Ayahuasca, San Pedro (Huachuma), Yopo Starts from $1,250

Nada Brahma Healing Center

Costa Rica

Nada Brahma Healing Center – is a small healing center located in the beautiful mountains of Costa Rica which offers intense plant medicine healing retreats as well as détox, meditation and yoga retreats. During all of our retreats, Carlos, our spiritual guide, and ceremony facilitator utilizes different plant medicines such as Ayahuasca, Kambo, Yoppo, Rapé (tobacco) and Huachuma “San Pedro” to assist you on your journey within and begin the inner-work, to expand your consciousness and to re-discover who you are. The variety of plant medicines utilized not only cleanse the mind, body, and spirit but also are healing both physically and emotionally. Carlos, our spiritual guide, and ceremony facilitator decides which medicines are needed daily depending on your needs and the energy of the group.

This is a place to disconnect from the modern world and re-connect with nature and yourself. Carlos and our staff work with an open heart, sensitivity, and compassion. Our staff is passionate about the work and committed to providing the support and guidance needed for each guest so that they leave with clarity, present awareness, a deeper connection to themselves, inner peace and emotional healing.

Our retreats are generally limited to 5-8 guests. This allows for more time to work one-on-one with each guest and for more of an intimate atmosphere. We try to make each guest feel at home while staying at our little piece of paradise.

The retreat is comprised of:
– 2-3 powerful Ayahuasca ceremonies guided by Carlos, our experienced spiritual guide. A third ceremony is optional and depends on how you feel and your energy level.
– 1 Kambo Ceremony
– Additional plant medicines as tailored and recommended by Carlos according to your energy and needs which may include Yopo, Huachuma “San Pedro”, and/or Rapé (sacred Amazonian Medicine).
– Temazcal (sweat lodge) ceremony
– Individual one-on-one integration work with Carlos
– All meals in line with the recommended plant medicine diet
– Transportation to and from San Jose (SJO) airport
– Various day activities and at least one special relaxing day trip to one of Costa Rica’s popular destinations
– Nature walks to our own private waterfall

Before your retreat: Prior to arriving for your retreat you will want to follow the recommended diet that we send all retreat participants. Although we are flexible and can accept last minute reservations, we recommend if you are thinking of one of our retreats to contact us at least one (1) week before the retreat so that we can send you the dietary restrictions and conduct a brief medical screening.

After your retreat: For many, our retreat is just the beginning of their spiritual journey. Although many are motivated to return home with a deeper connection and understanding of themselves and their lives, some find it difficult to integrate back into their habitat. For that reason, we have begun to offer 1-2 additional private integration sessions following your retreat at no additional charge. Your session is scheduled approximately 1 month after your retreat.

Reviews (4)

2.5 out of 5
Overall 2.5
  • Mon
    Mon
    July 21, 2023 at 2:39 pm

    I’ve been unsure about even writing a review as it took me a long time to process this awful experience. I initially went there in 2019 and had a beautiful experience. Staff was great and Jessica and Herald were there as well. Most of us decided to return together so upon our decision to book it we were cut off from previous communication with Carlos and were told to only communicate with Fanny. She was rude in every correspondence and most of us was getting weary. Upon arrival Fanny greeted us, but carlos did not come down from his room to say hello. It was all strange. Then at night we were summoned and I was there with 6 of my friends and he immediately started attacking me that I had two faces and something to hide. I kept on telling him that after a lot of work and a very long trip from Europe that I was tired, but he wouldn’t give up. It literally made everyone uncomfortable in the room. The whole experience was horrible. There was hardly any food, and we were hungry all the time. One day I said I’m really hungry and want more and they said..there is no more. We were cut off from most of the areas and kicked out by Fanny if we’re spent a minute too long in the main house. You can’t talk in the front of the house, in the back of the house mostly just in your room. The rooms were extremely dirty and we were all brutally eaten by bed bugs. When we told them they had bed bugs, Fanny said..the rooms are clean..as if that has anything to do with it. They did nothing to help us or sort it out and we were forced to sleep in those beds the whol freaking week…All but one was bitten and we went home scarred from the bites and it took months to heal. I’m still super angry about this. Jessica is not there anymore, which is evident because the whole place has lost its charm. Herald has been let go too, which is also a shame since we all looked forward to him. They had some workshops, but three of us were not allowed to join and one of the girls repeatedly asked and said that she also wanted to. They don’t take you to the hot springs anymore and not to the tourist shop before the airport. I second the commen that Carlos has become all ego and his Gray being that has infiltrated his place is doing a fine job at destroying what he had built. There is so much more I could write, but essentially it came down to the Aya ceremonies. Some of us had two and some only had one. You won’t be guaranteed to enjoy it the three times, so all in all paying this money, taking time off and flying half across the world to be spoken to like you’re a dark being, no food, nothing to do, being bit by bed bugs and maybe 1 or 2 Aya ceremonies. There was one saving grace and it was Marcella. Check to see if she is still there in case you do decide to go, without her this place will be anything but a great experience.This was last year Feb.

