Written by Jayne Robinson, Spiritual Coach & Advisor
Jayne Robinson is a skilled, intuitive spiritual advisor and coach. Director of JR Coaching, Founder of the Good Initiative, and soon-to-be-published author (2025, NYC Times Square)
I’d travelled deep into the Costa Rican jungle, expecting a week of business insights and personal growth on our Holistic Business Mastermind & Healing Retreat, which included an Ayahuasca Ceremony. Nothing prepared me for what happened. Picture this: I’m sitting, eyes blurred, vision almost gone, purging into a bucket, my whole world distorted, completely dependent on the facilitators and shamans around me. For someone like me, a lifelong "I’ve got this" type, this might sound like a nightmare. Instead, it turned out to be exactly what I needed.
Ayahuasca ceremonies are deeply rooted in intention. It's the very reason you embark on such a transformative experience. The plant medicine doesn’t guide you in the way you might expect, but through the ancient wisdom it carries, revealing exactly what you need. My intention was clear: I asked ayahuasca to show me what I’ve been resisting, the very blocks that have been preventing me from manifesting my most desired dreams.
In those raw, vulnerable moments, I confronted something I’d been avoiding my entire life: asking for help. Yet again, I was invited to let go of my need for control, that old friend and nemesis I’d held close for so long. In releasing it, I discovered a liberating truth real strength lies not in independence but in allowing others to support us.
Now, let me ask you: How often do you turn down help? I’m talking to you, the fiercely independent one, proud to carry it all alone. Yes, independence is powerful, but hyper-independence can be a wall built from old wounds, keeping love and support at bay. Without realising it, we cut ourselves off from life’s richest gifts.
During this retreat, I learned that 'purging' isn’t just physical. It’s a release of anything holding us back from our fullest selves.
For those who haven’t heard, here is some background on the ayahuasca plant and how it is used in a healing ceremony:
Ayahuasca is a powerful medicinal tea that has been made by shamans of the Amazon for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years. The tea is made from a leaf and a vine. It is cooked over a fire with water and boiled down for many hours. Then it is drunk by the shaman and all the participants of the ceremony.
Throughout the night, the shaman(s) guide the ceremony by the singing of traditional songs called “icaros.” Along with the icaros, the shamans shake chakapas (leaf rattles) and use mapacho (tobacco) smoke to anoint people and protect the space of the ritual.
The effects of ayahuasca are what we in the West might call “psychedelic.” Yet, the experience is also vastly different from “getting high” or “tripping out.” The senses are all enhanced, sharpened, or heightened. The subconscious is brought to the surface and is often projected into visionary symbols in front of your eyes.
The tea is also a purgative, so one of the features of an Ayahuasca ceremony is the cleaning of the deepest levels of psychological disease. As the repressed layers of the self are faced, purging occurs, aside from this very “psychoanalytic” explanation of the healing process. Ceremonies usually last about six hours. That being said, mine lasted until dawn! Ceremonies are often described as “many years of psychotherapy” in one evening. I can’t speak to psychotherapy, but what I can compare it to is the ten years I have dived into personal development, drastically raising my own self-awareness and healing parts I’d long abandoned, and I can confirm that it felt like two years wrapped up into one night. As such, it’s an incredibly disciplined and challenging ritual to take place in as ancient and revered by people in South America as any vision-quest tradition on the planet.
3 surprising lessons from Ayahuasca: Letting go, living with intention & asking for help
1. Intention and intentionality is everything
The ritualistic approach to ayahuasca begins long before the first sip; it’s a journey that roots itself in deliberate preparation, where every action feels purposeful. As the shamans, with their weathered hands and ancient chants, begin to prepare the ayahuasca brew, they do so with a reverence that permeates the space. They aren’t simply brewing a drink; they’re awakening a centuries-old spirit, a connection woven into the culture of the Dimay lineage. Their rhythmic movements and hushed murmurs carry the weight of tradition, merging the past and present in a way that grounds you even before the medicine touches your lips.
It’s striking how the energy changes when every element every leaf, every drop of water—is given its due time, each movement part of an ancient dance. This isn’t the quick, forgettable act of downing a drink; it’s an art of honouring, of allowing the ceremony to invite the spirit into both the brew and your own heart. With each small, intentional motion, the shamans create a sacred foundation that deepens the significance of what’s to come. The entire process feels like a reminder from nature itself: slow down, honour the journey, and set a clear intention.
Setting intentions in this context is more than just mental preparation; it’s the gateway to transformation as you state your intention to heal, to release, to understand the shaman's nod, grounding your words with their own quiet presence as if your intention becomes a shared trust. There’s an unspoken agreement between you, the shamans, and the spirit of ayahuasca: each intention brings you closer to that which you seek. Before you rush through the day, take a moment, honour yourself and your intention for the day, sit on it, let it percolate and permeate the spaces of your mind.
