Focusing and Ayahuasca
The practice of Ayahuasca ceremony is an ancient one that can be traced back millennia.There are parallel practices in many places, in many cultures all over the world.
It is a sacred space created and held for the purpose of connection with spirit. In recent years this practice has become sought after by many people from ‘western’ cultures. People not born into these communities have been drawn to the practice, I believe, as a way of making sense of their lives. As an attempt to reconnect with spirit and meaning.
I have been one of these people. I have participated in ceremony and study in the jungles of the Brazilian Amazon and the high lands of Columbia. I have been honored and humbled by the generosity of the cultures surrounding this work. It is a very deep and mystical practice and one capable of unearthing much learning. We are, as a global population, extremely fortunate to have these pathways opened for an increasing number of us.
It is also important to remember there is an element of risk involved. For those of us that come from upbringings that held no concept or connection with spirit, medicine work can be a shock. Traditional cultures have an inherent understanding of the self within a huge web of life. This brings stability and groundedness to deep spiritual work, from within and without. For those of us from non-traditional upbringings our sense of self can be less balanced. The introduction of strong medicine and simultaneously entering into a world of spirits and ancestors can be very destabilising. There is a serious danger of losing contact with the self.
It is part of our responsibility to protect ourselves and others from this. To recognise that we as a westerners (individually and collectively) often require a particular kind of support and clarity in this work. Making steps to discover, practice and share processes that provide this support and clarity is how we come to this work with more responsibly for ourselves and each other. It is also one of the ways we can give back to the cultures who welcome and guide us so generously into these realms. (When we have ways to help us protect , ground and process, the medicine work can be more enriching for everyone involved. )
I have found that focusing is a practice that can offer support before, after and particularly during a ceremony. In the same way the process of focusing to guides us into and through our inner being, it can also offer us a way to navigate the sprit world that is open to us when we are in Ayahuasca ceremony. It provides practical tools to bring more safety and structure to the practice. And gives us a way into , and importantly out of , these very rich , deep and mystical experiences. It has been an invaluable support and guide for me during my time with ‘the grandmother’ and has meant that I have options, have things that I can do, things that I can try, to help me find my way through this unfamiliar territory.
The more work I do in my focusing practice the more it makes sense to me that the language of focusing offers such specific help in ceremony. The traditions that grew out of and around medicine practices are ones of deep listening and connection. The world of spirit that is often spoken of is a real one, a tangible one, based on contact, connection and conversation with everything inside and around us. The idea of spirituality that we are brought up with in the west is often distant and aspirational, someone living off in a cloud somewhere surrounded by mist. It must be conjured through imagination. In traditional cultures the realm of spirit is everyday, in every living thing. It is the basis of reality. It follows then that a method of deep listening offered to us through focusing fits in perfectly with this way of perceiving and living through the world. Focusing asks us to pause, to look within and welcome something that we don’t yet know. It ask us to wait for a deeper understanding to emerge. It connects us to our depths, our sprit, and in the process opens up a realm of symbol and sense that lies inside of each of us. The ability to contact this and communicate it weaves us further into the web of life that connects all things. I am more and more persuaded that it is the same language, and that by learning and practicing focusing we are reclaiming our traditional culture. The ancient ways that were eradicated to make way for modernization.
This is the medicine that we have been seeking as a people. This is the reason more and more young people head into the jungle year after year. It is this deep connection, to ourselves and the living earth around us that we are in search of . And it is contacted and cultivated from within.
This connection asks to be practiced, learned and fully integrated. It is the evolution and expression of this language that brings depth and support to our ceremony work and to our lives. To the ceremonial space of our everyday living. All too often as a culture we are drawn to the quick solution, to the single dose, to the immediate answer. This can translate to always turning to ayahuasca with every problem or obstacle we face, always putting our hand out to ask for more. To fully appreciate and honour the spirit of ‘the grandmother’ we must recongise that our very consciousness is asking to be transformed, returned to the way of natural things. And to accomplish this we often don’t need more. We need more time, to integrate . More patience and compassion for ourselves and others to grow. More work to practice and comprehend our inner world and the lessons and blessings we have already been given.
Focusing is the core work we do for a supported, grounded and integrated ayahuasca practice . It is also the foundational practice for a change in our collective consciousness. It is a practical language we can learn to find our way back to the natural world. To evolve as individuals and a civilisation. And it is each of our responsibility to do this work. To practice. To share. This is how growth happens. This is how change happens. Ayahuasca is not a cosmic jackpot we play in the hope of enlightenment. It is part of a wider culture and way of existing that we can learn and cultivate in ourselves and each other. It is only when we do this that the true wisdoms and mystery of this most sacred medicine can be fully revealed.
This is the medicine that we have been seeking as a people. This is the reason more and more young people head into the jungle year after year. It is this deep connection, to ourselves and the living earth around us that we are in search of . And it is contacted and cultivated from within.