The art of healing with Carlos Tanner. Neurobiology, Shipibo tradition, Dietas and Ayahuasca science.

In this episode of the Ayahuasca Podcast, the host connects with Carlos Tanner. Carlos is the founder and director of the Ayahuasca Foundation, an organization he established in 2009 after moving to the Peruvian Amazon in 2004. Transitioning from his own personal healing journey to becoming a dedicated apprentice of indigenous curanderos, Carlos now bridges ancestral wisdom with modern scientific research. He is also a founding member of the Psychedelic Medicine Association, dedicating his life to helping individuals navigate trauma, healing, and deep personal transformation.

Carlos opens up about how his early life and philosophical studies uniquely prepared him for shamanism, how a severe opiate addiction catalyzed a life-saving leap of faith into the Amazon, and how his work bridging clinical science with the Shipibo tradition is sparking a global revival of ancestral plant relationships.

Key Discussion Points

• 01:22 – Seeds of Shamanism & Overcoming Addiction: Carlos explains how playing with an Ewok shaman toy, experimenting with psychedelics in high school, and studying the philosophy of religion laid his spiritual groundwork. This foundation ultimately aligned with a life-saving synchronicity that brought him to Peru in 2003 to break free from a downward spiral of opiate addiction.

• 05:26 – Shifting Western Paradigms: Exploring the dramatic evolution of the ayahuasca space over the last two decades, moving away from a purely materialist, chemical-to-biology framework toward a deep respect for shamanic ritual, intention, and complex traditional practices like plant dietas.

• 09:23 – From Rugged Adventure to Modern Comfort: How the demographic of people seeking ayahuasca expanded exponentially as retreat environments evolved from rustic, off-grid jungle camps requiring multi-hour treks to fully accessible modern research and retreat centers powered by solar energy.

• 13:56 – Synchronistic Infrastructure & The Foundation's Birth: Carlos shares the wild logistical journey of committing to study under Shipibo healer Don Enrique Lopez, inheriting an unfinished community infrastructure project in the remote Mishana reserve, and using an inheritance from his late mother to launch the Ayahuasca Foundation in 2009.

• 21:34 – Bridging Science and Spirit: Highlighting the "field of dreams" creation of their dedicated research facility, partnering with Onaya Science to publish academic papers on personality changes, anxiety, and depression, and collaborating with the Heroic Hearts Project to study veterans suffering from treatment-resistant PTSD.

• 26:26 – Cellular Agency and the Earth's Agenda: A deep philosophical look at human willpower, proposing that humans operate much like individual cells within the grander physical body and consciousness of the Earth, carrying out a vital cellular role dictated by a higher planetary intelligence.

• 31:15 – Healing as an Art Form & Expanding Awareness: Breaking down the neurobiology of ayahuasca, explaining how it temporarily deactivates the brain's sensory gating filters to expand conscious awareness, and how true healing occurs when a person uses that heightened sensitivity to correct false beliefs and traumatic misinterpretations.

• 37:41 – The Challenge of Scientific Language: Discussing his role as a philosopher of healing and navigating the complex linguistic tightrope of translating deeply spiritual, non-material indigenous phenomena to a rigid Western scientific community without being seen as having "gone off the deep end".

• 45:59 – Noya Rao and Global Shamanic Revival: An exploration of Noya Rao, an enlightened tree consciousness central to their Shipibo lineage, and a profound story of a student who successfully utilized traditional Shipibo dieta protocols on the Blue Lotus plant to demonstrate how intact traditions can revive ancestral relationships with native flora globally.

• 55:24 – The Future of the Psychedelic Space: Delving into the conflict between process-based plant medicine traditions and substance-focused Western psychedelic therapy, while proposing how modern medical protocols—like chemotherapy—could be radically improved if administered within an intentional, sacred retreat setting.

Connect with Carlos Tanner:

• Website: ayahuascafoundation.org

• Note: Messages sent via the website’s "Contact Us" form go directly to Carlos.

Experience Safe, Guided Consciousness Work:

To explore heart-opening, traditional plant medicine retreats in a deeply restorative setting designed for integration and profound clarity, explore our programs at: ayahuascaincolombia.com