Clients and former employees of the 17-year-old school say its ‘initiation course’ has become dangerously unsafe, and Foundation owner Carlos Tanner is not heeding their concerns
Full support. I see initiates from this group grandstanding with their Mapacho pipes on Instagram feeds, becoming advice columnists of sorts—much of their “advice” harmful—gaslighting people into thinking that the issues they’re having with toxic spaceholders are simply mirrored reflections of work they need to do on themselves. It leaves no room for feedback or accountability, and those who lead can find themselves in an ivory tower of their own making.
I have so much more to say. Much of the medicine world has become a business with little care for safety. I’m still in my own process as I sort through what I encountered with this lineage, thankful that I left and have started to form my own root system.
Thank you for bringing these serious issues to light. I write as someone who participated in the course and experienced unsafe conditions over two months; conditions that left many of us traumatised and deeply disappointed in the foundation. The article’s reporting resonates with my experience at the Ayahuasca Foundation.
For many of us, the facilitators were a rare source of safety and support in an environment that nonetheless felt dangerous. While their care was appreciated, it does not absolve the broader organisational failures and the fact that we were consistently put at avoidable risk.
It was not mentioned in the article, but Frank sent several people death threats once he was removed from the course, just days before it ended. Carlos arranged for him to stay in 'La Casona' hotel, and then booked everybody else in at the same $30-a-night hotel, despite knowing that Frank was waiting for us and was clearly capable of harm. I personally booked an alternative hotel at my own expense once I learned that Carlos had refused to move us to a safer space. A decision that he made in the comfort of his own home in the USA.
I’m still processing the trauma I endured, and I know others are too. I'm feeling let down, harmed, and betrayed. I sincerely hope that this ordeal becomes a catalyst for real change: that leadership takes accountability, learns from harm, and prioritises the safety and well‑being of future participants.
As just a random guy who cares about safety, not only for participants but also for facilitators and the broader ayahuasca community, I want to thank the author if this article, along with all who have commented or shared their perspective.
I don’t know Ayahuasca Foundation personally, but as a somewhat neutral reader, hearing multiple sides helps to form a clearer picture.
As this story has unfolded, the patterns described feel familiar. I have witnessed several centers or individuals within them, drift into what I would consider to be the wrong direction. Almost always it begins with small issues. Issues that are minimized, ignored, rationalized or even accepted as normal. But slowly, and over time, sometimes even years, it escalates.
Guests come and go
Staff come and go
Students, long term or not, also come and go.
Very few stay at the centre full-time for many years and witness enough incidents to catch and identify the bigger patterns that might unfold, that and will naturally unfold at any center, in any direction really.
Meanwhile, the healers or owners, are busy with the work, and are sometimes unknowingly, in isolated positions due to their roles, weighed down by responsibilities and surrounded by few truly neutral voices to help them identify these patterns, or challenge difficult decisions that might have to be made.
I do believe incidents can and will happen to even the best places in this line of work though, even with every protocol and risk mitigation followed and applied. Working with these plants involves complex cultural intersections and human beings on both sides of their table, with all our illnesses, projections, and blind spots.
I try to pay attention to the patterns, what emerges over time. And usually I find, that when things escalate, something is not right.
But even knowing or seeing and escalation happening can be difficult. The best measure of gauge is perhaps externals, or neutrals. What I have seen, and not only in the plant world, is that no matter how far something escalates, sometimes those responsible will just continue as is, and there will always be people defending and others opposing.
I remember one well-known healer who was eventually exposed for sexually abusing several of his participants. Even after repeated accusations, him admitting to it, and ongoing misconduct (even over years), he kept running ceremonies, his reputation propped up by students and facilitators he had trained – some of them excellent.
One long-term student told me “Why would I leave? He’s a good teacher, and I am a guy, so he won’t do anything to me”
The healer undeniably possessed knowledge and magic, and the student was, at least in this specific case, outside the risk of that particular harm. The student also came from a culture that, like mine, is deeply individualistic, where the focus is on what you, personally, can gain. In that worldviw, each person is responsible for their own choices, their own path, their own karma. What happens to others is their business, their burden. And if you don’t take advantage of an opportunity, someone else will, so you lose.
I could understand his decision, and with that world-view, it was even logical.
And yet, through a series of painful, even tragic events in my own life, I eventually came to see things differently. I did eventually start to realize that if I am able to develop my capacity for compassion to go beyond just myself, life will start to become meaningful.
