How Psychedelics Have Changed Holistic Medicine

An Interview with Bianca Abbott

BY RILEY GEORGE

Bianca Abbott's journey into the medical field was inspired by her lineage and lifetime of trauma endured by her family. When Abbott's mother gave birth to her sister 38 years ago, an emergency C-section had to occur. Unfortunately, it took the medical team three years to realize that the blood her mother received resulted in her contracting HIV.

Following the diagnosis, Abbott's family had to keep it a secret to protect the family. Luckily, Abbott's family did not contract it during that time, but the diagnosis prompted Abbott's journey at an early age. At just seven years old, Bianca Abbott wanted to find a cure for HIV.

Due to this stress, Abbott was diagnosed with chronic pain and fatigue, migraines, IBS, TMJ, OCD, anxiety, depression, PTSD, ADHD, and an autoimmune condition. She was put on a slew of pharmaceutical medications for 13 years, yet could not find relief and greatly suffered from the side effects of these harmful drugs.

At age fourteen, Abbott found yoga to be a holistic practice that she thrived in and has been practicing for 25 years and teaching for ten years. Through her dark night of the soul, her yoga practice was her saving grace and catalyst for discovering ancient wisdom from master healers. After a lifetime of healing, she was able to reclaim her health using the power of fasting, alkaline nutrition, ayurveda, functional integrative medicine, naturopathy, shamanism, and psychedelics.

"Through detoxification and cellular rejuvenation and food as medicine, I was able to help my mom survive AIDS. She was on her deathbed about seven years ago," Abbott said.

As Abbott began her educational career, she committed her studies to Western medicine. At the time, she wanted to be a psychiatrist, so she studied psychology at Eckerd College. Then, Abbott entered a post-bach pre-med program at Columbia University and studied for the MCAT to become a doctor. After seeing a psychiatric nurse practitioner for her anxiety and depression, she was inspired to pursue this career path instead. Abbott earned a Bachelor's degree in nursing at NYU and a master's in nursing at the University of Miami. teachers showed her the importance of eliminating chemicals and toxins from the body through detoxification, fasting, alkaline nutrition, herbalism, and psychedelic healing. By sharing this powerful knowledge with her family, she was able to get her mother off of medications she had been relying on for 50 years.

During Abbott's master's program, she became her mother's primary caretaker, who was diagnosed with failure to thrive. At this point, no Western doctor could help her mother. This was the turning point for Abbott to come into her power as a healer and dive deeper into holistic modalities outside of Western medicine.

Although Abbott went against doctors' orders, her protocol restored her mother's immune system, and she came back to life. It took five years of intense integrative therapy to revive her mother's health, from wheelchairs and crumbling bones to walking without a cane and riding a bike. And today, she's been living with HIV for 38 years, is medication free, and the virus is undetectable in her blood.

Following this miraculous experience, Abbott felt called to bring all of her knowledge together to create the Lunafast, a 10-day online holistic fasting program that has helped thousands of people around the world to restore their gut health, balance their microbiome, release harmful toxins, and transform their relationship with food. Her program also brings in ayurvedic self-love rituals and kundalini yoga to facilitate a mind, body, and spiritual transformation.

Abbott became fascinated with psychedelic healing to help her overcome the immense amount of responsibility on her shoulders. At the time, Abbott wanted to hide and crumble. Fortunately, her first ayahuasca journey allowed her to rise like a phoenix and gain the clarity and love to navigate this traumatic time. This experience gave Abbott the inner knowing and confidence to face this situation headon.

She traveled to India and Bali and studied with powerful healers who were healing people of everything. These master

Abbott reveals, "This is more than a quick weight loss program. It's an opportunity to heal at the root by empowering the healer within. I give my clients the tools they need to heal themselves holistically. And that requires alignment of the mind, body, and soul."

