I had no idea what healing truly meant until I sat with ayahuasca.

I used to think I had an idea of what healing would look like, or at least what I'd hoped it would be like. As a lifelong sufferer of depression, addiction, and anxiety, I could never understand how other people seemed to move through the world with lightness and joy.

Through years of rehabs, therapy, and self-help support groups, I saw others transform before my eyes. I heard inspiring stories of people who had overcome trauma and hardship. I knew healing wasn’t supposed to be easy, but at the time, I couldn't grasp just how deep, messy, and painful the process could be and all the other little nuances and lessons that would come along the way.

That changed when I began working with ayahuasca, a sacred Amazonian plant medicine traditionally used in shamanic settings for spiritual, physical, and emotional healing. My journey with this medicine and the privilege of holding space for others as a facilitator at New Life Rising has shown me profound, and sometimes difficult truths about healing both from my own experiences and through those I've witnessed in over 10 years in the healing community.

After more than a decade of sitting in ceremony, here are 10 lessons I’ve learned about what it really means to heal:

1. Healing Is Painful

To grow, you must confront uncomfortable truths about yourself and parts of your story you’ve tried to avoid, memories you’ve buried, and beliefs you didn’t realize were shaping and controlling your life. Healing often feels like tearing down old walls and finding raw, tender skin underneath. Like a snake shedding its skin, it requires peeling away layers you’ve carried for years. This process can be uncomfortable, but each layer removed makes room for more authenticity, understanding, compassion and growth.

2. It Doesn’t Happen Overnight (or Even in a Week)

The ceremonies won’t magically transform you. Creating new habits and rewiring patterns takes time & consistency. Ceremonies can open the door, but they’re not the whole journey. Ayahuasca often plants seeds, but those seeds need time, patience, and nurturing to grow. The real change happens in the quiet moments afterward, the decisions you make, the habits you break, and the ways you choose to show up differently each day. Focus on integration as much as the ceremony itself. Healing is a slow unfolding, not a single event.

3. Setbacks Are Part of the Process

No matter how committed you are, there will be days you slip back into old ways of thinking or behaving. This doesn’t negate the work you've done, it just means you’re human. The key is awareness. When you notice a setback, meet it with curiosity, not self-judgment. Ask yourself what triggered it, what you can learn from it, and how you can gently re-align. Over time, you’ll recover from these moments more quickly and with greater compassion for yourself.

4. Small Shifts - Big Impacts

Deep healing doesn’t require a profound ayahuasca experience. Sometimes the most subtle journeys bring the biggest shifts. They’re not dramatic but soft changes in daily life, the way we respond to people and situations, the way we see the world around us, the ability to pause before reacting, to soften toward someone you once resented, or to respect and feel at home in your own body. These small changes often compound over time, creating powerful and lasting transformation.

5. You Don’t Need All the Answers

Many people come to ayahuasca searching for the “why”. Why they feel pain, why they can’t let go of something, why they keep repeating certain patterns. Sometimes you get clarity, but other times, the medicine teaches you to move forward without a neat explanation. Ayahuasca won’t always give you all the answers. That doesn't mean you can't heal and move beyond trauma without getting specific "why" explanations. Healing isn’t always about finding the source, it’s about creating new ways of living that no longer feed or reinforce the wound, moving beyond victimhood and empowering you with the tools to heal even when you don’t fully understand the root casue of the pain.

6. It Takes Work

Don’t expect it to be easy. It’s a daily emotional rollercoaster that demands significant commitment, grace, and forgiveness. Healing isn’t something that happens to you, it’s something you participate in daily. This means showing up for yourself even when it’s uncomfortable, holding yourself accountable, and continuing to choose the hard, healthy path even when it would be easier to numb out or distract yourself. It’s a process of dismantling the structures that kept you in pain, and that requires dedication, self-awareness, and courage.

7. Not Everyone Will Embrace the “New You”

As you heal, you’ll outgrow some relationships. Allow yourself to release those who were attached to the unhealthy version of you. When you change, it can unsettle the people around you, especially those who benefited from the old, wounded version of you. Some relationships may fade. Others might end abruptly. It can feel like loss, but it’s really a clearing. By letting go of people who no longer align with your growth, you create space for relationships that nurture and honor the person you’re becoming.

8. Support Is Essential

Having a strong community, a therapist, or family support will make the process easier. You don’t have to do it alone. A trusted community can hold you accountable, remind you of your worth, and guide you when you feel lost. Whether it’s a therapist, a support group, a mentor, or a retreat family, connection is a powerful medicine in itself. This is why we keep our retreats intentionally small so every person feels seen, heard, and supported.

9. Movement Matters

Our physical and mental health are deeply connected. Daily movement can significantly enhance your healing and integration. Your body is a storehouse of emotions and memories. Physical movement, whether yoga, massage, hiking, swimming, or dancing, can release stored tension and energy. It also strengthens your nervous system’s ability to regulate stress. Even simple daily movement can boost mood, improve mental clarity, and help integrate the insights from ceremony.

10. Healing Doesn’t Mean You’ll Never Struggle Again

Some people think healing is about arriving at a destination in which you're 'fixed'. In reality, healing is about learning to meet life’s challenges without being consumed by them. It’s having the tools to respond with clarity, resilience, and self-compassion when new stresses or traumas arise. The ups and downs will still come, but you’ll navigate them from a place of strength. Healing isn’t a destination, it's a lifelong journey of growth.

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𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘫𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘺? Join our ayahuasca retreat in Costa Rica. 🌴! 💚

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