What is Ayahuasca?

The word "Ayahuasca" refers to a medicinal and magical drink incorporating two or more distinctive plant species capable of producing profound mental, physical and spiritual effects when brewed together and consumed in a ceremonial setting. One of these plants is always the giant woody liana vine called ayahuasca (Banisteriopsis caapi or other species). The other plant or plants combined with ayahuasca generally contain tryptamine alkaloids, most often dimethyltryptamine (DMT). The plants most often used are the leaves of chacruna (Psychotria viridis and other species) and oco yagé; also known as chalipanga, chagraponga, and huambisa (Diplopterys cabrerana).
This drink is widely employed throughout Amazonian Perú, Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia, western Brazil, and in portions of the Río Orinoco basin. It has probably been used in the western Amazon for millennia and is rapidly expanding in South America and elsewhere through the growth of organized syncretic religious movements such as Santo Daime, União do Vegetal (UDV), and Barquinia, among others.

In traditional rainforest practice, other medicinal or visionary plants are often added to the brew for various purposes, from purely positive healing (blancura) and divination to malevolent black magic (brujeria, magia negra or rojo).
The oldest know object related to the use of ayahuasca is a ceremonial cup,made out of stone, with engraved ornamentation, which was found in the Pastaza culture of the Ecuadorean Amazon from 500 B.C. to 50 A.D. It is deposited in the collection of the Ethnological Museum of the Central University (Quito, Ecuador). This indicates that ayahuasca potions were known and used at least 2,500 years ago. Its antiquity in the lower Amazon is likely much greater.

The Ayahuasca medicine usually contains both beta-carboline and tryptamine alkaloids. However, some indigenous Amazonian cultures, i.e. Yahua and others, prepare a ceremonial drink from the ayahuasca vine alone.The effects differ in visionary qualities from the more typical composite preparation but with the same profound cleansing and spiritual effects.

The beta-carbolines (harmine, harmaline, and tetrahydroharmine) are obtained from the ayahuasca vine (Banisteriopsis caapi). Harmine and harmaline are visionary at near toxic levels, but at modest dosage typically produce mainly tranquility and purgation.
Tetrahydroharmine is present in significant levels in ayahuasca. It may be responsible for some of its more profound effects compared to analogue plants such as Syrian rue (Peganum harmala).

The ratio of the harmala alkaloids in ayahuasca appears to vary greatly from one geographical area to another in the Amazon basin. The proportions in which they are present likely account for the varied effects reported by shamans from different 'kinds' of ayahuasca even though all are botanically classified as Banisteriopsis caapi.
See 'Botanical Species and Shamanic Varieties of Banisteriopsis.'

Harmala alkaloids are short term monoamine oxidase inhibitors which render tryptamines orally active by temporarily reducing levels of monoamine oxidase in the body which otherwise rapidly destroys them. The combination of specific serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs, such as Prozac), and most other antidepressants, with Ayahuasca or other MAO inhibitors can cause life support emergencies or death.

The principal ayahuasca compounds have a common indole structure which, through several mechanisms, influences certain functions of the central nervous system (CNS). The relevant factor is the biochemical similarity of these compounds to the neurotransmitter serotonin (5-HT). The harmala alkaloids in ayahuasca, primarily harmine and tetrahydroharmine, reversibly inhibit the neuronal enzyme monoamine oxidase (MAO).

This allows DMT to be active when ingested orally. It also facilitates accumulation of biogenic amines, such as 5-HT, which are normally metabolized by monoamine oxidase enzymes. DMT is a naturally-occurring biochemical substance secreted by the human body in the pineal gland. It occurs in hundreds of plant species worldwide. It can produce very powerful visionary effects when smoked in its pure form or taken orally in Ayahuasca.
It is incorrect, however, to characterize the Ayahuasca experience as merely an oral DMT experience activated by a beta carboline MAO inhibitor. The holistic processes at work are far more complex and it is unquestionably the ayahuasca vine which fuels the transformative power and profound teaching of the Ayahuasca experience.
Tryptamines (specifically N,N-dimethyltryptamine = DMT) are derived most commonly from the leaves of chacruna (Psychotria viridis and P. carthaginensis).

