Sometimes the transformation experienced with ayahuasca is the easy part, compared to the challenge of integrating a profound change into our lives after the experience. Most of our life is defined by our relationships. Whether it be our relationship with family and friends, our relationships with our work, with food, or ourselves, how we relate to our environment, both inner and outer receives the majority of our energy in life. Working with the healing tradition of ayahuasca and plant medicine can often result in core changes to our self perception and our identity. When we change who we are, or more accurately, return to who we really are, it is common to encounter a variety of challenges when we return home to the environments and relationships that most likely contributed to our need for healing.
When Carlos first came back from Peru in 2003, he had experienced such an incredible transformation, such a tremendous healing, but he felt that no one could understand what he went through. If he talked to people about it, they just didn’t understand, and worse, they seemed to deny his experience as valid. Carlos actually began to wonder if they were right. He began to question if my transformation was real, or if he had only imagined it in some sort of fantasy, outside of the ‘real world.’ He had no one to talk to about his experience, either. He could sense that his self perception and the amazing feeling he had attained through the healing process with ayahuasca was beginning to fade. Thankfully, the curandero had given Carlos some gifts and had taught him a few lessons that he was able to use as he began to navigate the integration process on his own.
Carlos returned to Peru in 2004 to live there permanently with that curandero, and four years later he decided to start the Ayahuasca Foundation. In 2014, he realized how important it was to have someone to follow up with after a retreat, and started AYAhelp.com to provide integration counseling. It has proven to be a very helpful component of retreat participants’ healing experiences. Carlos enjoys keeping in touch with participants, as well. Everyone who registers for a program with the Ayahuasca Foundation can schedule a pre-program counseling session before traveling to Peru and a post-program counseling session after they return. Carlos conducts the counseling sessions and tries to remain available to continue his support for participants long after their visits to Peru.
TO SCHEDULE AN AYAHUASCA INTEGRATION COUNSELING SESSION WITH CARLOS TANNER, VISIT AYAHELP.COM:
