Integration, I am you and you are me

Ayahuasca Cusco – Everyone has a different reason for coming to Peru to experience Ayahuasca, San Pedro and other sacred plant medicines. Some of us need to overcome trauma, free ourselves from bad habits, go deeper spiritually, heal diseases and ailments or find new inspiration. Our practice is in using the plants mother nature intended for our use to heal mind, body and spirit.

Participants want to know how to integrate the medicines, because what it is the point in coming all the way and such a huge undertaking if you go return to your old ways?

This is a common question we receive from our retreat goers here at Shamanic Vida. With Ayahuasca, any imbalances conscious or unconscious rest assured will be brought up for examination by the medicine. This tends to confront our ego and leave it feeling uncomfortable sometimes, no matter how life-changing the experience was.

Here is where the San Pedro comes in. It highlights and restores our truths for us, brings a halo of gratefulness into our lives. We remember to be with our friends and families, the ancestors and parents from which we were created, be grateful for the meals we easily eat, the house we live in and more. The teachings of San Pedro integrate themselves naturally over a long period of time. By doing San Pedro with your ayahuasca retreat in Cusco, the ayahuasca teachings become more concreted into your consciousness. 

These two plants together lock-in your ability to carry the momentum forward and make the changes you were encouraged to make.

Transmit the understanding the you in Peru and the you in your home country, are the same person. Respect yourself and your body throughout the process, just like we do here at our retreat center, this helps keep the glow and makes integration far easier.

Trust the unknown, discover, be humble, forgive, celebrate, and love. The medicine shows us the universe and we are all one, so treat life this way.

“Lak’ech Ala K’in” – Mayan: I am you and you are me.

Comparing States of Mind

Ayahuasca Cusco – Anthropologists have often compared shamanic states to yogic states and buddhist meditation states, as the same. While they do have similarities, it is a sad superficial comparison. The shamanic state we will be talking about is strictly the ayahuasca state.

Yogic states are focused on having a still mind connected to a breath. It is attained by extreme inward focus. The outside world and one’s body will no longer exist. This inward state is where the yogi becomes established in their essential nature.

In Buddhism, particularly the practice of Vipassana, one focuses on becoming aware. Every grain and granule are examined, both inside and outside of oneself. This heightens one’s senses and awareness, helping rid one of distractions from the outside world.

During a shaman’s journey with ayahuasca they are in a controlled ecstasy experience. They find themselves in many worlds at once, never losing their sense of self. In this state they have an abundance of energy and sing icaros to connect to the outer dimensions. In the ayahuasca journey, they are less aware of the present world, but able to come in and out of their altered states of consciousness. They are the only state to experience a true ecstasy through out of body experience.

Yogis and Buddhists do not have out of body experience, but rather an inward bliss known as samadhi or in buddhism’s case remarkable levels of perceptual sensitivity. They are unlikely to communicate because they could lose their concentration. The energy they have decreases to bring on a state of calm, the exact opposite of a shamanic state.

At our center for ayahuasca in Cusco, we are focused on both buddhist meditation states and shamanic journeying. However, we recommend practice using any technique either yogic or buddhist. Along with the teachings of the plant medicines. They are a great aid in personal transformations and transcendence both at the center and your home.

Do we choose earth?

An uncertain territory, which is semi-common among experienced ayahuasca drinkers, is the theory that – we choose to come to earth. First, for this to begin to make sense we must already believe in spirits and reincarnations or the possibility of.

In these ayahuasca interdimensional travels, what is talked about most often are a council of spirit guides and a pre-birth plan. In this theory the council of spirit guides helps decide which pre-birth life plan will be the most beneficial for our inner growth.

The idea does vary slightly from person to person from their ayahuasca journey, maybe there are one or a few spirit guides or twelve. Overwhelmingly the understanding is, it was our life, our choice to come here.

Once the birth plan is put into place we forget who we truly are, our goals for coming to earth and the plan set in place. When people begin to experience life on a higher plane they become aware of this plan. Many seek out the help of mediums after their ayahuasca ceremonies to continue this communication with the spirits.

Fully living out our plan could be seen as just simply living your life to the fullest, what we often call finding your path in ayahuasca ceremonies. The theory is an interesting backdrop to the ideas we put into motion by beginning such a large spiritual re-construction.

Ayahuasca could be a catalyst to helping you remember your pathway, the reason you chose to come to earth. It is a new perspective on an old story. Anyone is free to believe that which resonates with them.

Here is an interesting video on the subject with Robert Schwartz

Books on building relationships with plant spirits

Ayahuasca Books – We want you to be able to continue your way on the new spiritual path you are walking after your retreat. If you find yourself enthralled with the experience and yearn to learn more read, find your niche in this realm and dig deeper into your being, into the plant spirits beings, other dimensions and more. See how far you can get and do not forget to come back, implement your new ideas and communicate with us what you learned. Our list is somewhat short and sweet, it is in no particular order our scratch pad from a meeting, let us know if we are missing any essentials!

  • Tibetan Book of the Dead by Graham Coleman
  • Fingerprints of the Gods by Graham Handcock
  • The Secret Teachings of Plants by Stephen Harrod Buhner
  • The Field by Lynne McTaggart
  • The Earth Has a Soul by CG Jung
  • Plant Spirit Healing by Pam Montgomery
  • Sacred Plant Medicine: The Wisdom in Native American Herbalism by Stephen Harrod Buhner
  • The Great Cosmic Mother: Rediscovering the Religion of the Earth by Monica Sjoo
  • Plant Spirit Medicine: A Journey into the Healing Wisdom of Plants by Eliot Cowan
  • Inner Paths to Outer Space by Rick Strassman
  • The Way of the Shaman by Michael Harner
  • The Cosmic Serpent by Jeremy Narby
  • The Secret Life of Plants by Peter Tomkins
  • Foods of the Gods by Terence McKenna
  • DMT the Spirit Molecule by Rick Strassman

Can we really heal ourselves?

Ayahuasca Cusco – In modern day societies we have been programed at the first sign of sickness to run to a doctor and from there to a pharmacy. What if we told you, you are your own very best doctor, shaman or healer?

Mother Earth has provided humans with everything needed from the beginning of time to eat, evolve and heal. When you take ayahuasca as a cure you are taking part in healing yourself. This grand undertaking is the first step in a lifelong understanding of your own innate powers. You understand the factors and multiples involved in your sickness better than any Doctors. From everyday nutrition to psychological factors and spiritual vacancies, our understanding is that any of these can greatly affect your wellbeing. It is a balance only you know how to fix, by letting go of relationships that no longer serve you, eating clean energy foods, exercising your body and partaking in ceremonies, as an example of the actions taken.

Modern day society has left behind spirituality and it has caused an imbalance. Spirituality is an essential part of being human, without spirituality we have a house with an empty room, while the other rooms are overfilled with unnecessary items. Your house is your body, your mind and your spirit. Only you can tell where you are inadequate and restore balance to your house.

Once you understand balance you may begin to understand how to heal yourself and maybe move on to healing others, such as the people you love and care about. Eat your way to health and if you run into extreme disequilibrium there are plants to aid your recovery and restore the natural harmony of your system.