2007年12月02日
What is Ayahuasca? Part 1/5
Part 1 - The Chemistry
Ayahuasca is, typically, a brew made from a concoction of two plants from the Amazon jungle. The first is Chacruna (Psychotria Viridis), the second is the Ayahuasca vine (Banisteriopsis Caapi).
The chemistry works as follows -
* The Chacruna contains DMT (Dimethyltryptamine), which is an extremely powerful psychedelic chemical, which also happens to be secreted from our pineal gland.
However, when ingested orally, the DMT is broken down in the stomach by enzymes called Monoamine Oxidase enzymes. They destroy the DMT in the stomach before it can enter your blood stream and induce hallucinations
* The Ayahuasca vine contains something called a MAOI (Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitor) that deactivates the enzymes in the stomach that destroy DMT. However, the ayahuasca vine alone contains no strong psychedelic chemicals.
What this means is that individually, either plant taken alone will have no effect. But when combined, they produce a powerful psychotropic brew.
However, simply chewing on the plant material will not produce effects. The plants have to be brewed together for 10 hours under carefully monitored conditions in order to produce a small quantity of an active brew.
The mysterious question arises of how the people of the Amazon made this discovery. Out of 175,000 different species of plants, randomly selecting two from them that when combined and brewed for 10 hours are able to produce these incredible effects is something extremely unlikely to happen by chance. When asked how their ancestors made this incredible discovery, the shamans always say the same thing - "The plants told them"...
Ayahuasca is, typically, a brew made from a concoction of two plants from the Amazon jungle. The first is Chacruna (Psychotria Viridis), the second is the Ayahuasca vine (Banisteriopsis Caapi).
The chemistry works as follows -
* The Chacruna contains DMT (Dimethyltryptamine), which is an extremely powerful psychedelic chemical, which also happens to be secreted from our pineal gland.
However, when ingested orally, the DMT is broken down in the stomach by enzymes called Monoamine Oxidase enzymes. They destroy the DMT in the stomach before it can enter your blood stream and induce hallucinations
* The Ayahuasca vine contains something called a MAOI (Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitor) that deactivates the enzymes in the stomach that destroy DMT. However, the ayahuasca vine alone contains no strong psychedelic chemicals.
What this means is that individually, either plant taken alone will have no effect. But when combined, they produce a powerful psychotropic brew.
However, simply chewing on the plant material will not produce effects. The plants have to be brewed together for 10 hours under carefully monitored conditions in order to produce a small quantity of an active brew.
The mysterious question arises of how the people of the Amazon made this discovery. Out of 175,000 different species of plants, randomly selecting two from them that when combined and brewed for 10 hours are able to produce these incredible effects is something extremely unlikely to happen by chance. When asked how their ancestors made this incredible discovery, the shamans always say the same thing - "The plants told them"...
Posted by グラハム・ハンコック at 18:40
│Ayahuasca
