After a decade and a half of searching for an authentic ayahuasca experience and waiting for the energy of the medicine to show me where to go, I was led to Hummingbird Heart Sacred Medicine Church. Upon completing my first ceremony with Teri and Dea, I report that I am highly pleased by my findings and with the outcome.

As you might imagine, with so much time to consider how things could go, one can contrive a million expectations and develop some rather elaborate vision of what may happen – largely based upon the “best” parts others are willing to share, and honestly to some degree a highlight reel of “All that ayahuasca Can Be”, BUT! …You Want To And Will Have a Unique Experience To You… so be prepared for that and that alone or Mama Medicina may overlook you altogether. She Can do just that. She is not inclined to give you what you want but what you need.

“Ask What It Is You Need, and Surrender to what comes up.”

After having the experience, I will say that what is meant to be seen and experienced will be, but this church does not subscribe to the model that you need induced visions and a visual “trip” from the ceremony, which was a surprise for me. I thought Aya had to be entirely visual or it wasn’t happening properly, but after having experienced this approach to the medicine, I can say I see more deeply into myself and spiritual energy altogether better than I previously considered possible – knowing by feel and seeing with eyes closed and in a field totally void of form.. True Jaguar Medicine!

Mama Jag’s choice of brew recipe is gentle and not necessarily formulated for a visually-heavy experience, yet the medicine can reach any potential needed and be as powerful as it needs to be. I had intense visions, but I was not lost in one the entire time – I only saw what I needed to see, and then I was onto the next item needing addressed in my personal work, or holding additional space for the work being done in the room by my own personal choice to hold said space for others.

Mama Jag and her daughter Dea Falcon – Literally Blew My Freaking Mind!

When we opened up into ceremony, they lit up in song together and I immediately knew I had made a solid choice in allowing them to facilitate my experience with the medicine.

Having reviewed a ton of facilitators and retreat centers ahead of time, what I could gather online about Hummingbird’s approach to the experience was honestly a concern of mine before going, but after having this experience I’m glad it happened in a very real and down-to-earth way without a bunch of unnecessary show and superficial ooh and aah, while also respecting Every tradition needing maintained Exactly the way it has been done for all of time.

Online, I saw photos with M&M’s and cartoon stuffed animals in their church photos and doubted the legitimacy of the experience and energy at first, but now I see that these lovely souls have taken up the path as handed down by oral tradition wisdom keepers and massaged that somewhat religious approach into one any walk of life can appreciate. I feel it actually makes you a better person to have an experience like this with someone who isn’t trying to pretend they are more, better, or greater than you – even if they are powerful beyond words.

There was never a moment I felt unsupported or unsafe at Hummingbird.. Only feeling vulnerable being seen by the ever-watchful and present eyes of Great Spirit, where I thought I had been living in my own little bubble before, somehow. 😉

I can state with certainty that Anything that comes up is safe with Teri and Dea. The church and ceremony space were a respectful container for me to discuss hard topics without judgement or fear of being shamed, which allowed me to let go of things I knew I needed to.

Before my sit, I had expectations of what I had seen others recreate in animations and discuss in their post-ceremony write-up’s, only to find that the desire to have an overwhelmed visual field or this or that is a possibility within the medicine but it is not any pre-requisite to healing spiritual work. Mother Ayahuasca presented me with what I needed to see as well as some of what I asked to see, but other than that, I was not tripping in a dancing color field enjoying a potential distraction or lost in space.

I showed up to do inner work and it was facilitated in a way that was soft but also encouraging the experience to the edges of your comfort zone. You will be stretched by spirit into greater potentials, but the facilitators are very mindful of guiding that energy gracefully by meeting you where you are.

For my first ceremony, I am grateful for the amount of things I was able to see about myself that needed work before visions were to pile up on top of clearing needing done. I am not sure all churches and facilitators are created equal in that regard and I hold to my revelation now that having visions alone can be pollution to “the work” when we really should go to the medicine to do the inner work first and foremost.

Understand that your healing and growth is on your hands to do. Ceremony requires deep work Before – During – and After your sit, but as long as you remain committed to the process, you can see change come into your life by the proportion of how much you are willing to shift once being shown better.

This is not simply showing up for a “one-and-done fix provided for you”, but on the contrary, you must go with openness to visit the pieces that come up and not just the one’s you want to see and think are important. You must be willing to let go of past beliefs and ways, so you can have the transformative experience Hummingbird provides.

The heart of Hummingbird is in the right place. It Is There if you need reminding.

Aho ~