What’s the difference between microdosing and a full ayahuasca experience?
To better understand the difference between what Aya Caps offers (microdosing) and a full ayahuasca experience, we need to understand what ayahuasca actually is.
We’ll answer these questions:
🌿 What is ayahuasca?
🌿 Which ingredient causes the trip?
🌿 Why is microdosing different?
🌿 Who shouldn’t take Aya Caps?
What is Ayahuasca?
Ayahuasca is a brew/decoction/tea made from steeping Banisteriopsis caapi and Psychotria viridis together with other herbs. The tea accompanies a ritual directed by a shaman, a curandero, or ayahuasquero.
Ayahuasca rituals originated in Peru and surrounding areas in the Amazon Basin. The earliest depictions of its use are in paintings that come from the Chavin People of Peru from 900 BCE.
What is the Ayahuasca Ritual?
There are many tribes, indigenous people, and religious groups who use this tea such as the Santo Daime, União do Vegetal, and Barquinha who blend Amazonian Shamanism with Western Christian Beliefs.(1)
Each group has its own ritual associated with the tea. Which means there is no “single correct way” to perform an ayahuasca ritual.
Some groups use ayahuasca as a religious ritual to reach unity and introspective clarity, others use it for healing and spiritual purification, while others drink it communally as part of everyday life.
The direction the ritual takes comes from the shaman leading it and the setting it’s performed in.
What is in the Ayahuasca Brew?
There are two main ingredients in ayahuasca, Banisteriopsis caapi vine and Psychotria viridis leaves. Other ingredients are added to the tea depending on the region, the shaman, and the originating practice.
Occasionally the Psychotria viridis will be replaced with Diplopterys cabrerana. Both these ingredients contain the psychoactive alkaloid Dimethyltryptamine (DMT).
The DMT is what causes the “trip” in an ayahuasca ritual. This ingredient also happens to be illegal in the USA as it’s classified as a psychoactive substance.
Aya Caps are made of 100% pure Banisteriopsis caapi vine. It’s completely legal in the USA.
This vine contains the β-carboline type alkaloids harmine, harmaline, and tetrahydroharmine. This is where the healing power of ayahuasca lies.(2)(3)
These alkaloids work as reversible inhibitors of the A-type isoenzyme of monoamine oxidase (MAO).(4)(5)
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That’s a lot of science - What does it mean for you?
Your body produces MAO normally, this removes extra serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine from the brain. Sometimes it produces too much MAO and you become depressed or dissatisfied with life.
⚛️ Serotonin = regulates mood, sexual satisfaction, sensations of pain, and sleep cycles.
⚛️ Dopamine = regulates pleasure, satisfaction, sleep, and mood.
⚛️ Norepinephrine = regulates arousal, cognitive function, and stress.
Banisteriopsis caapi works as an MAO inhibitor.(6)
Therefore, it stops the body from removing so much serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine allowing you to feel happier, more satisfied, and have better sleep!
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Why is Microdosing Different From a Full Ayahuasca Experience?
Microdosing means taking small amounts of a substance below the psychoactive threshold to access its beneficial properties without the unwanted side effects.(9)(10)
By taking Aya Caps three times a week, you're microdosing the Banisteriopsis caapi vine to access the benefits of feeling more connected to the world around you with an improved mood, cognitive function, memory, and sleep cycle.
You access all these benefits with none of the psychoactive effects which means you remain in control at all times.
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Who Should Not Take Aya Caps?
As with any supplement you should always check with your doctor before taking it.
Aya Caps should NOT be taken by people who:(7)
❌ Have cardiovascular or endocrine problems
❌ Have abnormal lipid metabolism
❌ Have glaucoma
❌ Are experiencing a fever
❌ Are pregnant
❌ Have fibromyalgia
Aya Caps should NOT be taken by people who take:(8)
❌ Ginseng
❌ St John’s wort
❌ Dextromethorphan 3
❌ 4-methylenedioxy-N-methylamphetamine
❌ SSRIs
❌ SNRIs
❌ Other MAO inhibitors
Aya Caps is Committed to Sustainable and Ethical Practices
Aya Caps is committed to the preservation of the indigenous cultures and practices of the Amazonian tribes as well as the protection of the Amazonian ecosystem.
50% of all Aya Caps profits are donated to four wonderful organizations that align with our ethical concerns.
🌿 The Rainforest Trust
🌿 The Amazon Conservation Team
🌿 The Amazon Watch
🌿 The WWF’s Amazon Initiative
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Our Recommended Reading:
1. Sarris, J., Perkins, D., et al. (2021) Ayahuasca use and reported effects on depression and anxiety symptoms: An international cross-sectional study of 11,912 consumers. Journal of Affective Disorders Reports, Volume 4, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadr.2021.100098.
2. van Oorsouw, K., Toennes, S. W., & Ramaekers, J. G. (2022). Therapeutic effect of an ayahuasca analogue in clinically depressed patients: a longitudinal observational study. Psychopharmacology, 239(6), 1839–1852. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-021-06046-9.
3. Sobiecki, Jean-Francois. (2013). An account of healing depression using ayahuasca plant teacher medicine in a Santo Daime ritual. Indo-Pacific Journal of Phenomenology. 13(1), 1-10. http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1445-73772013000100007&lng=en&tlng=en.
4. dos Santos, R. G. (2010). The pharmacology of ayahuasca: a review. Brasília méd, 47(2), 188-195.
5. McKenna, D. J., & Towers, G. N. (1984). Biochemistry and pharmacology of tryptamines and β-carbolines A minireview. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 16(4), 347-358.
6. Samoylenko, V., Rahman, M. M., Tekwani, B. L., Tripathi, L. M., Wang, Y. H., Khan, S. I., ... & Muhammad, I. (2010). Banisteriopsis caapi, a unique combination of MAO inhibitory and antioxidative constituents for the activities relevant to neurodegenerative disorders and Parkinson's disease. Journal of ethnopharmacology, 127(2), 357-367.
7. Gable, R. S. (2007). Risk assessment of ritual use of oral dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and harmala alkaloids. Addiction, 102(1), 24-34.
8. Callaway, J. C., & Grob, C. S. (1998). Ayahuasca preparations and serotonin reuptake inhibitors: a potential combination for severe adverse interactions. Journal of psychoactive drugs, 30(4), 367-369.
9. Frecska, E., Bokor, P., & Winkelman, M. (2016). The Therapeutic Potentials of Ayahuasca: Possible Effects against Various Diseases of Civilization. Frontiers in pharmacology, 7, 35. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2016.00035
10. Anderson, T., Petranker, R., Christopher, A. et al. Psychedelic microdosing benefits and challenges: an empirical codebook. Harm Reduct J 16, 43 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12954-019-0308-4