Self-knowledge with Ayahuasca: the search for healing in nature

“I closed my eyes and saw mandalas flashing in my mind. I opened it and found the sky colored by surprising tones. The palm trees around me danced in the wind. It was the most beautiful scene I have seen in my life.” The story is part of the experience of Priscilla Nagatomoa post-graduate biomedical student at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in São Paulo, during an Ayahuasca ritual in a shamanic temple in São Paulo.

Tea, also known as daime or vegetable, carries mysteries and prejudices. Some say he goes crazy; some compare it to psychedelic drugs. “The origins of tea are in indigenous peoples. Back there, only shamans consumed it. It is the lack of information that makes the judgments happen”, says Flavia Marialeader of the Universalist Temple of Love and Charity Mary Magdalene.

According to legends, the idea of ​​fusing the jagube vine with chacrona leaves to create tea came from an astral journey by a shaman leader. This union represents the coming together of the masculine and feminine principles of nature. “The two energies together make us enter a deep inner journey, as we unite these polarities that live within us”, completes Flávia.

The call

There are countless reasons why people seek Ayahuasca: from self-awareness to resolving emotional issues. “When the pandemic hit, everything I knew changed, and leaving home was not an option. In the midst of loneliness, I realized that I didn’t know myself”, explains Priscila. This reflection brought a painful anxiety. Seeking to overcome this, she resorted to therapy, but continued to be troubled by an emptiness. It was there that her sister-in-law invited her to participate in a ritual. “I looked for information in scientific research. At first, I didn’t accept it. A month later, I had another crisis. That scared me more than the possibility of drinking the tea.”

His first Ayahuasca ritual was outdoors, in a meditative state. The reported visions brought him a sense of optimism, lightness and affection.🇧🇷 “Witnessing the beauty and harmony of nature made me grateful to be alive.” Enchantment, calm and emotional reflections helped her in the transformation process. “You are not going to solve your life in a ritual, but it can be an important first step”, says the biomedical doctor, who today does psychological follow-up and participates in occasional sessions.

The ritual

First of all, research the cultural roots of the practice and reflect on the desire to use it, released in Brazil only in religious contexts. “Do I have a purpose or am I taking it because my friends are going? This can be dangerous, it is necessary to connect”, emphasizes Flávia.

Once you have found a safe and responsible place, allow yourself to live the experience, always with respect. “It is essential to choose a place that knows the fundamentals and honors the indigenous culture. In a correct temple, you will have constant support, enabling greater delivery.” The dynamics of each space dictates the rules. With the first dose of the drink, which is brownish in color and has a strong taste, all participants enter a kind of energy chain. “Some places offer up to three doses, but you decide how much you need for your journey,” she clarifies.

In mirações (visions) and meditations, everything can appear🇧🇷 “You have no way of knowing or controlling what medicine will bring you. You can mentalize some issues, but you won’t necessarily delve into them. And that’s what brings fear: getting out of command. But, it is worth noting, the loss of control does not mean that the person will get hurt.”

Flávia explains that the shadows can be the first thing to be accessed: “You will be taken to that which has resistance. It can be suffered by you seeing what you weren’t willing. Many think, ‘I came to heal myself, but I didn’t want to see my share of responsibility,’” she says. It is at this stage that cleansing can occur, as vomiting is called, feared by beginners and seen as normal by those who have participated in rituals for a long time. 🇧🇷Crying, vomiting, defecating or urinating is part of cleansing. Sometimes we need to put out certain words and attitudes🇧🇷

After all these reflections and cleanings, a feeling of gratitude overwhelms almost all the regulars. For Flávia, this happens because they realize that some of the problems are small and even easy to solve. 🇧🇷We understand that it is no longer about the other, but about us.🇧🇷 What I blamed on my family, friends or work, may be a position that I am not able to have.” It’s challenging, like any other therapeutic process. “People think that tea will knock you out of consciousness, when in fact it will bring you into it. And it will hurt, because being in the present moment brings the responsibility of making choices consistent with the truth itself, ”she comments.

In the post-ceremony, it is important not to forget your support network and psychological follow-up to assist in the elaboration of visions.

“Tea brings teachings from an astral, unconscious place. To ground this in everyday life, support is needed. The substance is not addictive. What can be addictive is the desire to want answers all the time, without doing anything with them.”

And, remember, tea is just one of the medicines on the planet. “The real medicine is to connect with our Earth. The original peoples have a much greater support: nature. A simple act turns into something extremely profound. We need a lot to get to that point of attributing depth to simplicity.”

the plant science

Ayahuasca tea would not have such effects if it were made only with chacrona leaves, which contain dimethyltryptamine (DMT), the psychedelic substance found in the tea. The reason? Our body has the enzyme MAO (monoamine oxidase), responsible for digesting DMT in the stomach before it reaches the brain. The union with the jagube vine is essential because it has substances that inhibit the enzyme that digests DMT from chacrona, allowing it to reach our nervous system.

After the biochemical process, Marcelo Leite, scientific journalist and author of the book Psychonauts, points out two theories that try to explain the psychic mechanics of tea. The first is the performance in the Default Mode Network neural network, causing a series of areas of the brain to communicate when we enter the state of introspection. “Thinking about life, reflecting on the past or making plans for the future makes this network active. However, overthinking causes a process we call ‘rumination’. In it, the person is trapped in a cycle of self-defeating thoughts. As psychedelics act on the serotonin circuit, they are able to relax this network, allowing the emergence of new ideas and serenity in the face of these problems.”

The second is the influence of Ayahuasca on neuroplasticity, formation of new connections in the brain. “Psychedelics have proven to favor this physiological mechanism. Instead of acting in the same way, we open ourselves to other possibilities.”

This positive feeling as a consequence is one of the reasons why people suffering from depression seek Ayahuasca. Like mescaline, LSD and psilocybin, DMT is also considered a classic psychedelic. 🇧🇷All of these substances act on the same neuronal serotonin receptor, which is an important neurotransmitter for mood regulation.”, clarifies Marcelo. “As the DMT molecule is very similar to serotonin, they stick to the same receptor. However, psychedelics act differently from antidepressants. Medicines like Escitalopram and Prozac prevent the degradation of serotonin, because it has a lifetime and ends up being dissolved in the brain.”

Psychedelics, on the other hand, instead of preventing the reuptake of serotonin, fit into the same receptor for this hormone and work as a “bonus” of well-being. “In other words, substances like Ayahuasca can regulate and strengthen the metabolic pathway that is associated with disorders like depression”, says the scientific journalist.

The possibility of transforming the tea into a regularized medicine is still distant. “Currently, we only have phase one or two studies”, says Marcelo Leite. 🇧🇷Since it is a tea, dosing is very difficult. In addition, the effect is long-lasting, lasting up to five hours.🇧🇷 If we incorporated Ayahuasca into psychotherapy consultations, the patient would need to be accompanied by two psychologists. And that would generate a huge cost for everyone”, he exemplifies.

Another idea of ​​the researchers is the ingestion of Ayahuasca a few times a year, being indicated only in moments of relapse or severe anguish. “This model is not attractive to the pharmaceutical industry. There are also contraindications: those with a history of psychosis or close relatives diagnosed with schizophrenia cannot consume the vegetable, as it is capable of generating a psychotic break”, he warns.

There are many barriers that need to be overcome before ancestral medicine reaches doctors’ offices and pharmacy shelves. But, as Marcelo Leite points out, just like cannabis, we first need to have solid knowledge of the medical benefits to then fight prejudice. “Self-knowledge is everyone’s right. Therefore, I am in favor of adult use of Ayahuasca.”