Ayahuasca is a plant brew used for centuries in Amazonian ceremonies, and in recent years Westerners have travelled to retreats looking for healing and meaning. London Real has followed the subject since 2011, when Brian Rose and co-host Nic Gabriel prepared for their first retreat on camera. These conversations cover what happens in a ceremony, what guests say they learned, how they made sense of it afterwards and the history of the plant. They are personal accounts, not advice. Every full interview is free to watch.
From ethnobotanist Dennis McKenna and Supernatural author Graham Hancock to six-time Mr Olympia Dorian Yates, former UFC title challenger Dan Hardy, Onnit founder Aubrey Marcus and filmmaker Alexander Ward: what happens inside the ceremony and what guests say it taught them.
London Real recorded its hosts before and after ayahuasca. In Ayahuasca Challenge and Ready To Die, Brian Rose and Nic Gabriel talk through their fears ahead of their first retreat. In Back from the Dead they describe how they felt physically and emotionally afterwards. Nic later returned from Peru to recount his experiences with ayahuasca and San Pedro. In 2020 Brian took cameras to Costa Rica for Reconnect, London Real’s documentary, with episodes on anxiety and depression, finding purpose and reconnecting with nature. In 2023 he described his eighth, ninth and tenth ceremonies.
Dorian Yates, the six-time Mr Olympia, talks about how meditation and a spiritual outlook changed his approach to training and life, and he has spoken publicly about ayahuasca. Dan Hardy discusses his experiences with ayahuasca and psilocybin alongside his fighting career. Sonia Doubell explains what drew her to the plant, and Taylor Marie describes how ayahuasca found its way into her life. Aubrey Marcus talks about mastering the mind and the inner critic. Bruce Parry, the explorer and documentary maker, shares what living with indigenous peoples taught him.
Graham Hancock explores what he calls the sacred vine and its effect on human consciousness, and in a later visit argues that adults should have sovereignty over their own bodies. Dennis McKenna, brother of Terence McKenna, recounts their early plant experiments in The Screaming Abyss. At the Reconnect premiere he and Brian discuss integration: making sense of the experience once you are home. Filmmaker Alexander Ward talks about his ayahuasca film Tierra Vida. For the clinical research and drug policy side, see the Psychedelics topic.
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Who has London Real interviewed about ayahuasca? Brian Rose has spoken about ayahuasca with Dennis McKenna, Graham Hancock, Dorian Yates, Dan Hardy, Alexander Ward, Sonia Doubell, Taylor Marie and his co-host Nic Gabriel, and filmed his own ceremonies for the documentary Reconnect.
What is Reconnect? Reconnect is a London Real documentary that follows Brian Rose to an ayahuasca retreat in Costa Rica. The full film, extra episodes and a premiere Q&A with Dennis McKenna are all on this page.
Do the guests recommend taking ayahuasca? These episodes are personal stories and opinions, not advice. Guests describe what the experience meant to them, and Dennis McKenna focuses on integration, the work of understanding an experience afterwards.
Are the full ayahuasca episodes free to watch? Yes. Every full-length interview on this page can be watched free on londonreal.tv.
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