There are waves that does not allow one to steer anything in any particular way, no options to choose from. As long as you're able to have a hand in the way to go trough the process, you're scratching surface (in an overstated manner of speaking), still very valuable in its own right though.

You are absolutely right, of course. This is what I mean that you simply cannot control it, there is no control to it, it's unpredictable. You can only be conscious of the happening, accept whatsoever comes, and if the need arises, respond to it out of the moment. Otherwise just enjoy the happening and everything that it is capable of revealing or offering to you. But if basic consciousness is missing in the happening, then you are cheating yourself from the fullness of the experience and learning from anything it is capable of providing because YOU are not there really (any experience)... may as well not even do it, if you're not there to enjoy it in the first place. Of course when referring to an ayahuasca experience, it challenges you in a way (the experience itself), but then be conscious of and rise to the challenge if you decide to do it (within reason and respectable dosage).

The same with eating food, for example. You can eat it mechanically, out of pre-programmed habit, just going through the 3 meals a day motion, or you can consciously be present, and enjoy every bite, every taste, every smell, every texture; the whole experience, and be thoroughly satisfied... instead of eating like a somnambulist (just an example). The same goes for any other activity in life. The joy, or juice of life, is in the conscious and direct experience, because every single moment of life is fresh, new, and unique, and unlike any other moment ever experienced before. Thanks for your input

edit-by YOU I mean the universal, personal you that's in everyone... not you (Jees) specifically

Well not not really. What Jamie is talking about is an experience that is completely and utterly overwhelming. My last aya experience was pretty close to this and there wasn't any finding comfort. MY body was contorting and twisting, hot flashes, then freezing cold shivers. Awake one minute, bent over dry heaving the next, then in a half dazed confused sort of state. Sure when I was fully present I would try to 'find' my center and regain calm, but then another wave of intense visions would hit followed by panic and nausea. For large parts of this trip there wasn't really a me in control. I mean thoughts would begin and then fragmenting off like the branches of a tree..

High dose ayahuasca is BY FAR that hardest to handle drug I have ever done. I have not done Ibogain. But I have done absurdly high doses of LSD and shrooms in my day and while the visionary aspects of shrooms can rival ayahausca the physical aspects don't. Ayahuasca makes you feel like you are physically dying and your in such a confused mental state that when you have an ego death experience it is based off real physical sensations mixed with highly charged emotional centers in the brain. It registers as REAL.

I understand what jamie is talking about, and I also understand what you are referring to. Hence this previous post;

I think you are getting some strong responses in this thread because the title and your OP suggest a set of "instructions" to "guarantee" an AMAZING ayahuasca experience, and that strikes chords in a lot as false at best and reckless at worst. You have stated many caveats after the OP, but anyone reading only the title and that opening post would be left with the impression that if they follow your guidelines that:

A) the fear will be manageable
B) they will be able to keep the overwhelming physical, mental and emotional sensations at bay
C) They will be able to stay conscious enough to remember they have taken a drug and that it will pass (inferred)
D) That they can self-direct the trip
E) the experience will always be "enjoyable"

I know that for me A) through E) are often false.

With your later posts I can see that you mean that all of this is true once you have established your "sweet spot", (correct me if I misread), but isn't that a little redundant? Your sweet spot is by definition the zone that is most manageable for you but still intense.

You hit on some good points, as I stated in an earlier post, but the totality of your guidelines seems incomplete and leads one to a belief that you are not hundreds, or dozens, of trips and years into the experience (again, correct me if I am wrong. And for the record, neither am I, at least with aya!).

If I know one thing about this stuff it is that there are no guarantees.

Cheers,

JBArk

You're absolutely right, there are no guarantees. The only thing I'm "constructing" if you will, out of this instructional guideline, is an optimal zone for an experience to happen within which you are also conscious (the impersonal you, so not you specifically (jbark), but everyone in general, or you can say the you that you are, whoever is reading this). Again, there's no guarantees that aya will deliver any specific thing, this or that, I'm not suggesting that at all. All I'm simply proposing is a set of conditions, in a way (albeit sort of vague and loose, since they would be individually-specific) under which an experience can be enjoyed to the fullest, consciously.

It's not about controlling the experience, or directing the experience, since neither are possible... the very nature of ayahuasca, or any other mind-altering drug is unpredictable in its experience, but the points I outlined are simply significant to the total understanding, or conscious confrontation of the experience with a mind at ease... this way you're not in the dark going in to it.

Of course, you never know what to expect, since every experience is unique and beautiful in its own right, but you at least have a basic understanding of how to approach it... this is for those that are completely unfamiliar with the experience itself. And to open up the door to conscious confrontation of the experience itself, whatsoever happens, as long as you are conscious in it, you will be able to react out of the necessity of the moment (assuming all safety measures and precautions are taken into full respect). I hope that clears up the misunderstanding, I understand completely what you are saying.