How ayahuasca works

Scientific analysis isolated the main chemicals responsible for the hallucinogenic properties of ayahuasca. In 1923, Fischer analyzed the B. caapi vine and isolated a compound he named telepathine (from the telepathic powers one reportedly gains when under the influence of ayahuasca). It was not until 1969 that a full chemical analysis was carried out (Shultes & Hoffman, 1992), and the compound was actually found contain three active molecules - harmine, harmiline, and d-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroharmine. Harmine and harmiline were shown to be the primary molecules of the B. caapi vine responsible for the altered state of the ayahuasca drinker; however, these chemicals alone could not account for the intense visions and experiences of ayahuasca.

The beta-carboline chemicals like harmine found in the B. caapi vine can be psychedelic, but only in toxic doses (McKenna, 1993). Further research revealed P. viridis (chakruna) as a common admixture to ayahuasca. Assays showed this plant to contain small but significant amounts of the potent hallucinogen DMT or N, N- dimethyltryptamine. However, DMT is rendered in active when taken orally. How does the DMT in chakruna get into the blood when drinking ayahuasca? In the presence of the harmine (found in the B. caapi vine), DMT from the P. viridis plant becomes orally active in the body. Harmine alkaloids inhibit enzymes in the stomach that normally destroy DMT. In other words, the B. caapi vine allows the hallucinogen DMT to make its way to the brain to help induce hallucinations (Turner, 1994). Of the thousands of plants in the Amazon rain forest, only these two types of plants when combined and drank will allow the user to experience a slow, sustained release of DMT and the resulting hallucinations.

Ayahuasca steps ceremony

In order to begin to write about this traditional native ceremony it is essential to know about the plant that is used for this ritual: ¨Ayahuasca.¨ Its meaning comes from two ethnic Quechua words ¨Aya¨ and ¨Huasca,¨ which mean rope and death, or the rope of death. The other meaning of the word Ayahuasca is ¨Vine of the Soul.” The plant grows in the Peruvian Amazon. It is a climbing skinny plant that grows around the trees. That is why they call it rope.
The Ayahuasca ceremony is a ritual that consists of different steps. First, the shaman (healer or wizard) goes alone into the forest to prepare the Ayahuasca concoction. This concoction is a special drink made from four basic plants stirred together; “Chacruna,” “Toé,” “Tabacco” and “Chiric Sanango.” After that, the shaman keeps the concoction to macerate for twelve hours in a bowl. The drink is taken between 9pm and 10pm at night. Then the Shaman turns off the lights, and everyone whom is participating in the ceremony lies down on the jungle floor to wait for the initial effect.
After taking the Ayahuasca concoction, the shaman sings some strange songs in shipibo or dialects from the rainforest. These medicinal songs called ¨Icaros¨ allow him to communicate with the plant soul. These songs come directly from the plant spirits, according to the needs and personal problems of the people who are participating in the ceremony. The duration of the trance takes approximately four hours depending on the spiritual state, concentration and physical situation of the participant. The effect of the Ayahuasca concoction consists essentially of transporting the person on a trip outside this physical world. The only thing that maintains the person tied to his body is a small invisible power rope. This power is one that is not seen but felt, like hot air.

The effects of Ayahuasca vary between one ceremony to the next, but often cause emotional acts; vomiting, seeing weird visions of the plant spirits, or figuring out some understanding about your own life. After approximately 4-5 hours the effect decreases, and then it is possible to sleep deeply until the next morning.
The trance allows you to see your past, present, and future life. Although only the shaman can detect what is happening with his patient. The ritual is useful for self-knowledge and when you begin the trip outside your own body, you feel strange and surprised since you notice new things that you had never realized before about your life.
The ability that the shamans have to visualize the evil, illness or spell troubling the patient during the trance is called ¨Arcaneada.¨ Applying their ¨Arcaneada,¨ the shaman locates and identifies the damage and inhales it to cure the patient.

