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Writer's pictureGeorge Alvarez

Five Personal Life Lessons and Benefits I’ve Received from Working with Ayahuasca

Written by guest author George Alvarez. From the UK, George has been on the spiritual path for several years now and has drunk Ayahuasca many times in various parts of Peru and South America.



Do people’s lives really change after drinking Ayahuasca? That was what my initial question before I first drank it, and it seems to be a common thought amongst many people looking to connect with this sacred Amazonian plant.


Every time I decide to sit down and drink Ayahuasca again, I’m always surprised by the new lessons I receive. After my first few sessions I assumed that I had figured out everything that I would ever need to know; however, I’m gently reminded each time that the path of self-improvement is a never-ending one, and also one that really does have unlimited benefits in the long run.


In this article, I’ll share five of my own personal lessons from Ayahuasca, focusing on the more important ones that have helped me to change my life. It’s important to note that these were not always immediate fixes, and where necessary I’ll mention the hard but important work of integration so I could slowly change that part of my life for the better. 




My Five Biggest Lessons Working With Ayahuasca 


Below, in no particular order, I’ll list my own biggest lessons from working with Ayahuasca. It’s really important to mention that these are what I’ve learnt from my own experience and are what I needed the most. Please read these in a lighthearted way, and know that you may experience entirely different lessons depending on your needs. 



With Shipibo Curandera Lidia in the Sacred Valley, Peru, July 2024





Lesson 1: We Don’t Know Anything


We often get told by society and the media that the more we know, the smarter and stronger we are. And in some respects, yes, more information can make us wiser and can also keep us safe (such as the classic example of a baby touching a hot stove and quickly realising that it wasn’t such a good idea after all).


However, in my experience, there is definitely a line where this goes too far, especially when we start creating stories in our head about what might happen in the future using our current knowledge. This starts to create an anxiety which is not needed in the first place and which helps nobody. Instead, I’ve now learnt to appreciate that life is unpredictable, and to get the most out of it I must always choose to be a humble student rather than a person who claims to know it all.




Lesson 2: Surrendering the Need for Control


Before I first sat down to drink Ayahuasca I thought I had everything figured out and that I could make life do whatever I wanted it to. In a certain respect, yes, we can exert force and influence on our end through our own efforts. However ,at the end of the day, we have zero control on the final result of any given action (especially if a large degree of it is out of our control).


This was taught to me during one of my first Ayahuasca ceremonies and ended up being a pretty tough one as well. What I have now learnt is to respect my own efforts and to try as hard as I can, but to also understand that I cannot guarantee anything that is externally outside of my control. This helped me to shift to an abundance mindset instead, where I spend less time worrying about the result of one individual action and instead always explore the unlimited opportunities I have to further improve the quality of my life and the lives of those around me


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Lesson 3: How Important Lessons are Learnt (Ayahuasca Works in Many Different Ways)


As with most things, we tend to think of learning lessons as a smooth and logical process, whether that be driving a car or speaking a new language. However Ayahuasca often works in ways which don’t seem to make any sense in the moment, which can really confuse us at the time. 


Everyone learns their own lessons in a completely different way, whether that be through symbolism, simple answers being shown to us or having to learn complex lessons by being patient. However, the ways in which Ayahuasca can teach us things are endless, and will be tailored exactly to what we need most at that time. For this reason we need to be patient during a ceremony, and also accept that certain lessons or answers may not arrive immediately (sometimes for me they have come months or even years later!).





Lesson 4: Healing My Inner Child


Something that I have come to understand with time (as has been the same with many other people I’ve spoken with), is that Ayahuasca will give us what we most need, and not always what we want. And sometimes this can mean overcoming difficult childhood experiences that we have since buried away with adult life and responsibilities, but which still affect us unconsciously in our day-to-day lives.


In my case, this meant having to deal with an early life experience from my school days which I didn’t realise had such a profound impact on how I am today. Unfortunately as children we often absorb experiences and bury them inside as we didn’t know how to process and learn from them at the time, so as adults we need to take responsibility for these in order to move past them and grow. Whilst difficult at the time for me, this ceremony was one of my most important and I would live through it again if needed.




Lesson 5: The Doors of Ayahuasca are Always Open - But it’s Up to Us to Meet Her Halfway


I like to think of Ayahuasca as a nurturing Mother or Grandmother who gives us exactly what we need, although that may not always be what we want at the time. However, after that day or particular experience, we accept (sometimes with difficulty) that it was, indeed, the right thing for us to grow and become a better person.


The key difference, though, is that we must meet Ayahuasca halfway and do the necessary groundwork to get the most benefits in our life. I often like to think of it as paying the booth ticket at the fairground to go on the rides,: showing that we will also put in the effort ourselves, knowing that it’s not just a one-way street. Whether that be by making our way somewhere to drink Ayahuasca when we’re nervous, or properly following the diet the weeks beforehand, putting the effort in ourselves is a key component of learning and growing with Ayahuasca. And the more effort we put in, the more we can reap the almost endless benefits of working with her.




Overview Of My Five Personal Life Lessons From Ayahuasca


We all have very different experiences and learning points when we drink Ayahuasca. It’s extremely important to remember not to compare or expect to get what someone else has seen or received, since our personal ceremonies are customised exactly for us and what we need at that moment.


Above I have covered five of my own most important learning points to this day, which I hope can give some clarity on the different ways that Ayahuasca can improve our lives - and also that the benefits of working with her really can be endless.


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