Fundamental to ayahuasca’s appeal is that, unlike western medicine, it is believed to address the true causes of illness and makes no distinction between mind and body. Ayahuasca practitioners see the physical manifestation of some mental, emotional, psychological or energetic disorder.
Reports of successes are common, particularly with depression, traumas and addictions. Brendan, a former US marine, was overweight and suffering from radiation poisoning, hypothyroidism, and nerve damage to his left leg after a training accident, and massive guilt after not serving in Iraq. But 12 days at the Temple transformed his life; it got him off the oxycontin and other medication he had been taking daily for years. He says he lost more than 45kg, his thyroid gland now functions normally, and he is “fully healed” from the radiation.
“When I left the Temple I went to a Veterans Affairs hospital in the US and had blood tests; everything was functioning normally, something they said would be impossible,” says Brendan, who now lives in Iquitos and has opened his own centre, The Sanctuary of Renana, offering free treatment to other veterans. “My doctor almost mocked me when I told him I was coming out here but when he saw the results of the tests he became fascinated.”
http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2016/jun/07/peru-ayahuasca-drink-boom-amazon-spirituality-healing
Just about incredible what Ayahuasca can do, where reductionist science fails.
Be really careful with anyone suggesting they can get you ayahuasca.
There are several websites that claim they will send you bottle in the mail...I wouldn’t try that AT ALL.
I know several people who have gone to Peru and elsewhere to go through the ritual and take the brew.
Just like the discoverer of LSD...he thought it would have a huge impact on the treatment of mental health, and tried to promote it as such.
It’s like the group I belong to now PEERS (Portland Entheogen Exploration Society), they understand the benefits of some of the psychedelic substances as being beneficial where a good portion of US society is still wary because of the “war on drugs” that took place in the 80’s and 90’s.
There is a significant body of proof that LSD, magic mushrooms, MDMA, ayahuasca, ibogaine, etc. are far more effective than any of the pharmaceuticals the companies have engineered.
This includes cannabis, which the has been synthesized by the drug companies so they could get in on the profits for pain/depression/anxiety/PTSD.
Everyone should educate themselves about all the claims that I have made for themselves before they try to self-treat or self-medicate.
Be smart people, if you are using recreationally then don’t expect to find much of anything profound.
If these things are used in a responsible manner, including someone sober to keep them grounded in reality should that fracture...then they can be significantly helpful in improving your mentality.
Psilocybin which is the active ingredient in magic mushrooms actually calms the brain, in particular the part that is overactive in those who are depressed, anxious, PTSD’r, etc.
In brain scans it actually allows us to use the whole brain as a more incorporated and single organism - instead of firing competing signals back and forth - it allows parts of the brain that normally don’t talk to talk and form new connections.
You do feel truly at one with everything at least for a while - it would be very difficult to maintain that state and function as a normal person haha.
For someone who has felt completely cut off from everything...who feels they are alone in spite of the loved one’s who surround them...who has become cynical and can no longer see anything beautiful in life - I find it life changing (if not saving) through the change of perspective they provide.
