Hi, I've been visiting this site for a while now. I'm currently teaching in South Korea.

After years of searching I encountered my first spice a week or so before arriving here.

I wrote about my experience in my single other article. "Seduction by the fairies, potentially dangerous?"

The entire aim of this yr long teaching contract is to save up enough money to travel south America, I'm basically drawn to the rain forest and obviously want to experience Ayahuasca as it should be done.

In the sacred, energy of mother natures cradle.

I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions about where I should go to get a genuine, authentic experience.

I don't want to end up sat off, barely even in the jungle with a load of idiots who just want to get off their heads.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Cheers

I am very interested in this as well and have all the same concerns as you. I would like to have a genuine experience with no "tourists" who are there just because they stubmled across it. I have been doing alot of research for quite some time now but I do not think it is allowed to post on open forums. I am also very curious about other retreats other may have found as well.

If any mod's can please let me know if it is ok to post about different retreats that would be most helpful.

Yeah, I think posting should be fine as we're merely talking about visiting a country and partaking in a legal religious ceremony.


Have you listened to any of Grahame Hancock's talks on it?


Peace

No problem to post about ayahuasca retreats where it's legal. We were even considering how to potentiate this aspect more here in the nexus to prevent abuses as we have been reading about with unscrupulous shamans.

So please do share your good and bad experiences with ayahuasca retreats so others know where to go ! Or also for those that visited without any tips and were able to find good shamans, what criteria did you use to decide to go with that specific shaman/curandero or retreat.

I might be remembering this wrong but wasn't there a member last year who was setting up a database on Aya retreats?

I will see if I can dig it up

Perfect, thank you very much for clearing that up. Some sort of stickied thread or something would be a great help. I have found it very daunting trying to find an "authentic" retreat with a traditional shaman. Im so scared that the ones I find will all be Blue Morphos or as you have said the shamans will be in it for the wrong reasons.

These are the two options that after my research that I have found to be at the top of my list. I will say that I have not gone to either one of them yet but I figured I will pass along the info.

First is Peter Gorman, he is an author and photographer from Texas that arranges tours down to Peru a couple times a year. He also has written a book on Aya and his experiences and seems like he is very knowledgeable. The tours are prices pretty high but not out of my range for a well planned trip. I have talked with him extensively over emails and he is VERY helpful and I am planning on booking on of his tours this upcoming year.
His book, Ayahuasca in my blood: 25 years of Medicine Dreaming:
http://www.amazon.com/Ay...p;keywords=peter+gorman
His website:
http://www.pgorman.com/tours.htm

The second I have found is called Feather Crown run by a man named Jan. The tours are in Ecuador and seems reasonably priced. Jan has been running tours for years in Ecuador and says that he has a very reliable shamans who he works with. I have also talked with him a fair bit over emails as well and he is very pleasant and helpful.
http://www.feathercrown.com/

I hope this helps a little and please post any recommendations or thoughts if you have gone on either of these retreats I have just mentioned.

Only the best...

http://www.willkatika.com/

http://www.magicaljourne...cal-journey-registration

Those look like the peak of Peru luxury. Do you have any personal experience with them?

Is Aya something they specialize in or is it something they offer on the side?

i have not but recommended by highly regarded friend of mine from the psychonaut community.

this one also..

http://www.wasiwaska.org/resources

this one might be more what your looking for, once again recommended by my friend.

http://www.sapaninka.com/en/ayahuasca-retreats

I would say first, loose the notions you have about how or where ayahuasca should be done, or who it should be done with. I know people who have spent time in the jungle with curranderos and claim that the deepest and most healing experience they have had with ayahuasca were at home, with home brewed medicine. I know other people who swear by the amazon..then there are others who claim to have had the most amazing healing experiences with curranderos who a month later are accused of rape by other people. Then there are the people who think all western people are not capable of some kind of level of spiritual whatever that native peoples are capable of. Some people don't even want to use ayahuasca anymore and would rather drink other DMT and beta carboline plants.

It is just my opinion..but you don't need jungle shamans or plane tickets to south America to do this work. I think we are developing our own western context that is equally as powerful and I think that we have tons of people who now can qualify as "shamans" as much as anyone else can(aside of true Siberians).

I agree with you jamie. I also think sometimes ayahuasca tourism is damaging, but depends how your attitude is when visiting such places.

