Amazon Indigenous peoples can benefit from ‘ayahuasca tourism’ | Letters

Visitors staying at ‘healing retreats’ bring vital income to the diverse cultures of the region, writes Enrico Malatesta, while Emily Webster says there is no need to leave the UK to find shamanic healing. Plus, a letter by John Lowrie

Your article (‘Ayahuasca tourism’ is a blight on Indigenous peoples and our environment, 17 June) brings up important concerns but it looks at a complicated issue too narrowly. It is worth remembering that the word “ayahuasca” itself is not a modern invention, but a Quechua term meaning “vine of the soul”. It is just one of many names used for the ceremonial medicine across different Indigenous cultures – others include yagé, kamarampi, caapi, oasca and daime. Suggesting that only “hayakwaska” is “correct” erases the diversity of ancestral traditions across the Amazon basin.

The claim that ayahuasca is marketed as a “mystical shortcut” overlooks the reality: real work with this medicine is neither quick nor easy. True healing through ayahuasca involves deep inner effort, often accompanied by discomfort, surrender and courage – whether one is Indigenous or not.

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