Preparing for an Ayahuasca Retreat: Complete Guide
- El Mono Blanco 🐒
- 22 hours ago
- 15 min read
Preparing for an Ayahuasca retreat is less about ticking boxes and more about gently training your mind and body to receive something big. A bit like getting ready for an important journey: the more care you bring beforehand, the more stable, clear, and transformative the experience can become.
Table of Contents:
Ayahuasca as Your “Inner Championship”
To live like a professional athlete means having a life built around preparation: routines, training, recovery, and focus. Nothing is random.
Every athlete knows the dates of their most important competitions. Long before that day arrives, they already have a plan:
how they will increase the intensity of their training,
when they will rest,
what they will eat,
how they will work with their mind.
Now imagine that you are the athlete, and your Ayahuasca retreat is your championship.
Winning here doesn’t mean beating someone else. It means:
a new level of fulfillment,
more inner peace,
less mental “garbage” — anxiety, fears, stuck sadness, depression,
a life where the sun feels a bit brighter and the grass feels a bit greener.
To receive this kind of “victory”, a little preparation goes a long way. The good news: this is not a lifelong discipline you must maintain forever. Many of the routines you adopt before Ayahuasca can stay with you if they feel good — or you can gently release them afterwards.
Why Preparation Matters
A conscious preparation changes your retreat in several important ways:
1. The ride becomes smoother
The experience itself often feels less overwhelming and exhausting. You still go deep, but you don’t feel like you’re being dragged through it.
Imagine running a marathon without any training… and then running it after a couple of years of steady preparation. In both cases, you might finish — but the price your body pays is very different.
2. You have more inner stability
When your mind is more trained and steady, there are moments in ceremony when you can gently choose how to meet what arises.
Instead of feeling like you’re just being pulled by Ayahuasca, you may:
ask your own questions,
explore memories with more curiosity and less panic,
observe, feel, and keep going deeper in a more conscious way.
3. You can safely go deeper
When the body is better conditioned, you can lift heavier weights. The same is true for the inner work.
Preparing for Ayahuasca helps you meet deeper and darker layers with more ease. Digging them out, facing them, and digesting them afterwards becomes more natural than if you arrive completely unprepared.
4. You integrate insights faster
Ayahuasca is not just about what happens during the night. The real magic is what you do with it after.
When you prepare not only for the ceremonies, but also for life after the retreat, it becomes much easier to:
understand your insights,
turn them into concrete steps,
and let the retreat affect your daily reality for a long time.
The more you prepare before your Ayahuasca retreat, the better. We are not a mind or a body — we are one whole. Our mind affects our body, and our body affects our mind.
If you want to be an “Ayahuasca athlete”, it’s worth training both.
That said, most of the “lifting” during the ceremony happens in the mind. So let’s start there.
Preparing Your Mind
Intention vs. No Intention
There is a lot of discussion around whether you “should” set an intention before an Ayahuasca retreat.
Some people say:
“I prefer no intention — I want to be open to whatever Ayahuasca shows.”
Or: “If I don’t expect anything, I can’t be disappointed.”
There’s wisdom in that. Many of us are very attached to control. We want Ayahuasca to:
give us exactly what we ask for,
in the exact way we imagine.
And when reality doesn’t match our internal script, we feel that the medicine “didn’t work”.
On the other hand, it’s very hard to come to such a powerful experience as a complete blank slate. Just knowing that Ayahuasca can change your life creates fantasies and unconscious expectations. These hidden expectations can influence your retreat more than you realize.
Another common pattern: setting unrealistic or uninformed expectations.
We often assume that:
“What I want = what I need.”
But Ayahuasca — like many deep medicines — doesn’t always agree. It tends to work on what is actually most important for your healing, not just on what your conscious mind demands.
So how do we work with this?
A healthy way to set intention
The trick is to create an intention that supports, rather than controls, the medicine.
A helpful intention:
is not about how Ayahuasca should heal you,
It’s about what in you is ready to be healed.
