Safe Ayahuasca Ceremony
Private ayahuasca ceremony
Last week someone asked me why I felt my retreat was a good option for them. The first thing that came to me was that I feel wholeheartedly that I can say we provide a safe ayahuasca ceremony experience. Regardless of the intention, but especially when someone is coming to heal deep traumas, a safe ayahuasca ceremony is incredibly important. This is what that safety means to me.
It beings with the way our medicine is prepared. Our medicine comes from the the Cofán community in the Putumayo jungle of Colombia. It’s prepared by the hands of the Taita (elder) we call the Master Chef – Taita Alirio. It is a sacred process that takes place with the utmost respect. Those that are involved follow a strict dieta, including a sexual dieta to ensure they are a clear channel and their energy is as safeguarded as can be. The space where the medicine is prepared is restricted to only those involved in the process. Not only that, but the community places a big emphasis on being in right relationship with mother nature, so they are consistently investing in giving back to nature what she gifts us, and replanting more Ayahuasca so that it can continue to grow and thrive. I think it’s very special that the medicine is prepared by those who live in direct communion with nature and from a tradition that spans multiple generations. When we drink Ayahuasca we are communing with the spiritual and energetic realms, and the way the medicine is prepared, the energy it is being infused with, is what we ingest with the brew, so the intentions, process, and energy of those involved in the preparation process are extremely important.
Just as important as who and how the medicine is prepared is the person serving it. I knew I wanted to learn from Mercedes, my teacher and the shaman who serves the medicine during our Ayhuasca retreats and private ayahuasca ceremonies, because I had many opportunities to observe and to feel the way in which she guides ceremonies. Her reverence for the medicine, the healing process, and life itself is so deeply felt. It is felt in the way in which she prepares the space to ensure it is cleansed and ready to receive those who come to sit with the medicine. It is felt in the invocations and prayers offered at the beginning and end of each ceremony. It is felt in the way she calls upon the animal, mineral, and vegetal kingdoms for our protection at the start of each ceremony. Her relationship with the spiritual is something that cannot be described, it can only be felt. It’s her embodiment of gratitude and respect for life that allowed me to feel safe placing my life in her hands and trusting her as my guide and my teacher. Not only that, but she spent many years of her life dedicated to her own healing, and it is evident in the ways in which she lives the teachings received from the medicine. This embodied wisdom is something I feel is incredibly important to have in a guide, as it’s very easy for people to speak in ideals and say things that sound wise. It’s a whole other thing to live it.
I feel safe and trust in those that show what they’ve learned not by what they say, but by how they live.
Another element I feel adds to a safe ayahuasca ceremony experience is the number of facilitators available for support. If you’re coming for a private ayahuasca ceremony, there are two facilitators, sometimes even three. For our group retreats with up to six participants, there are 3 to 4 facilitators, meaning that there is always someone available to support you as needed. Whether it’s a hand walking to the bathroom, or someone to be by your side as you’re traversing a challenging moment.
The emphasis we place on care and support is the result of what my teacher has learned from her years of experience working with the medicine and her background and training as a therapist. She knows that the decision to drink Ayahuasca is massively courageous on it’s own. There can be a lot of fear and anxiety involved in the lead up to the ceremony, even when one is fully committed to the decision to drink. I see her putting into practice her understanding of this by providing clear and extensive communication around what to expect throughout the ceremony, the ways in which she can support someone going through a challenging time, and the way she observes and checks in with everyone throughout the experience.
In responding to the person who posed the question, I said that what I can say is that I know our ceremonies are facilitated with a high degree of integrity. It’s not always easy to determine this, but it’s worth putting in the effort to know who is serving your medicine and where it comes from, and those are some of the key factors I consider in what makes for a safe Ayahuasca ceremony