When Plants Dream: Daniel Pinchbeck and Sophia Rokhlin

Ayahuasca is a powerful tool for transformation, that more and more Westerners are flocking to drink in a quest for greater self-knowledge, healing and reconnection with the natural world. This formerly esoteric, little-known brew is now a growth industry. But why?

Ayahuasca is a psychoactive tea that has a long history of ritual use among indigenous groups of the Upper Amazon. Made from the ayahuasca vine and the leaves of a shrub, ayahuasca is associated with healing in collective ceremonies and in more intimate contexts, generally under the direction of specialist – an ayahuasquero. These are experienced practitioners who guide the ceremony and the ‘drinkers’ experience.

Ayahuasca has gained significant popularity these days in cities around the world. Ceremonies happen nightly and Hollywood stars, Wall Street players and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs now drink the brew. Why? What effect might ayahuasca be having on our culture? Could it be the LSD of our time? Does the brew, which seems to inspire environmental action, simplified lifestyles and more communitarian behaviour, act as an antidote to frenzied consumerist culture?

In When Plants Dream, Pinchbeck and Rokhlin explore the economic, social, political, cultural and environmental impact that ayahuasca is having on society. When Plants Dream is the first book of its kind to look at the science and expanding culture of ayahuasca, from its historical use to its appropriation by the West and the impact it is having on cultures beyond the Amazon.

Daniel Pinchbeck is the bestselling author of Breaking Open the Head, 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl and How Soon is Now? He co-founded the web magazine Reality Sandwich and the online platform Evolver.net. His essays and articles have appeared in publications including The New York Times, Esquire, Rolling Stone, and ArtForum, and he has been a columnist for Dazed & Confused.

Sophia Rokhlin, MSc is an anthropologist and nonprofit organizer from New York City. She is a Program Coordinator at the Chaikuni Institute, a nonprofit organization supporting regenerative agriculture and the sustainable cultivation of ayahuasca in the Amazon rainforest. She is an editor at Chacruna.net and is based in the Peruvian Amazon.











When: Tue., Sep. 10, 2019 at 7:00 pm
Where: McNally Jackson Seaport
4 Fulton St.
646-964-4232
Price: Free
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Ayahuasca is a powerful tool for transformation, that more and more Westerners are flocking to drink in a quest for greater self-knowledge, healing and reconnection with the natural world. This formerly esoteric, little-known brew is now a growth industry. But why?

Ayahuasca is a psychoactive tea that has a long history of ritual use among indigenous groups of the Upper Amazon. Made from the ayahuasca vine and the leaves of a shrub, ayahuasca is associated with healing in collective ceremonies and in more intimate contexts, generally under the direction of specialist – an ayahuasquero. These are experienced practitioners who guide the ceremony and the ‘drinkers’ experience.

Ayahuasca has gained significant popularity these days in cities around the world. Ceremonies happen nightly and Hollywood stars, Wall Street players and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs now drink the brew. Why? What effect might ayahuasca be having on our culture? Could it be the LSD of our time? Does the brew, which seems to inspire environmental action, simplified lifestyles and more communitarian behaviour, act as an antidote to frenzied consumerist culture?

In When Plants Dream, Pinchbeck and Rokhlin explore the economic, social, political, cultural and environmental impact that ayahuasca is having on society. When Plants Dream is the first book of its kind to look at the science and expanding culture of ayahuasca, from its historical use to its appropriation by the West and the impact it is having on cultures beyond the Amazon.

Daniel Pinchbeck is the bestselling author of Breaking Open the Head, 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl and How Soon is Now? He co-founded the web magazine Reality Sandwich and the online platform Evolver.net. His essays and articles have appeared in publications including The New York Times, Esquire, Rolling Stone, and ArtForum, and he has been a columnist for Dazed & Confused.

Sophia Rokhlin, MSc is an anthropologist and nonprofit organizer from New York City. She is a Program Coordinator at the Chaikuni Institute, a nonprofit organization supporting regenerative agriculture and the sustainable cultivation of ayahuasca in the Amazon rainforest. She is an editor at Chacruna.net and is based in the Peruvian Amazon.

Buy tickets/get more info now