  • msoup
    msoup
    July 6, 2023 at 6:42 pm

    If you’re looking to go off the grid this is the place to go! The moment you arrive you are asked to surrender your phones, technology, watches, books, journals and snacks. Basically anything that can distract you from the present moment. You’re in nature with no concept of time with # of strangers who become some of your closest companions by the end of it. The most challenging part was all the time in the world and waiting for your next meal and ceremony. By the third day it was tough just staring into the abyss, but mostly having to deal with feelings of intense boredom. They have 1 activity every other day, which were visiting their private reserve, trekking down to the waterfall, and a temazkal (my favourite). These were the only 3 “activities” outside the ceremonies that happened every other night. Also add that you are fasting for 24 hours every other day before/during ceremonies. If you’re looking for some yoga or meditation sessions or some sort of entertainment during your 8-day long stay perhaps this place is not for you. But if you enjoy walking around, staring at bugs, looking at 1 beautiful scenery of the gorgeous costa rican mountains for hours and hours this could be the perfect place! I was there with 7 other people and it seemed like most of us got very low doses – if you want a second cup you may or not get it as this isn’t your decision to make but the facilitator’s – as are other ceremonies outside of aya (I also experienced no purging for all 3 ceremonies but mostly feelings of nausea). My ceremony itself wasn’t as impactful/extraordinary than I expected, as it mostly felt like I was in an altered state the entire night and barely saw anything or remember much. I guess I too “needed to take it to know I didn’t need to”! But not to undermine my personal experience as I was able to receive the breakthrough I was looking for. The 8 days of no phones/contact with the outside world and lack of things to do really forced me to look deep within, and carlos offered some powerful insights that I will probably remember for the rest of my life! Myself and another guest ended up having to leave a day early as we had to access our phones to leave a text message to our families (if you’re handed your phone it’s basically an exile sentence). This was a bit of an unfortunate situation as we thought it a bit of a dramatic consequence for a single safety check text message that probably required less than 5 minutes! However there was no room for negotiations or understanding and the strict rules don’t go anywhere. Carlos helped us call a taxi but Fanny was nowhere to be found as we still wished to say a thank you and goodbye. Our leaving was quick without much words or glimpse of human emotion from either of them (perhaps they have mastered transcending emotions that are anything other than high vibrations) – and again nothing from Fanny. I still want to thank them both for everything, the preparing our food, their service, setting up and clearing our spaces and watching over us during the entirety of the ceremony!

    Perhaps our leaving a day early was all “part of the journey”! If you choose this center, just make sure you know that if you ask for your phone the answer will be a hard no or the option to leave – I wasn’t prepared for the lack of flexibility and tight rules. Some compassion, empathy and understanding can go a long way for us “outsiders” who are completely new to this journey/experience…. I know this specific journey was needed for me and it’s helped me appreciate my life in the world so much more. The best thing I got out of this experience was meeting the 7 other individuals who have all come together to heal –

