All language subtitles for Psychedelica.Series.1.03of14.Ayahuasca.Journey.into.Infinity.1080p.HDTV.x264.AAC.MVGroup.org

[NON-ENGLISH SINGING]

>> Deep in the
heart of the Amazon,

out of generations
of indigenous people,

from mysterious origins, birthed
from a specific combination

of plants comes a
visionary experience,

an ancient healing tradition,
modern controversy and massive

interest from younger
generations all surrounding

a sacred brew called Ayahuasca,
a beverage that contains DMT.

DMT is a tryptamine that
even our brain produces,

but the chacruna leaves
contain much more.

Left alone, this molecule
will be metabolized

before having any effect.

So the sacred vine is
added to protect its entry

through the body, into the
brain, and into our experience.

From scientists to
shamans, many theories

abound regarding the strange
effects of Ayahuasca,

and yet it still is
not fully understood.

>> So Ayahuasca is--

it's a whole bunch of things.

But you know, on the nuts and
bolts level, it's a beverage.

It's made from two plants,
at least one of which

contains dimethyltryptamine.

At the cultural level, it's
much broader than that.

These are essentially
shamanic practices,

and Ayahuasca is at
the center of that kind

of traditional
medicine, you know,

which is really a mind
body kind of medicine.

>> This mind-body medicine
has been used for so long

in a region devoid of literature
that the true beginnings

of Ayahuasca are left to
oral traditions and myth.

There are only a few
cultural artifacts

that have survived this
hot and wet climate

before being
completely decomposed

and recycled back into nature.

And the mystery of how the
indigenous discovered these two

ingredients among
countless other species

has baffled the world.

>> Why do these few plants,
out of a half a million

in the world, have these
unearthly effects on the mind

and sometimes on the body, that
they think can transport him

to outer realms of space?

And they believe in these plants
there is a resident spirit.

>> Ayahuasca was the only
psychedelic session where I had

a sense of a personal therapist,
kind of like a spiritual guide

of some sort,
which I didn't see,

but it was a very clear
sense of energetic presence

and telepathic communication
guiding me in a very specific

way through my sessions, what
I should look at, what I should

work on.

And if I didn't
do it, it sort of

returned and was sort of putting
some pressure on me to do it,

you know.

It had an intention for
me, what I should do,

what I should become
in that session.

>> The indigenous of the
Amazon refer to it as Mother

Ayahuasca, known by some to be
the divine feminine principle

and the first woman of creation.

The Ayahuasqueros,
or healers, say

it is her that we
commune with for guidance

before, during, and
after drinking Ayahuasca.

It is she that allows us access
to all that we've forgotten

in this life and all others.

However, in the
initial ceremonies

where people are introduced
to this resident spirit,

it can be painful and
quite confrontational

because so much of our
trauma is unknown to us,

and therefore we rarely
acknowledge our baggage

as a part of us.

>> So, what Ayahuasca does is
she goes through the physical

and energetic body--

and emotional bodies-- that
are totally interconnected.

And she's going
through and our traumas

are held in the tissues.

And so, she's going and
ripping out that stuff.

And so, it hurts, whether it be
physical, through nauseousness.

Or even actual pain,
or sometimes we

have that stuff in our thought
processes, our patterns.

And so, we're holding
onto this stuff,

and Ayahuasca is
opening, opening, opening

and pulling that stuff out.

>> Everyone's experiences are
different in personal ways.

Not everyone experiences pain.

Some are left in ecstasy.

But no two ceremonies
are identical.

Some describe the
evolution of ceremonies

as the medicine speaking
a story of our blind spots

and ailments.

Although traditionally the
main purpose of Ayahuasca

has been for healing,
it's typically

the visionary quality that
initially attracts newcomers.

They come with curiosity,
expectation, ambition,

and a drive to
become enlightened,

a mystic, a spiritual savant.

But if you listen
to those who have

spent many years
with the medicine,

or even just a few weeks
in a traditional setting,

you'll learn that
the path to heaven

often comes through the
belly of a personal hell.

The wake-up call
happens when those

who want to merge
with pure divinity

are faced with their
fears of death.

In Ayahuasca culture,
facing mortality

is a prerequisite to evolving
on the path of spirituality.

The vine itself is
called the vine of souls

or the vine of the dead.

