Ayahuasca Pre-purge?

What is Ayahuasca Pre-purge?

Ayahuasca is known to be a major event in one’s life, and just like any major thing coming your way, the process leading to it is of great importance and a ceremony in itself. Think of it this way: you just received the promotion you’ve been waiting for, and it requires you to move to another country. It’s due in 3 weeks, so the moment you accept it, there’s a great number of things that you need to deal with, starting that very moment. You get the point.

Now, when it comes to Ayahuasca, the moment we commit to meeting her, we commit to understanding what’s good for us, and hopefully, learn to apply it.

The very moment you clicked going, you are saying: “Universe, Mother Ayahuasca, show me!”

It doesn’t mean that you have to run to the bathroom all the time but rather that you start releasing a part of yourself that no longer serves you. You have been working on a healing intention and by doing that, you have told your Higher Self that now the time has come for some serious healing of ancient wounds and traumas. Your Higher Self wants nothing more than a deep connection with you so by having booked a retreat you have given your Higher Self the permission to start the deep transformative healing you so badly want and need.

The weeks leading to your arrival at the retreat will guide your mind toward questioning various aspects of your life. While Ayahuasca teaches the interconnectedness of it all, there will be certain themes that will surface more than others, depending on what you currently need to understand for your growth.

All of these veils are being lifted as an invitation for you to recognize, understand and choose again. Yes, that’s right, choose again, because before meeting Ayahuasca, you can already change your life. You are being invited to walk into the ceremony lighter, a bit more aligned with your needs, and more open to receiving.

This explains why people go through a pre-purge. It shows up as fear, anxiety, emotional turmoil, crying a lot, or it may even be the kickstart of a personal crisis. Our Unhealthy Ego is not pleased with change as it prefers to hang out in the comfort zone – a carefully constructed safety net designed to keep us safe and in check. 

These are the major themes we’ve encountered as we advised our participants through their pre-purge phase.

1. The relationship you have with

• Your family: Do you feel free to be yourself, or are you still under the strings of your childhood self? The pre-purge phase may also bring up unresolved issues related to your relationship with your family. You may begin to notice patterns of behavior or belief systems that were instilled in you during childhood, which may no longer serve you in the present. By exploring these patterns and feelings, you can begin to release yourself from the strings of your childhood self and cultivate a greater sense of independence and self-awareness.
  
• Your friends: It will become clear to you who gives you energy, who leaves you depleted, and who you equally rise with. The pre-purge phase may also bring up unresolved issues related to your friendships. You may begin to notice patterns of behavior or dynamics in your friendships that are not serving your highest good. By exploring these patterns and feelings, you can gain clarity on who supports your growth and well-being, and who may be holding you back. This process can help you cultivate deeper and more meaningful friendships, while also releasing toxic relationships that no longer serve you.
  
• Your romantic relationships: The pre-purge phase of the Ayahuasca journey can bring up deep-seated emotions and patterns related to our romantic relationships. This includes issues such as codependency, attachment styles, trust issues, and fears of intimacy or vulnerability. Through the pre-purge process, you may become more aware of these patterns and the ways in which they may be holding you back in your relationships. By allowing yourself to feel these emotions and work through them, you can begin to break free from these patterns and cultivate healthier, more fulfilling romantic relationships. The dynamic of your current romantic relationship is going to become clear to you. Seeing the role you both play in it, will allow you to notice if there’s balance and how you really feel about it. The absence of it will trigger themes like: insecurities, passed relationships, abandonment, and grief. Allow yourself to feel all that.

2. Your body/diet
Bodies communicate with us all the time, what they like and don’t when it comes to food, care products, workout, and rhythm. In the pre-purge phase, you’ll have the chance to define a language between you and your body. Use it.

It’s important to note that the ayahuasca diet leading up to the ceremony can play a huge role in the pre-purge phase. As the ceremony approaches, our diet becomes stricter, and we begin to cut out many of the foods and substances we are addicted to, often using them to mask what’s really going on inside. These food and substance addictions aren’t always obvious, and it’s during the diet period that the subtleties can surface. By conditioning our bodies to rely on these crutches, we may be unknowingly burying or numbing deeper issues like control, anxiety, or stress.

