The Mail on Sunday

Why everyone’s talking about... Ayahuasca

- STEVE BENNETT

JOE WICKS is planning a South American jaunt to try a mindbendin­g drug called ayahuasca (pronounced ‘eye-ah-WAH-ska’), telling a podcast called Meet The CEO that it ‘opens up even more love and more connection.’ This doesn’t sound like something a fitness guru should be advocating. So what exactly is it? A hallucinog­enic concoction of vines and leaves, drunk in an Amazonian tribal ritual administer­ed by a shaman, or ‘curandero’. It’s said to warp reality more intensely than LSD, making users, who can be immobilise­d for hours, ‘feel intensely connected to humanity and nature’. Visions are accompanie­d by the healer singing sacred chants.

The Amazon seems a long way to go just to get high…

Devotees say the experience goes deeper and can rewire the psyche to combat depression and addiction. Although ayahuasca is a Class A drug in the UK, the same regulator which approved the Pfizer Covid vaccine recently approved clinical trials into the possible benefits of its active ingredient, called DMT. Taking ayahuasca isn’t all fun: most people euphemisti­cally report a ‘purging’ – vomiting – while disturbing visions are not uncommon. It increases blood pressure and heart rate, and could exacerbate schizophre­nia. Yet overwhelmi­ng feelings of peace and love are widely reported.

Just the sort of thing New Agey celebritie­s would endorse.

It’s one of singer Miley Cyrus’s favourite drugs, apparently. And Olivia Newton-John said a session ‘changed her life’. Inevitably, Sting is a fan, too, babbling about ‘floating in a buoyant, limitless ocean of feeling’ during his psychedeli­c trip.

So, ancient tradition or a way of fleecing gullible Westerners seeking fake ‘spirituali­ty’?

Bit of both. It’s sold as an ancient ritual but that could be an exaggerati­on by locals wishing to make a fast buck. Amazonian anthropolo­gist Brabec de Mori says the tradition goes back 300 years. But it is culturally important, with ten per cent of people in Iquitos, Peru, on any Friday night participat­ing in a ceremony. The town is the centre of ‘ritual tourism’, despite concerns about exploitati­on of indigenous culture.

The Foreign Office reports travellers suffering ‘serious illnesses and in some cases death’ after ceremonies. Maybe Joe should stick to getting high on exercise in his front room.

 ??  ?? HALLUCINOG­ENIC: The ancient concoction
HALLUCINOG­ENIC: The ancient concoction

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