Ayahuasca

My experience with Ayahuasca

Some time ago, I was writing about the retreat in Peru, which told us that the lived experiences would prepare us for what was to come: the Amazon jungle trip. If you haven't read the first part of the story, I invite you to do it here: Time has stopped in Peru.

Ayahuasca is said to call people ready to experience it for a while before connecting with it. I felt the call almost a year before I reached the Amazon jungle.

The first time I heard about her from a colleague, I did some research, and I felt super attracted to her. Somehow I knew it was something I had to experience. I also found out about Ayahuasca in the Compassionate Inquiry certification program, which I have been part of since January, being used to treat various ailments, depression, anxiety, addictions, and much more. So I started receiving more signals pointing in that direction. Finally, Anca organized the retreat, which gave me the comfort and confidence to go on such a journey. Travel.

Many people share their experiences with Ayahuasca. Although it is recommended to inform yourself about it, it is important to know that we are different and thus we cannot live the same experiences, nor can they be compared. Otherwise, you may start to set expectations about your process and even be disappointed if you do not experience the same things as other people.

In this article, I will share some of my experiences and moments of awareness that I have seen, but others, which I cannot describe in words, I will keep for myself.

First things first.

What is Ayahuasca?

In Spanish, Ayahuasca, known as soga del alma (soul plant), is a potent and transforming medicinal plant native to the Amazon rainforest. It has developed a rich heritage of traditions, myths, therapies, rituals, and art practices.

Known almost unanimously in South America as a purge for its ability to cleanse the body of disease and negative energies and emotions gathered over a lifetime, many have experienced deeply emotional and spiritual experiences and indeed miraculous physical healings afterwards. working with Ayahuasca.

The two components of the Ayahuasca drink are the Ayahuasca plant (banisteriopsis caapi) and the chacruna leaves (Psychotria Viridis). The psychoactive ingredient in the drink is dimethyltryptamine (DMT), which is found in cachruna. Normally, DMT is inactivated when it encounters enzymes in the stomach, but Ayahuasca acts as an inhibitor that prevents DMT breakdown in the digestive tract. The combination of the two ingredients of the drink allows DMT to produce hallucinogenic effects when ingested. It is seen as a miracle how combined the two plants were to produce this powerful drug.

The reason people take Ayahuasca varies from person to person: either to cure specific ailments, addictions, traumas or to find meaning in their life, to connect with the higher self or to discover the cause of their suffering.

Ever since I discovered my mission to work with people, I have dedicated all my attention and resources to my self-healing process. So, for me, this journey was part of my self-healing process. I don't know if I had anything in mind to heal, but I had complete confidence in the plant. I was confident that I would get what I needed at this stage of my life. I was confident that it would help me connect more with myself on a spiritual and spiritual level.

Huistin Shrine

Early in the morning, we took the oats from Lima to Pucallpa, where we met our jeep drivers. After a 2.5-hour road full of hops, the jeeps left us in a port of the small town of Honoria, from where we took the boat on the river Pachitea. After another 30 minutes by boat and about an hour in the jungle, we finally arrived at Santuario Huistin.

Santuario Huistin is a traditional herbal center owned by Maestro vegetalista (shaman who works with plant spirits) Santiago Enrrique Paredes Melendez and his family. Santuario is located in a peaceful enclave of the virgin rainforest, along a boiling river.

It is enough to walk there, and you become very calm. Although we are accustomed to a certain level of comfort, there you adapt very easily, and you even realize that you do not need things to be happy. For example, I wasn't bothered by the beetles that would normally have disgusted me if they appeared in my house in Romania.

This place has magic that I have never felt before.

Ayahuasca ceremonies

At noon we met our shaman (Maestro Enrique), who told us a bit about the sessions and shared many things about him, being very open to teaching us what he knows.

Before going to the ceremonies, we took a plant bath (baño de florecimiento).

Preparing the herbal bath involved adding the plants picked from the jungle in a large water barrel. Some of the plants used for bathing are Piri Piri root, mocura, Ajo Sacha (wild garlic), Rua (marigold) and Romero (rosemary). The strongest baths are those made near a river to carry the negative energy away by the watercourse.

The herbal baths took place by the boiling river.

After taking individual baths (pouring clean water over the body and then herbal water over the head and body properly), we get dressed without wiping. This allowed us to be more receptive to plant energies and Ayahuasca. In India, where we enter an energy pool before entering the temple, a similar practice occurs at the Isha Yoga Center.

