I have taken large doses of ayahuasca a few times. The best way I can describe the experience for me is that it feels like ‘the real thing’- like waking up, like experiencing a sense of self that is more real. Since the beginning of 2006 have been taking a small spoonful every morning. The effect I notice is that I feel more awake, more content, more creative, more inspired, more aware of my surroundings, especially nature, more enjoyment and deal with everyday matters more effectively. My body and strength have improved, I think I look better and my mind is becoming freer. My sense is that it is in some respects anti-aging. I prepare a brew every few weeks and keep it in the fridge. I feel that it, like many of these botanicals, takes us further in the same direction of raw food - to a greater sense of connection, contentment, creativity etc. I have noticed in the people who take it regularly - whether occasional large doses or frequent small supplemental doses - a tendency to move more into their feelings and a sense of immediate reality and less imprisoned by concepts and conditioning.
In the UK it is perfectly legal to use it, buy it and sell it even though this may not be the case with refined DMT, the active constituent.
DMT exists in almost all living things, but is particularly concentrated in certain South American plants. To reach the brain when taken orally these plants need to be combined with other plants which contain enzyme inhibitors called MAO inhibitors which stop the digestive enzymes breaking down the DMT. DMT acts as a neurotransmitter in the brain. It is believed by some to be crucial for ‘proper’ brain function. It is as if we are DMT deficient due to the shrinkage and hardening of the modern adult pineal gland which , is is thought, used to pump DMT out routinely. The pineal gland, deep within the brain, is the only unpaired organ in the body. Significant amounts of DMT are released in the brain at the time of birth, death, near-death experiences and other peak experiences, very likely this can happen during childbirth too and also, possibly, in an unborn baby 49 days after conception. In large doses DMT produces visions and revelations. A different sense of self may be experienced which can feel overpowering, even frightening or alien because the impressions are overwhelming to the rational mind. Ayahuasca shifts us to a totally different way of perceiving, beyond description in words. It activates receptors in the brain that have lain dormant for decades - parts of the brain that are usually unconscious - parts that can process at a level way beyond the limits of so-called normal consciousness. If we are all really part of an infinite oneness then accessing our unconscious mind gives a lot of scope for experience… It changes people’s lives. And, as more people take it, it will help change the world. When lots of people see things from the perspective that ayahuasca takes us to the ‘game’ will be up.
Large doses produce momentous experiences. Regular small doses seem to improve the connections in the brain for a happier more functional life. As we are DMT deficient ayahuasca can be viewed as a supplement. When it is available, DMT is lapped up by the brain.
The role of DMT may be its ability to adjust the spacing of the atoms of monatomic elements such as rhodium and iridium in the right hemisphere of the brain.