2. Integration over information
In our quest for growth, it’s not more knowledge we need but the integration of what we already know. We live in a world saturated with information, where countless ideas and teachings swirl around us, often absorbed but rarely embodied. Yet in the ceremonial space, where ayahuasca brings us face to face with ourselves, we’re reminded that true growth doesn’t come from amassing facts or theories. Instead, it lies in taking what’s already within us the insights, the lessons, the truths we’ve encountered and allowing them to root deeply in our lives.
Integration is the soul’s work. It asks us to go beyond simply understanding or remembering; it challenges us to live what we learn, to embody what resonates, to transform from the inside out. Unlike information, which can be neatly compartmentalised, integration is messy, sometimes slow, and deeply personal. It’s where our intentions meet reality, where we weave what we know into the very fabric of our being, bringing it to life in our actions, our choices, our relationships.
In the ayahuasca experience, this emphasis on integration rather than accumulation becomes a sacred act. It’s less about receiving answers and more about opening space for what’s already within to emerge and deepen. The insights that arise during the journey often feel familiar, as though they’ve been patiently waiting in the shadows, ready to be recognized and lived. Each revelation becomes an invitation to embody rather than to file away as “something else I know.” Integration allows us to carry the medicine’s wisdom back into the world, grounding it in our lives long after the ceremony has ended.
True transformation, then, isn’t measured by what we know but by the quiet, powerful ways we live what we’ve discovered.
3. Asking for help is strength
You know how sometimes you go looking for answers, convinced you know exactly what you need, only to be shown something completely different? That was me, stepping into this ayahuasca journey with a clear intention to understand why I’d been resisting love and how that showed up. But instead of the clarity I thought I wanted, I was handed a different, much-needed gift. As I stated earlier, my vision blurred, my usual sense of control slipping away, and suddenly, I couldn’t rely on myself to get through the experience. I had to reach out, to let myself be guided, cared for, even in my most vulnerable, messy state.
I found myself practically childlike, snotty-nosed, and sobbing as I let go of long-buried beliefs, painful memories, and parts of my identity that had been holding me back for years. I had no choice but to trust the facilitators and to let myself be supported. And in doing so, I realised something incredibly liberating: I didn’t have to carry it all alone.
This shift went deeper than I’d expected. I could finally see how much I’d been holding on to, how my obsession with control wasn’t keeping me safe; it was keeping me isolated. And as I let go, layer by layer, I felt a lightness, a kind of freedom I didn’t know was possible. That letting go didn’t just clear space for love; it transformed how I see everything, including my work, my relationships, and even myself.
That age-old saying applied: If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. I’d heard this a hundred times before and really didn’t care for it, if I’m honest. It was one of those, yeah, yeah, I know this logically, but I definitely did not embody it. It became my truth that night. Moving forward, I see how success and fulfillment aren’t about hustling harder or doing everything myself; they’re about allowing support. It’s about embracing collaboration, not just in business but in life. Asking for help isn’t weakness; it’s courage, the kind that leads to a deeper, more meaningful journey.
Here’s what I’ve come to believe: it’s okay to let go, to be held, to allow others to step in and walk beside us. Part of life’s many privileges is being seen for all of its entirety, not just the good parts. This journey, for me, is no longer about charging forward on my own. It’s about sharing the path, trusting that together, we’ll go so much further than I could ever go alone and truly allowing myself to be seen and supported in all of it.
What are you resisting on your journey? What are you ready to let go of today?
If you’ve been feeling stuck, you don’t have to stay there. My 90-minute deep dive session is designed to guide you into the depths of your most deeply rooted fears, blocks, and limiting belief systems, those hidden parts of yourself that have been shaping your world but may no longer serve you. Together, and we’ll uncover what’s holding you back, gain clarity on the areas of your life that need transformation, and create a powerful roadmap for your next level of growth, happiness, and success. Here’s how one client described this process: “I learned more about myself in these 90 minutes than I have my entire life working with my therapist. I know I’m ready to work with you.”
The best part is that you won’t have to do the heavy lifting; I’ll guide you every step of the way, helping you break free from what’s not working and move into a thriving, fulfilled version of yourself. Reach out today to start this transformative journey.
Read more from Jayne Robinson
Jayne Robinson, Spiritual Coach & Advisor
Jayne Robinson is an intuitive spiritual advisor and coach. As the Director of JR Coaching and an avid student of life, Jayne is much like the phoenix rising, leaning into her edge of personal development, emerging from her own transformations and spiritual quests time and time again. As such she is dedicated to helping clients do the same, to create a vibrant new chapter in their lives. Supporting successful entrepreneurs and individuals searching for more to move beyond boredom and burnout, guiding them through a spiritual voyage of uncertainty and fear to a transformative metaphorical death to rebirth. Her mission: embrace discomfort, uncover hidden possibilities, and transform your life.
