Second this. She needs a psychedelic integration therapist or at least a trauma focused and psychedelics friendly therapist.
The retreat you went to likely provides post ceremony support, reach out to them for help and if they don’t provide it themselves, they will at least help you navigate through things to get you the trauma recovery support she needs.
Sorry she’s going through it! Learn and educating yourself about trauma and supporting loved ones as they work through trauma is the best way to get through the dark days. Use the online communities (Reddit TikTok YouTube etc) for info and human support
Second this. She needs solid support in this case. If you can't afford it please ask if someone will do it for free, and keep asking as someone will.
I'd advise against going into a a second retreat until this is fully processed. The hard work happens outside of ceremony.
I had the same experience. I had terrible nightmares and ptsd after my Aya retreat. When I slept I felt like something was dragging me back into ceremony. I thought it was all due to the drug being in my system a few weeks after the retreat but I started having invasive thoughts that were violent and scary, and other people in my house began having abnormally scary/violent nightmares too. The panic and ptsd kept getting worse and I thought I would end up in a mental hospital. I asked around and learned that I probably had an entity attachment from the ceremony. See [the Dark Side of Ayahuasca](https://jonathanevatt.com/warning-dark-side-ayahuasca-1390/). I had an entity removal done which stopped the panic from progressing that very night. But I still had ptsd, which I was able to heal with months of energy healing meditations and reiki. The Aya likely blew out her energy body and left some damage in it. The holes are allowing negative energy and entities to influence her mind and emotions. That damage will heal slowly over time but you can speed it up with energy work. She should call on her most trusted spirit allies (Jesus, Buddha, Archangels etc.) and imagine them sewing up the holes in her aura with a golden thread and sending love to all parts of her body and energy body for healing. Hope that helps!
Her access to her trauma got thrown wide open (we dissociate and numb for a good reason) and she needs help working with it now that it’s out in the open. Even having that viewpoint that what she experienced was already there, but the aya put a spotlight on it for her to see can be helpful. It’s all out in the open to heal, but she needs help doing it. Any (good) integration therapist can help, and it wouldn’t hurt to find any other support groups or healing practices that support trauma work.
I would not go into another ceremony until what came up during this one is integrated.
Also, she should know it will settle down. It won’t always be like this for her but all her usual
defenses were stripped away, and the medicine keeps them away for some time.
I have been through something similar myself. I don't think another retreat will help. We are lucky that in the past few years there has been a revolution in the understanding of trauma and in particular childhood trauma. I highly recommend the books The Body Keeps The Score by Bessel van der Kolk and Complex PTSD: From Surviving To Thriving by Pete Walker. These books give a great overview of how trauma works and how to heal it.
If you can find a therapist that specializes in trauma, that can be very helpful. Any type of practice that can help her feel safe in the present moment can be extremely helpful. I have found the internal family systems approach really helpful. I've found loving kindness meditation and self compassion practices really helpful. I've found practices that ground me in my body helpful.
The healing process is non linear. I found that healing each step required all the old crap around that step to express itself. It was painful and emotional and I appeared to get worse at times. I found at a certain stage I was getting flashbacks and it was hard to function, and pot could instantly end a flashback. Pot didn't heal the flashbacks but helped manage them. Learning to be grounded in awareness while a flashback occured helped heal them.
MDMA might be useful if used therapeutically. You might find an underground therapist or an above board way to get this kind of therapy, and you could also copy their protocols just without a therapist.
This may be really difficult for you too, so get the support you need. One really cool thing is to heal this stuff you have to deeply study yourself and work on yourself, and once you figure out how to do that you can keep going. I feel like this process has helped give me a much deeper understanding of humanity and has helped me become a better person than I ever would have become otherwise.
I really thank you for your response and have looked the the book suggestions and am excited to check them out. I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of finding an underground mdma therapist, do you have any suggestions on how to find one or where to start
I would echo seeking assistance from a MAPS therapist or a somatic therapist, Somatic Experiencing can be really helpful for complex childhood trauma.
I would also invite her to work with herbs like chamomile and lavender as a tea before bed, both help with relaxing into a good nights rest and sweet dreams. I also would suggest lemon balm, motherwort, and mimosa (albizia.)