The shamans always try to take precautions to prevent problems with foreign people because they don’t have the same ability to communicate their emotions and feelings before, during and after the ceremonies.

The ceremony of Ayahuasca is an ancestral traditional ceremony that was practiced in different parts of the country for many years mainly by the shamans. For many years, Shamans have used the ¨Ayahuasca ritual¨ as a doorway into the soul. The rite that they preach can heal any spell or any illness from the patient.
Actually the Ayahuasca ceremonies are being developing in many places around Peru. Mostly of them frequently are given in the jungle of Peru; in cities like Iquitos, Pucallpa, Madre de Dios and Puerto Maldonado. The favorite place for Ayahuasca tourists is Iquitos.
This kind of natural medicine is very different than conventional western medicine. Therefore the shamans ignore warnings about some adverse interactions between the ¨Ayahuasca¨ concoction with some prescription medicines, mainly those which are used to treat AIDS, psychiatric disorders and depression. The Ayahuasca tourists have to be careful about this and always try to prevent negative consequences.
Another important subject that has to be considered are the Shamans, there are some shamans that are fair and some who are not. There are some groups of Shamans to be wary of that like to swindle tourists.

For the Ayahuasca tourist, it is a grand adventure to travel to an unknown country, find a place to pass the experience, pay for it and ask a total stranger for a spiritual experience. While from the other side many shamans obviously apply their knowledge to help other people, recognizing that Ayahuasca tourism is a successful and developed business in Peru.
In conclusion, The Ayahuasca festival is an important part of Peruvian history, Peruvian culture, and Peruvian spiritual and economic life. The Ayahuasca tour is sponsored by government tourist agencies through ¨Promperu¨ promoting Peruvian jungle tours. Even the last Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo participated in an Ayahuasca ritual during his government in Iquitos to promote the Ayahuasca tour worldwide. However, there are many religions that disagree with this kind of ceremonies around the country.

Common names of the Ayahuasca in the Amazon

Yagé; bejuco bravo; bejuco de oro; caapi (Tupi, Brazil); mado, mado bidada and rami-wetsem (Culina); nucnu huasca and shimbaya huasca (Quechua); kamalampi (Piro); punga huasca; rambi and shuri (Sharanahua); ayahuasca amarillo; ayawasca; nishi and oni (Shipibo); ayahuasca; ayahuasca negro; ayahuasca blanco; ayahuasca trueno, cielo ayahuasca; népe; xono; datém; kamarampi; Pindé (Cayapa); natema (Jivaro); iona; mii; nixi; pae; ka-hee' (Makuna); mi-hi (Kubeo); kuma-basere; wai-bu-ku-kihoa-ma; wenan-duri-guda-hubea-ma; yaiya-suava-kahi-ma; wai-buhua-guda-hebea-ma; myoki-buku-guda-hubea-ma (Barasana); ka-hee-riama; mene'-kají-ma; yaiya-suána-kahi-ma; kahí-vaibucuru-rijoma; kaju'uri-kahi-ma; mene'-kají-ma; kahí-somoma' (Tukano); tsiputsueni, tsipu-wetseni; tsipu-makuni; rami-wetsem (Kulina); amarrón huasca, inde huasca (Ingano); oó-fa; yajé (Kofan); bi'-ã-yahé; sia-sewi-yahe; sese-yahé; weki-yajé; yai-yajé; nea-yajé; horo-yajé; sise-yajé (Shushufindi Siona); shimbaya huasca (Ketchwa); shillinto (Peru); nepi (Colorado); wai-yajé; yajé-oco; beji-yajé; so'-om-wa-wai-yajé; kwi-ku-yajé; aso-yajé; wati-yajé; kido-yajé; weko-yajé; weki-yajé; usebo-yajé; yai-yajé; ga-tokama-yai-yajé; zi-simi-yajé; hamo-weko-yajé (Siona of the Putomayo); shuri-fisopa; shuri-oshinipa; shuri-oshpa (Sharananahua).*
At least 42 indigenous names for this preparation are known. It is remarkable and significant that at least 72 different indigenous tribes of Amazonia, however widely separated by distance, language, and cultural differences, all manifested a detailed common knowledge of ayahuasca and its use.*
Both the plant and the medicine prepared from it are called 'ayahuasca' in most of the Peruvian Amazon. In this cyber treatise we distinguish the ayahuasca vine (Banisteriopsis caapi) from the medicinal brew (ayahuasca combined with a companion plant such as chacruna) by capitalizing the name of the prepared medicine, i.e. Ayahuasca.

