Narrowing Your Intention

I assist in reviewing your incoming application forms. It contains very personal questions such as people’s medical history, experienced trauma, and healing intentions. I am humbled that people open up and allow us a glimpse of their personal life journey and the many obstacles they have encountered along the way… (Needless to say these responses are treated with the utmost confidentially!) However, some people find it hard to narrow their intentions down to one particular healing intention, or they feel a strong “call” to drink Ayahuasca without being able to pin it down. Others don’t really have a healing intention. So from the experience I have gained in doing this service, and to express my gratitude for people’s trust in our center, our shamans and facilitating staff, I would like to write about the importance of setting an intention for your ceremony.

Healing intentions are diverse and expressed in a myriad ways, but what they ultimately boil down to is the following: Self Love – or the lack of it.

In A New Earth, Eckhart Tolle writes that the highest form of love is the Love for one’s Self – the Self deep down inside that is connected to all of life. Without Self Love, how can you truly love someone else? How can you truly take care of the planet? How can you truly forgive? Fear, for example, means that there is a lack of trust. If you fully embrace and love your Self, you will notice that many behavior patterns rooted in fear will dissolve. Because if you can accept and love yourself as you are, why would you have to be afraid of what others think of you? If you can love yourself fully and completely, why would you have to be afraid that someone may abandon you? Would you really need this outside source of affirmation and love if you can find it within your Self?

In our experience, working with Ayahuasca and other master plants has proven to be the most effective when setting a healing intention.

Sitting in ceremony with or without an intention can be compared to sailing across the ocean with or without a compass. Without a compass you may be lost at sea but with a compass you have a sense of direction and clarity of what is happening in your ceremony. Imagine you feel the urge to purge. If you have a clear healing intention, for example that you want to forgive your mother for the pain she inflicted on you when you were little, you give Ayahuasca a sign that this is the voyage you would like to embark on. So when you feel the urge to vomit and you carry your healing intention in your heart and mind, you most likely know what it is you are purging. It may be preceded by a specific memory or an intense feeling of anger or fear, so being aware of your healing intention and surrendering to the purge help release the trauma consciously. Without a healing intention, however, people often don’t know what it is they are purging so their ceremony may be experienced as an incoherent swirl of information and emotions. More importantly, integrating such a ceremony may be difficult because the mind fails to understand what happened, which may leave you in a state of confusion. This does not mean that ceremonies with a healing intention are always crystal clear to the mind, but at least you’re able to surrender and trust that whatever happens in your ceremony is for your highest and greatest good and most likely related to your intention.

Why am I drinking Ayahuasca?

Ultimately, your intention is the answer to the question: “Why have I decided to drink Ayahuasca?” It may seem like a simple question but upon contemplation you will find that it calls for some serious inquiry into your life, your habits, your healthy versus unhealthy ego, your personality and your psyche. You are courageous enough to step outside your comfort zone and plunge deep into the Vast Ocean you are inside to heal all that is ready to be released, so I encourage you to make the most of this opportunity and set your healing intention.

If you are planning on participating in a medicinal plant ceremony soon, I hope this blog has helped you understand the importance of setting an intention, and how to do this.

In gratitude