Last Tuesday I had a truly profound LSD experience with my friend in Bogota. Two days later I am still riding the afterglow of the experience. It came on rather slowly and we laughed and talked to our other friends about girlfriends, love and “let’s see” decisions and were just thankful for the life we are living right now.

We were lucky enough to be offered an Ayahuasca ceremony earlier in the week with a highly respected and recommended shaman from Peru who is currently working in Colombia. We will start the diet next week and have the ceremony Saturday the 31^st of May. Naturally our conversation turned to this ceremony.

For those who don’t know, an Ayahuaca ceremony is a harrowing but utterly profound experience. I had the opportunity to take part in a 3 day ceremony last year. The effects on my life since have lead me to go on this adventure I am currently on, and motivate me to better myself as a human being.

Ayahuasca is an ancient indigenous brew from South America that contains an enzyme inhibiting vine which prevents your stomach from breaking down Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) present in specific leaves in the brew. DMT is a powerful hormone present in the brain as well as much plant life on this earth, it is believed to be responsible for dreaming as well as near death hallucinations in humans.

The experience lasts between 4-7 hours during which time it is not unusual to feel extremely dizzy, watery eyes, fever, and a serious purge caused by nausea and diarrhea. These negative effects are felt almost immediately but the visions can take 20 minutes – 1 hour to start. The visions are incredibly profound and one can experience the feeling of being out of body, turning into or seeing visionary animals even experience a feeling of impending death and sometimes experiencing a feeling people would say feels like actually dying.

I know this does not sound very fun but the introspective, profound effects from this plant are undeniable. It is used to treat anything from depression, trauma, addiction even personal development, for those who are willing and brave enough to take part the effects can be priceless.

Obviously we had some hesitations even fear over the coming ceremony and so we discussed this whilst on LSD. I have been running from comfort afraid of standing still and wanting desperately to grow and become something meaningful, this philosophy of choosing movement as opposed to standing still comes through in a lot of what I write about.

But I asked myself what if I am stuck in a different form of comfort? Maybe the freedom that I thought I had was not real, that yes I was closer but still not completely free. Maybe I am afraid to change this life of hedonism I am living as I travel, maybe I am afraid to care, afraid of the unknown, afraid of consequence, afraid of becoming what I want to become.

The truth is it is scary to take the risks, because even though I trust this ceremony and Ayahuasca like anything there are risks, some irreversible. There are risks in any major life decisions, to give up the security and comfort of what you have, to follow something you are passionate about. There is always this fear of losing where you are in life now.

But then I had a revelation, the person I want to become is infinitely more important than the person I am today. That what I want, what anyone ever really wants is to be better, but we are afraid of going backwards. I asked myself what would I risk to become that person? The answer? Everything.

What I want is a life of adventure, of fun, of happiness, of relationships and real experiences, and for that I have to take risks. Because a life of security and stagnant comfort is a life of regret and to me this is a fate worse than death.

So my friends and I have decided to take part in this ceremony, I am planning on writing a post to share my experience and hopefully inspire others to question their lives and ask how can I be better? That does not mean Ayahuasca is for everyone, although I highly recommend it, it should not be something you take lightly. it is a powerful psychedelic and not getting a trusted Shaman can be dangerous.

I think psychedelic drugs have been unfairly treated, most are relatively safe and they give one the ability to look at their life and the world around them with different eyes. This allows you to put things in perspective and helps show you what is important and understand what you really want from life. I will leave you with this TED talk by Graham Hancock who explains in more detail how these plants have been misunderstood and how they can help you and the societies we all live in.

 

See you on the other side of the Rabbit Hole!

 

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“Everything you want is outside your comfort zone, or you would already have it” – Zan Perrion

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