Ayahuasca Talks

In this episode, we discuss the mind, Ayahuasca, Shamanism and the many tools we use and approaches we take to integrate our Ayahuasca experiences. Matthew talks about his early experiences with the medicine, shares some personal stories and draws on many years of experience with shamanism and other disciplines to help illustrate integrative concepts and experiences. Drake shares his story about how he discovered Ayahuasca, the issues that came up and how he used NLP techniques to change the automated response patterns in his mind. He also explains some NLP concepts and how they relate to one of his personal integrative experiences. I share my own Ayahuasca assisted experiences of doing similar work incorporating a shamanic approach to interrupt harmful thought patterns. We discuss the intellect: both harmful and positive aspects of it and other aspects of the mind that can be used to help us understand our relationships with others and help us to respond in a healthier way to what is going on in our lives.

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In this first episode of the new format of Ayahuasca Talks, Rebecca Hayden, Rachel Harris & Xiaojue Hu discuss the kinds of shifts we have experienced with Ayahuasca. We talk about the unique therapeutic benefits of Ayahuasca and how this empowering teacher plant helps us to heal ourselves by educating us as about how we create our own problems and how to do things differently. We share personal examples of the kinds of insights we have gained from our experiences both during ceremony and afterwards and the work that we do and that is possible post Ayahuasca to improve our lives. Subjects covered: repeating negative patterns from childhood, negative attitudes, paranoia, self-criticism, punishment (self and societal), heart-opening, inner voices and conventional therapy compared with Ayahuasca.

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Lynette Allen is a women's life coach who has written several books on the subject and has now begun her journey with Ayahuasca. Lynette shares her initial concerns about the medicine before she had her own experience with it. She shares her own experience and talks about the kinds of changes she has witnessed as a result of her involvement with this teaching medicine. She speaks passionately about the immense possibilities of the medicine in terms of personal growth. She describes in vivid detail an experience of removing her own toxic energy with Ayahuasca. We discuss looking into these darker aspects of ourselves and the importance of this and how it helps us grow. She talks about how trusting medicine during difficult processes can be most beneficial. We talk about the states we experience after Ayahuasca and our heightened awareness of both lighter and darker states and how important it is to agree to work through it instead of run away from it as we often tend to want to do. Lynette describes an Ayahuasca experience of physical healing - another cleansing episode - and the reduced pain in her life afterwards. We talk about our learned physical tension responses and the long journey of working through this and how Ayahuasca helps with this. In the end Lynette underlines our personal responsibility for our own wellness.

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Nimea Ariana shares the experiences that led up to her taking Ayahuasca. She details some extraordinary connections, interactions and phenomenal episodes that took place in her life before Ayahuasca – things that were difficult to process and understand but were compelling and ultimately led to more profound experiences, Ayahuasca being one of them. We discussed the gifts and challenges that come along with these extraordinary connections and experiences and how we have navigated them. Nimea shares some of the details of her Ayahusca experiences and we discuss some of the themes and messages that have come out of these experiences.

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Dean talks about life before and after Ayahuasca. He shares his struggles with learning difficulties and physical challenges before Ayahuasca and the changes that took place afterwards. He discusses how he healed himself and the extraordinary experiences he had both in ceremonies and post Ayahuasca. We both discuss a heightened awareness of some underlying themes in social situations and making decisions not to participate in unhealthy behaviours. Dean talked about the difference in his energy level and attitudes after Ayahuasca and how this has benefited him in every way. In the end it became clear that the early challenges he had prepared him for the teaching work he does today. Dean and I both share post Ayahuasca dream experiences and how we have navigated some post Ayahuasca shamanic experiences (important to note: not all of us will do this in the same way – we are all unique ;-). We talk about Ayahuasca being the ultimate teacher and how we envision reflecting this wisdom in how we all learn and how children are taught today.

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Psychologist Dr. Rachel Harris describes her experiences with Ayahuasca and then discusses her extensive study that focuses on people's experiences after Ayahuasca. Many people are having extraordinary experiences after taking plant medicines - including, interacting with the spirit Ayahuasca (I'm not the only one! ;-) We had some technical issues during this show where Rachel had difficulty hearing me so there are times when my voice and hers overlap. Overall, the content comes through well on this edited version of the show. Enjoy!

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Jonny shares his story about how he struggled with addiction and how Ayahuasca helped him to address the deeper issues behind the addiction. He talks about his visions and insights he received from Ayahuasca and how they helped him to repair relationships with others in his life. Jonny reveals how Aya helped him to understand himself better and he talks about how his life has changed since doing the medicine. We get into discussions about our inner world of the mind and how important it is to become aware of it. We talk about becoming more aware of our reactions and how much potential for healing there is in this awareness. There was a lot of integrative discussion that I hope will resonate with many people.

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an shares his experience and talks about the changes that Ayahuasca has brought about in his life and the lives of those around him. We end up exploring the tremendous capacity of Ayahuasca to bring people together and erase some of the dividing lines we have created in our societies. It was such a powerful discussion in the end about the larger implications of the positive changes that Ayahuasca is bringing about and the incredible possibilities that are unfolding as a result of this medicine spreading throughout the world.

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Drew shares his story of struggling with addictions and overcoming them with the help of Ayahuasca. Drew talks about the difficulties in sharing his plans to do Ayahuasca with his family and friends given his struggle with addictions and the common misconceptions about Ayahuasca as a drug. He also shares some intriguing stories about shared dreams and other inspiring changes in his personal life and relationships due to Ayahuasca. We get into some discussion about integration and about the kind of future we envision given all of the profound changes happening with this psychedelic renaissance. Instead of being counter-culture as it was in the 60s, we agree that it's now transforming culture.

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Luis describes his experiences with Ayahuasca and the work he was asked to do afterwards including a long period of celibacy. He tells a fascinating story about a dream he had that revealed to him the face of the woman he would soon meet and marry! His wife, Alexandra also shares her experiences with Ayahuasca and describes a spiritual death & re-birth that brought about some big changes in perspective. It was a wonderful discussion full of profound insights.

Visit www.rebeccahayden.com for more Ayahuasca Integration content.