How safe is ayahuasca? Large-scale study explores
Ayahuasca ceremonies are among the most profound, cherished experiences of my life. I prepare for months before partaking in them to make sure my emotional, physical, and spiritual health is in a good place. And I can't imagine taking this drug without being under the care of experienced guides. I also wouldn't recommend it for anyone except those who really desire to push the limits of their mind. Some trips have felt like mystical, blissful experiences. Others have felt like an eternity in hell. You never know what you're going to get and you have to be ready for it.<p>Another aspect of this for mental health is that it is possible to experience the common "machine elves" that people encounter. I am as skeptical as it gets but I'm really not sure if I've encountered beings from some other dimension or if my own mind is capable of the weird, sometimes horrifying, always profound shit that I've seen. The first Ayahuasca trip I went on I immediately had intense hallucinations of the feminine spirits. They put out their hands and invited me to walk with them. As we were walking down some kind of hall I reminded myself that these beings were easily a creation of my mind, that we do this kind of thing all the time in our sleep. As I was entertaining this thought one of them violently turned around and yelled "NO". The other being, in a sad voice I'll never forget, asked me why I felt the need to reduce and explain away the experience. I think about this often.