As someone who believe that the responsible use of plant medicines can in many cases bring benefit, not only to individuals, but also to communities, I also recognize the limitations and risks involved. So I would like to offer these thoughts:
To those responsible for Ayahuasca Foundation:
Take a couple of years off from everything that has to do with your work.
Be a patient again. Be a student again. Get some different references. Gain perspectives.
Where have you gone, from where have you come, and where will you go?
Inquire on what is the purpose of what you are doing, and if there is a goal, what is it?
Are your actions still aligned?
Have you created the best mitigations possible to help you regulate yourself and stay on this path? Is enough done to protect those who are most vulnerable, is there space and consideration for their feedback?
Connect with people in similar roles who have been through similar challenges, those that have realized that good-intentions are not always enough, and recognized their ability to create harm even when not wanting to.
To those seeking the type of work that Ayahuasca Foundation offers:
Recognize that there are always risks, and that incidents will happen. Ayahuasca is not magically only positive, or will make anyone using it a good person. It is neutral, and it depends on how it is used.
Look at the bigger picture, look at the pattern. Look not only on what they can offer you, but look also how they handle responsibility, transparency, and the mistakes (that we all make).
Look beyond charisma and big words, look for those who are humble.
Ask about protocols, not only who has the most special plant to diet or strongest ayahuasca brew.
Continue discussing togther;
What specifically makes a safe place, and not just for you, but also for others.
What makes a place ethical, not just awesmoe and magical?
What do you want to see more of, what do you want to see less of?
You are not just a customer or a seeker, you are a co-creator. The centers adapt, respond and tailor themselves to you, what you want, how you behave, and how you spend your money, so think wisely, behave responsibly, and spend your money according to what you want to see more or less of.
To those affected by the events that have happened:
My condolences for what you have experienced. Your possible loss, your possible traumas and your pains. I regardless of your pain being visible or silent, here or not.
You have every right to be angry, sad, confused or disappointed. You are under no obligation to forgive or to just “move one”.
Take the time and support you need. Healing will not erase a memory but soften it. With time, and perhaps support from others who understand, it can become less painful, and you may even find some type of meaning, strength or clarity that didn’t seem possible at first. And not because the harm was justified, but because you have the resilience to reclaim something from it.
Sexuality is said to bring a negative energy to the ceremony. It's understandable. People are likely very vulnerable then, under the influence of plant medicines, and a powerful psychedelic substance. Wouldn't it be distracting, and even disturbing, to see anyone in your group, male or female, being taken advantage of during their stay?
This course and school has also trained the most competent non-indigenous ayahuasqueros I have ever met in over a decade of my own studies. And clearly more accountability and better systems are needed. The bridge between indigenous medicine and cosmology and the wider world is a delicate one, not easily crossed. Shamanic initiation is not “safe” it never has been but there is a lot more which can be done to ensure that the human side of things is held with integrity.
All it took was Tanner’s quote at the top after the death of Dio…he said “how could this happen to ‘me’?” No Tanner it didn’t happen to you, it happened to Dio. Narcissistic opportunist is what it looks like to me, just speaking as someone who was in a cult for well over a decade.
And Frank, he probably did have 20-some beings living in him. Because that’s entities 101.
I’ve only just discovered your writing. Look forward to reading more. I’m curious if their program had any sort of energetic ethics involved. Plant medicines, if not properly facilitated, can leave people with blown out chakras and holes in the aura and wide open for all sorts of “attachments.” I’m actually shocked so many people treat it so casually.
I thought the same thing when I read "how could this happen to me" he is all about the money and not about helping people. As a former participant who witnessed how the program is ran, safety is not his top priority as he states in the email he sent out. This happened in January yet he is just now sending out an email about it and giving his condolences. He stated they have expanded their emergency response training for staff which is a lie because the staff had no emergency training at all when I was there less than a year ago. Two incidents during one retreat with staff calling Tanner about what to do and hours went by before a decision was made on how to respond. Makes me wonder how many more times this has happened and no one has spoken up because it did not result in death. He is just saying what sounds good to save his reputation. There is no true medical screening as he says just a simple questionnaire you fill out and everyone is accepted because it is about the undocumented money he is collecting in cash to skirt paying taxes on what he truly makes from the participants. I was so disappointed in the place that I had high hopes for in finding some peace and direction in my life. I am no better today than I was the day I went. For the amount of money paid there should be someone with medical expertise on site or at least close by in the village and not a 90 min boat ride then an additional 45 min to the hospital. There is so much more I could say about my experience but that would be a novel lol.
How I see it is that our world at large, whether in medicine community or not, is what many eco-philosophers or psychologists have termed as a psychological stage of pathological adolescence.
