Makes Sense - with Dr. JC Doornick - My Ayahuasca Trip to Peru - Part Five - The Finale - Episode 128

Episode Date: December 19, 2025

One of the greatest surprises of this journey wasn’t the visions, the purging, or even the revelations; it was the people. In just four days, strangers became family. Not metaphorically. Literally. People from different countries, histories, and wounds trusted one another with their tears, their truths, their breakdowns, and their rebirths. This episode explores one of the most important distinctions of the entire experience: the environment is not secondary to the medicine—the people are the medicine. Arkana is not just a retreat center; it is a living ecosystem designed to make it safe enough to stop performing and start being real. When judgment evaporates, and egos are checked at the door, something ancient reawakens. Trust becomes the air you breathe. Authenticity becomes effortless. Healing accelerates. By the third and final night of Ayahuasca, the work had shifted. There was no war. No descent. No funerals. Grandmother wasn’t teaching anymore; she was integrating. Confirming. Blessing. What once felt overwhelming now appeared as memory, perspective, and clarity. The darkness was never removed; it was revealed as temporary. And for the first time, it became clear that both the darkness and the light were never happening to me. They were moving through me. Day Five introduced San Pedro, Huachuma, the Medicine of the Heart. Where Ayahuasca turns you inward to meet your shadows, San Pedro moves you outward into connection, unity, empathy, and love. Under the guidance of Alcides, a man who doesn’t just tell stories but transmits truth, the group experienced something rare and unmistakable: collective heart coherence. Not symbolic. Not poetic. Physically real. Fourteen nervous systems beating as one. This episode captures the final transmission of the Sacred Valley: connection isn’t something you create, it’s what remains when you remove the barriers. The heart has always been unified. It’s the ego that divides it. San Pedro didn’t give us anything new; it revealed what had always been there beneath the masks, defenses, and personas. As the fire burned low beneath the Andean sky, one final truth became clear: plant medicine isn’t the point, it’s the doorway. Nothing fixes you. Nothing completes you. These medicines remove what was never yours to carry and reveal who you’ve been all along. This is the ceremony after the ceremony.And this is where the journey home truly begins. Make Sense? For more information on the Arkana Spiritual Center: www.arkanainternational.com Follow Dr. JC Doornick and the Makes Sense Academy: ► Makes Sense Substack - https://drjcdoornick.substack.com ► Instagram: / drjcdoornick ►Facebook:  / makessensepodcast ►YouTube:  / drjcdoornick MAKES SENSE PODCAST Welcome to the Makes Sense with Dr. JC Doornick Podcast. This podcast explores topics that expand human consciousness and enhance performance. On the Makes Sense Podcast, we acknowledge that it's who you are that determines how well what you do works, and that perception is a subjective and acquired taste. When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at begin to change. Welcome to the uprising of the sleepwalking masses. Welcome to the Makes Sense with Dr. JC Doornick Podcast. SUBSCRIBE/RATE/REVIEW & SHARE our new podcast. FOLLOW Podcast: You will find a "Follow" button in the top right. This will enable the podcast software to alert you when a new episode launches each week. Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/makes-sense-with-dr-jc-doornick/id1730954168 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1WHfKWDDReMtrGFz4kkZs9?si=003780ca147c4aec Podcast Affiliates: Kwik Learning: Many people ask me where I get all these topics, which I've been covering for almost 15 years. I have learned to read nearly four times faster and retain information 10 times better with Kwik Learning. Learn how to learn and earn with Jim Kwik. Get his program at a special discount here: https://jimkwik.com/dragon OUR SPONSORS: Makes Sense Academy: A private mastermind and psychologically safe environment full of the Mindset and Action steps that will help you begin to thrive. The Makes Sense Academy. https://www.skool.com/makes-sense-academy/about The Sati Experience: A retreat designed for the married couple that truly loves one another, yet wants to take their love to that higher magical level. Relax, reestablish, and renew your love at the Sati Experience. https://www.satiexperience.com0:00 - Intro1:04 - Into the Mountains7:12 - Thanksgiving in Peru9:07 -  A New Definition of Family 10:27 - To drink or not to drink again? That is the question? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Have you noticed that the world that we live in has been doing most of the thinking for you? That your beliefs, perceptions, reactions, fears, and doubts have been shaped by unsolicited outside noise? How easy it's been for you to slip into that default sleepwalking mode and label it as life and reality. Yeah, that ends here. Welcome to the Make Sense with Dr. J.C. podcast. This is your opportunity to start thinking for yourself, reclaim control, and step up. back into that role as the shock caller and dominant force of your own reality. It's when you change the way that you look at things, that the things that you look at begin to change. So let's wake up,

