One Spirit Medicine, Grow a New Body, and the Neuroscience of Shamanic Transformation

The Shaman Who Studied the Brain

Alberto Villoldo’s trajectory from directing the Biological Self-Regulation Laboratory at San Francisco State University to training with Q’ero shamans in the Peruvian Andes is not a story of abandoning science for mysticism. It is a story of following the data wherever it leads, even when it leads beyond the boundaries of Western medicine. His recent works, particularly “One Spirit Medicine” (2015), “Grow a New Body” (2019), and “Grow a New Brain” (2025), represent the culmination of decades spent integrating laboratory neuroscience with the empirical healing technologies of the Amazon and the Andes.

The central argument across all these works is this: the ancient shamans and modern neuroscientists are describing the same reality from different vantage points. The shamans talk about clearing the Luminous Energy Field and activating the “death clock” or the “immortality genes.” The neuroscientists talk about epigenetics, neuroplasticity, mitochondrial function, and senescent cell clearance. They are two languages describing one set of phenomena.

One Spirit Medicine: The Core Protocol

“One Spirit Medicine” lays out a comprehensive protocol that combines shamanic practice with modern nutritional science to achieve what Villoldo calls “ultimate wellness.” The protocol addresses the body, the brain, and the spirit simultaneously, because in Villoldo’s framework, these three dimensions are not separate systems but one unified field.

The Gut-Brain Connection

Villoldo begins with the gut because the shamans of the Amazon taught him that all healing begins in the belly. Modern neuroscience confirms this intuition. The enteric nervous system, sometimes called the “second brain,” consists of more than 100 million neurons lining the entire alimentary canal. This neural network communicates directly with the brain in the head, forming a lattice-like sheath that processes information, generates neurotransmitters, and influences mood, cognition, and immune function.

Approximately 95 percent of the body’s serotonin is produced in the gut, not in the brain. The gut microbiome, the trillions of bacteria living in the digestive tract, influences everything from inflammation levels to anxiety to the body’s ability to detoxify environmental chemicals. When the gut is compromised by processed foods, sugar, gluten, and environmental toxins, the entire body-brain system is compromised with it.

Villoldo argues that the primitive survival programs in the limbic brain are activated when we fuel the brain with processed grains and sugar. The limbic system, the brain’s fear center, is designed for survival in a dangerous environment. When it is chronically activated by inflammatory foods, the higher functions of the prefrontal cortex, creativity, compassion, visionary thinking, and spiritual experience, are suppressed. The person is trapped in fight-or-flight mode, unable to access the higher states of consciousness that the shamans cultivate.

The 14-Day Detox

The One Spirit Medicine protocol begins with a 14-day detoxification that eliminates bread, pasta, grains, sugar, and other inflammatory foods. This is not a typical diet program. It is a neurological intervention designed to shift the brain’s fuel source from glucose (derived from carbohydrates) to ketones (derived from fat).

When the body enters ketosis, the brain undergoes a metabolic shift. Ketones are a more efficient fuel for neurons than glucose, producing fewer free radicals and less oxidative stress. The shift to ketosis also activates autophagy, the cellular process by which the body identifies and recycles damaged organelles, including dysfunctional mitochondria. Autophagy is the body’s natural housecleaning mechanism, and it is suppressed when we eat constantly and fuel with sugar.

The detox protocol emphasizes healthy fats, including coconut oil, avocado, nuts, and seeds, along with cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and kale. These vegetables are high in fiber, antioxidants, and phytonutrients that activate the Nrf2 detox system inside cells and turn on the longevity genes. The Nrf2 pathway is a master regulator of antioxidant defense, and its activation is one of the most powerful anti-aging strategies known to modern science.

Intermittent Fasting

The protocol includes intermittent fasting, specifically an 18-hour daily fast from 6 PM to noon the following day. During this fasting window, the body depletes its glycogen stores and enters ketosis, triggering autophagy and stimulating the production of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF).

BDNF is one of the most important molecules in Villoldo’s scientific framework. It is a protein that promotes the growth of new neurons (neurogenesis), strengthens existing neural connections (synaptogenesis), and protects neurons from damage (neuroprotection). BDNF levels decline with age, stress, and inflammatory diet, contributing to cognitive decline, depression, and neurodegenerative disease. Fasting, exercise, and certain plant nutrients increase BDNF production, essentially giving the brain the raw materials it needs to repair and upgrade itself.