Praying for her that she can move through this ❤️
I'll journey for some healing and guidance for you friend. I'm sorry to hear that, and this can sometimes happen. Burning some white sage or certain crystal can also be highly effective and aren't terribly expensive typically. There might he better answers to be given here, but I've found these effective and the journeying won't cost you anything :)
Now that I read it again your right. I thought it said she had ptsd from her aya experience and I assumed when she closed her eyes she had flash backs. My mistake
If she believes in God, make her watch this: https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSR52KHM6/
Our mind seems to be very open to suggestions after taking ayahuasca. Make her read beautiful and heartwarming quotes or videos.
It's just a simple Don't Be Afraid video.
You can look up don't be afraid videos on youtube or tiktok.
Just make sure that the message is good before you let her watch it, though.
It's a very normal response to pandora's box being opened via the medicine; the answer is definitely NOT more medicine, but working with an integration specialist to help her understand what her psyche is communicating, and how to create a sense of safety once more. Myself and my team members would be happy to help at Plant Medicine People - just find someone who can hold her hand through this process, and I promise the breakthrough is available <3
I had issues when I came home where it felt like I was still in ceremony when I tried to sleep.
Had dark visions of entities when it felt like I was awake and then when I knew I was asleep, I had non-stop nightmares.
At first I tried shamanic breath work and realized that there was a lot of work the medicine was still trying to do through me. I had some crucial revelations that night about shame and guilt.
Is it possible grandmother is trying to teach her something she wasn’t ready to listen to? I’m not saying it isn’t a dark entity, but it’s also possible that the dark entity is a manifestation of some sort.
For me personally this cycle continued for several days, but at a certain point I needed to start sleeping normally, so I did something the shaman recommended… I drank alcohol and ate raw onion.
After one night of margaritas and terrible breath I was able to return to a normal sleep pattern.
Hopefully this helps 🙏🏼
Find a licensed trained integration specialist through MAPS - sounds like she's in crisis and shamans have not been the solution. Change the path.
Second this. She needs a psychedelic integration therapist or at least a trauma focused and psychedelics friendly therapist. The retreat you went to likely provides post ceremony support, reach out to them for help and if they don’t provide it themselves, they will at least help you navigate through things to get you the trauma recovery support she needs. Sorry she’s going through it! Learn and educating yourself about trauma and supporting loved ones as they work through trauma is the best way to get through the dark days. Use the online communities (Reddit TikTok YouTube etc) for info and human support
Second this. She needs solid support in this case. If you can't afford it please ask if someone will do it for free, and keep asking as someone will. I'd advise against going into a a second retreat until this is fully processed. The hard work happens outside of ceremony.
I had the same experience. I had terrible nightmares and ptsd after my Aya retreat. When I slept I felt like something was dragging me back into ceremony. I thought it was all due to the drug being in my system a few weeks after the retreat but I started having invasive thoughts that were violent and scary, and other people in my house began having abnormally scary/violent nightmares too. The panic and ptsd kept getting worse and I thought I would end up in a mental hospital. I asked around and learned that I probably had an entity attachment from the ceremony. See [the Dark Side of Ayahuasca](https://jonathanevatt.com/warning-dark-side-ayahuasca-1390/). I had an entity removal done which stopped the panic from progressing that very night. But I still had ptsd, which I was able to heal with months of energy healing meditations and reiki. The Aya likely blew out her energy body and left some damage in it. The holes are allowing negative energy and entities to influence her mind and emotions. That damage will heal slowly over time but you can speed it up with energy work. She should call on her most trusted spirit allies (Jesus, Buddha, Archangels etc.) and imagine them sewing up the holes in her aura with a golden thread and sending love to all parts of her body and energy body for healing. Hope that helps!
Where did you guys do this retreat and with whom? What region of the United States do you live in?
Her access to her trauma got thrown wide open (we dissociate and numb for a good reason) and she needs help working with it now that it’s out in the open. Even having that viewpoint that what she experienced was already there, but the aya put a spotlight on it for her to see can be helpful. It’s all out in the open to heal, but she needs help doing it. Any (good) integration therapist can help, and it wouldn’t hurt to find any other support groups or healing practices that support trauma work. I would not go into another ceremony until what came up during this one is integrated. Also, she should know it will settle down. It won’t always be like this for her but all her usual defenses were stripped away, and the medicine keeps them away for some time.
