Also see the AyahuascaCanada Video on purging (click here)
If you’re the type of person who is not prepared to undertake some purging in a ceremony or where your healing must be done without any discomfort or effort, you may want to re-consider the idea of an Ayahuasca journey.
Our negative energy is given off in many ways in a ceremony. Some people do the traditional purging but a lot of people will yawn, go to the toilet, sweat or experience other forms of energetic release. And, when you feel the negative energy inside you in a ceremony, you’ll want to get rid of it however you can.
Also understand that purging doesn’t typically last very long in a ceremony and most of the time it’s over in a few minutes. It’s not like the entire ceremony is one big purge-fest.
More accurately it’s not puking it’s “purging” or “la purga.” There’s a big difference between “puking” and “purging.” And understand there’s no guarantee that you will purge in a ceremony. Purging is not “puking” in the traditional Canadian sense of the word.
Westerners may associate puking with being ill or sick. Purging in a ceremony on the other hand is associated with energy that needs to leave the body in the context of the healing ceremony. It is a healing mechanism. So while traditional “puking” may be seen as a negative, purging in a ceremony is a positive thing and it can take many forms.
Purging is simply the spiritual energetic release in physical form. Ayahuasca works quickly and because of the strong energetic release, it may be accompanied by a physical purge of some sort. As your ceremonies progress, usually the purging becomes less and less as your energetic body becomes clearer and stronger.
Purging is one of the most liberating parts of the journey. After a purge you can feel amazingly light and healed as the negative energy leaves the body.
You’ll hear people yawning in ceremony. Some people will have “verbal diarrhea” and talk all night long or cry or sing or warble or laugh. Then there’s the more traditional “puking” type of purge where you’re bringing something up or where you’re just dry heaving. As well, purging can take place out of the other major orifice in your body. Or you may not purge at all. But understand that it’s all energy work.
Think of it as your body having what we consider “negative” energy and “positive” energy. But it’s a fixed amount of energy that you have. The more negative energy you have, the less positive energy that’s available. If you release the negative energy, it naturally becomes positive energy that’s available to you. This is part of the deep transformational work that can take place in a single Ayahuasca ceremony. But you don’t get this for free. You need to do some work. And that’s where purging comes in.
The difference is in the results. It’s a negative energy inside of you that needs to leave the body and it has to find a way out. It’s kind of like a release valve that works in both planes – the physical and the spiritual. The negative energy has to go somewhere. On the other hand there may be ceremonies where you don’t purge at all and where teachings predominate.
However, when you do purge afterwards it’s such a feeling of lightness and release. It’s like something that you wanted to do all your life and it finally happened. Some of the most joyous ceremonies are when a person new to the work is finally able to release after resisting “la purga” for a number of ceremonies. Or you may find it easy to purge and off you go from ceremony number one. It’s like joining the initiated.
And you really need to put purging in the context of your life. If you think about it, your whole life has been leading up to the healing ceremony you’re undertaking. An Ayahuasca ceremony is only a few hours out of your lifetime but it can accomplish so much for you in such a short time. The tradeoff is there has to be some work and some effort on your part. Purging may be part of that work in your ceremony.
It may not be the most pleasant thing or it may be incredibly easy for you but after you purge, you know you’ve accomplished something. Congratulate yourself. You’ve worked through things that you needed to work through for your own spiritual healing.
You can email us for our current list of shamans that we’re aware of in Canada or for advice about finding a shaman in the Amazon.