The ***Official*** tell us your ayahuasca retreat stories thread

TangTonic

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Feb 24, 2011
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Everyone on here seems to have a story of someone they know who had a bad experience. El Ogro and SurfFuerteventura are the only posters who seem to have first hand experience.

I haven't done it myself but living in a tropical environment I have Chacruna and Banisteriopsis caapi growing which are the two main ingredients of Ayahuasca tea. I also have the two trees used by the indigenous Amerindians: Anadenathera Colubrina and Anedenathera pergrine growing. (Also have a big Kratom tree Autoprax).

I will experiment with them when the time is right.

Now my take on all that I have read on this thread is first of all none of you opining on this have direct experience. Second, you are looking at these substances through a modern lens. While we have many modern day conveniences which makes life much easier than our ancestors, our overall mental states are much degraded and continue to do so. Somehow our brains have adapted to the phones, social media, electrified everything, rapid transportation etc. But I think what happens when you take some of these drugs is the adaptation breaks down and the brain becomes overwhelmed.

Now when you look at how many indigenous peoples used mind altering substances as gateways to other realms, I think there is something to that. But these are people who achieved great wisdom in other areas as well without the benefits of modernity.

So yes, most modern humans are probably not safe taking these things because it causes mental overload. Our brains are working so hard all the time to regulate all the over sensory aspects of technology. But with the right approach and mental states, and guides, I think some profound things can occur and SurfFuerteventura alluded to this, one of the only ones on here with direct experience. It should also be noted that he lives outside of the crazy modern world.
 

PRCD

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I remember a guy from high school who had an LSD OD. He didn’t die, but it fried his brain prett good.

He was able to get a security guard job for some warehouses after high school, but had to live with his mother because he couldn’t button his own shirts, couldn’t tie his own shoes, needed help washing his teeth…. He was clearly not allowed to carry a weapon, only a baton. If you ever talked to him you wouldn’t know anything was wrong with him, except for the basics his mom had to do for him, he was.

Drugs are bad when used incorrectly. They are wonderful when used correctly though.
If there were a therapeutic benefit to these psychedelic drugs, it would've been discovered by now. The US government did extensive research with this class of drugs and they still aren't prescribed for anything other than breaking minds.

Ask any person suffering from indescribable pain how morphine feels.
Morphine is in a different category than psychedelics, but even then it has only acute benefit. It makes chronic pain worse by suppressing the endogenous opioid system in the brain.
 
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ghost_of_lewis_samuels

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Everyone is doing it.

Tell us your stories here.

A non-judgemental place for the good, the bad, the ugly.
did some a while back - was like a more lame mushroom or acid experience. I didn't do the whole faux shaman thing, just hung at the beach at night with friends.
 
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PRCD

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Feb 25, 2020
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Everyone on here seems to have a story of someone they know who had a bad experience. El Ogro and SurfFuerteventura are the only posters who seem to have first hand experience.

I haven't done it myself but living in a tropical environment I have Chacruna and Banisteriopsis caapi growing which are the two main ingredients of Ayahuasca tea. I also have the two trees used by the indigenous Amerindians: Anadenathera Colubrina and Anedenathera pergrine growing. (Also have a big Kratom tree Autoprax).

I will experiment with them when the time is right.

Now my take on all that I have read on this thread is first of all none of you opining on this have direct experience.
Sounds like we're all in the same boat then. I've seen enough people perma-fried to stay away from it.

Now when you look at how many indigenous peoples used mind altering substances as gateways to other realms, I think there is something to that.
There is no proven therapeutic benefit to psychedelics. Shamans give them mostly because users come back with amazing stories which amaze everyone else. This shores-up the shaman's prestige in shamanistic communities just like Lex Fridman is going to come back with some amazing story which will cause the credulous to look to him for guidance.
But these are people who achieved great wisdom in other areas as well without the benefits of modernity.
Such as?
 

casa_mugrienta

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Apr 13, 2008
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Petak Island
He's saying its undeniable psychedelic experiences likely influenced culture in antiquity but great wisdom was achieved throughout history without psychedelics and rather in a world without modern conveniences... and also that the mind in a modern setting cannot be compared to the mind prior to the modern world and technological overload.

