What is Ayahuasca? Talking on the subject of Ayahuasca and other shamanic journey's has been a subject I have been meaning to talk about more deeply for awhile. I have had many blog entries and articles about this topic half written but never quite finished. Every time I have gone back to proof read and edit there has just been something not quite right about what I had written and I did not feel compelled to share.
With time though I have figured how why I have not wanted to share what I have prior. Going on medicine journey's with plants such as ayahuasca or any other hallucinogenic medicine is something very unique to each individual. Each person who takes these powerful healing plants will find that their own experience is very personal to them. Nobody will ever have the exact same experience as someone else. In medicine ceremony we experience our own self, our own thought patterns, and our own relationship to our self and spirit.
I do however want to discuss my own personal experience mainly as a means to inspire others, give others as much of an idea as I can, and hopefully give you a little insight from my personal experience into the world of shamanic journey's. What I write is very personal to me and someone else may not agree or see the medicine as I do. This is because this has been through the perspective of my eyes.
Ayahuasca was a medicine that found me a year ago during my travels to Thailand. I did not go out looking for this medicine. Instead, it really just fell into my lap and I was being pulled in the direction to begin on this path. And let me just say, it is definitely a path, a journey, and a lifestyle. Once you take a medicine such as Ayahuasca there are doors and gates that open that you can never turn back from. These medicines are powerful and the energy of Mother Aya is something that has stayed with my since my first sit in her presence.
While in Thailand I had made the intention to find medicine of some sort. To be honest, I was not sure exactly what I was looking for, but I did want to heal in my life and I wanted to find a way to go deeper. The door that opened the portals to meeting Mother Aya was first Kambo. I talked of my first kambo experience here. Kambo is an Amazonian frog medicine that cleanses the body, takes you on a quick journey, and reboots the entire physical and energetic systems. By making the commitment to sit with this frog medicine the other portals to plant medicines began.
I cannot say that this path has been easy. To be quite frank I was quite naïve when it came to taking medicines. I had not done a lot of research into plant medicines such as Ayahuasca. However, I was pulled to ceremony because of a dream that I had. In this dream I had a friend who symbolizes spiritual path. He came to me in a dream and walked up to me and placed a silver token in my hand. I looked down and it had a dragon on it. He told me, "Follow the dragon." I became very emotional and hugged him as we cried. I had this dream at the very beginning of my trip to Thailand. When I woke up I immediately wrote the dream down but little did I know it would be the beginning to a very big path I was about to walk down.
When I met the medicine man that first offered to take me on a medicine journey with Mother Aya he synchroncitically spoke of dragons. He said he spoke the language of the dragons and that was when I knew that I was to drink Ayahuasca for the first time.
Those first 3 sits with Mother Aya took me places I needed to go and showed me things I needed to see. It shattered my ego, took me back to a lifetime in Egypt, and helped me to transmute the pain I had held onto with towards my mother into compassion and unconditional love. I was able to see myself from a perspective without ego. I was able to experience my life from a perspective without filters.
I do not want to leave the impression that taking ayahuasca is for everyone. I do not think it is. It is for people with a brave heart, a search for truth, and a courageous soul. This medicine is not something you take to trip and see cool things. No! This medicine is something sacred and to be honored and cared for deeply. This is not just a hallucinogen but a plant energy that clears karma and helps us to see our soul. With that being said, it has the potential to take on journeys that may not be the easiest to take in and see. Sitting with Mother Aya takes bravery, clear intention, and the desire to grow deep down to our core.
If Ayahuasca is something that interests you then I highly recommend doing your research and deeply meditating on it. This medicine is powerful and it blasts open your entire energy body and all your chakras. It leaves you in the most vulnerable state you will probably ever experience. Make sure the shaman that serves you is legit and knows his stuff is highly recommended. There are far too many "shamans" out there these days who have no idea what they are doing but still declare themselves a "shaman".
Look for a shaman who has studied in South America, or even better, grew up there. Make sure they work with the traditions of Ayahuasca ceremony and know the traditional songs that came to them through dieting many plants from the Amazon. These songs are known as icaros. These songs are very important and very powerful. The traditions that are passed down in these ceremonies are also very important and very powerful.
Ayahuasca is a medicine that connects us to the spirit world and many dimensions not always visible to us by the naked eye. It is important that we work with shamans that are VERY familiar with these realms and know how to navigate these realms. A true shaman doesn't just serve medicine but they journey with us. They are able to see what we are experiencing and are capable of navigating through these realms as we sit with Mother Aya. The icaros that are sung by the shaman open portals, protect the space, and call in spirits that are there to help us through our experiences. These icaros are sacred and passed down by plant energies in the Amazon.
