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From personal to collective: ayahuasca as a peace-making tool among Palestinians and Israelis

Leor Roseman, Sami Awad

In the spring of 2022, three groups of Palestinians and Israelis were invited to participate in an ayahuasca peacebuilding program. The invitation was to explore the ceremonial and healing space of ayahuasca through a collective intention: to ground the transformative spiritual practice in the political reality of conflict and oppression; to heal collective trauma and liberate from rigid narratives and ethos; to invite revelations and transform them into actions of co-resistance; to create a community of solidarity and care; and to celebrate life and good music together. In this joint presentation, Sami Awad, a Palestinian peace activist and one of the leading facilitators, will present the program – tailored for this intention – and discuss the processes the groups went through. Leor Roseman, an Israeli psychedelic researcher from Imperial College London, will present quantitative, qualitative, and phenomenological research findings from the program. The presentation will reveal how psychedelics can be used intentionally for socio-political endeavours beyond personal healing.

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From personal to collective: ayahuasca as a peace-making tool among Palestinians and Israelis

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