Ayahuasca Ceremonies in Peru
What is ayahuasca & how is it made?
Ayahuasca is a brew of two plants. In our retreats, we use the Chacruna leaves (DMT) and the Banisteriopsis Caapi vine (MAOI: monoamine oxidase inhibitor) to make an ayahuasca tea.
What is ayahuasca used for & what does this plant medicine do?
Ayahuasca has been used in many different native tribes, predominantly in the Amazon region, for at least a few centuries. These tribes used ayahuasca for healing, magic, and to make social decisions within communities.
In recent years Ayahuasca has become well-known in the western world. Many people now travel to the jungle to take part in ceremonies. The most important thing is that you drink in a safe setting with a trustworthy and experienced shaman (and facilitator).
Shamans, psychotherapists, spiritual seekers, artists, religious people, anthropologists, physicists, neuro-brain scientists, medical professionals, …etc. These professions have published many books about the different kinds of phenomena and effects related to Ayahuasca.
There's a lot of research, many conferences, and more and more studies are happening to explore this medicine and its effects.
Originally Ayahuasca was drunk by the Healer to see the sickness of a person and to know how to heal them, or to see bigger visions which showed them how to help the individual in their process. It was also used to perceive, understand, and find solutions in other areas or projects. Sometimes young people in these tribes would drink Ayahuasca during a rite of passage as part of an initiation into adulthood.
Today, many kinds of people drink Ayahuasca to heal, purify, learn, and to better understand life, its connections, and the universe.
My perspective (coherent with the opinion of many indigenous leaders), is that now is exactly the perfect time for this medicine to be available to the rest of the world. The planet needs more consciousness from human beings, humanity needs to wake up in general, and Ayahuasca (or other entheogenic plants) can help us to expand our consciousness.
The work of integration needs to be done by ourselves, so that the expansion in our consciousness can be transferred and transformed into new patterns which lead to lasting change in the physical realm.
Of course, there are also other ways of expanding our consciousness and transforming patterns besides working with Plant Medicines.
What is an ayahuasca experience like?
Ayahuasca used in the right way is a wonderful tool. It gives you the opportunity to work with your shadow self as well as your light self. The ayahuasca experience can bring hidden areas to the surface, giving you the opportunity to become aware what you haven´t been aware of before.
Through this ability to expose what’s previously been hidden, Ayahuasca has the potential to facilitate growth in all kinds of new ways.
What are the benefits of a ayahuasca journey?
Working with ayahuasca provides the possibility of transforming habits, conditions, the meaning of memories, traumas, and so forth. This is one aspect of the amazing healing powers of this medicine. It can also initiate a deep cleaning process in many realms and on many layers (mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually, on your DNA, ancestral lineage).
What are the effects of ayahuasca?
The manner in which people purge and release energy can be very different. It's through this process of cleansing that ayahuasca can act as a preventative for a variety of illnesses and imbalances.
Some examples of often reported effects are: greater self-acceptance, more compassion, less depression, less anxiety, improved interpersonal relationships, less alcohol and drugs, better health behaviours, cosmic shifts in worldview, feeling changes on a cellular level, feeling more connected to life, new understanding about love, positive influences on creativity, alignment, realisation about personal new meaningful activities in life.
Deciding to attend an Ayahuasca Retreat in Peru
This medicine can be a powerful tool for transformation, but its efficacy depends on your path, your intentions, and the reasons why you choose to do this work. It can have huge healing results with depression, post–traumatic stress disorders, psychosomatic illnesses, obsessive compulsive disorders, and addictions. These potential therapeutic effects have been seen in a wide variety of studies carried out with increasing regularity by both independent and organizational researchers.
To be clear, it is all up to you. You need to take ownership of your experience. There might be some things that arise where you can just lean back and observe, and all will fall into place by itself. At the same time, other processes can unfold, which ask for your commitment and your willingness to face processes for your transformation which require your active participation if you want to utilize their full potential.
How can drinking Ayahuasca be helpful?
The work with Ayahuasca can support you to live in your purpose, to bring your mind, your heart, your body, your spirit, and your actions into alignment. In my experience, this is the biggest gift that you can receive in life; the reawakening of reciprocity, of feeling connected with all that is, and feeling the heartbeat, the frequency of life and love in all (including yourself).
The effects go far beyond your immediate felt experience. That's why the integration time is so important. All kinds of feelings and/or thoughts which may come up need to be seen and accepted.
The “code” is to stay in the process, being present with all that comes up and shows up, and to deal with it all in an honest way.
It is very individual how much you are challenged and how you choose to deal with it. My experience is, if you take your preparation seriously, if you work with a good shaman, and if you create your integration mindfully, then it is one of the most beautiful paths you can choose in honoring yourself and life.
Every one of us has unique resources, skills, and tools which can help to integrate the effect of the medicine work. If you want me to help you explore your navigation and integration tools, please let me know.
Is Ayahuasca Safe & Legal?
It's important to know that DMT, the chemical that the Chacruna leaf contains, is in most countries considered an illegal substance. In Peru, where I live and where I offer our retreats, it is a legal substance.
It's important to know as well, that this brew called “Ayahuasca” is not for everyone. Please read the medical guidelines and if you have any reservations you can contact me.
For the people who do feel the call, it's recommended to take seriously the time beforehand to prepare for this experience, as well the time afterward to integrate the experience.
Without this preparation and integration, the experience can be overwhelming and not fully beneficial.
For me, this work is something serious and sacred because it can guide, heal, and teach one to develop and maintain a more fully lived life. On the other side, if not used in the appropriate way, not done with adequate preparation, or not integrated fully, the ayahuasca experience can have challenging outcomes for the person or can have negatively felt results.
If you are interested in help and advice with your spiritual journey, I also offer Preparation and Integration Coaching.