Have you ever heard about the surgeries Mother Ayahuasca performs in ceremony?
They don’t happen every night. But when they do, you never forget them.
Not the kind of surgery you’re picturing — no blood, no scalpel, no anesthesia. This is something else entirely: a full, conscious experience of being worked on, repaired, and sometimes given a full explanation, in real time, of what your surgeons are doing and why.
As we go deeper into an Ayahuasca or spiritual journey, we come into contact with things we weren’t fully aware of — old blockages, forgotten wounds, patterns rooted so deep we’d stopped noticing them. At some point, they surface. Not to overwhelm us, but because they’re ready to be released, and because releasing them is often the next step the journey is asking of us.
Three Kinds of Surgery
In my own ceremonies, I’ve experienced three different kinds of spiritual surgery.
On the energetic level. These surgeries take place at the points known as chakras, and within the wider energy field. You feel them exactly where the chakra sits, and the sensation matches what’s described in the teachings about that chakra — its function, its color, its particular kind of power.
I carry my own history of early trauma, and one of the most meaningful parts of my healing happened at this level — a slow, layered process of facing what happened, moving through it, and eventually setting it down. Recognition, forgiveness, acceptance, release — each stage in a real ceremony has its own texture, and each one asks something different of you. What stays with me isn’t the discomfort of the early stages, but what it feels like on the other side: lighter, no longer at war with your own past.
On the physical level. I’ve experienced real, tangible relief from long-standing physical pain — knees, joints, nerves. I carry a family history of osteoporosis and rheumatism, so this mattered to me personally. I’ve also heard remarkable testimonies from people I’ve held space for: pain disappearing overnight, and in some cases, real improvement in chronic conditions. None of this happens in a single session. Amazonian shamanic medicine treats healing as a process, not an event — the same way a problem takes time to form, its resolution takes time too. What matters most is the honesty of your intention going in.
On the mental level. This one is harder to describe. I’ve caught my “surgeons” mid-distraction, keeping my attention elsewhere while they worked. Other times I’ve found myself suddenly present in what can only be called an operating room — bright as daylight, with figures moving around me, speaking to each other about what they were doing. There’s often a sensation like a scanner passing through your head, sometimes with a sound to match, locating exactly what needs attention. This is where I came to understand what people mean by “keeping a high vibration” — and why it takes real effort. When you hold that state, you’re not just healing yourself. You’re affecting everyone around you too.
On the emotional level. These are the surgeries I’ve come to know in my darkest heartbreaks — the kind of hurt that goes beyond sadness, that leaves you incapacitated, that sits in the chest like physical pain and can tip into real depression. In those states, I’ve felt the spirits arrive and lift the weight directly, and the relief was immediate. What followed was crying, but not the kind that circles endlessly without release — a different crying, one that felt like healing itself, like being comforted from the inside. It came wrapped in love, and with it, a teaching: forgiveness, compassion, gratitude, and self-love, offered not as ideas but as something you’re guided through and left holding.
Who Are the Surgeons?
They are the spirits Ayahuasca opens the door to — and in most cases, they are the spirits of the plants themselves.
The Amazon holds an extraordinary diversity of plants, and for more than 5,000 years, shamans have worked with Ayahuasca to learn their language. Through her, they come to understand each plant on every level — energetic, physical, mental — which is what allows for healing that’s genuinely personalized to each person who sits in ceremony.
This is the heart of a dieta: an extended, disciplined relationship with a single master plant. It isn’t only about healing — it’s an exchange of knowledge. The spirit of the plant you’re dieting with introduces itself, often showing you its roots, bark, leaves, and flowers, and what each part is for. This is how shamans build their understanding, generation after generation, and how that knowledge gets passed on.
There’s also a second way to meet a plant’s spirit: by cooking it into the medicine itself. Most of the plant spirits I’ve encountered take a human-like form, in earth tones of green and brown, dressed in colors that carry their own meaning — flowers appearing as children, roots as elders. The possible combinations are close to infinite, each one suited to a different kind of healing. Bobinsana, for example, is known for opening the heart. Other blends support people working through resistance to the medicine itself.
A dieta works on all three levels at once — physical, mental, energetic — like a detox that moves through your whole being in partnership with the plants.
Beyond the Familiar
Not every surgeon fits a human shape. There are also extraterrestrial-looking spirits performing surgeries in ceremony — I’ve been the protagonist of some of these myself, including experiences where it felt like my brain had been literally replaced with a new one. I’ve also encountered what felt like advanced, otherworldly technology: lying inside something like a capsule, with sound and color scanning through my entire body, sometimes accompanied by a light that felt distinctly gentle.
This is the world Ayahuasca opens: layered, precise, and deeply personal. If this resonates with you, I invite you to watch the video talk on the Spirit of the Plants, or to reach out about joining us for a dieta.
Love and gratitude
Naysha Silva
Taita Inti Retreats 