I am lucky to have found this thread. I am a neuroscientist and have dedicated my life to studying the brain. I was in Peru for 7 weeks with the Aymara on the reserve near Lake Titicaca. I learned a lot.
I feel that the plants are the balanced solutions provided by Nature and the extracts only upset the balance Nature created. How you feel about this? I feel it is best to do a minimal extraction (boil in hot water, filter, and reuse) and use it with as much knowledge of spirit, ritual, and the cosmos as you can possibly arm yourself with.
βIn the depths of winter I finally learned there was in me an invincible summerβ - Albert Camus