Ayahuasca Retreat?

[David1]

Does anybody have any experience with an ayahuasca retreat?. I've been planning to do this for some time, but there seem to be so many. I first thought of going to Peru, but now i'm in doubt about Brazil. I'd like to take the opportunity to see more of the country while i'm there ofcourse. So does anyone have experience travelling in South America? What country would you recommend?

[Dhana Choko]

What do you think you will get from this experience with Ayahuasca? Why do you want to travel this far to experience it?

[Jan Odvarko]

3 hours ago, David1 said:

Does anybody have any experience with an ayahuasca retreat?. I've been planning to do this for some time, but there seem to be so many. I first thought of going to Peru, but now i'm in doubt about Brazil. I'd like to take the opportunity to see more of the country while i'm there ofcourse. So does anyone have experience travelling in South America? What country would you recommend?

I'd say read @Emerald Wilkins's experience first, maybe you'll change your mind (-: Or maybe not, but I think it's worth considering.

 

Edited February 26, 2016 by Jan Odvarko

[Emerald]

4 hours ago, David1 said:

Does anybody have any experience with an ayahuasca retreat?. I've been planning to do this for some time, but there seem to be so many. I first thought of going to Peru, but now i'm in doubt about Brazil. I'd like to take the opportunity to see more of the country while i'm there ofcourse. So does anyone have experience travelling in South America? What country would you recommend?

I haven't been to an Ayahuasca retreat but I've tried it twice. I have two bits of advice. Number one, make sure the shaman you do the Ayahuasca retreat with is legitimate. There have been some shady shamans giving quasi-poisonous plants in their Ayahuasca mixes like Toe. There have been reports of deaths and even rapes while under the influence. So, make sure you research the retreat well. Remember that shamans are regular people too.

But be sure to read @Jan Odvarko's links that he posted. I actually don't recommend trying it. They were certainly the most beautiful experiences of my life, bar none. But I recommend seeking enlightenment naturally, if that's what you're seeking. Also, don't try to apply insights that you receive under the influence of Ayahuasca in the sober state. They don't yield good results in life when you try higher truths from the average mindset. Wisdom is a state of mind, and not a particular insight.

[Ludwig]

@David1

I posted about it on this forum before. There are many types of Ayahuasca which affect you all in a different way.

So here are my experience and recommendations I hope it will help you:

 

 

 

I highly recommend this video up from 1:16:25. It's about drugs and self-realisation. I made the same experiences he describes and i can totally agree.

I used Mushrooms and Ayahuasca. Especially Ayahuasca can turn your whole world view upside down. I could literally see peoples egos, know their life story, see their emotional body etc. I was out of my body which nearly freaked me out, i experienced life as one of my family members, and had long moments (5-6 hours that felt like 10 minutes) in ecstasy.

To some this might sound attractive, scary or worth trying, but i would never recommend it to anyone. If you need to see these things it will anyway happen.

What i want to stress is:

Humans everyday conciousness is in such a way that he is able to survive on this planet in his physical form. What psychadelics like Aya will show you is that there are infinite levels of conciousness that can perceive this world. So you can meet anything possible, talk to holy beings in the realm of gods or whatever. But you can never expect such things, Aya shows you only the stuff you are capable of handling. It confronts you directly with all your suppressed subconcious AND the collective unconcious of the world. This might for many people be more painful and frightening than they could ever imagine.

 

For those whose calling it is to experience these realms i want to give some advice. Please take it deep into your heart:

• You need to have done quite some work on yourself, you have to be comfortable with yourself alone (some spiritual maturity)
• It has nothing to do with enlightenment - enlightenment is NOT a state of mind
• SETTING is MOST important (it should be a complete fearless environment, you should trust the shaman and the crew around 100%!, workshop should be at minimum 3-4 days)
• Whatever happens during the ceremony (it can seem that you will die!) DON'T resist, no resistance at all, LOVE EVERYTHING!! that comes up
• Don't do it unless you can't do otherwise

 

 

[David1]

7 hours ago, Dhana Choko said:

What do you think you will get from this experience with Ayahuasca? Why do you want to travel this far to experience it?

