Dr. Alex Papou is not your typical plant medicine seeker. A consultant rheumatologist practicing in the UK, his days are spent treating complex autoimmune disorders, parsing test results, and moving quickly between 20-minute patient consults. Yet behind the clinical protocols and professional demeanor lives a man who has spent decades quietly exploring the nature of consciousness.
The Doctor Who Went to Peru
“Alongside studying medicine, I was always drawn to the exploration of consciousness,” he shares. “Even as a medical student — I began by exploring psychology and psychotherapy before psychedelics.”
This internal split between science and soul eventually brought him to Willkamayu Spirit and the Sacred Valley of Peru. After years of somatic therapy, Gestalt work, and exposure to transpersonal philosophy, Alex followed an intuitive call to sit with Ayahuasca.
“Over the years I developed a fascination with what we call psychedelics. After trying many forms of therapy, I found plant medicine to be the most profound…gradually I started feeling that it [was] time for me to go to Peru.”
When Complexity Yields to Simplicity
His first retreat brought revelations that defied intellect. Alex arrived with questions, not just about himself, but about humanity. He wanted to understand the pain of the world, the chaos of war, and the gifts he hadn’t yet fully owned. What he received in return wasn’t a list of answers—it was an experience of undoing.
“I realized that real knowledge — the real magic of existence — exists in simplicity. I used to hold a deeply rooted belief that the world should be complex. But Ayahuasca told me that actually…if you become simple then everything changes.”
The grounds and gardens of Willkamayu Spirit
The Return: Wachuma and the Inner Child
Years later, he returned for a second retreat. This time, he drank Wachuma, Ayahuasca and worked with inner child practices that invited both emotional excavation and reconnection.
“The second retreat was different. My intentions weren’t about removing pain, but about deepening love — about seeing
myself more clearly.”
The structure of the retreat included ceremonies and facilitated workshops during the day. Here, the healing became layered: the nonverbal revelations of the medicine harmonized with Western psychological frameworks.
“What stayed with me most was writing a letter from my adult self to the child inside. Understanding that it is safe for [the inner child] to now show up in the world.”
Living Integration: Holding All Truths at Once
Unlike many who feel torn between professional obligations and spiritual insights, Alex doesn’t claim to have merged his roles. Instead, he stands fully in both. His clinical work remains untouched by psychedelics—and yet, everything he’s experienced informs who he is when he walks into a room.
“Integration doesn’t mean blending everything. For me, my personal and professional life do not overlap. I see beauty in both simplicity and complexity — and the ways they exist in each other.”
On Autoimmunity and the Psyche
He’s careful to draw a line between his personal beliefs and medical authority. But when asked about the mystery of autoimmune illness, a doorway opens.
“If I speak formally as a doctor, currently there’s no evidence. But personally? I do believe that many illnesses have a psychosomatic root. That our mind, our beliefs, even how we cope with life — these things shape the body.”
“In recent years, a lot of academic institutions have started looking into psychedelics. What’s especially exciting for me is that some of these studies are directly related to rheumatology. One of them, happening at the Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London, is exploring the use of psilocybin for fibromyalgia, and I’m really looking forward to seeing the results.. It’s slow, but I believe we’re beginning to see the connections between the immune system and the inner world.”
Advice to the Curious Clinician
For those within the medical world who feel the pull toward this work, Alex offers a simple framework:
“What you will get [from plant medicine] very much depends on your intentions. Formulate them…ask for the psychedelic session to open you up. When you trust the medicine you will get what you want.”
He knows it can be destabilizing to question everything you’ve been trained to know. But he encourages practitioners not to be afraid of change.
“You may easily discover that what you believed all your life is incorrect. Or that who you think you are — is not who you truly are.”
Closing the Gap
In the end, Alex offers no prescription. He isn’t looking to convert individuals to plant medicine, nor does he seek to challenge his professional training. Instead, he stands at the quiet threshold between two paradigms, fluent in both and clinging to neither.
If you’ve enjoyed this interview and you, like Alex, have felt the call to come to Peru and sit in ceremony – you can connect with Willkamayu Spirit and explore our small, intimate, ceremony offerings here.
