AYAHUASCA
If you boil the two plants Banisteriopsis caapi and Psychotria viridis long enough, you’ll end up with the powerful brew ayahuasca (pronounced: iowaska). Used for hundreds of years in the Amazon rainforest, this mystical potion is the source of many stories of profound healing and spiritual insight. As more and more people from across the globe are participating in ayahuasca retreats in South America and beyond, science is starting to unravel the brew’s potential therapeutic benefits.
What Is Ayahuasca?
Ayahuasca, also known as yagé, yajé, caapi, cipó, bejuco de oro, hoasca, natem, shori, pilde, and by many other names, is a powerful beverage originating from the Amazon rainforest. It is traditionally brewed by indigenous communities living in the rainforests of Peru, Ecuador, Brazil, Colombia, and Bolivia, but its use has spread throughout the world over the past few decades.
When consumed, ayahuasca can take the drinker on an extraordinary journey adorned with spectacular visions, intense emotions, and profound spiritual insight. Purging of bodily toxins and releasing of past trauma can be a common part of the experience. Drinkers also describe inner experiences of recognizing their life purpose and gaining insights that help them make difficult decisions.
The Potential Benefits of Ayahuasca
The potential benefits of drinking ayahuasca seem to far outweigh the risks, at least in the minds of tens of thousands of seekers flocking to the Amazon to embark on an inner journey of a lifetime. Aside from the plentiful anecdotal reports about the spiritual development it offers, ayahuasca is also gaining traction in the scientific community as a potential therapeutic substance. As preliminary studies into its effect on treating mental conditions such as addiction, anxiety, and depression keep rolling in, the brew’s reputation for psychological healing is becoming more recognized and empirically established.
Depression and Anxiety
Affecting about 350 million people worldwide, depression is one of the most common global mental disorders – and ayahuasca seems to be proving very effective against it. In a recent study conducted in Brazil, the researchers observed immediate “antidepressant effects the first hours after administering ayahuasca” to treatment resistant patients, and these effects of a single session lasted for several weeks. The results match the analysis of a previous academic paper, which argues that harmine, the main compound of the vine ayahuasca, could have this type of depressant effect on the central nervous system of animals and humans.
As a common associate to depression, anxiety plagues some 260 million people around the world. Yet again, ayahuasca appears to show great scientific potential in treating this condition. A study conducted on members of the Santo Daime church (a syncretic religion that uses ayahuasca legally for ritual purposes) found sustained lower scores on measures of panic-like anxiety and hopelessness an hour after ingesting the tea.
Remember: Do your own research!
Source: https://kahpi.net/ayahuasca/
We encourage you to visit KHAPI – The Ahayausca Hub for more information. Everything you need to know about Ahayausca you will find it here. They are excellent!!!
The Nature of Ayahuasca (2019) Documentary
Aaron Rodgers’s Ayahuasca Experience
Ayahuasca Tea Plant Ingredients and Chemistry
The ayahuasca tea is most commonly brewed from two plants, although over 80 different medicinal plants have been identified as admixtures in various traditional recipes. The two standard ingredients present in most preparations are:
- Banisteriopsis caapi, also known by the names yagé or aya waska. The bark of this vine contains alkaloids which act as monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOI). Its Quechuan name ‘aya waska’ can be roughly translated to “vine of the soul”—waska means “vine”, “liana”, or “rope”, and aya means “soul”, “spirit”, “the dead”, or “ancestors”
and
- Psychotria viridis (also known as chacruna – meaning “mix”) or Diplopterys cabrerana (known as chaliponga or chagropanga). The leaves of these plants contain the powerful psychedelic molecule dymethiltryptamine (DMT). Which of them is used will depend on local availability ( viridis is used more in Peru, while D. cabrerana is more typical for Ecuador and Colombia) and traditional recipes.
Along with ayahuasca, DMT on its own has also experienced a recent surge in popularity due to the outstanding hallucinations it can induce in the user when smoked or injected intravenously. Research conducted by Dr Rick Strassman and the book he wrote on this subject entitled DMT: The Spirit Molecule have brought this compound into the public eye of the Western world.
Timeline
DMT has been found to exist naturally in the bodies of many mammals, including in humans. Its otherworldly effects and its natural occurrence in human bodies have led Rick Strassman and many other researchers to believe it may be responsible for inducing mystical experiences during events and states such as death, near-death, birth, psychosis, and dreams. However, insufficient scientific proof has been found to back these theories.