And even though these difficult
encounters are well-known,

there are still thousands of
people journeying to the Amazon

with the desire to
peek behind the veil,

to receive the
overflowing gifts of life

and uncover these painful yet
fruitful mysteries of death.

Getting into the
heart of the Amazon

requires much time, money,
and determination just

to get through the
hustle and bustle,

only to arrive on a long boat
ride to your final destination.

Once the boat departs
and you're finally

miles from modern civilization,
the jungle begins to speak.

The volume of the jungle
seems deafening and ominous,

overpowering at times.

The anticipation of
the coming ceremony

puts the nerves on alert.

And so begins the real work.

The curandero, or healer,
will seek the purest leaves,

the wisest vines, pound them,
pray over them, and add them

to the pot, light
the fire, and begin

the alchemical distillation.

The ceremonial
maloka is prepared

for the evening, beds, blankets,
buckets, and the altar.

When the night hits,
the jungle shifts

its song and the
ceremony begins.

The maestro blows the protective
smoke of mapacho tobacco

over those about to drink,
and then he pours the brew.

Each individual accepts
their share, sits and drinks.

The first thing one might
notice is the taste.

A confusing mix of bitter,
sour, sweet, and the unknown

fills the taste
buds and lingers.

Once the medicine
becomes noticeable,

it can be felt in the
stomach and in the tissues,

in the bones, and deep
down in the psyche.

As the minutes
pass, the medicine

spreads out and tracks a
path through every layer

of the body, mind, and beyond,
until at last, hours later,

the peak is upon us.

The peak usually lasts
roughly for an hour or two,

but it is also known
to come in waves.

The pulse of
Ayahuasca is slightly

different for every
person and even changes

from ceremony to ceremony.

Visions begin swirling and
pulsing in front, behind,

and everywhere around us.

Time and space may
dissolve, and the visions

become the only reality.

And it is at this point the
creatures of the jungle appear.

>> I have seen and experienced
a lot of identification with

animals, but there seems to
be preponderance of certain

animals like Jaguar
and Anacondas.

>> They may be entirely animal,
they may be entirely human.

But sometimes you get
these therianthropes.

Again and again they crop
up in visionary experience.

I've had such visions
myself under the influence

of Ayahuasca.

So, it doesn't surprise
me that ancient people

had those visions as well.

The shamans are drinking
Ayahuasca to enter a deeply

altered state of consciousness.

And a great many
of those shamans

paint their visions today.

>> Are people under these states
experiencing the same visions

that our ancestors saw in
each corner of the globe?

How would it be
possible that humans

are connecting to
ancestral visions

through a plant combination?

>> Various aspects of the
visual cortex are stimulated

by the presence of psychedelics.

So, the fact that we have
visions we can easily explain.

The content of the
visions, what it is we see,

presents some much more
significant challenges.

How is it that the brain
gets access to information

that people often claim has
nothing at all to do with what

they've experienced before?

Well, perhaps some of
this can be understood

as the stimulation of what's
been called archetypes,

archetypal structures.

>> Archetypes are common types
of people or forms that seem

to emerge from mythology
and visionary imagery,

from cultures separated by time
and space with no known contact

or communication.

Swiss psychiatrist
Carl Gustav Jung

wrote extensively
about these visions

from patients in
psych wards who spoke

of seeing imagery that is
nearly identical to mythological

figures that at the
time were not even

translated into English yet.

If these archetypal
forms are not

withered by the passing
of time, is there

a reason for their
arrival in our visions?

Some believe these are messages
for our personal advancement

by showing us who
and what we truly

are, not the individual
body or identity we inhabit,

but all the events
that have unfolded

since the origin
of life and beyond.

>> I think what happens with
plant medicine is that plant

medicine helps you get yourself
out of your own body and look

at yourself.

There's your birth,
but then there's

your mom's birth, you
grandmother's birth,

the birth of a nation,
the birth of humanity,

the birth of the universe.

It's like this longer life,
kind of very much like quilting,

where in the quilt you
might be just one stitch,

but you're one stitch of
this big, beautiful quilt,

this big, beautiful
pattern that, for us, would

be a story or the history,
if you want to call it that.

>> Whatever the source, these
visions are almost always

outside the realm of anything
we've ever experienced in this

waking life.

They tell stories,
reveal hidden truths,

conjure emotions, and even lead
the mind into realms unknown.

Many who try to explain these
visions by conventional means

come up short of
legitimate answers.