Last year after experiencing a challenging breakup and a terrifying ayahuasca experience, Abbott didn't feel safe. After being strong for so long, these events triggered all her unresolved trauma growing up. She was on her knees in desperation, and that's when she crossed paths with ketamine. It was a gamechanger in Abbott's healing, allowing her to balance her nervous system and relax at deeper levels. She had so much stored trauma in her body, and ketamine was a vehicle for her to release it. After experiencing positive results and being approached by Dr. Weiner to join her Miami team, Abbott decided to include ketamine in her practice.

Today Abbott shares, "I combine ketamine with my Lunafast program and with the integration of yoga, meditation, sound healing, somatic therapy, nutrition, and energy work. I have many different certifications in the healing arts. So, I put together a personalized program for my clients for ADHD, autoimmunity cancer, HIV, anxiety, suicidal ideations, psychosis, mental health issues, and spiritual optimization."

Abbott works with teams of doctors, shamans, and therapists to help prepare her clients for their psychedelic healing journey and integration. She prioritizes safety in her procedures and ensures that her patients feel comfortable in her presence so that their experience is positive and transformational.

"If someone is serving a psychedelic and they've never experienced the medicine, then that's a clue that they don't know what they're doing. So to be an effective healer or shaman, they must sit with the medicine and embody the healing before practicing it on others. Otherwise, you have the sick trying to heal the sick," highlights Abbott.

The Journey Process

A considerable part of the psychedelic treatment is the journey process. Preparation for the medicine is key. To get the best absorption and experience, you must prepare the body, mind, and soul. Abbott does this through a special nutritional protocol, her Lunafast program, fasting, nutrition, and in some cases, discontinuing pharmaceutical medications.

It all begins with testing the blood, gut, micronutrients, and toxicity in the body. Assessing the microbiome, minerals, vitamins, and toxicity that need improvement is essential. Following these results, Abbott puts together a personalized program for each client so no two journeys are the same.

"Holistic wellness incorporates many different healing modalities for the client to awaken. You have to cleanse the body and learn how to detox safely. That in itself is a ceremony. Usually, your relationship with food is your relationship with everything. So if you have a major addiction to food, if you're using food to numb and run away, you usually do that in your life in all aspects. So learning to have a healthy relationship to food and how to cleanse, detox, and nourish your body is vital," explains Abbott.

When working with plant medicine, like psilocybin and ayahuasca, detoxing the gut is vital to having a powerful experience. Abbott's LunaFast program is beneficial for this process as it guides clients through an alkaline elimination diet through five fasting phases to cleanse and detox the gut, which is considered the first brain.

Abbott continues, "We are the creators of our health. Our nutrition, lifestyle, and daily rituals play a significant role in our overall well-being. Chronic, mental, and physical illnesses are learned and passed down through our family lineage and DNA. I teach my clients how to love themselves and come back to joy. Self-love is the ultimate medicine and foundation of wellness. When you love yourself and vibrate your vision and intention for healing, miracles happen."

What's Next for Abbott's Practice

There has been a vast movement in using micro-dosing for postpartum depression, and Abbott wants to incorporate her treatments into this movement. Abbott shares that she wants to be a mother and help other mothers prepare their bodies for pregnancy and support them during the postpartum phase.

"I want to teach women how to prepare their bodies for pregnancy. I've helped many women detox and cleanse their bodies before conceiving. This is vital because when the fetus is conceived, it can be negatively impacted by the toxicity in the body. Doing a total body cleanse and reset before pregnancy is important to prevent chronic health conditions in your child," says Abbott.

Abbott continues, "I recently received my certification in prenatal yoga to help women connect with their bodies and growing babies through breathwork, yoga, and meditation during their nine months of pregnancy. This is a critical time for women to nourish and love themselves and release trauma to have secure attachments with their children."

Her passion for helping families has never ended. Abbott's medical beginning began with her own family, and now, Bianca Abbott is seeking to help other families through her holistic care. For more information about her services, visit her website and connect with her on Instagram. You can also learn more about the LunaFast here.