let's rise up, and let's make sense of why and how shift happens. Great morning, friends, great morning world. This is Dr. J.C. Dornick, otherwise known as the Dragon. And this is the final chapter. What started off as the idea of having four parts, as you can see, it turned into five, just because there was so much more to say. But this is part five of my ayahuasca experience in Peru, and I call this the ceremony after the ceremony. One of the greatest surprises of this entire journey was how quickly a bunch of complete strangers who never met each other before ended up becoming like family. And I can tell you that at the time of this recording, I am post-trip, actually a couple of weeks since I was on that experience. And I can tell you that this family

has passed the test of time and we are forging relationships beyond this experience. And that's not normal, by the way. A lot of people enjoy jacuzzi experiences like this or even like some sort of a seminar convention and have all the intentions of staying together, but then experience the reality of getting home and getting that knuckle sandwich of real life, if that's what you call it, just realized that it was harder than they thought it was going to be. So I just want to say that this trip was so pivotal and it has spawned relationships that look like they're going to last forever at this point. So, you know, as somebody that's been on many of these experiences, it doesn't always happen like this. So this is just my shout out to that group of

12 people and just how honored and privileged I was to be with you. In light of this idea of complete strangers becoming family, I just want to say that it was really just four or five days that we were together, but that's all it took. And that speaks to the experience and the mutual respect that comes from banding together in support for one another and go. And go. And, through struggle hand in hand, locked arms. So we were all vested in one another's breakthroughs. And I think beyond the character of the people, because they're all wonderful people in their own ways,

we were all vested in one another's experience. And there was support, there was inspiration. It was just like a psychological safe haven. So big thanks to Arcana, the facilitators, Jose Sanz, who is the architect of the whole Arcana experience, but also big thanks to just some extraordinary people that, for some reason, out of the billions of others in this world, bumped into each other, you know, from all walks of life. So during these four days, we were with people of completely different backgrounds, you know, and everybody was carrying different wounds from different hemispheres, as I said before, trusting one another with their tears, truths, break, downs and their rebirths. And I'm just somebody that in this moment right now at this time, I don't think it happened by accident. It was some sort of universal guidance supported by the space and the medicine.

So there was something bigger going on. The reason why I think that's important is that's the kind of thing that carries on outside. If it's just the space and the medicine, that might not be enough. This group and a lot of people, including you listening right now, operate in this. universal guidance. So that's the secret sauce. That's the X factor. Arcana's not merely a retreat center. I want people to know that. It's what I think is sort of an ecosystem and an incubator built for transformation. That's why I love Arcana so much. The facilitators, the shamans, otherwise known as the guardians of the Maloka, they all formed, I guess I would call it a living container. their stillness, their vigilance, their experience, and their unwavering presence allow you to fall

apart completely, as you've seen in some of the episodes, without fear, and get put back together stronger, just like a bone that breaks and grows back stronger. So in this environment, and that's the testament, trust kind of becomes the air that everybody breathes. Judgment, evaporates. Authenticity becomes the new normal. And connection, well, it becomes effortless in this environment. The people that were there know what I'm talking about. But you listening have been in situations like this before. It's almost as if we checked our egos at the door without even being asked to. So timing plays a role in that too. But at this point, in the experience, the awakening is not looked at the way it was in the beginning. The awakening is that the environment is not secondary

to the medicine. The people and the environment are the medicine. And that's a huge distinction, especially for those of you that are thinking about trying this or, you know, pondering this or feeling the calling. I just want everybody to know that it's not all about the medicine. It's not all about the experience. It's recognizing that everything put together is the medicine. And a lot of people will share that the medicine starts working on you, the moment that you decide to go. And once the medicine is inside of you, which you now know as collective, it never really leaves you. As I speak to you right now, the medicine is still inside of me. And that's why integration is so important in these relationships and the fact that we keep coming back together and we have these monthly gatherings and we have our WhatsApp thread and all of that stuff.