Ayahuasca should never be seen as another psychedelic. This plant is very sacred and there are important steps that need to be taken before ingesting this powerful medicine. So finding a shaman who knows what they are doing is extremely important. Especially in this day and age when drinking ayahuasca has become such a fad.
Ayahuasca has helped me to better see myself clearly and introduced me to my internal world. It has shown me my true self in ways I cannot comprehend. It gave me the experience of my first true ego death and showed me the importance of the body I inhabit and the thought processes of the mind. Mother Aya has cleared me of energies that no longer serve me and I feel her presence with me now each and every day.
While in California I had the pleasure of working with a medicine man who grew up in South America. His intentions were pure and he came from the heart. He has enlightened me in ways of example. He has reflected back to me what it means to be a true leader and unconditional lover. I feel very blessed and honored to have him in my life. In his actions I was able to see being a medicine man was his destiny. He did it purely through a place of service to helping humanity.
I sat with Mother Aya 3 times in ceremony in the mountains of Northern California with a medicine family that I gratefully manifested into my life. These medicine journeys tested me down to my core. They were some of the most powerful experiences of my life and also the most vulnerable. I went far more deep with these 3 journey's than I ever have before. These challenged me in every way possible and shook the entire reality I had been living in.
Mother Aya does her best to be gentle but if you are not first gentle with yourself she will reflect that back to you full force. She showed me how harsh I am with myself at times and she exposed to me the power of the mind. I had been living so deeply inside of my own head and thoughts that I ultimately was not living at all. She cleansed my mental state and shook me into the truth of reality.
These journeys were pretty challenging. It is hard to convey exactly how challenging these were. They were some of the most challenging experiences of my life yet. However, I was only being shown the truth of the reality I had been living in. Mother Aya is a compassionate lover but she always tells you and shows you the truth for how it is without filters.
After these 3 more journeys my life has transformed completely. The true work of the medicine is not what is being shown during but it is how you apply those journeys and truths to your day to day life after. During those journeys I realized how ungrounded and in my head I always was. I realized the importance of practicing mindful meditation and presence in the NOW. She gave me experiences that made me realize the suffering I had been living in so I could go on a deeper search in my own life for tools.
I did a 10 day Vipassana course a few months after these ceremonies that truly brought those experiences into a full circle for me. So much clicked and I had finally understood what Mother Aya had so desperately been working to show me. Doing a Vipassana course allowed me to experience what truly being present felt like and it gave me tools on how to live my life NOW.
I now put into action living in the present moment by practicing Vipassana in my day to day life as well as yoga. I have realized the importance in creating space to go within and center myself. Yoga and meditation have been powerful tools for this. This is how I have been able to apply what I was shown during those medicine journeys. It is a daily commitment and devotion to continue growing for myself and the connection I hold to spirit.
It is not the medicine journeys that change our lives but it is the actions we take in our day to day lives afterwards. The medicine journeys expose truths and clear us. However, we cannot move forward and expand in our lives unless we work hard to integrate the lessons we were shown.
Mother Ayahuasca has inspired me to change my life in the best way possible. This medicine allowed me to experience and respect hallucinogens in such a sacred way. It has redefined the world of psychedelics for me. Ayahuasca helped me to connect more deeply to my soul. This sacred medicine should be taken only with the utmost respect! Working with medicine and shamans has given me an entirely new perspective on medicine and mind altering substances all together and I am so grateful. It has given me the ability to see myself instead of escape from myself.
Thank you sacred plant medicine for shaking me from the illusions I was living in. Thank you for helping me to see what my internal dialogue looked like and how much self love I was lacking. Thank you for opening my eyes to the reality I was confined in so I could expand more and love more. Your messages left such an imprint on my life and have given me so much inspiration to stay consistent with my practices in yoga and meditation. I do not rely on you but instead cherish each moment spent with you. I now understand that it is not you who changes me through vision but instead it is myself that changes me through devotion and daily practice. AHO
For more information and to find out how you can get involved in a medicine community please contact my trusted friend and teacher Yawasoe HERE
https://www.koanwellness.com/store/p155/peruretreat
http://www.alicefranklinstudio.com/your-path-as-a-spiral/
http://www.innersanctumyoga.com.au/about-yoga/yoga-and-the-mind/monkey-mind-and-committee-of-the-mind