In the Clinical counseling world, we have the legacy of Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents. This emotional immaturity is passed down from generation to generation. In Native American spirituality, this illness is referred to as Wetiko.
We as a human species are emotionally immature. And from what I have seen, not many humans have progressed into a healthy state of adolescence. And yet, there is such a huge need for the hurting human psyche. And perhaps not enough people who have worked through their shadows/wounds to offer a clean and contained healing space. So, what we see is the blind leading the blind.
This isn't just true in the plant medicine world. This is true of the most regulated mental health state hospitals or group practice clinics, which are enacting harm against humanity every day. And yet, they can get away with it because of informed consent, as well as excessive paperwork and legal jargon. Mad In America and all its horror stories of the over-regulated mental health system tell the tales.
It's sad.
Hopefully, more of us will keep doing our own work and grow up so we can hold an abundance of spaces that are truly healing.
Not sure “we as a human species” are emotionally immature but certainly “we in the West” transfigured and made child like by 600 years of violent extractive capitalism are!
And, from my historical reading, the rise of dominator and patriarchal culture began thousands of years ago before capitalism. And is not solely stemmed from western peoples, although our current western paradigm is yes, leading us toward ecocide and is emotionally immature.
Right on, as ever, Tara. Thanks for adding to this conversation! I'd go further, having experienced the healer "training" at AF, and say it's not just the blind leading the blind, but the hurt hurting the hurt. I came out with better understanding and space for my trauma, but also quite untethered and there was zero integration offered afterwards.
Greg, I am saddened to hear that you went through this training and that you witnessed firsthand the hurt hurting the hurt. I am sending care to you.
Healing does not happen by hurt people hurting people. And the re-enactment of trauma in these spaces is devastating. It's so vulnerable to know one is in need of healing, and to reach out a hand for help, and to recieve more harm, again.
I know this in my journey. I'm so glad I've now found places and people that hold truly human honoring presence and love. I hope you find the same if you haven't already post trainng at AF.
This reads like a season recap of some comi-tragic reality show—Love Island: Healing Edition. The fact that phrases like “the plant spirits told me we’re destined to fuck” are considered normal in this subculture says a lot. The level of delusion and manipulation at play here is wild—and somehow still gets framed as sacred medicine.
Jules, genuine question: how much longer can this bubble hold before more people start calling it what it is—a profit-driven grift dressed up in a wildly appropriated veneer of ancient wisdom? At what point do the empty promises, spiritual coercion, and outright negligence finally pop the illusion?
well, i think one needs to think about the demand - what drives people to go to the amazon jungle, what do they get from it? the people i meet and interview, including for this story, often say their lives were radically improved by ayahuasca. often they had serious mental or physical (eg autoimmune) illnesses which western healthcare had failed to cure. or perhaps they felt a lack of meaning and enchantment. And ayahuasca seems to have given them healing, sometimes or even often, along with a sense of meaning and re-enchantment, as well as a community. i dont see those drivers going away, so I think people will keep looking to ayahuasca and other psychedelics for these things outside of western healthcare, which brings both new opportunities for healing and new risks. can western culture develop safer containers? i hope so, though its extremely slow work and sometimes it feels there isnt much progress at all. and it gets more complicated still when you’re talking about the intersection of amazon tribal cultures with wealthy spiritually hungry western spiritual seekers. i do think there could be a more honest dialogue with the indigenous cultures caught up in this global industry - a two way dialogue thats not just about putting the shamans on a pedestal and westerners feeling guilty for being westerners, but also an honest dialogue about the exploitations, misunderstandings and harms that can occur on both sides.
Totally agree, Jules—and pardon the snark level of my original comment. It’s just wild how off-track some of these narratives have gotten. I say that as someone who does believe these medicines can be deeply healing. Six years ago, I was stuck in a brutal loop with alcohol dependency. I threw myself a kind of Hail Mary—took a week off from my sommelier job, sat with an ounce of psilocybin in solitude, and prayed like hell. I have not touched alcohol since.
So yeah, I’m not skeptical of the medicines themselves—but I am wary of the group-process container, especially when it gets entangled with social dynamics like spiritual posturing, confirmation bias, sunk-cost fallacy, and the pressure to publicly “transform” in real time. There’s such a performative layer to it all. Healing gets turned into spectacle, and that opens the door for manipulation.
