Category: Ailments
Could ayahuasca cause me to have a mental illness?
Ayahuasca Cusco – There is a plethora of misinformation out there about whether ayahuasca can cause mental illness. Ever since the 1960/70s the image of a person with psychosis from taking far too many psychedelics has been practically burned into our brains.
What good is this fear mongering, but to keep people from a truly life changing session!
A group with known long term use of ayahuasca, known as Santo Daime, were studied over a ten year period. They regularly ingest ayahuasca. What the scientists at ICEERS found was the members are more well balanced and happier than most people.
So do not let your social conditioning deter you from an ayahuasca therapy here in Cusco that could change your life.
Honesty is paramount for coming to take ayahuasca in Cusco or anywhere for that matter. If you have suffered from mental illnesses in the past, you must consult with our team. Be sure to fill out the safety questionnaire properly as an added precaution.
It is important to note here – if you do suffer from schizophrenia, you may not take ayahuasca. For those with bipolar disorders it is important to discuss with us which level of bipolar you are and what medications you are taking. Then with written permission from your psychologist you may come to take ayahuasca, once you have tapered off your medication.
Cutting Energy Cords
All relationships in life have energy cords attached to them. Connecting between chakras, they can be the circumfrence of a finger or as wide as a bowl. Your first energy cords are with your parents and immediate family. As we grow older we form our own relationships outside of the family, first with friends and then with intimate partners. In any healthly relationship, the exchange of energy between partners is equal.
When relationships go astray, it is important to heal the wound of the energy cord. Cords which must be pulled out or mended are normally failed romantic relationships or marriages. By not recieving energy in the relationship and giving energy, one partner will have a deficiency. If the cord is not cut and healed it will continue leaking energy and take longer to heal or may never. Leaving a broken energy cord can cause weakness in ones auric field. Then one may attract the same pattern again, only starting with weaker energy and less to give.
We use energy healing techniques, meditations, ayahuasca, san pedro and other herbs such as yarrow root to help heal energy cords.
When is it appropriate for energy to be cleaned up between people instead of cut? Lets say you had a mutual agreement and are now friends with your ex. Because energy chords are connected between the chakras, it would be okay to have cords between the heart chakra, but not the second chakra where sexual energy and desires are found. So only one cord would be severed and healed. In dealing with difficult family, plant healers, shamans, herbalists, energy workers will tell you, it is necessary to clean up the energy cords, but not to sever them.
Why you may ask? Because it is believed that cutting energy cords creates karma, and if not dealt with in this life you will carry it into the next life and have to deal with it then…
This does not mean you have to have this person in your life, but that your relationship and emotions toward them are healthly for YOU. Often in these more difficult situations between family we call on the power of ayahuasca to help heal you and teach appropriate boundaries.
You may have guessed this, but I will say it anyways, with the power of plants and a shaman you can heal your energy cords. A shaman or energy healer will notice you have damaged cords right away. BUT SO DO YOU!! When we ask participants about a cord needing to be cut, they most always know exactly what we are talking about!
It may seem a little far fetched for some. Have faith in the process and keep your intention, you could be quite suprised at the results. We work with an invisible life force energy and it is not always easy to explain or prove it works, but it does. Our ayahuasca retreats are a safe place to begin healing your past and learning new techniques of meditation and energy healing for setting healthly boundaries in the future.
What shamans do.
Chances are you have taken part in or observed through television a shamanic practice at some point in your life. Depending if it was a documentary or cartoon your original viewpoints on shamanism will be varied. As it resurfaces in our modern times, we must reiterate what it is shamans do. This practice known all over the world is said to have begun in Asia over 40,000 years ago, however there is evidence of shamanism in paleolithic sites throughout Europe, Africa and Australia. This means even though there is not a specfic point of origin in shamanic practices, the common themes we see are not cultural, but practical. Shamanic practice has some to do with traits and more so is founded throughout cultures on the healing practices of psychobiology and the immunological system.
Make it to the end and see the list of common ailments treated by shamanism!
Illness in shamanic belief is linked to your psycology. This means you have the power along with a shaman to restore your health through finding equlibrium in your body, mind and spirit. At all of our ayahuasca retreats and the san pedro retreats, this is the most important factor, your extraordinary effort to let the shamans be your guides and help restore your health. In Peru, shamans are always relating the importance of intention, your intention along with the intention of the shaman in any ceremony is key. Whether the shamanic ceremony be in Peru, Bali, Mongolia or India.