The shamans knew nothing about BDNF, but they practiced fasting as a central component of their spiritual training. Vision quests, plant medicine ceremonies, and initiatory rites all involved extended periods without food. The shamans fasted not because they understood neurogenesis but because they observed that fasting cleared the mind, sharpened perception, and opened the doors to the spirit world. Modern neuroscience explains why: by shifting the brain from glucose to ketone metabolism and flooding it with BDNF, fasting creates the neurological conditions for expanded consciousness.

Superfoods and Neuro-Nutrients

Villoldo’s protocol includes specific supplements and superfoods drawn from both the Amazon pharmacopoeia and modern nutritional science:

• S-Acetyl Glutathione: The master antioxidant, essential for detoxifying the brain and protecting neurons from oxidative damage.
• Curcumin: The active compound in turmeric, a powerful anti-inflammatory that crosses the blood-brain barrier and protects against neurodegeneration.
• DHA (Omega-3): A structural fat that makes up a significant portion of brain cell membranes, essential for neuroplasticity and cognitive function.
• Coconut Oil (MCTs): Medium-chain triglycerides that are rapidly converted to ketones, providing clean fuel for the brain.
• Trans-Resveratrol: A polyphenol found in grapes and berries that activates the SIRT1 gene, a longevity gene that regulates cellular repair and mitochondrial biogenesis.
• Pterostilbene: A more bioavailable relative of resveratrol with powerful neuroprotective properties.
• Vitamin D3: Essential for immune function, mood regulation, and gene expression.
• Probiotics: To restore the gut microbiome and repair the gut-brain axis.

These supplements are combined with the plant medicines of the Amazon, though Villoldo is careful to distinguish between the use of plant allies in traditional ceremonial contexts and their clinical application in the modern world.

Grow a New Body: The Five-Phase Process

In “Grow a New Body,” Villoldo expanded the One Spirit Medicine protocol into a comprehensive program for physical regeneration. The central premise is that the body replaces most of its cells every seven years, but it keeps rebuilding the same body because the Luminous Energy Field contains the same blueprint. Change the blueprint and you change the body that is built from it.

The five-phase process combines the best of ancient and modern science:

Phase 1: Shed — Eliminate toxins, inflammatory foods, and stale beliefs. This includes the dietary changes described above plus emotional detoxification through Illumination and other shamanic practices.

Phase 2: Reset — Restore the gut microbiome, repair the gut lining, and reset the brain’s metabolic pathways from glucose to ketones. This phase uses fasting, probiotics, and specific neuro-nutrients.

Phase 3: Upgrade — Increase BDNF production, stimulate neurogenesis, and activate the longevity genes (SIRT1, AMPK, mTOR pathways) through fasting, exercise, and plant medicines.

Phase 4: Rewire — Use shamanic practices, meditation, and visualization to reprogram the neural networks that have been wired around trauma, fear, and survival. This is where neuroplasticity meets shamanic practice. The brain is literally being rewired, new neural pathways are being laid down while old, dysfunctional pathways are pruned.

Phase 5: Rebirth — With a clean energy field, a healthy gut, a rewired brain, and activated longevity genes, the body begins to rebuild itself according to a new template. This is the “new body,” not a different physical form but the same body organized around health, vitality, and luminosity rather than disease, degeneration, and decay.

Grow a New Brain: Spirit and Power Plants

Villoldo’s most recent book, “Grow a New Brain” (2025), focuses specifically on the brain and its capacity for regeneration. The book reveals the power plants employed by the sages of Machu Picchu and the Amazon rainforest that helped their brain-span equal their lifespan. In these traditions, cognitive decline was not an inevitable consequence of aging. The elders maintained sharp minds and visionary capacity into extreme old age because they employed specific practices and plants that protected and upgraded the brain throughout life.

The book provides a 10-day protocol to “grow a new brain” using superfoods, neuro-nutrients, and spiritual practices. Key themes include:

• Senolytic protocols: Techniques for eliminating senescent “zombie” cells that accumulate with age and drive chronic inflammation. Villoldo operates a retreat center in Chile that uses senolytic protocols in combination with shamanic practices.
• Mitochondrial restoration: Practices for reversing damage to mitochondria, the power centers of every cell, caused by free radicals, toxins, and inflammatory diet.
• Neurogenesis: Specific protocols for growing new brain cells, primarily through BDNF stimulation, exercise, and plant compounds.
• Epigenetic activation: Teaching shamanic practices as tools for changing gene expression, turning on genes for health and turning off genes for disease.

