Ayahuasca (Educate Yourself)

My Ayahuasca Experience

Greg Ramsden

Firstly If I may point out that this experience is not for everybody and I will repeat this as you read the accounts of my own journey into the Amazon Jungle. Ayahuasca is NOT a recreational drug and it does not mix well with people taking any drugs or antidepressants.
Christianity swept through Latin America like wildfire starting shortly after Columbus’ famous voyage in 1493. Territory was divided between the bull fighting Spaniards and Portuguese Katemba lovers with a common theme to convert the natives to Catholicism and teach them to be brilliant soccer players I suppose. Shamans and shamanism were replaced with priests as their medicinal and spiritual practices were viewed as very basic, primitive and against the wishes of our Almighty and Powerful God. How naive could our thinking have been?
Only recently has the modern man come to realize that a secret combination of plants found in the amazon can unlock a totally new reality, or a door to secret worlds with beauty beyond our imagination. Firstly let’s have a look at what we know as reality. So your general day to day life would be your primary reality one could say. It could be broken up by small realities being engulfed in a sport or a video game; it could also be another like watching a movie or reading a book. Having your reality elevated or altered by alcohol or drugs is another but my favorite example of changing your reality is the movie Avatar where Jack Sully slips into a pod to live in a different world or different reality and enjoys it so much he actually prefers the new reality to his existing one. This is very much the case with society these days as so many people prefer to spend more time in a reality other than their own. Drugs and Alcohol temporarily allow us to escape the one we live in but It does get confusing as we could also argue that all the collective realities we experience is in fact our main reality - yes? Lol .I honestly believe the movie Avatar is based off Ayahuasca as in the movie the tree of life in the beautiful jungle is a symbol for answers and life. Ayahuasca is the same and the plant vine speaks to you in ways you could never imagine.

Ayahuasca or lets shorten it to Aya is a combination of plants found in the Amazon jungle with medicinal properties capable of curing people of various different illnesses ranging from depression, drug addiction , alcoholism through to skin diseases. The medicine also has the ability to awaken ones spiritual connection and provides lessons in life. The plant has the power to present a person with his or her pitfalls and it’s up to the person to correct them .Sometimes the plant will guide you on what to do and at other times it just presents you with the problem and leaves it up to you to look for the solution.
Although we have made unbelievable advancements in modern medicine my personal belief is that a lot of modern medicines alleviate the symptoms and they don’t actually get to the source of the problem – the root cause, excuse the pun. Take anti-depressants for example they cost a fortune and people are hooked on them for long periods of time and they also have side effects. Now don’t get me wrong this is not the case will all modern medicine but I believe some chemical medicines can be replaced by plant ones. In fact all chemical medicines are designed to mimic plant medicine. Not bad if you want to survive off synthetic substances. Only in the past decade have we seen huge breakthroughs with marijuana and the plants oils which can help with many illnesses like arthritis, seizures, fibromyalgia, cancer and many more. How could we have been so naïve to ban the plant medicine whilst it’s been with us for so long yet allow alcohol and a poison to take preference as out social drug of choice?

