How to Prepare for an Ayahuasca Retreat

Preparation for an ayahuasca retreat does not begin only when you arrive at our centre. It begins much earlier, ideally from the moment you decide that you truly want to come and experience ayahuasca.

The first thing you should do is think about why you actually want to undergo ayahuasca. You do not need to have one specific major problem that you need to solve. However, it is good to arrive with a certain intention and, above all, with respect.

Your intention may be, for example, that you want to heal, cleanse your mind, soul and body, or get to know yourself better. You may want to understand certain things from your life, develop yourself or discover something new. It does not have to be perfectly formulated. What is important is knowing why you are coming and approaching the entire process honestly.

Trust in Ayahuasca and Fear of the Unknown

It is very important to trust ayahuasca and the entire process. Of course, it is completely normal to feel afraid before your first ceremony. It is a journey into the unknown. You do not know what to expect, what you will see or how you will react to the medicine. It is also a major step outside your comfort zone.

Fear therefore does not mean that you are not ready or that there is something wrong with you. It is completely natural, and we will talk in more detail about how to work with fear before ayahuasca in another article.

Alongside a prepared intention, however, a certain level of trust is also necessary. Ayahuasca is a process, and it does not always show us exactly what we imagined beforehand. But it may show us precisely what we need to see or understand at that moment.

Slow Down Two Weeks Before the Retreat

If you already have a ayahuasca retreat planned, I recommend beginning to slow down approximately 14 days before your arrival. Limit social media, news and an overly intense social life in general.

I definitely do not recommend going to any parties or similar events. Try to remain calmer, rest and gradually turn your attention inward. You do not need to completely shut yourself away from the world for two weeks, but it is good to avoid unnecessary stress, chaos and negative content.

You can also slowly begin thinking about your intention. Some people write it down, while others think about it during a walk or meditation. You do not need to prepare a perfect sentence. It is enough to know what you are bringing into the whole process.

The Diet Is One of the Most Important Parts of Preparation

Then, of course, comes the diet. We recommend following it for 14 days before the retreat begins, but for at least one week.

The diet is extremely important before ayahuasca. It is not something that should be taken lightly or followed only during the last few days. A person must also prepare physically for the ceremony and cleanse their body.

If you do not follow the diet, the ceremony may not unfold at all as you imagined. From our traditional perspective, you are not showing ayahuasca sufficient respect in advance, and therefore the medicine may not fully open itself to you and its effect may not be as strong.

Before the retreat, we send all participants a very detailed diet that I prepared based on information from our shaman. Approximately 14 days before the retreat begins, we send it once again so that everyone has enough time to prepare and does not forget anything important.

I will not list the entire diet in detail here because it is truly very comprehensive. To give you a basic idea, during the diet you should not eat red meat, chilli, seafood, milk or other dairy products. Of course, there should also be no alcohol, sugar, energy drinks or other similar products. Recreational drugs and other psychoactive substances are absolutely forbidden.

Medication is also very important, especially antidepressants, certain antibiotics and other substances that may interact dangerously with ayahuasca. Therefore, every participant must truthfully tell us in advance about all medications and supplements they are taking. However, never stop taking prescribed medication on your own. Everything must first be discussed with your doctor and our centre. If certain medications cannot be safely discontinued or are not compatible with ayahuasca, the person cannot participate in the ceremony.

The diet is based mainly on vegetables, rice, potatoes and other simple foods. It may be vegetarian or vegan, but it can also include chicken and freshwater fish. If you eat chicken, it is better to choose high-quality or organic meat rather than chicken full of various added substances. Simply try to eat as cleanly, lightly and healthily as possible.

The best drinks are pure water or suitable herbal teas. However, not all herbal teas are appropriate before ayahuasca, which is why participants receive precise information in our diet.

The diet also includes abstaining from all sexual activity. Therefore, the diet is not only a list of foods. It is an overall physical and mental calming down and preparation for working with the medicine.

Meditation and Breathing Exercises

We also definitely recommend that you begin meditating, even if you do not normally meditate. You do not need to immediately manage long and deep meditations. At first, it is enough to sit quietly for a few minutes each day, focus on your breathing and observe your thoughts.

If you have no idea how to begin, I recommend searching for guided meditations on YouTube. You can begin with ten minutes, then move on to fifteen minutes and later meditate for longer, depending on how you feel. Even two or three times a week is enough.

At first, people often do not feel like meditating at all and have to push themselves to do it. This is completely normal. However, if they persevere and gradually learn how to meditate, they usually begin to enjoy it and grow to like it.

If meditation genuinely does not suit you, you can at least begin with simple breathing exercises. These also help calm the mind, improve awareness of your own body and prepare you for moments when strong emotions or fear may arise during the ceremony.

Meditation is very useful not only before the ceremony but especially afterwards, during integration. A person may not remember everything from the ceremony. When they later return to a calm state through deeper meditation, they may recall additional things or understand something that did not yet make sense during the ceremony itself.

Our shaman therefore often recommends that people meditate not only shortly after the ceremony but, if possible, over the long term as well. After ayahuasca, meditation can be even deeper and more beneficial.

In the evening, you can also practise a simple breathing exercise, pause for a moment and remind yourself of your intention again. Overall, it is good to prepare both physically and mentally rather than simply waiting for the day of departure.

Sauna as Another Part of Physical Preparation

Another helpful tip before the retreat is to visit a sauna more often, provided that using a sauna is medically suitable for you. During a sauna session, a person sweats, relaxes and may cleanse themselves more physically. A sauna also helps you slow down, rest and disconnect from everyday stress for a while.

There is no need to visit a sauna every day or push yourself beyond your limits. It is important to listen to your body, drink enough and allow yourself to rest afterwards.

It Is Better to Put Your Phone Away During the Retreat

During the retreat itself, we recommend using your phone as little as possible. It is not good to constantly scroll through Instagram, follow the news and overwhelm yourself again with outside information after or between ceremonies.

Instead, you can read, rest, spend time in nature or listen to calming music. If you listen to music, it is better to choose relaxing music without vocals, or at least without vulgar or negative lyrics.

What you occupy your mind with during the retreat can influence the entire process. It is therefore better to use this time to rest, connect with nature and focus on yourself.

Preparation on the Day of the Ceremony

The day before the ceremony, we already serve very light food and guests mainly rest. The food is also light on the day of the ceremony, and lunch is the final meal. Some people occasionally choose not to eat lunch either, but in most cases, it is completely fine to have a light lunch.

Before the first two ceremonies at our centre, we also hold a traditional sauna, which helps to further prepare and cleanse the body. The programme also includes a tobacco cleanse, which you can read about in more detail in another of our articles.

Before the ceremony itself, it is best to remain calm, avoid constantly thinking about what is going to happen and not try to control the entire experience in advance. Remind yourself of your intention, trust the process and allow yourself to receive the experience as it comes.

Preparation Has a Purpose

All of these recommendations have a reason. The purpose is not to place unnecessary restrictions on someone before the retreat. The goal is to gradually calm the body, mind and environment around you so that you can arrive truly prepared.

When a person follows the diet for two weeks before the retreat, does not drink alcohol, does not take drugs, does not go to parties, limits phone use, meditates, practises breathing exercises and reflects on their intention, they are already beginning their healing process. The ceremony itself is then not one isolated night, but part of a longer journey.

After the ceremony, peace, rest and gradually processing everything you experienced are especially important. However, the entire process does not end there. The integration that follows is also very important, and we will discuss it in more detail in another article.