I remember coming back from a ten day silent meditation retreat and needing a few days just to feel normal again in the world. So when Oliver Glozik, founder of Harmonica Ayahuasca Retreat in Colombia, described what happens after an Ayahuasca ceremony, I understood the shape of it, even though I knew the depth of his work goes far beyond anything I have experienced myself.
Oliver has facilitated around 35 retreats a year for more than five years now. He has sat with hundreds of people going through what he calls disorientating but clarifying experiences. I wanted him on the show to help explain, simply and honestly, what Ayahuasca actually is, and more importantly, what it asks of you once the ceremony ends.
What is Ayahuasca?
Oliver describes Ayahuasca as a plant medicine from the Amazon jungle, used ceremonially for centuries, if not thousands of years. Not simply a psychedelic experience, but a medicine for thinking, for emotion, for spirit.
And I will repeat something Oliver said, because I want it to sink in: it is not the shaman that heals you, and it is not the Ayahuasca either. It is you, having an amplified, honest conversation with yourself.
Who is it for?
Oliver sees two broad types of people arrive at his retreats. The first are searching for healing, working through anxiety, depression, addiction or difficulty accepting themselves. The second are searching for transformation, wanting a deeper understanding of the patterns quietly shaping their lives.
Different starting points, shall we say, but the same underlying wantingness to look within.
What happens in the ceremony
There is a physical release, purging, which can understandably put people off before they have even tried it. But if trauma lives in the body, then perhaps that discomfort is doing something useful. There is an emotional release too, old resentments and unresolved experiences surfacing into conscious awareness.
Oliver made a point I found genuinely useful: the value is not really in what happens during the ceremony. It is in what you recognise, and what you choose to do with it afterwards.
You remain in the driver's seat
One fear people carry is that an experience like this might completely upend their life. Oliver's answer was reassuring. You remain responsible for your own decisions. An insight might lead you to question your career or your relationships, but the choice of what to do with that insight is still yours.
He gave the example of someone discovering, honestly, whether they became an engineer because they love creating things, or because they wanted a parent's approval. Better to find that out at 35 than at 70, fair enough.
Integration is where the real work begins
This, for me, was the heart of the conversation. You can attend as many ceremonies or retreats as you like, but if you go home and nothing in your daily life changes, the experience alone will not change you.
Oliver spoke about looking honestly at the people and environments around you. Do they lift your energy or drain it? What is the one thing you keep doing that holds you back?
He also spoke about the difficult conversations many of us postpone indefinitely, particularly within families. The elephant in the room that everyone quietly avoids until, as he put it, something explodes over Christmas dinner. A hug, an apology, a simple "I love you" that was never said. These things, once spoken, can free an enormous amount of energy in your life.
Listening to your inner calling
Oliver's closing message was simple. Spend more time in nature, more time with yourself, and find out what your own heart is trying to teach you.
I do not think you need Ayahuasca to ask yourself the questions this conversation raises. How well do you actually know your own motivations? Are you living according to your values, or somebody else's? And when you recognise that something needs to change, how ready are you, really, to change it?