Do you think there’s a way to offer these tools without the theater of transformation becoming part of the product? I absolutely do. No idea how at the moment—guess that’s why we’re here examining this phenomenon & chatting about it. Thanks again & take care!
yes they just amplify the culture. i guess eventually in decades there will be less pretentiousness and phoniness around them, they could be normalized somewhat, who knows..
If you want to honestly go beyond bad gringo - good noble shaman, and it seems you strive for objectivity, you may enquire about Enrique drunk driving killing mother and child in Iquitos and getting away with this. This is not fault of ayahuasca and not fault of tourism even - but lack of morals.
I agree with you and also we should be talking about what this “entheogenic spiritual colonialism” is doing to the shamanic traditions especially of the Shipibo. I have been studying for 9 years now and I did take the AF course as my very beginning. Then I studied with Don Enrique personally. But 3 years ago the plants guided me away from that situation as I was very aware of everything you shared already. I have been deeply intertwined with the Shipibo, I have two Shipibo goddaughters and have been “part of the families” for many years, but the deeper I go into those relationships the clearer I see the distortion. We have made them financially dependent on us gringos and that raises a whole other slew of ethical questions. And what would the Shipibo say, do or offer to us in order to survive…. Have you thought about that?!
We come with trauma desperately seeking healing, and we plug-in straight into the trauma of colonial rape of a culture! So how can we expect anything other than more trauma playing out? I deeply love and respect the plants medicine path, it’s my chosen path, but i’m also very aware of the complexity of these relational dynamics. I think mediation is needed between the two cultures and the needs of each, I think a trauma informed approach is sorely needed. Because as westerners, we do desperately need the healing that the plants can provide, but not as just an another coping mechanism.
My life has been radically improved by Ayahuascha, but I would avoid the jungle like the plague. I’m lucky enough to have a very safe container in the West. I think that we need to think carefully about legalising psychedelics.
I call it that! Thanks for doing so too! Freaking multi level marketing cults. Monetized and commodified technology or wisdom is ugly and dangerous garbage.
dressing people in indigenous robes, putting pipes in their hands, making them mimic external gestures of curanderismo like blowing agua florida and memorising someone elses icaros not unlike students of some Koranic school is all a parody of true learning, satisfying insecure egos and need of lost young people desperate for being someone, and then washing hands by saying "they will do what they want". Why is there even opportunity for flirting, why there is socializing in shamanic training that should happen in intimate relationship with plants, in isolation and not in "class" of cultural crossdressing. It is not just cheesy and fake as Bora tribe tourist shows outside of Iquitos, because these tourists at least wont gamble with other people lives afterwards.
I recently had a horrific experience at a transformative weekend event (sans psychedelics) and I’m now much more aware now of how transformative and spiritual settings can be hotbeds for abuse and malpractice. Thank you so much for this article.
Thanks. Sorry to hear that, if you feel like talking about it let me know , I’m interested in the entire personal growth / transformative experiences field
22 ceremonies in 2 months is insane! I am often told I take psychedelics too much and I only do one aya ceremony a month, max, plus one other substance sometimes. I always leave a 2 week gap.
* This is a response to a now deleted comment from someone who had attended the training and had done ‘24 or 25’ ceremonies. They said that the amount was right for them and that they would never tell anyone else to take medicine or not take it:
I’ve done 20 ceremonies. I intend to do more. I still think 22 in 2 months is insane, though. Personally. My 20 ceremonies happened over a period of a few years. I think that we humans need more time for integration and grounding, personally. If you think differently, that’s your opinion. I can accept that.
How did you integrate 24/25 ceremonies experienced in 2 months? Did the experiences blur together?
I would never tell anyone they should or should not work with psychedelics. (‘Medicine’ is a term I like less because the medicine is in the setting for me. Psychedelics are just tools that mirror the psyche in my experience and perspective).
Whether they agree it's insane or not, it's not traditional at all and should not be advertised as such. It's a monetized program for nonnative users who need to get back to their lives asap afterwards. Absolutely worth noting that so many come out with inflated egos and I can only hope that Aya will help their customers regardless. As for the other, quieter participants who leave and don't stay in touch, I hope they are ok.
This was a thorough, well-researched article. I found myself nodding in agreement, paragraph after paragraph, and feeling what was left unwritten between the lines. The behaviors and sentiments in your article echo what I experienced in 25 ayahuasca ceremonies across 6 shamans and 3 continents. The mental image of children playing with matches comes to mind first.
Full support. I see initiates from this group grandstanding with their Mapacho pipes on Instagram feeds, becoming advice columnists of sorts—much of their “advice” harmful—gaslighting people into thinking that the issues they’re having with toxic spaceholders are simply mirrored reflections of work they need to do on themselves. It leaves no room for feedback or accountability, and those who lead can find themselves in an ivory tower of their own making.