Some say the visions are alive.

In combination
with these visions

comes the strange
bodily sensations

and the physiological effects
of the beta carbolines

in the vine.

The common result
of this is what

some call la purga, the purge.

The need to throw up is
why there are typically

buckets set out next to the
beds in the ceremonial maloka.

And the belief of
many indigenous

is that purging is the physical
outlet for an energetic release

and surrender.

>> With the purging, some
people might say, well,

why are you going to put
yourself through that?

But it's actually part of the
process of not only detoxing,

but also healing.

I think it depends on where
you're at with the medicine.

I think in the beginning,
a lot of the purging

has to do with physical
stuff that's in your body,

because when you
come out of ceremony,

you really recognize how
your diet affects you, be it

the water or lack
of water you drink,

or the type of food, how
healthy or unhealthy it is.

Once the physical
part kind of passes--

or I don't want to call it
the next level, but maybe

a deeper level--

it becomes more of
an emotional purge,

where sometimes you
will realize that if you

go into the storyline,
and if the storyline

is a negative
storyline, that's when

the purging, like the
feeling of purging, starts.

Then after a while, you start
realizing that your habits kind

of recreate it again.

And then the next ceremony
comes and you're still

getting it out.

And then you're just kind
of repeating that cycle.

So, you get to a point that
all of a sudden the purge

is the acknowledgment of
there's something there

that you need to work with.

>> Working with discomfort,
the trauma and unknown aspects

of the psyche is not a
modern Western approach,

where most medicines
dull pain, mask symptoms,

and require no work
after being taken.

Ayahuasca, on the other hand,
is impossible to take and forget

about, and requires the
courage, strength, patience,

and understanding to face
the darkest aspects of us

that we've forgotten.

>> We want to develop.

We want to know ourselves.

And it helps to surrender
to yourself, in fact,

because what Ayahuasca is,
it is a jungle medicine that

opens up your own subconscious.

So, if you see beauty,
then you deserve

to feel that before
you can, maybe,

be confronted with your behavior
that is not always beautiful.

When you see darkness,
it may indicate

that there is some
shadow energy in you that

needs to be digested.

>> The strange ability for
Ayahuasca to introduce you

to your own shadow in a
detached and unique way is why

the indigenous have used it as
a form of mind body medicine

for millennia.

Some of the most profound
revelations under the medicine

often come once the
purging is over,

once the difficulty
and discomfort

subsides and the medicine
begins the softer

part of the journey,
in which the shattered

pieces of the story
we've told ourselves

begins to reassemble into
a more humbling, more

real, and holistic narrative.

The ceremony
concludes, the morning

comes, a recommended period
of silence to reflect.

And then the group
comes together

and the sharing begins.

>> The sharing after your
ceremony is integrating

the whole experience.

After Ayahuasca
ceremony, you don't just

continue in daily life.

You're changed.

There is this neuroplasticity
in the mind that

makes you change after
every experience,

and this is a major experience.

>> Part of the Ayahuasca
in the West, you know,

as well as when you do
these ceremonies together,

you hear other people's pain.

You hear their purging and
you hear their connection,

and you feel interconnected.

And you come out and
you're very bonded.

There's been some--
one test I know

that Dennis McKenna and
Charles Grubb and others

did a few decades ago now
with Hoasca Project looking

at one of the Ayahuasca
churches in South America.

And it wasn't just that the
Ayahuasca was increasing

the serotonin in the
brain, which it was,

on a neurochemical level,
and they felt more integrated

and more connected because
their community were all

doing Ayahuasca together.

What Ayahuasca can
really do, they

say it can be like
10 years of therapy

in one night, because when
you're in therapy in the west,

you're talking and you're
engaging the intellect.

But Ayahuasca makes
permeable your unconscious.

It opens the heart more.

And it becomes very visible.

Anything you've been holding in
your energetic field, anything

emotionally or you've
suppressed can come up.

And it comes up in a way that
you're not attached to it,

so you can entertain it and go
through this psychotherapy sort

of experience.

And then you can let go of it.

>> Another South American
Ayahuasca study was conducted

by Terence's brother Dennis to
evaluate the therapeutic value

of this plant mixture
in a modern context.

And we found in our
Ayahuasca study in Brazil

that long-term
users of Ayahuasca

had an upregulation of
the serotonin transporter.

