Experiences of Encounters with Ayahuasca—“the Vine of the Soul”

Western users of ayahuasca describe a predictable sequence of experiences: initial motivation, a frightening contractile state, a sudden transformation, limitless expansive states with transcendental experiences, reflections, and a changed worldview with new life orientation. This structure, named the transcendental circle, emerged from anonymous written descriptions by 25 Northern Europeans who participated in group ayahuasca sessions. Participants reported many positive psychological and physical improvements, suggesting ayahuasca could be of potential interest for developing new medicines and therapies.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Ayahuasca is a psychoactive brew used by the indigenous populations of the Amazon. The aim of this qualitative study was to gain insight into the experiences of western users of ayahuasca, as well as to ascertain the experienced meaning that participants felt by their participation. Twenty-five people from Northern Europe with experiences of group sessions with ayahuasca wrote anonymous descriptions of their experiences. The Empirical Phenomenological Psychological method was used for this analysis. The analysis resulted in 33 categories which were assembled into six general themes: (a) motivation and aim, (b) contractile frightening state (c) sudden transformation of the experience, (d) limitless expansive states with transcendental experiences, (f) reflections, and (g) changed worldview and new orientation to life. These themes provided a new structure, called the transcendental circle. Participants reported many positive psychological and physical improvements that indicate that ayahuasca could be of potential interest in the development of new medicines and therapies.