In this May 6, 2018 photo, Italian national Pamela Moronci attends an ayahuasca session in Nuevo Egipto, at a remote village in the Peruvian Amazon. Every year thousands of tourists visit jungle retreats in Peru, Colombia and Ecuador to try ayahuasca, a hallucinogenic elixir made of native plants that is thought to heal some mental illnesses, and help those on a spiritual journey.AP Photo/Martin Mejia
When brewed, the jungle vines and leaves that make ayahuasca have strange powers, often described as mystical.
Ayahuasca is a psychedelic compound — along the lines of LSD and psilocybin mushrooms, though with different effects — that’s been used for thousands of years by shamans and communities in and around the Amazon rainforest. Some use the substance in healing ceremonies, meant to help people get past ailments of the body and mind. Other ceremonies are meant to aid communication with ancestors and other spirits.
Yet around the world, people are fascinated by the experience, which is often described as life-changing.
In recent years, enthusiasm for ayahuasca and its effects has spread from the indigenous roots of the substance and experimentation by curious backpackers to communities of tech workers in Silicon Valley and Brooklyn.
“It’s mind-boggling how much it can do in one or two nights,” Tim Ferriss, the author of “The 4-Hour Workweek,” told The New Yorker in 2016 for a feature about the jungle psychedelic’s exploding popularity in Silicon Valley and Brooklyn, New York.
Ferriss said that the substance was harrowing and that it made him feel as if he were “being torn apart and killed a thousand times a second for two hours.” It also wiped away anger he’d held onto for decades, he said.
At the same time, a revival of scientific interest in psychedelics like LSD and psilocybin — and ayahuasca — is leading to a growing understanding of exactly what these substances do the body and especially the brain.
Here’s what we know so far.
When combined, the plant released the powerful hallucinogen DMT, and the vine releases compounds that cause the DMT effect to last for hours. Alone, DMT would just last about 20 minutes.
In this June 22, 2016 photo, a woman wearing a white crown warms up next to a bonfire during a break in the service of the church of the doctrine of the Holy Daime, in Ceu do Mapia, Amazonas state, Brazil. During the all night service men and women line up in two separate rows to drink the psychedelic tea after making the sign of the cross. They then sing together prayers and psalms in a large circle.AP Photo/Eraldo Peres
The most significant effects of DMT are feelings of being separated from the body, experiencing an unearthly environment, encountering mystical or otherworldly beings, having an altered perception of time, feeling peace and joy, and having heightened senses.
Certain people experience something like a near-death experience.
In this June 22, 2016 photo, a cauldron with the mixture of Jagube (Banisteriopsis caapi) and Chacrona leaves (Psychotria viridis) is brought to a boil during the preparation process of a psychedelic tea, in Ceu do Mapia, Amazonas state, Brazil. The Cult of the Holy Daime was started in 1930 by a descendant of slaves.AP Photo/Eraldo Peres
There are striking similarities between DMT trips and near-death experiences, which many people report are transformative, spiritually significant, and beneficial, according to a recently published study. Many say that they experience a sort of “death” on the drug, though this is often meant in a beneficial way.
Researchers and religious communities think ayahuasca may help treat depression, anxiety, and substance use disorders.
In this June 23, 2016 photo, members of church of the doctrine of Holy Daime stand during a religious service, at dawn, in Ceu do Mapia, Amazonas state, Brazil. Most services last all night and into the morning.AP Photo/Eraldo Peres
In medical reviews, researchers have concluded that ayahuasca can help treat depression, and many use it to help treat substance use disorders, though more research on this is needed. Researchers don’t believe people develop any tolerance to DMT, indicating there’s not likely to be any risk of addiction.
