Top 5 Ayahuasca retreats Phoenix (Updated 2023)

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For deeper insights into what makes up a safe and quality plant medicine retreat, check out the results from our recent plant medicine retreats survey.
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1. If you’d like a holistic understanding of your opportunities to improve your quality of life, take this self-diagnostic.

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2. If this is your first time with Ayahuasca, this short quiz will help you assess your level of mental, emotional, and spiritual readiness for this powerful and sensitive work.

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3. If you’d like to understand more about the nature of psychedelic healing work, human potential, and who and what you really are, watch the video below.

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

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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 affect 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.
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 uncertainty about their work 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.
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 you are less likely to receive a sufficient level of attention from the facilitators. Our recommendation is to choose a retreat with an intimate group, in the range of 8-15 people.
4. Length of the retreat: Shorter retreats feel rushed, do not support the cultivation of meaningful relationships, and can limit what can be achieved in time available. We recommend you spend at least a week for an ayahuasca retreat to give your mind, body, heart, and soul the attention it deserves.
5. ‍‍Comfort: We recommend you choose a retreat where you are confident that 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.
6. Alignment: Select a retreat that feels aligned with your values and allows your own subjective experience to unfold naturally. There are many different worldviews out there and having a different worldview pushed on you through the retreat may not be in your highest healing interests. This is also particularly relevant for first-timers.
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.
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.
9. Booking process: Take the time to speak with the provider before finalizing your booking. If the provider does not have a screening process in place during the booking process anyone could be sitting next to you in ceremony. Some people are not in the right place to work with this powerful plant medicine, and it is the responsibility of the organizers to ensure that only people who can handle ayahuasca are accepted onto the retreat.
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.
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. A reputable retreat center will have a professional online presence with testimonials from previous retreat attendees. This is essential for you to see that they are a legitimate organization who you can trust to contain this powerful experience.
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 lives , they're not going to be able to lead you to yours. Don't be shy to ask this question directly when you speak to prospective centers.

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‍Looking for a little more guidance for one of the most important decisions of your life? Watch this video.

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As awareness of spiritual medicine grows, people from across the world are looking to participate in ayahuasca ceremonies. The sacred plant has been used by indigenous Amazonian shamans for many many years to help those who partake in the ceremonies deal with personal trauma, and build a connection with their spiritual side.

American laws prohibit such ceremonies from occurring within Phoenix itself, but there are plenty of options within just a few hours. A trip over the border to Mexico, or a short hop on a plane to southern America can take you to a number of traditional retreats, offering ayahuasca treatments amongst other healing modalities, from experienced indigenous healers. 

Below we have listed our top 5 ayahuasca retreats to travel to from Phoenix, most being over the border in Mexico. The retreats mentioned offer traditional healing ceremonies, in a variety of picturesque environments

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1. Behold Retreats – Costa Rica

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With resorts in both Mexico and Costa Rica, topping our list is Behold retreats. The closest resort to Phoenix is just across the border in Mexico, situated in the breathtaking mountaintop Valle de Bravo estate. Groups must be a maximum of 8 people, in order to maintain the intimate atmosphere necessary for the sacred ceremony..

The healer at Behold Retreats’ Mexico resort, Amina, is a Mexican native, and has over a decade of experience delivering ayahuasca ceremonies. In addition to administration of the sacred plant medicine, Amina also holds a degree in psychotherapy and is trained in Taoist massage.

Guests visiting the Costa Rica location will receive their healing medicine from Shaman Pablo, founder of the Yawarapunon, a governmental organization for the preservation of medicines and customs. With 8 years experience delivering sacred ceremonies Shaman Pablo has travelled all over the world sharing his healing modalities and treatments with individuals from across the planet.

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2) APL

A short trip from Cancun airport brings you to APL retreats, a traditional style resort that combines all the atmosphere of the rainforest with top notch modern facilities. 3 accommodation layouts are available, a shared double room, a private single, or a private double, all of which allow access to open air showers and an exquisite jungle pool.

In addition to ceremonies with the sacred plant medicine, APL also offer herbal saunas, Temezcal and a unique vegetarian menu that strictly follows ayahuasca dieting rules. 

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3) Bluestone

In Riviera Maya, Cancun, Mexico, sits Bluestone ayahuasca. Advocates of personal transformation as a route to a better world, Bluestone offer ayahuasca ceremonies as a powerful tool to help participants bring their consciousness to the next level.

Working in both English and Spanish, the first person you will meet on your retreat will be the founder, who has lived in  Mexico for years now and has 12 years experience delivering the sacred plant medicine. The ayahuasquera who will perform your ceremony trained with the Shipibo in Peru, and the Ayahuasca is prepared by Shipibo medicine men from whom it is collected personally and hand-delivered to the Mexico retreat. 

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4) Andea Experience

Located within the rainforest in the beautiful Yucatan peninsula, Mexico, ANDEA was founded by US veteran Amanda Decker. Amanda has travelled the world spreading her healing tools and is a certified psychedelic assisted coach.

ANDEA is involved with the “heroic hearts project”, a non profit organisation operating in the US and UK that aims to connect combat veterans and ex sports-people with psychedelic and spiritual healers in order to help them deal properly with past trauma.

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5) Inner Circle

Providing retreats in a luxurious condo in Neuvo Vallarta, in the middle of the Bay of Banderas, one of the safest areas in Mexico, Inner circle offer a no pressure experience guided by “love and peace”.

Special care is taken to provide fresh locally sourced fruits and foods, and staff are on hand to guide participants as regards fasting prior to the ayahuasca ceremony. The luxurious resort accepts groups of up to 6 people, and ceremonies are delivered by an experienced indigenous Shaman. Available packages provide 6 nights of accommodation in the beautiful beach front setting, and transport to the ceremonies, which take place in the evening.

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