Rocio Alarcon

Curandera, an extraordinary teacher and healer in the lineage of traditional healing from the Andes and Amazon rainforests of Ecuador. Ethnopharmacologist and ethnobotanist. She combines her scientific training with her curandero ancestral heritage to be able to bridge the knowledge gap between these two important worlds. She is the founder and director of the IAMOE Centre in Amazonia, Ecuador, which was created to protect the rainforest, preserve and promote ancestral knowledge and support local indigenous communication around the centre and throughout Ecuador. For many years she has been defending the legacy of the Great Amazon Rainforest for future generations.

Called Gata (wild cat) or Ube (anaconda) among friends and colleagues - because of her strong fighting spirit. Revered for her passion in protecting the rainforest, preserving the knowledge and traditions of her ancestors and healing people through the teachings of Curandero.

She practices and teaches Curandera (shamanic healing ceremonies), which she calls the art and science of curandera. This is knowledge she received through the lineage of her mother and grandmother, who were born in the Andes Mountains of Ecuador, a place where she was also born, at the foot of the Pichincha volcano.

She holds a PhD in philosophy and ethnopharmacology from London University College. She specialises in master plants for use in healing ceremonies and in healing. And also, in the use of plants as food and medicine, or in the art of weaving from natural plant fibres to make tools and useful objects. Her interests also include healing practices and ceremonies with hummingbirds, and research on ethnobotany and biodiversity. She offers healing treatments at her IAMOE centre in the Amazon region of Ecuador.

She has over 40 years of experience in fieldwork, research and working with indigenous communities in the Amazon and Andes regions. She has worked with ethnic groups in the tropical rainforest and the Andes in Ecuador, and in the Basque Country in Spain.

She is regularly invited as a speaker at events around the world. She has given workshops in the UK, Ireland, Portugal, USA, etc.

Rocio Alarcon’s message:

„The great Amazon jungle is a right of future generations. It is our duty and responsibility to protect the rainforest and preserve the unique cultures and traditions of the indigenous peoples who inhabit these regions. Their amazing ability to coexist in mutually beneficial relationships is the key to humanity's survival on Earth in these critical times.”

CENTRUM IAMOE W EKWADORZE

www.iamoe.org