I think there is something to this.
 
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Chocki

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Feb 18, 2007
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demonic entities bro. You want to be doing battle for your soul with evil spirits and next to you Slater can’t stop ranting how sea turtle shells have the same number of scales as there are lunar cycles???
 

enframed

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Apr 11, 2006
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Del Boca Vista, Phase III
There is no proven therapeutic benefit to psychedelics.
That's just not true. If you are curious you may want to check out this website.


Specifically, MDMA ("ecstasy") is used therapeutically today, so is Ketamine, both legally in the USA. Most of the research I've seen pertains to PTSD, most often from combat, but they're used to treat PTSD from other causes as well.

I'm not advocating that everyone should do these drugs nor that they'd be beneficial to all, but this alarmist stance from some here is ridiculous. Recklessness of youth is just as much to blame, ie, taking too much, especially in a bad setting and bad state of mind.
 

TangTonic

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Feb 24, 2011
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If there were a therapeutic benefit to these psychedelic drugs, it would've been discovered by now. The US government did extensive research with this class of drugs and they still aren't prescribed for anything other than breaking minds.


Morphine is in a different category than psychedelics, but even then it has only acute benefit. It makes chronic pain worse by suppressing the endogenous opioid system in the brain.
Sorry bud, but using the US government as your rubric is sad. The US has done deplorable things around the world over the years. Look at Haiti right now. Do they make guns in Haiti? Where are they coming from? Bill Clinton is on camera admitting that radiation was used on people in experimental ways. Heck, we even used to dose dolphins with LSD to observe what happens. If anything, whatever the US government says, we should believe the opposite.
 

grapedrink

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May 21, 2011
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If there were a therapeutic benefit to these psychedelic drugs, it would've been discovered by now. The US government did extensive research with this class of drugs and they still aren't prescribed for anything other than breaking minds.
Kinda hard to do extensive research on schedule 1 substances. You are also citing research that is over half a century old. I’m sure back then they said that electrical cars didn’t work either.

Much of the recent interest is from veterans with PTSD who were suicidal who can now function as productive citizens because of therapy with these types of substances. What hallucinogens can do is allow someone to come to peace with trauma and find new ways to have a relationship with it. Whether it actually “rewires pathways” in a physical sense or not is debatable, but either way there are more than enough anecdotes to suggest that there is potential. Especially when compared to telling people to just get over it and white knuckle through daily life, which has a very low success rate.

That said there is clearly a wrong way and a better way, and a lot of these clinics and shamans are charlatans.
 

ElOgro

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Dec 3, 2010
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I agree. It seems like mind altering drugs is a cheat code to get to a place that you can get to without drugs. Perhaps sleep deprivation or prayer could get you to the same place without cooking your mellon?
That’s why Al Gore invented the internet. Enlightenment is now just a few keystrokes away.
 
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crustBrother

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i like sturgill's take on this topic...

Introducing Metamodern Sounds in Country Music

I've seen Jesus play with flames
In a lake of fire that I was standing in
Met the devil in Seattle
And spent nine months inside the lions den
Met Buddha yet another time
And he showed me a glowing light within
But I swear that God is there
Every time I glare into the eyes of my best friend

Says my son, "It's all been done
And someday you're gonna wake up old and gray
So go and try to have some fun
Showing warmth to everyone
You meet and greet and cheat along the way"

There's a gateway in our minds
That leads somewhere out there, far beyond this plane
Where reptile aliens made of light
Cut you open and pull out all your pain
Tell me how you make illegal
Something that we all make in our brain
Some say you might go crazy
But then again, it might make you go sane

Every time I take a look
Inside that old and fabled book
I'm blinded and reminded of
The pain caused by some old man in the sky
Marijuana, LSD
Psilocybin, and DMT
They all changed the way I see
But love's the only thing that ever saved my life

So don't waste your mind on nursery rhymes
Or fairy tales of blood and wine
It's turtles all the way down the line
So to each their own 'til we go home
To other realms our souls must roam
To and through the myth that we all call space and time
 

ReForest

Miki Dora status
Oct 7, 2020
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i like sturgill's take on this topic...

