Introduction: Cacao As Plant Medicine

Adding Cacao to your meditation practice is a powerful way to connect deeper with your sense of feeling, your heart and your intuition. Although Cacao is a very ancient sacred practice, it is fairly new to many. In this introduction to Cacao I aim that you will gain an insight into utilising Cacao as part of your practice, the history of Cacao and the benefits for our wellbeing.

Transcript

My name is Lucy and this is an introduction to cacao as plant medicine.

We work with cacao as a way to connect with our heart.

Cacao is a perfect companion to meditation practice.

A beautiful and powerful way to set up a yoga practice to inspire journaling,

Dance,

Expressive movement,

Any form of creativity and generally an amazing way to begin or end your day.

There are a few components to having cacao as a home practice and working with cacao as a plant medicine.

I'll begin by sharing a very brief overview of the history of cacao as I believe it is when we look at the history that we see signposts for the importance and the honor and respect for cacao as a plant and as a use for humans,

For community and for civilizations.

Cacao was a very important part of community life in Mesoamerica,

Nowadays this is Central and South America.

For these civilizations such as the Aztec and Mayans when they were celebrating,

Going through special moments of life rites of passage,

When they were having ritual or ceremony cacao was always present,

Shared amongst one another through all walks of life and through all ages.

Cacao was a crop native to these lands,

Grown as a fruit and then the beans inside the pod are processed in a particular way through a drying and fermenting,

A roasting and then a grounding into what we call cacao paste.

This cacao paste is simply mixed with water and possibly a sweetener and that is the traditional hot cacao which they would use for these ceremonies and rituals,

A way to connect with ancestors,

Connect with nature and to commune with spirit.

Over the years the ceremonial and sacred aspect to cacao has diminished slightly,

Depending on where we are in the world we most likely know cacao in the form of chocolate and this is a highly processed and refined version of cacao far from its original source and far from its purity.

Now is a time where we are connecting back with the purity of cacao,

Returning to its origins and its roots to honour the land,

Honour nature,

Honour this magical plant,

The spirit associated with the plant,

The spirit of cacao,

To honour ourselves,

Each other and our place in this universe.

So nowadays we are connecting with cacao in this way,

Reforming and reshaping our own unique relationship with cacao,

Going back to the origin,

Going back to the roots.

And this begins on an individual level.

I believe collectively there is a shift happening where we are in further alignment with the earth,

With the frequency of the earth,

One that is more heart based,

More compassion,

More joy,

More alignment.

But as I said this begins on an individual level and this is where a home practice is so powerful because it may be our time,

Every day or every few days,

That we connect to ourself and in that space connecting to all that is greater than us,

Whether we call it spirit or god or oneness or nature,

It may be unique to you.

However it is that feeling,

That feeling of being as opposed to doing.

The feeling of connecting to the intuition,

Connecting to the subtleties and connecting to the quiet,

The softness and the receptivity.

On a physical level cacao has elements in its biochemistry which promote this connection.

There is anandamide which is considered the bliss molecule.

So this works as a way to induce happiness and feeling of bliss.

Cacao is high in magnesium promoting relaxation and softness.

Cacao also works in a balancing way to stimulate the movement of blood,

The circulatory system.

So there is a softness yet an invigorating aspect of cacao.

Providing this energy of bliss through our body,

Through our energy.

And then beyond the physicality there is the energy and the spirit.

And if we connect to the lineage of cacao,

We connect to the thousands of years that cacao has been honored,

Respected and used in a ceremonial way to connect with the essence,

To connect with the divine.

So with every cup that we drink in this way we are attuning ourselves to that intention.

We are utilizing this time and space of a home practice to set our own intentions,

To offer words of gratitude,

To use this time to connect to any prayers or blessings that you have,

To set your day up from a stable,

Grounded place.

Laying out the foundation.

This is my intention for the practices and meditations that I share.

So you can tune into cacao in this way.

Utilizing the presence of this beautiful plant medicine in this day and age.

Utilizing the power of yourself,

Your body,

Your mind,

Your spirit to enliven your energy,

To ground into your essence and to create this foundation that your life is lived upon.

It is an honor to share this with you and I look forward to sharing many cups of cacao over these sessions and over these meditations.

Thank you.

Reviews

Such a beautiful lesson, thank you so much 🙏🏻 very grateful 🌷💖

Beautiful understanding and 3explanation of this medicine fir the heart...thankyou so much 🙏🏼❤

Perfect meditation and guidance for my package of cacao im waiting to receive

Thank you Lucy for your informative introduction into cacao. I use cacao in my meditation practice and it’s helpful to revisit the complex and fascinating origins which make it so special.

so informative and lovely, thank you 💛

An informative introduction to the history of cacao, now for the meditations! Thank you for sharing! 😊

Really interesting. Thank you 💜 x

Interesting and original, I' m looking forward to this series of meditation!

Very interesting, I eat cacao everyday in chia pudding and will now try it in a drink. Thank you 🙏

Very interesting.Only just recently I was introduced to the flavour of Cacoa.👍🍵

I very much appreciate this series, Lucy. Hoping that you will add a session on preparation. My current morning ritual involves coffee- in a moka- so a bit more involved than a Mr. Coffee maker... But I would love to bring cacao I to my practice. I feel that having instructions on proper ceremonial prep would be invaluable. Thank you so much! Blessed be!