If you’re doing research, there’s 3 things that you have to keep in mind if you want to have a safe and profound plant medicine experience:

• The Shaman.
• The Medicine.
• The Container.

This time, it’ll be only about The Shaman.
There are 3 things that are very important for you to look at before you decide if you’re gonna sit and drink medicine with someone or if they’re not for you.

1. Experience:
   I always ask people this question – when you’re going to get heart surgery, would you prefer the doctor that has good intentions and great vibes or the heart surgeon with the most experience and the best track records?
   
   Drinking Ayahuasca is something that is very, very delicate, something that can change your life in a very positive way, it changed mine, my family’s life, the life of many of my clients.
   
   But i have also seen it either ruin or destabilize the life of a lot of people and it was because they went and did it with people that were not well prepared – If you’re getting heart surgery, you’re careful about who’s going to do it.
   
   Plant medicine is very similar to that because it’s almost like “soul surgery.“
   
   So, does your Shaman have experience or are they just a facilitator that spent a few months in the jungle and then suddenly they’re ready to spread good vibes and energy.
   
   Wanting to serve well is not enough to do so, it may sound a little bit harsh but it’s true.
   
   Just wanting to do things with love is not enough to do them right – to do them right: there’s training that is needed, commitment, sacrifice that has to be put in place. Not only with becoming a Shaman but with everything in life.
   
   There are people that want to bypass that because they think that what they’re serving you is just a brew and they’re just facilitators of the experience.
   
   Best case scenario, you end up with good memories and a few insights, but not with the full depth experience – Worst case scenario, you can end up very bad mentally, in the hospital, losing your life or in a really, really difficult state to come back from.
   
   There’s people that dedicate their life to doing this work and sometimes it’s better to be with someone who has a lot of experience and maybe not the best intention than to be with the person with the best intentions but without any experience.
   
   The one that is experienced can bring you back from whatever place/line you cross, also if there’s something really deep that you’re healing then that person has probably seen that many times to know how to navigate it with you.
   
   First step, choose your Shaman properly – I’m not saying you shouldn’t sit with anybody else but it may be dangerous, choose based on experience.
   
   
2. The heart of the Shaman:
   Once you know that this person has experience, then it’s time to look at what their energy is like, because a Shaman is taking you closer to where they are.
   
   When you’re going to an amazing house/community, pay close attention to the people that are the closest to the Shaman, the people that live in the community, the people that run the medicine house.
   
   What are they like? Do they have virtues that you admire? Are they living their life in a way that you feel inspired by? Something that you want to be closer to – Perhaps do you notice certain arrogance, a little condescending, a lot of spiritual ego? Maybe a lot of bypassing?
   
   These things are very, very common in the spiritual and plant medicine communities, ask yourself one question – If it has not worked for the Shaman/the people next to him, then why would it work for you?
   
   I have seen some medicine houses where there’s constant drama, a lot of turmoil, where the people who are closest to the Shaman have spent years and years trying to get over the same thing.
   
   In Colombia, there’s many Shamans that have a lot of addictions with alcohol, with women, there’s a lot of gossip in these communities so you find odd things about all the different Shamans.
   
   While no human is perfect – that is something that we have to admit, you want to find someone whose energy inspires you and who you feel you respect.
   
   Because the medicine that they’re giving you – part of it is the brew, but a bigger part is who they are like, you can’t separate the two from each other, so make sure that the person that you’re sitting with is someone you admire, someone who has a deep sense of peace, bliss, love, openness.
   
   Not someone whose face inspires fear or who feels intimidating, because through someone’s eyes and smile you can tell everything that you need about them.
   
   Do not drink medicine with someone who you don’t trust, because that may be your body/gut telling you something, maybe your intuition is saying “Hey, you know, this all sounds good, but this is not for you and this may not be the right person for you.“
   
   Every Shaman has a different vibe with a different energy and that’s their gift, choose whose gift you want to receive, whose gift is the most relevant to your own experience.
   
   
3. Potential:
   This is the one that i have heard countless times in Facebook forums and other groups of psychedelic communities – “You don’t need a Shaman, you can just buy the brew, make it yourself and sit at home/cottage with friends, be your own shaman.“
   
   In a way, yes, we all have the potential of being healers, we’ll have within us the seed of the divine, but not because you have the seed does it mean that the seed has blossomed yet.
   
   Because there is the potential within you it doesn’t mean that you are ready to guide yourself to an experience like this, some of you may or may not be ready for that, we all have the potential to be amazing artists/musicians.
   
   But if you simply think “I’m a brilliant musician!” and grab an instrument, what most likely happen is you’ll create a lot of noise because you need training, practice, devotion, commitment before that part of you blossoms into its full expression.
   
   In the same way, yes, we all have the ability to drink powerful medicine, to guide ourselves through natural and plant-based processes, to deeper states of consciousness, but most of us have not reached that point.
   
   Most people that say “You are your own Shaman” what they mean is “I don’t have humility to have someone with experienced teachings/I don’t have the patience to make it to South America/I don’t have the patience to wait or commitment to invest in an experience that is going to be safely guided by an elder/someone experienced in what they’re doing.“
   
   You want to take the fast route, most of the people that i’ve met that end up consuming plant medicines at home are in this category, if this is you, it’s not something that i’m judging, but I want to share with you that you would probably not perform surgery on yourself, especially if you have little experience.
   
   There’s a time and place for everything if you explore with medicine in a more consistent way, at one point, The Shaman will give you the medicine and will tell you “Hey, go drink in the mountains by yourself.“
   
   That means you’re ready to explore that on your own, but until then, it’s always good to have someone else holding your hand and protecting you from whatever may be there that you’re not ready to face on your own.
   
   

To wrap up, there’s 3 themes:

• Experience: Someone who knows what they are doing.
• Good intentions/heart of The Shaman: Someone who is at a place where you want to go, because that will be where they take you, that’s where their medicine is.
• Potential: Not only because you have the potential does it mean that you’re ready to have this experience all by yourself, be humble and listen to people that through trial and error have found ways in which you can have a life-changing and safe experience.

If you feel the calling to sit with Ayahuasca, in a container held by Colombian shamans at a sacred temple in the middle of the mountain forests please go to: https://ayahuascacolombia.com/retreats