Joe Tafur: The Potential Role of Epigenetics in Ayahuasca Shamanism

The Potential Role of Epigenetics in Ayahuasca Shamanism Drawing from my firsthand experience at Nihue Rao Centro Espiritual, a traditional healing center near Iquitos, in the Peruvian Amazon, I review a few case studies in which clients showed marked improvement in symptoms related to PTSD, depression, migraine headaches, and Crohn's disease after treatment with traditional Amazonian plant medicine and ayahuasca shamanism. Linking physiology common to these cases and drawing upon modern medical research, the presentation argues that emotional trauma often underlies each of these conditions and is associated with maladaptive epigenetic imprinting and related dysfunction. At the same time, I suggest that deep emotional healing is associated with subsequent improvements in epigenetic function. In summary, by attempting to bridge empirical experience in shamanism and western medical research, the presentation attempts to demonstrate that the potential benefit of ayahuasca shamanism and other psychedelic assisted therapies may be in part due to their ability to induce relevant changes in epigenetic imprints associated with emotional trauma stored in the psychoneuroendocrine immunologic network.