Ayahuasca -- visions of jungle medicine: Adam Oliver Brown at TEDxUOttawa

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to a critical time in this interface
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between humans and the natural world and
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they might rightfully argue that the
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state of the environment is quite poor
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and things may look bleak and while I
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agree mostly with those statements I'm
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not here to depress you today in fact
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tell you a little bit of good news and
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illustrate that we have made some
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progress and so I'll talk to you today
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about my vision for a prosperous and
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sustainable world which involves of
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course the greater understanding
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reverence and respect for nature now
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there are many ways in which we've begun
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to incorporate ecological and
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environmentally sustainable practices
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into our society such as through levels
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associated with industry for example
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using natural biodiversity ecosystem
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services in agriculture such as through
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pollination services or pest reduction
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by simply putting habitats out there
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instead of destroying it by promoting
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its environments that can sustain native
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biodiversity we can work with nature
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rather than against it and this is an
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example in which we can recreate a sort
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of harmony or equilibrium with nature
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after centuries of trying to eradicate
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and control another means is to turn to
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nature for inspiration such as from this
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majestic creature the peregrine falcon
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the fastest animal on the planet who
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achieves speeds upwards of 300
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kilometres an hour as it dives out of
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the air in order to kick another bird in
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the back as its prey now any of you
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who've ever stuck your head out of a car
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window that's racing down the highway
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will well know how difficult it is to
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breathe as that air is rushing past your
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nose and this would have was course been
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an evolutionary challenge to a fast
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traveling bird like the peregrine falcon
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and so we find there are adaptations to
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counter these challenges such as this
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little inverted cone that's in its
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nostril and so we can also turn to
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nature in order to inspire ourselves
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such as when engineers have began
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building faster and more powerful jet in
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Asians one of the main limitations was
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being able to get the air to go into the
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turbine because of all the turbulence
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that was created at such high speeds and
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by inspiring themselves from the
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peregrine falcon they're able to insert
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little cones into the turbines and
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improve the mechanical efficiency of our
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technologies another way in which we can
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turn to nature in order to find
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potential solutions for our problems and
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so the last way I'm going to mention
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which will really be the body of my talk
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today is by referring to nature's
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inventions directly that is in the form
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of compounds and chemicals that have
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evolved in nature's organisms over
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millions of years and have biologically
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active effects on animals and so this
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story I'm going to tell you today is one
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in which we went down to Peru in 2010
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with a film crew for the nature of
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things of CV CBC television in order to
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make a documentary on a Vancouver doctor
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named dr. Gabor mat� a who you see
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sitting here in the foreground to your
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left who is a doctor who treats skid row
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addict patients of the lower east side
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of Vancouver who were dealing with
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crippling addictions so why ayahuasca an
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addiction would that why would that be
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even a topic to discuss well we know
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that in the 1950s a lot of research was
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initiated in research institutions and
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academia looking into psychedelic
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medicine and its potential roles in
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treating people with psychosis or
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various psychological illnesses and that
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these experiments and studies led to
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great promise for treating people that
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were afflicted with psychological
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burdens of course this movement was
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largely discredited over the course of
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the 60s as people discovered that the
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military was using psychedelics in order
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to conduct mind-control experiments and
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that of course the hippie acid parties
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in the Haight Ashbury neighborhoods of
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San Francisco somewhat deviated the
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seriousness of the potential for these
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psychedelics to help people and it's
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only relatively recently that it's
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thought to come back in the discussions
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in the halls and the laboratories of
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academia in using psychedelics to treat
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people who have psychological disorder
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now why why psychedelics and
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psychological disorders
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well psychedelics be they be they LSD
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the psilocybin of magic mushrooms DMT
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which is the active component in the
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ayahuasca that I'll be discussing with
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you today these are all chemicals that
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mimic serotonin and serotonin is a
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neurotransmitter that acts in our region
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the regions of our brains that are
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associated with mood perception and
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memory so it's perhaps not surprising
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then when we over stimulate these
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receptors with analog mimics of these
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neurotransmitters we get these
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mind-altering experiences now
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specifically what's ayahuasca ayahuasca
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is an amazonian psychedelic brew that is
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made up of two different plants the bark
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from a vine of the banisteriopsis genus
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and the leaves of the psychotria tree
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and these two ingredients are harvested
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and macerated and mixed together and
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boiled in these cauldrons boiled and
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reduced and then boiled and reduced and
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boiled and reduced over 24 hours until
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at the end you receive this dark thick
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molasses molasses like sludge and that
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is what it's used in the ayahuasca
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ceremonies and this ayahuasca is the
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most potent psychedelic that is known in
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fact its effects are so strong that the
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name itself has some kind of indication
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towards these effects ayahuasca is a