from Schultes and Raffauf, The Healing Fores

Ayahuasca Ceremonies programmes 2010

Capitari healing center is located in the jungle near the city of Iquitos,on the bank of the amazon river .our own facility Capitari center is located outside of the city of   Iquitos ,travelling 40 minutes by boot along the momon river.

Our goals go beyond most Ayahuasca based "groups" around. We focus on real healing, research nad conservation through our integral farms. We want to gather evidences that will once for ever prove that Ayahuasca Ceremonies with acknowledged Shamans in combination with medicinal plants can heal mental, physical and spiritual diseases as well as showing to the world that in the rainforest still exist a lot of to discover talking about medicine

SHAMANIC PROGRAMMES 2010
 

Capitari Healing Center  offers for everyone interested in the great power and harmony of nature and spiritual experience. This is a fantastic opportunity to get in touch with deeper personal awareness within non-physical dimensions and realms in the surrounding concerto and energy of the jungle. We determined the utmost reduced prices for this program in order to benefit as many people as possible around the world in their search of personal shamanic journey in our center without harsh economical burden, interacting with our genuine shamans in the real heart and home of the “Sacred Vine” called Ayahuasca in the Amazon Rainforest of Iquitos Peru.

You have the options to participate in 4 ceremonies / week, by communing with the “Drink Of the soul” or attending in a meditative state to the rituals, or retreat some nights if wished in your bungalow, during the day you have the possibility to interchange your experience with the shaman in a highly spiritual ambiance, meditating in the nature, resting in the hammock room or in the garden by our lakes, streams or having free time to visit different sites of interest in the daytime around Iquitos and return back before darkness surrounds the jungle and our center for the awaited ayahuasca ceremony or rest.

Our invitation is an excellent solution for common people unable to pay usually very expensive pleasure programs organized mostly by foreign-owned centers in Iquitos or Peru. This is also an intensive program of consciousness conversion assigned to any kind of desire. Many experience instances of the unordinary realms and one are able under right conditions (a) shamanic diet (b) master plant diet (c) ayahuasca ceremonies: learn directly from those realms and non-physical energies / entities and or be healed.

In short description: The Shamanic Journey is a beautiful and magical vacation enhancement and a chance to extract from it concrete conclusions about our spiritual path. Very often very positive and strong changes happen within an individual. Very often a real “Spiritual Transformation” occurs during one or few of the Ayahuasca Ceremonies. The experiences with “The Wine of Souls” are or in most cases can be: life changing, unforgettable, mind-blowing, fear-releasing and very positive. Very often some of your negative behaviors patterns are changed to positive in a process and transformation that can even stretch weeks or months after the interaction with "The Medicine". It change, expend and rise your awareness towards being a better person, awaking a big respect and desire to save and respect our one and only planet and makes you understand the fact about one consciousness shared and interconnected between us and the entire nature that is able to teach us many very important lessons, not only for ourselves but for the best of us all, whole humanity and our entire planet and the future.
 

