Field Report: Ayahuasca Vine Cultivation and Harvesting in the Peruvian Amazon

Over the past several years, members of ayahuasca groups and various social media sites have referred to the supply of ayahuasca vine (Banisteriopsis caapi, Malpighiaceae) in Peru as imperiled and environmentally devastated. And yet, the largest ayahuasca retreat centers in Iquitos (Loreto region) and Pucallpa (Ucayali region) appear well supplied with this vine. To determine supply, I conducted a multi-site field assessment in the Peruvian Amazon.

“Cultivation of ayahuasca is very much on people’s minds, both from a sustainability standpoint and from a cost perspective. Cultivation of ayahuasca assures sustainability, and also offers full traceability of materials. These are great advantages. Additionally, there is a sense among many that ayahuasca, even if it is relatively plentiful in the Rio Tamaya area, will sooner or later become endangered if cultivation efforts are not widely initiated.” – Chris Kilham

The Ayahuasca Test Pilots Handbook

Chris Kilham's book, The Ayahuasca Test Pilots Handbook: The Essential Guide to Ayahuasca Journeying, provides a practical guide to ayahuasca use, aiding seekers in making right—and safe—decisions about where to go, who to drink with, and what to expect.

“Finally, a well-researched and well-written book on that most powerful of all Amazonian plants! The best book on ayahuasca since Narby's The Cosmic Serpent.” - Mark Plotkin, ethnobotanist and author, Tales Of A Shaman’s Apprentice

A Woman Shaman Defies the Odds, and Starts her Own Healing Center

Several years ago when I first sat in an ayahuasca ceremony at Nihue Rao Centro Espiritual with maestra shaman Estela Pangoza, her icaros, the healing ayahuasca songs, felt like scalpels of love penetrating deeply into my heart, spine and psyche. I was captivated by her skill, and by the kindness and dignity with which she conducted ceremony. As she sang, I felt myself elevated, coming more into alignment, a sense of everything being put together in a loving and harmonious way. Over several ceremonies, I discovered that Estela is a shaman of great talent. From that point on, I’ve had great affection and respect for her and for her medicine.

“When Estela turns on the hummingbird medicine, well, your soul takes flight. And while I have drunk ayahuasca over time with around sixty shamans, I have never ever heard any one of them sing like Estela.” – Chris Kilham

Ayahuasca, Healing and Spirit

Chris Kilham, founder of The Ayahuasca Test Pilots, on the healing, transformative and spirit-imbuing powers of ayahuasca, at the March 2015 Ayahuasca Monologues in New York City, sponsored by Evolver.

Is Ayahuasca Right For You?

Read Christian Williams of UTNE Reader's review of Chris Kilham's latest book, The Ayahuasca Test Pilots Handbook: The Essential Guide to Ayahuasca Journeying, a “backpack guide to the healing powers of the sacred Amazonian medicine,” and listen to the Listen to the “Chris Kilham on Ayahuasca” Abstract Notions Podcast.

Ayahuasca Can Help You Communicate with Plant Spirits, and Heal Your Body and Mind

Drink ayahuasca and you may see yourself being eaten by a crocodile. You may find a miraculous resolution to a crippling sadness. Or, more likely, you’ll land somewhere in between. Regardless, you will definitely throw up. Author and ethnobotanist Chris Kilham says all of these things have happened to him after drinking this psychoactive Amazonian brew.

CHRIS KILHAM ON COAST TO COAST

Listen to Chris Kilham on Psychoactive Plants on Coast to Coast AM.

Here's What It Feels Like To Drink The Hallucinogenic Amazonian Brew Ayahuasca

Kilham describes what it's like to drink the bitter brew “ayahuasca” and describes how it can act as a spiritually healing substance when taken correctly in the proper environment.

Massachusetts Native and Professor Chris Kilham is The Medicine Hunter

At 61 years old, many people begin to ease toward retirement and the golf course. Not so for Massachusetts native Chris Kilham. Kilham, who just released a new book, travels the world looking for herbal remedies.

Ayahuasca The God Drug

On the talk show The Preachers, Chris Kilham and the four minister hosts talk about ayahuasca for healing an spiritual revelation.

Hacking The Cosmic Motherboard

At the now legendary Visionary Convergence Los Angeles 2015, Chris Kilham, founder of Ayahuasca Test Pilots, brings psychedelics, neurology, ancient wisdom, cosmic consciousness, infinity of mind, social ethics and future consciousness together in this fast-paced visionary talk. Through psychedelics, we can hack the cosmic motherboard, and establish new neural pathways, thinking and behavior, free from mindless convention and conformity.