Alternative Medicine Ayahuasca Ceremony
Introduction Many societies, civilizations and communities all around the world are known to possess uncommon practices, beliefs and behaviours. Often, these practices are manifested in rituals. One of the rituals that many professionals are investigating is the Ayahuasca ritual. It is a ritual that is believed to contain chanting, prayer, smoking and the intake of a brew that contains chemicals that are potentially mind altering. This practice has long been exercised along the communities in and around the Amazon River, including countries like Brazil, for example. The Ayahuasca ritual is a ritual that involves the drinking of a concoction or brew made from tree branches and leaves of a plant considered as wine of the soul and the dead (Hlobil 17). This is believed to be a form of cleansing. However, the people who found out about this consider this very excruciating considering what the person has to go through during the cleansing. Because of the promised effect of Ayahuasca, many people are attracted to it. Although it does not rely on mainstream advertising, it still gets a lot of followers since some pitch it as part of the tourist destination package in an area (Peet 34).
Those who experienced it openly talks about it, either through video blogs and video diaries to full length video documentaries shown in televisions or in the Internet. The cultural and professional background of the individual has an effect on the depth, extent and range of how the Ayahuasca ritual is understood, appreciated and is allowed to affect the person physically and psychologically. This means that the characteristics of the individual as shaped by his or her own culture and his or her profession vary from one another. This deviation from one another makes the Ayahuasca ritual, even though it was experienced at the same time, as something that impacts each individual differently. To prove this point, one has to examine the different experiences of different people, like the different groups of people seen in the three different videos, to support the claim that the impact of the Ayahuasca experience is different from one person to another. While there are physiological and pharmacological explanation for this deviation, part of the reason is the differences in background, culturally and professionally. Cultural and professional orientations create certain mental, emotional, physical and psychological blocks that inhibit or control impulses, reactions and experiences which can be present or absent in varying degrees in different individuals.
Those whose profession makes them overly judgmental and cynical about everything finds it difficult to appreciate Ayahuasca and be affected by it. The best example is the reporter in the video Extreme Celebrity Detox. As a reporter, one is always expected to be cynical, to ask questions, to challenge claims that do not have strong evidence or facts, etc. These characteristics in the reporter were partly due to his profession (since these same characteristics may also be a result of other environmental factors prior to his becoming a reporter). All throughout the process, the reporter was cynical and was in constant anticipation of what he was expected to come as experience, which never occurred since he was overly thinking the experience. He admitted his cynicism, but his change of heart does not qualify him to be credible enough to say anything constructive or definitive about Ayahuasca (Extreme Celebrity Detox). Based on what happened, he hardly experienced or understood Ayahuasca in the manner by which it should be understood in the first place. This is not to mention the short trip of the group, which is not enough for anyone to fully understand and appreciate such cultural characteristic. They were having the Ayahuasca experience in the same to-go hurried experience as they did in the urban world from where they came from where everything is fast and instant like coffee, failing to understand that learning and understanding and genuinely experiencing Ayahuasca takes more than a short field trip to an Amazonian destination.
Those who came to experience Ayahuasca expecting to be affected by it may not have the cultural background that could have made them ready for it. The experience of Ayahuasca was something that they took openly. This allowed them to be affected regardless of the difference in their profession and culture. Proof of this is in the video entitled Extreme Celebrity Detox wherein the model and the actress came from two different cultures and two different lines of work (Extreme Celebrity Detox). This proved to be not a hindrance at all. In the end, all that was needed was there open mindedness to appreciate the full effect of the Ayahuasca and for them to be enlightened about the Ayahuasca and the experience at the end of the journey. In the other videos like in the video The Man Who Drank the Universe and in the video Other Worlds, it features individuals who, in real life, experienced the Ayahuasca ritual first hand. These individuals are not natives of Brazil or other Amazonian countries to which this ritual, which have both shamanistic and priestly in function in the past and modern and current society (Siegel 325), originated and yet, even the westerners are showing that they too can be able to experience it and are willing to experience a ritual not from their own culture but from other culture. This only means that the person can adapt or appreciate and enjoy other cultures. All the person needs is the sense of open mindedness to let the experience happen as it should and not block it by pre-set ideas, inhibitions and other distractions. In the end of the Ayahuasca ritual, many first timers who do not fully understood Ayahuasca yet often admitted being affected in a particular way by the ritual because consciously and unconsciously they surrendered to the experience. This helped in the breaking of the barriers set by the ingrained culture and professional values and beliefs.
