The Trip

Unfortunately I won't be describing  the "actual" trip here, rather the more mundane physical journey that is starting next week.

We fly out from Stockholm on Monday morning, January 5th, landing in Peru (Lima) on the same date. The following morning at 8am, we fly to Iquitos where we will meet with others to attend the retreat at the airport and then greeted by our shaman don Howard. From the airport we travel by bus out into the forest, where we will take a boat to the retreat.

The name of the retreat is Spirit Quest and the time spent there will be 10 days in total. For those participating in the Ayahuasca ceremonies, those will be conducted every second night so five sessions in total.

Including myself, there will be 24 other participants at the retreat - not inclusive of the maestros and assistants. There will be people from Australia, Canada, Ireland, Norway, Slovakia, South Africa, Sweden, U.K. and U.S.

We then fly back from Iquitos on January 16 and back to our respective homelands.

Why Ayahuasca?

I suppose the whole higher consciousness and rebirth part is somewhat of the appeal but there are obviously a myriad of other reasons I have chosen Ayahuasca - or perhaps I should say, Ayahuasca chose me.

Without getting too personal, I've just reached a point in my life where enough is enough and some things have to change. Certain behavioural patterns, emotional reactions, thoughts, anxieties that I have been riddled with for so long and are so deeply entrenched in my person that I can't help but feel I need a solid kick right up in my sub-conscious. I've struggled for quite a long time to change bad habits - I even saw a therapist once and he told me it was going to take a LONG time to deprogram the emotional and cognitive behavioural patterns I had developed and groomed for such a long time. There's a whole lot of repression buried deep down inside that Freud or Jung would have a field day with and - whilst I'm sure psychotherapy has its benefits over the span of many years and much money - frankly, I have neither patience or time to dedicate myself to weekly sessions sitting across from someone with glasses and a checklist. Besides, for all I know they'd probably just try to put me on some medication I don't believe in - a "once-size-fits-all" pill that will just numb the pain instead of actually dealing with the causes.

Enter Ayahuasca.

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What is Ayahuasca?

It almost feels redundant me having to write about what Ayahuasca is since there is a treasure trove of information (i.e. the Internet) for you to find out for yourself. But I'll give you what very little knowledge I have of the brew so you have some idea of what I know about what I'm about to put myself through.

Ayahuasca is an ancient brew made from carefully selected vines and plants. It is psychoactive (read: psychedelic) and contains dimethyltryptamine, otherwise known as DMT. It is a brew that has been consumed by the indigenous folk of the Amazon for thousands of years and the recipe itself is reportedly over 10,000 years old. It is said to be a healing brew which can lead to a spiritual awakening and even rebirth to those who consume it. From the reports I've listened to and read about it, it really does seem to reset a wide variety of people, from soldiers suffering PTSD to drug addicts.

Even though Ayahuasca will create intense hallucinations of unfathomable proportions, this isn't just the average "trip". This is likely going to be the most powerful introspective experience of my life thus far - Ayahuasca is said to be merciless in her delivery of visions and insight. The brew is not something to be consumed casually and should only be taken under very controlled circumstances, most preferably under the watchful eye of an experienced Shaman.