The Ayahuasca Interview, Part 1#
A good friend of mine recently participated in an Ayahuasca ceremony and described his incredible experience to me soon afterwards. I decided this would be a fascinating topic to write about and share.
I first heard about Ayahuasca a few years ago and have always found it to be an intriguing subject. My friend, who has asked to remain anonymous, agreed to do a private interview with me and gave me permission to transcribe and publish it.
He shared so much information that I felt it would be best to divide it into two parts. The first part is more focused on establishing a high-level understanding of Ayahuasca, covering what it is, how it works, etc. The second part goes into detail about his personal experiences in this recent ceremony, including visions he saw and lessons he learned.
Preface#
Before jumping into the interview, I want to mention a few things:
- You may read some things here that sound crazy, impossible, and definitely strange. I am not trying to convince anyone anything about any of this stuff.
- I am just passing along his story, without including any of my opinions on what’s being said. You are free to form your own opinion about this (and I encourage you to do so).
- Our interview was done in person, via audio recording. I then transcribed the audio, writing much of it in my own words, in order to keep the content clear and concise for these articles, while strictly expressing only his ideas (which of course still turned out to be long AF).
- I cut some stuff out for length purposes, leaving only what I felt was most interesting and non-redundant.
- Some details you may want to know about this person:
— He is well educated, with a degree from a well known university
— Grew up in the United States
— Works as a top executive at a corporation
— Lives what I believe is a highly balanced life: socially active, physically active, regularly spends time with family and friends, eats healthy, reads a lot of books, and is very dedicated to his career.
The interview#
Q: So first off, can you explain what Ayahuasca is?
Ayahuasca is an ancient tea that has been brewed and consumed ceremoniously as a sacred medicine by Amazonian tribes for thousands of years. We have archeological evidence that it is at least 5,000 years old, based on what’s been published in scientific studies.
It’s made with a specific combination of plants that grow natively in the Amazon rainforest. Drinking the tea creates a profound and life changing spiritual experience, in which people connect to other dimensions of reality, receive downloads of information from higher consciousness, and also receive physical healing in the form of purging toxicity from the body and what I would call “spiritual intervention”. At this point I’ve only discovered and understood a tiny fraction of the depths of the experience… it’s as infinite as the Universe itself.
Q: Where are you and what are you doing, physically, during an Ayahuasca experience? Walking around? Lying down? And who are you with? How long does it last?
It’s important to understand that Ayahuasca is used in a ceremonial setting. It’s a sacred medicine and not a recreational thing that you would do alone or casually with friends. The ceremony is facilitated by a Shaman, who has studied the medicine for many years (way more time than it takes to become an MD), to the point where he/she is qualified to safely guide people through the experience. This is a deep personal development experience, like the most powerful therapy session you could ever imagine. You are diving deep into yourself and into your soul, gaining understanding of who you truly are and how the Universe works.
Like any tool, you can use it any way you choose. But quite frankly, anyone using Ayahuasca “for fun” or as a “drug” or while hanging out with friends, or anything like that, is not honoring the power and purpose of this sacred medicine, and most importantly is depriving themselves of the profound personal growth that they could gain from it.
There’s a lot that goes into a ceremony. It’s recommended to follow a specific diet leading up to it and to come into it with some intentions about what you hope to explore, learn, or heal.
It’s held in a private, controlled, safe environment, led by a Shaman and usually some helpers who are also trained in this. There are usually multiple individuals participating in the ceremony at the same time. You’re in the same space together physically, but each person is having their own internal experience that is completely unique. There is very little interaction between participants and in most ceremonies it is not allowed for participants to talk to each other.
During the ceremony, you’ll typically be sitting up in a lotus pose (like when meditating). It lasts quite a while, around 5- 7 hours, so you might also spend some time lying down, standing up, and of course going to the bathroom. These details depend on the facilitator and their philosophy.
When it ends, you’re back to your “normal self”, except with a whole new perspective and understanding of… everything.