I've had great experiences alone, with indigenous people, or with close group of friends, and I can't say one is better than the other, each of those has been unique, many of them have been visionary and life transforming. Just gotta take care of the possible downfalls of each of those contexts, and learn from the positive aspects and potentials. I think all are worth to try if you have the possibility.

I think people who are new to ayahuasca would benefit taking with other experienced people and in smaller doses, and slowly learn to adjust their relationship to the brew/experience. It doesn't have to be a shaman, can be just an experienced friend. Taking alone should only be done by experienced people or in small and only-slowly-gradually-increasing doses for those that really can't find other experienced people.

When taking with close group of friends, it's important to make sure to address basic issues of how the session will go and what is expected from people. Then during the cerimony I think its best to potentiate music, alternating with moments of silence and introspection while avoiding conversations. When it is with shamans, that's usually how it will go anyways.

I completely agree as well and would be more than willing to do it with a great group of people in a western setting which I would think would be great either at home, camping, or just in a quite peaceful place. The problem with this myself is that I am the first of my group to try to experience the Aya and we have no one experienced to watch over us and such.

I completely agree with the set and setting, but also with the point that it's also who you do it with as in a close group of people who you trust and want to have these life changing experiences with. As I mentioned I do have such a group but we have never experienced the Aya.

My thoughts and hopes were to travel to somewhere to encounter friendly like minded people and hopefully gain a little knowledge and experience and share it with my friends at home. I by no means have any thoughts on being "experienced" in the art of Aya but any knowledge at all I figure would be better than none at all. Anyways, this is my main reason for wanting to travel to the amazon.

Plus I just want to add that I whole hartedly agree that Aya tourism can and probably is a bad thing overall. I do not with to be a tourist, I would like to be a student....

I also completely agree with the whole, "not needing to be in the Amazon" with a shaman thing.

However,this actually is the exact experience I'm seeking.

Has anyone seen the documentary 'Stepping into the fire?'

What are their views on that particular retreat?

Peace

If giving datura to participants and leaving them at their mercy alone, having one kid die in their hands and then hiding the body, is considered 'a good retreat', then chimbre/stepping into the fire retreat is certainly a highlight...........

https://www.dmt-nexus.me...aspx?g=posts&t=36502

I think this thread has great merits, and i do know of Ecuadorian ayahuasca retreats...however it's stoppid expensive. do a facebook query for "Jan Rostlinka" he's my personal contact that hosts these...

...here's his Ecuadorian retreat website: http://www.vypravadoamazonie.cz/

Like i said it's stupid expensive...roughly 3k for the tour itself, outside airfare.

I'll post back with his English website, once i find it again.

Hmmmm, yeah I had my suspicions about that Wall St guy............'Stepping into the fire.'

I'll post something more elaborate when I'm sober.

Please keep the thread going guy's.

Interesting topic.

Peace

Ideally, I want an experience where 'money' isn't the issue.

I mean I'm massively happy to help out the hosts etc in whatever way they need. If that's actual money then no worries.

What I'm aiming for is the most basic, ancient, authentic experience possible.

I know that this isn't essential, however I don't require luxurious bedding arrangements and can't help but feel like like half the stuff on offer is just a commercial B and A.


Bed and Ayahuasca.

Peace and love

I recently came back from here http://ayahuascasatsangha.org/

Awesome experience, I went to the mountain retreat near Huaraz Peru, its a donation based place and the people there were awesome!

Totally non commercial and safe - highly recomended

They also have a jungle camp near Iquitos but I cannot comment on that as I havent been there, I sort of wanted to steer clear of Iquitos because of the masses of Gringo Tourism Ayahuasca rip off merchants there - whatever you decide be careful to pick a good shaman especially in Iquitos - some gringo women are reporting being raped there during ceremony’s whilst deep in the medicine.

My favorite place to refer people to. Affordable and very good healers and facilitators.
http://www.amrita-center.com/

A donation based retreat sounds perfect. Not because I want to skimp on payment, but purely because of the principal it represents. I'll happily pay a lot if I know that it's a genuine retreat and that money isn't their aim.

I don't know how many of you are familiar with Graham Hancock but I've been trying to contact him to ask where he went.


Thank you to everyone for responding and I implore you to keep this thread alive as I think it's invaluable to all of us..


Peace/love