Instead of asking for a specific scenario (e.g., “fix my relationship with my husband exactly this way”), you can open to deeper layers:
“I am ready to heal the roots of my patterns in relationships.” “I am ready to understand and release what keeps my heart closed.” “I am ready to live with more truth, love, and courage.”
Sometimes, by working with one relationship (for example, with a parent), your whole attitude to relationships shifts — and the change naturally spreads into your current partnership.
A good intention:
puts your mind in order,
name what is important,
and then steps back, allowing Ayahuasca to choose the route.
Having no intentions or expectations at all is almost impossible. Ayahuasca is a powerful Medicine, and your mind will think about it.
So instead of letting your expectations buzz chaotically in your head, you can gently shape them into a clear, honest, flexible intention.
Meditation: Your Inner Training Ground
If someone asked me for one skill that can radically improve your Ayahuasca experience, I would say without hesitation:
Meditation.
Today, many things are called “meditation”:
playing music,
dancing,
jogging,
“just being in the moment”.
All of these can be beautiful and meditative, but in the strict sense, meditation is training your attention.
Our mind is often like a drunk monkey: jumping from thought to thought, from worry to fantasy, from memory to plan. If there’s nothing outside to distract it, it starts distracting itself.
Meditation is the opposite movement.
To meditate means:
choosing one thing as your focus (for example, the breath),
gently keeping your attention there,
and each time the mind wanders away (and it will),
You simply bring it back.
Wandering and returning will happen again and again. Over time, the “returning” becomes easier, and your attention grows stronger.
Why this matters for Ayahuasca
Ayahuasca works directly with the mind. It:
cleans,
sharpens,
brings up old material,
and shows you how you relate to your own thoughts and emotions.
If you already have some training, you gain several advantages:
You can observe thoughts — even painful or scary ones — without immediately reacting.
During the ceremony, when an unpleasant thought appears, you know how to stay with it and breathe, instead of fighting or running.
You discover that thoughts are like waves: they rise, they peak, they fall. You don’t need to jump into every wave.
Meditation becomes your safe zone inside the experience.
Many intense experiences in ceremony are amplified by shallow, rapid breathing and unconscious tension. If you remember to:
breathe deeper and slower,
feel your body,
and bring your awareness back to the present,
the emotional storm often softens.
With even a small meditation practice, you gain confidence: you know that you have a tool to meet difficult moments. That confidence itself allows you to explore deeper parts of yourself that otherwise might feel unreachable.
How to start
The specific style of meditation is less important than consistency. You can explore:
simple breath-focused practices (like Anapana),
Japa meditation (repeating a mantra),
more advanced techniques like Vipassana.
Start small: 5–6 minutes per day. Gradually increase. By the time your Ayahuasca retreat begins, aiming for around 30 minutes per day can make a noticeable difference.
A stable daily practice doesn’t have to be perfect. It just needs to be honest.
Journaling: Mapping Your Inner Landscape
Sometimes we feel the pressure of thoughts building in our head so strongly that it seems our skull might burst. We become irritable, anxious, and this inner tension grows with time.
Journaling is a simple way to let the pressure out.
All you need is:
a piece of paper,
a pen,
and a willingness to be honest.
You write down what’s swirling in your mind, and those thoughts begin a new life on the page instead of spinning endlessly in your head.
For Ayahuasca preparation, journaling can be more than just emergency relief. It can help you understand where you are and where you want to go.
Point A: Where you are now
Imagine being lost in a jungle with a map. The map is useless until you figure out where you are on it.
Ayahuasca is about changing and improving your life. You can help the medicine — and yourself — by naming the areas you are not satisfied with:
relationships,
habits,
work and money,
health,
spirituality,
sense of purpose.
Describe as vividly and honestly as possible:
“What in my life doesn’t feel right right now?”
This becomes your Point A — the starting place of your journey.
