The Year of Fun #18: Ayahuasca

Oh boy. Where to begin... I guess at the beginning. On January 14th 2018, I booked myself in for the trip of a life time. A trip to Peru... and a trip in Peru. There was the flight, that was one part of the trip. Then there was the psychedelic trip. the spiritual trip. The healing trip. That part of the journey was with ayahuasca, a 'plant medicine' which makes DMT available in our body. DMT is a very powerful stimulator of seretonin receptors in the brain, which doesn't normally get into the body because it's broken down by the stomach. But when you make a drink with the a plant like chacruna (containing DMT) and mix it with the vine of ayahuasca, the latter acts as a blocking agent and the DMT can get into the body, and the effects are rather undeniable. While the plant is illegal in the UK and many other parts of the world, it is still currently legal in South America, and the most popular place for us gringos to experience it is in Peru. I won't bore you with the backstory, but I had done my research and decided that if I found a retreat centre that looked safe and appealing, I'd go for it. Dreamglade checked all my boxes, I found some reasonably priced flights for May and off I went. First off, I just hope I do a good job at explaining what I understand ayahuasca to be, and basically do the whole tradition justice. If you think ayahuasca is another party drug, or something to try out for the 'fun of the ride', you've got the wrong end of the vine. In this podcast, I'm going to go in depth about my experience (so you'll notice it's a fair amount longer than usual) and I hope I can offer some help and answer some questions to any of you pondering ayahuasca use for its healing properties. As always, if you have any questions after the show, simply send an email to [email protected] and I'll do my best to answer or find someone who can. Full show notes here