An Ayahuasca retreat could be the best experience of your life, or it could leave you worse off, confused, or traumatized.

Your outcome depends upon 3 things: your readiness, preparation, and your ability to choose a high-quality retreat.

1) To help you assess your level of mental and spiritual readiness, take this short quiz.

2) To understand more about ayahuasca, and to prepare for a retreat, check out our guide.

3) If you're feeling ready for a retreat, then congratulations! Whether your first or your 10th retreat, this is a momentous occasion.

Like most things in life, there are a broad variety of Ayahuasca retreat options, and a number of factors that effect the quality and cost of an ayahuasca retreat.

Here are 12 recommendations to help you avoid sketchy options and choose a safe and transformational experience:

1. Safety First: Unfortunately, many small retreat centers are not in a position to make meaningful investments into screening and safety. Even if you're fine, someone else on retreat might not be, which can effect the overall experience. Our recommendation is to choose a retreat provider that does in-depth conversational, medical, and psychological screening to protect your safety and well-being.‍
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2. Legality:  Experienced practitioners who have dedicated their lives to plant medicine typically live in locations where the work is legal, so they don't have to live in a state of "what if". Our recommendation is to travel to legal locations where you can benefit from legitimate healers who operate above the radar, so you can truly relax on retreat. That's kind of the idea, right?
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3. ‍Size of the group: It's common for retreats to have 20, 50, even 100 people in ceremony, which can be chaotic to say the least. In such large groups, there's a lot of collective bucket-time in the room, and you are less likely receive the level of attention from healers that you are probably looking for. Our recommendation is to choose a retreat with an intimate group of say, 8-15 people.
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4. ‍Length of the retreat: Shorter retreats feel rushed, don't support the cultivation of meaningful relationships, and there are limits to what can be achieved in a few nights. We recommend you spend at least a week for an ayahuasca retreat to give your mind, body, heart, and soul the attention it deserves. ‍
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5. ‍‍Comfort: We recommend you choose a retreat where you are confident you will be physically comfortable and have your own private bedroom to decompress and integrate, especially if this is your first time. Go for the full jungle mosquito immersion another time, your future self will thank you later.
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6. Energetic Alignment: Select a retreat that feels energetically aligned and allows your own subjective experience to unfold naturally. There's no right or wrong here, but it's worth recognizing that there are many different cosmologies (ways of seeing the universe), and having the energy of a different cosmology pushed through the ceremonial space may or may not be in your highest healing interests. This is also particularly relevant for first-timers.
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7. ‍Holistic approach: Work with an organization that takes a holistic approach to working with plant medicine, and has options to support and guide your mental and emotional evolution alongside a retreat. If a provider implies that "medicine will solve all your problems", proceed with caution (because it won't!).
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8. ‍Service: Select a retreat that you believe can meet your individual needs. Are you being treated as a human, or as participant #22 in their fourth retreat this month? Consider whether or not they've taken the time to get to know you and understand you, or it's more of a take it or leave it retreat center.
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9. ‍Booking process: Take the time to speak with the provider before finalizing your booking. If it's all 100% online, ANYONE could be sitting next to you in ceremony. Everyone deserves to heal, but it's unlikely you want to be sitting in ceremony with a recovering addict going through their process next to you
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10. Expertise: Find an organization that emphasizes healing, and you believe has the breadth and depth of expertise to guide your transformation. Look for facilitators and healers who have a lightness of being and a sparkle in their eyes. Healing work is all about the transmutation of energy, so you are looking for people who have the energy you aspire to. If they aren't able to keep their energy right, that tells you quite a bit about either where they are at and their capabilities.
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11. ‍Reputation: At a minimum, Google the provider, you may be surprised by what you find. If there's not much information, that is also information :) You may also like to look up the Founders and see what their energy is all about (hint hint). A famous comedian recently went to one of the most popular Ayahuasca retreat centers (known for large groups) and mentioned there were people on the retreat who didn't even know what Ayahuasca was. Yes, seriously.
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12. ‍Volunteers: Please support ethical plant medicine work by selecting an organization that pay their team. Unfortunately, it is common practice for retreat centers to cycle through young, eager, and worn out volunteers and/or not pay healers fairly. If the people supporting your retreat aren't living their best life, they're not going to be able to lead you to yours. Not the right vibe. Don't be shy to ask this question directly when you speak to prospective centers.

