And how to locate the ideal match, whether it be in isolated Mexico or the Peruvian Amazon

I vanished for a few dusk hours in a wild forest of the Spanish Caribbean. During my first-ever ayahuasca retreat, a medicine trip that was guided by a local healer couple I met while traveling, I cuddled up in a sleeping bag under a canvas tent structure, with a warm pile of wool blankets on top of me, and was lulled into one of the most profound awakenings of my life. I traveled far and wide in a single night and into a world, I had never idea existed.

Ayahuasca discovered me in the Caribbean; I didn't go looking for it. I ended up extending my trip by a week to try the chemical for the first time after making friends with a medicine woman who introduced me to the two specialists. While I had never heard of ayahuasca before this encounter in 2016, I have subsequently taken part in numerous rituals. I'll always think of this first experience as a fresh beginning in my life. I owe it to the knowledge of Indigenous specialists with ties to ayahuasca's culture and spirituality that this was the turning point in my life, one that has been full of epic experiences and unending wells of creativity. Ayahuasca is a highly potent, transportive substance that can be used to treat physical and mental ailments, and consuming it with the guidance of those trained in its traditions can expand the mind in ways you might not have imagined possible. It is confirmed by recent scientific research from the West on the benefits of the plant.

Ayahuasca discovered me in the Caribbean; I didn't go looking for it.

It is how my first ayahuasca trip went: I sipped the first of three cups after a shaman cleansed my nostrils with rapé, a dry, powdered tobacco snuff that is blasted up participants' noses with a pipe to start a ritual (the plant is brewed into a tea and ingested). Little did I realize that I was about to go on a once-in-a-lifetime journey as the nasty, mud-like beverage flowed into my system. I changed into several shapes over around six hours, including an anonymous bird and a snake in a pit of snakes. I even lost all awareness of the features of my own body, including my nose and the color of my eyes.

I mentally traveled back in time to meet the first ancestor of my entire lineage, who danced in the woods while changing between the forms of a wolf and a man. Then, all of a sudden, I was taken to a cave full of mysterious drawings that I somehow understood despite my inability to make sense of them. Then I was lifted into the air and flown past the Andes' snow-capped summits while the mountain range below me disintegrated almost like a Tetris game. I witnessed Machu Picchu rotating on an axis made of geometric cubes, twisting and twirling while soldiers that resembled Lego pieces sprang in and out of the building. Suddenly, in a fit of uncontrollable laughter, I collapsed to the ground in a fetal posture.

The ayahuasca plant has lately joined a larger campaign in the US to decriminalize psychedelics, which has seen an increase in acceptance of the drug and others like it. Popular programs like Netflix's How to Change Your Mind (or any of Michael Pollan's psychedelic-therapy books, upon which that TV series is based) explore how psychedelics can be used to treat mental illnesses and expand the mind and question why many of them were once thought to be among the most dangerous drugs (as ayahuasca still is). Many additionally view the drug as a spiritual aid, and as of 2017, roughly 27% of Americans identified as spiritual - not religious - according to the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life. The whole impact of ayahuasca on the human experience is yet unclear, but if my personal experience is any indicator, the mental and emotional gates this plant may open are promising. So how does it function in practice?

Vomiting, visions and no sense of your own appearance – this is what it's really like to join an ayahuasca retreat alongside spiritual experts. https://t.co/8KxINI4IKu pic.twitter.com/KkDweOBrm6

— Condé Nast Traveller (@cntraveller) February 21, 2023

The indigenous roots of ayahuasca and how a ceremony works

Respecting the plant's use and the Indigenous people who have been using it for ages as the cultural forerunners of its curative properties is vital. In nations where it is legal and there is a cultural link to the drug, such as Peru, where the plant originates, ayahuasca is considered medicine and should not be taken recreationally or without the guidance of experienced healers who have researched the medicine. Colombia and Mexico both share this.

The leaves of Psychotria viridis or other plants containing N, N-dimethyltryptamine, as well as banisteriopsis caapi, a vine containing monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs), are believed to be the primary sources of ayahuasca's psychoactive effects, according to the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) (DMT). It is thought that the DMT in ayahuasca stimulates the DMT a person naturally possesses in their pineal gland, which is frequently referred to as the third eye portal by the spiritual community and Indigenous healers. Many healers and shamans hold that this is what causes the vision quests that follow taking brewed ayahuasca, and that is why taking part in the ceremony is a chance to become closer to your truest self.

