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Exclusive interview with Nina Izel
Nina Izel is a pioneer in the psychedelic therapy field and she is passionate about the safe and ethical use of sacred plants for healing and awakening. Walking the path as a wounded healer for many years, Nina was inspired by her own suffering to find more effective ways of healing and recovery.
As a result of her journey, she devoted her life and her career of educating and supporting others with psychedelic therapy and working with the powerful Ayahuasca. Nina’s message is a great reminder for all that you are the healer and change is possible!
Tell us about your story and what brought you to psychedelic therapy?
Since I was a child I suffered from chronic pain and anxiety. Looking for answers and solutions to ease my discomfort led me to study psychology then various holistic healing modalities and eventually brought me to plant medicine and the Mother Ayahuasca.
Before I came to plant medicine, I literally tried everything I could to heal and feel better and while my symptoms improved a lot I still suffered. In 2012 I got an opportunity and an invitation to go to Peru for an Ayahuasca dieta with a local Shipibo healer and despite of all logic and reason I just felt that I had to go. So much so, that I packed up my life in Ireland where I was living before, and embarked on a new journey toward an unknown destination.
Little did I know that this would be the most transformational experience of my life. You can read about this journey and how my life completely changed in my book: Heart Medicine, Ayahuasca Assisted Therapy and the Integration Process.
Enough to say I made all the common mistakes at the beginning like having too many Ayahuasca ceremonies, having no idea about how to integrate the experience, having no support system to rely on, and more. As a result in 2013, I experienced a spiritual emergence that felt like a spiritual emergency to me, meaning that I felt that I was going crazy! Thanks to a local healer who supported me through this difficult experience and taught me about the integration process I emerged from this experience as a new being!
Today I don’t suffer from pain or anxiety anymore. My outlook on life, my relationships, and the way I am living completely changed for the better. I am forever grateful that I came to this path of psychedelic healing and I pivoted my work to support others on their plant medicine healing path.
What inspired you to create Avatar Healing Arts and what is the vision behind your platform?
Avatar Healing Arts was created many years ago to support people with natural and holistic tools on their healing path. Over the last decade, the focus become more on psychedelic integration therapy, supporting people outside of the ceremony container and especially people who are called to work with the Mother Ayahuasca.
I believe that psychedelics and sacred plants are powerful tools and magnifiers that can aid us in our healing and awakening but the most powerful message I received from the Ayahuasca is that You are the healer and love is the medicine!
Based on my experience a guided and supported integration process can make all the difference between reaching your breakthrough results or falling back into your old patterns. Over the last decade, I supported many people with Ayahuasca Assisted Therapy to heal from anxiety, depression, chronic disease, and past trauma just to name a few.
But hear from my clients about their Ayahuasca healing experience
I think it’s most important to educate yourself about how to work with psychedelics or sacred plants like Ayahuasca before you sign up for a plant medicine ceremony. My platform provides free content on how to support your healing with psychedelic therapy. I host a podcast Ayahuasca Avatars to share information, personal experience and connect with the healers and wisdom keepers of this sacred plant.
The first step is to prepare in a conscious and responsible way before you go to a plant medicine ceremony. We created a popular Online Webinar in collaboration with Psychedelic Support to guide people through 5 easy to follow steps to help them in their preparation process.
Your safety is your responsibility so stay safe and make sure you work with the right people.
Tell us about your program Ayahuasca Assisted Therapy and Training and how they can help people to create their breakthrough results?
Ayahuasca Assisted Therapy is a 15 month long Program to uproot your suffering and to change your life! This Program blends modern cutting-edge therapy with indigenous shamanic healing and plant medicine to support healing and deep transformation!
In this Program people receive personal support and guidance in their healing process catalyzed by the Ayahuasca to discover the root of their problems, let go of their suffering, and create the life they truly want to live.
I am also excited to finally share my Facilitator Training Program to support people to turn their psychedelic healing work into a professional career! This powerful Apprenticeship style Training Program provides people with vital skills, experience, and understanding to become a professional and ethical psychedelic integration guide, start a thriving career, and support others in this newly emerging field.
What was the biggest teaching that you received on your healing path?
There are many teachings I received over theyears worth sharing but one of the most important for me was to follow my heart. We are so conditioned to follow our minds and base our big life decisions only on logic and reason. It is scary to listen to your heart and follow that, especially when it takes you on a path less traveled. But courage is not the lack of fear but the willingness to move forward in spite of the fear. That was another important teaching I learned. I discovered that if I follow my heart and trust myself and my path, I will always be at the right place at the right time. Following my heart led me to my passion, my purpose, and my amazing life so I am committed to following my heart!
Tell us about your greatest achievement so far!
That’s easy, it’s my life! A life well lived! A life well lived for me means living with purpose, passion, and meaning, and feeling loved, connected, content and happy as much as you can be, this is something worth working toward.
My Mother once asked me why do I do all this healing work, what is the point of all this? And my simple answer was and still is that because I want to be happy. And you can’t be happy if you still have past baggage. Healing is simply making peace with your past so you can be free and have a real chance to be happy. Otherwise, we just keep repeating the old mistakes and call it faith.
I used to hate myself and I was struggling to find my place and meaning in the tapestry of life. I had many dysfunctional behaviors and limiting patterns that I was unaware of but I was very aware of the suffering that they caused in my life. To change this trajectory and to create a life I love, that means so much to me now, and that allows me to support others who are on the same path is what I would say is my biggest achievement so far!
