Ayahuasca Gives You Wings

Ayahuasca, a plant-based brew traditionally used in Amazonian shamanic practices, has long been heralded for its profound impact on spiritual transformation and is typically associated with deep introspection and emotional healing. Recently, the plant medicine has been gaining attention as a potential aid for athletic performance enhancement — a surprising application that expands beyond traditional uses and could redefine how athletes approach mental resilience, recovery, and even physical strength. 

On an episode of The Everyday Warrior Nation podcast, top athletes, including former NFL player John Welbourn and jiu-jitsu legend Xande Ribeiro, shared how ayahuasca showed them surprising connections between trauma, emotions, and peak athletic performance. The men discussed their recent experiences attending Rythmia, a luxury ayahuasca retreat center in Costa Rica. The retreat is popular amongst celebrities and was founded by Italian-American serial entrepreneur Gerald Powell, who began his career in the plastic surgery industry. Describing itself as a “life enhancement center,” Rythmia also offers five-star features, including a swimming pool, massages, and hydro-colonic cleanses. These luxury retreats, by catering to the moneyed classes, have been critical in shifting the appeal of ayahuasca away from New Age or Grateful Dead stereotypes toward top athletes like Welbourn and Ribeiro. 

On the podcast, ex-NFL offensive tackle and guard Welbourn shared how ayahuasca showed him surprising connections between trauma, emotions, and peak athletic performance. “When you’re competing at the level that John did, there’s a level of compartmentalization,” noted podcast host Mike Sarraille. “There’s no time for feelings right now, if you messed up that play, it’s over, you’re moving forward.” 

“It got to the point where I thought I was emotionally broken for a number of years,” Welbourn said, describing his emotional detachment over “beating people up for a living.” He also revealed that he took part in a study of NFL players where he was told he had the emotional intelligence of a third-grader due to brain damage. His curiosity about ayahuasca became piqued after hearing about the neurological impacts of the medicine on another podcast. 

Studies have also suggested that the substance has the potential ability to promote emotional regulation while decreasing fear responses. On the podcast, Welbourn noted that emotional baggage from personal experiences or past failures can inhibit athletes’ abilities to perform at their highest levels. Working through these issues can allow athletes to develop improved mental clarity, which can be as essential to high-performance sports as physical strength. 

Athletic endeavors, especially at high-performance levels, demand not only physical conditioning but also a mental fortitude that can withstand rigorous training schedules, psychological stressors, and the pressures of competition. In contrast to many people who seek ayahuasca for emotional or spiritual healing, Welbourn was drawn to the medicine for its ability to enhance psychological flexibility and mental resilience. 

“I wasn’t going to heal any trauma,” he said on the podcast. “My big thing was to figure out: is this performance-enhancing?” 

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