Dr. Tafur is a Colombian American family physician originally from Phoenix, Arizona. After completing his family medicine training at UCLA, Dr. Tafur spent two years in academic research at the UCSD Department of Psychiatry in a lab focused on mind-body medicine. After his research fellowship, over a period of 6 years, he lived and worked in the Peruvian Amazon at the traditional healing center Nihue Rao Centro Espiritual. There he trained in ayahuasca shamanism under master Shipibo shaman Ricardo Amaringo.
In his new book “The Fellowship of the River: A Medical Doctor’s Exploration into Traditional Amazonian Plant Medicine,” through a series of stories, Dr. Tafur shares his unique experience and integrative medical theories regarding the connection between the mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual bodies, and how plant medicine in sacred ceremony can, from both a shamanic and scientific perspective, facilitating deep healing on all levels. After observing hundreds of people go through this kind of spiritual and emotional healing, Dr. Tafur recognized the broader value of spiritual healing techniques. Spiritual healing is spiritual practice. Spiritual practice is spiritual healing, and both can help to heal the emotional body and in turn, the mind-body. In order to spread this message, Dr. Tafur, his brother Mario Tafur, and their associates have started the non-profit educational organization Modern Spirit (https://modernspirit.org/), dedicated to demonstrating the value of spiritual healing in modern healthcare.
Dr. Tafur continues his bridgework through educational programs with Modern Spirit and the Modern Spirit Podcast. He has lectured on his work in the community and has spoken at a number of conferences including the MAPS 2017 and MAPS 2013 Psychedelic Science Conferences, PlantTeachers 2015 Visionary Convergence, and the ICEERS World Ayahuasca Conference. He is currently promoting his book and is also in the process of starting his private medical practice based in both Arizona and California, focused on coordinating integrative care and psychospiritual counselling.
