METRO/MylesGoode

Ayahuasca, a powerful South American hallucinogen often consumed as a tea to take users on spiritual journeys has similar effects to meditation.

Researchers in Barcelona have found that taking ayahuasca leads to traits seen in experienced meditators such as increases in openness and decentering.

Amanda Feilding of the UK-based Beckley Foundation says decentering is the ability to objectively observe ones thoughts and feelings without associating them with identity.

Ayahuasca tea contains DMT, a chemical which causes intense LSD-like trips.

Its pretty powerful stuff one user on Erowid says, I was transported to that extremely alien-like realm that I had been to so many times before. I felt like I was being schooled on existence. A teacher entity that seemed to have some sort of almost condescending power over me was trying to convince me that they constructed our reality completely

Researcher Jordi Riba is monitoring brain activity in depressed people after using ayahuasca and found that the drug actually changes activity in the brain.

One study with 17 depressed volunteers showed a decrease in activity in areas of the brain which tend to be overactive in conditions such as depression and anxiety.

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David Nutt, the director of the neuropsychopharmacology unit at Imperial College London, says that people struggling with depression or addiction are locked into patterns by their brains control centres.

Nutt says, Psychedelics disrupt that process so people can escape.

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Taking hallucinogenic drugs 'has similar effects to meditation on the ... - Metro