"It is difficult to describe the mind expanding experience drinking ayahuasca in the Amazonian jungle has on you. There is the obvious effect of drinking ayahuasca, the hallucinogenic tea. I believe ayahuasca is innately healing, spiritually, psychologically and biochemically. You will likely encounter parts of yourself that you have never before experienced, both good and bad. It will take a hold of your mind and body and work it over but good....Ayahuasca is a medicine far beyond what we commonly think of as a drug. I cannot articulate that difference other than to say that whereas a drug, often pleasant, leads you to distraction, away from your life and its concerns, ayahuasca does the exact opposite. It will take you, headlong, directly into the center of your life and show it to you in its immediacy, its horror and its sacredness.

But apart from the effect of the ayahuasca itself, the set and setting of the drinking has a profound effect. The third world, the mud packed shacks, the old Amazonian shaman's with weather cracked faces. They contain the depth of life in their eyes. They hold your gaze and you see the void looking back at you, yourself looking back, your own fear of what you will find. All while slapping mosquitoes and wishing you had remembered to fill your water bottle. Welcome to shaman Michael Sonn's Amazonian Medicinal's trip, an experience which will push on the limits of your world.

Although drinking ayahuasca is at the heart of Michael's trip, it is not necessarily the largest part of what this adventure consists of. With Michael you encounter many things that challenge you. If you do not ask yourself "why in the world have I come here?" at least once then perhaps you have not fully engaged the profound effect that ayahuasca, Peru and Michael will have on you. I envy those of you who are going for the first time. If anyone can take you through--Michael can. He is an incredibly kind, sensitive soul who has devoted his life to shamanism, ayahuasca and the Shipibo people. He is willing to press the limits of experience. He is excellent for those who are experienced with ayahuasca and it effects.

One other plug for Michael. I have been on a couple of "ayahuasca tourism" trips. I think that if you are thinking of spending your money in a responsible way you could not do better than with Michael. It is obvious that he cares about the Shipibo people with whom he works. He pours much of the money he earns back into the local economy. Honestly I don't know if he is making much of a living for himself. I watched him buy so many of their local products that I know he spent much of what I paid him--buying textiles and handicrafts from the native people. I have paid other gringo ayahuascero's for their expertise in dispensing ayahuasca--and it has gone into expanding their personal bank account. It is gratifying to work with Michael who is deeply committed to improving the lives of the native peoples he works with. It is responsible tourism. Good luck to you all. wayne "

Wayne Ayers Ph.D.

Clinical Psychologist

Dept. of Veterans Affairs

NYHHS, Brooklyn Campus

"I had a great experience with Tobacco Runa this summer in Peru. Let me tell you all that this guy really knows ayahuaca shamanism. My time with him was both educational and fun, and would recommend this trip to anyone who would like to go to Peru and have a good experience. He knows the culture, the language and lots of people and will surely put together a great experience for anyone who goes. My experience was actually being in a ceremony that he was running in Pullcapa. (The shipibo there do ceremonies with him). This was a great learning experience. I got a major deepening of my practice with the medicine. Learned icaros and their use, was given a dieta that was and still is extremely helpful today (basil). Made friends with toe. At this point, the journey continues... I am losing wieght (needed to) and my digestion has cleared up. Personal issues in my marriage and career have also cleared up. So anyway, dude, thanks lots. To everyone else, go on the trip."

-I am

"I recently was introduced to the medicine Ayahuasca through Michael Sonn in Peru. We were heartily welcomed in a traditional Shipibo village and shared ceremony with medicine men and women (curandero/as). If you've found this website, and are interested in journeying with the medicine I give my highest recommendations to sit with Michael or people in his network. This plant medicine is called 'vine of the dead' but I also call it medicine of the stars. If the medicine calls, Michael is the real deal folks. He is truly an angel, is a great facillitator and is deeply dedicated to helping heal people with this medicine. He is also really helping tribes down there.. also helping to renew general interest in traditional medicine which is being weakened because of western influence. The subtle effects of the ceremonies are astounding, and the journeys not for the easily frightened. This soul work is deep. Much love and light!!!"

