Best Ayahuasca Retreat – Finding the Holy Grail
So you’ve felt the calling to Ayahuasca, and now you’re searching for the best Ayahuasca retreat. Right?
Here’s 3 things to consider:
1) Don’t focus on proximity
A common mistake is for people to value an Ayahuasca retreat’s proximity to them over its actual merits. Please don’t fall into that trap.
After all, if you want to have a life-changing experience, isn’t it best to choose one that’s a perfect fit for you, regardless of how far away it is?
And isn’t a life-changing experience worth putting in the effort to travel to another country? (I sure hope so!)
I suppose the exception would be if you feel you just can’t afford to travel abroad, but it might surprise you to find out that it’s cheaper than you might think if you have some flexibility in scheduling and number of layovers.
2) Choose your flavor
Next, decide whether you want a more affordable but rustic experience or a more expensive but also more comfortable experience.
If you’re on a super tight budget and feel the need to go sooner rather than later, then circumstances will make this decision for you. But if you have some flexibility with what you can afford, here’s something to keep in mind.
Your journey is likely going to be challenging – both physically and emotionally – so wouldn’t it be nice to be as comfortable as possible between ceremonies?
Personally, I can tell you from experience that having a nice soothing soak in a hot tub immediately following a San Pedro ceremony is one of the best things life has to offer! And I highly recommend attending a retreat that offers one.
3) How much is too much?
Another key factor to consider is exactly how long you can you be gone for and how many ceremonies you might want to pack into that time.
Some retreats can be as short as 3 or 4 days, and the average length is more like 10-14 days.
I suggest that, unless you don’t have any better options, it’s highly advisable to attend an Ayahuasca retreat that schedules at least 1 day off between each ceremony.
You may feel like “I’m going to be paying all this money, so I want to cram in as many ceremonies as possible!” But trust me, you’ll feel different after the first ceremony.
You’ll need time to contemplate, ponder life, and process everything that happened in your ceremony, and this is the ideal time for journaling.
As for the number of ceremonies, it’s hard to say what the ideal number is since everyone’s experience with the medicine is unique, but I can at least relay to you what a shaman personally told me.
That is, he felt as though 3 Ayahuasca ceremonies was a good number because in his view…
- the first ceremony tends to be the bumpy entry into the medicine space that can be rough (especially if one doesn’t follow the dieta)
- the second ceremony tended to help resolve any lingering issues
- and the third ceremony tended to be a more blissful enlightenment
That’s just one person’s perspective, but he obviously has a lot more ceremonies under his belt than most, so I feel like his opinion carries some weight to it; ya know?
Pulling it all together
Now that you’ve laid out your criteria, you can either choose from the retreat centers on the homepage (it’s hard to go wrong there)…
…or you might prefer to just browse by category, or by location.
4) Listen to Your Intuition
Lastly, trust your gut instinct as you read what the retreat center has to say about themselves, as well as what others have to say about their experiences there.
It might even help to message them directly, to get a better idea of what they’re all about. And in all likelihood, things will just ‘click’ when you find the right one.
Even if they don’t, just drop us a line and let us know your criteria, and we’ll be happy to help you choose the right one for you.
And of course no matter which Ayahuasca retreat you choose (or other plant medicines), you’re always welcome to leave your own review once you get back. When you do that, you help to pay it forward by sharing your unique perspective with others that come after you.
Cheers,
Tim G.
AyaAdvisors.org
