Content Warning: discussion of ayahuasca ceremony/reactions

The hosts explain polyvagal theory and explore how it relates to psychedelic ceremony and experience; how it leads to deeper understanding of neural states when working with different medicines.

The understanding of fight or flight, sympathetic and parasympathetic responses built into humans comes into sharp examination as Dr. T and The Truth Fairy dissect the polyvagal theory and how they deem it necessary, from an ethical standpoint, for doing medicine work. The neural states and innate responses we live with are key to understanding trauma responses and the sort of high arousal fear that can emerge in a medicine session.

The Truth Fairy relates how she properly prepared for an ayahuasca ceremony by first orienting and grounding all participants, building community and sensation awareness within individuals and between each participant. She touches on how the grounding of these traditional medicines in community and relationship is what will help bridge back into Indigenous roots and practice, removing it from a strictly colonizing therapeutic model.

“We need social engagement to come out of dorsal vagal. This is where we can, I think make the mistake of, in medicine, is to leave someone stuck there. Because it’s through social engagement that people come out and it’s what they haven’t gotten.” - The Truth Fairy 

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Dr. Stephen Porges - Polyvagal Theory
• Dr. Sharon Stanley, PhD
• Myelination information

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