3.0 The actual day of the ceremony

On the day of the ceremony I would like to think you are feeling very relaxed knowing you have already done most of the work. I take the appraoch to Ayahuasca that the ceremony itself is ‘built’ largely by your preparations. By the time I get to the actual day of the ceremony I suggest a few things.

• We are not stressing. We prepared well and now we are relaxing.
• Play an instrument.
• Meditate.
• Do Yin Yoga.
• Read from the reading list.
• Prepare or eat meals with other retreat particupants but avoid politics, religion and controversial topics with other guests. This is not really a time to be super social so much as it is to go internal and not engage the Ego but its also nice to meet your fellow guests. Don’t be surprised if people are not very chatty at a retreat – they are perhaps turning their attention inwards and saving it for ceremony as happens sometimes.
• Usually ceremonies are in the evening so have breakfast but not lunch or dinner. Eat a light snack if very hungry. Its not uncommon to purge in ceremony so anything you eat soon before ceremony youll throw up likely anyhow.
• You shaman may ask you to prepare with a Garlic Bath or similar directly prior to ceremony which is a spiritual cleanse and protection (in addition to his own practices).

For the the ceremony itself your Shaman will guide you:

Here is a description of what a ceremony may look like in the traditions with which I’ve had experience in but your mileage may vary. I don’t want to colour your experience too much by describing too much how a ceremony is so I am just giving you an outline in the above link. It’s also possible yoru particular retreat will do it differently also.

I would recommend wearing white, cotton ceremonial clothes to ceremony. This is not 100% necessary but shows respect for the process and is a nice touch. The Shaman will be wearing something similar as part of their practice most likely.

Dealing with difficult moments in ceremony:

In ceremony it is common to have difficult moments where we face internal barriers to the experience itself (scary hallucinations) or we reach a limit in our selves like a trauma we are not quite ready to deal with. During these times I recommend you try to ‘go with the flow of it’. An Ayahuasca Ceremony is to be approached with a certain detachment and openness to the process.There is no better occasion to adopt a ‘whatever happens is the correct outcome’ when hitting barriers.

At the same time we are not here to force an outcome. Nothing happens in ceremony that is not meant to happen. Even negative experiences or so called ‘bad trips’ are meant to happen. Ideally, we are so ‘detached’ ** from the outcome that we simply observe the thing happening as ‘oh, thats interesting there is a red devil living symbolically in my naval. I wonder what that means? La Madre please show me what this means and proceed further with my permission.’ Of course sometimes we meet a barrier or limit which is greater than our ability to detach.

If you reach a point in the ceremony where you are feeling like stopping progress then in my experience just open your eyes and take in the sensory input via light. Often its dark in ceremony but if required you could step outside for 10 minutes to adjust. In my experience with Ayahuasca I am lucid when I do this and can walk and move around and when I’m ready I can go back to ceremony.

** NB: A sitting meditation practice can help you develop the detachment needed to achieve this however it may take months prior practice to get your sitting meditation practice to this level for a sustained period of time. Even 10 minutes a day for several months can help develop this skill.

What to do directly after the ceremony?

Go to sleep is the best advice I can offer. If you are hungry eat something light like fruit and then go to bed. Avoid listening to music or chatting too much with others but a quick debrief is sometimes fine. Ceremonies are sometimes tiresome and often you will be tired and just want to rest and sleep.