That's the medicine. So this became one of the biggest distinctions of the entire journey. Medicine is not just something that we take or drink. Medicine is what we allow and permit into our lives. So it takes vulnerability and it takes open curiosity. And what you allow depends entirely on feeling safe. So another shout out to Arcana and the facilitators, safe enough to stop performing the way that we do with our masks on.

and start being you again. Arcona builds this like no other. And I just can't thank Jose and all of the facilitators and my great friends, Valeria and Billy and the new facilitators that I met, just extraordinary, just in a state of gratitude. So by the time we arrived at the third and final night of the ayahuasca, because remember, that's where we left off,

we weren't just participants. And we weren't even just a group. We were a band of brothers and sisters, kind of like a tribe. And that closeness softened everything inside of me. So I'm grateful for that. I entered that final ceremony, lighter, clearer, and ready to receive the final transmission. A lot of people ask me, when I tell them that there's three or four ceremonies, people go, oh my God, that's so much. But now you can kind of see why that's important, not only is your relationship with the medicine evolving, but the group, the environment is evolving and transforming as well. So the third night was actually peaceful. There was no battle. There was no more

wars, no more funerals, no dark descent. Remember, I was taking just a teeny little small dose, which I was afraid of, but I would say that grandmother was present. You know, she showed up, But she wasn't teaching anymore. She was integrating. For me, there was no outside force pushing me anymore because that last night, she was confirming and blessing me, or at least that's the way I saw it. So it was perfect. It kind of felt like she was showing me her final review, a gentle walkthrough of the lessons

that she had carved into my bones over the first two nights. And I would just say, thank God. It was very pleasant to have that kind of a relationship. And I remember that was what I was hoping for on that crazy dark night. But it almost felt like the Christmas Carol. You remember the Christmas Carol? Where the ghosts of Christmas past took Ebenezer Scrooge to visit scenes from his past. She showed me the two funerals again, the melting shoreline of my fear around my daughter,

then the dissolving skyscraper of financial scarcity. But instead of pulling me into the emotions again, She showed them more like memories and distinctions. And they were kind of like necessary moments of my transformation. She revisited the nightmare of night two as well. But she did so with a softness, almost a kind of wink as if to say, See, you were in control the whole time and you figured it out. Time is the greatest healer, J.C.

This two shall pass. Now you have this for the rest of your life. and I was grateful because I do. Even though you didn't experience this, those insights, I'd like to think that you've embraced them as well. And here was another big insight. The medicine didn't remove the darkness from me. It removed the illusion that the darkness was permanent and happening to me. Isn't that an interesting distinction? I control both the darkness and the light. And so do you. sense? So day five, after that last ceremony that was pleasant, brought about the infamous San Pedro,

otherwise known as Wakuma. And I call that the medicine of the heart, because that's what it was. So we woke the next morning. This is our last day together. So just imagine this band of brothers and sisters, a little bit of fear and sadness that we're spending our last day. We all know that we're going home tomorrow. Some of us are going to meet up again in Kusko and hang out. But for the most part, the group is going to go back to their respective lives. So we woke that next morning, kind of like with a bittersweet mixture of sadness and excitement. It was our final day together, but it would be spent together in a way that I can't really describe with words. We were going to spend that last day together with the mysterious San Pedro Cactus, which I had heard stories about.