Introducing Metamodern Sounds in Country Music

I've seen Jesus play with flames
In a lake of fire that I was standing in
Met the devil in Seattle
And spent nine months inside the lions den
Met Buddha yet another time
And he showed me a glowing light within
But I swear that God is there
Every time I glare into the eyes of my best friend

Says my son, "It's all been done
And someday you're gonna wake up old and gray
So go and try to have some fun
Showing warmth to everyone
You meet and greet and cheat along the way"

There's a gateway in our minds
That leads somewhere out there, far beyond this plane
Where reptile aliens made of light
Cut you open and pull out all your pain
Tell me how you make illegal
Something that we all make in our brain
Some say you might go crazy
But then again, it might make you go sane

Every time I take a look
Inside that old and fabled book
I'm blinded and reminded of
The pain caused by some old man in the sky
Marijuana, LSD
Psilocybin, and DMT
They all changed the way I see
But love's the only thing that ever saved my life

So don't waste your mind on nursery rhymes
Or fairy tales of blood and wine
It's turtles all the way down the line
So to each their own 'til we go home
To other realms our souls must roam
To and through the myth that we all call space and time
WHO THE FUCK IS STURGILL SIMPSON :cheers:
 
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PRCD

Tom Curren status
Feb 25, 2020
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Kinda hard to do extensive research on schedule 1 substances. You are also citing research that is over half a century old. I’m sure back then they said that electrical cars didn’t work either.
Electric cars are half a century older. They've been around for over 100 years.

Much of the recent interest is from veterans with PTSD who were suicidal who can now function as productive citizens because of therapy with these types of substances. What hallucinogens can do is allow someone to come to peace with trauma and find new ways to have a relationship with it. Whether it actually “rewires pathways” in a physical sense or not is debatable, but either way there are more than enough anecdotes to suggest that there is potential. Especially when compared to telling people to just get over it and white knuckle through daily life, which has a very low success rate.
I ass-ume you're referring to studies like this. Typically, they are of low quality and have huge reproducibility problems. Psychiatry was long regarded as quackery and probably still falls into that category. MDMA may well get FDA approval, but the FDA approved oxycontin too. It also approved the mRNA boosters on no evidence.
 
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PRCD

Tom Curren status
Feb 25, 2020
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Sorry bud, but using the US government as your rubric is sad. The US has done deplorable things around the world over the years. Look at Haiti right now. Do they make guns in Haiti? Where are they coming from? Bill Clinton is on camera admitting that radiation was used on people in experimental ways. Heck, we even used to dose dolphins with LSD to observe what happens. If anything, whatever the US government says, we should believe the opposite.
I guess we'll have to rely on your experiments on yourself which you haven't done yet. Report back what happens and whether you saw aliens, opened a portal to hell, etc.
 
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grapedrink

Duke status
May 21, 2011
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A Beach
Electric cars are half a century older. They've been around for over 100 years.
You missed the point. Saying that something doesn’t work now based on 70 year old research, especially when its been illegal to do so for decades since, is shortsighted


I ass-ume you're referring to studies like this. Typically, they are of low quality and have huge reproducibility problems. Psychiatry was long regarded as quackery and probably still falls into that category.
I’m not talking about any specific studies. To do this kind of study with enough participants would be incredibly expensive. I’m talking about testimonials from people who were suffering and now say they aren’t. Do you think that the VA would provide and fund this kind of treatment if it didn’t have some hope or merit?