What is Ayahuasca
A traditional Amazonian plant medicine approached with intention, guidance, and respect.
Ayahuasca is a ceremonial plant-based brew that has been used for generations within Indigenous Amazonian traditions. Often explored for reflection, emotional insight, and personal growth, the experience can feel deeply meaningful and perspective-shifting. Because every journey is unique, preparation, setting, and integration play an essential role in supporting the process responsibly.
Set, Setting & Support
Today, ayahuasca is often sought by individuals looking for deeper self-understanding, emotional processing, and perspective. Experiences can vary widely from person to person, and outcomes are not predictable or guaranteed. What consistently shapes the experience is the context in which it takes place — including preparation, environment, and guidance.
Because of this, the principles of set and setting are essential. “Set” refers to an individual’s mindset, intentions, and readiness, while “setting” includes the physical environment and the support structure around the experience. When these elements are approached thoughtfully, they help create a container that supports safety, reflection, and integration.
At Behold, ayahuasca is never treated as a quick solution, but as part of a structured, supported process that emphasizes preparation, responsible facilitation, and ongoing integration.
Benefits of Ayahuasca
Potential benefits associated with Ayahuasca experiences.
Ayahuasca ceremonies can open space for profound insight and emotional release. Many of our participants describe a renewed sense of clarity, softened inner narratives, and a deeper connection to their purpose, their relationships, their religion, and their self-understanding of themselves and the world around them.
- Increased emotional awareness and inner clarity.
- Processing of unresolved experiences or long-held patterns.
- Insight into recurring patters.
- A renewed sense of purpose and meaning.
- Deepened connection to self, nature, or spirituality.
- Greater compassion toward oneself and others.
- Release of limiting beliefs and self-imposed ceilings.
- Heightened intuition and expanded perspective.
- Increased creativity and the ability to drop into “flow state”.
- Support for reflection, intention-setting, and aligned life changes.
- Support for overcoming trauma, PTSD, and anxiety triggers.
Our Retreats
Why an Ayahuasca retreat setting matters?
Protected Space for Inner Work
A comfortable and safe environment is the most important factor in you being able to feel at ease enough to let go and allow healing. As one ceremony lasts between 5-8 hours, your physical setting is just as important as your mental setting.
Experienced Facilitation and Professional Support
Behold has the lowest ratio of facilitators to guests in our industry, allowing your ceremony experience to be as personalized as possible with vetted shamans/medicine servers and expert facilitators.
Small-group Intimacy with Individualized Attention
With this being the longest and deepest of our medicines, that the group around you is equally as important for your experience. We hand select each group member, and because of this, you will come out of this experience with strangers that soon become like family and full access to our international Alumni program. The group you are placed with is not a coincidence.
A Pause from Daily Distractions and External Pressures
Distance from routine responsibilities creates the psychological and emotional space needed for deeper insight. A break from technology (highly encouraged) will allow you to sit with your ceremony learnings and let them land within their own time.
Structured Preparation and Thoughtful Integration
Support before and after ceremony to help translate insights into grounded, sustainable change. Coaching is also available for those who want additional guidance and accountability in rooting their new understandings into their daily lives.
Our Approach
A safety-first approach, guided by deep experience, medical awareness, and genuine care.
Safety-First by Design
Every guest moving through our Ayahuasca retreats must first navigate a thorough medical and psychological screening process. Because Ayahuasca has critical contraindications (specifically regarding SSRIs, MAOIs, and cardiovascular medications) we personally evaluate each intake to ensure the medicine can safely serve your journey. At Behold, your wellbeing is the primary safeguard that shapes every aspect of the ceremonial container.
Small, Intentionally Curated Groups
To foster true intimacy and connection, our retreats are limited to a maximum of 11 vetted participants. This intentional scale allows for deep individualized attention from our facilitators while creating a powerful group bond. By hand-selecting each member, we ensure you sit in ceremony with a community of individuals who share your commitment to sincerity, openness, and profound inner work.
Expert Facilitation
Our ceremonies are guided by expert facilitators who bridge the gap between traditional medicine lineages and modern therapeutic understanding. With experience spanning hundreds of ceremonies, our team provides a trauma-informed and grounded presence. This high level of professional support creates the psychological security necessary for guests to feel safe enough to truly let go and surrender to the experience.
Integration Beyond Ceremony
While the ceremony opens the door to insight, integration is the process of translating those "downloads" into sustainable, grounded change. At Behold, integration is not an afterthought but a core element built into the fabric of your experience. Through structured post-retreat support and lifelong access to our Alumni network, we ensure your realizations continue to unfold and enrich your life long after you return home.
Who Ayahuasca Retreats Are For
Holistic healing experience.
