One more time on food before ayahuasca

I know this topic has come up before, but as someone has brought it up to me again, I thought I'd touch on it. The subject is how important is it to have an empty stomach when drinking ayahuasca. The person who wrote me said they were having a tough time not eating for most of the day prior to drinking the medicine in the evening and wondered if I ever had folks with a similar problem on my jungle trips.

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I told the fellow that on the ceremony days out in the jungle, I like to get the guests up early and have them take a short hike after a cup of coffee or tea but before breakfast. On that hike we collect the ayahuasca vine we'll be using to make the medicine and the admixture plants that will go into it as well.

Back at base, at about 10 AM I serve everyone a big breakfast. Lots of fruit, veggies, rice, beans and a couple of eggs if they want them. And that's supposed to be it for the day. A little liquid as needed (not as wanted), and they always need some because at noon I send them all out on a beautiful 2-3 hour hike in the lomas, the hills, in first growth forest. It's a hike that will burn up nearly everything in their stomachs.

When they come back from that they can rest, meditate and so forth but they are supposed to not eat anything until after ceremony. And yes, they get hungry. And for those occasional guests who have a fast metabolism, I allow a tangerine. For the others, I prefer they drink water or unsugared/no-milk tea of they need it.

I mean, it does no one any good to come to ceremony dehydrated, physically weak, or so hungry that all you can think of is food. On the other hand, the reality is that each person, when they purge, vomit, on ayahuasca, is going to be allowed to throw up the bile of their lives, the pain they carry around needlessly and often unwittingly. They won't understand that until it happens, but once it does, they will. And they will see the value in lightening up their soul-load so to speak.

Or, they can cheat and eat three granola bars or whatever they have stashed in their bag and then they can throw that up later.

For my money, you can throw food up anytime. The chance to through up the bile of your life, well, that only comes along now and then. So my recommendation is have just enough food/water to keep from being dehydrated/weak during ceremony, but leave it at that.

That's my take on it, anyway.

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