Ayahuasca

Anyone ever heard of this or done it? It's a vine that is found in the Amazon jungle and when mixed with a certain enzyme inhibitor and ingested, it gives one of the most powerful psychedelic experiences you can have. The effects are generally extremely positive and transformative and has even cured people with extreme PTSD, depression and suicidal thoughts.

Me and an Aussie girl are going to South America in three weeks for a four month backpacking trip and we're booked in at an ayahuasca retreat for four sessions in ten days in the Amazon jungle in Peru. I'm a little nervous because the trips can be very unpleasant with you having to confront your inner demons head on and you usually puke your guts out during this time, but in the end they say it's like decades of therapy in one night. I only have very mild emotional issues so I don't think my trip will be too intense and I am quite experienced with psychedelics, as is she. She's had a bit of a rough life so I'm scared she'll have a tough go as she'll probably have a lot to confront.

I know there was one dude on here that said he was planning on doing it, this was about a year ago, can't remember his username though.

 

Was TimFloyd.

 

Never done ayahuasca but i'm very tempted to try extract DMT, active ingredient in ayahuasca, from acacia to smoke.

 

I thought this was about a new biscuit.

 

Get yersel involved

 

Please post your experiences after you've done it. Sounds interesting.

 

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gFB4wVPpAU[/ame]

It isnt for me. I dont fancy it in the slightest. Not only do i not want to confront hidden memories or demons in my mind, but i find the idea of deliberately making myself ill ludicrous.

My own dreams are very regular and vivid and like everyone else, incredibly varied and random.....and i get a lot of pleasure from them without feeling that ill.

That said, whatever floats yer boat!

 

I read stuff about this subject in Terrence McKenna's voice,not out loud obviously,that would be pretty * up.

 

Do you drink alcohol?

 

I think I'd react very badly to this. Certain mental states would react completely differently and I don't see my experience being a positive one.

 

Hey man, aye it was me that was (still is) planning on going, been interested and researched it for a few years now , have a weird feeling that it's something I need to do.

Like you I have the same fears going in to it as I haven't lived the bests of lives and at times was far from the best human being I could have been in some situations.

Which retreat have you picked? I kinda have my trip all mapped out but there is a few things I need to sort out in my life before I take the plunge.

 

Yes, but its one thing puking, its another puking while having a bad trip and mental scars reopening.

Me too mate. It isnt for me at all. Some things are better left undisturbed, (if possible)and i think i would come away from such an experience more disturbed!

 

Good call.

I recently smoked DMT for the first time as well. Had bought a gram at a festival and smoked it with some friends and then finished it with the girl I'm going on this trip with. I kind of * footed a bit and didn't break through fully, can best describe my experience as a short acid trip with euphoria. Definitely want to smoke it again but go for broke and see if I can't break through.

Absolutely will do.

Yes that's right, I should have remembered that it was you. We are heading to Selva Madre which is just outside of Iquitos up in the jungle. We mostly picked this place because they had openings during the time when we're heading through. We are working at some organic farms for food and lodging on the trip so we had some pretty tight scheduling requirements for the ayahuasca retreat. It looks like it's a good retreat though and has lots of good reviews, plus it's one of the cheaper ones as it doesn't have any of the creature comforts so that was a plus.

I've been considering doing it for a long time too, but as I'm sure you've read, it just kind of falls into place when it's meant to. The circumstances around this trip that allowed both her and I to be able to take this trip at the same time are quite astonishing really. What I'm trying to say by that is that it'll happen when it needs to happen and I wouldn't worry too much about it.

I won't be using the internet much down there but I'll definitely bump this thread with a trip report when it's done and dusted.

 

That's the retreat I have had picked out for months! :smiley-laughing002: although there is another one that I follow on Facebook that looks quite good.

Sounds like an awesome trip mate, will be eager to hear of your experience!

Enjoy

 

geometric mind well

 

Right so I guess should stay true to my word and post an update for this. I'm back in Canada now and have decompressed a bit. This probably won't be in much detail because it's late and I'm a bit tired.

The ayahuasca experience was nothing like I expected. My travel partner and I arrived in Iquitos, Peru sometime in November. Iquitos is located in the Amazon jungle and is the largest city in the world that is not accessible by road. You can only fly in or travel up the river. The city itself is a typical jungle city: dirty, dilapidated and lacking any architectural beauty. The people were friendly though and most of the travelers were hardened travelers - hardly any tourist types and most of which were actually there for ayahuasca as well.

We stayed a few nights before heading off into the jungle to where we would be doing the ayahuasca and made some trips up the river, were "baptized" in the Amazon river and more or less just wasted a few days before our retreat. My passport was stolen outside the Iquitos airport so I was also trying to deal with that during these days. This may have been a critical occurrence in terms of the ayahuasca experience because it put me in a bit of a * mood and my travel partner (an Aussie girl) started fighting because of it. Not what you want before you undertake the most powerful hallucinogen on the planet.