I heard, oh, you're going to love this. This is such a special way. And this is one of the fun elements of the Sacred Valley retreat is that everybody knows that this last day we're going to meet this amazing guy named Alcidas and we're going to have this Wakuma experience. And there's no way you could explain that, just like the others. But we were blessed with this guidance from another angelic creature that just kind of seemed to be handcrafted by the divine gods of love themselves. He goes by the name Alcidas. And for anybody that's ever been in his presence, He's extraordinary. And as my friend Billy says, he's just pure love.

He was our tour guide that day for the mysterious world of Wakuma. It was kind of his thing. I'd recommend to all of you considering the Sacred Valley, if only, to meet and spend time with Alcidas. That alone, even if you didn't do the medicine at all, would have a dramatic, life-changing experience on you. So San Pedro is ancient, used for thousands of years. in the Andes. It contains mesculine in it, and that's probably the word that most people understand.

And what mesculin is, it's a molecule that works through the serotonin system to heighten perception, empathy, presence, and love. Sounds nice, doesn't it? Now, how does it differ from something like ayahuasca? Well, ayahuasca takes you inward to meet your shadows. Wakuma, San Pedro, moves outward and into connection, unity and truth. The actual cactus that they get the Wakuma from is everywhere. I mean, everywhere, including the gardens department of your local Home Depot. Think about that for a second. It's going to change the way you look at those tall cactus.

You know, there's a special way of preparing it, but it's not something that only grows in one place. So it felt like the perfect medicine, even though we hadn't experienced it yet for that last day of our group, because we had already become a family, and we were looking to take that even further. So we gathered in a circle, and we were all handed these tall glasses of some sort of green drink. It kind of looked like a mixture of cactus juice mixed with celery juice, meaning it wasn't like super, super green. It kind of had a little bit of a celery juice kind of a thing. On a taste scale, with 10 being like an amazing taste and one being the taste of ayahuasca, I would give Wakuma a generous 3.5 or maybe even a little higher. And what that means

is not too bad, yet not something that I would use to mix a drink. I wouldn't order a glass of Wakuma from the bar. It's not that good, but it was doable and it was manageable. An hour after my first dose, I started to feel some sort of a soft relaxation. Now, I would say I wasn't 100% sure of it, But just like my first experience years ago with ayahuasca, I was kind of trying to figure it out. And I think that that's one of the issues that I have is when I get analytical about things, I don't allow it to happen. But I noticed that I felt relaxed and I kind of felt like a heightening of awareness, like a little bit of a sharpness of clarity. And it was almost as if the world had been turned just a little bit more sharply, like a filter on your iPhone, you know, to sharpen a picture. That's kind of what it felt like, but I wasn't sure.

It kind of felt like the medicine was kind of whispering to me. And what it was saying was, get ready, stay open. And I would say all around, it felt good, but nothing to write home about. What's cool about Wakuma is you're allowed to walk around. You're not in this dark room. It was actually during the day, and it's beautiful out there, the mountains and hummingbirds everywhere and actual hummingbirds, not ones that you think you're seeing. But I kind of wondered if it was just me.

me again, I started to contemplate, or perhaps I needed a second dose. So an hour later, our maestro al-Cidus offered that second dose. Unlike ayahuasca, I was the first to say yes. I rose my hand and I said, I'm in. Before we drank, he shared this story of his childhood, which was filled with both physical and emotional abuse and the pain that he's carried for years and years and years and resentment and the forgiveness that actually was the catalyst for setting him free. What a beautiful human being. And that story just resonated with so many people. When Alcidas speaks, he doesn't just tell a story.

It's almost as if he's transmitting something through you, like he knows you. Love pours out of him in a way that uncrosses your arms. His relationship with the universe and God isn't, some sort of a metaphor. It's almost visceral and it carries no doubt at all. Immediate respect for this man. And that was an important element of this last day. We just met this guy and this group, this tribe of brothers and sisters. We all fell in love and embraced him as part of our group. His words opened something up in all of us. So we all took a second dose. Now somewhere between his story and the next hour, the medicine began to open my heart in ways that I can't fully capture with words.

