A new proof-of-concept pilot study by Onaya Science found that participation in ayahuasca retreats carried out in a traditional Indigenous Amazonian context was associated with significant increases in nature-relatedness.
As highlighted by the research team, anecdotal accounts of ayahuasca experiences commonly describe strong feelings of interconnection with nature.
“Nature relatedness” – a measure of a person’s relationship with nature – has been linked to improvements in mental and physical health.
The authors write: “Human connection to nature is being increasingly eroded, partly through increasing urbanisation and a loss of green space, meaning increasing numbers of people are inhabiting nature-depleted environments. This is coupled with shifts in individual behavioural factors such as a greater predominance of more indoor-based sedentary lifestyles and lessened childhood play opportunities outdoors.
“This can result in a diminished potential for everyday interactions with nature or an ‘extinction of experience’, and it has been suggested that this reduced capacity for nature contact and connection has detrimental implications for health, well-being, and propensity towards experiencing positive emotions.”
The team, led by Simon Ruffell and Sam Gandy, emphasises that, while there is a range of nature-relatedness enhancing interventions such as nature immersion retreats, these may vary in their effectiveness and there is a need for reliable interventions.
Within the context of traditional Amazonian use, ayahuasca practices are deeply rooted in nature and can play a vital role in environmental decision-making.
Ayahuasca and nature-relatedness
For the study, published in Drug Science, Policy and Law, a group of 43 participants took part in questionnaires both before and after participating in six Amazonian-led ayahuasca retreats at the Ayahuasca Foundation (AF).
The results showed that attendance at the retreats was associated with significant increases in nature-relatedness. Additionally, the team found retreat attendance was associated with improvements in depression and stress, but, not in anxiety.
The team wrote: “Furthermore, a significant negative correlation with moderate effect size was found between changes in nature-relatedness and stress, suggesting that an increase in nature-relatedness is associated with decreased stress levels after attending Amazonian ayahuasca retreats in our sample.”
However, the team highlights that it is currently not clear whether these reported changes are due to consumption of ayahuasca, or due to the nature-based setting of the retreat.
“Although this pilot study suggests a potential therapeutic role for Amazonian ayahuasca retreats as a multidimensional intervention, further work is required to assess the role of possible mediators underlying such shifts, while evaluating to what extent these are sustained for long term,” the team writes, suggesting that the findings demonstrate the potential of ayahuasca retreats as a multidimensional intervention that could evoke significant changes in a variety of domains.
The current study did not assess long-term nature-relatedness, however, previous research suggests psychedelic experiences may improve nature-relatedness for up to two years.
Limitations of the study are noted, such as a lack of control group, and factors that may have influenced outcomes. For example, the retreats require participants to disconnect from technology, which may have contributed to feelings of connection with nature, and the inability to carry out constituent analysis of the brew, preventing the comparison of outcomes to the levels of DMT and harmala alkaloids ingested.
Speaking to Psychedelic Health, Gandy commented: “Further research should seek to elucidate to what degree the shift in people’s connection to nature is sustained and reflected in life changes, further explore the specific factors that mediate this shift (i.e. the Amazonian rainforest retreat setting, the Indigenous shamanic context, the ‘digital detox’ or the direct pharmacodynamic effects of ayahuasca) and how it might be enhanced.
“Also, further work warranted exploring the possible additive benefits of a collective, nature-based Indigenous context vs the individualised clinical context: The potential synergistic or additive benefits of the nature-rich Amazonian rainforest retreat setting and other contextual factors such as the disconnection from technology and the nature-orientated shamanic context in influencing nature relatedness in comparison to a Western clinical context warrants further research attention.”
The team concluded: “Whilst our data suggest nature relatedness could be related to changes in mental health outcomes such as stress, our modest, uncontrolled sample does not allow for the generalisation of results. Future studies with larger samples and long-term follow up will shed more light on the initial findings presented in this pilot study.”
The team now plans to run an ‘ayahuasca-free’ retreat following the same structure as a regular ayahuasca retreat but without the ayahuasca brew to investigate the phenomenon while controlling variables.
