Tag: plant medicines

Altered States, After Life, ET Encounters & Us

For a long time now, I have noticed startling similarities between near death experiences, plant medicine or psychedelic journeys, hypnotic experiences and descriptions of encounters with Aliens or ETs. Many of us who have had plant medicine experiences have had connections with what we might consider to be spirits or sometimes we refer to them as entities. It can be a very nuanced experience but sometimes there is a ‘knowing’ involved – a natural understanding of what we’re experiencing. Lots of people have seen or had contact with what they know to be alien entities during plant medicine journeys. There are many unique experiences we have with plant medicines that are beyond description. I’m sure the same is true of near death experiences and encounters with ETs but some of us who have had such extraordinary experiences feel compelled to share them none the less. And as more and more people share these stories, a fascinating bigger picture is emerging.

Although it has been out there for a while now, I just recently came across an account of an alien encounter by Emily Trim who was attending school in Zimbabwe in 1994 when aliens were reported to have landed in the schoolyard during recess. In her description of this encounter, she explains that the aliens communicated with her telepathically and that she was flooded with images. These experiences of telepathic communication and being flooded with images are very common with plant medicine and psychedelic experiences. Emily went on to explain that the aliens communicated an important message about how we’re using technology – that there are good and bad ways to use technology and that we can do better. In the end, after receiving a lot of questions about the physical nature of the aliens and their ship, Emily emphasized the importance of what they were saying rather than how they looked. This struck me as so familiar as it’s a point I have made myself so many times. I have a presence (entity/spirit) that I dialogue with telepathically on a regular basis and I speak openly about these experiences. It began with shamanic journeying and continued in a more pronounced way after my first Ayahuasca retreat (with other plant medicine experiences in between). Lots of people asked me questions about this presence or voice/voices, about who are they and where are they from and I almost always respond by emphasizing the importance of the messages they are conveying and what I am learning from them rather than focusing on other aspects, which are not as important. The messages I receive are often ones relating to my own personal growth but sometimes, as with Emily Trim and the message she received from her alien encounter, these messages are about humanity and how we can improve (click here to read some of these messages).

In addition to finding similarities between plant medicine/psychedelic experiences and those of ET contactees, I also found myself relating to many of the near death experience stories published on Youtube as many of them are similar to plant medicine experiences. One of these NDE talks was given by Bill Letson who spoke about his encounter with an alien like being during his near death experience. Near death experiences take place during the time after a person is pronounced or presumed dead and before they are revived or discovered to be alive. After his NDE, Bill also experienced Ayahuasca. Sometimes, the Ayahuasca experience is referred to as ‘the little death’. Many of us come out of these experiences, no longer fearing death as we realize that our existence extends beyond this life. There are a wide variety of other impacts of plant medicine experiences and again, the reports are similar to the kinds of things that happen after NDEs but they also vary because the effects are as unique as we are. The similarities exist in that they change people’s worldview, improve their emotional state and sometimes leave them with special abilities they had not tapped into previously. Most people receive teachings/messages that are profound and again, they are often a mix of personal messages and those intended to help humanity.

During my first experience with Iboga, a powerful African plant medicine, like so many others, there were many images coming at me all at once. This is a very common experience to have with Iboga and some have experienced the same with psilocybin, Ayahuasca and psychedelics. In one of my Iboga experiences, I ended up in the stars and had such a tranquil experience there. It was such an enjoyable experience that I have often intentionally returned there in hypnotic journeys, just to have that wondrous sense of floating freely amongst the stars again. Before my experiences in shamanism and with plant medicines, although I loved to look at the stars, the idea of being in space scared me and seemed cold and lifeless. All of that changed after my first shamanic journey. My first ever visual during a shamanic journey was one of being in the stars. Little did I know where it would lead. It was this first exploration into shamanic journeying (with sonic drumming) that facilitated my connection with a presence that made itself known to me during that time. This changed my life dramatically and for the better. I had been depressed leading up to this experience and coming out of it, I knew that things would be different and that I was now on a path to a much better life.

