B.png' alt='Extreme Makeover Home Edition Colonie Ny' title='Extreme Makeover Home Edition Colonie Ny' />Its common for newbies to be nervous before an ayahuasca ceremony.I know I was. Here are 10 tips to help see you through.Tips to Better Your Ayahuasca Experience.Its common for newbies to be nervous before an ayahuasca ceremony.I know I was. Here are 1.Food prep. I cant say enough good things about preparation.First lets talk about food.If you research the aya diet youll encounter lists of what not to eat and some of these differ.The lists usually discourage or forbid red meat and pork, salt, hot spices, alcohol thats a big one, avocados and a few other items.At a minimum all these things should be strictly avoided 4.That doesnt mean you have to suffer, though.If there was ever a time in your life to get turned on to good vegetarian or vegan cuisine ideally raw, this is the time.You can eat delicious, simple food for a couple of weeks before your big experience, which isnt much of a sacrifice.Pity the fool who finds herself backpacking in Peru and decides to drink ayahuasca on a whim after a week of hamburgers and mohitos.Mama aya gonna smack her up the side of the head real good Note that theres real science to support some of these restrictions.Certain prohibited items interfere with how aya interacts with neurons in the brain.I guess thousands of years of experimentation taught the indigenous people of the Amazon a thing or two, huh Some prohibitions are just pragmatic.Spicy food may not offend the gods so much as your butt and mouth if you vomit or get diarrhea2. Crack Para Patch 8 0 2 Fm 08 Crack more. Sex. Yes, lets talk about sex.The first time I drank aya sexual abstinence was easy because I was between relationships there was no one to disappoint by skipping the wild thing for a couple of weeks.While Im normally libidinous, I got lucky in a different way the month before and just didnt feel like it for about three weeks before ceremony, and that included self pleasuring.In Asia they call this preserving ones chi ones life force and its all about cultivating energy.You know, the type that allows the Kung Fu masters to break stacks of concrete blocks with a single hand chop.In the Upper Amazon, Mother Ayahuasca is described as a jealous lover.Whatever you call it, leave it alone for a while.If youre seeking a super duper big ass experience, try being abstinent for, like, six weeks or longer, if you can manage.Now you see why not a lot of young people in South America are apprentice shamans Anyway, I practiced abstinence and had powerful visions my first time.Ill never know what would have happened otherwise, but I imagine my experience could have been less.Paying attention.I imagine one of the most neglected areas of preparation among people traveling from busy industrial society to ayahuasca retreat centres is the simple act of paying attention, by which I mean noticing really noticing your mood, whats around you, nature, and so on.I dont understand people who finish a work deadline, jump on a plane and drink ayahuasca the next day.I was fortunate because my trip with Pulse Tours gave me four days hanging out and trekking in the Amazon to really s l o w d o w n and absorb that unrushed living with nature vibe.Id flown into Iquitos a day early, too, so Id had more time to shift gears.But what Im talking about is even more than that.I believe the moment you decide to participate in ayahuasca ceremony the medicine starts working on you.That may sound bat shit crazy hey, a lot of this stuff sounds bat shit crazy but the medicine takes you to meet universal consciousness and the funny thing about U.C. is she, um, knows everything.So big surprise, when you make your decision, she starts communicating with you.Its subtle, but if you watch for it, its there.You might even find yourself talking to plants.Flower power. Okay, so the big day has arrived and youre in some ayahuasca retreat having eaten super healthy vegan food for weeks and weeks, avoided alcohol and had no sex for what seems like forever.Lucky you Now whatThis is when things start to become ritualistic.Remember, youre not having a drug experience this is a shamanic experience something not emphasized enough in descriptions, I feel and certain things are done that seem odd to a person raised in a non shamanic culture.These are for your benefit and your protection.In the Amazon, this would be thought of in terms of guarding against evil spirits, dark energies, and so on.You dont have to think of it in those terms, if you dont care to.I quite like it, but then I like the Lord of the Rings movies, so finding out there really is a spirit world is quite cool in my books.Anyway, I was instructed to take a flower bath or what I prefer to call a flower shower for the alliteration before ceremony in which I sponged water over myself filled with flower petals.This is to make oneself more appealing to the plant energies.In any case, its nice.Some practitioners simply spray some floral water on you that smells a bit like the stuff they use in old fashioned mens barber shops.Tobacco. I dont smoke and personally hate the smell of cigarettes, but tobacco is a sacred plant in shamanic practice so you need to get used to it.But be reassured its not your dads tobacco.Instead, its mapacho tobacco that has a rich, sweet smell thats quite unlike the chemically adulterated stuff in commercial cigarettes.Tobacco is used to seal the container meaning its blown in places around the maloca sacred meeting place whether this is a purpose built round building or any kind of space adapted for the purpose.The smoke is also used on participants.This is sometimes done by the shaman lighting a cigarette made from hand rolled mapacho tobacco and inhaling it and blowing it on you e.Sometimes Ive seen the smoke delivered like a smudge, waved over a person with a large feather.In Peru, participants were allowed to smoke mapachos during ceremony, which on one level I didnt mind except for the light in my eyes when they lit up, which was almost blinding your eyes become highly light sensitive on the medicine and some people seemed to light up out of a sense of boredom and restlessness, which annoyed me since I was breathing their smoke.Of course this all became a moot point as people were overtaken with the medicine and fell into visions or writhed around their mattresses.But if you do smoke during ceremony, cover up the light as much as possible and smoke minimally.Setting an intention.Youll be encouraged to set an intention for your ceremony.This can be perplexing to newbies, who may be there for a wide variety of reasons, including healing, curiosity or even thrill seeking.The fact is, the medicine meets you half way You must make an effort to ask questions and interpret the lessons.This is work, and youll find out quickly why no one would ever drink ayahuasca as a recreational drug one reason why its so ridiculous that its illegal in North America and many other places.As the shamans often say, if you bring no intention to the ceremony, you may see a pretty light show and colors and not much else.In truth, the first time I drank I felt it was worth the price of flying to Peru just for what I saw in the first 1.But I get far more out of the experience when I set an intention.Beginners are advised to keep their intention simple the first time.An example might be, I want healing or I seek purification or I want guidance with the path forward in my life.If you set your intention as something like, I wish to clear up the relationship with my mother who makes me so angry sometimes because she keeps comparing me to my brother, and just because he excels academically I know he has a lot of issues she doesnt know about or something like that, you just wont be able to remember it when youre in ayahuascas thrall.A good intention is kind of like a mantra that you can repeat and come back to if you start losing your way.Your gear. At different ceremonies you may encounter people who surround themselves with stuff crystals, little vials of different healing potions, favorite objects, shoe options, etc.I like to keep things simple.At a shamanic centre, a mattress will normally be provided and some pillows.Lets assume here, though, that you have to bring your own stuff.I prefer an inflatable camping mattress to lie on.Note that this is not the thick kind you inflate with a bicycle pump, but rather the thin kind hikers use, that can be rolled up tight.
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