Ayahuasca Series 2 of 5: How does a plant medicine retreat work?
The Venue
A number of places in Central and South America offer plant medicine retreats. I wanted to find one close to me, and sure enough, Gaia Sagrada was a very well-regarded retreat about an hour from Cuenca. It was much more expensive than my San Pedro workshop but also included a lot more. I chose a 6-day retreat (over a 12-day) and paid about $1,200. That covered 2 Ayahusaca ceremonies, 1 San Pedro ceremony, and all room and board.
The setting was a thickly forested mountain a bit higher up than Cuenca, around 9,500 feet. There are at least 15 structures on the sprawling property and a good bit of walking is involved. The facilities are just modern enough to be comfortable and covered with fanciful paintings and murals suggestive of indigenous traditions. I chose a “shared” room with two bunk beds to save money but wound up having it to myself, which was a very good thing.
About two dozen people came from all over to have this experience. I believe everyone lived in North America, though a handful of them were foreign-born. The age range was 22–68, skewing younger. I think only two were older than me. Everyone was there for their own reasons, none of which had the slightest whiff of insincerity or “just for fun.” Everyone was there to do work.
As you might expect, Gaia Sagrada creates a very loving and accepting atmosphere. Every staffer greets you with a hug. It’s the ultimate no-judgment zone. Whatever’s going on for you, whatever struggles you’ve had, it’s okay. They care about you and helping you feel better. That vibe permeates every aspect of the retreat, and it’s infectious. Almost immediately, complete strangers opened up to me about their issues, making it easy and safe for me to do likewise. Funny how that works. I’ve said before that vulnerability is a superpower, and this only proved it. The bonds of friendship were forged almost instantly.
The days were loosely structured around the ceremonies. Even though the Aya ceremonies started around 5:30 p.m., there was usually something going on. Tarot readings. An art class. Massages. You don’t have to do anything. The meals are served buffet-style so you can come grab something at your leisure. All stress has been removed from the equation. The only WiFi is around the central three buildings used for food and fellowship. None in the rooms.
The staff are a combination of full-timers, some-timers, and volunteers, all of whom work very hard to ensure your comfort and safety. Down to the last, they’re beautiful humans who have, themselves, found deeper understanding and meaning through plant medicine and “woo-woo” concepts like energies and vibrations. It’s easy to scoff at some of these things, and I admittedly still do, but I respect anyone searching for a higher understanding of themselves and the world. If it sets and keeps you on a path to joy and fulfillment, I say more power to you. And unlike religious types, if you don’t believe in chakras or whatever, nobody will judge you or seek to convince you they’re right.
The day after a ceremony, the “familia,” as it’s unfailingly called, convenes so people can talk about their experiences in as much or as little depth as they wish. The staff is there to listen and help make sense of things, or in some cases recommend that somebody sit the next ceremony out. But the wisdom shared by people like Paula Saarinen (aka Ancient Ascension on YouTube) is next-level stuff geared toward aha! moments, of which I had many.
The schedule for the week was:
- Saturday: Arrival and orientation
- Sunday: Ayahuasca Ceremony 1
- Monday: Optional Xanga Ceremony (extra charge)
- Tuesday: San Pedro Ceremony
- Wednesday: Ayahuasca Ceremony 2
- Thursday: Departure
I could go into much greater detail about Gaia, but this is more about my experience than the setting. The next blog will take us into the first ceremony.
Why plant medicine? What does that even mean?
I was familiar-ish with Ayahuasca even before moving to South America. All I really knew was that it was some kind of psychedelic plant that a number of celebrities had experienced and that it made you puke a lot.
As I wrote about two years ago, my first foray into psychedelics was with San Pedro, and it was an overwhelmingly positive experience. Though I’ve always been a deep thinker, I perceived in myself the need to widen my awareness, and that’s exactly what it helped me with.
Reality is a demanding mistress.
Which begs the question, Can you widen your awareness without psychedelics? Of course. You can read books that challenge and stretch your worldview. You can talk with people who don’t think the way you do. You can meditate. You can be relentlessly curious and open-minded. But these practices take discipline and focus, and unless you have ninja-level skills, it’s hard to go very deep. I didn’t feel like I had time for all that. Hand-washing your clothes might build character, but I’ll choose my Whirlpool all day long, thank you very much.
San Pedro is the gentler of the two medicines. It’s said to attune you with a “grandfatherly” energy/spirit that will guide you toward your intention in a patient kind of way. I did feel a gentle energy surrounding the experience even if I didn’t necessarily commune with it. It was more like the earth itself, what they call Pachamama in these parts, was whispering to me. Not literally, but in ways that my open mind could perceive. For example, when rustling Eucalyptus leaves gave me the impression of schooling fish, I considered what I might learn from fish. That might sound silly, but as I’ll reiterate later, everything and everyone is a teacher.
Ayahuasca, by contrast, is considered to be a more “grandmotherly” energy, which is to say, a firmer hand and a stronger sense of what you need. Maybe that’s based on Latin American grandmothers, who aren’t shy about moral guidance. I figured since San Pedro treated me well, maybe Mama Aya would, too.
So how, exactly, do plant medicines work to heal people? I have a theory.
Chiefly, they allow you to keep your wits about you AND surrender some of the control that keeps you stuck in unhelpful patterns. That’s a nice place to be for a short while, especially when you can trust that it’s only temporary. Handing a small amount of control to something that has authored deeply spiritual and meaningful experiences — safely — for a few thousand years is pretty low-risk. There are plenty of other substances that act similarly, but with terrifying power and potentially deadly physical addiction. That is not what this is. Believe what you will, be we are talking about vastly different animals here.
I understand how that might be hard to swallow, especially if you’re from a generation that had anti-drug education hammered into you. As you may have noticed, basically none of that worked. If you can soften your view enough to consider the potential value of something that occurs naturally and can have a powerful influence over the quality of one’s psyche, then I think you’ll be glad you heard me out.
This is leading to some very profound truths that I’m eager to share with you — some of the few people on Earth who know I exist and like my writing. If it strikes a nerve in any way, then I’ve done my job. I only want to be real with you. Please just hang in there, because I know I can stick the landing. There’s really good stuff coming, I promise.