When you participate in a ceremony you are bringing energy to the shaman and asking them to help heal through this holistic medicine. It takes a certain level of faith or spiritual interest. By using life force energy and a few key tools, the shaman helps resurface repressed memories, feelings of depression, anxiety, compulsive disorders and more. In ceremonies shamans have instruments to heighten your senses and activate chemicals in your brain, through taste, smell and touch. Shamans in Peru use plants, feathers, tobacco smoke, song, music and perfumes as their tools. It can be summed up as a performance art, but anyone who has experienced a true shamanic healing session knows it goes much further than this. In other posts, we will talk about spirit realms, animal guides, cosmological beliefs and the 8th chakra, the shamans chakra.
Do not forget, there is science behind the chants of shamans! The rattles and drumming used to bring about a state of trance and elict these repressed memories create endorphins. Endorphins are released in the human brain during these sessions. These chemicals activated naturally in your brain decrease pain and anxiety, and increase joy, with long lasting effects. They are noted by pharmacologists to be as effective as valium in their tranquilizing effects. It has been said, and you can quote me on this, that a shamans client who reinacts their repressed memory through a healing session, 80% will be healed. In a psychiatrists office, through art, talk, draw, or paint therapy, success rates are only 30%. – Raymond Price The Endorphins
The following are types of significant issues often healed by shamanic journeying. Ayahuasca retreats are relevant to all of these and San Pedro (Huachuma) will be marked for the ailments it best treats.
- Depression (San Pedro)
- Loss and grief (San Pedro)
- Trauma and shock
- Addiction
- Abuse (sexual, physical and emotional)
- Anxieties (San Pedro is especially helpful here.)
- Compulsive disorders
- Important life transitions and decisions (San Pedro)
- Connecting with loved ones and ancestors
- Clarification of your life purpose (San Pedro)
Healing trauma and PTSD with ayahuasca
Ayahuasca Cusco – Shamans call trauma susto and the treatment for susto is always ayahuasca. We have evolved with safety mechanisms in our minds to block us from harm. Memories can be harmful, however if we do not remember or try not to, we believe painful memories cannot hurt us. The opposite is true.
When you block out memories you are blocking out a part of the understanding of what makes you the person you are today. Maybe you have a nervous tick you do not know why. Maybe you get upset, have outbursts and do not know why. Any behavior that seems uncalled for and uncontrollable is a possible repressed memory. In order to stop these behaviors it is necessary to face them head on.
Years of therapy can only begin to do what ayahuasca can do in a few sessions.
Ayahuasca works where memories are stored. To put it simply ayahuasca helps your brain make new connections with those memories, but it does not erase the memories. It rewires your brain and instead of activating your emotional outburst, you recognize your trigger moment and let it pass. Sometimes we face unpleasant memories and come out with a better understanding of ourselves, forgiveness where we thought there could be none, but most importantly peace of mind.
If you are interested in taking ayahuasca to cleanse yourself from childhood trauma we highly recommend you do. We provide a supportive safe environment for anyone who has been traumatized.
Implementing ayurvedic practices
Ayahuasca diet recommendation is an essential part to any retreat. Many people leave their ayahuasca ceremonies with a new appreciation for the temple they have been given in this life, their body. Your body is the vessel where your beaming spirit materializes under proper care. Ayurveda is not about having the “best” physical body, but having a balanced system.
During retreats the entire mind, body and spirit are reset using ayahuasca. This is a strong cleanse of the system and not to be continuously repeated. After an ayahuasca journey, you understand you are what you eat and in order to maintain the balance you must be conscientious.
Ayurveda teaches everything consumed is converted into energy and by eating clean energies you emit a stable energy free of anxieties, depressions, angers, compulsive disorders and more.
Did you know eating copious amounts of hot sauce, peppers or high fructose corn syrups can cause anger issues? There are different recommendable foods for the different body types Vata, Pitta and Kapha.
During our ayahuasca retreats we are able to answer any questions you have on finding your ayurvedic type and what clean foods you can begin eating. The more time you spend eating healthy the better the teachings of the medicine and the balance you achieved will be concreted into your physical and spiritual self.