In this episode of Ayahuasca Podcast host Sam Believ (founder of www.lawayra.com) has a conversation with Simon Tennant—a New Zealand psychotherapist, integration coach, and longtime friend of LaWayra. Simon supports guests through complex processes (including repressed trauma), drawing on meditation, IFS lenses, somatic work, and a growing interest in philosophy and Christian mysticism alongside Buddhism. He’s served on LaWayra’s facilitation team and consults post-retreat, emphasizing patience, embodiment, and community as pillars of lasting change.

• 00:00–00:03 — Reunion, Simon’s role with LaWayra and integration work
• 00:03–00:06 — Recent ceremonies: body-based learning, “great mystery,” non-ordinary states
• 00:06–00:09 — How ayahuasca deepened meditation; greater capacity with difficult client work
• 00:09–00:12 — Shamanic flavor across traditions; curiosity over fixed identities
• 00:12–00:17 — From Buddhist lens to Christian mysticism; using “God” without recoil
• 00:17–00:20 — Multiple lenses metaphor; flexibility vs. rigidity in belief systems
• 00:20–00:23 — Losing self/other to return more whole; holding paradox and conflict
• 00:22–00:24 — Containers, boundaries, and why safe ceremony space matters
• 00:24–00:29 — What volunteering at LaWayra teaches therapists vs. online courses
• 00:29–00:32 — Building a practical facilitator training: “cookbook” + kitchen analogy
• 00:32–00:35 — Post-retreat integration: practices, community, and resisting distractions
• 00:36–00:39 — Working with childhood/sexual-abuse material: patience and not-knowing
• 00:39–00:43 — Somatic integration: TRE, SE, body as a safe place
• 00:40–00:41 — Ayahuasca as a shadow medicine; opening and purgation
• 00:44–00:48 — Shadow, DMN, neuroplasticity, and the ego/DMN connection
• 00:48–00:50 — Three-hour maloca meditation: embodied attention and capacity

If you would like to attend one of our Ayahuasca retreats go to www.lawayra.com

Find more about Simon Tennant at csimon.nz (C-Simon, spelled c-s-i-m-o-n.nz).