Those who wanted more took even a third dose. About two-thirds of us, I was one of them. We learned that the extra doses didn't necessarily increase the intensity of what we were feeling. It just pushed the finish line further back. So we had to consider that because the day was starting to turn into the afternoon and we started to realize that that, that, second and third dose meant that we were going to be feeling whatever we were feeling later in the day. So once I heard that and felt the way that I felt, I was in. I didn't want to stop feeling that way. It felt wonderful. It didn't feel like I was on some sort of a drug. It felt probably close to something like ecstasy, but not the drug element of it. It just felt good. And then we formed a

gratitude circle, and this was a catalyst. What happened next was not something that you could imagine. It wasn't even symbolic or metaphorical. It was real, like physically real. As each person in the gratitude circle shared, and they shared what they were grateful for, I could feel the entire group's hearts beating as one, like we were norally tethered to one another. I don't know if that makes sense to you, but that's the way it felt. And I'm not talking poetically. I'm talking literally. I felt everybody in that group. When everybody spoke, I felt them speak, as if they were speaking to all of us or through all of us. And for me, I don't always pay attention. I kind of have a sorting filter and decide what I think is interesting and what's not. And I have this tendency

of pretending to listen. Not like this. I was so tapped in and tuned into this group. And we were like one single organism breathing together and pulsing across 14 different bodies. Now, I say 14 because, yes, the facilitators were in this with us. And I really appreciated that because it kind of showed that they two felt safe and felt like they were part of the family. And they were. Another life-changing transmission and distinction came in. And here's what it is. Connection is not something that you create.

It's something that you remove the barriers to. The heart is always unified. It's the ego that divides it. San Pedro didn't give us this connection. It revealed it in a big way, meaning it was already there. And this kind of plays with that idea that we're all connected. You and I, we're connected. We come from the same source, but the ego is what gets in the way. It showed us what's been buried beneath our defenses, our fears, our personas, our histories. This is who we already were without the mask, without the walls, without the performance, and without the approval seeking. We spent the entire day in that energy, walking, talking, crying, laughing, reflecting, sitting in silence, returning again and again to the gratitude that kept rising like a tide.

it was beautiful. As evening fell upon us, we shared dinner together, and we were all reluctant to break the spell. And later, we gathered around a fire pit telling stories, acknowledging the illusions that we've all been living back home and feeling them crumble under the weight of our truth. It wasn't just a closing day. It was a rebirth of 12 to 15 human beings, and things would never be the same. We all knew that. And then came the sadness of leaving. Thanks to Arcana and its wisdom, they don't send you back into the world empty-handed. They arm and equip you with so many tools and avenues to communicate that you have every opportunity to really get involved in the integration. So they give everybody the eight piece of integration. And that's kind of like a roadmap to stay awake in the world outside the valley. You can go to the Arcana website and look at those eight pieces of integration. and I'll tell you you could use them in your own life without the medicine.

They also offered us monthly integration gatherings, which I'm very familiar with because I happen to be one of the hosts. So the entire Arcana family reconnects once a month. You're also welcome to reach out and find out about that. Regarding our new family, they placed us in a WhatsApp thread. That's a great avenue and app to connect with people internationally. already buzzing with life, humor, vulnerability, and support. This is a great, great place to be.

Every day somebody is checking in, proving that this family is the real thing. This group, this family that I've adopted, we're connected forever now. And before we parted ways, we made a promise. We all agreed that next November in 2006, we were all going to return. And I believe them. Same mountains, same shamans, same circle. only earlier this time, and this is a message for my family, before Thanksgiving. We referred to that idea of returning once a year as kind of a quality control reunion,

half joking, but at the same time fully sincere, because we knew what waits back home. The noise, the distraction, the conditioning, the unconscious momentum, and the desire to be right and perform. the world tries to dull what the medicine makes sharp. It tries to put you back to sleep, and we knew that we had to work at this. We didn't want to let go of what we felt. The idea of coming back next year isn't the act of running from life, by the way. It's a recalibration to be able to live life fully. As I stood there on our last night, watching the fire crackle beneath the Andean sky,

and one final truth rose inside of me that was absolutely. absolutely clear. Plant medicine is not the point. It's the doorway. Iawaska doesn't fix you. San Pedro doesn't complete you. Sappo and Bufo do not save you. They reveal the you that's always been there and has been forgotten. We left the valley stronger, lighter, clearer, and more awake. I always say that the juice is worth the squeeze. This is the juice that I'm We left the valley stronger, lighter, clearer, and more awake, not because the medicine added something to us, but because it removed everything that wasn't ours to carry. And in that freedom, the journey home began.

