Ayahuasca has become increasingly well-known in recent years as a powerful plant medicine capable of catalyzing profound spiritual, emotional, and psychological transformation. At Colibri Garden, we’ve witnessed firsthand how meaningful, life-changing, and healing this medicine can be. But as with any powerful tool, ayahuasca also comes with risks—especially when not approached with proper care, experience, and integration.
In a recent Colibri Garden webinar, Head of Integration Mags sat down with Colombian psychologist, psychotherapist, and integration specialist David Londoño to explore the lesser-discussed side of the ayahuasca experience: what happens when things go wrong.
The Double-Edged Sword of Plant Medicine
David Londoño brings over 20 years of experience in both Western psychology and traditional medicine practices to this important conversation. Having spent six years living in the Peruvian Amazon studying with indigenous healers, David bridges the worlds of psychotherapy and shamanism—a rare and much-needed voice in the contemporary plant medicine landscape.
While there’s an abundance of discussion about the benefits of ayahuasca, the darker corners—emotional destabilization, energetic imbalances, or misinterpreted visions—are often neglected. As David puts it, “There is not a lot of knowledge about how, when there is no proper care, ayahuasca can also create difficulties and problems.”
Three Categories of Post-Ayahuasca Challenges
David outlines three broad types of difficulties he commonly sees in his work with post-ayahuasca integration:
- Mental Health Issues – These may include anxiety, panic attacks, depression, dissociation, and even retraumatization. Some individuals experience what’s known as “ego inflation,” where insights during ceremony lead to a distorted sense of self-importance rather than humility or healing.
- Energetic Imbalances – Many indigenous traditions view ayahuasca as opening one’s energetic field. Without proper protection or closure, participants may become vulnerable to absorbing harmful energies or retaining spiritual “residue” that can lead to lingering disorientation or emotional disturbance.
- Illusions and Misinterpretations – Perhaps most insidious are the seemingly divine messages one might receive in ceremony—messages that lead people to quit jobs, end relationships, or make major life decisions without the discernment or grounding necessary to evaluate whether the insight was genuine or a projection of their subconscious.
Ayahuasca Isn’t a Shortcut
The myth of “ten years of therapy in one night” has done a disservice to many seekers. While ayahuasca can reveal insights at an accelerated pace, those insights are only valuable if they are properly integrated into everyday life. As Mags noted during the conversation, “We’ve seen people who say ‘nothing changed after ayahuasca,’ but the question is—did you change anything?”
David emphasizes that real transformation is usually slow, steady, and involves work across multiple dimensions. “Ayahuasca isn’t magic,” he said. “It’s a catalyst—but it’s not the integration, the life change, or the healing itself.”
Why Things Go Wrong: Lack of Structure and Training
Many of the challenges people face stem from a lack of proper structure in the preparation, facilitation, and integration phases of the journey.
- Before Ceremony: A proper screening process is essential. Ayahuasca isn’t safe or appropriate for everyone—especially those with certain psychological conditions or who are taking medications like SSRIs.
- During Ceremony: David points to the increasing number of facilitators who undergo brief “shamanic” training programs and begin serving medicine with little or no real energetic or therapeutic expertise. Holding space for an ayahuasca ceremony is a highly skilled role that, in traditional contexts, involves decades of training.
- After Ceremony: Integration is often overlooked or misunderstood. This is where the real work begins—processing the insights, navigating difficult emotions, and reshaping one’s life based on what was uncovered.
The Danger of “Ayahuasca Told Me…”
A particularly poignant part of the webinar was the discussion around messages received during ceremony—what David and his colleague Geronimo call the “Ayahuasca Told Me…” phenomenon.
These inner voices or visions can feel divine, authoritative, and beyond question. But as David cautions, they can also be projections of our fears, desires, biases, or unresolved traumas. He’s worked with people who have made life-altering decisions based on a message that turned out, in hindsight, to be misguided.
The antidote, he says, is discernment—something cultivated over time through deep self-awareness, psychological insight, and consultation with trusted guides or therapists. “Don’t be self-referential,” David warns. “Get feedback. Talk to someone. Take time.”
Ego Inflation: When Insight Becomes Identity
Another risk discussed was ego inflation—a common trap, especially for those who experience power, clarity, or mystical insights during ceremony. These feelings can be real and valuable, but when the ego identifies with them—believing itself to be enlightened or chosen—it undermines the humility and surrender that true healing requires.
David emphasized the importance of humility and the consistent inner work required to avoid falling into this seductive illusion. “Power can heal,” he said, “but power can also corrupt.”
Energetic Safety: A Forgotten but Vital Dimension
Many Westerners enter ayahuasca ceremonies with no framework for understanding energetic safety, yet in indigenous contexts, this is considered fundamental.
David explained that ayahuasca opens participants up—psychologically and spiritually. Without energetic cleansing and proper closure, people may leave ceremonies energetically “porous,” vulnerable to the environment or even others in the ceremony space.
Symptoms of energetic imbalance may include lingering anxiety, fatigue, nightmares, or irrational fears. In these cases, David recommends seeking the support of an experienced traditional healer who can diagnose and address such issues, often through additional ceremony or cleansing rituals.
Integration: The Missing Puzzle Piece
Ultimately, the conversation kept circling back to one essential truth: Integration is everything.
Without guidance, community, or personal practice to process the depths of what ayahuasca reveals, people can feel lost, confused, or even worse than before they drank the medicine.
Thankfully, support structures like the ICEERS Support Center (where David is an adviser) are now available for those who have had difficult or destabilizing experiences. They offer a global network of trained professionals providing up to three free integration sessions for those in need.
Final Thoughts
As Mags said in closing, “It’s not about avoiding discomfort. The work is challenging by nature. But it’s about ensuring that the difficulty leads to healing—not harm.”
David’s grounded, nuanced perspective reminds us that this path—while potent—is not without pitfalls. True healing with ayahuasca requires care, discernment, and a long-term commitment to growth. It is not a magic bullet, but rather a doorway into deeper layers of the self that must be walked with intention and humility.
Resources:
Download our preparation guidebook here.
Find out more about Mags’ work as an integration coach and writer on her website and via
Instagram.
ICEERS Support Center for Psychedelic Integration
Get in touch with David via email at davidlondono@iceers.org.