A good fit if you’re:
- Seeking healing, clarity, or emotional growth.
- Ready for preparation and integration.
- Open to guidance and structure.
May not be a fit if you’re:
- Seeking a fun, recreational evening.
- Unwilling to complete medical screening.
- Looking for guaranteed outcomes or trying to force the outcome.
The Behold Process
What to expect at an Ayahuasca retreat?
Entering such a delicate retreat can feel both exciting and unfamiliar. Understanding the flow of the experience helps create clarity and ease before arrival.
Before the retreat begins, guests move through a guided preparation process that includes application review, medical screening, and personalized guidance. We provide recommendations to support physical readiness, mental clarity, and intention-setting so participants arrive grounded and informed.
Ceremonies are held in a carefully prepared, respectful setting led by experienced facilitators. The environment is intentionally structured to feel safe, calm, and supportive. Traditional elements are honored while maintaining clear communication and professional oversight throughout the experience. Your first day on retreat is about getting to know us and the space around you, nothing more. Throughout Day #1 and Day #2 we will discuss tools for you to take with you into ceremony, Evening #2 is when your first ceremony will begin.
Retreats are designed for small groups to foster connection while allowing for individual space. Guests are supported by a dedicated team who remain present and attentive during ceremonies and integration sessions.
You will have time between ceremonies and we encourage this time be used for rest, nature, journaling, and discussions from the heart. This is your space to just be, try not to fill it unintentionally as we might do in our everyday lives.
Ayahuasca Retreat Locations
Our retreat locations are intentionally selected to support safety, immersion, and meaningful inner work
Costa Rica Ayahuasca Retreat
6 night, all-inclusive Ayahuasca Retreat with a small group (7-11 person max) of thoroughly-vetted guests. Private Rooms offered at $7,650.
View Retreat
Mexico Ayahuasca Retreat
A 6-night, all-inclusive Ayahuasca retreat with a small group of thoroughly-vetted guests. Private Room offered at $7,500 and Shared Rooms for $5,500.
View Retreat
Portugal Ayahuasca Retreat
An all-inclusive Ayahuasca retreat with a small group (7-11 person max) of thoroughly-vetted guests. Private Room offered at $6,500.
View Retreat
Frequently Asked Questions
Answers to common questions about Ayahuasca retreats.
Behold hosts retreats only in locations where ceremonial use operates within established legal frameworks in Portugal, Costa Rica, and Mexico. For this reason we discourage members attending Ayahuasca Retreats in the USA as plant medicine has not yet been made legal there.
Ceremonies themselves are held in the evening and last between 6-8 hours. Throughout the evening, experienced facilitators and traditional musicians create and hold the container with live icaros (ceremonial songs) are sung continuously to guide and protect your experience. Gentle instrumentation such as drums, rattles, and other traditional instruments may accompany the singing, creating a rhythmic landscape that supports introspection and emotional release.
Preparation often includes dietary adjustments, reflection practices, and clear intention-setting. Guests also complete a thorough medical and psychological screening process prior to acceptance.
Ayahuasca is not for everyone. Certain medical conditions, medications, and psychological factors may make participation unsafe however for the vast majority without pre-existing conditions it is safe. We conduct detailed screening and prioritize wellbeing over attendance to ensure each guest is suited for the experience and we do not hesitate to turn away those who are not.
Costs vary depending on location, duration, accommodations, and level of support. High-quality retreats typically include small groups, professional facilitation, medical screening, integration support, and thoughtfully designed venues. We encourage prospective guests to review retreat details or speak with our team to understand what is included. You may read a great point of view from our CEO, Danny Yepez and his take on Exploring Ayahuasca Retreat Costs.
Education & Insights
Educational resources on Ayahuasca, preparation, integration, and the retreat experience.
Am I Ready for Ayahuasca? A Self-Assessment Guide If you're feeling resistance to attending an Ayahuasca Retreat, that may be your intuition talking - or maybe just a fear of change. Maybe it's anxiety about doing such vulnerable work in a group retreat or traveling to another country. How can we know for sure when…
What is Ayahuasca? Ayahuasca, a powerful and sacred brew originating from the Amazon rainforest, has garnered significant attention in recent years, both within indigenous communities and the broader global context. This ancient concoction, traditionally made from the Banisteriopsis caapi vine and the leaves of the Psychotria viridis plant, has been utilized for centuries by various…
Your soul is calling and you’ve done your research. You’ve heard the stories and you’ve decided that you are ready to take on your transformative life-changing Ayahuasca journey in the form of a Retreat and now the questions is how do you choose “the right one”? Perhaps you are still wondering if a Plant Medicine is right…