I think i will get a deeper insight in my own mind and behaviour. I have experience with psilocybin mushrooms and those experiences are the reason i'm on a self developement path now. It helped me alot in the past, and because of people like Graham Hancock, Terence Mckenna...i'm curious about DMT and ayahusca. I want to travel that far, first of all because i think the jungle is the natural setting for ayahusca, and i know how important setting is when taking psychedelics, and secondly because i like to travel and South America is 'terra incognito' for me.

 

6 hours ago, Emerald Wilkins said:

I haven't been to an Ayahuasca retreat but I've tried it twice. I have two bits of advice. Number one, make sure the shaman you do the Ayahuasca retreat with is legitimate. There have been some shady shamans giving quasi-poisonous plants in their Ayahuasca mixes like Toe. There have been reports of deaths and even rapes while under the influence. So, make sure you research the retreat well. Remember that shamans are regular people too.

Thanks for the advice :). I've read your previous posts. I'm very aware, and concerned, about  the importance of the shaman. And the precence of other people. Because of previous bad experiences i had, i don't like other people around while under the influence of psychedelics. How did it go with you? Were there other people around?

 

7 hours ago, Emerald Wilkins said:

Also, don't try to apply insights that you receive under the influence of Ayahuasca in the sober state.

I don't get what you mean by this. The whole point for me is, to use the insights i get to improve my life. To become aware of certain behaviours and beliefs that are not serving me, and to change them. Maybe you mean relegious or spiritual insights? Well, i learned to shut up about them. Because, well you know...

[Emerald]

1 hour ago, David1 said:

Thanks for the advice :). I've read your previous posts. I'm very aware, and concerned, about  the importance of the shaman. And the precence of other people. Because of previous bad experiences i had, i don't like other people around while under the influence of psychedelics. How did it go with you? Were there other people around?

The first time I did it was when I was 20. I had never tried psychedelics and had always been curious. My then boyfriend was a big stoner guy, and loved going to head shops. One day he was there and he picked up the ingredients which were at the time legal to possess. So, I did it with him, my friend Andrew, and his little brother Aaron. I expected to see funny colors and things like that, but I got far more than I bargained for. My ego dissolved, and I was at one with all of existence. I loved myself for the first time ever, not even realizing the degree to which I had hated myself all my life. Death was no longer scary because I realized that it was an illusion and part of a beautiful cycle.

The second time, 5 months later, life was giving me some real lemons. So, I did it once more as an escape than a recreational experience. The second time, many insights for where my life needed to go popped up. I realized how much I was sacrificing to keep the relationship alive, and to fit the persona that I'd come to identify myself with. I also, ironically, realized that I didn't like marijuana. I belonged for years to weed culture and it was a big part of my identity, but I didn't really ever like it. I was so out of touch with myself that I didn't even know. I was at a party but locked myself in the bathroom to enjoy alone time, where I could really focus on the insights.

Both were over-whelmingly positive experiences.

1 hour ago, David1 said:

I don't get what you mean by this. The whole point for me is, to use the insights i get to improve my life. To become aware of certain behaviours and beliefs that are not serving me, and to change them. Maybe you mean relegious or spiritual insights? Well, i learned to shut up about them. Because, well you know...

The problem is that the insights don't translate well to the current paradigm. For example, I had an insight that everything was one thing and there was this pervasive feeling of unconditional love because there was nothing that wasn't me. So, I thought after the experience was done, let me replicate this by applying this wisdom to my life. I sought to have no boundaries. But this is dangerous if applied in this way. A person needs strong boundaries to be happy and safe. But I was trying to translate the higher wisdom in the way that I was used to applying knowledge: abstractly, rationally, externally, etc.

Another one was that I realized that my strivings for success and significance were all feeble attempts by the ego to outrun the reaper. I was trading my present moment for a legacy. To preserve my self-image was more important to me than living my life. So, I became torn between trying to do well and self-actualize (which had always been my MO before) and trying to live in tune with the insights that I had received which seemed to contradict self-actualization. My grades dropped and I got very bad feelings toward my work ethic and achievement oriented nature (which were always great strengths of mine. I thought that they were wrong.

