As many of you know, I was just in Peru to try ayahuasca for the first time. If you didn’t get a chance to read my thoughts before I left, check it out here. Before I go into all of the details, I want to take some time to share my initial thoughts in order to set the stage for my following posts.
Let me start by saying that ayahuasca was unlike anything I’ve ever done. I’ve taken acid and mushrooms in the past with doses varying from micro to mega-macro, and I’ve felt everything from very mild experiences to full on tripping balls. Most of the times I’ve taken psychedelics have been for recreational purposes like having fun with friends or for festivals, but I’ve also taken them with intentions to help me get through some mental blockages or to simply explore my own consciousness as well. If you’ve ever taken acid or mushrooms before, you kind of know what to expect. While all trips with those substances are inherently a bit different, the general vibe of how you feel is pretty consistent, at least for me. What I mean by that is that the timing of when you start coming up, how you feel when at the peak, and when you start coming down is going to be pretty similar from trip to trip. Ayahuasca was not like this at all.
I had three ceremonies and all three were completely different as far as how I felt and what happened. This is consistent across the other seven people that were there with me as well. That makes ayahuasca a terrible substance to try taking on your own without the proper facilitators and without the right set and setting. I would never consider ayahuasca a recreational psychedelic. It really is for deeper healing purposes and should be taken with caution. I’m very grateful that the place I chose to go, Dreamglade, took incredible care of myself and the others that were there.
Now for the good stuff. As I mentioned, I had three separate ceremonies that all went very differently. Based on their respective qualities and themes, I’ve decided to break them into three parts: the good, the bad, and the beyond. I’m planning on making each ceremony into their own post because there’s simply too much to try to cover all together.
As I mentioned previously, ayahuasca was a very different experience than any other psychedelic I’ve taken. For me, there was almost no visual aspect. However, other people there did see some visuals. Another example of the experience being completely different for everyone. I also had a very sensory experience and could feel different parts of my body tingling or being targeting that was unlike anything I’ve experienced before. While each of the ceremonies were different for me, one consistency is that they were all very emotional. I’ve had emotional trips before, but nothing quite like the way the emotions came up during ayahuasca. The ayahuasca really caused me to stop to think and examine my emotions, whereas with other trips the emotions just kind of come up with no explanation.
Overall, it was an incredibly meaningful experience that I think is going to have a lasting impact on me. It’s also an experience that I’ll definitely want to do again, but just not anytime soon. It was much more work that I imagined it would be, but absolutely worth every bit in the end. Stay tuned for my detailed review of each night. I should hopefully be able to get them all out over the next week or so. As always, feel free to comment or DM me with any questions!
Continue reading to ceremony 1.