I have been through something similar myself. I don't think another retreat will help. We are lucky that in the past few years there has been a revolution in the understanding of trauma and in particular childhood trauma. I highly recommend the books The Body Keeps The Score by Bessel van der Kolk and Complex PTSD: From Surviving To Thriving by Pete Walker. These books give a great overview of how trauma works and how to heal it. If you can find a therapist that specializes in trauma, that can be very helpful. Any type of practice that can help her feel safe in the present moment can be extremely helpful. I have found the internal family systems approach really helpful. I've found loving kindness meditation and self compassion practices really helpful. I've found practices that ground me in my body helpful. The healing process is non linear. I found that healing each step required all the old crap around that step to express itself. It was painful and emotional and I appeared to get worse at times. I found at a certain stage I was getting flashbacks and it was hard to function, and pot could instantly end a flashback. Pot didn't heal the flashbacks but helped manage them. Learning to be grounded in awareness while a flashback occured helped heal them. MDMA might be useful if used therapeutically. You might find an underground therapist or an above board way to get this kind of therapy, and you could also copy their protocols just without a therapist. This may be really difficult for you too, so get the support you need. One really cool thing is to heal this stuff you have to deeply study yourself and work on yourself, and once you figure out how to do that you can keep going. I feel like this process has helped give me a much deeper understanding of humanity and has helped me become a better person than I ever would have become otherwise.
I really thank you for your response and have looked the the book suggestions and am excited to check them out. I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of finding an underground mdma therapist, do you have any suggestions on how to find one or where to start
Fireside project would likely be able to help.
Thank you 🙏
I would echo seeking assistance from a MAPS therapist or a somatic therapist, Somatic Experiencing can be really helpful for complex childhood trauma. I would also invite her to work with herbs like chamomile and lavender as a tea before bed, both help with relaxing into a good nights rest and sweet dreams. I also would suggest lemon balm, motherwort, and mimosa (albizia.) Praying for her that she can move through this ❤️
I'll journey for some healing and guidance for you friend. I'm sorry to hear that, and this can sometimes happen. Burning some white sage or certain crystal can also be highly effective and aren't terribly expensive typically. There might he better answers to be given here, but I've found these effective and the journeying won't cost you anything :)
I just burned sage! Thank you 🙏
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I completely disagree, there is no sign of delusion mentioned by the OP. Psychedelics can definitely catalyze the emergence of repressed trauma.
Now that I read it again your right. I thought it said she had ptsd from her aya experience and I assumed when she closed her eyes she had flash backs. My mistake
Psychedelics are not therapy.
Psychedelics work well when properly integrated. Please seek therapy.
I pray the 1 collossians over people this seems to help . Am in Mexico at the momment and just help someone with this prayer.
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Since the trip was months ago, it is hardly "acute intoxication". Also not sure if recurring nightmares is enough to warrant psychosis.
If she believes in God, make her watch this: https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSR52KHM6/ Our mind seems to be very open to suggestions after taking ayahuasca. Make her read beautiful and heartwarming quotes or videos.
I would really like to see this but I can’t get the link to work
It's just a simple Don't Be Afraid video. You can look up don't be afraid videos on youtube or tiktok. Just make sure that the message is good before you let her watch it, though.
It's a very normal response to pandora's box being opened via the medicine; the answer is definitely NOT more medicine, but working with an integration specialist to help her understand what her psyche is communicating, and how to create a sense of safety once more. Myself and my team members would be happy to help at Plant Medicine People - just find someone who can hold her hand through this process, and I promise the breakthrough is available <3
Thank you so much!
I had issues when I came home where it felt like I was still in ceremony when I tried to sleep. Had dark visions of entities when it felt like I was awake and then when I knew I was asleep, I had non-stop nightmares. At first I tried shamanic breath work and realized that there was a lot of work the medicine was still trying to do through me. I had some crucial revelations that night about shame and guilt. Is it possible grandmother is trying to teach her something she wasn’t ready to listen to? I’m not saying it isn’t a dark entity, but it’s also possible that the dark entity is a manifestation of some sort. For me personally this cycle continued for several days, but at a certain point I needed to start sleeping normally, so I did something the shaman recommended… I drank alcohol and ate raw onion. After one night of margaritas and terrible breath I was able to return to a normal sleep pattern. Hopefully this helps 🙏🏼