Drug Tourism or Spiritual Healing? Ayahuasca Seekers in Amazonia

Westerners who travel to the Amazon to drink ayahuasca are motivated not by drug tourism but by desires for spiritual connection, emotional healing, and personal self-awareness. Interviews with participants at an ayahuasca retreat revealed that their principal motivations included seeking spiritual relations, personal spiritual development, and contact with sacred nature, God, spirits, and plant energies. The perceived benefits centered on increased self-awareness, insights, access to deeper levels of the self, enhanced personal development, and a sense of personal direction in life. These findings point to transpersonal concerns rather than recreational drug use.

Study at a glance

Abstract

This research addresses the question of whether Westerners who seek traditional spiritual medicine known as ayahuasca can be best characterized as "drug tourists" or as people pursuing spiritual and therapeutic opportunities. Participants in an ayahuasca retreat in Amazonia were interviewed regarding their motivations for participation and the benefits they felt that they received. These findings from the interviews were organized to reveal common motivations and benefits. Contrary to the characterization as "drug tourists", the principal motivations can be characterized as: seeking spiritual relations and personal spiritual development; emotional healing; and the development of personal self-awareness, including contact with a sacred nature, God, spirits and plant and natural energies produced by the ayahuasca. The motivation and perceived benefits both point to transpersonal concerns, with the principal perceived benefits involving increased self awareness, insights and access to deeper levels of the self that enhanced personal development and the higher self, providing personal direction in life.