Ayahuasca and other plant medicines offer a level of knowledge and power that should be accessed only in the right environment and with the right mental and physical preparation beforehand.

These medicines are far from recreational and must be treated with the utmost respect and care.

Before committing to a plant medicine retreat, it’s crucial that you understand the comprehensive preparation involved with working with master plants like Ayahuasca as well as the dedication to ongoing integration after your retreat to ensure true transformation.

We’ve boiled down 4 areas to focus on before embarking on an Ayahuasca retreat:

Mindfulness Habit
Dieta
Having an intention
Surrender

Mindfulness Habit

It’s vital to clear the mind and body of as many impurities, poisons, and intrusions as possible, so you may approach this deep work with your energy intact and strong.

We highly recommend taking the time to prepare your mental and spiritual bodies, in addition to your physical.

This can include meditation, yoga, art or dance classes before a retreat. Anything that connects you with your own self, so that you get a deeper understanding of what you truly wish to accomplish during your retreat.

Our advice is to choose a time of day when you will meditate and work to stick to it. Mornings tend to work best to clear your mind right before the day begins. Guided meditation apps, such as Headspace, Calm, and Insight Timer are great starts for those who are beginners.

You could also try just sitting for 10 minutes a day and slowly working up to a half-hour.

We recommend you also find a particular place to meditate because you’re more likely to create a routine and stay committed when you have go-to times and spaces.

Dieta

Nurturing your physical body also nurtures your psyche.

One crucial aspect of working with plant medicines like ayahuasca is adhering to the tradition of following a special diet in order to prepare not just the body, but also the mind and soul to absorb the healing energy of the plant medicines.

Following this traditional diet, you prepare your physical body for the ayahuasca or plant medicine journey, while also reducing the amount of purging needed to clean your physical body.

You’re also showing your commitment and determination to ayahuasca and the master plants by showing the respect that is essential for this type of work.

For more information on the preparation diet needed prior to a retreat, click here.

Having an intention

Coming into this journey, it’s important to bring something with you to guide you. Your intention is an anchor for your Ayahuasca (or plant medicine) experience.

Your intention is like your thread to the material realm that can help you stay focused while engaging with this deep work. It’s normal for your intention to change, but it is the initial work needed for a transformational encounter with this sacred plant medicine.

We have an excellent breakdown of how to set intentions before your retreat here.

Surrender

The goal of our healing work at Arkana is to clean, clear, and transform trapped energies that can either hold you back in life, cause emotional distress or create perpetual discomfort that often manifests as physical ailments.

Surrendering to the healing process is essential to cleansing and clearing deeply embedded emotional blockages as well as energetic imprints and self-limiting patterns.

This is often what gets in the way of us re-discovering our “true selves” and living a life filled with joy, abundance, and inner peace.

Ayahuasca is an amplifier that will bring to the surface patterns and programs that do not serve you. Medicine does not allow us to suppress issues and escape reality. Instead, it compels us to face, resolve and release issues that have been buried throughout our lives.

When we surrender to this journey, we allow the medicine to really run its course.

“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” - Rumi

If you feel called to experience one of our retreats, we are currently accepting bookings for our Peru and Mexico locations for a limited time.

Book here or feel free to reach out to one of our specialists for additional information.