After spending years learning from this presence and integrating these experiences, I wanted to share it in a way that helped others. I was doing this through my podcast and talks but so many people came to me and asked how they could make the kind of connection I was experiencing and be guided by it as I was. I had to think about this for a while as I intended to come up with a solution that was just as empowering as I felt my own experience continued to be. Eventually, I settled on hypnosis. I discovered that it’s just a method of us tapping into those inner capacities we all have – capacities that are also accessed through all of these other experiences – psychedelic/NDE etc. I knew that hypnosis would be a good journeying tool and I also discovered that it could help people who had ET encounters, to recall details about these events. It’s very helpful in integrating plant medicine experiences and most importantly, it can help people make connections with entities and spiritual allies that offer guidance by providing them with important messages. Seeing the dots connect?

Some time ago, I came across reports about alien encounters where people were receiving messages through songs on the radio. I had this experience often after returning from Peru while I was cultivating my relationship with this wise presence. Is it an alien? Is it a spirit? Does it matter? It doesn’t matter to me but what I do find intriguing is the blurring lines between these kinds of experiences and the implications of this for all of us. These connections, experiences and encounters are helping us to understand ourselves better. They also reveal to us something about our possible origins. With plant medicines, psychedelics and NDEs we have experiences beyond our bodies and even in our bodies, we connect in profound ways beyond our perceived limits of this physical realm. Any entity or ‘being’ we encounter that is not ‘of Earth’ we consider to be alien or spirit but if we agree that our existence did not begin with our birth on this planet, then I guess we can all be considered to be aliens or spiritual beings. These experiences present an expanded idea of who we really are.

We’re often deeply moved by the magical nature of these experiences that offer us very different existential perspectives and often change our worldview for the better – sometimes, many times over. This seems to be a necessary aspect of healing as many of us approach plant medicines, psychedelics and hypnosis for healing or to achieve positive change of some kind. Even the scientific reports of therapeutic use of psychedelics conclude that people who have had mystical experiences during their ‘trip’ have more positive long-term outcomes. This also seems to be true of those who make these connections via hypnosis as well. Just having the experience of being connected to something bigger is important. It’s more than a concept or belief. We’re having lived experiences of this now in so many different ways. And those ways are becoming more and more accessible which is changing us collectively for the better and bringing about a sort of accelerated evolution. It is moving us beyond our limited notions of what’s possible and this is changing everything.

References:

Zimbabwe UFO Child Conactee Speaks Publicly For The 1st Time

The Mystical Experience is Critical for the Therapeutic Effects of Psilocybin

The Mystical Experience is Critical for the Therapeutic Effects of Psilocybin

Griffiths R, Richards W, Johnson M, McCann U, Jesse R. Mystical-type experiences occasioned by psilocybin mediate the attribution of personal meaning and spiritual significance 14 months later. J Psychopharmacol. 2008;22(6):621-632. doi:10.1177/0269881108094300

Griffiths RR, Johnson MW, Richards WA, Richards BD, McCann U, Jesse R. Psilocybin occasioned mystical-type experiences: immediate and persisting dose-related effects. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2011 Dec;218(4):649-65. doi: 10.1007/s00213-011-2358-5. Epub 2011 Jun 15.

Griffiths RR, Johnson MW, Richards WA, Richards BD, Jesse R, MacLean KA, Barrett FS, Cosimano MP, Klinedinst MA. Psilocybin-occasioned mystical-type experience in combination with meditation and other spiritual practices produces enduring positive changes in psychological functioning and in trait measures of prosocial attitudes and behaviors. J Psychopharmacol. 2018 Jan;32(1):49-69. doi: 10.1177/0269881117731279.

Study comparing DMT experiences with NDEs

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01424/full

Coming Out

When I came out about my Ayahuasca experiences it felt like such a dramatic step, probably because it was. I had not been on Facebook socially for years and had been so isolated that it was a shock to the senses to even contemplate this kind of personal exposure to the masses in general let alone coming out with such a wild story. But this was only the beginning for me.

First I had to get over my own misgivings about talking openly about my experiences – sorting through them and understanding them. Did my misgivings have to do with the stigma around ‘drugs’? Or was it the stigma of others’ preconceived notions about spirits? Talking plants? Inner voices? There were many things I had to consider myself before coming out in a way that didn’t reflect my own inner barriers.

I had to sort out how I felt about it and I did that initially through writing about it and exploring my thoughts and attitudes about all of it as I went. This was a valuable process in and of itself as it taught me a lot about myself and helped bring to the surface some unhealthy attitudes that had to change – not just to help facilitate my ‘coming out’ but to help support this new, more healthy person I was becoming.