I have so much more to say. Much of the medicine world has become a business with little care for safety. I’m still in my own process as I sort through what I encountered with this lineage, thankful that I left and have started to form my own root system.
Thank you for bringing these serious issues to light. I write as someone who participated in the course and experienced unsafe conditions over two months; conditions that left many of us traumatised and deeply disappointed in the foundation. The article’s reporting resonates with my experience at the Ayahuasca Foundation.
For many of us, the facilitators were a rare source of safety and support in an environment that nonetheless felt dangerous. While their care was appreciated, it does not absolve the broader organisational failures and the fact that we were consistently put at avoidable risk.
It was not mentioned in the article, but Frank sent several people death threats once he was removed from the course, just days before it ended. Carlos arranged for him to stay in 'La Casona' hotel, and then booked everybody else in at the same $30-a-night hotel, despite knowing that Frank was waiting for us and was clearly capable of harm. I personally booked an alternative hotel at my own expense once I learned that Carlos had refused to move us to a safer space. A decision that he made in the comfort of his own home in the USA.
I’m still processing the trauma I endured, and I know others are too. I'm feeling let down, harmed, and betrayed. I sincerely hope that this ordeal becomes a catalyst for real change: that leadership takes accountability, learns from harm, and prioritises the safety and well‑being of future participants.
This cannot happen again.
As always Jules, thank you for shining light on our shadow and offering an opportunity to integrate it.
As just a random guy who cares about safety, not only for participants but also for facilitators and the broader ayahuasca community, I want to thank the author if this article, along with all who have commented or shared their perspective.
I don’t know Ayahuasca Foundation personally, but as a somewhat neutral reader, hearing multiple sides helps to form a clearer picture.
As this story has unfolded, the patterns described feel familiar. I have witnessed several centers or individuals within them, drift into what I would consider to be the wrong direction. Almost always it begins with small issues. Issues that are minimized, ignored, rationalized or even accepted as normal. But slowly, and over time, sometimes even years, it escalates.
Guests come and go
Staff come and go
Students, long term or not, also come and go.
Very few stay at the centre full-time for many years and witness enough incidents to catch and identify the bigger patterns that might unfold, that and will naturally unfold at any center, in any direction really.
Meanwhile, the healers or owners, are busy with the work, and are sometimes unknowingly, in isolated positions due to their roles, weighed down by responsibilities and surrounded by few truly neutral voices to help them identify these patterns, or challenge difficult decisions that might have to be made.
I do believe incidents can and will happen to even the best places in this line of work though, even with every protocol and risk mitigation followed and applied. Working with these plants involves complex cultural intersections and human beings on both sides of their table, with all our illnesses, projections, and blind spots.
I try to pay attention to the patterns, what emerges over time. And usually I find, that when things escalate, something is not right.
But even knowing or seeing and escalation happening can be difficult. The best measure of gauge is perhaps externals, or neutrals. What I have seen, and not only in the plant world, is that no matter how far something escalates, sometimes those responsible will just continue as is, and there will always be people defending and others opposing.
I remember one well-known healer who was eventually exposed for sexually abusing several of his participants. Even after repeated accusations, him admitting to it, and ongoing misconduct (even over years), he kept running ceremonies, his reputation propped up by students and facilitators he had trained – some of them excellent.
One long-term student told me “Why would I leave? He’s a good teacher, and I am a guy, so he won’t do anything to me”
The healer undeniably possessed knowledge and magic, and the student was, at least in this specific case, outside the risk of that particular harm. The student also came from a culture that, like mine, is deeply individualistic, where the focus is on what you, personally, can gain. In that worldviw, each person is responsible for their own choices, their own path, their own karma. What happens to others is their business, their burden. And if you don’t take advantage of an opportunity, someone else will, so you lose.
I could understand his decision, and with that world-view, it was even logical.
And yet, through a series of painful, even tragic events in my own life, I eventually came to see things differently. I did eventually start to realize that if I am able to develop my capacity for compassion to go beyond just myself, life will start to become meaningful.
As someone who believe that the responsible use of plant medicines can in many cases bring benefit, not only to individuals, but also to communities, I also recognize the limitations and risks involved. So I would like to offer these thoughts:
To those responsible for Ayahuasca Foundation:
Take a couple of years off from everything that has to do with your work.
Be a patient again. Be a student again. Get some different references. Gain perspectives.
Where have you gone, from where have you come, and where will you go?