Q: From your perspective, how does Ayahuasca actually work?
As I understand it, drinking the tea tunes you into a different frequency, at which you are able to easily perceive dimensions of reality that you normally do not. There is way more to life and the Universe than we may perceive in the physical world. The tea temporarily pierces the veil that stands between you and those aspects of reality that you do not access in your normal conscious state.
I have a limited understanding of the science behind it, but I know that scientific studies have shown Ayahuasca to create neuroplasticity in the brain, which is the ability for neurons to change their synaptic connections.
This explains why people are able to let go of old destructive habits and form new positive habits way easier with Ayahuasca than they do in their “normal” state.
Other effects on the brain include neuroregeneration and neuroprotection. From my understanding, it’s really rare to find substances of any kind that create these beneficial effects.
Q: The idea of “purging” is often mentioned in connection with Ayahuasca. Can you please explain what that is?
Purging is the process of cleansing yourself physically, spiritually, and psychologically, which is a vital part of the process. This most commonly happens via vomiting, but can also take other forms. Physically, it’s a powerful detox as you release toxins from your body. Spiritually and psychologically, you release negative energy and self-limiting beliefs that are not serving you in life.
Purging is an often unpleasant but highly necessary mechanism for clearing the way for personal advancement and healing.
Q: You mentioned this idea of “spiritual intervention”. What is that about?
This is hard to explain, but in my experience it can be a literal healing of the body through induced body movement, energy healing, or what you may call a spiritual surgery. I have personally experienced all three of these.
The “spiritual surgery” was an experience that resembled an invisible surgical procedure that literally repaired my jaw, where I had been experiencing constant pain and tension. Since the ceremony it has felt brand new.
The “induced body movement” was the involuntary movement of my body in areas where I was having pain, like repeatedly rolling my shoulders and neck and bending my lower back into several yoga-like positions. It was always gentle and comfortable and felt like being stretched by a personal trainer. In these cases I would simply lay flat on my back or sit up and the movements would happen on their own.
The “energy healing” was an experience that I would describe as high frequency energy being transmitted into my body, which I would feel as vibrations and shaking inside my body. Again, very comfortable and soothing.
I’ve heard about similar experiences from others, including a woman I met in this recent ceremony who mentioned that she experienced a surgical repair of her ovaries, which she said was to cure an issue that had been causing a long history of having irregular cycles.
Q: How would you respond to someone who says you were basically high on drugs and hallucinating all of this?
They absolutely have the freedom to choose to believe that and I would respect that. Everyone is on their own journey and they can live life however they prefer and they can believe what they want to believe. If you yourself believe that, it makes me no less happy to have this interview with you.
I’m aware that most people would probably take that kind of viewpoint and it doesn’t bother me. I actually used to hold that same view, until I experienced it for myself. If you talked to me about this years ago, I would have certainly dismissed it as nonsense and thought you were crazy for believing this could ever be possible. With time, I developed a curiosity that led me to learn more and more about it until I became interested enough to actually give it a try.
My truth may be different from your truth. Mine is this: there’s much more to life than the things you can easily see, hear, touch, taste, and smell. The fact that you have not perceived them does not mean they do not exist or that experiencing them must be a false hallucination. You are just not tuned into the the right frequency to experience them. Luckily there are plants that grow naturally on this Earth, such as Ayahuasca, whose purpose it is to help us discover these truths and advance the well-being of our society.
There are many dimensions to reality. You live in just one of them. There is an entire spirit realm that exists all around us, containing information that can teach us vital lessons and energy that can bring healing to the human species and to our planet itself. Ayahuasca is a tool that enables us to connect to higher dimensions and receive the massive benefits that they can provide us.
If you’re not interested or ready for this right now, that’s totally cool. Maybe you be will later. Or maybe never in this lifetime.
What else do you think is most important for the world to understand regarding Ayahuasca?
