Regulating Your Nervous System in an Ayahuasca Ceremony
When called to commune with the ancient technology of Ayahuasca in ceremony, our brilliant nervous system becomes a bridge between seen and unseen worlds. While the spirit of the Madre Aya works deep with our memories, soul, and visions, our corporeal body is where those experiences are held, processed, and integrated.
In such a profound - and potentially intense space - regulating our nervous system is an incredible act of self-love and conscious awareness. This blog offers insight and gentle practices to support the nervous system before, during, and after Ayahuasca, helping pasajeros (passengers) feel safer, more grounded, and more able to receive the wisdom of the medicine with a greater sense of ease.
Why our Nervous System Matters in Ceremony
Our nervous system consists of our brain, spinal cord and nerves; nerves that communicate from our brain to our body (20% of our nerves), and our body to our brain (80% of our nerves). It is the communication highway that connects our mind-body, or our felt-and-perceived experience.
Our nervous system experiences our external and internal environments and through various regions of the brain creates memory, meaning and emotions. Our body is involved in the “storing” of these experiences through physiological responses; such as -
Fascial bracing and muscular tension
Jaw clenching, headaches or migraines
Stomach ‘knots’ or digestive discomfort
Shallow breath or feeling a ‘lump’ in the throat
Chronic exhaustion and fatigue
Flushes of temperature changes, like heat or cold
Joint pain or swelling
Just to name a few…
Our stored physiological experiences are protective survival responses from our autonomic nervous system, or ANS. Our ANS can be thought of as ‘automatic’ or unconscious processes like breath, heart rate, digestion.
When Survival Energy Gets Stuck
Sometimes our protective responses are unable to experience completion, meaning the messengers of our nervous and endocrine system - neurotransmitters and hormones may not receive the message that we are safe now, and that the protective response is no longer necessary.
An incomplete process can allow these responses to become fixated or stuck within our body, potentially resulting in expressions we may be familiar with such as fight, flight, freeze, fold or fawn.
There are many reasons why we may not experience resolution of our protective survival responses. However, the important and loving understanding to hold, is that these protective processes respond to keep you safe and alive. They are life force energy. Energy is necessary to maintain a protective response, yet when the bodymind receives what it needs, the bound life force energy - and the memories, emotions and bodily containment of such are primed to move. Some may refer to this as a release, rather it really is the integration of your life force energy being freed into your own system.
Ayahuasca and the Language of the Nervous System
Ayahuasca herself, has a way of bringing our unconscious memories, emotions and patterns to the surface by working through our visual and frontal cortices, default mode network, and limbic system - all parts of our brain, aka part of our nervous system. A large aspect of how madre medicina moves through our system, allows these brain regions to communicate their experience via a language of sensation, imagery, movement, behavior, and meaning making. This language of the nervous system and ayahuasca makes for a delightful synergy of processing through the same channels within our vessel. And when we can support the regulation of our body's nervous system before, during and after ceremony, it can enhance the ease of our integrative experience.
"The mind is like the wind and the body like the sand: if you want to see how the wind is blowing, you can look at the sand."
The body-mind relationship is interwoven. When the body experiences relative safety, the psyche elicits more openness and curiosity. This occurs as an aspect of the ventral vagal state of our parasympathetic nervous system, yet it suggests that nervous system regulation enhances our ability to surrender and receive the wisdom of the medicine with less resistance. Reinforcing, cultivating safe and supportive containers is absolutely crucial for reasons even beyond the overt.
Pre-Ceremony Practices for Grounding and Preparation
Admittedly, regulating our nervous system can begin the moment you choose to sit with Mama Aya. Choice is a powerful declaration, and the medicine is already working with you the moment you say ‘yes!’
Despite the misconceptions that often surround the notion of nervous system regulation, regulation is not about being calm or stoic. Rather regulation is about experiencing life in its various states of arousal and cultivating presence to tend to ourselves in ways that support our return to relative safety and nurture our capacity.
Regulation is far too rich to break down in this specific article, yet we can invite curiosity and presence leading into the ceremony by supporting our sense of safety, groundedness, and connection.
Cultivating Safety Through Somatic Awareness
I love to emphasize there is no specific somatic exercise or practice to support our felt-experiences. We are unique and what resonates for one human, may not impact another in the same fashion. Discovering your somatic toolkit gets to be yours, a process of self-discovery and intimacy.
However, if you appreciate some ideas to kickstart what may offer you a greater sense of safety, grounding or connection - the following may be helpful practices:
Resource safety - you may wish to; create an altar with scents or photos of loved ones, identify guides or archetypes you can call upon for support, set boundaries prior to your journey, or carry a personal object for connection.
Breath - mindful breath practices such as conscious diaphragmatic breathing, physiological sigh, box breathing can bring us into greater presence with our bodymind.
Gentle movement - intentional movement practices such as walking, hiking, yoga, tai chi or qi gong, or just authentic desired movement can enhance our connection with self and promote feelings of centeredness.
Nervous system mapping - explore mapping your nervous system experience to hyper (fight / flight), hypoarousal (shutdown) or freeze (hyper + hypoarousal) to invite increased awareness of how your bodymind may express distress.
Preparing for our journey is an act of love; to ourselves, to the plants, our ancestors, planet and cosmos. The old saying of ‘you get back what you put in,’ is one way we may view our preparation - as indeed preparation supports both regulation as well as integration. However, the language of regulation is compassion. Learning to be and move from love without demand, is the sweet spot.
During Ceremony – Staying Present with the Body
But Fae, how can we regulate our nervous systems during ceremony? Regulation, again, is a full and rich concept, so let us simplify and ask instead, how can we be present with our body?
