The room for the night’s ceremony had been meticulously set up: 20 single mattresses lined up neatly along three walls. Along the fourth, facing the U-shaped bedding arrangement, sat a divan bearing an array of exquisitely coloured, carved and plumed musical instruments. Placed atop each mattress was a meditation chair and blanket, and by its side a bottle of mineral water, a roll of toilet paper, a hand towel and a small plastic bucket. “That beautiful bucket is your best friend,” the Spanish-accented man in the brightly coloured shirt intoned cheerfully. “Keep it close.”
I had signed up for a triad of ayahuasca ceremonies, to be guided by a Peruvian shaman, or medicine man. The shaman had been trained in the preparation and administration of traditional Amazonian plant medicine by his grandparents, themselves lifelong shamans who had descended from a long line of nature-based healers.
I picked an unclaimed mattress and awaited the next step with some trepidation. I’d never done anything like this before and was unsure of what to expect. It didn’t help that the few others in the group who’d done ayahuasca before looked nervous too. I was to learn that no matter how many times you do it, every experience is totally unpredictable.
A highly concentrated tea brewed from a combination of the ayahuasca vine and leaves of the chacruna, both native to the Amazon jungle, ayahuasca is often called a drug by people who know little about it. In South America, it is referred to as medicina, or sacramento. Although it contains DMT (present in the chacruna leaves), the trip is unlike any other psychedelic experience. This is not the kind of thing you take to get your rocks off. Because it can get pretty intense.
This story is from the September 2019 edition of GQ India.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the September 2019 edition of GQ India.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Finally, Women Are Breaking Up One of Luxury's Stuffiest Boys' Clubs
Dimepiece founder Brynn Wallner hosts a round table of leaders in the watch world to unpack the ascendant power of the female collector.
Can The Saudis Buy Soccerr?
Saudi Arabia is spending an unfathomable fortune to lure the biggest stars of global football (Ronaldo! Benzema! Neymar!) to its upstart league. So GQ ventured to the kingdom to discover what the gambit represents. Is this the future of the world's most popular sport? The vanguard of sportswashing? Or something way bigger?
CRACKING THE PERO CODE
Delhi-based label Péro is available in over 350 stores across the world. Shweta Shiware meets the reclusive founder and creative mastermind Aneeth Arora, arguably the Indian fashion industry's best storyteller.
Captain Mbappé
We met him as a teenage prodigy. Now, with his PSG teammates Messi and Neymar gone, and a new job as French national team captain, Kylian Mbappé is reckoning with the responsibilities and privileges that come with being the man.
The Full Ricky
Twenty-five years after becoming one of the most staggeringly famous men on the planet, a wiser, more assured Ricky Martin is taking another run at being a star. While also being himself, this time.
THE BOND
What does it mean to be a parent in this day and age? In GQ's annual series dedicated to fatherhood, we take a peek at the intimate relationships that some of the coolest dads share with their kids.
THE RATIONAL ACTOR
With a stream of critical and commercial successes under his belt, Vicky Kaushal is buoyant about what lies ahead in terms of work. Yet it is in his personal life that he has experienced the most transformation.
Standing TALL
Comedian and actor Vir Das speaks to GQ about winning an International Emmy for his Netflix special, codirecting his first movie, and the future of stand-up comedy in India.
Das Holistic
New York's desi rap star Heems's new album re-imagines the diasporic experience not as a site of endless ambivalence, but a place to be whole.
The Return of the Opulent '80s
The all-gold Piaget Polo, Hublot Classic Original, and Rolex GMT were kings during the '80s. Now they're coming back for their crown.