Ayahuasca trips can range from one-night experiences to multi-day "diets," which often necessitate abstaining from any strong physical stimulants like sex, alcohol, and fatty meals for a while. Most rituals take five to six hours, start at dusk, and conclude the next morning before dawn in a maloca, a wooden ceremonial building with a thatched roof. According to my observations, a ritual typically has less than 20 people and starts with some sort of cleaning initiation using tobacco snuff, such as rapé or mapacho. Many individuals will experience a purging reaction after consuming the therapeutic tea, which may include vomiting or even a bowel movement. Throughout the evening, participants are permitted to consume three cups, each roughly the size of an espresso shot. Shamans and elders who perform healing rituals frequently sing icaros, or songs of prayer, to promote calmness and tranquillity. Noble silence is observed throughout certain ceremonies, while many rituals urge participants to express their emotions as needed, including sobbing, yelling, and purging.

Respecting the plant's use and the Indigenous people who have been using it for ages as the cultural forerunners of its curative properties is vital.

Although no two ceremonies are ever identical, an ayahuasca retreat will often follow a spiritually related thread that aims to inspire participants with the utmost tranquility and security. It's crucial to do your study to discover the ideal ceremony if you do feel prompted to participate in one: It didn't feel right, so after traveling for hours to attend rituals in the jungle, I left without taking part. When determining whether or not you feel secure with a certain facilitator, your gut is frequently your best resource. Below is a recommended list of retreat centers and healers for your ayahuasca experience.

Note from the editor: Each expert listed below gave their consent for inclusion in this piece. Ayahuasca usage is authorized by law in all three of the countries listed below.

Peru's Amazon city of Iquitos

The Temple of the Way of Light is a healing center offering 12-day ayahuasca retreats, featuring six ayahuasca ceremonies throughout the length of the experience. It is situated about two hours into the rainforest (by vehicle and then boat) from downtown Iquitos, in Peru's Amazon Basin. Indigenous healers from the plant's native location, many of whom go by boat from their home towns located farther up the Ucayali River, a tributary of the Amazon, conduct the rituals in this center's jungle setting.

It's been a while since I've done a post on this, but I'm back with another one (the Shipibo language word meaning a person who has wisdom). To be able to provide ayahuasca treatment responsibly and safely, each of them has spent at least 10 years studying the healing method. Ceremony participants drink oni, which literally means "knowledge" in Shipibo but is often used interchangeably with ayahuasca while listening to songs spoken by healers. The goal of the ritual is to rid the body of mawa niwe, or bad, heavy energies.

What it's really like to join an ayahuasca retreat alongside spiritual experts — via @cntraveller #travel #psychedelics #healingjourney https://t.co/d9M7xQXTtt

— gina vensel (she/her) (@eventsgeek) February 22, 2023

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Mexico's Bacalar

Amalia Moscoso, a Peruvian-American healer, and curator offer multi-day ayahuasca retreats in the lagoon-side town of Bacalar, on Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula. For each of her experiences, she brings together medicine people, facilitators, and shamans from various backgrounds. The retreats also incorporate extra therapeutic practices that support each visitor's path through medicine, such as janzu treatments, a water-based healing meditation, and a temazcal sweat-lodge ritual. Her services also include cognitive workshops that support the integration and rebuilding of neural networks in the brain through mental, emotional, and physical processes.

Colombia's Valle del Cauca

The Colombian healer Taita Edwin conducts therapeutic ayahuasca rituals at his family's private property in the lush hills outside of Cali, in Colombia's southern borders. The medicine, or ayahuasca, is used in Edwin's spiritual ceremonies as a sacrament, a conduit to the spiritual world, with an emphasis on establishing a safe environment and enabling participants to submit to their processes with profound compassion, love, and care. The ceremonies have no set format other than opening and closing prayers. To allow everyone to express themselves, discover clarity, and establish common ground in the shared experience, each does feature two or more sharing circles. Contacting us directly through email will yield further details.

Peru's Pucallpa

Indigenous Mexican healer and facilitator Daniela Riojas organizes ayahuasca ceremonies in collaboration with the Onanya in the area of the village of Pucallpa, which is located in the easternmost reaches of Peru's Amazon Rainforest along the Ucayali River. Riojas, an artist, and a singer by trade took part in her first ayahuasca ceremony in 2015. Thereafter, she began her comprehensive study of the plant and its medicine via apprenticeships with master healers, which included taking part in multi-day diets. She leads rituals in which icaros, prayers that represent the regenerative force of the local flora, and animals are used to hold space. Every ceremony occurs at night in a ceremonial maloca to aid each participant's inner journey.

Read Let it out: Experiencing Breathwork's Transformative Power on an Andalusian Retreat here.