Written by Gabriella Weekes ~
This summer I made the momentous trip over to the Amazon Jungle, Peru to spend a transformative 9 days at the Ayahuasca medicine retreat Nimea Kaya. Recommended to me by a dear friend, several months prior, I felt Nimea Kaya was somewhere I would eventually visit. Although it wasn’t on my agenda for 2018. What I didn’t realize at the time, was that a trip to this very retreat would materialize in only a matter of months. A lot had been happening for me in the year leading up to the retreat. Funnily enough I was already planning a trip to Peru to visit another (non-medicine) retreat at the start of June. However by a turn of events in May I was guided to change my whole trip around, and book my place at Nimea Kaya in late June. My application was successful, and despite some initial reservations I was not to regret this decision.
It felt like the medicine was calling me in a big way!
To give a bit of context, I had already drank the sacred medicine brew of Ayahuasca once before, several years back, during a ceremony in the UK. In some ways it was a life changing experience, but more on a surface level kind of way. They say the medicine always gives you what you need, and that period in my life everything I experienced was relevant to my life. There was a lot of surface level things to change, but nothing deeply profound. I was told what relationships I should leave behind, and which lifestyle habits I needed to adapt. This time around I knew I’d be diving a lot deeper, with the retreat holding 4 ceremonies throughout the 9 days.
For those that don’t know, Ayahuasca is made from two plants that grow native to the Amazon. The first is the Ayahuasca vine, and the second is the Chacruna leaf (or at least traditionally so). The vine itself contains DMT which naturally occurs in the human body, specifically in the pineal gland in the brain. The second ingredient, the Chacruna leaf, acts as an activator enabling the DMT to take effect.
Many people describe one Ayahuasca ceremony as the equivalent of 10 years in therapy.
I had no doubt I was going to cover a lot of ground throughout my time in Peru. I’d come in to the experience with several intentions of what I wanted to work through. Unlike many of the other people on the retreat at the same time, I didn’t feel I had anything major to work on, certainly some anxiety, childhood wounds, and past heartbreak, but doesn’t everyone have that kind of baggage? Many of the other people joining me were there to heal depression, drug addiction, physical illness, and PTSD. I was in ace of their bravery to face their demons in this way.
In addition to the above, I also set the intention to find out about my mission in this lifetime, truly understand about love, and to activate my unique gifts. Intellectually it made sense to me that like a computer we all have a version 2.0 of ourselves. The idea that sometimes we need to upgrade our system to live at our full potential. I had felt for a while that I was ready to step into that role, and despite working on myself for a whole, couldn’t work through the blocks preventing me from realizing this.
Sometimes we just need to get out our own way, and I hoped that Ayahuasca would help me achieve this.
Reading through my notes last night has brought back all the amazing moments shared with such special souls during my 9 days at Nimea Kaya. For me, Ayahuasca is so much more than a tool for healing, it connects you to God/ The Creator. I do not mean that in a religious sense, but from a universal viewpoint. The thing that gives us life. Consciousness. Ayahuasca connects you to that. It knows so much more than our human vessels can ever contain. My own personal healing was minuscule in comparison to the scope of what I experienced during the four ceremonies. Transformative doesn’t quite cover it.
I was experiencing the inner workings of the Universe behind the veil, given the truth about my life, nature, and the world at large. How my own healing was helping to heal the planet. There were insights into a future timeline, one that I can only liken to that of my dreams. I was shown that I need to start stepping into my mission work in this lifetime if I’m truly going to realise this. That everything that has happened to me has led me to this exact moment.
In my second ceremony I had conversations with the jungle, the animal kingdom, with the spirits of alcohol, and cocaine. I met the souls of so many people throughout history dead or alive who had caused tremendous suffering and pain. I had to chastise them, and purge for all the suffering they’d caused. While others were working through their own stuff, I was being asked to purge for them.
In my third ceremony I was guided to help clear some negative energy from one of the other guests on the retreat. I was shown that I have the gifts of energy healing. As the medicine worked through me over several hours to clear the density from this person’s field, something had truly shifted.
Energy healing was something I’d only dabbled in previously.
But since the retreat it is something I have started to pursue in more depth. I’m trusting that my initiation in Peru was more of an activation to push me in a new direction. I was shown that communication will play a huge part if the next chapter of my life. This has since led me to launch my own spiritual blog, and also a podcast series with a dear friend. For the first time in a long time I feel more authentically me. The barriers that previously prevented me from doing things have melted away. I’m left with a confidence to help me step into my power, and speak my truth.
I came away from the experience with a new found motivation for the path ahead, and with a whole new tribe of life long friends. I will never forget all the experiences we shared. So many blissful, and joyful moments. Many lessons, and so many tears. Both the Shipibo shaman, and the team of facilitators at Nimea Kaya truly helped make the experience what it was. It would be nothing without their love and support. They really care, and that radiates out into everyone’s personal experience.
Gabriella Weekes of www.spiritchildofthemoon.com
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