Once I had worked through a lot of my own ideas about it, I wanted to focus on the outcome of these experiences – the inspirational stuff – the stuff that all human beings can connect with and are looking for: peace, insight, connectedness, wholeness, healing, wellness & meaning. These were the most important pieces of the story and talking honestly (for me) about where I was at before I had plant medicine experiences. These were the aspects of the experience that others could identify with and there were elements of this story that held so much promise for what others wanted in their lives and what they could achieve. It was the same with me when I heard others speak about these experiences. I knew there was something there for me but I didn’t realize the full extent to which this experience would change me and continue to change me in ways that were not always comfortable to say the least.

Another thing I had to consider was my own motivations for telling my story (other than the fact that Ayahuasca was urging me to do so ;-). I have heard others speak about things (especially spiritual or even ‘cures’ or natural remedies) where their attachment to outcome came through so strongly, it turned me off. I felt their agenda and rejected what they had to say not because of the content but because of this control factor. It was uncomfortable. So, I had to figure this out about myself. Did I have an agenda? What was my purpose in telling my story? Did it come from an attachment to a desired outcome or was it because I had a more authentic motivation? Did it matter whether or not people believed me? That was a big one and important for me to explore further.

For me, at the beginning, I was so moved by what had happened to me that I felt a deep and natural desire to express it. In the heart of my experience with plant medicines, there was a truth that was so profound it deserved to be expressed. That was all. However, I had to take the journey of exploring all of the other things to get to the point where I could do this and I grew through that explorative journey. It was an integrative process. I confronted my inner barriers and discovered the reasons behind my concerns about what people might think. I explored my own ideas about plants, spirituality etc before and after plant medicines and made that part of my coming out story. That part was authentically me – a person who thrives on exploration of these matters. It’s not necessarily everyone else. If it wasn’t part of who I was, it may have come off more like I was defending some uncontested story.

So, coming out is a journey and for some of us, it may require some prep. If we search ourselves for any agendas or fears, this prep can be an opportunity for some personal growth and healing. What I have discovered is that there’s very little, if anything in life that doesn’t present this opportunity.

Integration

Ayahuasca is a medicine that helps us to change the way we see ourselves and our lives. It can change our understanding of our very existence. It calls into question many commonly held beliefs and this can be a profound experience indeed. It can also be a disturbing experience because it has the power to disturb the rhythm our lives and the way that we think. Within this disturbance lies the possibility for great change. The desire for change is often what leads us to the medicine in the first place.

The plant medicine experience has the power to shift your life in a profound way. It is the beginning of “The Work”. This work entails not only honouring this shift but opening up to further shifts that will continue to bring about the kinds of changes that were the impetus for the journey with Ayahuasca. Although everyone’s experience of Ayahuasca may be different, there are underlying universal lessons and necessary changes in perspective that help each person, in their own way, to improve their lives.

I have been engaging in shamanism and working with plant medicines for over 7 years now and during this time I have worked solely and intensively on integrating the experiences I’ve had with these medicines into my daily life. This work has improved my outlook, mood, health and relationships exponentially. I have had continuous assistance from our plant allies and continue to work with them to help others to make the most out of their experiences.

One of the most effective and surprisingly empowering integrative tools that I have encountered so far in this journey has been hypnosis. To learn more, click here or contact me at rebecca.hayden@gmail.com

Ayahuasca on Love

It’s Valentine’s Day and although I can’t say that this is usually a big holiday for me, I have been thinking about love and expressing it on this day. I’m single right now and I will be spending Valentine’s Day with my 7 year old son. This is something I’m looking forward to. I know that we generally think of Valentine’s Day as celebrating romantic love and I think that we’re limiting ourselves in this way. I have been urged more and more to ‘put pencil to paper’ as Ayahuasca advised during my last ceremony so I’m doing this in cases where I’m asking about things that might concern everyone. I asked about love, thinking of it both in the way of celebration and in a way that will help us. I wrote the answer which I have typed out in Italics below. The message begins from the standpoint of a separate entity by saying ‘your’ and ‘you’, and then moves into the position of ‘our’. This has happened before and I don’t correct it. I always hear this voice from the perspective of ‘we’ (they speak as a collective that is speaking to ‘me’) but lately and especially when it comes to something I intend to share publicly, it quickly moves into ‘we’ as in all of ‘us’. I hope you don’t find this too confusing.. the message is the important thing. 😉

—

Love is the root of your existence. To celebrate love is to celebrate all of existence. Begin with you and move on from there to everything and everyone. We love ourselves into existence and the quality of our existence depends on the quality of our love. Judgmental, conditional love creates an existence of suffering. When we create an atmosphere of punishment, we deliver love only as a method of reward. Love is not a reward, it is the very fabric of a healthy existence and it is boundless. When we limit love, when we restrain it, we are compromising our very existence.