Also, it's not about "managing" the fear, it's simply about understanding it. Once you understand it, it's not that the fear isn't there... you just understand it's total function, so you accept it as part and parcel and natural to life itself. It's not about keeping anything at bay, or "managing" it, it's about consciously confronting it, looking into it, and learning from it, and accepting whatsoever comes along.

If all of those points are taken into consideration, then you will be amazed with the ayahuascan experience, to say the least

To get the heat out of this thread I've renamed it and made a little statement in the first post. Please let me know if I understood this all correctly.


ORIGINAL NAME
How to have an AMAZING Ayahuasca experience


NEW NAME
How I create an Ayahuasca experience that is amazing for me


Kind regards,

The Traveler

O hai! Actually I didn't mind the heat, but if you find it to be a problem then I am willing to settle with the mod edit.

The only thing that I feel is misunderstood is the intent, or statement behind it. When you say;


I don't feel like it's accurate to the thread itself. The intention of the thread is to relieve the grips of panic/fear and issues of death through basic understanding, which are common to mostly all successful ayahuasca attempts. That's all, that simple... so maybe something in my language wasn't direct enough to convey that.

It's not that I'm trying to give my experience to you (any "you", because that would be impossible. I'm simply setting a general set of guidelines (which, in themselves are pretty basic; don't drink too much or too little, make sure all safety measures and precautions are understood, and consciously confront the experience as it comes; don't fear fear, consciously confront it, look into it and understand it/ don't fear panic, consciously confront it, look into it and understand it/ don't fear death, consciously confront that fear, look into it and understand it. Don't avoid anything, consciously confront it, look into it and understand it. You can't control the experience, it's a self-directed happening, you can only be present, and conscious in it. Enjoy the ride)

Those things are common to all experiences. Individual experiences will be unique and specific to that individual. Of course we can't give our experiences to one another, that's not in the nature of things. But I figured this just put out some groundwork for someone to be conscious in their experience to get the most out of it; for those that are unfamiliar with the experience alltogether/ basic beginner intro expanding on the aya sticky. I hope you understand, and that clears it up. If not then please let me know which, if any, points are still off. Thanks!

eidt~if you don't feel the original thread title is accurate to the thread;
How to have an AMAZING Ayahuasca experience

and if this title is still open for discussion
How I create an Ayahuasca experience that is amazing for me

Then may I suggest
How to have an AMAZING Ayahuasca experience; be your own judge



Thank you kindly for your time

If Brokenchild's posts can save only 1 person from dialing 911 unnecessary, it's all worth it, any suggestion to relax and accept is very welcome for that. So thanks for that in advance , for helping the scene out of ER.

One thing though, the word AMAZING carries positive connotations like: fantastic, marvelous, wonderful, beautiful, etc...
Now it CAN be that way, but much ayahuasca healing sessions are just about horrible, even to extreme proportions, but healing nevertheless.
Deep healing processes are amazing in their result, but IMHO seldom amazing as an ongoing process, unless you call vomiting, shitting, crawling, groaning, suffering,... all "amazing" too. When changing titles, the word REWARDING would be a good candidate.

lol now we're just arguing the nature of semantics. Amazing is amazing... whether you realize it in the experience, or 2 months down the road when you look back on what you thought was horrible and see how much it truly revealed to you. So even a disaster is amazing in itself; no problem


Tho I am also open to REWARDING But that also carries with it a conotation of guaranteed benefit, i.e. reward... which isn't always the case. I've had dud sessions with aya. I guess even the dud experience is "rewarding" in and of itself... just for the experience of the making and the trying. All a matter of perspective I suppose

Fair enough

I think amazing, if the proper etymology is considered, is the perfect word. To be aMAZEd: thrust awe-struck into a labyrinth.

What better description?

JBArk

Thanks for that post jbark (and The Traveler), I've edited the original OP to include the basic gist/summary (last few paragraphs after conclusion paragraph) that should clear up all misunderstandings. If there's any other apparent issues that anyone notices that are unclear, feel free to point them out

Bump for additional info in the OP; the last bit added on expectation to the bottom of the Original Post on page one That should clear out the misunderstandings on any "failed" attempts, and explain the whole "nothing is guaranteed" bit a bit clearer. Thanks!

I advise everyone to take the OP with several grams of salt...

In other words, use your own best judgement and understanding

Accept that there is no advice that can save you from a difficult experience. What you're doing is difficult. One must 'do it' several times to understand. No words will help.

No human can give another human advice on this stuff, IMHO, apart from the basics that have been stated and restated over and over again.

Any further than that, and its a case of the blind leading the blind. But OPr, I feel for you. It makes you want to have dialogue about it, and one way to do that is to give advice.

You kept bringing up being 'conscious' in your OP. I think Satori is a buzzword you might enjoy investigating, if you havent already.


Peace