• Setting and Reinforcing Intentions

Setting clear intentions for your ayahuasca experience can make the difference between a meaningful and wasted or, worse, harrowing journey. Intentions are an important tool for navigating the landscapes ayahuasca can open up for you — they can serve to reel you back in if you get lost while wandering the ineffable, as well as to deepen the insight and lessons you receive from the medicine.

Setting your intentions means defining what you hope ayahuasca can help you achieve or understand. They don’t need to be elaborate or grandiose; all they should be are deeply personal, genuine queries that embody the purpose of your ayahuasca journey.

Once you have settled on one or more intentions, devote some time in the days leading up to the ayahuasca ceremony to reflect on them so they would more easily follow you to the other side. You may choose to meditate on them during the mindfulness-cultivating activities in your process of unwinding.

Once you drink, remind yourself why you’re setting off on this journey, and do your best to bring your intentions to Mother Ayahuasca without expectations or pressure and with honesty, humility, curiosity, and a readiness to learn and change.

Personal Preparation

Every retreat center or ceremony organizer should provide you with a list of things you should bring to the ceremony. These usually include a water bottle, a headlamp with a red light option, an eye mask, a journal, etc.

You’re also encouraged to bring any meaningful personal items — mementos, trinkets, effigies, images, crystals, or whatever else brings you grounding, strength, or clarity.

On the day of the ceremony, you’d best have only a light meal or two in order to minimize the body load of the medicine. You should avoid eating at least 4-6h before drinking.

Dress comfortably in loose, non-restrictive clothing. In many Amazonian traditions, white or light clothes are believed to attract positive energies.

Incorporating the above ayahuasca prep steps can contribute to a safer, more meaningful, and more transformative ayahuasca experience. Approaching Mother Ayahuasca with respect, mindfulness, and a commitment to personal growth and healing should go a long way in your comfort during the ceremony and the value you receive from your journey.

Ayahuasca Ceremony

While facilitation styles can vary greatly according to the guide’s lineage or training, the different medicines or healing modalities they practice, and the system of beliefs they subscribe to, we’ll attempt to outline some common aspects of contemporary ayahuasca ceremonies.

So, before you type up “ayahuasca ceremony near me” into your preferred search engine, make sure to read the following section so you’d know what you’d be getting yourself into.

The Ceremony Setting

In South America, ayahuasca ceremonies typically unfold within a specially crafted wooden cabin, known as a “maloca.” This structure is typically designed for communal gatherings, so it’s spacious enough to accommodate a dozen or more people. It may or may not have walls.

Participants are normally arranged in a circle along the interior of the maloca, ensuring that there is ample space between everyone to allow for undisturbed energy fields. Futons or mattresses and purging buckets are typically provided for each participant.

Since the ceremonies are usually held at nighttime, it’s important to be aware of a clear route to the toilet. In order to move about during the ceremony without disturbing others, it’s advisable to bring a flashlight or headlamp with a red light option. The use of cell phones and their flashes is discouraged.

The Ceremony Guide

The shaman or facilitator is typically positioned in the center of the ceremonial space. Their attire might be adorned with a variety of traditional accessories that hold spiritual significance in the lineage they are trained in.

They commonly wield a chakapa, which is a bundle of dried leaves used for cleansing rituals and during the chanting of sacred songs, icaros. Some shamans keep an altar where items of spiritual importance are arranged. If you bring a small, meaningful item to the ceremony, you may contribute it to the altar.

Pre-Brew Cleansings

Before the ayahuasca is served, the shaman or facilitator typically conducts initial cleansing and preparatory rituals. These rituals frequently involve the use of Amazonian tobacco — mapacho — as many indigenous belief systems regard tobacco as a Master Plant teacher with powerful protective properties and a strong connection to other Master Plants such as ayahuasca.

The energy of the spirit of tobacco is harnessed in various healing ceremonies. The most common method of using tobacco involves blowing its smoke over or into the participant’s head and body, a practice known as sopla. This is a fundamental tool in the shaman’s healing repertoire.

Sopla isn’t limited to tobacco; depending on the intention, it’s also employed with other tools such as agua de florida (floral water), agua ardiente (homemade liquor), thimolina (mouthwash) or Creolina (disinfectant).

An increasingly common practice is using a powdered preparation made from tobacco, tree ash, and a variety of healing or aromatic herbs, called rapé or hapé.

This snuff is blown into the participants’ nostrils using a large blowpipe called a tepi. Initially, this induces lightheadedness, tearing of the eyes, and a choking sensation, but these effects subside swiftly, leaving a sense of clarity and peace.

Drinking the Brew

Once participants have undergone cleansing, the drinking of ayahuasca begins. The shaman usually initiates this step by offering a short prayer over the bottle of brew, establishing contact with Mother Ayahuasca, and seeking permission and protection for the ceremony.