This is a picture of the vine as the main ingredient in Ayahuasca

One can only wonder if the all of the shamans in South America were left alone what advancements they would have made over the past 6 centuries after all they had 180 000 species of plant to work with. Although shamanism has grown it has been somewhat suppressed with over 90% of South America
following Christianity and the small pockets of shamans were left to grow. They appear to have weathered the storm of catholic conversion and still emerge with what I believe is one of mankind’s greatest discoveries.
I first heard about Ayahuasca whilst reading articles and books written by Graham Hancock. My best friend introduced me to the writer about 15 years ago and I enjoyed his books and articles and so I would track him from time to time. I then decided to attend one of his shows where he spoke about his experiences with Ayahuasca and that was the turning point and I there and then decided to try it. After months of research I decided to embark on the journey of self-discovery and venture into the amazon and participate in 9 Ayahuasca ceremonies. Throughout my life I have always known my capabilities, my strengths and weaknesses. Perhaps I may have been in denial with some of the flaws in my character and I thought if there was a way these could be presented to me in the most honest form I would seek to address them.
The benefit of this would be me being a better father and husband. A more polished person as growing up in South Africa was pretty cruisy but I had experienced some hard hitting events and perhaps the walls or barriers which were created growing up could be broken and in turn this would be fantastic for my personal development.
I was honestly looking to improve myself and if any chinks in my amour were to be identified I wanted to put systems in place to correct them. After lengthy conversations with my wife I decided to go see a therapist to find these first. I was a happy person in general and from time to time I would get down like most humans you can’t live in a perfect world all the time. I had no deep rooted issues but at the age of 38 I thought I was mature enough to go find them. My only real issues were I used to get angry when doing manual labor chores and drifting apart from my best friend over the years had affected me and at times I felt down. If I may divulge off the topic a bit I believe that as humans throughout time we have been programmed to experience all the wonders in life. These wonders don’t necessarily need to be all positive. Sadness, hurt, disappointment, shame and tears all a part of the gift called life. To truly feel happy would one not need to experience pain or suffering? People often don’t experience suffering and I believe they put themselves through the experience purposely just to experience the pain. Why would somebody go through so much pain to finish an Iron man? Why do people enjoy sadism or masochism to gain sexual pleasure? Why do people drink poison alcohol or smoke cigarettes or eat themselves into obesity only to go through some pain to lose it all. Why do high powered business people work themselves to death and take huge risks only to lose their family? We don’t see it consciously do we? I believe each and every human being has some sort of issue to deal with whether it be a fetish, habit or addiction of some sort or even a situation given to us in life which is difficult to deal with.
Therapy sessions raised some interesting results but none of them were truly groundbreaking. Apparently my father raising me really strictly was an issue as we would get spankings as children and I may have had trust issues with the friendships I forged. In preparation for my Aya ceremonies my therapist and I agreed that I was visiting her to remove my amour and present myself before the plant. I told her my plans from the outset and she agreed with me that going would be good for me. This was a surprise coming from a health professional and great support and I found it a relief because many of my friends disagreed.
It’s common for people in Aya ceremonies to vomit and have uncontrollable diarrhea. This is known as purging. Purging rids the body of toxins, impurities and bad spirits. After speaking to various people in Aya chatrooms and reading articles I discovered that each Aya ceremony is completely different but the plant addresses the toxins in your body first and if you were to enter into a ceremony with your body in
good physical condition and present yourself to the plant clean and pure you get the best results. There would also be less chance you would soil yourself in a ceremony.