So, I became resistant to achieving and having boundaries. So, I still wanted significance, even thought I didn't when I had the experience. So, I began unconsciously valuing myself primarily on lower-consciousness things like looks, male attention, and sex appeal. The higher outlet of self-actualization had been closed off, so the significance had to be achieved in some other way. So, instead of riding the wave of life, I got overtaken by it and my life sort of veered off-course.

So, applying the insights this way, actually decreased the quality of life and derailed my every-day wisdom because I was trying to replicate the experience by applying the insights.

[werlight]

I have never taken drugs so I cant add any valuable insights on the subject.

 I do however relate to the "wanting to replicate the experience" thing.

These experiences are so powerful and so breathtaking that is normal and understandable that you would want to replicate them.

With time I learned that trying to replicate an experience is actually a form of resistance. You resist what is. My advice would be to try to remain as present as posible.

Stay in the now Emerald ! Thats the only place you can find what you are looking for.

[werlight]

I would just add that Love is a very powerful natural drug. It will take you to enlightment and it will heal you !

[David1]

After doing some research, i've decided to do a shorter retreat in The Netherlands first. Much closer to home and probably more safe.

[cetus]

@David1 Why must one travel to arrive?

[David1]

@cetus56 not to arrive...to be under way

[cetus]

@David1 Are you familiar with Carlos Castaneda?

[David1]

@cetus56 No, never read anything by him. Any recommendations?

[cetus]

11 hours ago, David1 said:

@cetus56 No, never read anything by him. Any recommendations?

@David1

 

[Psychonaut]

Why go to all the trouble of going to a retreat when you can just have the stuff @ home with some of your buddies?

[David1]

27 minutes ago, Psychonaut said:

Why go to all the trouble of going to a retreat when you can just have the stuff @ home with some of your buddies?

İ've had some bad experiences in the past, doing psychedelics with friends. İ can understand taking a recreational dose with buddies, but for the real deal, i prefer to do them 'the Mckenna way', or at least with people who know how to handle a person under the influence of psychedelics.

[Psychonaut]

@David1 What could possibly go wrong? 

I haven't had any bad/negative experiences with psychedelics yet. 

Can't you just do it on your own? Don't you just kind of turn into a potato after taking DMT - unable to move?

[David1]

1 hour ago, Psychonaut said:

What could possibly go wrong? 

Yeah, a whole range of things can go wrong. Sometimes people can (unwillingly) trigger a bad trip. It can be very small things like saying something that gets misinterpreted, trying to engage in conversation at the wrong time, putting on the wrong music or just giving off a bad vibe.

1 hour ago, Psychonaut said:

Can't you just do it on your own? Don't you just kind of turn into a potato after taking DMT - unable to move?

I'm not going to take an unfamiliar substance for the first time alone...Ayahuasca is very different than smoking DMT as i understand. I've read some DMT reports and it sounds more like a salvia trip to me. It only lasts 10-15 min. I've never done it though. I did do salvia a few times, and that is most certainly not something you want to do alone. The ego loss comes on so fast that i had the tendency to panic. It's very dissociative...not for me.

[cetus]

1 hour ago, David1 said:

Yeah, a whole range of things can go wrong. Sometimes people can (unwillingly) trigger a bad trip. It can be very small things like saying something that gets misinterpreted, trying to engage in conversation at the wrong time, putting on the wrong music or just giving off a bad vibe.

I'm not going to take an unfamiliar substance for the first time alone...Ayahuasca is very different than smoking DMT as i understand. I've read some DMT reports and it sounds more like a salvia trip to me. It only lasts 10-15 min. I've never done it though. I did do salvia a few times, and that is most certainly not something you want to do alone. The ego loss comes on so fast that i had the tendency to panic. It's very dissociative...not for me.

Hi David. I'm no expert on this by any means but reading that you have the tendency to panic at sudden ego loss, be careful. From what I've read this stuff is some strong medicine. Be ready to let everything go. And I mean EVERYTHING! Any resistance will only bring torment as you know. My advice is get yourself prepared. Lots of mental preparation of that all important, letting go. Practice ego death now on your own terms. Over and over until nothing remains.