San Francisco, CA — [April 4, 2025] — The Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines is proud to announce the launch of its latest course offering: Ayahuasca Healing, Science and Indigenous Knowledge, an educational program designed to explore the complex and evolving role of ayahuasca in today’s world.
This three-month online course brings together leading experts in psychedelic research and respected Indigenous leaders, including Francisco Apurinã, Tashka Yawanawa, and Muká Yawanawá, to offer participants a comprehensive, ethical, and critically informed understanding of ayahuasca—its traditional uses, scientific study, legal status, and the pressing issues arising from its global spread. Academic voices such as Jean Langdon, a renowned medical anthropologist with decades of experience studying Indigenous health systems in the Amazon, will also offer critical perspectives that bridge research and cultural context.
“We are honored to provide a space where ancestral knowledge and scientific inquiry can coexist and create meaningful dialogues —and where the voices of Indigenous communities are not tokenized, but actually heard and centered.”
Bia Labate, Co-founder and Executive Director of Chacruna
“This course invites learners into some of the most important, cutting-edge, and difficult conversations in the psychedelic space,” said Dr. Bia Labate, co-founder and Executive Director of Chacruna. “We are honored to provide a space where ancestral knowledge and scientific inquiry can coexist and create meaningful dialogues —and where the voices of Indigenous communities are not tokenized, but actually heard and centered.”
A Timely Course for a Critical Moment
As ayahuasca continues to gain popularity worldwide, conversations around cultural appropriation, commodification, legal uncertainty, and extractive practices have intensified. Ayahuasca Healing, Science and Indigenous Knowledge offers students the opportunity to explore these tensions through a holistic, decolonial lens, and invites them to consider their own roles in the broader ayahuasca ecosystem.
This pivotal course will enrich and deepen students’ perspectives, and will support their professional and personal growth as they navigate these issues in their own practices.
Who Should Enroll
This course is designed for:
- Psychedelic therapists and facilitators
- Researchers, students, and academics
- Activists and policy professionals
- Spiritual seekers and Indigenous allies
No prior experience is required—only a willingness to engage with respect, openness, and critical reflection. Licensed practitioners are eligible to receive 24 CE credits for participation in the course.
What Participants Will Learn
The course includes six core modules, covering:
- The globalization and medicalization of ayahuasca
- Traditional Indigenous healing frameworks
- Challenges in clinical and therapeutic research
- Legal and ethical considerations around sacred plant use
- Cultural appropriation and the discrediting of ancestral knowledge
- The integration of ceremony and psychotherapy
In addition to these foundational topics, this year’s course introduces brand-new classes that offer rare and immersive insights into Indigenous epistemologies:
- Siona Shamanism: Modes of Knowledge and Experience with Ayahuasca, taught by anthropologist Jean Langdon, exploring her decades of work with the Siona people.
- The Uni (Ayahuasca) and the Path of the Spirit: Traditional Knowledge of the Yawanawá Indigenous People, led by Tashka Yawanawá and Muká Yawanawá, sharing teachings from the Brazilian Amazon.
Students will receive weekly recorded lectures and curated readings, followed by live 1.5-hour Zoom discussions with instructors in an intimate, community-based format.
Continuing Chacruna’s Mission of Psychedelic Justice
With this course, Chacruna furthers its commitment to promoting psychedelic justice by uplifting marginalized voices, protecting sacred plant traditions, and fostering education rooted in ethics and reciprocity.
Chacruna has hosted 12 international conferences, published over 980 articles in three languages, and awarded more than 2,100 scholarships to BIPOC and low-income participants. Its educational offerings have partnered with institutions like Harvard University, Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley, and Naropa University.
Registration Now Open
Enrollment for Ayahuasca Healing, Science and Indigenous Knowledge 2025 is now open.
Classes meet weekly on Mondays from April 7th – July 14th 2025, 10:30am-12pm PST/1:30pm-3pm EST ($950 single payment or two monthly payments of $475).
About Chacruna
The Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines promotes reciprocity in the psychedelic community, and supports the protection of sacred plants and cultural traditions. Chacruna advances psychedelic justice through uplifting the voices of women, queer people, Indigenous peoples, people of color, and the Global South in the field of psychedelic science.
The Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization co-founded by Brazilian anthropologist Dr. Bia Labate and American psychologist Dr. Clancy Cavnar, based in Northern California and with strong ties to Brazil and Mexico. We promote reciprocity in the psychedelic community, and support the protection of sacred plants and cultural traditions. We advance psychedelic justice through curating critical conversations and uplifting the voices of women, queer people, Indigenous peoples, people of color, and the Global South in the field of psychedelic science.