So I want to give you my final reflection on the trip as we part ways and kind of close this chapter, and I hope you've enjoyed it. And I will say that these episodes have become the most downloaded episodes. out of all of my episodes. That's saying a lot. So there's obviously interest there. And if anybody wants more information, I keep putting the link to kind of spiritual center there.

But there's one question people always ask when we get home and they hear stories like this. And you might have that question on your mind right now. Should I try plant medicine? Is it right for me? So the truth is, I can't answer that for you. One of the eight peas of integration is, preach not. And this is a lesson that we can all carry, whether you've been at this experience and not.

That P, preach not, is given to us for a good reason. Because the moment that we try to convince someone or persuade someone to take this path, you pull them out of their own organic calling and timing. And part of that organic calling and timing requires that you don't know. You could do all the research you want and listen to my stories and still have no idea what it's going to be like for you. Plant medicine is not a trend. This is why I work with Arcana, because I know that plant medicine is something that has been chopped up and diluted into so many different forms. There's nothing like the authenticity of Arcana. And that's not to say that everybody should stop doing what they're doing, and I'm not saying you have to go to Arcana. But if you're

looking for an authentic, deep, deep experience, Arcana is the place. to be. It's not an escape or a distraction from reality, my friends. And it's definitely not a shortcut. It's certainly not something that you do because someone else did it. This is why we preach not. This work only opens when your number is drawn and it's your time and your calling. Not merely out of curiosity, which is how it begins. Definitely not from peer pressure or desperation. I'm talking about an actual calling. reminds me of Martin Luther King's speech when he talks about the fierce urgency of now. I felt the calling and I began the analyzing and the research, but something all the sudden

forced me to go, meaning I couldn't not go. That's the only thing I would say to assess. But at the same time, however you find your way there is just fine. It's your journey. But my role is not to tell you what to do. My role is to do my own work, to heal, to remember, and return home to myself and let whoever is meant to cross this path, find it in their own time. Allow it. I have chosen to share my experience with you out loud, and I'm doing this for the first time, and I feel vulnerable. It's part of my own healing.

I always find that sharing is caring, and these episodes open a window of potential for you, and I think that's great. If you ever feel the genuine pull towards this work, if something inside of you speak softly rather than shouts. If your curiosity originates from calm stillness rather than panic, I would just say follow your voice carefully and responsibly. Explore the resources offered by Arcana, their website, their Instagram, which is beautiful, and the monthly integration gatherings, you're all welcome to. Listen and learn and ask a bunch of questions. Feel your way through it. Who knows? Maybe there are 12 people through.

throughout the world right now in the same shoes as you that are in the process of one day meeting up together in the lobby of a hotel waiting to get picked up by the facilitators of Arcana. So here's some final advice I'll give you. Make a decision today to never take someone else's medicine as your map. Your journey is yours alone. Your timing is sacred. Your own knowing and breakthrough lives inside of you. all ready.

Plant medicine doesn't call the masses. It calls the ready. So work on yourself and become the best version of yourself and be patient. And if that day ever comes for you, you won't need anyone to tell you what to do. You'll simply know. Make sense? That's it for today. To support the Make Sense with Dr. J.C.

podcast, be sure to subscribe, like, and share, as well as follow the Make Sense substack for free daily quotes, live streams, and blogs. And remember, learning without action is just another form of distraction. If something hit home and you learn something today, give it away. That's the only way it's going to stay. See you next time. Makes sense.