About five years or so ago now I took a trip into the Amazon rainforest for my first ayahuasca ceremony. In this episode I wanted to share my journey with plant medicines and how it played into me becoming a better, more grounded, happier leader and my views on what others should do if they are interested in taking the plant medicine path. I wasn’t the best version of myself when I was taking drugs, smoking, and drinking, but when I started my journey with self-development I committed to being the best version of myself. Now I do whatever it takes – I make investments for myself, to work with people I align with, to do the best for myself and my business. When I feel something I align with I don’t hesitate; I invest in it, book it, get on a plane, or go to the event that I feel called to attend. I don’t have much skepticism, I’m open to change and surrendering to what I’m called to do – taking fast action makes me a better leader in my business and lead me to experience plant medicine and ayahuasca ceremonies. Feeling Safe When I went on my first trip to Peru I went with the intention of killing the heaviness I was carrying within me. I’d previously taken ecstasy, cocaine, and party drugs so I needed to feel safe taking plant medicines; I was on the path of recovery and I wanted to clean myself up. I arrived at a location before the event and met with a dozen people. We were warned that on the previous trip they had been held at gunpoint along the river; I immediately wondered if I should turn around and head home, but I’d already traveled a long way and I wanted to see the trip through. There was a lot of anticipation for what lay ahead. During the evenings, the shaman lead the ceremony – everyone sat in a circle and each person was called to kneel and take the thick tea-like drink – it tasted horrible. Raising Consciousness We would experience each other releasing toxicity; the ceremony highlights parts of your life you want to ignore – the things you’ve done and things you’ve pushed away – helping you to see the changes you need to make. I saw a lot of things and I purged a lot. The subconscious becomes conscious so you can choose to transform and make changes to your life. You can expect to notice differences in yourself straight away when you’re on the journey of transformation and you go through intense, transformational experiences with coaching, attending events, or taking medicines. Often, it isn’t until you get back into your normal life when changes about yourself hit you. Losing My Addictions When you’ve evolved because you’ve spiritually woken up, parts of you fall away. When I came back from Peru, I noticed I was able to go out and drink alcohol without the need to binge. I don’t drink at all anymore, but at the time I was someone who needed to party; my first ayahuasca ceremony helped me to remove 80% of my addictions. It raised my consciousness level and brought things to my awareness. I felt like a different person. Addictions cause you to show up in your business and around people in a very toxic way and actions that aren’t aligned with who you are, make you unhappy with the person you became in those moments. You beat yourself up for your mistakes. I didn’t want that life. I didn’t want to hurt people and I didn’t want a life where I was continuously knocking myself down – I was feeling bad, and that was having a negative impact on my business and the people around me. Be Honest With Yourself It’s not easy to admit you’re an erratic, toxic person, but when you’re able to face that you can start to get help. You get called to the path of personal development; you hire a coach, you begin to meditate and become open to discovering holistic, natural remedies that are already in the environment to help heal you. Feel your desire to change, take actions to move forward and find a person or organization you align with. You’re going to feel resistance,