INFORMATIONAL VIDEOS
We put together this video series to provide some basic information and answer frequently asked questions about ayahuasca, retreats, purging, and more. Whether you come to drink with us or not,
we hope you find this helpful!
Why is there so much contradictory information out there? Why are people who have had ayahuasca a few times telling you how it works and giving advice? In this video series, we look beyond the hype and the noise. We cover some basic information about the medicine, debunk a few myths, and offer a grounded perspective about what ayahuasca is really like and who can benefit from it. Far from a miracle cure, an easy button, or "rapid healing", this powerful psychedelic brew is more like a doorway, a classroom, or an opportunity to access a higher perspective.
While movie-like visions can be a part of the experience, the real power of Ayahuasca lies in how it shows us our own minds and life stories in a new way. The medicine offers us an enhanced perspective of events, memories, emotions, relationships, and potential future outcomes...all of which can lead to profound self-awareness and a fresh chapter in life. In this video, we move beyond the visions to talk about what ayahuasca shows us much more often...and how seeing and knowing ourselves in a new way is the true root of its healing potential.
The work begins long before you hold the cup of medicine in your hands and doesn't end when the ceremony is over. Preparation and integration are big words — and involve much more than an "ayahuasca diet". In this video, we discuss how to clean out our bodies and minds in the weeks leading up to a retreat, how to identify and set our intentions, and how to care for ourselves in the days and weeks afterward. We offer some tips, techniques, and a powerful analogy that can help you go deeper with the medicine — and protect yourself once you go home.
With ayahuasca's rise in popularity, the “medicine marketplace" has become a confusing and sometimes dangerous place. There are a lot of people willing to sell you a story and serve you some bad combination of advice, environment, and medicine. Some of these people run very famous and expensive ayahuasca centers! In this video, we share essential tips on what to look out for when you are thinking of joining a ceremony, a retreat, or a master plant dieta. We aren't advocating for a single, best, or most authentic way of drinking ayahuasca. We're only offering words of encouragement and caution to help you find your way. Don't be afraid to explore...and don't be afraid to say no thank you.
The culture and shamanic craft of the Shipibo people developed over countless centuries in relative isolation in the deep jungle. Even as Spanish colonizers and the Catholic church did their best to repress and destroy this mystical and ancient tradition, the Shipibo survived, protected by the vast, inhospitable environment of the Amazon Rainforest. Now, modernization and globalization are presenting new challenges that are reaching every corner of Shipibo life and land. In this video, we discuss why these threats might actually destroy this lineage within a generation...and why we still believe there is hope.
Purging with ayahuasca is way better than it sounds. Working with ayahuasca can be quite uncomfortable for some people for different amounts of time. Nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea are all part of the game...but, it actually feels amazing once you get through it. This deep cleanse of the body and mind is a key component of how ayahuasca works its magic and gives us that profound physical and emotional reset. In this video, we walk you through different types of purging, explain how the mind and body work together to release things, and why there is absolutely nothing to be afraid of.
An ayahuasca experience isn't something that just happens to us — our active participation is more important than commonly understood. During an ayahuasca ceremony we often face things that terrify us or make us extremely angry, sad, or confused. Sometimes we get stuck in a mental or emotional loop. How do we respond in these moments? How do these responses change the course of the journey? In this video, we discuss how and why to move toward difficult things and ask good questions...and how this "shadow work" is one of the keys to deeper learning and understanding.
Let's talk about the double-edged sword of neuroplasticity. When something like ayahuasca gives us a temporary window of enhanced neural plasticity, it is both an amazing opportunity and a risky endeavor. We wish someone had explained this to us fifteen years ago...it would have helped us make smarter decisions and saved us a lot of time, money, and heartache. In this video, we discuss how ayahuasca can give us a life-changing opportunity to rewire our habits, both emotional and physical...but also how we can actually make our habits even worse if we aren't ready to respect the process and do our part.
Jonathan was a shamanism skeptic even after years of drinking ayahuasca. Then some authentic Shipibo maestros forced him to rethink his view of nature and reality. In this video, Jonathan discuss why he was reluctant to believe that some humans could do things that seem to break the laws of physics — and why he is now a devoted apprentice of their tradition. These jungle wizards don't even traditionally use the word shaman and certainly don't think of themselves as wizards. In this video, learn about who the Shipibo are and how their culture developed. Learn about the process that some men and women of their tribe go through to be able to defy our current understanding of time, space, communication, and healing.
Shipibo culture developed for centuries with a psychedelic brew at its core. No surprise then that their art reflects a deep appreciation of patterns that seem to come from beyond this world. In Shipibo lineage, patterns are known to hold information. Patterns can represent or even "be" plants, physical ailments, stories, healing remedies, or the shamanic songs known as icaros. Patterns hold information. Patterns hold power. Everything is vibration. Everything is mind. This is the world of the Shipibo, and it sounds one part animistic and one part quantum physics. Do you sing an icaro or do you see it? In this video, we explain why the Shipibo say it's both and gives an introductory explanation of their famous psychedelic embroidery craft -- Kené.