Although DMT is likely produced in our bodies, when it’s consumed orally (as an extract or by brewing a plant that contains it), it is swiftly metabolized by the monoamine oxidase (MAO) enzymes in our stomachs. This is why the main method of ingesting freebase N,N-DMT is smoking or vaporizing. The chemical properties of B. caapi, the ayahuasca vine, however, disable the MAO enzymes and allow the DMT to pass the blood-brain barrier and achieve its psychoactive effects.
Once this mechanism of action was understood by science, an ideology emerged explaining the role of the B. caapi vine as not much more than an enabler of the DMT plant to reach its full potential. This stance was widely popularized by the great Terence McKenna, a famous ethnobotanist, psychonaut extraordinaire, and all-around proponent of the use of entheogenic and mind-altering substances. However, as we can learn both from science and the indigenous perspective, the vine appears to hold much more power.
B. caapi – The Importance of the Ayahuasca Vine
There’s a reason why the B. caapi vine itself bears the name aya waska, just like the brew. Its importance for native Amazonians far transcends its ability to potentiate the DMT-containing plant ingredient. Indigenous people consider the DMT plants to be the admixture, and B. caapi as the main healing and insight-bearing agent. When present in the brew, according to indigenous belief, the DMT plant serves merely as a torch which illuminates the proverbial cave that is created by the ayahuasca vine.
Traditional ayahuasca brews are actually often made only using the vine. These vine-only brews are sometimes referred to as purgahuasca. They are not commonly served to vision-hungry Western guests, and so are not very well-known. However, the effects of the vine-only brew can be more healing and more desirable, as the lack of spectacular visionary material can allow one to immerse themselves more fully into the profundity of the spiritual aspect of the experience. The shamans themselves only add the DMT admixtures when powerful visions are required, according to their intention for drinking. Otherwise, only the vine is brewed.
As far as chemistry goes, B. caapi contains numerous powerful alkaloids, the most important of which are harmaline, harmine, and tetrahydroharmine (THH). These alkaloids act as MAO inhibitors (DMT enablers), but they have many other important chemical properties as well. When consumed individually, they can induce a range of experiences including pleasant emotional states, bodily tingling, dreaminess, disorientation, and even psychedelic visions (as demonstrated in harmaline studies conducted by Claudio Naranjo). Extracts of these alkaloids are commonly used in creating pharmahuasca—mixtures of compounds aimed at replicating ayahuasca on the chemical level.
Aside from the three main harmal alkaloids, the vine contains many other compounds which contribute to the experience and make the ayahuasca journey full-bodied and distinct from a pharmahuasca or freebase DMT trip.
The central role that B. caapi has in the Amazonian shamanic practice can also be gleaned in the many varieties of the vine which are used by different indigenous groups. Depending on the local availability, botanically indistinguishable strains are employed by shamans to achieve distinct desired effects.
Some of the common strains they differentiate include:
- Yellow/sky ayahuasca (ayahuasca amarilla/cielo) – widely cultivated and utilized, this strain is known for its gentle, but powerful healing properties and visionary/insightful aspect; often served to guests without prior ayahuasca experience;
- White ayahuasca (ayahuasca blanca) – used to facilitate magic or sorcery (brujeria), in casting spiritual darts (tsentsak) or defending against them;
- Red ayahuasca (ayahuasca colorada) – used almost exclusively by shamans alone to enhance powers of diagnosis and healing;
- Black ayahuasca (ayahuasca negra) – strong and not very visual – it is said that most of the visions are drowned out by a thick black fog, and that it is an intensely healing and purgative strain;
- Thunder ayahuasca (ayahuasca trueno) – this strain is only given to experienced drinkers, as brews made from it can cause intense bodily shaking and violent purging;
- Indian ayahuasca (ayahuasca india) – an ancient and powerful strain, only harvested from white sand rainforest grounds and not cultivated;
The names of the vine varieties are given based on their purpose, effects, the color of the plant (the flowers or the vine when the bark is scraped off), or the tint they give to the visions.
