For many people, cannabis is their first doorway into altered states of awareness. So it’s natural to wonder how that experience compares to Ayahuasca. While both are plant medicines with long histories, they work in very different ways and are best understood on their own terms.
What You Might Expect (Where They Can Feel Similar):
Heightened awareness of thoughts, emotions, and body sensations
Increased sensitivity to music, sound, and internal imagery
Moments of insight, reflection, or emotional release
A sense of connection, to self, nature, or something larger
These similarities often lead people to assume Ayahuasca is simply a “stronger version” of cannabis. This is where expectations can become misleading.
What Not to Expect (Key Differences):
Ayahuasca is not controllable.
Cannabis often allows a sense of steering the experience, changing music, environment, or dosage. Ayahuasca does not respond to control. It invites surrender rather than navigation.
Ayahuasca is not about relaxation or escape.
Cannabis is commonly used to unwind, soften edges, or step away from stress. Ayahuasca tends to do the opposite: it brings you closer to what needs attention, healing, or honesty.
Ayahuasca works beyond the mind.
Cannabis primarily engages perception and cognition. Ayahuasca often works through the body, nervous system, memory, and emotion, sometimes long before the mind understands what’s happening.
The experience doesn’t end when the effects wear off.
Cannabis effects are usually short-lived and self-contained. Ayahuasca often continues to unfold for weeks or months through reflection, emotional shifts, and integration.
Preparation and integration matter deeply.
With cannabis, preparation is optional. With Ayahuasca, intention, diet, mindset, and post-ceremony integration are essential parts of the medicine itself.
A Gentle Perspective:
Cannabis can be a teacher of presence and softness.
Ayahuasca is often a teacher of truth and responsibility.
Neither is “better.” They simply serve different purposes.
Approaching Ayahuasca with expectations shaped by cannabis can lead to confusion or resistance. Approaching it with humility, openness, and respect allows the experience to unfold in the way it needs to, not the way we imagine.
Curiosity is healthy.
Clear expectations are kind to yourself.