  • Deborah715
    Deborah715
    July 6, 2023 at 6:41 pm

    Carlos and Fanny have a beautiful space with simple accommodations, excellent food and a gorgeous view. However I absolutely do not recommend that people come here.
    -Carlos is one of the most self-centered people in the position of guide that I could imagine. Most of his “integration” is telling you how he interprets your journey in the context of his understanding of the world. This is the opposite of the concept of integration, which is about helping the individual experiencing the journey reflect on how they want to integrate their insights (not his) into their daily lives for transformative change. Ex: a person talks about being abandoned by their mother and how, through the healing power of the medicine, she realizes that she was always loved by her mother. This person should have had their insights affirmed, that they are indeed truly loved. They could have been encouraged to feel that love in their body, and to feel the real truth of that love from the journey, to integrate it into their life. Instead, Carlos responds that he also had father issues, felt abandoned by his father, but then through the medicine, realized that he didn’t need a father, so why do we need fathers. Ie, the person should not worry about not having a mother. This is really harmful “integration.”
    -He would also regularly criticized people during their integration – in subtle but still harmful ways. Someone expressed interest in reading a particular book and he criticized them for wanting knowledge from books. I personally stated that I wanted a higher dose of the medicine, and he criticized me for “having an agenda.” I was never allowed to achieve the levels of insight I came for because of this.
    -Carlos is extremely defensive about the fact that he has no training other than personal experience, and has not apprenticed nor appeared to have read books by other experts. Almost every lecture he gives, he actively criticizes learning from books, as if no previous healer has insight worth attending to; he refers to learning from books as a “trap”. And he actively denigrates others’ insights and views and does not recognize contributions of anyone else but his own insights. So much for gratitude!
    -They take away your electronic devices, which does have some usefulness, and which they warn you of a few days in advance. However, they also insist on taking away books and even journals, which does not have justification and for which they do not warn you. And they also take any snacks you might have to “keep you from temptation.”
    -Two of the participants needed to text their parents for emergency reasons; they were not allowed to. Finally, after insisting, Fanny let them, but then said they had to leave. The participants were quite distressed. Later I told Fanny that many of us were upset about it and wanted to know her reasoning. She actually said she had not told them to leave; it was a misunderstanding. I acknowledged that people have different points of view, and appreciated that she had not intended to give them that impression. But she insisted that the others left on their own and she did nothing wrong, without being willing to acknowledge that she played a part in a miscommunication.
    -Carlos’s English is not great; he should put in the effort so that he can understand better the nuance of what people are saying. But whatever you say probably won’t matter much, as he will just reiterate his understanding of the world. Many times people commented to me that they did not understand what he was saying anyways.
    -Others in my group posted reviews on Google, and they were deleted. It seems to make sense now that that is why he has 5-star rating when his performance is so poor.
    -During the ceremonies, Fanny and Carlos do take good care of people if you are struggling, need help, etcetera. But I could not trust again taking this medicine with someone who has so little insight as to the proper role of a guide, and who hijacks every conversation to lecture about their personal beliefs.

  • Kousuke Ogino
    Kousuke Ogino
    October 12, 2018 at 3:51 pm

    If you are planning to come here to just trip balls this may not be the place for you… if you feel like you are stuck in a rut or as Carlos explains it best “to connect with your true self” this may be the place for you. Before I had come to the retreat I was stuck in a vicious negative feedback whirlpool that I could never seem to swim out of… until I had taken Ayahuasca. Ayahusca did NOT cure anything – she just showed me the fallacy of the way I looked at the world and in a way showed me what I already knew in my sub-conscious mind. She cleared the bullshit fog of ego and negative self perception I had about myself and let me be my TRUE self for the first time. It was the most liberating thing in the world. My spirit felt as light as ever and my mind felt like it was at true peace for the first time since I exited the womb. Now don’t get me wrong I don’t want to make it seem like the plant medicine is all butterflies and sunshine as it can be very physically and mentally demanding depending on how much baggage you go in with. What do I mean by that? I guess you could compare the plant medicine to Santa Clause – she KNOWS whether you’ve been good or bad to yourself; have you neglected taking care of your body? She will show you in a tough love kind of way that you need to take care of yourself better. And the same can be said about your mental state.

    As far as the location of the place I would be hard pressed to find a better setting especially at such a price point as Nada Brahma. The staff was on top of keeping the place very tidy and catered to our needs whenever we were hungry or thirsty. We always had fresh homemade meals which was always delicious. Thank you Jessica! Throughout my week stay at NB I got the feeling that Carlos and Jessica weren’t in it for the money but to genuinely help the people. The smaller group setting also feels a lot more intimate and I am grateful for all the knowledge and wisdom Carlos shared with us.

    In the end if you come with good intentions Mother Aya will take care of you. 🙂

    Special shout out to Harold, the staff, Ruff, and the kiddos for putting up with the guests rummaging in and out of there place at all hours of the day.

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