—

When I read the above message and thought about posting it, I admit to feeling a little reluctant. It wasn’t that I didn’t feel the wisdom in it, I always do. I just felt that maybe people aren’t ready to embrace this and I felt that I’m not always able to live up to it myself even though I try (which is where the judgment comes in of course 😉  Here’s the response I got:

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Your existence is in a state of flux right now. People are learning to approach things differently and this will change things very quickly. This new approach will allow for growth and change on a different level than you have seen before.

You look at these words of love with a sense of the past and with a feeling of heavy responsibility for yourself and for others. You must only take responsibility for yourself and know that when you form the intention to live in this natural state of love, you feel the authenticity of it. When you deviate from it, you feel the pain – judgment/punishment of self and others.

—

 

Ayahuasca Talks!

This is a talk I gave at the Centre for Social Innovation in Toronto on November 30th, 2016. This is the back up video and lighting challenges made it necessary to film in a close up fashion but hopefully, the message will outweigh the video quality. 😉

A huge thanks to Yvonne Erlichman for filming this talk and my unending thanks to the Temple of the Way of Light for not only providing some of the photos for this talk (of the vine itself and of the Shipibo Maestra/Shaman) but for the extraordinary time I spent there in the jungle where I first discovered Ayahuasca.

Movies, Healing and Emotional Detox

After returning from Peru in the spring of last year I underwent an unusual form of healing. It was a long and guided process that was tailor made for me and involved one of my favourite activities: watching movies. Initially upon my return from Peru I participated in what is called ‘The Presence Process’ as I had been guided to do in one of my Ayhuasca sessions but after that, the guidance continued and I have been continuing on in this guided way ever since. While in Peru, experiencing group Ayahuasca ceremonies, like many others, I was witness to some outpouring of emotion by various members in the group as part of their healing process. I was surprised to find that only one night in the entire two weeks did I find myself becoming emotional and it was fairly mild. After returning home and finding that I was being guided to do specific things to continue my unique healing process, I soon came to understand that there would be many opportunities for me to pour out my emotions.

One of the most consistent ways that I engage in this emotional healing is through film. It’s hard to tell at this point what I find more surprising, the guidance or the fact that watching films has become an act of healing for me. I think this pronounced internal guidance I’m receiving tops the list of surprising things hands down but it has become so much a part of everyday life for me that I begin to put it down to the regular internal dialogue that I’ve always had and that most people have. The difference is that my internal dialogue was never so wise, instructive, healthy or supportive. Shortly after completing the ‘presence process’ which was a revelation in itself, I was guided to watch certain movies. The first such instruction came to me while at home going about some regular tasks and the movie title would not leave my head. It was reinforced over and over. It was a film I didn’t really want to watch which helped me to accept that this was more than just some kind of preoccupation I was having. I watched the movie and found that I was very emotional during certain parts of it. It was not a normal experience. Of course I had been emotional during movies before but not on this scale and not in this way. During this movie there were parts that struck me in such a profound way and my response was immediate. Through these certain parts of the story, I was made to understand the message that was being communicated to me. There were both messages and lessons that formed an important part of my healing.

This form of healing continued and I was guided to watch other movies. Sometimes through a certain part of a film or during an entire film I was made to see certain parts of my behaviour that was not impressive to say the least. This is a common phenomenon when working with plant medicines so it was apparent to me that this medicine was still having an effect. This has been known to happen but everyone’s experience of it is different. There were also many other kinds of insight I received through this form of healing. I was made to see certain events in my life in ways that changed my perspective and gave me a better understanding of what I had experienced and how it had affected me. Other times I was given greater lessons about humanity. Some of these lessons we all know theoretically: the tragedy of how we hurt one another and how this is perpetuated generation after generation. We do this because we’re unaware of things we carry inside of us that cause harmful behaviour which is difficult for us to see from our own standpoint – unless we make a concerted effort to do so that is.