-Kaija

"First time I drank medicine with Michael I was truly astounded. I had journeyed with a number of different curanderos all across Peru, for a total of over thirty sessions, and Michael's ceremony was something unexpected. Here we have this unassuming gringo, kind eyes and knowing smile, and in the night he steps into a role entirely beyond the ordinary: he fills the archetypical shoes of the most powerful and ancient of indigenous ayahuasqueros. His presence is very down to earth and human, not the holier-than-thou type that some gringo ayahuasqueros embody. More importantly than being a real deal ayahuasquero, he is simply real. Michael is not about chicks, prestige and money. He likes his occasional pizza, and watching movies like the rest of us, and does not hide his humanity behind a mask of pretense. Through this depth of sincerity shines his unfaltering respect for the traditions in which he was trained. This aspect of Michael radiates in all that he does, it is the foundation upon which his daily life is built and inspires a deep respect for him and how he carries himself through this world.

I have experienced tremendous healing working with Michael and have witnessed profound healing in others. I was helped through some heavy emotional waters and experienced tremendous healing of the heart. His healing work has been inexpressibly valuable in helping me cope with loss in my life: both with the separation from a long-term lover and partner, and the death of a brother due to an opiate addiction. Through this work – through his presence, guidance, and friendship – I have been able to come to a better place with these recent changes in my life. This heart healing is only supplemented by countless visions, which provided practical gems of wisdom instructing how to live in righteous accordance to my conscience. In just one night sitting with Michael, a friend of mine who had respiratory problems for many months was healed. He had gone to specialists, was diagnosed with pleurisy, then told he didn't have pleurisy, and had even received x-rays to check for cancer. He experienced a dramatic shift in his physical being and was out running the very next day. In his words directly, it was a “medical miracle” how quickly he had healed from this plaguing affliction that a team of doctors proved powerless against.

Michael has a diverse knowledge of many plants and their appropriate prescriptions. He works with dozens of other plant medicines from both Amazon and North America: from chuchuhuasi to sweet basil. Ayahuasca will heal certain ailments better when in conjunction with other plants. Knowledge of other plants, and how to safely and effectively administer them is an integral part of this healing tradition. Michael's alliance with other plant medicines empowers him as a far more potent healer than one who has no relationship with other medicines. Tobacco is a central figure in the Ayahusaca tradition, and it is important for the curandero to have this plant specifically as an ally to be best equipped to heal. Michael's ability to perform a “sucking healing” (a chupa) is unlike anything I've seen any other curandero accomplish. In the number of respected curanderos I drank with – Peruvian, Colombian, Ecuadorian and American – not one other ayahuasquero performed one.

Sadly, there are a number of people exploiting this medicine for their personal power: most commonly through greed, of money or spiritual power. Brujeria (black magic) is all too common among the ayahuaqueros of the world: Shipibo, mestizo, and gringo alike. Coming from someone who has traveled alone through Peru for months, I'd like to share this truth with anyone considering working with this medicine. There are spiritually ill people taking advantage of Ayahuasca-seeking tourists under the guise of a medicine ceremony: sexual abuse of intoxicated women; theft of belongings while in ceremony; and most common, the untrained and uninitiated brewing and pouring ceremony without attention to healing or psychic containment, just making a buck off the demand for these ceremonies. I am not trying to scare people away from journeying to Peru and experiencing all the powerful and sincere healers that are working there, I am simply giving a heartfelt warning to be aware of the reality of certain aspects of the world into which you are entering. There is no need to be fearful for these occurrences are not common, but they do happen and one ought to at least be aware of their existence. Use caution and discernment when deciding whom to work with. Michael is good man and whomever he recommends is trustworthy (it takes one to know one). Michael has a serious dedication to this path, and the highest integrity that one can find. Don't take my word for it, or anyone else's. Trust yourself, do some research, talk to people, and trust your feelings.

I highly recommend working with Michael and his teachers. He is a strong link in the lineage of wisdom coming down for thousands of years. I have the deepest love and respect for Michael and his work. There is much praise I could write, attempting to express the integrity and sincerity he walks with, but all I can say is to meet him, talk with him, and work with him. I have worked with many curanderos, and can honestly say he is the most honest, sincere, and powerful guide that could be asked for. But, like I said, don't take my word for it; if you are considering a guided tour to Peru, it would be invaluable to at least drop him an e-mail and feel it out for yourself.

Safe journeys. Blessings and profound healing to you all, I pray your work on this path is fruitful and touches you as deeply as I have been touched. May the spirit of this medicine live within you and guide you through the shadows to live in the light of the vine."

-S.G.