Best Ayahuasca Documentaries that portray healing
By Vinay · Published April 1, 2019 · Updated November 30, 2019
Too many ayahuasca documentaries don't really get the 'healing' message across in a way that is effective. In this post I want to show you the best documentaries I've found that help to convey the healing potential of Ayahuasca.
The experience of ayahuasca is a difficult thing to communicate but, these documentaries and podcasts are the best at doing just that in my opinion. This is because they effectively communicate the ability to help/change that Ayahuasca can do for you.
I first took Ayahuasca back in late 2018 and it changed my life perspective massively (for the better). I was at a point where I needed some help to move past a few things and Ayahuasca did just that and more. In my preparations for Ayahuasca I listened to several podcasts which gave me the interest to try it but in attempting to prepare myself for Ayahuasca I struggled to find documentaries that were anything but night vision shots of people throwing up in ceremony. That's accurate but what I was interested in was something that showed me it's potential for healing. The podcasts and documentaries within this post are the ones which helped me to understand what Ayahuasca can do for you - how it can heal you.
If you are wanting to learn about what Ayahuasca is like or perhaps you are trying to understand it in case you'd like to participate in a ceremony then I think there are better resources for you to use than documentaries but they are convenient and so here are the only three Ayahausca documentaries that I think do it any justice.
Note: Before we get into them I want to say that I'm assuming that some of you are seriously considering trying Ayahuasca and in this way may appreciate a practical guide on how to prepare yourself for Ayahuasca. With that in mind, I think you will find these posts a lot more useful than even these documentaries or more accurately they will be useful in parallel with these documentaries and your other research.
- Preparing for Ayahuasca - a full and detailed description of the various periods you can go through in order to create a schedule for yourself leading up to your ceremony.
- Can't find an affordable and legitimate Ayahuasca retreat? Check out Santuario Ayahuasca Retreat where I had 8 ceremonies. It's near Pucallpa, Peru and has powerful and legitimate healing potential.
- Need info on the dieta? Check out these two resources. The first is Ayahuasca style recipes and the other is a simple guide to the diet in terms of understanding what you can and can't eat.
Happy viewing:)
Podcast which helped get me interested in Ayahuasca:
Joe Rogan Experience #809:
Aubrey Marcus also talks a lot of psychedelics and related topics on his own podcast called simply, Aubrey Marcus.
Documentaries which portrayed the healing power of Ayahuasca:
1. Kentucky Ayahuasca:
This is a documentary series made by Vice and can be seen in a few different ways, which I'll describe below. While the setting is quite different than traditional ceremonies held in Peru (from my experiences) the way they describe the stories of the people in ceremony conveys the specific ways in which Ayahuasca can heal. I've seen mainly psychological issues being tackled in the show so far, but be aware that physical and spiritual healings are also possible on Ayahuasca.
I think this is lacking in many Ayahuasca Documentaries. I feel like this is perhaps a very difficult thing to convey. The actual experiences themselves are difficult to describe even for those who experience them. I'll add some links to my trip reports below so you can see someone attempt at describing the experience, but for now, let's get into how you can watch Kentucky Ayahuasca.
Where can you find Kentucky Ayahuasca Documentaries?
- It's a Vice series so, you could pay for a subscription in order to watch all of the episodes and use this link to access, but they will give you a free trial before you need to pay anything.
- There are some free videos here which are excerpts from episodes.
- YouTube also has a load of videos here.
- There is also a 44 minute documentary below on YouTube which is a good introduction.
2. The Last Shaman:
I really liked this documentary. When reading around the internet, some people say it is a bit dramatic, but after a little while, I noticed that it is very good at describing the kinds of healing possible.
The documentary follows a deeply depressed young American man who has attempted suicide at various times in his life. He goes to Peru to find a Shaman. Eventually, after seeing a few different ones he finds a Shibipo Shaman who is perfect for him.
Under the guidance of this shaman, he goes into isolation for several months and emerges with new insights and a feeling of 'ease' that is without the pressure he was experiencing in his American life. He traced that his depression came from him being 'different' as a youth and trying to force himself into a 'box' that was made for him by his father, school and larger society in general.
He returns to America and works with plants (not in a medicinal way but more as a farmer) and slowly tries to piece together his life. Integration as it is known in the Ayahuasca community.
In general, I thought it was an accurate way for those who haven't done Ayahuasca to understand the source of some people's psychological pain, how Ayahuasca can help and the simple but slow piecing together of the insights gained from Mother Ayahuasca as you slowly integrate them into your life in the months that follow.
The trailer is below and a link to the Netflix version. I couldn't find the full documentary on YouTube.
Netflix version of the Last Shaman
3. Ayahuasca Documentary (Aubrey Marcus):
The first minute and half of this documentary actually remind me of the visions I had on Ayahuasca in Peru. The sound of the jungle and the slow, revealing intricacy of the animation. A great start.
The documentary is a series of great various footage from ceremonies in Peru and over the top is not a narration but, stories and descriptions of peoples psychological issues and experiences interacting with Ayahuasca as told by them.
It's a really simple way to communicate the world of Ayahuasca and I think it works well. It doesn't really have a beginning middle and end but, as it progresses you get the idea of the kinds of healing possible. You can check it out below.
Always Be Reiki’ing community
A moderated space for psychedelic preparation and integration
Preparing for an ayahuasca, psilocybin or other psychedelic ceremony—or still working through what surfaced afterward?
The Always Be Reiki’ing Facebook community is a space for personal reflection, preparation and continued integration. The conversations draw on Reiki, energy-healing perspectives and structured journaling alongside grounded integration principles.
It is for people building intentions before a ceremony, trying to understand a powerful experience afterward, or sitting with something that still feels unresolved.
The group does not allow dosing, sourcing or “where can I get this?” discussions.
This community is one offering within the broader Always Be Reiki’ing approach; Reiki, Four Planes reflection and support for people exploring emotional, physical, psychological and spiritual patterns remain at the heart of the work.
What makes this community different
What makes this community different is its emphasis on continued practice. The focus is not only on discussing what happened during an experience. It is also on exploring what the experience may be asking you to notice, practise or change afterward.
In my own experience, Reiki became one of the most useful tools in my integration process.
- Personal experience and reflection
- Psychedelic preparation and continued integration
- Reiki and energy-healing perspectives
- Structured journaling and intention setting
- Making sense of difficult or meaningful experiences
- Translating insight into everyday life
- Active moderation with clear safety and conduct boundaries