This lesson is one of the most important ones because it’s so universal. We hear it and it makes sense but somehow these lessons for me took on a whole new depth when watching these movies. It was something I had agreed to do for the purpose of healing and this is what took it beyond the usual movie watching experience. The movies became a tool or a vehicle to reach me and they did with tremendous impact. It’s really quite startling the difference between just passively watching a movie (as I had done so many times before) and being guided to watch one for the purpose of healing. I could watch the same movie an hour, a day or a week later and have no reaction at all. The agreement I made each time pertained to a specific movie to be watched with an intention of healing at a particular time in my life. This combination was what seemed to bring about this extraordinary experience.

The messages I receive in this way rarely have anything to do with the subject matter of the film. Sometimes the subject is used to convey certain concepts but mostly it’s the mystifying power of stories themselves that have been traditionally used to convey ideas, concepts and lessons for centuries. Sometimes an actual sentence will stand out in a way that I know it’s meant for me. It’s very clear and the messages are always full of wisdom, compassion and insight. It’s been such a fascinating experience and the best part is that after I commit to watching the film that has come up for me, I feel so much better afterwards. There is a distinct difference between this and having a good cry at a movie. With every tear, something within me changes and afterwards the feeling of release is unmistakable. This change happens on a deep level and I feel lighter. Through this process I’m often relieved of something that had been dogging me for a very long time – an emotional or psychological weight has been lifted. This is often in stark contrast to the way I feel beforehand.

I’ve come to refer to this process as emotional detox. I do this because the build up to the healing itself is a feeling of emotional toxification. The things inside of me that need to be healed rise within me and it feels awful. Sometimes I need to live with these uncomfortable feelings for what seems like a long period of time before they are relieved through this form of healing. The word uncomfortable is really too mild a word to describe what happens. Sometimes it’s almost unbearable. It varies of course like illness often does from mild to more severe. When it’s severe I pity the people I’m around and try to minimize the casualties in my midst through containment. I try to manage my reactions to things. This is something I agree to as well and it can be quite the challenge. Given how long I’ve been at it, the severity of the build-up has reduced significantly. I still don’t like the feeling of each build-up but I’m reminded of earlier days and know that it’s well worth the progress I’ve made. It seems that this healing happens in stages related to layers of pain that have been lingering deep inside for years. The timing of these healings is still a mystery to me among so many mysteries I will probably never understand.

Some movies I was guided to watch were very hard to get a hold of. They were movies from my childhood – obscure ‘70s movies – but the response once I watched them was so powerful. Other times it was obnoxious ‘80s movies I had no interest in seeing and I really had to muster up some faith to bring myself to watch them. This was especially true because of how miserable I was feeling working up to this point and yet my motivation to relieve these awful feelings always eclipsed my reluctance. No matter how consistently I was healed by this process I questioned it every time. I still do. It’s something I had to get used to. I often laugh about the tenacity of my doubt given the consistently positive results but after a lifetime of believing that this kind of thing is not possible, it’s difficult to shake the part of myself that still doubts. I’ve become accustomed to doubt now and allow it to flow through me without giving it too much energy.

It’s been and continues to be a remarkable experience. I’ve been asked to watch films where I can relate to every character in the film – even the nasty ones and ones I never could have imagined relating to before. It’s been enlightening, astonishing and liberating. It has released me from issues that had been clouding my judgement and holding me back in so many ways. It has alleviated maladies I didn’t even know I had and healed others that I felt were beyond anyone’s powers. It has strengthened my relationships with those closest to me, especially my young son, and has helped me to face things in my life in a more honest and direct way. This has been a result of not only this peculiar movie technique but the constant guidance I’ve received daily. It’s been an extraordinary experience that I doubt words can do justice to but I’m utterly compelled to try.

I’ve always been a questioning sort of person and continue to be although I don’t always get the answers I want. Sometimes I don’t get answers at all but what I get is far more important than that. I get positive change. That’s far more valuable than anything that answers can provide. These changes within me are worth embracing any notions I previously considered to be strange or impossible or flighty (the list goes on). The truth is that I’m not asked to believe anything really. I’m just asked to agree to do certain things to heal. One of the things that I know is part of my healing is to speak and it would be impossible for me not to speak about this inner guidance. I know it’s inside of all of us. It’s a phenomenon that has such possibilities to end suffering and to bring about peace. It has astounding potential and yet it is a very personal and unique experience for everyone. It can’t be bottled or marketed but it can be shared and people can be inspired to pursue their own experience of it in their own way and that’s what I hope to do.