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catch you an Amazonian term which
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literally translates into English as
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vine of the soul and so these
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experiences with ayahuasca clearly give
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individuals some kind of profound
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insight into their own psyche so in
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order to document these ceremonies and
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these effects of the psychedelic
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ayahuasca we gathered up our film crew
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and hiked up the mountain of outside of
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tarapoto Peru one Saturday afternoon
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through thick Amazonian jungle through
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stinging fire ant nests and biting
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bullet ant nests and across raging
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rivers we hiked from hours
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before we were met at the top of the
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mountain by aku and arrows or the shaman
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at this open-air ceremony hot or Tambo
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so we were greeted warmly and we had
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time to prepare for the ceremony which
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would happen after sundown and
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preparation involved partly getting
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changed into our ceremonial white
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clothing which was essential because
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these these rites are performed in
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complete darkness and pitch-black and so
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it's important for the quand eros of
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shaman to be able to see you through the
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luminescence of your clothing because
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they do come over and administer some
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rites and songs and healing practices
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and sometimes they have to prevent some
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wigged out space cadets from wandering
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away from their little trip out station
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which is basically just a little pillow
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against the wall and a bucket to vomit
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into so you see part of the preparation
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of course is psychological getting
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yourself ready for the experience to
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come and when it was my turn to go up
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and get the ayahuasca said a little
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salutation salut de todos to everyone
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wishing us all good luck for what was to
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come and what was to come was definitely
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the most terrifying and the most
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exciting event of my life to date so
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they once everybody had received their
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ayahuasca they turned out the lights
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the quand eros began to sing some
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ceremonial traditional songs and not
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long thereafter the visual
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hallucinations began so the first of
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these visual hallucinations were that my
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vision began to be separated into layers
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away from me and then in the closest of
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these layers I found that they were
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infested with insects and snakes and
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bugs all scurrying around very very
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close in my personal space many people
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would have found this to be quite
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disturbing but I'm trained as an
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entomologist and I therefore focused a
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little bit more intently on the insects
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and found that they were mostly carotid
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and tuna Brianna beetles and so
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therefore not really much to be
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concerned about
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and so I really did quite enjoy this
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aspect of the the preliminary visuals
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that were happening and noticed that in
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some of the further layers that were
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more distant away from me there were
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actually orbs of pastel colored lights
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bobbing around I remember thinking to
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myself well that's weird because we're
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sitting here in the dark where does this
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light come from and little did I know
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there would be a lot more light yet to
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come one of the other aspects of course
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as I hinted with the bucket is that
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there's vomiting at this point and this
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is a form of purging in which the body
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is expelling this nasty bitter liquid in
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your stomach but it's not just the
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physical purge it's also a psychological
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one now it seemed like there was a lot
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of vomiting going on in retrospect there
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wasn't because afterwards I looked in
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the bucket and there were only a few
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drops of spit and some torn up petition
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paper that I'd used to wipe my face but
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at the time it really felt like there
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were these torrents of vomit coming out
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and not to disgust you too much for one
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because it wasn't even vomit it was
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snakes so there were snakes losing out
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of my nose and my mouth and this is
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quite literally what I was experiencing
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however despite this sort of somewhat
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fake freaky nature it was very cathartic
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because these snakes were felt like they
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were bringing demons up from inside and
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we're cleansing my soul in the process
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so in fact I felt quite good after this
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purge good as you can in the experience
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and of course it helped me prepare for
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what was to come next because that was a
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lot more intense so not long after say
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45 minutes into this the first couple of
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layers of insect grits began to
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dissipate and I moved closer towards
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these bobbing Pascal colored orbs of
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light and managed to spend a little bit
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of time in that weird strange cartoon
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kind of world until all of a sudden they
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came rushing at me and I found myself
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blasted off into the universe on the
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back of some kind of fractal fireworks
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roller coaster so I was traveling
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through the universe at light speed with
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the visuals becoming much much more
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intense at this point with colorful
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mandalas the fractals opening and
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closing and spiraling around each other
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like clockwork so quickly I couldn't
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take it all
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in and in fact at this point I was also
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physically being thrown around by the
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violent turbulence of the wild ride on
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this comet that I was traveling through
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the universe on and again I had to say
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to myself this is so weird because
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rationally I was able to recognize that
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there shouldn't be any lights I'm in the
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dark in a hut in Peru and why am I
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feeling like my body's being thrown
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around so this was a really
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all-encompassing experience at this
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point and I have to admit at this point
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it was a little much for me and I
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started to panic thinking I don't like
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this anymore I wanted to get off but of
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course you can't the you are on this