The list given is far from exhaustive—it is said that the Ingano indigenous peoples can recognize seven different strains, the Siona about 18, and the Harakmbut some 22. Certain strains are considered to invoke masculine spirit entities, others are thought to call upon feminine ones. Some can invite rainforest spirits such as the boa, the bird, the leopard or tiger; some serve to brighten up the visions or tint them to a certain shade, others aid in divination, healing, or purging… There are too many to count, and likely many more unknown to Western minds.
Aside from B. caapi, a few other species of Banisteriopsis are known to be used as substitutes for the MAOI portion of the brew. These include Banisteriopsis muricata, with known use by the Waoranis in Ecuador, and maybe highland communities throughout the Andes, where it grows in abundance, and Banisteriopsis martiniana, which is relatively common in Colombia.
In Brazil, Banisteriopsis plants are not used; instead, the root bark of Mimosa hostilis, also known as Mimosa tenuiflora or jurema, is used in brewing vinho da jurema or Daime, which produces effects similar to ayahuasca.
Ayahuasca Effects
What happens under the effect of ayahuasca is difficult to put into words, as the experience is ineffable and highly individual. Still, speaking very broadly, we can summarize some common threads in a typical ayahuasca experience.
Once ingested, ayahuasca effects start coming on slowly, and their intensity increases in waves.
The first thing you notice after a few minutes of ayahuasca being in your system is a changing state of mind that you can’t quite put your finger on. The feeling of anticipation likely contributes to this all-encompassing alertness which slowly starts emerging and bringing on the understanding that something big is coming and that there is no going back.
Sensory changes soon start to make their way into your consciousness. The perception of the environment may start changing, the feeling of your body shape could start acting up, your extremities can start tingling, and you may experience alternating waves of feeling hot and cold. This is when time starts changing its register as faint visions begin appearing behind closed eyes.
Purging often arises shortly after everyone’s had their fill. While many people don’t purge, or struggle to purge, visceral retching can be very common. The sound can start filling the ceremony space, influencing visions and other sensory effects as the intense wavelengths of ayahuasca permeate your consciousness.
It is common to feel profoundly nauseous in a way that’s unfamiliar. One way to think of this process is that ayahuasca itself is not necessarily something that the body rejects, but is something that enters and flows throughout your being seeking clots of negativity and toxicity, taking hold of them, and then expelling the blocks.
Most people eventually vomit; it could take several ceremonies of beautiful visions or no visions first. Some even need to make a more dire visit the toilet during ceremony. But in some, rare cases, ayahuasca seems to induce little effect beyond the person feeling wobbly and slightly nauseated.
Ayahuasca purging is nothing to be concerned or anxious about. It is not a side effect, as is commonly thought. For indigenous people, some of who refer to the brew as ‘La Purga’, expunging trash from the system is one of the principal points of ayahuasca. According to them, only after purging can the Master Plant actually unblock the barriers to profound levels of your being and do its work properly. Finally, as daunting as it may seem, purging on ayahuasca ultimately feels good, as it alleviates the bothersome and alien feeling of nausea the brew induces.
After the purging, the effects can subside for a bit as the next wave builds up intensity waiting for its turn. With each ebb, you may think or feel like the experience is over; but the flow makes you see that it’s actually escalating to deeper levels. The visions start becoming more vivid and less responsive to outside influences. However, as the shaman sings the sacred icaros, new realities are created for you to explore. Ayahuasca visions can encompass everything from colorful fractals and symbolic representations of concepts to spiritual entities and entirely otherworldly landscapes.
As for the spiritual effects, ayahuasca takes its drinkers on a wild and complex rollercoaster ride through emotions, cognition, the conscious and the subconscious, as well as through some other form of universal omniscience. There’s no saying what it has in store for you, but, in one way or another, the experience tends to deliver insights and visions that may not always be pleasant but they do contain psychological insights that are important to the person. Sometimes these insights need decoding and can take months to understand or come to terms with. This is because the insights of ayahuasca often come as visionary riddles or metaphors woven out of the fibers of your personal history.
Some people just have mild visions of transforming patterns, lights, and colors. Some get to experience and reevaluate past memories or even past lives, confronting traumas, unresolved or repressed issues, or defunct patterns of thought and action. Some have pleasant, loving journeys full of tranquility and encouragement; others live through a dark and harrowing journey reminding them that suffering is integral to humanity and mustn’t be avoided. Some people get to feel the profound comfort of belonging to an all-pervading universality; others experience their ego dissolving into nothingness, to the point of complete spiritual detachment from the body and all concepts that define us as persons. Some see wild and vivid visions of incredible transdimensional landscapes, structures, and entities, and even get to interact and absorb wisdom from them, and some… Well, some don’t experience much at all.