For 3 months I went on a diet to make my body as pure as possible. I ate only brown rice and drank vegetable juice. I ate no sugar, coffee or meat and I lost 12 kilograms. I was as thin as a rake but I felt strong and actually had an abundance of energy. I was also to practice celibacy for 1 month prior to the journey and practice meditation. I followed all the steps to the Dieta (shaman word for the special Diet)
My wife was so supportive of me and backed me all the way. I am very fortunate to have a soul mate, my wife is a part of me and we think alike and overarching above everything in our life we are truly best friends. The marriage part is a bonus to be honest. Friends were quick to point out that what I was doing was crazy and a few people had strong views against me going. In my heart I believe I had grown to a certain maturity level. I have managed to shift through a few gears in my life. Some people struggle in first gear with their marriage and it often does not allow them time to think about growing personally or explore other avenues of their personal development as they cannot get out of first gear. I have a solid marriage, am comfortable financially and had reached a high level in my career. The next step was to see if I could polish myself and look for ways to genuinely improve. One of the areas in my life I had neglected was my spiritual side. The preparation for this journey made me more aware of this fact.
My wife bought me a business class ticket to Peru for my birthday, as the journey was very long and I struggle to sleep on airplanes, this was like heaven because they upgraded me to first class. I booked into one of the very best Ayahuasca retreats in South America. I wanted the best for this adventure and I made sure I researched the company correctly, because of the unchartered waters I was entering could be very dangerous. I need to stress that this sort of journey taken is not for everybody and this is not something I actively promote as the results can be detrimental to a person’s mental health and rocking up in the jungle to drink some crazy juice can go horribly wrong.
When I arrived in Peru I stayed in a cheap hotel for a day or two and was shuttled to a sort of midway station to register and sign up for my stay. When departing I met an American writer who joined me in the taxi to the meeting point. Her name was Caroline and I said to her look, I know I have only just met you and its best not to trust strangers but let’s make a pact that you watch my back and I’ll watch yours. I was not sure of what sort of people would be attending the ceremonies and for all I knew they could be heroin addicts or unstable characters. Ayahuasca has been well known for helping people with drug addictions and also PTSD.
When we arrived at the meeting point I met a few people who were new to the experience and a few people who had been on a few of the experiences before. The one guy stood out, as he was a tall South African guy from an area called Pretoria and I was raised in Johannesburg, South Africa and it was his third tour. He reminded me a huge oak tree and his name was Michael. He was a gentle giant, but all the words he spoke were so wise and carefully throughout, it was as if he had prepared his mind his whole life, to answer people’s questions. So tell me what it is like I asked?. He looked into my eyes for a second or so and said “today you are going to look deep into your heart and find out who you truly are”, and he smiled. I get goosebumps thinking about what he said and how he said it to me. I was looking for signs of abnormalities, but he seemed very grounded and confident. “If you need advice or help with anything he said come and talk to me”. As the tour went on, people latched onto this guy for moral support and he was surrounded by people all the time, from different countries firing questions about why we are here.
I met another interesting character from Australia called Cam, it was his third tour, he had a nice nature and was very comical, he also offered me support if required and I still remember him saying “Jesus why
do I do this to myself time and time again”. I asked him why? and he said “ ceremonies are so intense and harsh that it takes a while before he recovers”.
After we settled into the main camp which I have to say was very basic, but I was happy and the surroundings were beautiful, the rules and regulations were explained to us in fine detail.
The journey I was about to go on suddenly got very real and it was different for every single person. Each ceremony was different every time. The main objective was just to make it through to the end of each one. “Try hard not to give up on yourself, its ok if you do, but try as best as you can to finish all 9 ceremonies because that is when you will get the best results and visions”. Malcolm one of the maestros told us. He also gave us some amazing advice about life and about being real. He was a genuine person and was one of the maestros who would orchestrate our ceremonies.

