Ancient wisdom

The Indigenous peoples of the Amazon and the Andes have passed down, for generations, a vision of life in which plant, body, and spirit are never separated. This is the knowledge, a practice, a relationship with the world—not clinical proof—that Tatwa strives to receive faithfully and then share in turn, without ever claiming to replace it or reduce it to a formula.

Laurent Gheller's journey with Indigenous peoples

Laurent Gheller's connection with Indigenous peoples did not begin with the creation of Tatwa. It dates back to 2001, in Guatemala, where he first came into contact with Indigenous communities, an encounter that would shape the rest of his journey, while he was also training in kinesiology and quantum medicine.

It was in 2014, in Colombia, that this connection deepened: Laurent established lasting relationships with the Siona, Kofan, Tubu, and Arhuaco peoples, among others, guardians of knowledge related to the region's plants. That same year, he met Marcela Saavedra, who would become his partner and co-founder of the venture. Together, they created Tatwa in Colombia on August 1, 2014: not as a commercial project conceived in advance, but as the natural extension of these encounters and the relationship of trust built with the communities.

The harvesting protocol, a relationship before a collection

At Tatwa, harvesting a plant is never an isolated act. Every plant we use is connected to a community that safeguards its knowledge, and everything begins on its territory, with its consent.

Before entering the forest, a request for permission is made to the senior authorities of the community concerned. Only they can grant access to the territory and the plants they protect. A welcoming ritual is then addressed to the master tree, the one that watches over the sought-after plant, before the expedition ventures deeper into the forest.

Some of these expeditions last up to four days before reaching the plant. This extended time is part of the protocol just as much as the harvest itself: it requires us to slow down and adapt to the territory rather than simply pass through it.

Once the plant has been found, harvesting remains measured. We never collect all the available flowers: only a small portion is harvested, while the rest is left to the environment so that the natural cycle can continue. A very small quantity is sufficient for Tatwa's work; the rarity of each essence is due less to its availability than to our respect for the limit we impose on ourselves.

The plant's song, a transmitted practice

Once the plant has been harvested, a step unique to Tatwa comes into play: extracting what Laurent Gheller calls the plant's song. Using a device designed for this purpose, he captures the electrostatic difference between a root and a leaf and converts this wave into an audible signal. This information is then used to dynamize the spring water used to make each essence, following the same dynamization principle that, on the scientific side, is directly inspired by the homeopathic method described in our reference framework.

This practice is accompanied by another, equally rooted in Tatwa's way of working: before entering production, laboratory staff assess their own emotional state. Particular attention is paid to the state of consciousness of those who make each essence, based on the conviction that this state is part of the process just as much as the technical procedures.

We present this practice for what it is: a belief and a tradition specific to Tatwa, passed down and acknowledged as such.

The connection between body and spirit in these traditions

In many traditional medicines of Latin America, including those of the peoples we work with, care for the body and care for the spirit are not considered separately. Physical discomfort and inner imbalance are addressed together, within a unified vision of the person, rather than treated in isolation as is often the case in Western medicine. This is the vision that inspires Tatwa's approach, without claiming to replace it. It is a simple principle, yet a rare one in our societies: never care for a state of mind while forgetting the body that carries it, or vice versa.

Living knowledge, not frozen in the past

These traditions are not relics that we would unearth for the purposes of a brand story. They are practiced today by living communities, on the same territories for generations. In 2022, UNESCO added to the list of intangible cultural heritage of humanity the ancestral knowledge system of the four Indigenous peoples of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta: the Arhuaco, Kankuamo, Kogi, and Wiwa. This recognition does not reward a frozen past: it attests to knowledge that is still being passed down and practiced, and with which Tatwa has a responsibility to engage respectfully rather than draw inspiration from at a distance. Our commitment to the Arhuaco people, beyond the knowledge they transmit, continues through the preservation of their territory.

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This inherited legacy is one facet of our work; the other lies in the scientific rigor that guides every stage of production. The two complement each other, without one taking precedence over the other.