Ayahuasca benefits

[Genesis]

Hey there ,

I'll be undergoing my first ayahuasca session with a professional shaman in 3 weeks, I'm very excited but am also curious about what other people think about what you can take with you out of an ayahuasca trip. Now ofcourse I've been doing my own amature research on it and I see most people and video's suggest ayahuasca can give concrete , tangible and lasting benefits when you're sober. Not only the next day, but I'm more so talking about the next months or even a lifetime.
So my question to you is:

Do you personally feel like the ayahuasca gave you something concrete during your sessions, such as life lessons, that you have in fact put into practise in your real social life? If so, would you mind sharing?

Thanks..


Genesis

 

[IJesusChrist]

My trip was cancelled, I purged it - wasn't ready.

The way I felt off a small bit of ayahuasca was like I was friends with the world - I wanted to talk to everyone, and felt I had something to share with everyone for the benefit of man kind. I expressed my mind as it played out before me.

If you experience this, keep it, although this was a fairly weak dose. Higher doses will simply slap you in the face and TELL you that everyone is a part of you.

 

[Forkbender]

I had a few great experiences on ayahuasca, every time the afterglow seemed to last for at least a few months. I'm too tired to elaborate, but the life lessons are indeed tangible. It isn't even hard to put these lessons into practice, like I have with, for example, lsd, because you see the truth in it and wouldn't want to do it any other way.

 

[Bastiaan]

Yes, definately. I've had only one true ayahuasca experience. And it was a significant one. Extremely 'spiritual' if you will. Most profound psychedelic experience in my life up until this day.

It isn't even hard to put these lessons into practice, like I have with, for example, lsd, because you see the truth in it and wouldn't want to do it any other way.

+1
You also just feel great afterwards, very alive, and this can last quite a while.
I think research has also shown ayahuasa can have a very positive effect on brain functioning (can't find reference right now but the research I've read of was supposedly performed using brain activity scans comparing non-users and regular users).
Drinking the Peganum brew was the most disgusting thing I ever tasted. The aya wasn't the nicest either, though compared with the PH brew it wasn't that bad. I threw up as well.
Even though it was well worth it I've been trying to get pharmahuasca working twice now.
Getting this to work is really something I would like to accomplish as it would only leave the MAOI diet as inconvenience which isn't even that inconvenient once you're a little experienced with it so you know how to feed yourself properly without risking very nasty effects to even life-threatening ones.
First time I tried this I did not make an alkaloid extract of peganum so it wasn't really pharma. I got the MAOI to work but apperently I had quite a bit of tyramine in my blood/stomache (?), because I ended up spewing gal feeling EXTREMELY sick and intoxicated for about 6 hours. I was kind of scared whether I'd make it at times seriously ^^
Yesterday I tried once more, making sure I sticked to my diet strictly.
This time I had prepared a would be alkaloid extract of 5 grams of rue powder.
0:00 107mg of extract
0:45 100mg dmt
1:30 no significant effect (very slight change of consciousness/perception), another last 130mg of rue powder
2:15 another 150 mg dmt
3:00 no more noticeable added effect..
Not the slightest trace of nausea at any time though, even as I had not been eating much at all.
This very slight change in consciousness did leave me with some great thoughts, even though they were nowhere near as profound as my first (and only true) experience with aya. It lasted even shorter then the brief but intense 4 to 5 hours of my first experience as well. It also left me with quite a feeling of 'wellbeing' that I am still experiencing.
Next time I'll stick to the diet, ingest unrefined rue and then take dmt capsules :x
Just swallow the seeds with water. No way I'm making any tea.. :vom:
If anyone has an easy description of a foolproof way to make some extract that works it would be greatly appreciated..
3 weeks, hmm then you should have already have had the experience!
I'm very curious!
This was my report post-30123.html?f=36 arg no that wasn't it :S I'll find it some other time..

 

[Genesis]

I had my first experience 2 weeks ago under supervision of experts (Holland)
I didnt have visuals or anything, but I definilty felt a great afterglow..it feels 100% natural and just so amazing.

Thank you for your reply

 

[_Avatar_]

I had my first experience 2 weeks ago under supervision of experts (Holland)
I didnt have visuals or anything, but I definilty felt a great afterglow..it feels 100% natural and just so amazing.

If you didn't have any visuals, you didn't drink enough. Did you pay for this session? Because I think that when you pay for a ritual, the experts in charge should make sure you do get a sufficiently high dose. It's your own responsibility of course, but also theirs.

