Stanley will discuss his long-standing interest in ayahuasca, going back to the 1960s when it was better known as Yage. This was the term used by such pioneers as the anthropologist William McGovern and the authors of The Yage Papers, William Burroughs and Alan Ginsberg, with whom Stanley had several interactions.

Stanley Krippner had the opportunity to participate in a few ayahuasca sessions in Brazil, and gave his first lecture on the topic in 1991, explaining how the brew had been an integral part of sacred ceremonies in the Amazon Basin going back centuries. The brew is made from local plants that have to be carefully grown and concocted in just the right amounts, so Stanley asked native practitioners how their ancestors stumbled upon this knowledge. The response was "the plant told them." He had interactions with the three Brazilian religions in which ayahuasca is a sacrament, and participated in sessions with two of them. Stanley will discuss how ayahuasca is used therapeutically to treat PTSD and other modern disorders. He will be joined by Joseph Sulla, a representative of the Hawaiian Santo Daime Church.