To those new and long-time veterans to ayahuasca, Mama can take us on quite the spectrum of experiences. Sometimes a journey may be incredibly heady + cognitive where connecting to our body may be challenging or uncomfortable, whereas others, we may forget we have a body at all!
Breath and Intention as Your Sacred Oars
A near and dear medicine friend of mine introduced me to the idea: imagine you are on a boat, and on that boat you have two oars. One oar is your breath, the other oar is your intention. This has served me well in so many journeys, as one oar, our breath connects us with our body, while the other oar, connects us to our mind. And if we recall our sand quote above, the body and mind follow one another. So if you are having a hard time accessing your body - grab your oar of breath. And if you are having a hard time with conscious awareness, grab your oar of intention. One of your two oars will always guide you home.
Embodied Tools for Navigating the Journey
And while the practice above alone is gold, because we are all unique, and every journey is full of new experiences and learnings, here are some other ways we can support our presence and regulation within a ceremony:
Anchor points - if you begin experiencing overwhelm, you can draw your attention to anchor points in your body such as your feet, spine, or hands. You may decide to name these anchor points prior to entering ceremony, as it’s often easier to find a tool, when we know where we’ve stored it. ;) Yet it’s perfectly fine to be in the midst of your journey and remember - ‘oh yeah, I have feet! Let me draw my attention to my feet!’
This helps bring our awareness into somewhere in our body that often serves as a grounding or stablizing resource Which leads me to…
Grounding - likewise, if you are experiencing overwhelm, be it emotions, visuals, sensations, you can move towards something that feels grounding in your system such as safely going outside and putting your feet on the earth, connecting with tobacco or hapé, holding a crystal or stone, or simply laying your back on your mat and appreciating being supported. My personal fave if I’m in it is placing my hand next to my mat on the floor and thanking the earth.
Connecting to breath - just as the oar metaphor suggests, breath is a simple, yet incredibly effective and powerful means back to presence with our body. Long, steady exhales can serve as a sacred lifeline when contraction, fear or panic set in. Breath, in part due to its request of our present awareness, has an ability to support movement and transmutation as well. And can support us to not only be with, yet also support the movement and integration of an experience.
Self touch & movement - slow, rhythmic movements such as, gentle rocking, swaying, have the tendency to be soothing when grief, fear or intensity arises. A self-hug or hand to your heart may offer comfort, while gentle arm or leg squeezes can bring us more deeply into our body if we feel disconnected. Shaking our arms or legs can also help to mobilize energy if it feels something is ready to move or clear.
As the medicine brings the unconscious to the conscious field, it’s important to distinguish that regulation during ceremony is not about controlling, altering or overriding your experience. Illumination of our un / subconscious is why we come to this work - to integrate the fullness of it all; the comfortable and uncomfortable.
Rather regulation during ceremony is about deep loving presence with yourself in the moment your bodymind needs support. And there is nothing wrong with giving ourselves somatic support. In fact, I would argue quite the contrary. The more we show up offering ourselves what we need, the more love pours in, healing us whole.
Aftercare – Regulating in the Days Following Ceremony
Caring for ourselves after ceremony is a way we can honor all we experienced, and show gratitude to the medicine. Our bodymind is the vessel in which this sacrament moves through, so treating both our body and self-dialogue as sacred is an act of reverence. It also helps to support our regulation, whether our ceremony was absolutely divine or utterly intense.
Some accessible ways we can honor this process are through:
Nourishing routines - how you move through your day, the pace, the intention, and the nourishment you provide yourself through foods, sleep, and hydration can enhance regulation and integration in the days following your ceremony.
Somatic journaling - you may wish to reflect on visions or messages through free writing, yet perhaps also invite curiosity on your body's experience of the journey, how did it respond, how did it communicate with you; were there sensations, sweats, tremors, tension or purges? What seemed to move? Did anything feel stuck or desire more support? If so, what might it have been in need of?
Gentle reconnection - tune into what feels supportive in reconnecting with your sense of self; time in nature, movement, hanging with a pet or dear friend, or an integration session with a trained practitioner can continue to soothe and center the nervous system to a more regulated state.
The ceremony may be over, yet the journey continues in integration. Many on the plant path would suggest after the ceremony is where the real work begins. Think of this time as an opportunity to deepen your connection with what your medicine journey revealed. The body in its ability to regulate remains as a trusted guide; illuminating our behaviors, patterns and needs as a way to shine a light on how we can integrate and embody our sacred insights.
The Nervous System as a Sacred Ally
Regulating your nervous system in an Ayahuasca ceremony is not about controlling the experience—it’s about learning how to witness and stay present with it. Loving it, and tending to it. When we understand and honor the body’s signals, we become more available to the teachings of the medicine. Safety, surrender, and healing are a bodymind process. Grandmother Ayahuasca may open the portal—yet your nervous system is an altar. Are you ready to sit and meet yourself with presence and trust?
If you are feeling called to tend to your body's experience, join our next integration circle or explore 1:1 somatic sessions to support your nervous system before and after ceremony.
About the Author
Faegann Harlow bridges body-based therapies in their integrative role of mind-body reciprocity. Through curiosity and embodied practices, Faegann finds space in each being to anchor the insights received from our allies, increasing our capacity in receiving, healing, transmuting, creating.... being. Integration at a somatic level serves as an act of assimilation; honoring our role with our relations; nature, self and beyond. With 20+ years in the somatic field of touch, movement and psychology, and 10+ years in plant spaces, Faegann humbly holds Noya Rao, Mugwort and Thyme dietas, as trusted allies in her heart-centered and nurturing therapeutic approach. Trauma-informed through physiological and psychological lenses, Faegann invite science and spirit into a space. The symbiotic nature of our body, psyche and universe want to reveal the mysteries of our own personal magic & medicine. Faegann serves to support and encourage your innate self, whole and perfect.
