Ayahuasca ceremony: what it is, how it is done, and risks to consider

Ayahuasca is a concoction that has been gaining fame in recent decades for how mysterious it is. This substance is credited with being able to remember and face our most traumatic past, overcoming it in a plane of consciousness that is difficult to reach by conventional means.

Ayahuasca ceremonies have been gaining popularity despite the fact that their celebration is a legally thorny issue. In them, a shaman administers this drug, which is attributed therapeutic properties, to his visitors, carrying out a ritual typical of the ancestral cultures of America.

Today we are going to investigate a little about how ayahuasca ceremonies take place, the phenomena that occur during their course and also some risks involved in carrying them out.

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What are ayahuasca ceremonies?

The ayahuasca ceremony is the name by which an ancestral practice of the original peoples of the Amazon is known. Is about a ritual practiced by healers and shamans of pre-Hispanic native cultures and is considered part of the traditional medicine of these peoples

. Those who practice it assure that it serves to heal the body, mind and soul, even helping people with mental disorders and contributing to the development of awareness of their practitioners.

Originally, the consumption of ayahuasca among Amerindian peoples was part of various rituals practiced to ask the gods to satisfy the needs and desires of their believers. Ayahuasca was present in rituals in honor of the gods, rituals of passage towards adulthood, to go to war or to go hunting.. Also, and closely related to what is used today, this substance was consumed in rituals to heal diseases that, According to the beliefs of the natives of the Amazon and other regions of America, they were the product of curses, black magic, envy and revenge.

In current ayahuasca ceremonies, according to its defenders, it is possible to experience a non-ordinary state of consciousness that allows us to connect with our inner wisdom and experience a process of self-healing and self-knowledge. With it, intense catharsis is experienced, physical and mental purges that allow emotional, psychological and spiritual blockages to be released.

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What is ayahuasca?

Ayahuasca is a concoction that It is made through the decoction of a vine that grows in the jungle, the ayahuasca plant (Banisteriopsis caapi), together with leaves of another plant, the chacruna (Diplopterys cabrerana). The result is a potion with powerful psychoactive effects that, for those who consume it and defend its use, has healing powers. When drunk, it causes alterations in perception and cognition or, in the opinion of those who take it, it opens doors that the mind had closed as a self-defense mechanism.

The shamans in charge of the ayahuasca ceremonies start from the idea that, throughout our lives, we accumulate various traumas and conflicts. Far from solving them in a rational and effective way, what our conscious part does is hide them as if they had never existed. Thus, problems do not cause conscious pain, but continue to affect us in one way or another as they are still unresolved. They are still there, unknowingly conditioning many aspects of our lives, relationships with others and with ourselves.

Consuming ayahuasca would bring those conflicts to the surface, usually through clear visions. It would make the hidden memories stop silently blocking us and, by being aware of them, we could actively and effectively resolve them.

For example: imagine that when you were little on a trip to the mountains you fell and hurt yourself. This was a traumatic experience for a young child, which was hidden somewhere in your unconscious. Ayahuasca consumers would defend that, in this specific case, taking it could clearly show you that memory and, now that your mind is adult and mature, it is capable of putting it in its place. This childhood trauma would be judged by our adult thinking, seeing that it wasn't that big of a deal and that that would be the explanation why today you don't like nature or heights at all.

However, what usually happens many times is that the memory that emerges is not so simple. After taking ayahuasca intense episodes of all kinds of memories, experiences, sensations and emotions appear that help us to see what the cause of our vital problems, what is not working in our partner or if we were victims of some type of abuse in our tender childhood.

It is not a drug to have fun or pleasant taste. In ayahuasca ceremonies there are unpleasant sensations, because the trip that is made with them on many occasions is not pleasant at all. However, those who use it affirm that it is a very powerful tool to reconnect with oneself, to get rid of those emotions, repressed thoughts and memories that prevent us from being happy and from knowing a plane of existence that cannot be accessed from the plane earthly.

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How is the ceremony done?

Each shaman has his own method. Nevertheless, in most ayahuasca ceremonies we can see a series of common steps that facilitate, according to its practitioners, introspection and the release of traumas and memories entrenched in the depths of your mind.

As many people as you want can participate in these ceremonies, but the ideal is to do it in small groups. There are shamans who do sessions with seven people and others with up to 25. It all depends on your experience and ability to manage any problems that arise while your visitors experience the effects of ayahuasca.

The ritual is usually held in closed spaces, ideal in case there is any inconvenience. These spaces must be enabled to be pleasant, clean and spacious. In the room there are musical instruments, pieces of ayahuasca liana and any tool that the shaman considers necessary to carry out the ceremony. Participants should wear comfortable clothing, usually offered by the shaman or the retreat managers in charge of the ayahuasca ceremonies.

Each participant will be placed on a mattress, mat or carpet, sitting in a lotus position and waiting for the ritual to begin. It is essential to give each attendee a roll of toilet paper and a plastic bucket or basin, because there are many things that the human body can expel after having ingested the ayahuasca.