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Who you choose to attend an Ayahuasca retreat with is undoubtedly one of the most important decisions in your life, especially the first time.

We encourage you to take the time and energy to do your research, follow your intuition, and to know why you are choosing a specific retreat.

If our recommendations resonate with you, and you'd like to explore a transformational journey with Behold, click on "Begin Your Journey" below to request a complimentary Discovery Call with one of our Medicine Guides.

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Want to know what a well-run retreat is like? We asked some of our past guests to do the impossible and summarize their retreat experience with us in 1 word.

Watch the video to get a sense of the magic that's possible:

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Ayahuasca is an increasingly popular plant medicine used for healing the body, mind, and spirit. This master plant is a psychotropic preparation obtained by two different sacred plants that originated in the Amazon basin in South America. The begging of the use of this powerful date back to pre-history and its use has always been connected to ceremony and healers.

Because of its amazonian origins, the societies of South America are more aware of the healing aspect of the preparation and its connection to ceremony, healing, and deep transformational nature. But this is not the case in many countries in the world. 

Most countries view this sacred plant medicine as harmful because of its psychotropic qualities. This becomes even more evident in cultures that are far away from South America as Asian countries. 

The distance from its birthplace and the lack of understanding of the plant makes it almost impossible to be part of a legal Ayahuasca ceremony in Asia. Therefore, if your goal is to connect to the plant and its profound healing properties the best you can do is to go to Central/South America and experience the ceremony in one of the many retreats available as the following. 

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1. Behold Retreats

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Behold Retreats sets the standard for safe, legal, and transformative plant medicine retreats in idyllic destinations. Retreats are kept to a small group size, and attendance is by invitation only.

Behold does not facilitate Ayahuasca in Asia, but does offer options in Costa Rica and Mexico. Other popular retreat options include Psilocybin in the Netherlands and with the powerful God Molecule 5-MeO-DMT in Mexico or Portugal.

Ready for deep healing and transformation?

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2. Spirit Vine - Bahia, Brazil

Spirit Vine is an all accepting, non-profit and trans-denominational interfaith ayahuasca retreat center located in the tropical Mata-Atlantic forest on Brazil's east coast. 

Here, ayahuasca ceremonies are conducted in the purpose built ceremony room which is set in the jungle next to a beautiful lagoon, offering an ideal space in nature for spiritual discovery.

The healers have a wealth of experience working with plant medicine and aim to help guests connect with mother nature through ayahuasca ceremonies and spiritual, healing practices and activities in a safe, comfortable and supportive manner.

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3. Gaia Sagrada - Cuenca, Ecuador

Gaia is an age-old name for mother earth or mother nature, coming from Greek mythology where Gaia is the goddess of Earth, a name we find to be aptly fitting for the retreat center in 3rd position on our list of best ayahuasca retreats. 

And as such, at this retreat center, the hosts strive to provide an experience for their guests that is in alignment with mother earth through spending time in nature with hikes to the nearby waterfall, immersion in the beauty of local wildlife and of course ayahuasca ceremonies with authentic ayahuasca shamans. 

For the discerning patron, month long stays are offered at this retreat, while it is to be noted that they are not month long ayahuasca programs, it is an additional option for those seeking to spend more time in a safe, loving and joyous spiritual retreat with like minded souls also on healing journeys. 

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4. El Retiro - Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic

Suitable for beginners and one of the cheaper retreat centers on our list of best ayahuasca retreats is El Retiro in the beautiful Dominican Republic. 

3 ayahuasca ceremonies, 3 yoga classes, 3 meditation sessions and 1 reiki session over 4 days and 3 nights at this retreat offer guests a short and sweet opportunity to connect with themselves and mother nature. 

Such is the love for plant medicine at this retreat center that guests are offered micro doses of ayahuasca to take home with them so they can continue their healing process with the master plant long after they have left the spiritual retreat.

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5. Vikara - Olon, Ecuador

Boasting the enticing title of Ecuador's only beach front ayahuasca retreat, Vikara offers a slightly different style of retreat compared to the other retreat centers on our list, specializing in ayahuasca, surf and yoga. 

The setting and accommodation are picturesque to say the least, with 9 luxury rooms encircling a pool, and the retreat being engulfed by mother earth's natural beauty and tranquility. Those looking for supreme comfort and relaxation as well as healing plant medicine treatments are sure to be taken care of at this retreat center. non-profit and trans-denominational interfaith ayahuasca retreat center in Brazil

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