Ayahuasca Resources » Ayahuasca Easy

Here is a list of various resources I’ve found useful and why they are useful over the time I’ve been learning about Ayahuasca, psychedelics, Buddhism, meditation and more.

People and organizations:

Some of these will double up as you read on but I think it’s important to mention specific people as they may have written books, articles, made videos or have websites which I haven’t found yet. If you search for the below people you should come across some other resources I’m not familiar with. Feel free to share it with me in the comments!

ICEERS – The International Center for Ethnobotanical Education Research and Service. I included this organization first as they provide a support service to those who want to take ayahuasca or support someone who does. You can literally email them or set up a Skype session. They operate via donation so consider donating if you are using their service.
Michael Pollan – influential author.
Dr. Rachel Harris – scientific studies on Ayahuasca
Dennis McKenna – expert on Psychedelics. If you can find his email I’ve heard he will write you personally. I might have flooded his inbox, ooops. If he doesn’t get back to you try me.
Terrence McKenna: Dennis’s brother and famous in the psychedelic realm. Search YouTube for his lectures.
Joe Rogan: Podcaster with many psychedelic guests but also a very thoughtful man. I think he does a good job of connecting to source and then going out and navigating the world with the lessons he takes from psychedelics.
Aubrey Marcus – psychedelic enthusiast and businessman.
Duncan Trussel – funny and interesting thought that a psychedelic or Buddhist enthusiast might like.
Russel Brand: He doesn’t take psychedelics but its as if he has – a lot. Don’t let his inexperience with psychedelics fool you – they aren’t the only way to get where you want to go.
MAPS – an organization devoted to legalizing psychedelics mainly for medical use. Lots and lots of interesting reading and scientific research.
Pablo Amaringo – Hunter S Thompson lookalike and psychedelic artist who founded a school which Juan, the guide at Santuario Retreat where I do Ayahuasca, was trained as an artist.
Eric Strassman – researcher into psychedelics.
Rupert Sheldrake – biologist, author and highly respected researcher who writes on all sorts of topics. See book list below also.
Dr Kirby Suprise – Google him.

Websites:

All of the above people have websites or podcasts but here are a couple of my favorite sites.

https://rainforesthealingcenter.com – many useful insights and articles in their blog.
https://futurethinkers.org/ – They are on the level and very smart. Get into it.
Soul Herbs: A website which sells Ayahuasca kits for you to drink Ayahuasca without the need of going to a retreat.
- For me the jury is still out on if doing Ayahuasca by yourself outside of trained and experienced shamans is a good idea but, they do have a good list of resources on this page which could be useful. In the future, I will endeavour to take their course to see how it measures up in terms of preparing for Ayahuasca compared to some of the retreats I’ve been to and have learned about.

Books:

Listening to Ayahuasca: A new hope for depression, addiction, PTSD and anxiety Dr. Rachel Harris’s.
- I love this book. Actual scientific studies are important int he space of psychedelics I feel. Also, it has a lot of information about integration of your experiences on psychedelics after you’ve taken them. This is MOST important.
Inner Paths to Outer Space (Amazon link)- R. Strassman et al.
- One of my favorite books on the topic of psychedelics this book has influenced many a post on this blog. I think, apart from having very practical information on how to prepare for psychedelics it also has a great chapter full of trip reports from DMT users which makes for a super interesting read.
Food of the Gods: The search for the original Tree of Knowledge (Amazon Link) – Terrence McKenna.
- An interesting read. I think Terrence is not my favorite source, in general, on the subject of psychedelics but this book has some amazingly interesting chapters.
- I especially like the chapter where explains his theory about how the human brain evolved to be as large as it is today, as fast as it did in the evolutionary timeframe largely due to the use of psychedelic mushrooms. He hypothesizes that as apes left the African forests, where they spent most of their time, they started to spend increasing amounts of time as a species in grasslands where they had access to eat psychedelic mushrooms growing in cow feces.
In the Buddhas Words: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pali Canon (Amazon Link) – Bhikkhu Bodhi.
- The closest written text to the Buddhas original teachings is said to be the Pali Canon. This book is not the Pali Canon but is a selection of chapters from the Pali Canon.
- I found it really interesting to read, especially when learning to meditate, as it has specific Buddhist ‘tricks’ to help you reframe thoughts as they crop up during meditation.
Surfing the Himalayas: Conversations and Travels with Master Fwap (Amazon Link) – Rama Dr. Frederick Lenz.
- I haven’t researched the legitimacy of this book which means I’m not sure if it is a sales pitch or not but possible I’m wrong. I felt by the end it could have been. In any case, I think it is a really great book to expose yourself to some Buddhist concepts and daydream:)
The War on Art: Break Through the blocks and win your inner creative battles – Steven Pressfield.
- I consider this important not only to get your ass into gear but because I think that the battle over your inner creativity has a lot to do with your ego.
  - Your ability to disengage the ego when trying to do various things you don’t like or don’t want to do at the time is important I feel.
  - Pressfield doesn’t talk about psychedelics but I think the topic he choose is a real-life application of psychedelics.
  - That being, reframing your ‘thoughts’ as your ego’s and not necessarily ‘yours’.
  - Psychedelics can give you the arm’s length you need from your ego to be able to understand this.
  - I should note that other things can also give you this arm’s length, eg meditation or becoming really, really good at something but I think psychedelics is probably a faster route.
  - I could probably write a whole blog post on this topic so, apologies if I haven’t made what I’m trying to say very clear here. Comment below if you’d like more info on this topic.
Plant Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm: Into the Dreaming of Earth – Stephen Buhner.
- One of the first books I read while at Santuario Retreat. Lots of interesting information that reframes what you may have thought about the earth. Has much more information than just on Ayahuasca.
Visionary Artwork of Pablo Amaringo and his students – Scott Olsen. Sorry, I can’t find a link to this one but have a search for it. It would be great to just look at his images if you are post-ceremony and want to remind yourself of the visions.
Ways to go beyond and why they work – Rupert Sheldrake – one the most important books on this list to me. This book helps you learn how to connect as it not only describes 7 spiritual practices that are personally transformative but also that are proven to be so by scientific research.
- In a recent ceremony I was shown to ‘connect and navigate’ and this book helps one to do the ‘connection’ part of that equation. More on the connection and navigation message here in this post.
Synchronicity: The art of confidence, choice and unlocking your mind. Amazon link here.

NetFlix:

The Last Shaman – Rez Degan and cast James Freeman 2016.

Vice:

Kentucky Ayahuasca – Vice documentary and series.

YouTube Channels:

The podcast that started my psychedelic journey – The Joe Rogan Podcast.
MAPS – Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies
434 – Just watch it. After you’ve tried Ayahuasca or other psychedelics you might start to want to know about this stuff – stuff being entities from other realms.
Adventures through the mind – interviews with people you’ll be interested in if you are learning about psychedelics.
Rebel Wisdom – ‘sense making’ channel which touches on psychedelics sometimes.
Anca Pop – I found this channel while surfing around. She visited ‘my’ retreat nearby Pucallpa Peru and has some great content in English and Spanish with guests and Shaman from Santuario Retreat.
Santuario Huishtin Retreat: I don’t know who made this channel but its great. Meet the Shaman from Santuario and listen/watch to other information. If you are going to use this place as I did then it’s a great resource.
Lara Charlotte – A lot of awesome information direct from first hand experience. If you are interested in taking Ayahuasca and learning its many ins and outs then you MUST listen to her channel.
Future Thinkers – Amazing interviews in and beyond the topic of Ayahuasca.

Flights:

If you are flying to Peru from another country then you can only fly into Lima as it is the only international airport in Peru.

If you are in a nearby South or Central American Country then try Viva Air. Beware to print out your e-ticket to present to the staff when you arrive at the airport to check-in otherwise they will charge you approx. $25 USD.

Showing them a PDF on your phone or anything that isn’t printed off won’t work. They also do domestic flights within Peru.

If you are further a field, for example Europe or America, Scotts Cheap Flights can give you great deals on flights from all over the world specifically, from/to the US.

Once you are in Peru you have two main towns to do Ayahuasca in. The closer of the 2 is Pucallpa which is about 1h 15m from Lima by plane. Interior flights within Peru are generally cheaper with these companies,

There is also Iquitos which can also be reached by plane but in my research Iquitos, being the hub of Ayahuasca, also has it’s dangers as their are more charlatans up that way. As such I prefer to go to Santuario Retreat near Pucallpa.

Travel insurance:

World Nomads: I find these guys have good rates and they actually pay out. I’ve had two payouts from them for laptop damage during my South American travel. It can also be handled completely online. You do need proper documentation for a claim but that’s normal.