Editor’s Note: This website is not designed to, and should not be construed to, provide medical advice, professional diagnosis, opinion or treatment to you or any other individual, and is not intended as a substitute for medical or professional care and treatment. Always consult a health professional before trying out new home therapies or changing your diet.

After a 10-year downhill ride, I felt completely lost and directionless in life.

I had an addiction to some legal and semi-legal substances to occupy myself and keep distracted from the pain of not knowing what I wanted in life.

Although on the surface my life looked perfect—a high-paying job with flexible work hours, a lake-facing apartment, and the “freedom” to do whatever I wanted—none of these things gave me any real satisfaction or contentment.

My life felt completely monotonous, and although my job was interesting, something just didn’t feel right. This was the point in my life I had a life-transforming trip to an ayahuasca retreat in the jungles of Brazil at the Spirit Vine center.

Each experience during that retreat introduced me to a whole new dimension of depth in my life. While the ayahuasca ceremonies themselves were tremendously helpful, it was the group activities—the workshops and sharing sessions—that really helped us to get to know each other.

To say I discovered the meaning of life and found my purpose is one way to put it, but even that falls short of expressing the deep and massive impact the retreat had on me.

The biggest key was that ayahuasca offered me a path to go into a space where I was free of all the thoughts. For once, I was in a space where I felt my pure essence. In this moment, I knew exactly what I loved doing the most: to helping other people in any way or form.

How can ayahuasca help us discover our life’s purpose?

The majority of people who find healing and insights through ayahuasca do not have shamanism or working with the medicine as part of their normal practice.

Yet, they find incredible healing, transformation, and insights from this “soul medicine,” and then keep developing on the insights that they receive during the ceremonies. But what does ayahuasca have to do with living our life’s purpose?

Only by healing ourselves can we fully live out our life’s purpose.

Every person suffers traumas throughout life. As children, we are extremely vulnerable and even the smallest things can affect us deeply. When such traumas are unresolved, they prevent us being able to show up in the world authentically.

Traumas come from relationships, childhood, work environments, and in various other ways we cannot even imagine. These traumas hold us back, keep us doubting ourselves, and keep our minds from clearing and finding peace. They keep us from being genuinely happy and content.

A person carrying traumatic experiences will likely end up attracting people and situations to their life in a way that their traumas keep repeating the same theme. The situations are different only on the surface.

Ayahuasca is an amplifier: it puts the spotlight on the parts of life that are holding us back in the present moment. Once we become aware of this, by using different techniques we can heal these traumas and gain new insights in life.

The best part about ayahuasca is that it is a sentient and intelligent entity and it takes the person right to the source when they are ready. What we can learn in one ayahuasca ceremony could take years in therapy, or maybe never even come otherwise. The purging that is associated with ayahuasca is to get rid of the toxic parts of ourselves, which we carry with us every day.

Does ayahuasca give insights about one’s life purpose?

Sometimes yes and sometimes no.

Each person is different. Ayahuasca always gives us what we need in the present moment, but not necessarily what we want. It will give us profound healing of deep-rooted traumas. 

When the burden of these traumas has been lifted, we are more ready and able to find happiness and overcome our fears. When we are no longer fighting our old patterns, discovering our purpose becomes a whole lot easier.

Some people intuitively know their purpose, others need help remembering.

To help us become more aligned with ourselves and make it easier to find our purpose with ayahuasca, we can use different approaches to help prepare for the retreat and the ceremony.

Techniques such as meditation and yoga can help us be more connected with ourselves and help greatly during the ayahuasca ceremony to breathe and overcome fears.

When we are ready and we have overcome the blockages that keep us disconnected from our essence, ayahuasca can help us discover our purpose beyond any doubt.

The important thing to remember is to participate in a safe, clean, and supportive environment where we can receive guidance and techniques to help us navigate the journeys with this sacred plant.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

Relephant:

5 Ways Ayahuasca can Heal our Minds.

Author: Rohan Tahiliani
Image: Apollo/ Flickr & Wikimedia
Editor: Sara Kärpänen
Copy editor:  Khara-Jade Warren