The ceremonies start at 7 pm in a traditional cottage (maloca) that looks like a round and open room made of straw and lasts between 4 and 5 hours. Inside the mall, the mattresses were placed next to each other, and others was a blanket, a pillow, and a bowl that I used in case I vomited.

Once everyone is seated, Maestro Enrique opens the ceremony with the setting of the intention. Then, invite each person to take the drink of Ayahuasca, which he pours into a small wooden cup. After everyone takes Ayahuasca, there is a moment of complete silence, waiting for the activation of the healing drink.

As I waited my turn, I began to feel emotions, my heart pounding. I only drank half a glass, feeling it was enough for me. Then I returned to my seat and waited with open eyes to experience the effects of the plant.

After a while (I think 30-40 minutes have passed), Maestro started singing loudly. Icarus are songs of plant spirits, which healers (curanderos) generally sing in a dialect that is a mixture of their native language (i.e. Quechua, Shipibo-Conibo, Asháninka, etc.). It is believed that every being has its icaro and that these icaros can be learned. The song is accompanied by chakapa, a bouquet of leaves or maraka, which keeps the rhythm of the ceremony.

When I was little, I remember watching cartoons with a snake tamer (the pusher sang a basket from which came out a snake moving to the beat of the music). That's how I felt my body move in the rhythm of the songs (icaros).

From numbness to solid vibrations, I also experienced various sensations as the plant cleansed my body. As I trembled and moved my body and hands, I felt a strong sense of relief. I was shaking on the outside, but I was very calm on the inside. My first ceremony was cleansing, releasing, and connecting with my body. It was more of a sensory experience that came with some moments of awareness: how much respect do I show to my body? How much do I love him?

At one point, the shaman's brother would take us one by one, one by one, and lead us in front of the master through the darkness, who would sing to us and blow tobacco smoke on our heads and hands. During the ceremony, I felt the support, constantly checking what we do and how we are. I had a strong sense of confidence without a second's panic. And a strong sense of love for all that is.

The next day there was no ceremony, so we had time to relax, enjoy the place where we were, nature and connect.

Over the next two days, I attended two more ceremonies, each different from the other.

It's as if everyone has their universe over which they choose to sprinkle clouds and other things experienced as obstacles and sometimes as desperate situations that seem to have no way out. And I saw myself in all those situations of pain despair, and I saw all the obstacles I created for myself. But at the same time, I understood why I put them there and how they guided me.

As I searched for guidance and instructions on handling certain things in my life, the plant showed me that the only thing that mattered was love. If you do everything with love, it is not only for your good but also for the good of those around you.

If we allow ourselves to experience love, we must not run away from it, seek relief in various substances or behaviours. And, of course, if we touch the essence of love, we see that we have no reason to run away. We never had to run away if we knew that.

The sensory experiences were still there, but this was also the session where visions appeared.

The last ceremony was more spiritual, so it is more difficult for me to describe it. But, if I were to summarise, it would be that God (in what form we see him) cannot be experienced on the outside because he is inside us.

Each session was different, leading me more to myself, showing me pain but also love and ecstasy. The plant, as I have experienced, is a wise teacher.

In the last two ceremonies, we were joined by Maestro Enrique's wife, Ayme, who sang wonderful songs to us. So, while the plant cleans you inside, icaros cleans you outside.

Although I thought I would do Ayahuasca ceremonies every day when I was there, now I realize how vital integration is and take the time to let everything you receive sit down. Because without integration, you can't benefit from ceremonies.

"The plant teaches us what we need to heal, but not always in an immediately accessible language. Sometimes the visions he brings to people can be magnificent, inspiring, and of the purest joy and gratitude; but they can also be threatening, imperceptible to the mind, and capable of terror. The emotions they evoke can be gentle, soothing, and full of peace and happiness; but they can also be painful and frightening, and capable of inducing despair and a strong sense of loss. The feelings felt can be freedom or imprisonment. People can see themselves as divine or identify with the evilest elements of their personality. Without training, processing, and integration, the experience with Ayahuasca can be confusing and incomplete for many."

And so, my journey ends, leaving me more aware, more grateful, more full of love. I still integrate the transformational process I went through with compassion for myself and others and with deep gratitude, dreaming that I will one day return to the place I fell in love with.