Kerry Rhodes: Ayahuasca’s Healing Journey
Kerry Rhodes is an American actor and former American football All-Pro safety in the National Football League. In The Movie “The Medicine” we access a deeper look into the Ancestral Wisdom and Traditional Healing Practices among the Shamans from the Amazon. Kerry’s own personal healing journey with Ayahuasca after leaving the NFL led eventually to a collaboration with the film, The Medicine, a documentary about the spiritual and healing journey that is Ayahuasca.
An Interview with Kerry Rhodes: Ayahuasca’s Healing Journey
OMTimes: Why did you decide to take this journey with Ayahuasca. Did you nurture the real intention to change yourself, physically, mentally, and spiritually?
Kerry Rhodes: Yeah, I decided to make the journey about 3 1/2 years ago. It was really about me understanding that the life I was leading at the time was not conducive to the human experience that I wanted for me moving forward. My initial introduction to The Medicine was from the experience from the director Farzin and his wife because of their experience with the Medicine. I was able to see what it did for them and how they were reacting to it. Then the changes that I saw with them personally sparked my interest. Still, it wasn’t until I really dove in and started to learn about The Medicine, its principles, and its properties. I was able to understand it on the level of understanding that I needed at the time. When I did my research on the Medicine, I learned that it had regenerative properties for the brain and for me with my football days and having this fear of having all the concussions, the brain trauma, and the CTE things were the reason that I really decided to dive in.
On top of that, I was in a very toxic relationship. I wanted to really dive in and see what traumas and what things were controlling me and putting me in a position to attract that type of relationship. So, I needed to dive deep and look inward, not for the sake of anything but being more spiritually aware and open to really seeing myself, flaws, and all.
OMTimes: What were your expectations and intentions before your experience? What did you envision it would be the result of your Inner Involvement with Ayahuasca? Did you feel in any way frustrated with your first experiences with it?
Kerry Rhodes: Speaking about expectations, I didn’t have any. I really didn’t know what to expect. All I knew was that I was going into the unknown, and in the past, the unknown really scared me. I do know that even with the unknown when I commit to something, I commit all the way, and there was no difference when I tried Ayahuasca. I dove straight into the experience with full commitment. My intention overall was to really look at myself and be honest with myself and really get to the bottom of who I was as an individual; as a person to really see the work that I needed to do, to raise my vibration, and really not judge what I was going to see. So, I’ll say my intentions were to leave there a more empathetic, more compassionate, more complete spiritual being, and I would say my first experience with that was a success. It was a life-changing moment for me.
OMTimes: “I do not believe that consciousness is generated by the brain. And believe that the brain is more of a receiver of consciousness”. ~Graham Hancock.
Does this affirmation resonate as an accurate statement to you based on your experience with Ayahuasca?
Kerry Rhodes: The brain is a receiver for sure. It is valuable obviously for life here on earth, in this body. Still, beyond that level of operation, there are so many beautiful messages that we can receive spiritually and outside of that normal functioning process that our comprehension through coding and life experiences can stunt. I don’t let information and downloads miss me anymore after my experiences with this beautiful Medicine.
OMTimes: Tell us a little about your purification process before your Ceremony. At any point in the process, did you feel vulnerable?
Kerry Rhodes: During the purification process, yes, I followed it to the T. I wanted to get the ultimate experience. Like I said, I dove in. I did everything the right way to honor Medicine and experience. I was vulnerable the whole time. The entire process was new to me. Putting myself on a diet to meet the dietary restrictions and to be open to the things that we’re going to be shown to me and stripping off my ego left me so vulnerable. But that was the beauty of my process, vulnerability. I was humbled so much by the Medicine and its power and the fact that I have no control of it, it was so much healing and so much beauty in that for me.
OMTimes: Did you face some of the mystical surprises (some say Mother Ayahuasca sometimes manifests) during your Ayahuasca Ceremony?
Kerry Rhodes: Mother ayahuasca mystical properties were on full blast for me. I experienced so much of her beauty and power. I saw everything from just prisms and lights and colors, to me laying on a mat outside in the Amazon flipping the pages of past lives. (literally) Seeing people that I had concerns or questions about their existence in my life being shown to me through those pages, and seeing that, and seeing those persons being a part of my life in all those chapters, helped me to see that my experiencing them on a 2D level was necessary. And the beauty of that and then knowing that even though what we as humans may call mistakes, it was all essential to me being the person that I ultimately want to be. It’s so much beauty in that.
