How Ayahuasca has changed my professional approach as a therapist?

It has been since my work with Ayahuasca in Europe which has illuminated my previous understanding of the way we work with the body & mind. I am not anti-pharmaceutical but for all its astonishing achievements, there are a host of ailments whose ravages we can at best alleviate. I have long been aware of modern medicine's limitations in handling chronic conditions of mind and body. In our limited pursuit of a cure, we fail to comprehend the essence of healing. In the west, we tend to view people's suffering as isolated, accidental, and unfortunate events rather than as the outcomes of lives lived in a psychological and social context; as the body's expressions of experiences, beliefs, and lifelong patterns of relating to self and the world. This holistic understanding informs many indigenous teachings. Like all plant-based indigenous practices around the world, the use of ayahuasca arises from a tradition where mind and body are seen as inseparable, in sickness and in health.

Ayahuasca in its proper ceremonial setting, under compassionate and experienced guidance, the plant can put us in touch with our repressed pain and trauma, which fuel dysfunctional behaviors. With the plant as our teacher it holds us to consciously experience our primal pain, and so loosens it's strangling hold on us. In my experience, the wisdom on working with ayahuasca achieves in a few sittings what many years of psychotherapy can only aspire to. I have worked with those which it has allowed them to re-experiencing inner qualities long been missing from a conscious capacity, feelings of wholeness, trust, love, and a sense of newfound possibility.

What I have come to learn through my work with the plant is how important it is to have a definitive intention of what you need to work on. My role is to work with you pre-retreat to assist in looking at what pattern of behavior is holding you back and keeping you stuck, we will formulate an achievable action plan to work towards pre-retreat and I am here if you find any aspect of the Dieta difficult and to be here for you to work on any anxiety you may have pre-retreat.
We place so much meaning on getting to the retreat and dealing with actually being there we leave little thought to the reintegration process, that why I and APL are offering post-retreat support. We have gained a lot of experience in working with clients and see that many succumb to the same challenges. That is why we are here to assist you in your homecoming.
What we have seen from the scientific data of many EEG (electroencephalogram) is that the electrical activity of the brain appears to smooth out for up to 10-14 days in some cases. We see this as an optimal time to create some new more efficient patterns of behavior and install some new programs

Written by Ross Hyslop
British association of psychotherapists