“Getting Well”: Rethinking the Purge in Ayahuasca Ceremonies

In Peyote ceremonies, they don’t call it “purging.” They call it getting well.

That simple shift in language points to a profound difference in how cultures perceive the body’s way of releasing what no longer serves. In many Western contexts, vomiting is something to be avoided, hidden, or medicated away. It’s associated with sickness, weakness, and shame. But in many traditional medicine paths—Ayahuasca ceremonies among them—the purge is not only welcomed, it’s seen as healing in action.

Purging Beyond Ayahuasca

Across the world, various cultures have embraced the concept of purging as a medicinal process. In Traditional Chinese Medicine and Indian Ayurveda, herbs are sometimes used to induce vomiting or sweating to remove internal imbalances. Practices like vamana in Ayurveda involve therapeutic vomiting as a tool for detoxification. In the Amazon, plants like Ayahuasca are known to induce purging—not only physically, but emotionally and energetically.

Then there’s Kambo, the secretion of a frog applied to small burns on the skin. Its intense, fast-acting effects include vomiting, sweating, and shaking. It's not for everyone, but for many, it’s a path to clarity and emotional release. Again, the purge is the medicine.

It’s Not Like Being Sick

Let’s be clear: purging in a ceremonial context is not the same as vomiting from bad sushi or the stomach flu. That kind of illness often comes with a sense of helplessness and physical distress. In contrast, ceremonial purging—when held in a safe, sacred container—can feel like an act of empowerment. Like letting go of something old. Like being cleaned out on a level you didn’t know existed.

And here’s something important: before an Ayahuasca ceremony, participants typically fast for several hours, sometimes longer. That means the stomach is nearly empty—there’s no food to “throw up.” What comes up, if anything, is usually a small amount of liquid, and more often: energy. Emotion. Density. Things you can’t name but can feel.

In this context, purging is not about removing spoiled contents from your stomach—it’s about removing stagnant patterns from your system.

The Many Faces of Energetic Purging

Energetic release comes in many forms:

• Yawning uncontrollably

• Shaking or trembling

• Sweating intensely

• Deep sobbing or spontaneous tears

• Internal screaming or groaning

• A sudden sigh of relief, like the body just let something go

These are all valid expressions of purging. And yet, many of us hesitate. We suppress a yawn. We hold back tears. We swallow nausea. Why?

The Real Medicine: Releasing Shame and Fear

The most significant barrier to healing is not the purge itself—it’s the fear and shame we carry around it.

We live in a world that praises composure and control. To purge is to be vulnerable, exposed, messy. But that’s precisely why it’s powerful. The body speaks the truth. When we allow ourselves to purge—whether it’s through vomiting, tears, or trembling—we step out of the mind’s tight grip and into the intelligence of the body.

Shame has no place in this process. The medicine doesn’t judge you for how you release—it only asks that you allow it.

Many people enter their first ceremony terrified of purging, only to find themselves later grateful for it. Not because it was easy, but because something real left them. Something they no longer needed.

Final Thoughts

If you’re approaching an Ayahuasca ceremony and feel anxious about purging, know this: You’re not alone. Almost everyone has that fear at some point. But the purge is not your enemy. It’s your ally, your teacher, your turning point. It may not look “pretty,” but healing rarely does.

What if you could reframe purging as sacred, not shameful?

What if getting well meant letting go?