Click to play. (Right click to download.) 37:14 minutes (17.11 MB)

Welcome back!

In this podcast, we invite you to listen to a variety show with segments from various lectures from our March 2007 Brazil Ayahuasca Workshops.

Lectures by Shaman Warinei Wanare (translated by his assistant Sara Ñusta), Ralph Miller and Peter Richardson, with music by Chapman.

The final ten minutes of the podcast consists of a testimonial by Professor Bill Blake who was with us for several weeks in March of this year. Bill does a great job of relating his thoughts and feelings after an intensive Heart of the Initiate workshop experience.

The podcast closes with a few final words from Ralph.

Several of us first visited Brazil in 2002. Our first experiences with Brazilian shamanism were a new beginning and opened up a whole new world of experience to us.

Brazil indeed holds secrets that can only be approached and experienced first hand. Even as we departed Brazil on that first trip, we knew that we would return. There is such an incredible sacredness to the teachings and medicines of the Amazon.

Photos From Our 2005 Ayahuasca Workshops

Several of us first visited Brazil in 2002. Our first experiences with Brazilian shamanism were a new beginning and opened up a whole new world of experience to us.

Brazil indeed holds secrets that can only be approached and experienced first hand. Even as we departed Brazil on that first trip, we knew that we would return. There is such an incredible sacredness to the teachings and medicines of the Amazon.

Photos From Our 2004 Ayahuasca Workshops

The origin of the sacred plant of ayahuasca: A song which carries the story from when absolutely nothing existed. With the energy of the great grandmother cosmos "Yewa Velo" the great maloca of quartz - the ancestral universe, the cosmos, the earth - was formed.

Traduzido artigo: Ayahuasca: A Universidade Gaia por Ralph Miller (Português)

Article by Ralph Miller

For 20-years I raised a family and worked as a travel agent. In recent years I have conducted workshops in Brazil using an ancient plant 'medicine' or brew which has been used in Amazonia for thousands of years by indigenous tribes. The brew is called Ayahuasca and contains the very powerful psychoactive and visionary substance called Dimethyltryptamine (DMT). DMT is found in all living things including humans.

When I discovered Ayahuasca, I guess I remained being a travel agent; but am now showing people how to make inter-dimensional journeys instead.

DMT is likely produced in the pineal gland, and recent research indicates that the pineal will produce DMT in large amounts at least 2 times in the life of a human; at birth and at death. Perhaps it heralds the entry and departure of the soul. Persons having 'near death' experiences ... seeing bright lights ... seeing portals ... seeing religious icons ... are most definitely experiencing the effects of DMT.

Ayahuasca Medicine

In the shamanic world, all human condition of sickness is considered a result of a spiritual imbalance or energetic blockage in the body. True healing comes from a place of integration simultaneously on physical, emotional, and spiritual levels. From this viewpoint the ego based western societies are in a spiritual sickness, out of balance and in great need of healing.

The ayahuasca medicine is a tea brewed from the thick woody stems of the Banisteriopsis Caapi vine and the big bushy leaves of the Chacruna (Psychotria viridis) plant, a member of the coffee family. With great reverence, intention and prayer, the plants are prepared and cooked for several days. All the while the shaman sings his sacred songs of healing making this tea into a medicine.

For even greater detail on the rich and complex pharmacology of the ayahuasca plants read the article in our Library: Ayahuasca: The University of Gaia

The ayahuasca ceremony in the traditional sense is a time when the tribe would gather together in an evening to drink the medicine for it's healing, visionary and spiritual transformation. Each person's experience is highly individual and is a direct communication with the deepest parts of who they are. The heightened sensitivity by the plant unlocks a state of consciousness where the person is fully awake yet aware of the inner subconscious mind. The shamans refer to this state as dreaming while you are awake.