In this 69-minute video, I will discuss how to avoid drama, the difference between right and left brain perspectives, and my personal experience in the Amazon Rainforest with a Shipibo Shaman, where I participated in eight Ayahuasca ceremonies.
Please keep an open mind – as this experience was truly life-changing for me, as it helped me to resolve long-standing issues with anger and depression that had been with me since childhood.
I want to stress that I am not advocating for the use of drugs or mind-altering substances. Rather, I am exploring the lessons that can be learned from these experiences in order to find alternative paths to wellness.
In addition, I want to draw attention to the fact that our left brain’s overdeveloped logic and reasoning can sometimes hinder our recovery. Is it possible to live in a more right-brain manner and only use logic and reason when necessary rather than constantly analysing and seeking proof for everything?
Finally, I encourage us all to focus less on the past and why things happened to us, and instead direct our attention towards the present and the future we wish to create.
Information about this video
And I would like to share one of my right-brain adventures with you, an experience that I would never have undertaken twenty years ago – back then, in the anxiety-ridden left-brain (I need proof) phase of my old life.
And what I learned changed my life in ways that my left-brain logic and reason could never have anticipated.
Before I share my story – I would like to make one more observation.
Why is it that despite all the advancements in medical, pharmaceutical, and psychology research, mental health problems are still increasing, and full recovery remains uncommon?
Might there be a missing aspect of recovery that is being overlooked?
I suggest it’s because require bodily wellness and mental wellness, but we also require Spiritual wellness too – mainstream health mostly ignores the fact we are energetic life forms living in an intelligent environment called nature and we have a right-brain need to be creative within that domain.
So, please keep an open mind as I share my experience – as I became more courageous and tried new things without my ego having to analyse everything or require proof that something was true before trying it.
So, by popular request, I’ll share some details from Jen and my Ayahuasca experience from 2016 – where we spent two weeks living deep within the Peruvian Amazon Rainforest participating in 8 Ayahuasca ceremonies hosted by five Shipibo Shamen.
For those of you who have never heard of Ayahuasca – it’s a naturally occurring compound used by indigenous cultures in South America to treat physical and mental illnesses and to connect more deeply with nature.
It is also legal to use it in Peru, whereas, in many other countries, it’s a classified compound.
The ‘medicine’ as they call it – is brewed from the leaves and bark of two plants which create a psychedelic tea which includes a powerful hallucinogenic compound called DMT (di-methyl-trypt-amine).
It’s said that DMT occurs (in small doses) naturally in humans, and some speculate it’s secreted during the traumatic birth and death processes where Spirit comes into and leaves the body.
They say it allows for our connection to nature or divinity which is why DMT is often labelled as the God (or Spirit) molecule.
Now, I’m not recommending that you take drugs, but, it’s worth noting that mainstream science and psychiatry are now investigating the potential benefits of using (formerly legal but now prohibited) drugs such as MDMA, mushrooms, Ketamine, DMT and LSD – as they (under the right conditions) seem to be very effective at helping a person to manage anxiety, depression and trauma, which is something that those operating outside the mainstream medical establishments have known for decades.
And many of the leading medical universities and research centres worldwide are currently running trials with these drugs and finding promising results.
If there is enough interest – I could share my thoughts (and experiences) with many of these substances, so you can avoid them and stay safe, yet learn from my experimentations – let me know if this interests you.
But for this video, let’s focus on my Ayahuasca experience and the life- changing effect it had on me.
If I reflect back on my early life and push the anxiety and OCD I experienced back then to one side, two other factors negatively affected my life.
The first was bouts of anger and rage which dominated my childhood – and though (as an adult) I learned how to minimise them, they still occasionally affected me (and those I loved) adversely.
The other facet – was bouts of numbing depression that sucked the joy from my life which started around the age of 13.
And, although (from the age of 36) I learned how to minimise, manage and cover it up – it was only after my Ayahuasca experience at the age of 50 that the depression left me completely.
As best I can remember, my anger started at a really young age – maybe 2 or 3 years old.
I have vague memories (across almost all of my childhood) where I would often just explode with anger – it would just erupt out of nowhere, and I would shout, scream and throw things, punch holes in walls, smash glasses, slam doors or storm off.
Then, as quickly as it had come on, it was gone. Whatever had (in that moment) been triggered within me and consumed me (so violently) was suddenly gone.
I had moved from conscious control to unconscious hijack, then back to conscious dismay at what had happened, and then I had to deal with the guilt and embarrassment associated with the ridiculous unconscious behaviours I had expressed.