PRICE TABLE
Duration Time Price
1 week 650$
2 weeks 1050$
4 weeks 2100$

for a group of students and group of minimum 4paxs contact us for special discount

(Note that ATMs in Iquitos have a limit withdraw up to $500 daily, so you may need to bring the cash with you to pay your journey balance)
 

I

INCLUDED IN PRICE

* 2 dietetically meals per day
* accommodations in one of our 6 small bungalows (that can fit from 2 to 4 beds) equiped with showers / restrooms / handwash with mosquito screening windows and mosquiteros around the bed; all located in a close range to our dinning room and ceremonial maloca (with space for aprox. around 30 people)
* 4 Ayahuasca Ceremonies / week: that usually take place on:
1) mondays
2) wednesdays
3) fridays
4) saturdays

and starts around 09.00 pm / (21.00)

For organizational purposes, we must be sure about the approximate number of people attending. Therfore, we do ask you as soon as possible to fill our online reservation form and make transfers of our minimal required reservation deposits or full payments of "Shamanic Journey" program cost to our official peruvian bank account , thank you very much.
DEPOSITS / PAYMENTS

* We require a deposit to reserve your dates and space:

a) when reserving space for our 1 week program of "7 days / 6 nights" for a single person we do require a full transfered payment of:
650$ / person

b) when reserving space for our 1 week program of "7 days / 6 nights" for a group of persons (friends / couples etc from minimum 2 persons or more wishing to arrive to our center at the same date by reserving and checking a group reservation within our online form) in this case we require as well a full transfered and "group discounted" payment of:
550$ / person

(in both cases the reservation transfer of full payment / person should be done at least 5days before your arrival)

c) when reserving space for our 2 weeks / 3 weeks or 4 weeks programs: our required minimum deposit to transfer is :
650$ / person up to the full transfer of the cost of your choosen program.

(making the full payment of your choosen program transfered to our bank account before arriving to Iquitos save us and saves you much time and energy and give us the guarantee and security to properly prepar our center and our stuff before your arrival (the minimum deposits or full payments for our programs should be done our official peruvian bank account at least 5 day before your arrival, please); if not the full payment of the costs of our programs beside the minimal required deposit took place before you physical arrival to our center : every extra week will be charged 550$ / week or every extra day as 90$ / day payable by cash to Bionadean Expeditions or by deposit to our  bank account at least 2 days before the end of your paid week.

CANCELLATIONS AND REFUNDS

* If you must cancel the program for whatever kind of reason, all full payments or minumum deposits will be refunded in full less the non refundable deposit if written cancellation is received at least 14 days before the program departure.

Thereafter, all refunds are limited to amounts recoverable:
* If cancellation is received between 14 and 7 days before commencement of the journey, 50% of the journey costs will be charged.
* If cancellation is received less then 7 days before commencement of the journey or by no show, 100% of the journey costs will be charged. No refunds will be given for unused accommodations or services.

PROGRAM STARTS

* Our "Shamanic Journey" programs are running continuously throughout the year. You’re welcome to arrive to us anytime and any week you wish

* All of our programs start on a given Monday and end on a Sunday, which depends of the length of your stay; please make a flight booking to arrive to Iquitos, Peru airport before any Monday 12.00 pm (noon), for not missing your first Ayahuasca ceremony

Diet of preparation:

• "Shamanism and Ayahuasca are disciplined methods to obtain healing, power, and personal growing"
• To learn with Master Plants, the body shall be purified and armonizad.

Restrictions include:

• To reduce the excess of sugar, salt, meat, coffe, fizzy soft drinks and
• spicy foods. Begin with this recomendation seven days before Retreat.
• Do not eat pork seven days before Retreat.
• Sexual abstention seven days before Retreat.
• Marihuana and Alcohol are not compatible with our work.
• During the days of living in the Center, we will reduce the ingest of salt
  and sugar and will have special diets which incluye fastings.

Contraindications:

• Women in pregnant state or in menstruation period and people with heart
• diseases cannot participate in Ayahuasca ritual.