There’s a lot but I’ll try to keep it to a short list:
- There’s no doubt in my mind that any and every person’s life would change for the better if they experience Ayahuasca (in the right way). If everyone in the world did it, our world would immediately transform into a more loving, understanding, productive, intellectually advanced, self-aware, happy, and healthy place.
- The experience is extremely personal. Meaning it is totally tailored to you and what’s going on with you at a given moment in your life (challenges, health issues, curiosities). Every experience for every person is completely different. You can learn from someone else’s experience, but don’t expect yours to be the same at all.
- Ayahuasca is an extremely effective treatment for curing depression, anxiety, PTSD, drug addiction, alcoholism, eating disorders, and various physical ailments. Scientific studies are being conducted around the world to prove these benefits. Google it.
- While there are published studies and current ongoing studies that are showing impressive positive effects on people caused by Ayahuasca, the majority of these studies are limited by the fact that they are being done in “medical” or lab settings. In order to see just how massive the beneficial effects can be, they need to do these studies in a true ceremony environment. I anticipate this will become more a common element of future studies.
- Ayahuasca is 100% natural plant medicine. The ingredients are plants and water. No man-made chemicals.
Q: If someone was interested in experiencing an Ayahuasca ceremony, how should they go about it?
First, do your research. Gain an understanding of this medicine thoroughly from an outside perspective. There’s a lot of great stuff out there like books, documentaries, and articles. You need to be serious enough about this to be willing to invest some time and do some work to decide whether you want to do it, where to do it, and how to prepare.
Also, I am not a legal expert and this is not legal advice, but Ayahuasca is not legal in some countries, including the US. However there are several countries where it is legal, including Ecuador, Brazil, and Peru. I’ve also read that it’s legal (or not explicitly illegal) in Chile, Italy, Spain, and The Netherlands. Educate yourself on this and make your own decision.
If you’ve decided to go for it, find a Shaman or a group that facilitates Ayahuasca ceremonies. This can be a challenge if you’re in a country that outlaws this medicine, because such Shamans or groups would have to remain secretive. But they want to find you as much as you want to find them, because it’s their mission to heal and empower as many people as possible with this medicine.
Another thing to watch out for is that some individuals or groups who facilitate these ceremonies are not qualified to be doing so. They may be lacking in experience or they may be doing it for the wrong reasons. Some of them are straight up scammers. This is very dangerous and you need to be really careful about this.
Q: How would you detect whether someone offering an Ayahuasca ceremony is honest and qualified or not?
The first indication is the price they are charging. In my opinion, anyone charging exorbitant fees for an Ayahuasca ceremony is doing this for the money rather than the underlying mission. Please stay away from these people.
I’ve seen honest ceremonies offered for $200- $600 USD, and even strictly on a donation basis.
You also need to talk to people who have experienced a ceremony with the specific person or group you’re looking into. Learn as much as you can about how it went and whatever they can tell you about the facilitators and the experience. Be smart about it.
As more people have been learning about Ayahuasca, it has become a trendy thing for wealthy Westerners to travel to South America and pay for a big expensive ceremony or retreat, and people have taken notice of this and are taking advantage of it as a profit-seeking opportunity. There are a lot of fake shamans out there who are not serving the true Ayahuasca brew and not taking the proper steps to ensure the safety of their participants. The source of the brew and the people who are facilitating are absolutely crucial. Do not cut corners here.
Overall, you should only take part in this journey if you are willing to spend the time and do the work to ensure you are going to the right place, with the right people. You can’t rely on someone else to do it for you. Don’t just read some website and book a ceremony and definitely don’t buy the tea from someone claiming to sell it.
Q: Any links you’d recommend for further reading/viewing?
For anyone who is scientifically inclined, here are two interesting studies to read:
The Scientific Investigation of Ayahuasca: A Review of Past and Current Research
The Therapeutic Potentials of Ayahuasca: Possible Effects against Various Diseases of Civilization
Other than that, just do your research. It’s not hard to find info about this subject.
To be continued in The Ayahuasca Interview, Part 2…