A Brief about Ayahuasca
Ayahuasca is a psychologically active tea or brew which is an attraction amongst many foreign people travelling to various destinations to explore and experience taking this tea. There are plenty of long-term advantages of having the tea, as discovered by prominent scientists. Nothing has only positive or negative side effects. Similarly, Ayahuasca has both positive and negative health effects. Here, we shall discuss all sorts of benefits, effects, origination, and history of this psychologically effective drink.
Let us take a look at the Ayahuasca meaning.
What Do You Mean By Ayahuasca?
The tea originates in the Amazon and is also known as la purga and vine locally. The Banisteriopsis caapi vine’s stalks, along with adequate amounts of leaves from a shrub known as Psychotria Viridis, are used to make this special brew. Many other ingredients can be added as per the requirement of this drink. The Ayahuasca meaning in many religious communities and places of North America and Brazil is considered sacred and considers the drink as a spiritual beverage. Ancient Amazon tribes used it for various religious and spiritual motives.
How is the Ayahuasca Drink Prepared?
Anciently, an Ayahuasca ceremony is led by a curandero or shaman who is a healer, and he boils the stems, stalks, and leaves of the required plants together in the water. It is done by smashing the contents so that the maximum medicinal values can be extracted. The plant material is left behind after the brew is reduced to the shaman’s liking and the water is removed. A highly concentrated liquid is produced by repeating the process, then cooled, after which all the impurities are strained.
Can Ayahuasca Cause Hallucinations?
The leaves of Ayahuasca in India consist of DMT or N, N-dimethyltryptamine, which is an extremely strong hallucinating agent. It leads to an alternative consciousness like out-of-state experiences, hallucinations and more. We will learn more about the Ayahuasca experience later in this article. But it affects the main core brain along with the central neural network and system.
What are the Benefits of Having Ayahuasca?
The Ayahuasca has got many benefits which are most often long-term and life-changing in reality. It affects the neurological portion of a person’s body and can positively affect brain health. DMT and other active ingredients of this tea have high neurorestorative and neuroprotective properties. It helps in protecting your brain cells by producing antioxidant compounds, and neurodegeneration is blocked. Harmine, another ingredient found in Ayahuasca in India, has memory-boosting qualities, anti-inflammatory, and neuroprotective properties. A study suggested that in four days, the growth rate of human neural progenitor cells can be increased by 70% using Ayahuasca.
How can Ayahuasca Help in Overcoming Depression?
The overall psychological development of a person, mindfulness, and wellbeing can be increased upon taking this tea. Reports have shown that those who are said to have consumed the tea in proper amounts can even overcome depression and suicidal tendencies. The Ayahuasca experience also helps in treating post-traumatic experience, addiction problems, mood disorders, anxiety, and depressions. People have even given up on addictions after taking this tea which can impart hopefulness and increase the overall living standards of a person.
What are the Negative Side-effects of Consuming Ayahuasca?
The consumption of Ayahuasca in India can even lead to death because of its alluring property. The most normal side-effects which are a part are diarrhoea, vomiting, panic attacks, and paranoia which can turn out to be extremely distressful. Furthermore, Ayahuasca sometimes can react dangerously with some other medicines such as weight loss medicines, Parkinson’s disease medications, antidepressants, and more.
Many diseases like schizophrenia can worsen if you intake this tea. Heart conditions such as blood pressure and heart rate can increase significantly with consumption of the Ayahuasca tea. Potential research is going on to determine whether this tea can be used to treat some serious medical conditions in the future to help the doctors.
FAQs on Ayahuasca
1. Name some Potential Benefits of Undergoing the Ayahuasca Ceremony.
Undergoing the Ayahuasca ceremony can bestow you with a number of benefits which are most often long-term and life-changing in reality.
Affecting the neurological portion of the body, it can support brain health.
The presence of DMT and other active ingredients can support the production of antioxidant compounds used for protecting your brain cells.
The presence of Harmine can boost memory, anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective properties.
2. How is Ayahuasca Tea Used?
Specific castes and communities used Ayahuasca for spiritual and religious purposes, but later on, it became an extensive medication for people to overcome their past traumas and open their minds. Usually, after taking it, the Ayahuasca experience takes you to an alternate state of mind due to which the person needs to be looked after carefully, which can be only done by an experienced shaman. Before taking part in any ceremony related to this drink, people are asked to purify themselves by abstaining from addictions. People travel to places such as Brazil, Costa Rica, and Peru, where multi-day retreats of Ayahuasca are offered. To free the body of toxins, shamans ask people to follow veganism at least two to four weeks before the ceremony.