Inquire on what is the purpose of what you are doing, and if there is a goal, what is it?
Are your actions still aligned?
Have you created the best mitigations possible to help you regulate yourself and stay on this path? Is enough done to protect those who are most vulnerable, is there space and consideration for their feedback?
Connect with people in similar roles who have been through similar challenges, those that have realized that good-intentions are not always enough, and recognized their ability to create harm even when not wanting to.
To those seeking the type of work that Ayahuasca Foundation offers:
Recognize that there are always risks, and that incidents will happen. Ayahuasca is not magically only positive, or will make anyone using it a good person. It is neutral, and it depends on how it is used.
Look at the bigger picture, look at the pattern. Look not only on what they can offer you, but look also how they handle responsibility, transparency, and the mistakes (that we all make).
Look beyond charisma and big words, look for those who are humble.
Ask about protocols, not only who has the most special plant to diet or strongest ayahuasca brew.
Continue discussing togther;
What specifically makes a safe place, and not just for you, but also for others.
What makes a place ethical, not just awesmoe and magical?
What do you want to see more of, what do you want to see less of?
You are not just a customer or a seeker, you are a co-creator. The centers adapt, respond and tailor themselves to you, what you want, how you behave, and how you spend your money, so think wisely, behave responsibly, and spend your money according to what you want to see more or less of.
To those affected by the events that have happened:
My condolences for what you have experienced. Your possible loss, your possible traumas and your pains. I regardless of your pain being visible or silent, here or not.
You have every right to be angry, sad, confused or disappointed. You are under no obligation to forgive or to just “move one”.
Take the time and support you need. Healing will not erase a memory but soften it. With time, and perhaps support from others who understand, it can become less painful, and you may even find some type of meaning, strength or clarity that didn’t seem possible at first. And not because the harm was justified, but because you have the resilience to reclaim something from it.
Sexuality is said to bring a negative energy to the ceremony. It's understandable. People are likely very vulnerable then, under the influence of plant medicines, and a powerful psychedelic substance. Wouldn't it be distracting, and even disturbing, to see anyone in your group, male or female, being taken advantage of during their stay?
This course and school has also trained the most competent non-indigenous ayahuasqueros I have ever met in over a decade of my own studies. And clearly more accountability and better systems are needed. The bridge between indigenous medicine and cosmology and the wider world is a delicate one, not easily crossed. Shamanic initiation is not “safe” it never has been but there is a lot more which can be done to ensure that the human side of things is held with integrity.
All it took was Tanner’s quote at the top after the death of Dio…he said “how could this happen to ‘me’?” No Tanner it didn’t happen to you, it happened to Dio. Narcissistic opportunist is what it looks like to me, just speaking as someone who was in a cult for well over a decade.
And Frank, he probably did have 20-some beings living in him. Because that’s entities 101.
I’ve only just discovered your writing. Look forward to reading more. I’m curious if their program had any sort of energetic ethics involved. Plant medicines, if not properly facilitated, can leave people with blown out chakras and holes in the aura and wide open for all sorts of “attachments.” I’m actually shocked so many people treat it so casually.
I thought the same thing when I read "how could this happen to me" he is all about the money and not about helping people. As a former participant who witnessed how the program is ran, safety is not his top priority as he states in the email he sent out. This happened in January yet he is just now sending out an email about it and giving his condolences. He stated they have expanded their emergency response training for staff which is a lie because the staff had no emergency training at all when I was there less than a year ago. Two incidents during one retreat with staff calling Tanner about what to do and hours went by before a decision was made on how to respond. Makes me wonder how many more times this has happened and no one has spoken up because it did not result in death. He is just saying what sounds good to save his reputation. There is no true medical screening as he says just a simple questionnaire you fill out and everyone is accepted because it is about the undocumented money he is collecting in cash to skirt paying taxes on what he truly makes from the participants. I was so disappointed in the place that I had high hopes for in finding some peace and direction in my life. I am no better today than I was the day I went. For the amount of money paid there should be someone with medical expertise on site or at least close by in the village and not a 90 min boat ride then an additional 45 min to the hospital. There is so much more I could say about my experience but that would be a novel lol.
How I see it is that our world at large, whether in medicine community or not, is what many eco-philosophers or psychologists have termed as a psychological stage of pathological adolescence.
In the Clinical counseling world, we have the legacy of Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents. This emotional immaturity is passed down from generation to generation. In Native American spirituality, this illness is referred to as Wetiko.