As with any psychedelic, and this especially goes for ayahuasca, the most important advice that can be given is: don’t have expectations, embrace what comes without fear or judgment, be humble and true, and surrender completely to the experience. Even if nothing much happens, it happens for a reason.
The whole journey usually comes on in about thirty minutes to an hour, peaks within the second hour after drinking, and ends after four to six hours, though there are significant individual variations in this. Some people feel almost nothing for hours, and then peak during the fourth and fifth hour. There could be a biological explanation relating to this variation, given the different gut profiles of individuals.
The comedown with ayahuasca is normally quick, but gentle, leaving the drinker in a peaceful afterglow which can last for over a day. In some cases, people can feel confused in the period after an ayahuasca experience, in which they should take extra care integrating the experience to get the most benefits and insights.
Ayahuasca ceremonies usually take place at night, as per indigenous belief that the rainforest spirits are quieter then. It’s also easier to immerse oneself into the journey and see the visions in the dark. By the time the ayahuasca effects are over, the body can feel quite exhausted and it’s normally easy to fall asleep. The next day is best spent engaging in calm, mindful activities that leave space for integration of the experience.
Ayahuasca is Not a Typical Medicine
The science of ayahuasca is still young. Preliminary studies suggest that the brew can yield astounding benefits for treating common mental health problems, when it’s consumed in proper settings and with a proper approach. There are many anecdotal reports online of ayahuasca sessions helping people alleviate depression, kick addiction, and overcome trauma.
Ayahuasca is esteemed by many people across the globe as a medicinal panacea and wise spiritual teacher. The brew can be life-changing for some people and it can ennoble the spirit in ways that promote health and a meaningful life. But, first off, it’s important to be aware of the fact that it is not a cure for psychological and physical conditions. Even though scientific evidence suggests that ayahuasca can potentially help people overcome various psychological illnesses, ayahuasca certainly doesn’t fix serious problems on its own.
The brew should not be treated like ordinary mental health medicines of Western societies. Ayahuasca can point you in the right direction by showing you what’s wrong or it can give you an experience of heightened well-being, but after the experience it’s up to you to take the insight in and work with it to ensure lasting benefits.
Before discussing the many potential benefits of the brew, let’s first look more deeply into the risks.
Ayahuasca Risks and Safety
As for serious physical health problems, they probably won’t go away with the help of ayahuasca. Miracles can happen, yet such cases are rare. Ayahuasca can help the body release toxins through the act of purging, paving the way to psychological healing. However, chronic conditions typically can’t be purged, and some, such as cardiovascular difficulties, can clash with ayahuasca in a bad way. It’s well known that the brew raises blood pressure and heart rate. Combining this with an already strained heart can be dangerous, which is not something anyone would want to experience, especially under its profound effects.
People with serious mental health issues such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder should also steer clear of the brew. A recently published review of case studies of psychotic episodes that happened to people who took ayahuasca or DMT warns of the dangers that ayahuasca can pose to those personally afflicted by, or with a family history of psychosis. Latent psychosis, which is not yet detected, can be triggered under the effect of the brew.
In general, shamans or ceremony guides are often weary of giving ayahuasca to anybody who’s on any type of medication. With drug interactions still not well documented by science, it’s wiser not to drink if there is even a possibility of a chemical conflict. This especially refers to blood pressure medicines, SSRIs (common depression medication) and even aspirin, as it’s a blood thinner. It goes without saying that recreational drugs should also not be consumed before and after taking ayahuasca, especially stimulants.
If going deep into the Amazon rainforest to drink ayahuasca, be sure to check these essential travel safety tips. Whether going to the remote jungles of Peru or to the hills of California, it is very important that you do your research first to make sure you are attending a good and trustworthy retreat center or shaman. Be wise and stay safe. .
Source: https://kahpi.net/ayahuasca/
Remember: Do your own research!
We encourage you to visit KHAPI – The Ahayausca Hub for more information. Everything you need to know about Ahayausca you will find it here. They are excellent!!!