I am planning a first ayahuasca ceremony, with the intention of furthering the learning and integration of my shadow side. I have a lot of garbage (admittedly mostly self-inflicted) to deal with, and I am developing a period of offering to Aya as a show of good faith and good intentions.

I plan to include sacred diet, meditation, yoga, pranayama, reduction of a mild painkiller I take daily, and abstention from mj, probably for a period of four weeks leading up to the ceremony, adding elements each week.

I've seen some good ideas for prayers, chants, icaros, etc from Ms Manic Manxx and the Ayahuasca forum, but I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions for certain pranayamas, asanas, or anything else that have helped or may be suited to this end.

Thanks!

Perhaps creating a meaningful crystal configuration as well might be something you'd want to consider. As for the pranayamas and asanas and things of that nature, I think part of the magic of DMT is that I often find its energy guiding me. There's no real guesswork necessary, as it guides my limbs rather securely and with interesting precision of movements that I have no conscious knowledge of. If were to try and replicate them without DMT, it would be nearly impossible unless I do some energy work first, and even then, DMT is like having training wheels for these sorts of things.

Sirshasana is one I am rather fond of, might not be right for this, but it has worked well for me in the past with psychedelic experiences and sacred intention.

A good diet one week before is enough for me...

No meet, no sex (any kind), no drugs and eat stuff with triptofane (like bananas)....

Thanks all.

Out of curiosity, why no sex? Something physical or chemical to it, or just general purification?

I can't speak for lobo, but I know that some shamans will often say to refrain from sexual activity prior to ayahuasca ceremonies. What their reason, I can't be sure. My guess is that it has something to do with energies which play a big role in the ayahuasca experience IME. But just to give you a personal anecdote, the first time I encountered the Godhead in my first and most epic full-blown white-light experience which was easily the best day (and experience) of my life, I was on ayahuasca, and somewhere around the middle of my peak, who knows why, but I recall masturbating. Literally right afterwards, I loaded up the GVG, took two rips, and that was the start of a new life. Go figure.

Ive had tons of sex on ayahuasca.

Oh well..more for me

Minxx and I dont do diets. I dont really think it is necessary and I think the idea that native people do some elaborate diet is just white peoples idealism. The only time they actaully seem to do that is when they are doing dietas as apprentices..or if they are prescribed a certain diet to eat for some illness they have.

..then again they never had craft dinner and Mcdonalds.

Just avoid stimulants for sure and other pharma drugs that may interact.

A month long diet thing building up to drinking ayahuasca seems a bit unnecessary. It makes more sense to me to just starting a whole food diet all the time, free of weird chemicals and processed foods etc..start drinking pure water and eat light the day of the experience..dont push yourself into some kind of strict long term diet regime if it is going to cause more stress than it is worth and cause you to turn around and binge later on junk food.

Just my 2 cents on the whole ayahuasca diet thing. It`s been a bit romanticised in the west I think.

Glas to hear it on the sex part!

I really appreciate everyone's input. I may have more questions as I get close to time, so I may be relying on your experience more going forward.

I still think I should diet for a week or so (craft dinner and McDonalds- yeah, that's me) just to ensure minimal stomach crap. The rest of it is probably more an attempt to minimize my fear and solidify my intent, so I will certainly keep in mind that I don't need to beat myself over the head with it.

Happy Holidays!

I've been asking the shamans about this topic, and they say the diet is the offering. The deprivation of salt and sugar is an act of showing your dedication to the plant spirit. Your body chemistry and energy changes because of this and its this energy which the shamans are working with. You are building up healing energy which gets released and can be channeled and focused. More than 2 weeks is not needed, even one week is enough.

Jamie
Good to hear that it works without any of that for you.

I also never did the whole diet. Not eating salt/sugar or meat was not the problem, but no sex and Mary Jane for 2 weeks? Nope.

One time i ask to a shaman why the restriction of a diet .. and she said... "the plant talked us about that we have to diet"

For my personal experience i found that a diet predispose the experience to go more far off.

And if you see what the native eat during the diet ... is a lot of food with high levels of triptofane .... i think that make a big diference during the journey..