The journey I was about to go on suddenly got very real and it was different for every single person. Each ceremony was different every time. The main objective was just to make it through to the end of each one. “Try hard not to give up on yourself, its ok if you do, but try as best as you can to finish all 9 ceremonies because that is when you will get the best results and visions”. Malcolm one of the maestros told us. He also gave us some amazing advice about life and about being real. He was a genuine person and was one of the maestros who would orchestrate our ceremonies.
After the 2 hour or so talk we got straight on to making the Ayahuasca, The mix is a combination of bark, vines and leaves. In total we had about 13 or 14 plants mixed into the pot. We chopped all the materials up and it was mixed by a short stocky Peruvian man called Maestro Alberto. Maestro Alberto has been practicing Ayahuasca for 35 years. You could see in his face he was a no nonsense kind of a guy but he also seemed like a kind generous man with patience and a down to earth feeling about him.

Immediately I got the feeling I could trust him.!!! !

The flames were ridiculously hot and we had about 9 huge pots in total cooking. Guards with shot guns stood close by, to ensure the mixture was safe and nobody could add anything to the recipe. This was very important as his Aya is very sought after and the mixture needs to be protected from bad spirits. The Aya mix boiled and bubbled for about 8- 10 hours.!

Large enough to fit around 100 people I reckon, there must have been around 30 people on tour and we all sat on mats on the floor. We were all given a bucket to vomit in and standing close to the main entrance were 5 or 6 Peruvian women, sitting on a bench ready to help the Aya drinkers in case they got sick or soiled themselves. Showers were at the back of the room so people could get cleaned and washed by the Peruvian woman as they would be too incapacitated to help themselves.
We all took turns to drink as the Maestro would decide how much each person would get, I was allocated just under a quarter cup of Aya. The taste was not too bad that first evening and we all settled on the mats and waited for the Aya to kick in. The Shaman Maestro Alberto sat and smoked a strange smelling tobacco. We sat for about 15 minutes and then the Maestro began to shake leaves, within seconds of the leaves shaking, I began to feel ill, almost like I got food poisoning and was going to vomit. It was a horrible feeling and I thought to myself please don’t shit yourself or vomit.
I lay down on the mat and closed my eyes. After a few minutes the maestro began a mumbling Icarus like an American Indian mumbling a song. His voice was husky and strong and the sounds were in a good rhythm, this was just as I imagined.
The sounds were pleasant and you almost got the feeling he was calling upon spirits asking them to come and help us. This made me feel a bit better. I began to see strange images of what seemed like white totem poles with colorful gems attached to them randomly. It was as if I was lying on the ground next to
them, looking up the shaft of the bright white pole with the red , green and yellow gem stones sticking out. My view then changed to a 3D rendering style picture and the complete surroundings were black surroundings, which had thin green lines almost as if I was looking at a Tron grid. I sat up and put my hands on my face and my face felt like a mask and my skin felt like a reptile, rubbery, sort of like how a frog would feel, then it felt like a strange beast was feeling me and touching me. Like an alien had discovered me for the first time and was seeing what I was.
My mind raced into a tunnel which was going so fast and I could feel the speed , it seemed too much for me to handle and I asked for help, I remember shouting out help me please. The next hour was probably the lowest I ever felt in my entire life and the emotions of fear I experienced was like a force of nature, that I would not even begin to try to describe, I never imagined I could feel such horror, which truly felt like hell. I must have lost touch with reality and I must have gone mental I thought. I must have lost my mind a while back and my wife must have booked me into a mental asylum, as I remember getting up and going to the toilet and all the people were walking around in the room with their hands out like zombies, they were all moaning and groaning in pain. I could hear people vomiting, but to me it was evil spirits talking and the smells were putrid. How could I let myself and my family down I thought? How could I let my wife down? She loves me so much and I was seen as the leader of my family and I was duped into going to South America, sitting with people I don’t know, doing drugs banned in the western world, in the middle of the jungle, in a country known for crime and me taking such a huge risk.
I suddenly saw myself being mentally ill in my room, on my bed and my family saying “Its ok don’t worry you are going to go away and come back fixed after the medicine”. At this stage, the maestros Iccaru had stopped, a different voice was now in play and he seemed to be shouting “Medicine!!! Medicine!!! help you, help you medicine , medicine , medicine fix you , fix you medicine”. The continuous shouting of those words will haunt me forever, it felt like we were in a mental institution, with people brainwashing us into drinking the medicine. I experienced various other ugly emotions which were 10 times stronger than what I had ever felt in reality, this included feeling ashamed and guilty for working in the company I did and also for treating my brother in law bad. I felt so sorry for myself and so alone. It also felt like this was some terrible game people played luring you into the jungle, drugging you and making you feel real shit about yourself.
What else were they planning to do with us? I started to shiver as though I had a fever and my body was convulsing and shaking feeling cold one minute and hot the next. The medicine wore off after 2 hours of absolute hell. I suddenly saw beautiful images of glowing line drawings of Egyptian pyramids and amazing Egyptian symbols, just streaming towards me and into me. They were so amazing and the colors were incredible, mainly gold colors and diamonds seemed to appear all over the place. The diamonds appeared up close at first and then in the distance, to make up what looked like sparkling stars in a galaxy.

After the first ceremony I thought right that’s it, I am ready to go home now, done and dusted, and this is too much and I can’t see myself doing 9 in a row.
After the lights went on, some people chatted away laughing as they sipped fresh fruit tea, whilst others were clearly shell shocked, just sitting and looking at the ground. This was hardcore and unlike anything I have ever experienced before, not even my mom’s suicide matched this experience.
The next morning I needed some feedback on what I experienced and I was looking to see what the others had experienced. I chatted to Michael and Cam asking them about their experience and was looking to see who was going home, they all reported being bludgeoned from pillar to post by the plant and although they had also scrapped the bottom of the barrel of their bowels, they said “The only way
was to soldier on through it”. “I might go”. I said to Michael. “Just handle it brother”, he said. He gave me some encouragement and kind words to help me though the next ceremonies. I did a video blog on my first experience and whilst doing the video, I broke down into tears, the shame and guilt had broken me down. The rest of the day I lay in a hammock feeling pretty shit. Not only was all my amour removed, but I was down to the raw nerves and it was shitty, I thought I was on the verge of having a nervous breakdown.

Second and various other ceremonies.