We as a human species are emotionally immature. And from what I have seen, not many humans have progressed into a healthy state of adolescence. And yet, there is such a huge need for the hurting human psyche. And perhaps not enough people who have worked through their shadows/wounds to offer a clean and contained healing space. So, what we see is the blind leading the blind.
This isn't just true in the plant medicine world. This is true of the most regulated mental health state hospitals or group practice clinics, which are enacting harm against humanity every day. And yet, they can get away with it because of informed consent, as well as excessive paperwork and legal jargon. Mad In America and all its horror stories of the over-regulated mental health system tell the tales.
It's sad.
Hopefully, more of us will keep doing our own work and grow up so we can hold an abundance of spaces that are truly healing.
Not sure “we as a human species” are emotionally immature but certainly “we in the West” transfigured and made child like by 600 years of violent extractive capitalism are!
For sure we in the west.
And, from my historical reading, the rise of dominator and patriarchal culture began thousands of years ago before capitalism. And is not solely stemmed from western peoples, although our current western paradigm is yes, leading us toward ecocide and is emotionally immature.
Right on, as ever, Tara. Thanks for adding to this conversation! I'd go further, having experienced the healer "training" at AF, and say it's not just the blind leading the blind, but the hurt hurting the hurt. I came out with better understanding and space for my trauma, but also quite untethered and there was zero integration offered afterwards.
Greg, I am saddened to hear that you went through this training and that you witnessed firsthand the hurt hurting the hurt. I am sending care to you.
Healing does not happen by hurt people hurting people. And the re-enactment of trauma in these spaces is devastating. It's so vulnerable to know one is in need of healing, and to reach out a hand for help, and to recieve more harm, again.
I know this in my journey. I'm so glad I've now found places and people that hold truly human honoring presence and love. I hope you find the same if you haven't already post trainng at AF.
Indeed; thank you, friend :)
Jesus… when will enough be enough.
This reads like a season recap of some comi-tragic reality show—Love Island: Healing Edition. The fact that phrases like “the plant spirits told me we’re destined to fuck” are considered normal in this subculture says a lot. The level of delusion and manipulation at play here is wild—and somehow still gets framed as sacred medicine.
Jules, genuine question: how much longer can this bubble hold before more people start calling it what it is—a profit-driven grift dressed up in a wildly appropriated veneer of ancient wisdom? At what point do the empty promises, spiritual coercion, and outright negligence finally pop the illusion?
well, i think one needs to think about the demand - what drives people to go to the amazon jungle, what do they get from it? the people i meet and interview, including for this story, often say their lives were radically improved by ayahuasca. often they had serious mental or physical (eg autoimmune) illnesses which western healthcare had failed to cure. or perhaps they felt a lack of meaning and enchantment. And ayahuasca seems to have given them healing, sometimes or even often, along with a sense of meaning and re-enchantment, as well as a community. i dont see those drivers going away, so I think people will keep looking to ayahuasca and other psychedelics for these things outside of western healthcare, which brings both new opportunities for healing and new risks. can western culture develop safer containers? i hope so, though its extremely slow work and sometimes it feels there isnt much progress at all. and it gets more complicated still when you’re talking about the intersection of amazon tribal cultures with wealthy spiritually hungry western spiritual seekers. i do think there could be a more honest dialogue with the indigenous cultures caught up in this global industry - a two way dialogue thats not just about putting the shamans on a pedestal and westerners feeling guilty for being westerners, but also an honest dialogue about the exploitations, misunderstandings and harms that can occur on both sides.
Totally agree, Jules—and pardon the snark level of my original comment. It’s just wild how off-track some of these narratives have gotten. I say that as someone who does believe these medicines can be deeply healing. Six years ago, I was stuck in a brutal loop with alcohol dependency. I threw myself a kind of Hail Mary—took a week off from my sommelier job, sat with an ounce of psilocybin in solitude, and prayed like hell. I have not touched alcohol since.
So yeah, I’m not skeptical of the medicines themselves—but I am wary of the group-process container, especially when it gets entangled with social dynamics like spiritual posturing, confirmation bias, sunk-cost fallacy, and the pressure to publicly “transform” in real time. There’s such a performative layer to it all. Healing gets turned into spectacle, and that opens the door for manipulation.
Do you think there’s a way to offer these tools without the theater of transformation becoming part of the product? I absolutely do. No idea how at the moment—guess that’s why we’re here examining this phenomenon & chatting about it. Thanks again & take care!
yes they just amplify the culture. i guess eventually in decades there will be less pretentiousness and phoniness around them, they could be normalized somewhat, who knows..
