What a first ceremony is actually like
Most people arrive with two pictures in their head: the documentary version, all visions and revelations, and the horror-story version. The reality is quieter than both. You arrive in the afternoon, settle into your cabin, eat a light meal, and as it gets dark the group gathers in the ceremony space. Erick explains what will happen. Each person drinks in turn. Then you lie down, and for the next several hours the medicine does what it does while the facilitators sing, watch, and tend to whoever needs it.
Some people see a great deal. Some feel more than they see. Some spend the night purging, which is unpleasant and completely normal. Almost everyone is surprised by how physical the experience is, and almost everyone sleeps deeply afterwards. In the morning there is breakfast and time to talk, which for many first-timers turns out to be as important as the night itself.
How to choose a retreat when you have no experience to compare
You cannot judge a retreat by its photographs. Here is what to look at instead, in the order we would look if we were choosing for a friend.
1. Group size
Ask exactly how many guests will be in the ceremony. Below eight, facilitators can watch each person. Above fifteen, they cannot, no matter how many assistants they list. We cap our retreats at five.
2. Screening
A retreat that lets you book without asking about your health and medications is not looking after you. Ayahuasca is unsafe with SSRIs, MAOIs and some other medications, and with heart conditions, epilepsy and certain psychiatric diagnoses. Our screening process happens before any money changes hands.
3. Who is in the room
Ask who leads the ceremony, how long they have done it, and whether they stay sober and present all night. Ask what happens if someone has a hard time. If the answers are vague, keep looking.
4. What happens the next morning
Integration is the word for making sense of the experience afterwards. A retreat that puts you in a taxi at dawn has skipped the part that makes the night useful. Ours builds it into every day of the retreat.
5. What people say who were actually there
Read reviews on more than one site, and read the critical ones too. Our Google reviews are public, and so is our listing on the main retreat directories.
One night or four days?
We are often asked whether a beginner should start with a single ceremony. Our honest recommendation is the 4-day retreat. The first night is usually about arriving: nerves, unfamiliar surroundings, the body meeting the medicine for the first time. The second night is where most people go deeper, because the fear is gone. And the days between give you time to rest, eat, and talk about what came up before you fly home. A one-night ceremony is a good option if you have worked with the medicine before or genuinely cannot stay longer.
Preparing when you have never done it
Preparation is where first-timers have the most influence over their own experience. It comes down to three things, all described in detail on the preparation page:
- The diet: seven days with no meat, dairy, alcohol or caffeine, and no recreational drugs. It matters more than people expect.
- Medications: tell us everything you take, including supplements. Some must be stopped weeks ahead, always with your doctor.
- Intention: not a goal, more a question you bring with you. It gives the night a direction.
What we do differently for first-timers
We do not run a separate beginner program; we run small groups, and that is what a beginner needs. In a group of five, the person drinking for the first time gets the same attention as everyone else, which is to say, all of it. We talk before the ceremony about what to expect, we stay with you during it, and we sit with you afterwards. It is not complicated. It just requires that the room be small enough to do it.