It is noticeable how people who grew up with the culture of Ayahuasca and the people who dont react differently to the experience. Foreigners, often westerners from the Britain and from the United States, approach the Ayahuasca with a sense of subtle trepidation, a mix of excitement and anxiety in anticipation of an experience which they believe they might not survive. In all of the videos, the outsiders are often anxious and excited about the experience. Most of the narrators in the videos experienced Ayahuasca for the first time and are sharing it with the audience. However, the shamans approached it differently, with a sense of veneration and deep understanding and appreciation for what is going to happen. In the videos, it was seen and reflected how the shamans are deep in prayer, how the villagers who will take part in the ritual are deep in thought as the ritual progresses, and how the ritual, above everything else, was a celebration of their culture for the insiders. While for the outsiders, it was a taste, a glimpse of something new that they hope the west would be more curious about.
How the individual speaks about the Ayahuasca is dependent on their cultural and professional backgrounds. For example, in the video Other Worlds, the professionals who are seen in the video undertaking a study on the individuals who undertook the Ayahuasca ritual approached the explanation of the experience people undergo to as a result of Ayahuasca in a scientific manner (Other Worlds). Those who are involved in the chemical study of the substance studied the content of the brew. They described and explained to the audience what the individuals in the Ayahuasca ritual took in and how these chemicals react to the body and produce the mind-altering states which are common in Ayahuasca ritual. This was in stark contrast to the leaders of the Ayahuasca rituals in the same video and in the other two videos (Extreme Celebrity Detox and The Man Who Drank the Universe). These videos talk about Ayahuasca and the experience not on a scientific manner, and not as an individual who is awed by the experience for the first time, but as a person who is closely in tune with hisher cultural practices and the meaning of such practices. Those who are not professionals in the study of the Ayahuasca and are not shaman or ritual leaders or practitioners simply speak about it in rambling form, talking about things that are far from being cohesive, substantial and utterly vague. It is mostly about something that they experience inside them exclusively and is not witnessed by other individuals. They talk about how Ayahuasca affected them, but seldom on how the experience helped them understand the Ayahuasca tradition, practice and ritual better. They came to experience and seldom to learn as what the videos reflect. To some extent, professionals may simply dismiss the Ayahuasca ritual as the simple intake of a drug-like mind altering substance which is normal among humans for different reasons. For those who put importance in the ritual and have a set of beliefs that explains the significance of the ritual, the Ayahuasca ritual is very sacred and very important and is integral in the social characteristics and features of the community.
Conclusion - In this world, people are separated not only by geographic boundaries, but also by boundaries set by culture and social practices. People find it amazing, amusing, entertaining, humbling, awe-inspiring and life-altering every time they get out of the shell created by their own culture to get inside a different shell where everything is different. This is the case of the Ayahuasca experience. Yes, for many people, it is now easy to get to a destination in Brazil or nearby country where Ayahuasca is offered and experience it for yourself. However, the truth is that whatever experience one can get from involvement in such ritual, it will never be similar to anyone. The natural, pre-set systems inside ones body is responsible for decoding the experience, for giving names and reasons and interpretations to what just happened, etc.