Subgeniusjohn, really interesting mushroom trip. I’m intrigued. Did you meet God?
If you want to honestly go beyond bad gringo - good noble shaman, and it seems you strive for objectivity, you may enquire about Enrique drunk driving killing mother and child in Iquitos and getting away with this. This is not fault of ayahuasca and not fault of tourism even - but lack of morals.
I did hear about that , I didn’t get enough facts to be able to report on what exactly happened
I agree with you and also we should be talking about what this “entheogenic spiritual colonialism” is doing to the shamanic traditions especially of the Shipibo. I have been studying for 9 years now and I did take the AF course as my very beginning. Then I studied with Don Enrique personally. But 3 years ago the plants guided me away from that situation as I was very aware of everything you shared already. I have been deeply intertwined with the Shipibo, I have two Shipibo goddaughters and have been “part of the families” for many years, but the deeper I go into those relationships the clearer I see the distortion. We have made them financially dependent on us gringos and that raises a whole other slew of ethical questions. And what would the Shipibo say, do or offer to us in order to survive…. Have you thought about that?!
We come with trauma desperately seeking healing, and we plug-in straight into the trauma of colonial rape of a culture! So how can we expect anything other than more trauma playing out? I deeply love and respect the plants medicine path, it’s my chosen path, but i’m also very aware of the complexity of these relational dynamics. I think mediation is needed between the two cultures and the needs of each, I think a trauma informed approach is sorely needed. Because as westerners, we do desperately need the healing that the plants can provide, but not as just an another coping mechanism.
Well said
My life has been radically improved by Ayahuascha, but I would avoid the jungle like the plague. I’m lucky enough to have a very safe container in the West. I think that we need to think carefully about legalising psychedelics.
I call it that! Thanks for doing so too! Freaking multi level marketing cults. Monetized and commodified technology or wisdom is ugly and dangerous garbage.
dressing people in indigenous robes, putting pipes in their hands, making them mimic external gestures of curanderismo like blowing agua florida and memorising someone elses icaros not unlike students of some Koranic school is all a parody of true learning, satisfying insecure egos and need of lost young people desperate for being someone, and then washing hands by saying "they will do what they want". Why is there even opportunity for flirting, why there is socializing in shamanic training that should happen in intimate relationship with plants, in isolation and not in "class" of cultural crossdressing. It is not just cheesy and fake as Bora tribe tourist shows outside of Iquitos, because these tourists at least wont gamble with other people lives afterwards.
I recently had a horrific experience at a transformative weekend event (sans psychedelics) and I’m now much more aware now of how transformative and spiritual settings can be hotbeds for abuse and malpractice. Thank you so much for this article.
Thanks. Sorry to hear that, if you feel like talking about it let me know , I’m interested in the entire personal growth / transformative experiences field
Thanks, yeah, I’m open to talk. Are your DMs open?
yes
22 ceremonies in 2 months is insane! I am often told I take psychedelics too much and I only do one aya ceremony a month, max, plus one other substance sometimes. I always leave a 2 week gap.
* This is a response to a now deleted comment from someone who had attended the training and had done ‘24 or 25’ ceremonies. They said that the amount was right for them and that they would never tell anyone else to take medicine or not take it:
I’ve done 20 ceremonies. I intend to do more. I still think 22 in 2 months is insane, though. Personally. My 20 ceremonies happened over a period of a few years. I think that we humans need more time for integration and grounding, personally. If you think differently, that’s your opinion. I can accept that.
How did you integrate 24/25 ceremonies experienced in 2 months? Did the experiences blur together?
I would never tell anyone they should or should not work with psychedelics. (‘Medicine’ is a term I like less because the medicine is in the setting for me. Psychedelics are just tools that mirror the psyche in my experience and perspective).
Whether they agree it's insane or not, it's not traditional at all and should not be advertised as such. It's a monetized program for nonnative users who need to get back to their lives asap afterwards. Absolutely worth noting that so many come out with inflated egos and I can only hope that Aya will help their customers regardless. As for the other, quieter participants who leave and don't stay in touch, I hope they are ok.
Important work Jules!
This was a thorough, well-researched article. I found myself nodding in agreement, paragraph after paragraph, and feeling what was left unwritten between the lines. The behaviors and sentiments in your article echo what I experienced in 25 ayahuasca ceremonies across 6 shamans and 3 continents. The mental image of children playing with matches comes to mind first.
sigh.
Meaning?
Meaning I love this course... had some of the best times of my life at that camp. But I acknowledge the validity of the issues raised in the article.
Very sad.