Ayahuasca, also known as Yagé or Nishi Cobin, is a hallucinogenic plant that is used to create the drink used by Amazonian indigenous peoples. The belief is that by drinking it, spiritual consciousness can be raised by the visions experienced. The brave who live them describe them as “spiritual journeys”.
This drink is known for its age and consumption in South America, in the Amazon. For Europeans it is considered a drug, but for some scientists, it is a promising answer to combat depression. The key has its historical precedent, thanks to the fact that in cultures such as those of Venezuela, Peru, Colombia, Brazil and Bolivia it is used in shamanic or healing rituals.
These rituals allude to a spiritual connection through the visions and hallucinations that are lived, so that negative experiences, for example, allow the senses to integrate into a new, clearer context to improve the present. Everyone who consumes it is accompanied by a trained shaman.
The preparation
“Before taking ayahuasca there must be a preparation; That should be known to all those interested in trying it. You should avoid eating beef or pork, avoid intoxicants such as alcohol, drugs and allopathic medicines, and above all, stop sexual activity between 3 and 5 days. Already on the day of the ceremony, not having eaten between 6 and 8 hours,” said Guillermo Ruiz, from the Ayahuasca Group.
Ayahuasca and its different uses
The search for the therapeutic use of this plant has focused on finding neuropathologies related to depression and anxiety. However, those who now carry out this type of guides and focus more on their spiritual virtue, taking participants to points in their lives that they may not want to remember.
“To take ayahuasca there must be an important motivation, also have a willingness to touch sensitive issues in your life both for the direction you want to take and the willingness to go to those painful places; Maybe that way it will be easier to turn them around in daily life,” said Guillermo Ruiz.
What is sought to be obtained is the psychometric scale before and after the ceremony, to review the changes in the mood of the people. It is stated that whoever drinks the substance maintains a clear conscience and certainly knows that what they experienced is the effect of the ingested ayahuasca.
A stabilizing effect
“The energetic aspects that move during a ceremony with ayahuasca will stabilize in a better way if everything that has to do with the ceremony is respected. Sometimes the feeling is so beautiful that we say we don’t want this to end, but everything will try to put what we have learned into practice,” said Ruiz.
Thus, drinking ayahuasca is like entering an underworld of introspective visions. This may give a more open picture of the antidepressant and anti-anxiety effects that are hidden behind the ceremonial process.