Journal
Writing from the jungle
Articles on ayahuasca, the Mestizo tradition, preparation, integration, and much more.
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June 22, 2026
Ayahuasca and Trauma: Healing the Roots, Not Just the Symptoms
What trauma is, why it hides in the body, and how ayahuasca can bring buried pain into awareness — with the safety it demands.
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June 22, 2026
Ayahuasca for Couples: Reconnecting When Love Feels Stuck
When love is still there but the connection feels lost — why an ayahuasca couples retreat may help you find your way back to each other.
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June 20, 2024
The Therapeutic Benefits of Ayahuasca: What the Research Shows
What peer-reviewed research suggests about ayahuasca and mental well-being — with honest limitations and no promises of cure.
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June 15, 2024
The Science of Ayahuasca: DMT, the Harmala Alkaloids & the Brain
How ayahuasca works — DMT, the harmala alkaloids (harmine, THH), the MAO-inhibition that makes it orally active, and what early brain research suggests.
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June 8, 2024
Psychedelic Integration: Turning Insight Into Lasting Change
What integration really means after an ayahuasca retreat — the main models, practical tools, and how we support it at Ayaselva.
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May 25, 2024
Ayahuasca and Addiction Recovery: What Helps, and Why
How ayahuasca is being explored for addiction recovery — the role of emotional release, community, and ritual — with honest limits and our own approach at Ayaselva.
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May 18, 2024
Ayahuasca and Eating Disorders: Healing the Roots, Honestly
What emerging research and our own family's experience suggest about ayahuasca, eating disorders, and emotional healing — with clear limits and no promises of cure.
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May 3, 2024
The Mestizo Ayahuasca Tradition (Vegetalismo), Explained
What the Mestizo ayahuasca tradition — vegetalismo — actually is: plant teachers, icaros, the dieta, and how it differs from strictly indigenous practice.
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April 28, 2024
Iquitos, Peru: A Traveler's Guide (and How to Reach Ayaselva)
What to know about Iquitos — the largest city reachable only by river or air — and exactly how the journey to Ayaselva in Tamshiyacu works, step by step.
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April 12, 2024
Tamshiyacu's Ayahuasca Journey: The Story of an Amazon Town
The history of Tamshiyacu, the Amazon town near Iquitos where Ayaselva is based — from its 1911 founding to its place in Peru's ayahuasca tradition.
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