Power Up Your Brain: The Neuroscience of Enlightenment

Villoldo’s collaboration with neurologist David Perlmutter produced “Power Up Your Brain: The Neuroscience of Enlightenment,” which laid the scientific groundwork for much of his later work. The book explores a five-week program combining nutritional advice, dietary supplements, physical exercise, shamanic practices, meditation, and visualizations.

The central thesis is that enlightenment is not a mystical experience reserved for rare saints but a neurological state that can be achieved by anyone who upgrades their brain hardware. When the prefrontal cortex is fueled properly and freed from the tyranny of the limbic brain’s fear responses, it naturally produces states of expanded awareness, compassion, creativity, and inner peace that mystics have described across cultures.

Perlmutter brought the neuroscience: mitochondrial health, glutathione production, BDNF, neurogenesis, and the role of inflammation in neurodegeneration. Villoldo brought the shamanic practices: meditation, visualization, energy medicine, and the specific breathing techniques that shift brain chemistry and activate the prefrontal cortex.

Together, they demonstrated that the language of neuroscience and the language of shamanism are describing the same processes. When a shaman “clears the chakras,” they are shifting the body from sympathetic (fight-or-flight) to parasympathetic (rest-and-repair) dominance. When they “illuminate the energy field,” they are reducing neuroinflammation and activating the body’s endogenous healing systems. When they guide a vision quest through fasting and ceremony, they are triggering ketosis, autophagy, and BDNF production.

Epigenetics: The Science of Dreaming Your World Into Being

Perhaps the most revolutionary bridge between Villoldo’s shamanic training and modern science is epigenetics. The old genetic model held that DNA is destiny, that we are prisoners of the genes we inherit. Epigenetics has shattered this determinism.

Villoldo points out that genes determine only about 10 percent of our health destiny. The other 90 percent depends on what we eat, how we eat, when we eat, how we forgive, how we love, how we laugh, and how we dream our world into being. Epigenetic markers, chemical tags that sit on top of DNA and regulate which genes are expressed and which are silenced, are responsive to environmental signals including diet, stress, emotional states, meditation, and social connection.

The shamans always said that we can dream our world into being. Epigenetics confirms that this is literally true. The stories we tell ourselves, the emotions we cultivate, the foods we eat, and the practices we engage in are constantly sending signals to our DNA, turning genes on and off, shaping the body we will inhabit tomorrow. The Illumination Process, by clearing imprints from the Luminous Energy Field, may work in part by changing the epigenetic signals that the energy field sends to the genome.

This is why Villoldo insists that healing cannot be purely physical or purely spiritual. It must be both simultaneously. The One Spirit Medicine protocol addresses the body through diet, supplements, and fasting. It addresses the brain through neuroplasticity practices and neuro-nutrients. And it addresses the spirit through shamanic ceremony, energy medicine, and the clearing of the Luminous Energy Field. All three dimensions must be engaged because they are not separate systems but one unified field expressing itself at different frequencies.

The Timeline of Transformation

Villoldo offers a concrete timeline for his protocol: feel better in a few days, begin to clear the mind and heal the brain in a week, and in six weeks be on the way to a new body. This is not empty promise-making. It reflects the timelines established by neuroscience research:

• Days 1-3: The brain begins to shift from glucose to ketone metabolism. Initial detox symptoms may occur as stored toxins are mobilized.
• Days 3-7: Autophagy is fully activated. The brain begins clearing senescent cells and damaged organelles. BDNF production increases. Mental clarity improves.
• Weeks 2-4: New neural pathways begin to form as old patterns are disrupted by the combined effects of dietary change, fasting, and shamanic practice. Gut microbiome begins to rebalance.
• Weeks 4-6: Neurogenesis is underway. Gene expression is shifting as epigenetic markers respond to the new diet, practices, and emotional environment. The immune system begins to reset.
• Beyond 6 weeks: The body enters a sustained phase of regeneration, rebuilding tissues and organs according to the new template established by the cleared energy field and activated longevity genes.

This is the integration of 50,000-year-old Paleolithic healing methods with 21st-century neuroscience. It is not shamanism or science. It is shamanism and science, two ways of knowing that, when combined, offer a path to healing that neither could provide alone.