OMTimes: Some say that the journey of discovery with Ayahuasca can be intense and very tough. Many times, the ego fights these experiences and sensations. Did you have problems surrendering to the moment?
Kerry Rhodes: I had one moment of trying to fight it, and it was the first feeling of things not being in my control under the Medicine. There was an initial almost like buzzing sound, and then the clock on the wall started to move; then, I started seeing these colors and shapes and prisms, and all I can remember saying is oh shit! Then I took a deep breath to calm myself and told myself To surrender. After that initial shock or feeling that I had, the rest of the journey, that problem never arose. It was funny to me after because, before this, I had never put any foreign substance in my body, besides occasional alcohol.
OMTimes: In many indigenous Cultures, Ayahuasca is seen as a female spirit, a guide with maternal qualities. Did you have this direct experience during your sacred Ceremony?
Kerry Rhodes: Ayahuasca is definitely a female spirit. For me, personally, my journey was one to reconnect with my feminine side. Mother reminded me how beautiful that side of me is and having the opportunity to reconnect with that side was everything. In life, everything is about balance, and for so long, I was only using my masculine energy to be successful in my occupation, but when I look back before Ayahuasca, my ability to connect emotionally was challenging. So now, my everyday practice includes always connecting with my feminine energy and my masculine energy, and to make sure that all of me, all of my being, is in alignment.
OMTimes: Did you feel that your transformational experience with (Yage) interfered or even change your relationship with your world view and Religion? Did you awaken to new realities you did not have access to before?
Kerry Rhodes: Yage woke me up to new possibilities and hopes for the world. Everything stems from a love for me, and the communication and sharing and openness That I’m comfortable sharing now with people is so beautiful. It did change some relationships that I had prior, but I do know that it was all for the best. There are a lot of things and relationships that we hold on to for too long, and I know that. Those moments are teaching lessons for us if we allow them to be, and I believe yage will show you if you are open and ready for the teachings. My life, my beliefs, have changed for the better because of it.
OMTimes: Tell us a little about your connections with Taita Juanito. What was your first impression, and through your many healing sessions, what did you personally learn from him?
Kerry Rhodes: Taita Juanito is the most loving man I’ve ever met in my life. His gentle but very in control manner that he operates from is so soothing. I personally felt so comfortable in his presence, and I knew deep down, from some source that I’ve never felt before, that I was going to be OK. He’s brilliant, he’s charismatic, and the undeniable support that he had for all of us was magical. I genuinely love him. The honesty that he shared with me from the first moment we met was one of the reasons I was so comfortable with embarking on that journey. He said one thing to me that I will always remember, and he said this, “this ceremony this drink is only the start of your life, you have to continue to do the work after that. Ayahuasca was not going to be this magic cure.” That showed me how humble he was and that he was not there to take all the credit. That was beautiful to me.
OMTimes: In the Documentary, we noticed that you focused your Inner work, the intention of this sacred connection to Ayahuasca as a process, not as a single event. Why was that?
Kerry Rhodes: I believe in life that everything is a process. I think there are single acts in life that can change the course of your life, but even with that, things have to continue. Wherever or whatever you choose to put energy into, that’s up to you. Ayahuasca and myself, I knew that where I started with the Medicine and where I ended after the Medicine was going to be a process. And that for me was where the beauty lay. I commit, and I will pour my heart and soul into what I believe. I believe in Ayahuasca’s healing properties, and everything is a process. So, it worked out for me.
Connect with The Medicine
The Medicine is produced by Alma Media and Aperture Media Productions Credits include Farzin Toussi (producer, director), Colet Abedi (producer), Jared Underwood (producer), Ali Moghadas (director of photography), and Shawn Tavassoli (editor). For more information please visit themedicinedocumentary.com and 1091media.com.
Click HERE to Connect with your Daily Horoscope on OMTimes!
About the Interviewer
Creatrix from Sirius. Fairly Odd Mother of Saints (Bernards). Fish Tank aficionado by day ninja by night. Liane is also the Editor-in-Chief of OMTimes Magazine and Ministry Earth Magazine, Co-Founder of Humanity Healing International and Humanity Healing Network, and a Board Member of Saint Lazarus Relief Fund.
Follow OMTimes Astrology on Facebook
Follow us on Instagram