Participants are then individually invited to approach and take their servings. Experienced shamans can often intuit how much brew to pour for each person, and everyone is advised to stick with that dose for a good while before asking for seconds.

Before drinking, you are encouraged to show respect to Mother Ayahuasca by meditating briefly on your intentions and humbly asking for well-being and insight rather than consuming the brew hastily.

In some ceremonies, all participants drink from the same cup or shot glass, so if you have concerns about hygiene, you might want to bring your own cup or request another one.

Setting Sails

After drinking, participants return to their spots, the lights are dimmed, and silence descends on the space as the mareación (intoxicating effect) is welcomed in.

Initially, participants commonly experience physiological changes, including an increased heart rate, fluctuating body temperature, sweatiness or tingling in the extremities, and subtle nausea.

These sensations may evoke a feeling of anxiety, especially for those unaccustomed to the profound bodily effects of ayahuasca. Surrendering to the experience, letting go of any fearful thoughts, and embracing the journey with openness is encouraged at this point.

Flowing with the Waves

Purging in the group typically signals that Mother Ayahuasca has arrived. If you are a first-timer, the visceral nature of this sound may startle you as it can be quite more aggressive of an expulsion than any vomiting you might have heard before.

Over time, you may become accustomed to the sound, and may even start enjoying the unique closed-eye synesthetic visuals they can cause. If your turn comes to purge (and not everyone does), don’t fear it or try to suppress it — purging will help expel your toxins and leave you feeling cleansed and relieved afterward.

As the effects intensify, some participants may express their inner states in different ways. Emotional releases can involve moans of pleasure, sobs of sorrow, childlike laughter, or sighs of remorse. These expressions can be viewed as energetic offerings sent out by individual participants, contributing to the energetic space that the shaman oversees.

The Guide’s Spaceholding

The ceremony shaman or facilitator manages this collective experience by harnessing the power of their spiritual allies. They chant prayers, perform cleansings, shake the chakapa, and sing sacred icaros, songs bestowed upon them by the plant spirits which they commune with during their shamanic training.

Icaros are powerful, magical melodies which, during the mareación, can feel like they open portals to different realms, weaving together a blueprint of a multiverse that participants can explore. They can also serve as an anchor, guiding back the souls of the drinkers to the shaman’s protected space if they wander too deep into darker spiritual realms.

Additional Servings

After several waves of ayahuasca visions and spiritual journeying, the shaman may offer additional doses to those who desire a deeper experience or those who have not felt much effect.

Ayahuasca first-timers are advised to resist the temptation to consume more, even if what they had experienced was minimal. Trusting the shaman’s judgment in estimating the appropriate dose could be wiser than attempting to fulfill their expectations of the journey with a second dose — this can lead to a compounded, overwhelming, and potentially darker experience.

Not reaching some desired level of ayahuasca visions or insights during a session does not mean that nothing had occurred; sometimes, ayahuasca works subtly in the background, clearing space for future, more profound experiences.

The Final Cleanse

As the collective mareación dissolves, the shaman may individually invite each participant for a deeper cleansing. Once ayahuasca has coursed through the body and reconfigured the soul of the drinker, the curandero can more easily locate and remove any blockages and negative energies.

This process, known as chupa, entails extracting these energies by ‘sucking’ them out. Like sopla, this is one of the breath-rooted techniques shamans commonly employ for cleansings. If conducted properly, it may feel like a heavy burden has been extracted and dispelled into oblivion.

The Decompression

Following the final cleanse, the participants are typically dismissed. The heightened sensitivity to light that ayahuasca affords its drinkers allows them to perceive an awe-inspiring abundance of stars in a clear night’s sky. This presents an opportunity for a short respite and gentle contemplation on what had just transpired.

Unlike the aftermath of some other psychedelics, falling asleep after an ayahuasca journey is usually effortless. The body is fatigued, the mind is drained, and the consciousness gently drifts away into vivid and intense dreams, which may feel like the extension of the ayahuasca visions experienced during the ceremony.

Is Ayahuasca Legal?

The legal status of ayahuasca is complex and varies significantly from country to country; regulations and their enforcement can differ even among different regions of a single country.

The question of ayahuasca legality comes down to the legality of the ayahuasca tea and the ingredients themselves. Here are some important notes to help unravel this complicated topic:

• The harmala alkaloids in the ayahuasca vine have only mild psychoactive effects and are rarely scheduled substances; the vine itself is also not illegal in most countries;
• DMT is, thus, the main ‘contentious’ element of ayahuasca, and it’s a scheduled substance in much of the world;
• However, the DMT-containing plants themselves are mostly not illegal;
• Although, any preparation of DMT plants, including the extraction of DMT, are considered illegal in most countries;
• The brewing or possession of the ayahuasca tea also implies an intention to consume DMT, and is therefore considered illegal in most of the world.