This is a field guide for Ayahuasca first-timers. It includes my preparation, as well as the transformational effects Ayahuasca can have in your life. Disclaimer: Ayahuasca is absolutely potent and not for everyone. It is one of the most powerful hallucinogens in the world. Ayahuasca is a powerful psychotropic tea used medicinally throughout the Amazonian jungle. Extending a standard dose of DMT from twenty minutes to approximately hours.
The vine is legal in Australia but extracting DMT is not. DMT is a Schedule 9 substance and it is against the law to use, sell, distribute or manufacture it.
Yet no amount of training can mask its flavour. Ayahuasca is a thickened brown brew that tastes disgusting. I still shudder at the memory of its taste. Unlucky for some, the purge comes out of both ends. And as if to rub it in, you are expected to wear white to the ceremony. Potentially shitting and vomiting in front of strangers does sound like an odd way to celebrate my 30th. But the potential benefits outweighed any standard piss up with my mates.
Tribes across the Amazon basin have been drinking Ayahuasca for a thousand years with the goal of spiritual healing, connecting with the divine, and cultivating telepathy. Shamans are said to be able to drink the brew and locate an animal of prey in the spirit world, then instruct hunters to its location in the physical world.
Like most of the Silicon Valley tech-bros making an Ayahuasca pilgrimage to South America, my intention was to get beyond my five senses and enhance my way of thinking with Ayahuasca here in Australia. If not for anything else, I was sure I could derive some comedic value from the weekend.
Ayahuasca is also used for healing and solid scientific data is starting to back it up. Ever since, studies like The Hoasca Project and numerous psychopharmacology studies are exploring its potential to curb addictive and detrimental behaviours. There is also mounting evidence that it has anti-inflammatory effects and is a potent treatment for depression, PTSD, anxiety and substance addiction and abuse.
The University of Melbourne-led Global Ayahuasca Project surveyed 10, Ayahuasca users across the years — It has incredible potential as a naturally derived, one-off treatment alternative to a life of prescription medication.
Traditional Ayahuasca ceremonies take place in a group setting overnight. One to three cups are served in timed intervals under the guidance of an Ayahuascero healer.
Most commonly; visions, words and emotions. Consecutive Ayahuasca ceremonies are recommended for a deeper experience. The most intensive Ayahuasca retreat offers 2 — 4 sessions, alongside intention setting exercises and post-integration work.
I participated in two Ayahuasca ceremonies in Australia, with a night off in between. Night one was a dress rehearsal, while night two was a blow-the-doors-off opening night, standing ovation kind of production. We were a group of forty, made up of one support staff per attendee. We sat in a concentric circle around the Shaman and his Amazonian musical instruments. We were in an indoor space on a private rural property.
After taking Ayahuasca, my personal experiences were highly visual. After thirty minutes a binary code sequence launched whenever I closed my eyes.
Tiny circular red, green and blue dots appeared through a field of blackness that felt infinite and all around me. Focussing on one dot launched me into a series of visualisations with incredible geometric patterns, colourful designs and silhouettes. It was unfolding effortlessly, yet I could also co-create the imagery.
I called on friends and places, which became interweaved in the animations. I had the ability to be wholly immersed in my visions, but simultaneously able to dissect their meaning. View All Albums. Ayahuasca Retreat Calendar. Spirit Vine center is based in Brazil. Our address is Rodovia Ilheus-Itacare Km. Click this link to find more information about where we are located.
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Despite her experiences with him, she didn't want to give up the benefits she received from the brew and continued taking it under the guidance of other healers.
She says again she "just froze" and "let him do whatever he wanted to me". Afterwards, Anna says she was in shock. She doesn't remember much about that period of her life. I think I really blamed myself for a long time - why I couldn't say no, why I couldn't move, why I let him do those things. Those were the things that were going through my mind. We've spoken to another guest who was at the same retreat as Anna, who says the healer was later sacked from the centre, because of allegations made by other clients.
We're not naming him because, despite our best efforts, we haven't been able to reach him to give him the chance to respond to the allegations. Emily Sinclair, a British doctoral student researching ayahuasca, is part of a group trying to raise awareness about the problem of sexual abuse in the ayahuasca world.
Working with the Chacruna Institute, an organisation set up to share research on plant medicines and psychedelics, Sinclair helped put together the Ayahuasca Community Guide for the Awareness of Sexual Abuse. The guidelines highlight typical scenarios in which abuse happens.
They also encourage people to drink with trusted companions and to research retreats by checking out review websites before they visit. Sinclair has been distributing the little green booklet to cafes, tourism offices and ayahuasca centres in the Iquitos area of Peru, known as the hub of ayahuasca tourism.
Sinclair points out that it's not just indigenous healers abusing Westerners. So we put them on a pedestal. And it's very easy for that image to be taken advantage of. Some of the red flags Sinclair warns people to watch out for echo Rebekah's experience. This kind of thing. And also that having sex with them will increase their power and energy.
These are all things that have been reported to us as being said to women in this context. Those affected by sexual abuse understandably find it difficult to talk about openly. On top of that, there's a strong sense within the ayahuasca world that any kind of negative publicity could result in government intervention, which creates an additional pressure to stay silent.
But Rebekah and Anna are speaking out because they hope it will prevent other women being abused. Rebekah says that after she was abused there's been "a lot of sadness and a lot of therapy".
It's been hard work for her to trust a healer again, but now she's back in Peru, taking ayahuasca and researching her master's thesis on indigenous medicine. Rebekah was the only single woman at her ayahuasca retreat. Warning: this article contains details of alleged sexual assaults.
Image source, Alamy. Ayahuasca and chakruna leaves being cooked ahead of a ceremony in Peru. Rebekah was 20 at the time; the healer in his 50s. Find out more. Image source, Getty Images. Risks and benefits?
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