When we got into
it, it turns out

that deficits in
those transporters

are linked to all kinds of
pathologies, alcoholism,

suicidal ideation, intractable
depression, all of the things,

in fact, that Ayahuasca
is good for treating.

So, that can't be coincidence.

You know, it looks like
Ayahuasca can actually

reverse these deficits
over time and really

not just control the
symptoms, but actually

repair the brain at
some fundamental level.

So that's a remarkable thing.

>> Family physician and
Ayahuasca researcher Dr.

Joe Tafur has been looking
at epidemics across the US

as having a common origin.

>> Whether it's anxiety or PTSD
or addiction or depression,

or even psychosomatic
things like migraine,

they have problems in
their emotional processing,

and that the psychedelics
and plant medicines are

an interesting way to
approach such problems.

>> I've suffered from pretty
severe childhood trauma

and carried around this
trauma with me for years,

not really recognizing
what was going on.

It wasn't until I was
in my really late 40s

that I really recognized this.

And I had a series of
Ayahuasca experiences

that really took me into it,
really made me face the trauma.

And one of the primary
symptoms of the trauma

was fear, you know,
that I had this kind

of continuous anxiety, this
running fear with me for years.

The Ayahuasca spirit just
literally talked to me

and said to me, hey, you know,
you have a problem with this?

Hey, let's work this out.

Hey, come on.

I'm going to teach you.

I'm taking you to
warrior school.

We're going to get
rid of those fears,

and for the next four hours
confronted me with just fear

after fear, all
my deepest fears.

>> We have evolved out of tune.

There's an enzyme
problem that has

caused us to fail
to suppress the ego,

and then this creates a
spectrum of cultural effects

that drives us all nuts.

And so, they have a kind
of psycholytic therapy

to correct that.

And isn't it interesting
that the fix turns out

to be not a drug, but a
shifting of the ratios

of neurotransmitters already
present in the organism?

>> The tuning and harmony
of neurotransmitters cause

for the inner atmosphere of
the body to become suitable

for physical and psychological
relaxation and rewiring

of thought patterns.

However, the strongest
and most lasting effects

neurologically
happen in the gut.

The enteric nervous system
has about 100 million neurons,

similar to what dogs
have in their brain.

This neurology is
in communication

with the microbiome,
or colonies of bacteria

in the gut that are integral
to our health and even

our impulses.

It is believed by Ayahuasca
shamans that the real medicine

is not the brew itself.

>> And in the jungle, if you
talk to the maestros and they

say, oh, you want to
study the medicine?

Dieta, dieta, dieta.

They don't say Ayahuasca,
Ayahuasca, Ayahuasca.

>> What they say, if you
really get down with them,

is that the diet is everything,
and that you're a tourist

and you're here for
a few weeks, and yes,

we'll give you Ayahuasca.

But what this is really
about is controlling diet

over a period of
months, even years,

and taking a regular
regimen of this stuff

and transforming yourself into
some kind of other person.

>> In the Shipibo
tradition, a diet, a dieta,

is to go through this kind
of restrictive phase with

your food, you know, no salt, no
sugar, no dairy, no hot spicy,

no greasy, no oily,
no red meat, no pork,

in some cases no chicken.

It's this kind of purification,
this period of sacrifice.

And then while
you're doing that,

you're taking this other
plant that most likely is not

psychoactive at all in
any measurable form.

But you take it every day
or in some kind of format.

And so you're connecting
to the spirit of that plant

through the diet.

>> The indigenous believe that
it is this other tea of dieted

plants that adds another layer
of intelligence and guidance

to the ceremonial
healing journey.

A deeply revealing
truth can be seen

in the importance of a dieta.

Most every health concern
in the modern world

that is preventable
due to lifestyle

comes down to what
we feed our bodies.

Ayahuasca has gained
a lot of popularity

as a healing medicine,
which it surely is,

but only when taken
in conjunction

with a plant-based diet and
listening for the messages

that the plants impart.

The more one
listens, the more it

is evident that
these plants actually

have their own language and are
attempting to teach and prepare

the body and mind for Ayahuasca.

But the indigenous
as well as Westerners

who've devoted their
lives to this culture

and medicine believe
these master plants

don't speak in a dry
language, but rather

in a way that sings to our
higher faculties of perception.

The songs that are
sung are called icaros

and have particular meaning
to the healers of the Amazon.

