WHAT READERS ARE SAYING
Ayahuasca, Healing, and Meditation: A Transformational Memoir by Ol Serbon
(article by selfhelpandimprovement.com)
Everyone struggles with managing their mental, physical, and spiritual health sometimes, but what do you do if you’re starting to lose hope? If you’ve been feeling lost or alone in your life recently, you might find some comfort from author Ol Serbon.
Serbon talks about her awe-inspiring transformation from depression to a flourishing place of healing in her memoir, Conversations with Ayahuasca: The Last Resort. Read on for a brief summary of this inspirational book and discover where to pick up a copy today!
Like millions of other Americans, Ol Serbon felt like she tried everything to recover from her past. Failed relationships, missed opportunities, mental and physical health issues, and other negative events continued to weigh heavily on her, despite her best efforts to heal her body and mind. After years of trying several different options, Serbon nearly gave up. Luckily, she found out about ayahuasca retreats and embarked on her first trip to the Amazon jungle in 2016.
Ayahuasca is a traditional brew made from the leaves of the Psychotria viridis shrub and stalks of the Banisteriopsis caapi vine. Combining these plants creates a powerful psychedelic brew that can allow people to enter altered states of consciousness and have out-of-body experiences, hallucinations, and euphoria. The drink is often consumed in religious or spiritual ceremonies throughout North and South America.
In Conversations with Ayahuasca, Serbon describes how the ceremonial drink changed her life and forever altered her viewpoint of the world and reality as a whole. The memoir takes the reader along on several journeys to the Amazon rainforest to partake in traditional shamanic rituals involving ayahuasca.
During one of her ayahuasca retreats, Serbon met a spiritual guide named Aya. Aya showed Serbon what appeared to be alternate dimensions, different realities, and ancient civilizations through time travel. Serbon intuitively felt as if this was evidence that history repeats itself in broad, predictable cycles, just as human souls reincarnate over time. After this enlightening experience, Serbon returned home with a fresh outlook on her life.
Back home, Serbon practiced meditation every day to connect with Aya. She documented her experiences — which included receiving visions and other messages from the spirit guide — while in a trance-like meditative state. After several months of practicing meditation, Serbon started to feel drawn to the country of India for additional spiritual guidance. That’s when an entirely new journey begins for Serbon, and she invites you, the reader, to follow your curiosity and give spiritual healing a try.
Book Review
from BookSirens and Good Reads
by: Ann Dudzinski
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Join the author as she journeys to the jungles of South America on four successive trips to partake of mind-altering ayahuasca in her search for spiritual meaning. She describes each step of her awakening from a self-centered, finger-pointing woman through her material purging and exploration of other realms to an awakened being able to follow her intuitive guide wherever it might lead her.
Like any other metaphysical book, this reminded me a lot of The Celestine Prophecy. However, I’m pretty sure that was fiction. This book reads like fiction - in that it’s very well written - but it’s most definitely a metaphysical memoir. I found it intriguing, although some of the topics covered (such as the matrix-like web that encompasses humanity) were above the level where I could easily wrap my mind around them.
The author honestly presents her experiences over the span of four years, from business failures and successes, through relationship ups and downs, and ending during the pandemic that changed life for the entire world (at least temporarily). She covers her experiences with the shift from a materialistic to spiritual perspective, conversations with her spirit guide on the nature of alternative dimensions and realms, and having a front row seat in what I believe was one of her previous incarnations.
I loved how the first few trips were summarized for a novice traveler so much that as the book was nearing the end, I started asking myself what happened to her? I shouldn’t have worried; the author brought her back with an update. I also loved the synchronicities for the author when she followed her inner voice to travel to India. I think that’s an important lesson, whether you’ve been in direct contact with your guides or not. Always trust your inner voice! Lastly, the automatic writing struck a chord. While I’ve never been able to drop into an altered state quite as easily as described here, automatic writing (especially on a laptop) really does open a great channel and I wish more people tried it. Just be sure you know who you’re talking to (which is a story for another time and not in the realm of this review.)
Interesting, intriguing, thought-provoking, and an overall enjoyable read.