I decided to stay and power through it , out of the 30 people that had joined about 5 had left, one guy was an aggressive speaking New Yorker, who told me how amazing his mother’s pasta and meatballs were, he was a tough talking guy and he left telling me this was not for him. A few people had left over the next few days, for some the images may be much to handle and for others they might have been looking for a recreational experience.
The second night was not less kind to me and I had crazy images of cartoons appear. They all seemed like normal pictures, but they had very nasty ugly emotions attached to them , I remember clearly seeing a Pacific Islander person come to me and told me not to worry about those people in the other tribe and what they say about me, just ignore them, you don’t listen to them. It seemed very strange and all of it dark and evil. The second night rewarded me with amazing pictures once again and feelings of appreciation. After this ceremony I actually felt so guilty for wanting so much in my life and being so greedy and not being thankful or grateful for the things I have.
The third ceremony was really brutal. At this stage I expected and understood the initial feeling of being uncomfortable and feeling sick and I knew I would be able to get used to it, but I was blindsided by shortly after with real images of me being in hell. I could not move, I was locked solid in a position, that I can closely match to being in a coffin after your death and waking up claustrophobic, in laying position in pitch darkness, this was very scary, because it was not something I imagined, but felt rather like something I was experiencing and I felt like I would be in this position forever and alone.
The feeling of emptiness and being alone was so overwhelming. I then saw images of myself, with very old people, all deformed and moaning and groaning in pain and sorrow, for their sins. For a moment I thought I was in the bible days imprisoned with people, that had leprosy and I would spend an eternity with them. I had images of me on the floor, with policemen holding me down, in a seated position and shining a torch in my face. I had obviously killed somebody in an accident I thought, it could have brought back memories of an accident, of when I was younger, crashing my father’s UTE with my friends. Then I remembered the feeling of having been raped by a sadistic club of wealthy business people and how terrible the emotions were, the nightmare was to revolve through those 4 scenarios for what seemed like years. Finally I remember thinking, if I have treated others so badly in my life and this is the pain and suffering I have caused people, then I accept my fate and I accept the consequences.
That’s when the nightmare released me from its eternal grip and I was back to seeing incredible images of space and the universe. There was no concept of time for me, but I looked around and everything seems to be so clear and perfect. I seemed to be floating in deep space and it dawned on me, that space is in fact infinite and there is no beginning of the universe and also no end. My surroundings were so clear and open and I was floating through time, with no sound at all.
The following ceremony was just as harsh but, this is when I got a breakthrough. I went through the initial motions of feeling uncomfortable and entered into a strange realm or world, I kept on getting this feeling
asking me “if I was ready? its time”. An older version of myself came and spoke to me, it was an older version of myself talking to me, but I was at least 150 years older, like a spirit. “Are you ready? Here it comes”, it said to me. I was flown through this tunnel, the best way I can explain the tunnel is, it’s when you put a mirror in front of a mirror it creates a infinite image of itself. A square, within a square, within a square.

I travelled down the center of the tunnel and then suddenly realized, I was preparing for my death. Here it comes the thought came , it’s getting closer , I was terrified but the question kept on coming to me and over and over until I said “ Yes I am ready”. I accepted that it was time for me to die and I was not that afraid. Then it shot me into total darkness, everything was pitch black and there was nothingness. This seemed like a long time, no sounds, movement or anything, until suddenly, a tiny yellow dot appeared and after a few seconds it exploded into a sun, it felt like the sun was in front of me. When it expanded out I suddenly got this amazing amount of knowledge, and I spoke to myself again. All I needed to worry about was in the sun, inside of the sun’s external skin, this is your consciousness I understood and in here is just you and your family. Nothing can come in and nothing will penetrate this. This I believe is where I found myself. The feeling of power, confidence and happiness was really magic. I was sitting on a golden throne, at the top of an Egyptian staircase and I was surrounded by empty space, but there were so many things with me, although visually it all seemed empty. I felt as though I was a king or I was admired and respected by so many people.

They looked up to me and knew I would never let them down.
Image after image appeared with alien type pictures so beautiful, I could never have imagined them myself. The artwork was incredible, with geometrical lines, diamond shapes and drawings all in a 3D line type graphics. Once again there was no sense of time. This is where I felt that there are other beings out in the universe and there is truly a god or gods.

The images above are the sort of images which were revealed to me but not quite the same
I downloaded all of these messages and strange little squares danced in front of me, they were microscopic organisms and I was convinced it was aliens. The knowledge relayed to me was, we help each other, be kind to each other, we care for each other, we love each other and it was as if a very mature alien species was educating me on how things should be.
The whole feeling was one of being positive and pure and having the very best intentions. It also gave me the impression that this was inside me, or this alien being was in all of us already. It sort of took me on a tour of myself down to the most minuscule fabric in my body. If it was an alien or extra-terrestrial, I truly welcomed it. if this invasion if you like was to change us into anything like I was feeling then I stand by it and the messages it delivered. None of it seemed evil or nasty or unpleasant, but it was more a case of we lift each other up and we teach and learn and we grow. This made me feel so damn good. As the microscopic shapes danced in front of me, I just seemed to get it and this was the purest thing I have ever experienced. I somehow knew the life forms talking to me was plural and they were letting me know that they had no evil or impurities in them. How amazing that a door had opened in my own mind perhaps through my penal gland that led me to this wonderful place. I would never dream something like this could ever have existed and this was only the tip of the iceberg. On your first few Ayahuasca journeys you are shown these amazing realms or realities. Once you learn to meditate better you can eventually choose which places you want to go and apparently that is when you really experience high levels of realms and worlds. Apparently this is when you can interact with different spirits. If this is what Ayahuasca is all about I accept it into my life as this is how we should all feel and be. More leaders of this world need to take this medicine and this would be a much better place. The crazy thing about all of this is I seemed to have downloaded data or knowledge that I can’t quiet explain but I understand. It’s almost like I was told or shown things but I got them with feelings. The overarching message was one that there is so much more out there and so many bigger things still to come. I saw constant images of fractals which are images of infinite patterns within themselves and this was the pattern of life. A feeling I felts was that life has always been and there was no beginning and there will be no end , its infinite and if you think about that for a minute that is truly so overwhelming and something you can’t quiet comprehend.