Point B: Where you want to go
Next, you can write about your desired state:
the kind of relationships you’d love to have,
what a healthy body and mind feels like for you,
the work you’d love to do,
the way you would like to live day-to-day.
Be generous in the details. This is Point B on your map.
Holding A and B in your mind (and on paper) makes a difference. During and after the retreat, Ayahuasca can help:
clarify the roots of your dissatisfaction,
show you what blocks you,
and point you toward wise, concrete steps.
Many things you hoped Ayahuasca would “identify” for you can be at least partly discovered through journaling. Then the medicine can go deeper, to layers that are harder to reach by thinking alone.
Even 3–5 minutes of writing per day can give you the mental clarity and orientation needed to get the most from your retreat.
Time Alone: Meeting Yourself More Deeply
We naturally mirror the people around us. Even those we love can unconsciously:
influence our mood,
shape our thinking,
pull us into their patterns.
Self-improvement is a heroic journey. To make it smoother, it often helps to step a little bit back from your usual environment for a while.
Spending more time alone before your retreat can:
reduce external noise,
bring up material you usually avoid by staying busy,
help you see your patterns more clearly.
When you are alone, you stop constantly running away from the uncomfortable parts of yourself. You begin to:
see your “demons”,
understand your inner “enemy”,
and feel more inner strength available for change.
You don’t have to cut relationships or isolate yourself dramatically. Small choices are enough:
long solo walks,
quiet time in nature,
evenings without screens and social stimulation.
Think of it as gently turning down the volume of the outside world so you can hear your inner voice more clearly.
Planning Your Integration Time
Drinking Ayahuasca is not the end — it’s the beginning of a new chapter. The real work starts when you come back to your daily life.
Without integration, the effects of Ayahuasca can fade quickly. With integration, the insights can reshape your life in quiet, powerful ways.
Before the retreat even begins, ask yourself:
“What will my life look like in the days and weeks after the retreat?”
At the end of the retreat, you usually have:
insights that are clear and ready to act on,
insights that are still “baking” and need more time.
Give yourself some extra space to:
reflect,
write,
rest,
make small but concrete changes.
If you are traveling for your retreat, consider staying a bit longer:
visit nearby places,
keep a slower rhythm,
let the experience land before jumping fully back into your old routines.
If you need to go home immediately, you can still:
keep the first weekends lighter,
dedicate time for walks, journaling, and quiet reflection,
avoid filling your calendar with heavy obligations.
Think ahead and protect some time for integration. Your future self will be grateful.
Praying, Mantras and Music
All three — prayer, mantras, and music — work with the same subtle layer: your state of mind and heart.
Praying
Our words have power. They shape how we see ourselves and the world.
Sincere prayer before Ayahuasca can:
soften the ego,
invite humility,
open gratitude,
help you accept whatever comes — pleasant or challenging.
It doesn’t matter if you pray every day or only during the retreat period. What matters is sincerity. When you ask honestly, something in you — and around you — listens.
Mantras
Mantras are sacred sounds and phrases used for tuning and purifying the mind.
Listening to or repeating mantras can:
calm anxiety,
steady the mind,
create a sense of protection and support.
You can:
create a small playlist of mantras that resonate with you,
listen to them when you feel nervous, distracted or restless,
play them before ceremonies to enter a centered, prayerful state.
Music
Music is a powerful form of “mental nutrition.”
The songs we listen to shape:
our nervous system.
Before a retreat, it can be helpful to:
reduce music that is aggressive, overly stimulating, or full of violent or chaotic themes,
let go of a few parties,
invite more calm, soothing, meditative, or uplifting music into your day.
You don’t have to become rigid. Just imagine you are creating a gentle sound diet that supports your inner work.
Preparing Your Body
The Ayahuasca Diet
We really are, in many ways, what we eat.
Sometimes, low mood, anxiety, or restlessness are not only about psychology — they are also about what we put into our bodies day after day.