As professionals explained, the content of the Ayahuasca brew possesses chemicals that are mind-altering. In the state of altered consciousness, no one has the perfect pattern so that an exactly similar experience is produced. In the understanding of the Ayahuasca experience, people should remember two things first, experiencing is different from learning and one should not be confused with the other and secondly, experiencing and understanding Ayahuasca is different from one another because of the differences in the individuals characteristics with one another that help shape or re-shape the understanding and experience of Ayahuasca and how it is delivered to other people. In many parts of the Amazon, it was believed that secrets were hidden there. If Ayahuasca cannot be explained in a singular fashion and manner, then the mystique of the Ayahuasca is just one of the things that the Amazon is not yet fully ready to open to the world, or the world is not yet fully ready to experience and understand Ayahuasca.
Those who experienced it openly talks about it, either through video blogs and video diaries to full length video documentaries shown in televisions or in the Internet. The cultural and professional background of the individual has an effect on the depth, extent and range of how the Ayahuasca ritual is understood, appreciated and is allowed to affect the person physically and psychologically. This means that the characteristics of the individual as shaped by his or her own culture and his or her profession vary from one another. This deviation from one another makes the Ayahuasca ritual, even though it was experienced at the same time, as something that impacts each individual differently. To prove this point, one has to examine the different experiences of different people, like the different groups of people seen in the three different videos, to support the claim that the impact of the Ayahuasca experience is different from one person to another. While there are physiological and pharmacological explanation for this deviation, part of the reason is the differences in background, culturally and professionally. Cultural and professional orientations create certain mental, emotional, physical and psychological blocks that inhibit or control impulses, reactions and experiences which can be present or absent in varying degrees in different individuals.
Those whose profession makes them overly judgmental and cynical about everything finds it difficult to appreciate Ayahuasca and be affected by it. The best example is the reporter in the video Extreme Celebrity Detox. As a reporter, one is always expected to be cynical, to ask questions, to challenge claims that do not have strong evidence or facts, etc. These characteristics in the reporter were partly due to his profession (since these same characteristics may also be a result of other environmental factors prior to his becoming a reporter). All throughout the process, the reporter was cynical and was in constant anticipation of what he was expected to come as experience, which never occurred since he was overly thinking the experience. He admitted his cynicism, but his change of heart does not qualify him to be credible enough to say anything constructive or definitive about Ayahuasca (Extreme Celebrity Detox). Based on what happened, he hardly experienced or understood Ayahuasca in the manner by which it should be understood in the first place. This is not to mention the short trip of the group, which is not enough for anyone to fully understand and appreciate such cultural characteristic. They were having the Ayahuasca experience in the same to-go hurried experience as they did in the urban world from where they came from where everything is fast and instant like coffee, failing to understand that learning and understanding and genuinely experiencing Ayahuasca takes more than a short field trip to an Amazonian destination.
Those who came to experience Ayahuasca expecting to be affected by it may not have the cultural background that could have made them ready for it. The experience of Ayahuasca was something that they took openly. This allowed them to be affected regardless of the difference in their profession and culture. Proof of this is in the video entitled Extreme Celebrity Detox wherein the model and the actress came from two different cultures and two different lines of work (Extreme Celebrity Detox). This proved to be not a hindrance at all. In the end, all that was needed was there open mindedness to appreciate the full effect of the Ayahuasca and for them to be enlightened about the Ayahuasca and the experience at the end of the journey. In the other videos like in the video The Man Who Drank the Universe and in the video Other Worlds, it features individuals who, in real life, experienced the Ayahuasca ritual first hand. These individuals are not natives of Brazil or other Amazonian countries to which this ritual, which have both shamanistic and priestly in function in the past and modern and current society (Siegel 325), originated and yet, even the westerners are showing that they too can be able to experience it and are willing to experience a ritual not from their own culture but from other culture. This only means that the person can adapt or appreciate and enjoy other cultures. All the person needs is the sense of open mindedness to let the experience happen as it should and not block it by pre-set ideas, inhibitions and other distractions. In the end of the Ayahuasca ritual, many first timers who do not fully understood Ayahuasca yet often admitted being affected in a particular way by the ritual because consciously and unconsciously they surrendered to the experience. This helped in the breaking of the barriers set by the ingrained culture and professional values and beliefs.