The pre-purge phase is the best time to start confronting these parts of ourselves and lending our awareness to them, rather than placing blame outside ourselves for the things we have buried or disassociated from feeling. If we ignore or try to push them back down, they will likely surface during the ayahuasca ceremony anyway. Taking the time now to sit with these uncombable parts of ourselves that are surfacing during this time of pre-purge can go a long way toward a more meaningful and transformative ayahuasca ceremony experience.

3. Your home and belongings
How do feel about living there? You might notice you’re surrounded too much by your past, old energies. That goes for clothes, furniture, color of the walls, or the place itself.

The environment we live in can greatly impact our mental and emotional states. During the pre-purge phase, we may start to notice how our living space is affecting us. We may begin to feel cluttered or weighed down by the things we own, or we may realize that the colors of our walls or furniture do not resonate with us anymore. We might also notice that we are surrounded by reminders of our past that we are ready to let go of.

It’s important to pay attention to these feelings and take action to create a space that feels more aligned with our current needs. This can involve decluttering and getting rid of items that no longer serve us, rearranging furniture, or even repainting a room. By creating a living space that is more in tune with our current selves, we can set the stage for a more positive and harmonious state of mind.

The state of our living space is a reflection of our inner state, and by taking the time to create a space that feels more in tune with our needs, we are also taking steps towards inner alignment and healing.

4. Privacy
You might feel a need to spend more time on your own. You will be shown how much time you dedicate to yourself versus others. Where are your boundaries?

The pre-purge phase is a time where we start to become more aware of our relationship with ourselves and others. We may start to notice that we crave more alone time and less time spent socializing. This need for privacy can be a sign that we are ready to explore our inner selves and spend more time reflecting on our thoughts and emotions.

It’s important to listen to this inner call and take steps to create more space for ourselves. This can involve setting aside time each day for activities that we enjoy doing alone, like reading, journaling, or simply spending time in nature. We can also set boundaries with others, letting them know that we need time to ourselves and asking for their understanding and support.

In addition to creating space for ourselves, the pre-purge phase is also a time to reflect on our boundaries in relationships. We may start to notice that we have been giving too much of ourselves to others and not enough to ourselves. This can lead to feelings of resentment and burnout. By setting clear boundaries with others and learning to say “no” when we need to, we can create healthier and more fulfilling relationships.

The need for privacy during the pre-purge phase is a sign that we are ready to explore our inner selves and create more space for our own growth and healing. By listening to this inner call and setting boundaries in our relationships, we can create a more balanced and fulfilling life.

5. Spirituality
You will be facing synchronicities like never before. All because of your choice to expand your awareness and thus see them. They were always there, waiting to be seen. This is an invitation to believe in something out here that is unconditionally caring, for you and your well-being.

The pre-purge phase is a time of spiritual awakening and growth, and one aspect of this is the experience of synchronicities. Synchronicities are meaningful coincidences that occur in our lives, often seeming to be a sign or message from the universe. During the pre-purge phase, we may start to notice these synchronicities occurring more frequently and with greater significance.

These synchronicities can be seen as a form of divine guidance, inviting us to pay attention and trust in a higher power that is looking out for our well-being. They are a reminder that there is a greater purpose to our lives, and that everything is connected.

In order to fully experience and understand these synchronicities, it is important to cultivate a sense of faith and trust in the universe. This may involve letting go of our need for control and allowing ourselves to surrender to the flow of life. It may also involve developing a regular spiritual practice, such as meditation, prayer, or ritual, that helps us connect with our inner selves and the divine.

The experience of synchronicities during the pre-purge phase is a sign that we are on the right path, and that we are being guided towards our highest good. By paying attention to these signs and cultivating a sense of faith and trust in the universe, we can open ourselves up to a world of infinite possibilities and experience greater joy and fulfillment in our lives.

How can you navigate yourself through it?