This is the exact images I saw with the colors’ dancing

After the ceremony I felt really good and unlike a hangover as each hour passed I felt stronger and more healthy and more happy. People should help one another and we should be focusing on building each other. Nations and masses of people should be raised and cared for, like individuals raise their children. Imagine we were all on the same vibe and we all looked to grow, improve and help each other instead of putting each other down. We may have positive individual points of view, but collectively we are failing.
As individuals and as nations, we create stars out of people, only to see them fall and we thrive on reporting the downfall, or putting a microscope on their demise. We enjoy seeing the rise and fall of our stars, movie stars, singers and sportsman all are put on pedestals and we frenzy to get the news on when they let themselves and us down.
As each ceremony passed I realized the horrible emotions I was presented with, along with the images were only images! I’ve become used to the uncomfortable feelings and images to the point, where it was no longer a shock to me. I also realized that whatever I have experienced in my life or problems I thought I had was nothing compared to what I saw, Ayahuasca really showed me what nightmares are and the first world problems I have are miniscule, whatever I had wished to change about myself would come naturally but in fact was irrelevant to the lessons I was taught, but the most important thing was just to try my best, to be a person with integrity and pure intentions. I would need to be more honest with people and with myself, when people are totally honest they cannot be faulted. If you put on a facade or an image of being somebody you are not, that is when you disappoint people. This was a very important lesson for me and when I packed my bags to leave, I felt so grounded and Intune with myself. I always knew who I was, but this confirmed it and I could not wait to get home and tell my wife and my family how much they meant to me.
The following three months were very difficult for me. My brain had been rebooted and I had all these sensitivities to address. In the end I was retrenched from my work, a thing I had most feared but I didn’t care, it was just a job and I knew I had already paved a good future for my family. I made the conscious decision to forgive people who had hurt me in my life, but also to cut off the people who did not appreciate my contribution to their life and also avoid being with pretentious people, in other words cut off the dead wood. I suddenly started dreaming again which is something I had not done in ages and I dream every night. I did however feel like a dark spirit was in my presence, it was a strange feeling and
when I lay in bed at night, I had dark thoughts of the world coming to an end and also recognized how evil governments are and how we are travelling on the wrong path on this earth.
I had to work to change my mind to think more positively, my return was tough and that is when the real lessons began. On a few occasions I actually thought I may have made a mistake going to Peru, because I was haunted with some of the images that I saw, but as each month grew on I felt better and better as I soon realized these images are not something that actually happened to me but rather something I envisioned. This is when I realized how the medicine would help people with post-traumatic stress syndrome. They have images of bad experiences in their real-time memory if you want to call it that and the constantly run through them and can’t seem to rid those images and get stuck in a cycle. The Ayahuasca replaces these images with worse ones but they aren’t real and they soon realize it was all just their imagination. The end result is that I am a lot calmer and relaxed. I don’t really care what people say or think about me and I am closer to my family. I also enjoy my work life balance more and don’t harbor any ill feelings towards anybody. I had a slight bit of anxiety worrying about my family and my future, but that seems to have also gone away. My wife has seen some significant improvements in me and is so impressed with the results. She recommends I go on another tour when I am ready for it, right this minute, I am not ready to face my demons head on again and it would take a fair bit of time preparing for the journey, mentally and physically.
The end result is yes, this was a life changing experience for me and even if the DMT drug found in the plant medicine had ignited my own creative visions or it might have surfaced what was already there. I am very happy that there is such a tool to do so. Visiting different realms and realities was so mind blowing, I still think it is a door to another dimension and we have only just discovered something so incredible, that was there all along centuries ago.
Some of the artwork in the city of Iquitos, notice the Avatar style theme which is very common in Ayahuasca ceremonies!