The warriors’ prayer is to be released from the nightmare of war and have their bodies, minds and souls restored.
THE FILM:
Yarindin is a feature length documentary about a group of veterans ravaged by war who journey to South America for initiation into ayahuasca, an indigenous plant medicine of the Amazon. It is the drama of a band of brothers and sisters who fought together on the fields of battle and now fight to heal together in the fields of the soul, blessed by the beauty of nature and the healing magic of indigenous medicine.
In the Hollywood blockbuster Avatar, a soldier ravaged by the trauma of war travels to a distant planet and is restored by communing with the highly spiritual native culture that lives in harmony with nature. Is this sci-fi tale more than a fantasy? Is it possible that a cure for the psychic wounds of war can be found through our connection to nature and the wisdom traditions of indigenous cultures?
Dr. Richard Grossman has teamed up with award-winning filmmaker Mark Schwartz and a team of committed industry professionals to create this testament to the healing power of ayahuasca. Yarindin will follow the process of: 1) Richard recruiting veterans to participate in this healing mission, along the way profiling the depth of the their trauma, 2) all facets of their journey into the Amazon and 3 week dieta with indigenous medicine, 3) re-entry to their homes and US society for 6 months, seeing how lives have changed.
THE WOUND:
The scars of war run deep. Healing is tough, and for some, the horror never ends. Veterans may leave the battlefield and return home to their loved ones, but the wrath of war rages on inside their minds and bodies. Psychologists call this crippling syndrome Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). PTSD haunts the vet by day and by night – visions and nightmares of friends lost, enemies killed, horrors witnessed, atrocities sustained and dutifully committed, and the ongoing fear that serious injury or death lurks around every corner.
These warriors cry out for healing and release from unbearable pain. But sadly, due to the complexity of treating PTSD, many never fully recover. Western medicine and traditional psychology simply doesn’t have the tools yet.
Estimates of PTSD in veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan run as high as 35%. Suicide and substance abuse is reaching epidemic proportions. How does it affect their children? What is, and will be, the toll on society?
THE MEDICINE:
In Israel, a promising medical study successfully used the chemical MDMA to treat war vets suffering from PTSD. But long before scientists synthesized entheogens in the lab (literally: medicines that “create the divine within”) the shamans in South America wielded the knowledge and wisdom of the ancients, using natural entheogens derived from sacred plants to bring about healing. Doctors and therapists from the United States are now working with the indigenous Peruvian healers, discovering how to bring these healing methods to Westerners who seek relief from PTSD in a way that works with our culture, blending therapies, music and spiritual practices from around the world.
PTSD occurs when the past bubbles into and affects the present. A soldier who was in battle can flash back to the emotional content of the battle and re-experience it in the safety of the present, making the present seem as dangerous as the battleground. Terror imprints in the brain and the nervous system in a way that is considered indelible. In response to stimulus that can be as simple as the noise of an overhead helicopter or the look in a strangers face, the terror of the past is re-awakened and the victim of the terror is paralyzed in the terror that really only exists in their memory.
One of the main ideas in shamanic healing is that healing can only occur in the present; that bringing all of a person's parts into the exact moment of the present is by it's simple nature not only healing but transformative.
This is Yarindin, the exact moment of now, an ancient word heard in healing ceremonies throughout the Amazon. Now is when the medicine exists, now is when the miracle exists, now is when the healing exists, now is when transformation exists.
Now. Only Now. Yarindin.