[NON-ENGLISH SINGING]

>> That seems like crazy,
you know, hard to believe.

But the idea is
that you're dieting

these plants, these
master plans, that

are going to teach you how
to do this healing work,

and also facilitate your
own personal healing

through the process,
and that that's

going to be where you learn
how to sing these songs from.

Like I said, hard to believe.

I wouldn't believe it if
somebody told me that,

but that was my
personal experience.

>> Maestro Gume was born and
raised in the Ayahuasca healing

traditions and relates his
family's process of introducing

him to the plants.

>> [NON-ENGLISH]

>> By modern
reductionist beliefs,

it would sound crazy that these
plants are wise teachers that

gift healing songs to
the students or shamans.

Several origin
myths of Ayahuasca

claim that these plants
are the ones that

instructed the humans
on how to make the brew,

and they did so not
through human language,

but through song.

The imagery in several
Ayahuasca cultures

actually illustrate
the visual appearance

of the songs
themselves, and it is

said that the songs
of the master plants

are sung during ceremony
to guide Ayahuasca

into the psychological
root of the illness.

>> Well, we know that music
entrains the brain in certain

ways and so do the psychedelics.

So, music can be used
to augment the effects

of the psychedelics.

And this was well
recognized by the shamans.

They often viewed it
as the spirits are

being called in by the music.

>> These people have some kind
of authenticity that you can

absolutely feel.

It's in the voice.

I met many Ayahuasqueros
and the good ones

all had this voice
thing going on,

that they could cast their
voice way back in their throat,

and they kind of purr.

[NON-ENGLISH SINGING]

>> The indigenous of the Amazon,
as well as many other shamanic

traditions from
around the world,

believe the only medicine
is truth and authenticity.

Whether that comes
through a shaman's

particular vocal
vibration, a movement

of energy through
dance, a cleansing

of the body through
diet, or even

the mind-opening properties
of psychedelic plants, truth

and authenticity
is a state of being

that a human can surrender to
or continue to defend against.

But if one is open
to acknowledging

their blind spots, a new
state of being unfolds.

>> It's a flowing with
the energy of life.

And I think that's why people
have so much synchronicity

after they have
experienced Ayahuasca

or have experienced
these kinds of medicines.

You start to run into
events in your life.

And it seems like you just
surrender to the flow,

and it takes you exactly
where you need to go.

>> And this is why Ayahuasca
has not simply remained

in the jungle, but has
spread across the world,

and also why the culture stays
traditional in some regions yet

evolves and updates in others.

The UDV and Santo
Daime churches have

been established for
semi-traditional and even

syncretic uses of Ayahuasca.

Even the Native
American church that

originally protected peyote
use has now included Ayahuasca.

Some say that Ayahuasca is
growing beyond the jungle,

first through
awareness and now being

grown in many
different locations,

causing not only the
medicine to spread,

but the cultural mindset
of being one singular

species on a turbulent and
rapidly changing planet.

>> Very often I'm surprised how
common it is for people to come

to South America, for
example, take Ayahuasca,

and they come back with this
really broadened perspective

about how we fit into nature.

As global culture rediscovers
these ancient medicines,

we're also rediscovering
the traditions

behind them, which is a
good thing because they

do have traditions.

And that's something that, as
a society, we lacked, I think,

when in the 60s we didn't
really understand that.

Now we do.

So, we're adapting shamanism
to our own purposes

and developing variations
of shamanism that may not

be traditional, but they're
more appropriate for who

we are at this time.

>> Perhaps looking at
the world in new ways,

relating to all nature as if
it's an extension of ourselves

is the real medicine
for the people,

not just through the visionary
features of Ayahuasca,

but also through the master
plants of the jungle that

the shamans diet to
teach them the mysteries.

Perhaps the jungle
really does speak or sing

the messages of Gaia that
must be heard sooner or later.

And all those singing
and living that message

are embodying the medicine,
the truth and authenticity

that the world needs most,
stepping aside from dogmas

and experiencing real
moments of connection,

real compassion for
others, lucid reflection

upon global issues,
and inspiration

for future endeavors
through visions of animal

guides, spirits, and entities.

This path is not for the
tourist, not for the curious.

This path is for those who
have accepted and committed

themselves to the health of all
beings and the whole planet.

Up next, we explore the unique
and lightning fast phenomena

of the DMT experience and
the strange inhabited feeling

of the space.