It is noticeable how people who grew up with the culture of Ayahuasca and the people who dont react differently to the experience. Foreigners, often westerners from the Britain and from the United States, approach the Ayahuasca with a sense of subtle trepidation, a mix of excitement and anxiety in anticipation of an experience which they believe they might not survive. In all of the videos, the outsiders are often anxious and excited about the experience. Most of the narrators in the videos experienced Ayahuasca for the first time and are sharing it with the audience. However, the shamans approached it differently, with a sense of veneration and deep understanding and appreciation for what is going to happen. In the videos, it was seen and reflected how the shamans are deep in prayer, how the villagers who will take part in the ritual are deep in thought as the ritual progresses, and how the ritual, above everything else, was a celebration of their culture for the insiders. While for the outsiders, it was a taste, a glimpse of something new that they hope the west would be more curious about.
How the individual speaks about the Ayahuasca is dependent on their cultural and professional backgrounds. For example, in the video Other Worlds, the professionals who are seen in the video undertaking a study on the individuals who undertook the Ayahuasca ritual approached the explanation of the experience people undergo to as a result of Ayahuasca in a scientific manner (Other Worlds). Those who are involved in the chemical study of the substance studied the content of the brew. They described and explained to the audience what the individuals in the Ayahuasca ritual took in and how these chemicals react to the body and produce the mind-altering states which are common in Ayahuasca ritual. This was in stark contrast to the leaders of the Ayahuasca rituals in the same video and in the other two videos (Extreme Celebrity Detox and The Man Who Drank the Universe). These videos talk about Ayahuasca and the experience not on a scientific manner, and not as an individual who is awed by the experience for the first time, but as a person who is closely in tune with hisher cultural practices and the meaning of such practices. Those who are not professionals in the study of the Ayahuasca and are not shaman or ritual leaders or practitioners simply speak about it in rambling form, talking about things that are far from being cohesive, substantial and utterly vague. It is mostly about something that they experience inside them exclusively and is not witnessed by other individuals. They talk about how Ayahuasca affected them, but seldom on how the experience helped them understand the Ayahuasca tradition, practice and ritual better. They came to experience and seldom to learn as what the videos reflect. To some extent, professionals may simply dismiss the Ayahuasca ritual as the simple intake of a drug-like mind altering substance which is normal among humans for different reasons. For those who put importance in the ritual and have a set of beliefs that explains the significance of the ritual, the Ayahuasca ritual is very sacred and very important and is integral in the social characteristics and features of the community.
Conclusion - In this world, people are separated not only by geographic boundaries, but also by boundaries set by culture and social practices. People find it amazing, amusing, entertaining, humbling, awe-inspiring and life-altering every time they get out of the shell created by their own culture to get inside a different shell where everything is different. This is the case of the Ayahuasca experience. Yes, for many people, it is now easy to get to a destination in Brazil or nearby country where Ayahuasca is offered and experience it for yourself. However, the truth is that whatever experience one can get from involvement in such ritual, it will never be similar to anyone. The natural, pre-set systems inside ones body is responsible for decoding the experience, for giving names and reasons and interpretations to what just happened, etc.
As professionals explained, the content of the Ayahuasca brew possesses chemicals that are mind-altering. In the state of altered consciousness, no one has the perfect pattern so that an exactly similar experience is produced. In the understanding of the Ayahuasca experience, people should remember two things first, experiencing is different from learning and one should not be confused with the other and secondly, experiencing and understanding Ayahuasca is different from one another because of the differences in the individuals characteristics with one another that help shape or re-shape the understanding and experience of Ayahuasca and how it is delivered to other people. In many parts of the Amazon, it was believed that secrets were hidden there. If Ayahuasca cannot be explained in a singular fashion and manner, then the mystique of the Ayahuasca is just one of the things that the Amazon is not yet fully ready to open to the world, or the world is not yet fully ready to experience and understand Ayahuasca.
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