You can choose to close your eyes, shrink your being, and lock your fists and jaw through the entire pre-purge period. But know this: everything you refuse to face in preparation will be faced during the ceremony. Realize that you are pre-purging when thoughts such as these pop up in your head. Especially when your retreat date approaches, the resistance can be very persistent and you might start looking for any excuse not to attend. Examples are: now is not the right time; did I choose the right healing center; should I really be spending so much money on this; my partner doesn’t want me to go, etc.

Here’s how you can make the best out of the pre-purge phase, so you can get to spend fun times with Ayahuasca.

Learn to breathe through everything you get to see and show up in this phase

Here’s a simple breathwork practice to have at hand.

It’s called 3 steps breathing and it requires you to breathe:

1 – into the belly
2 – followed by the chest
3 – and up into your upper body & shoulders.
Try it out.

Use your right hand to help your mind adjust to the movement. Touch your belly, and feel the expansion. Touch your ribs, feel the sideways movement, then bring your hand to your shoulder to feel the upwards movement.

Spend time in nature.

Be it the city or the countryside, find trees. They are masters of being rooted in the present moment and hold great power. There is no need to get out of your way of living to do this. You can find a new route to walk to work, take one bus less, and extend your grocery shopping with an extra block and slower steps.

Join a meditation class.

It can be online, presential, or both. If this is something you heard of, but never tried, know that the pre-purge phase is the perfect moment to do it. Ayahuasca will guide your fingers and eyes toward finding the right people for you to initiate this journey.

Become more conscious about your body movements: Dance. Stretch. Yoga.

You might think, “Oh no, I’m not that free and not elastic enough!”

If that’s the case, we’ll let you in a secret: movement is our nature because we are spinning atoms! So then, movement equals feeling good, and free, which makes it a form of expression beyond any other.

We recommend doing this on your own, at home or outdoors, where you feel safe. Let yourself express things you don’t understand and build intimacy with yourself through your body.

Journal

Quoting one of our participants: “It’s not until I journal, that I can understand and become capable of sharing what I truly feel. It’s like, I need to untangle it first, take it out of my mind on paper, and see it outside the mind to feel at ease.”

What she’s saying is that writing our thoughts shifts our awareness from the vastness of our mind to one string of thoughts. This way, it becomes easier to focus on one thing at a time without being distracted by various other thoughts running through our minds.

Therapy

Therapy can also be a valuable tool during the pre-purge phase of your Ayahuasca journey. Talking with a licensed mental health professional can help you process and work through the emotions and issues that are coming up for you, and can give you the tools you need to navigate these issues during the ceremony itself.

Therapy can help you get to the root of what is causing your fears, anxieties, and other emotional blocks, and can provide you with strategies for coping with them in a healthy and productive way. This can be especially important if you are struggling with deep-seated trauma or other issues that may be difficult to confront on your own.

By working with a therapist during the pre-purge phase, you can gain a greater understanding of yourself and your patterns of behavior, and can learn to recognize and work through the emotions and fears that may surface during the ceremony. This can help you approach the ceremony with a greater sense of clarity and purpose, and can allow you to fully engage in the transformative healing that Ayahuasca offers.

The pre-purge phase of your Ayahuasca journey is a time of deep reflection and growth, and therapy can be an invaluable tool in helping you navigate this process. If you are considering working with Ayahuasca, it is worth considering incorporating therapy into your pre-ceremony preparations.

Create a vision board

You can craft one using a pin board and magazine cuts, or using software like Canva to build an electronic version of it. Whatever you choose, pour your desires out through pictures and messages that feel good. Go bold!

Have fun trying out these new practices

Doing something under the signature of “I have to” is unnecessary. Ayahuasca is all about allowance and compassion, so if you do choose to try out our suggestions, do it from a place of “serene curiosity” and playfulness.

Here are some suggestions. Take what feels good, and stay creative.

• Take yourself to inspiring places to try out breathing.
• Walk on streets you’ve never walked before when you hang out with trees.
• Get colors and stickers for your journaling.
• Throw a vision board party with your besties and build it together.
• Laugh at yourself when you’re all clumsy through dancing or yoga

We care deeply for you and wish your transformation to be as smooth as possible. Remember, cocoons can be confusing but always turn out to be magic.

Check out our next ceremony here. We’d love to have you on board!