Before an Ayahuasca retreat, it’s wise to gently shift your diet toward something lighter and cleaner. This doesn’t mean you must give up your favorite foods forever. Think of it as a temporary offering:
“For this journey, I give my body a break, so it can support me in the best way.”
A classic Ayahuasca diet is usually:
simple,
mostly plant-based,
low in processed foods, sugar, and stimulants.
On a chemical level, the brew alters some protective systems of the body (through MAOI action), so it’s important to avoid certain foods (like those high in tyramine) and substances that may interact dangerously with it.
On an energetic level, many shamans suggest avoiding foods and substances that strongly alter the mind:
alcohol,
recreational drugs,
heavy meats,
refined sugar,
large amounts of cacao.
A clean diet helps you from several angles:
Less purging: your body is not overloaded from the start.
Less shock: if your normal lifestyle is very far from the Ayahuasca diet, doing nothing before the retreat can make the shift quite brutal. Preparing in advance makes the transition smoother.
More clarity: less physical discomfort, more space for inner work.
Your stomach — and your future self in ceremony — will thank you.
Fasting
If you want to go deeper with Ayahuasca, fasting can be a powerful ally.
Since the brew is taken orally, fasting:
reduces “competition” for absorption in the stomach,
often increases the intensity and clarity of the experience,
may reduce heavy purging, especially when used wisely.
Traditionally, many centers ask for at least 10–12 hours of no solid food before the ceremony (for example: breakfast, then no lunch, then Ayahuasca at night).
More experienced fasters sometimes experiment with 24–48 hours of fasting before the ceremony, but this should only be done if:
your body is already familiar with fasting,
your health allows it,
and ideally with professional guidance.
If you’re curious about fasting:
try shorter fasts several times a month before the retreat,
get to know how your body responds,
don’t push yourself into extremes.
Fasting, practiced gently and consciously, can become a trampoline that helps you dive deeper — but it should never become a punishment.
Yoga and Stretching
During Ayahuasca ceremonies, the body processes a lot:
old emotional tension,
stored stress,
trauma held in muscles and fascia.
Many people find that yoga and stretching:
increase body awareness,
build tolerance for uncomfortable sensations,
strengthen the mind–body connection.
Doing yoga regularly is a gift in itself: better posture, more flexibility, improved circulation, calmer mind.
Combined with Ayahuasca, it can:
help you stay present when intense sensations arise,
teach you how to breathe and relax into discomfort,
make your body a more supportive space for the medicine’s work.
You don’t need advanced poses. Even simple stretching — especially if you’re just starting — can be a powerful teacher in “staying with what is”.
Sexual Abstinence
Taking conscious ownership over what we eat and how we express our sexuality is one of the most challenging tasks in modern life.
We are constantly bombarded with:
images,
music,
marketing,
all designed to stimulate desire and keep us in a kind of restless craving.
In many spiritual traditions, sexual energy is seen as a powerful fuel for inner work. When it is constantly dispersed, there may be less energy available for deep transformation.
Many athletes have used sexual abstinence before important competitions to stay sharp and focused. Some spiritual systems also see sexual desire as one of the biggest obstacles on the path.
For Ayahuasca, it is often recommended to pause sexual activity (including solo sex) for at least two weeks before the retreat.
This can:
clear the mind,
increase focus,
sharpen sensitivity,
help you arrive at the ceremony with more available energy.
It doesn’t have to be framed as “something is wrong with sex”. Rather, you are choosing to redirect that energy for a period of time toward healing and inner growth.
Prescription Medications
Ayahuasca is a powerful medicine. It also behaves like a strong psychoactive substance in the body — and mixing drugs is rarely a good idea.
The way Ayahuasca works involves temporarily weakening certain protective systems (through MAO inhibition). This can make the body more vulnerable to interactions with other chemicals.
Because of this, it is essential to be very careful with:
antidepressants and other psychiatric medications,
medications that affect blood pressure or neurotransmitters,
and many other prescription drugs.
General rule:
Always consult your doctor before changing or stopping any medication.
