Guest Article by John Davis
We were very excited to have John Davis as a guest for our third retreat. John Davis is veteran advocate who served in the 101st airborne in Afghanistan. He is also a Harvard graduate, writer, world traveler and published author. John Davis has been recently focusing on Veteran issues and came to experience Tiwaz Awakening here in the Sacred Valley. We were very proud to have him as guest and excited to see how much he resonated with what we do. He wrote a very profound article on his blog about how plant medicines can be a very powerful treatment for veterans dealing with PTSD. The article and link to his website are bellow.
Veteran Therapy: Ayahuasca
Disclaimer: This is written from my own personal experiences and not to be taken as medical advice. I’m not a doctor and far from a Shaman, I chose to do Ayahuasca because of my own PTSD as part of my personal healing journey.
There are many veterans that face treatment resistant depression. This occurs when two or more medications or treatments for PTSD fail to be effective. I’ve fallen into this category and for a period of time, I thought the problem wasn’t the medication…it was me.
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The reality is that if western medication was 100% effective for American Veterans, we wouldn’t be in the midst of a never-ending suicide crisis in our community. Military suicide has plagued our nation, the statistics are devastating and like you, I’ve lost friends. Years later, I finally understand that traditional medication and therapies don’t work for every Veteran. Veterans are unconventional people and so occasionally unconventional methods are needed when it comes to healing.
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There’s a growing trend in the Veteran community to embrace unorthodox treatments for PTSD, one of those treatments is Ayahuasca. But it’s nothing new, Ayahuasca has been used for thousands of years in rituals, long before the first pill was ever made. It’s a mind altering brew and there’s a renewed interest, research, and investigation into it’s healing powers for Veterans with PTSD and others with trauma. The results have been promising and many Veterans have felt life-changing positive effects from their plant based medicine experiences. I’ve spoken with Veterans recently who have told me plant medicine saved their life.