Don't get me wrong: it's not that visions are more important than other aspects of the experience, but if a DMT-containing brew didn't produce visual effects, you simply didn't ingest enough of it.

There's a chance that these experts didn't give you enough for the purpose of keeping you relatively sober and thus calm and cooperative. By keeping their clients relatively sober (rather than giving religious doses), they can handle larger groups and thus earn more on a given night. To compensate for the lack of visions they might amuse their clients with nice music, incense and guided meditations, but what it really comes down to is that you're being cheated.

 

[tryptonaut]

If you didn't have any visuals, you didn't drink enough. Did you pay for this session? Because I think that when you pay for a ritual, the experts in charge should make sure you do get a sufficiently high dose. It's your own responsibility of course, but also theirs.

Don't get me wrong: it's not that visions are more important than other aspects of the experience, but if a DMT-containing brew didn't produce visual effects, you simply didn't ingest enough of it.

There's a chance that these experts didn't give you enough for the purpose of keeping you relatively sober and thus calm and cooperative. By keeping their clients relatively sober (rather than giving religious doses), they can handle larger groups and thus earn more on a given night. To compensate for the lack of visions they might amuse their clients with nice music, incense and guided meditations, but what it really comes down to is that you're being cheated.

Well... I think a Shaman shouldn't give any newbie too much ayahuasca the first time. The fact that they gave you a little less is a good thing. You must do it again and again so they (and also you yourself) can know how much is right for you. The least you want to experience is an overdose that will psychologically overwhelm you the first time and maybe send you to crazytown forever...
Only if you do it again and say you want more, and then don't get more, I'd start to become suspicious.

 

[Genesis]

No this wasn't like that at all. It was great and perfect. The shamans weren't fake like that at all. The fact that I didnt have visuals had an other cause. Thanks for worrying but it wasn't like that at all. But hey we're not here to discuss that, we're here to discuss the benefits.

 

[strangeloop]

http://docs.google.com/View?id=ddnchw73_2d9jvbfff
This is a very good explanation of Ayahuasca from a Shamaness apprentice in Peru. I personally had only one experience with 'Aya', with a true Brazilian Shaman in Belgium. Long story short, my experience - I feel mainly consisted of teaching me that "everything is perfect the way it is", we must learn to ACCEPT. I am a somewhat pessimistic kind of a guy, ie, stupid people really piss me off. I feel that continued work with the medicine would help me understand and alleviate this. I also was being taught the interconnectedness of everything. I was able to easily quite smoking ciggarettes, I have drastically reduced my consumption of alcohol. Have strengthend my desire to eat healthy ie, raw food diet. and feel it has somehow cleansed my Chakras - and I've never been interested in 'chakras'!

 

[Genesis]

thanks for your reply

 

[_Avatar_]

Well... I think a Shaman shouldn't give any newbie too much ayahuasca the first time.

I didn't say they should "give too much", but "enough". I do understand the point you're trying to make however.

I think that those who come to an Ayahuasca session do so because they want to have a spiritual experience, gain insight about themselves and the world they live in, and personally see the amazing visuals that are painted by visionary artists like Pablo Amaringo and adorn most books and websites about this sacred beverage. To have such experiences one doesn't have to overdose on Ayahuasca, but one should at least go beyond the level of threshold effects. When you go to an Ayahuasca ceremony, you expect and deserve more than a mild buzz (as in "no visuals or anything").

I believe that an expert shaman or group of sitters can or should be capable of guiding a newbie safely through psychologically overwhelming and spiritually challenging experiences. But it's understandable that no shaman can guide several newbies at once, especially when on his or her own inner journey. One way to make sure that gatherings are not disturbed by newbies having experiences that demand too much attention from the guide(s) is to hand out moderate dosages. Ideally the shaman would initiate the newbies in separate sessions, so that they can get more attention during their first experience of the full force of the medicine. But practically all European Ayahuasca ceremonies that I've heard of let newcomers have their first experience within a relatively large group. It often goes well but you do hear accounts of newbies who freak out, scare the group and feel they weren't really given attention when they needed it. To be a shaman is a great responsibility. You can't be a shaman without taking personal responsibility for each person who seeks your help. This means you can't limit yourself to organizing only group rituals. There must be room for individual or small group sessions as well, and of course the possibility of consulting the shaman in the days following the experiences. That is how it's done in the Amazonian rainforest, or in India for example (diksha). If such personal care can not be provided by those who organize European rituals, I think we shouldn't use the word shaman for anyone.