The most critical caution is with medications for mental health. Some combinations with Ayahuasca are known to cause serious complications.
As part of your preparation:
talk openly with your prescribing doctor,
discuss the possibility and timeline of tapering off (if appropriate),
coordinate with your retreat center about which medications are absolutely not allowed.
It might be that after a well-integrated Ayahuasca process, you will relate to your mental health and medication in a completely new way. But the path to that point should be as safe and respectful to your body as possible.
Common Mistakes Before Ayahuasca (and How to Avoid Them)
Here are some frequent pitfalls people fall into — and what you can do instead:
Over-researching and feeding anxiety
Reading endless stories and watching every documentary can increase fear.→ Once you choose your retreat, shift focus from research to preparation.
Expecting Ayahuasca to “do everything for you”
Seeing the medicine as a magic pill creates disappointment.→ Treat Ayahuasca as a powerful partner, not a savior. You still walk the path.
Ignoring the integration phase
Not planning time after the retreat can dilute the impact.→ Reserve space after the retreat, even if it’s just some clear weekends.
Ignoring your body
Preparing only “in the head” and neglecting diet, sleep, and movement.→ Treat your body as the vehicle for your journey — care for it.
Trying to change everything at once
Extreme last-minute detox, strict routines, and pressure can create stress.→ Choose a few key practices (meditation, journaling, diet) and do them consistently.
Pushing yourself into isolation if you’re not ready
Too much solitude too fast can feel destabilizing.→ Increase alone time gradually and in nourishing ways (nature, walks, quiet evenings).
Holding rigid expectations about what must happen
Deciding in advance what visions you “have to” see sets you up for frustration.→ Set a flexible, heart-based intention and let go of the script.
Overpreparing mentally, underpreparing emotionally
Knowing a lot about Ayahuasca but not feeling your own fears and hopes.→ Allow yourself to feel. Journaling, therapy, or conscious conversations can help.
Comparing yourself to other people’s experiences
Trying to copy someone else’s story or healing path.→ Your journey is unique. Let it be yours.
Not being honest about medications or health conditions
Hiding information from facilitators can be dangerous.→ Be transparent with both your doctor and your retreat center.
Conclusion: Becoming the Champion of Your Own Life
Ayahuasca by itself is a very powerful healing method. For thousands of years, people have found relief and insight through this medicine. Even someone who comes without preparation can have a life-changing experience.
But if you want to go deeper, integrate more, and receive the full richness of what Ayahuasca can offer, conscious preparation is one of your greatest allies.
There are many tools you can use:
meditation,
journaling,
time alone,
prayer and mantras,
a gentle music diet,
a cleaner way of eating,
fasting,
yoga,
sexual abstinence,
and careful handling of medications.
Each of these practices can improve your life even outside of any retreat. Together with Ayahuasca, they can bring changes that are deep, bright, and long-lasting.
Your life is too precious to settle for “just getting by”.
If you feel called to this path, you have the chance to train — not for a race against others, but for a more truthful, loving, and courageous version of yourself.
If you want to become the champion of your own life, preparation is not a burden — it’s an act of love towards the person you are becoming.
Ready to Begin Your Journey?
If you feel a calling toward Ayahuasca, trust that whisper. Preparation is not about perfection — it’s about meeting yourself with honesty, courage, and care. And when the moment comes, the medicine meets you exactly where you are.
For over 7 years, we’ve been guiding guests through their Ayahuasca journeys in the Amazon, and the gratitude reflected in our reviews means the world to us. Our team supports you before, during, and long after the ceremonies, so your transformation doesn’t just stay in the jungle — it becomes part of your life.
At Lighthouse! Ayahuasca Retreat Center, we honor every guest’s process with compassion, safety, and deeply personal guidance. We work with small groups of up to 8 people, ensuring intimacy, presence, and attention.
You don’t have to walk this alone. We’re here — with open hearts, steady hands, and a deep respect for your healing.
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