Nevertheless, we met at 11:00 on November 11th to set off for the retreat (I found that interesting). There were another Aussie couple, an American and a French girl. We were to have the first ceremony that night. We met at a cafe in Iquitos, took a mototaxi to the river, took a boat up the river to another mototaxi that took us the retreat center in the jungle.

I'll skip most of the details because it's not really important, but after hanging out and relaxing for the remainder of that day we drank that night. The temple was a large round hut with mats for everyone to sit on. After dark, at about 2100hrs the ceremony began. The shamans sang their traditional icaros, blew tobacco smoke and blessed us all before the ceremony. I was the first to drink. That night, under a low dose, was quite uneventful. I saw some visions, mostly dark and demonic but nothing I haven't experience on acid or mushrooms. I don't know why but I tend to see very demonic things when I'm tripping. I've just resigned myself to this fact.

Two days later we were to drink again. Our dose this night was at least double our first night. Again, I drank first. About fifteen minutes in I started seeing intense visuals, again very dark and demonic in nature. I knew immediately that this was going to be the worst experience of my life. I was overcome mentally, emotionally and physically as a realm formed above my body which was now laying flat on the mat. I don't recall much in detail from this night but I do remember being surrounded by beings. There were beings with long fingers that were dissecting my skull. I could feel my head was split up into each individual piece as these long fingered beings poked and prodded at the contents of my head.

When you're on ayahuasca you're puking and usually * through out the experience. I remember another separate realm existing to the left of me beside my puke pail. Whenever I got sick I would lean over and I would enter the side realm that consisted of native Peruvians that seemed very mundane. Ladies trying to sell me goods, mototaxi drivers asking me if I needed a ride, etc. None of it made sense but it was a brief reprieve from the intense realm above me when I laid down.

At this point I was in total agony. My body was convulsing like I was being electrocuted and I was in complete anguish. There was no escape, it was like being buried alive in a grave of my own fears and pains. I remember sobbing, and repeatedly whispering "make it stop" and "help me" to one in particular.

I remember seeing visions of the girl I was traveling with and I would imagine her rubbing my back offering sympathy and when she did it would send excruciating pains through my body and I would contort like I was being electrocuted. Her face in the visions was scabby with black bags under her eyes like she had been dead from a heroin overdose for a few days or something. Her and I had a bit of a relationship during this trip and she was my support so the fact that the only person who I could lean on was causing me pain in my visions was not pleasant. She was hardly affected for this ceremony and so she was sitting up wide awake watching me suffer the entire time.

At one point it became apparent that I needed help badly and all four shamans came to my aid, singing their icaros above me, blowing tobacco smoke on me, rubbing plant medicines on me and just trying to help in any way they could. Dani told me after that she saw one shaman stumble away from working on me and himself throw up and convulse. Whatever was in me was being pulled out of me by him and was affecting him as well.

Eventually I mustered the courage to get up and go to the toilet with the help of my guide. The release was a lifesaver. I don't know what came out of me but it must have been some concentrated evil or something. There was probably an hour of more of the same that started to weaken in intensity. Eventually it just wore off and with the help of my guide I was escorted back to my hut, a broken man.

I would learn the next morning that the American who was next to me had his memory wiped clean and he didn't know who he was for the remainder of the retreat and he really only pieced it together weeks later when we talked to him on Facebook. He didn't even know what country he was from. Our guide would tell me the next day that he hasn't seen such a bad trip on ayahuasca for over a decade.

The remaining two ceremonies were uneventful in comparison. Dani wanted to do it one more after we left the retreat so we did it once more in Cusco in the mountains. I actually had a pleasant experience that time, but she had a very harrowing experience.

I can't honestly say what I gained from the experience other than my pain tolerance went up tenfold and my fears have all but subsided. Words can't really explain how terrible it was, it was exponentially worse than anything I've ever experienced before. They say ayahuasca gives you what you need, and if that's the case, apparently I needed to experience * to harden me up because that's what happened. Death, pain, sickness, none of these things fear me any longer.

It sounds like an awful story that would scare people off and I hope it doesn't. I would certainly do it again and I would not steer anyone away from doing it. My experience along the Americans were quite atypical.

Go do ayahuasca in the jungle.

The end.

 

Wow man, sounds * intense!

In the coming months I would imagine things you experienced will be come more clearer as the time passes and you can really piece together the events.

This is my apprehensions because I know myself and my demons, I've done things in the past I'm not proud of and haven't been anywhere near the best human being I could have been in certain situations.

For the moment, my plans to Peru are on hold, will be trying DMT first before I go.

What retreat did you use?

Thanks for the update.

 

Jesus * Christ. Felt like I experienced it and that's just from reading it!

Sounds very interesting. I'm intrigued and apprehensive.

 

I just don't get why you would want to do that. * *.

 

A friend of mine runs a spiritual retreat with the shamans in the amazon and I've been tempted to head out there to take part in the ceremonies. I've done a lot of acid in my day so think I could take this. The only thing puts me off is the nausea and vomiting.

There is a bit in here about it and my friend Mo

http://www.terramor.com.br/about-us-en