Dr. Joe Tafur combines traditional Western medicine with psychedelic plant medicines after discovering their incredible ability to heal numerous physical and mental health ailments. In this podcast, Dr. Tafur discusses how peyote, which is legal in several states across the U.S., transformed his life. He also describes the healing powers of ayahuasca and the patients he's treated and cured with the sacred brew from the Amazon rainforest. Dr. Tafur is an integrative minded Family Physician and founding partner of Nihue Rao Centro Espiritual ayahuasca healing center near Iquitos, Peru. He is Colombian-American from Arizona, studied biology at UCLA, then Med School at UCSD, completed Family Medicine Residency at UCLA, then went on to do a post-doc in the Department of Psychiatry at UCSD, studying low-intensity light therapy and, simultaneously, Psychoneuroimmunology. Dr. Tafur has been working in and around integrative medicine throughout and after his medical training, working on a variety of academic and community activities with Traditional Chinese Medicine and Yoga Practitioners and Energy Healers. He has been studying Traditional Shipibo Plant Medicine for the past five years and is now apprenticing under Ricardo Amaringo at the Nihue Rao center. His primary interest at this time is in spiritual healing and in working to integrate practices like Amazonian shamanism and other traditional approaches with modern healthcare.