Lessons from 15 Years Running the Ayahuasca Foundation || Carlos Tanner
Artem SmirnovFull Interview with Carlos Tanner at the bottom of the page
Carlos Tanner’s journey from drug addiction to founding the Ayahuasca Foundation is a testament to the transformative power of plant medicine. After struggling with depression and substance abuse in his youth, a near-death experience in 2003 led him to the Amazon rainforest, where his first ayahuasca ceremony, though challenging, set him on a new path. With no prior preparation and still actively using drugs, that initial ceremony was intense – involving multiple purges and emotional breakdowns. However, it taught him a crucial lesson about how fear shapes our experiences, leading to a breakthrough in his second ceremony when he approached it without fear.
Watch: Why I Quit Marijuana After Ayahuasca Showed Me The Truth
“Ayahuasca and all healing really, but especially ayahuasca, is love medicine. It’s medicine that allows us to release the things that prevent us from loving ourselves and from radiating love out into the world around us.”
-Carlos
Read: The Spirit of Healing – Lessons from 15 Years Running the Ayahuasca Foundation
The Ayahuasca Foundation, established in 2009, emerged from Tanner’s desire to make these healing experiences more accessible to others. Located near Iquitos, Peru, the center operates in a national reserve, providing a comfortable yet authentic setting for transformation. Working closely with a respected Shipibo family of healers, whose traditions span thousands of years, Tanner bridges the gap between Western and indigenous approaches to healing. Their collaboration exemplifies what he calls the “eagle and condor prophecy” – the harmonious meeting of modern and traditional wisdom.
The healing itself is something divinely programmed into all living beings. Unfortunately, obstacles do get in the way… What we can do to facilitate that healing is the removal or cleansing of those obstacles.
-Carlos
Recent research at the foundation, conducted with Onaya Science, has shown remarkable results, particularly in treating PTSD in veterans. A study of 28 veterans showed 100% resolution of PTSD symptoms at 3-6 month follow-ups, leading to expanded research including gut biome analysis, genetic studies, and brain wave monitoring.
The center has gained wider recognition through various documentaries, including features on Netflix’s “Down to Earth with Zac Efron” and the upcoming series “The Edit.” Prior to that, the documentaries that were filmed at the center were “The Ayahuasca Diaries” and “La Pequeña Muerte”
Tanner speaks of ayahuasca as “love medicine” that helps remove obstacles preventing natural healing – whether they’re emotional traumas, fears, or cultural conditioning. His perspective is deeply informed by both his personal healing journey and years of witnessing transformations in others. Through the foundation’s work, he advocates for normalizing psychedelic healing by removing stigma and reconnecting with ancestral wisdom, viewing consciousness expansion as a fundamental human right and healing tool.
Can you talk about the studies you’re currently facilitating at your facility in Peru?
Carlos: We’ve now had five groups come down through The Heroic Hearts Project, and the first three provided 28 veterans in total that received treatment for PTSD… after the treatment of those 28 veterans, we do three month and six month follow ups, none of them have PTSD anymore. And so 100 percent of the veterans that came down in the pilot study… were cured.
What have you learned from the Shipibo tribe that goes beyond the medicine?
Carlos: They believe that the non material elements are actually the core. Your spirit is the core of who you are, and the physical elements are the by product of the non material… We might say, ‘I have a spirit’ and they might say, ‘you are a spirit, you have a body.'”
What happened over time with your addiction as you continue your journey with ayahuasca?
Carlos: When I got into the ayahuasca ceremonies… I was able to see the root causes of why I felt bad… And when I resolved those, then I didn’t need a drug to feel better. Now I felt better as a result of removing things that had prevented me from feeling how I should, which was to love myself.
Watch the full interview with Carlos Tanner!
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction to Carlos Tanner and the Ayahuasca Foundation
01:14 Carlos’ Early Life and Introduction to Psychedelics
03:52 First Ayahuasca Experience and Overcoming Addiction
12:01 Insights on End of Life Care
16:00 Founding the Ayahuasca Foundation
19:17 Sharing Ayahuasca with Family
25:24 Cultural Insights from the Shipibo Tribe
31:54 Research and Documentaries at the Ayahuasca Foundation
38:38 The Importance of Normalizing Psychedelics
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Normalize Psychedelics is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) working to transform public perception of psychedelic medicine through real stories of healing. Our mission is to collect 1,000 powerful testimonials from individuals whose lives have been transformed by psychedelic experiences. By sharing these authentic voices, we aim to reduce stigma, advance the conversation around mental health, and expand our understanding of wellness.
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