Summary

The Sacred Voyage: a holotropic perspective on mental health

This report documents the experiences of seventy people who, within the last two years, have taken part in at least one, and at most four ayahuasca sessions in the setting of the Sacred Voyage. Before the actual Sacred Voyage is made, an intake session takes place to determine what the participant’s theme is. The ayahuasca ceremony is held at the end of several weeks of preparation in which the participants meditate on their theme, focus on their intentions, stick to a prescribed diet and spend the last days prior to the ritual fasting. The ceremony takes place in a one-day session with six to eight fellow Voyagers, and is led by two experienced guides.

Over the last two years, 114 people have taken part in Sacred Voyage ceremonies. These people have been approached by email to request their participation in this research project. 85 of them indicated their willingness to partake and a total of seventy respondents returned the quantitative and qualitative questionnaires within the requested time. The questions can be grouped into several categories, such as the participants’ backgrounds, prior experiences, the actual experience itself, the extent to which it is healing, the transformational effects, the positive effects of the transformation process, the importance of guidance and preparation, the aftereffects and the physical effects. The five final questions were of a qualitative nature and gave the respondents the opportunity to expand on the theme of their voyage, their expectations with regard to that theme and on whether or not their expectations were met. Finally, respondents were provided with the chance to write about the results yielded by their ayahuasca experience, to make a statement about the use of the brew and, if they were so inclined, to make any additional personal comment.

The participants’ backgrounds varied widely. Men were slightly outnumbered by female respondents, respondents had generally enjoyed advanced education and most had earlier experiences in the field of personal growth and development. For most, the Sacred Voyage provided their first encounter with entheogenous substances. The experience was described as healing or transformational by most respondents (resp. 74 and 75%), 9% had a negative experience, 6% described a ‘bad trip’ and for 5 % the results were neutral. Virtually all respondents -including those reporting a negative experience considered the use of ayahuasca in this setting as healing, or salutary for both their mental and their physical health.

The transformational effect has been measured along the parameters of self-insight, self acceptance, insight into one’s relationship with the world and with family, self-confidence, self-esteem, dealing with fears and the importance for personal development. Scores reported for these parameters, on a scale from one to ten, ten being the most favorable result, range from 6.8 tot 8.8. The positive effects of transformation, such as feelings of oneness, feeling happy, or happier, experiencing joy, love, energy of life, emotional stability, clarity of mind and calmness of spirit, feelings of connection with nature and insight into and connection with higher things all scored in a range between 6.6 and 8.3. Here, reports of experiencing love scored highest, while a connection with nature yielded the lowest results.

The role of both preparation for and guidance of the Sacred Voyage were considered of great importance (score 8.9), as was the role of music, which scored 9 points.

After drinking ayahuasca, most respondents experienced physical effects, of which nausea and vomiting were the most common. In spite of these effects, the use of ayahuasca was generally considered to be physically salutary.

Most participants reported a heightened sensitivity to impressions from their environment for a number of days after their session. Negative aftereffects were mostly reported to have worn off after fourteen days, while 60% of respondents considered the healing effects as long lasting. None of the participants regarded ayahuasca as a drug or even a part drug, most considered it to be a mind-expanding substance or a sacrament. Most would recommend the use of ayahuasca to others, provided that they had the proper motivation to use the brew. This report brings forth the conclusion that for many the use of ayahuasca within the setting of the Sacred Voyage, is a way to revive the connection with their own essence. In doing so, ayahuasca can provide a means of raising lives to a higher level of consciousness and well being.

Back to Previous Level