fully committed to this process?
- Do I truly trust the person opening the diet?
- Are they connected to a lineage of study?
- Are they recognized and blessed by an indigenous tradition to specifically offer this practice?
If the answer to any of these questions is no, we recommend not moving forward.
In our opinion, it’s also a red flag if someone says, “The plants told me directly that I can open diets now.”
Truly, it is just not that simple.
Dieting is a step deeper than ceremony. The growth is exponential — and so is the potential for harm or derailment if the diet is opened improperly.
If you’re looking for guidance about the legitimacy of a particular offering, or trying to discern whether you’re ready for a dieta, we invite you to book a Preparation Guidance session.
We don’t open diets, but we have an abundance of experience in this work and are very passionate about helping people discover their own authentic path.
We also have resources we can point you to if you’re looking for a qualified teacher to diet with and not feeling sure where to turn.
The best way to set yourself up for a positive experience in any container is to prepare thoroughly – and that includes asking the questions you may not even know need to be asked.
