The other day I had an intense experience.
My friend and life coach invited me to a spiritual ceremony that was taking place here in Vancouver, which I decided to check out. A shaman from Peru by the name Diego was in town for a few days hosting this event. The ceremony was based around the use of a ancient medicine called “Ayahuasca”, also known as the “teacher plant”, which has been used for thousands of years by the indigenous people of the Amazon for holistic healing, empowerment, and spiritual insight.
An active ingredient of the Ayahuasca brew is DMT, which is naturally produced in the human brain, known for causing psychological and neurological states. DMT is believed to play a role in the visual effects of natural dreaming, and also near-death experiences and other mystical states.
And so the purpose of Ayahuasca is to induce you into a full state of consciousness – a state where you lose total control, and every fear, insecurity, and your “inner demons” arise.
The experience can be so intense, as a lot of childhood traumas and past experiences which have been suppressed for years come up and you're faced to confront them. The process of “letting go” and surrendering to what you're facing has been proven to be transformative.
The taking of Ayahuasca has been associated with the cures of depression, addictions, cancers, and is known for many other spontaneous remissions. For others, it is used to clear emotional blocks and to gain a sense of peace.
It is said that many notable celebrities have publicly discussed their use of Ayahuasca, such as Sting, Tori Amos, and Paul Simon.
For myself, I don't have anything serious going on in my life or anything needing to “cure.” My intent with Ayahuasca was to destroy any fear, anxiety or limitations that have been holding me back – and to take the level of love I have for myself and others to another level. And in my ceremony, I feel I accomplished that.
The experience I went through is impossible to describe.
It was intense. When I was at the peak of it, I felt the most pain I've ever been through in my life. It was a near-death experience. My life flashed before my eyes and it seems as though I felt what it was like to be dead.
Everyone is given a bucket at the ceremony, as a way of purging yourself of your “inner demons” is through vomiting.
As a fear or inner demon would arise, I had to eventually learn to surrender to it. The more I'd fight it or resist, the stronger and more painful it'd get. When I'd finally surrender, I'd end up vomiting into the bucket and it was like I was shooting the fear and anxiety into the bucket. It was out.
I can relate to this other persons experience with Ayahuasca:
But after forcing down the foul-tasting brew, she was catapulted to a place so dark her husband feared he had ‘lost his wife to the world of spirits'. Her life flashed before her as the hallucinogen took hold. She faced demons, saw herself as a terrified four-year-old and curled up on the floor, shivering, retching and muttering for two days.
‘I think I went through an experience of death at a certain point, when I was no longer a body or a soul or a spirit or anything,' Allende says matter-of-factly. ‘There was just a total, absolute void that you cannot even describe because you are not. And I think that's death.'
Nevertheless, the process proved transformative. Allende emerged aching but lucid and was able to complete [a trilogy she was writing], now being adapted for film by the co-producers of The Chronicles of Narnia.
When I finally “let go” and surrendered to the fears, I felt more and more at peace. Eventually, I was euphoric. I had never felt that way in my entire life. I felt happy. I felt excited. I was in this loving state. I loved myself, my creator, and everyone around me. I felt this sense of joy and love for everyone that I know.
As I laid there in this state of joy and happiness recovering from the experience, all of a sudden someone started playing music. We all begun singing. The songs were all about love and peace. It was the most incredible experience I've ever had.
I left the ceremony better off. I'm happy I went through it. In many ways, I feel like a different person. As if I purged a lot of negative energy and tension that was built up through childhood and was free from much of my past.
For anyone interested in learning more about Ayahuasca, I recommend googling it.
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