1. Start of the ceremony

The shaman stands in the middle of the room and prepares for the beginning of the ritual, but not before explaining in a very specific way what is going to happen.. The participants should know from the beginning that they are preparing for a very emotionally intense situation, in which they will release many things. This is both literally and figuratively, because with the concoction not only emotions are released.

The ayahuasca plant has very intense effects on the human body. The shamans attribute purifying powers to it and, it is not surprising because, by taking it, the body is purged: excessive sweating, tearing, urination and excessive excretion and vomiting, a lot of vomiting. It is mainly for this reason that a cube is placed next to each attendee, so they can release as much as they need without making too much of a mess.

The effects of ayahuasca make people see clearly what they are expelling, their traumas or blockages, which they are getting rid of and leaving with their vomiting and tears. One may see in his vomit the metaphorical brick that represents his repression, another that his tears represent all the suffering that has been kept silent during years of mistreatment. This step is unpleasant, but the shamans assure that the relief comes immediately.

Before starting the ceremony, shamans recommend that no one panic if their journey gets out of control. That is something unusual, although it is still a possibility. The good shamans who are experts in ayahuasca ceremonies have, or so they say, tools to refocus those who feel too bad. However, they also warn that to feel better than ever it is first necessary to spend a very uncomfortable time, each facing their own fears. You have to let the medicine work, something that is never easy or comfortable.

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2. Harmal and the God Molecule

Curiously, the first thing that is drunk in the ayahuasca ceremony is not that concoction, but rather some other drink based on the harmal or alharma plant (Peganum harmala). you drink because acts as an inhibitor of an enzyme in the human body that blocks dimethyltryptamine (DMT), the component of ayahuasca that causes hallucinations and which many call "the molecule of God".

The shaman gives each assistant a little bit of this harmal drink. In principle, this concoction does not have any physical effect, apart from getting the DMT in ayahuasca to take effect. It doesn't taste good. There are those who say that it serves to relax a little before reaching the intense part of the ceremony. This concoction takes about ten minutes to take effect, being that period of time necessary to start with the ceremony itself.

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3. First take of ayahuasca

What the shamans do from this point on is turn off the lights and light candles. With the ayahuasca bottle in hand, the shaman lights a cigar made from a tobacco plant and blows the smoke into the mouth of the bottle. He stands up and pronounces prayers facing the four cardinal points. The prayers are very varied, depending on the culture of the shaman and the religious current that he follows. Their theme can be about the spirits of mother nature, fire and water, the protection of the golden hummingbird or the power of the jaguar.

It is normal that when the effects of the drug begin, more or less after thirty minutes, each participant rests on his mat and dedicates himself to introspection. While the attendees huddle in their blankets and try to feel safe, at this point the shaman who leads the ceremony begins to sing the ícaros, sacred compositions with a very repetitive rhythm that constantly allude to ayahuasca and other sacred and medicinal plants of the Amazon. Animals, spirits and the healing power of the ritual are also mentioned. They help to relax.

But relaxation is interrupted by the effects of powerful ayahuasca. It is at this time that the first vomiting, cold sweats and an extreme need to go to the bathroom begin. The assistants greatly need to empty their entrails, so it is time to use the bucket. This is normal within the context of the ayahuasca ceremony and the shaman on duty will not stop singing while the attendees are purging themselves both in body and spirit.

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4. Second shot of ayahuasca

After an hour, it is time to take the ayahuasca for the second time. After this second take the shaman can play instruments to generate a greater atmosphere of solemnity and self-reflection in the participants. There can be all kinds of emotions: fear, anxiety, sadness, euphoria... The images that pass through the minds of ayahuasca consumers are of all kinds of form and content.

The experiences throughout the ayahuasca session can be very varied. Feeling that you are a character in a video game, remembering an argument with your late husband, remembering how you fell off your bike when you were 5 years old, re-experience the abuse of a school teacher... all with a greater or lesser degree of realism, striking colors, experiences almost of the other world.

After all these emotional experiences, comes the calm and the end of the ceremony. The effects after this episode are usually mild, no greater than those of a regular alcohol hangover. In fact, the degree of lucidity and physical and emotional well-being of the attendees becomes so high that they usually talk about what they have experienced during the ceremony. The ritual is concluded when the participants are all calm with themselves.

Ayahuasca is not for everyone

Although the experiences of many ayahuasca consumers seem to be positive, helping them to reconcile with a part of themselves and helping them overcome problems from the past that they did not even remember, we must not forget that it is a drug. As natural as it may be, its consumption is not more recommended than going to psychotherapy and opting for true psychological treatments.

but for now its consumption cannot be recommended given its real risks, which outweigh the apparent therapeutic powers. Ayahuasca is not suitable for everyone. It is known that it can cause severe and irreversible psychotic symptoms, mostly in people with a history of psychopathology such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.

Taking ayahuasca is incompatible with taking psychoactive drugs, such as antidepressants and anxiolytics, and not recommended in combination with any pharmacy medication.

This recommendation does not mean that ayahuasca does not have true therapeutic effects, but there is still not enough scientific information available to take advantage of it therapeutically sure. His research is promising because, as with the cannabis plant, to extract its therapeutic active ingredients It would serve to manufacture useful drugs to combat mental disorders and psychological problems such as depression, anxiety or addictions.