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ride until the very end and at some
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point I admitted that to myself and said
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well we're just going to have to ride it
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out and so I did and thankfully this
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really intense part of the trip only
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lasted for another hour or so and so
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that was fun but when that subsided we
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came down into this really thick quiet
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warm emotionally Laden place it wasn't
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the room it was like more of a zone and
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this zone was bordered by a big red
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velvety curtain that reminded me
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essentially of this the black lodge in
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the Twin Peaks television series but in
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this hallucination there were no
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backwards talking dwarves however what
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did come next was truly astonishing to
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me the curtain pulled back and revealed
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to me a scene a forgotten scene from my
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own childhood that was somewhat
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troubling emotionally and I had
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forgotten about that scene probably
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since the very day it happened but as
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soon as that curtain pulled back and I
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was witness to it again I recognized it
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immediately as having been an important
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event in my life that I somehow had
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repressed and what was interesting about
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this is while I was reinsulate ly
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traumatic scene from my childhood I
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wasn't revisiting any of the emotional
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trauma associated with it it was like I
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was a third party observer in partially
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and objectively being able to watch my
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life story and to be
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to determine why or how it was important
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to me becoming who I was as an
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individual it's almost like I wasn't
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seeing what was happening but I was
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being told why what I was seeing was
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important to how I became as an
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individual later on in my life and so
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over the course of the next hour or so
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these curtains continued to part and
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presented me with these astonishingly
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vivid memories that I had forgotten
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about since those times but that allowed
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me to incorporate somewhat troubling
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experiences from my past objectively
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into my life story and to be able to
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move forward without having the
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emotional burden of those events
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continue to nag at my conscience and my
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subconscious throughout the rest of my
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life so the point here folks is not a
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story about recreational drug tourism
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it's about illustrating the potential
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for these chemicals to help us to help
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us heal ourselves our health our
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psychology and our societies and to
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recognize that let me tell you straight
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I had a pretty happy childhood I was not
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burdened with a lot of emotional trauma
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but even in my experience with ayahuasca
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I came out with a profound understanding
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of the events that led up to me behaving
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the way I do nowadays and most
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importantly the way I behaved when I
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don't like the way I'm behaving and
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usually that those behaviors come from
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some kind of psychological nagging that
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is recessed somewhere in the back of
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your brain that we all carry with us
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more so those people that have
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experienced serious dramas and have much
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more emotional burdens that they carry
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and we've already heard from some people
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here today that have Illustrated that
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they have experienced those emotional
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traumas and they continue to carry those
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burdens
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well ayahuasca is clearly a tool that
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can be used to allow people to come to
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grips with those nagging forgotten
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memories to be able to incorporate them
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into their life story and then to move
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on more happy and healthier
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psychologically speaking and therefore
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these experiences as well as the
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academic research indicate that there is
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great potential in the psychedelic
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medicine to allow people to deal with
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drama that has led to behavioral
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problems such as addictions or syndromes
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such as post-traumatic stress disorder
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where people are haunted by their
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memories and can't let go and move on so
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it's very interesting of course these
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chemicals exist and have that effect and
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as an evolutionary ecologist I don't
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suggest that they were put here to help
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us or to inform us they'd rather evolved
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in order to deter the more pervasive
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insect herbivores but insects have
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essentially the similarly structured
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nervous systems as we do and whereas
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these neurotransmitter mimics may cause
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convulsions and paralysis in the motor
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system of a simplified animal like an
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insect in a more higher evolved animal
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whose neurotransmitters are clustered
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into networks the effects can be
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profound in terms of giving us insights
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into our own psyche of course
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accompanied with the greatest light show
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on earth
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so the message here is that the
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potential for turning to nature for help
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and cut-in finding solutions to our
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problem is great this potential could be
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related to working in harmony with
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nature such as in the agricultural or
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other industrial sectors it could be in
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terms of turning to nature for
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inspiration when we're looking to create
16:55
the next mind-blowing technology or it
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could be turning to nature in order to
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utilize some of the pre-existing
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structures that have evolved in nature's
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organisms over millions of years and
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that can help us as a society but of
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course nowadays the environment is in
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peril ecosystems are under threat from
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human advances in habitat destruction
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and toxic pollution and as we lose these
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ecosystem functions we don't just lose
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integral fabrics of our nature we also
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lose the potential for these discoveries
17:30
that can help human society in the
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future and so that is why I say that
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part of my vision for a prosperous and
17:39
sustainable future involve a deep
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understanding and respect and
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preservation of the natural world
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hope that you would agree