The Ayahuasca Retreat – two week retreat or three week retreat?

Should you take the two week ayahuasca retreat or the three week?

The difference between the two ayahuasca retreats offered by the Ayahuasca Foundation goes beyond just the length of time or number of ceremonies in each retreat.  To help you decide we have put together a comparison of the two ayahuasca retreats.  Obviously, making a journey to Peru is not something most people can do very often and depending on what you are looking for on your trip, one of the two ayahuasca retreats we offer is most likely better for you.  Of course, if you can only get two weeks off from work or from your life back home, then the decision is much easier.  But, if you do have the time, this may help you decide which ayahuasca retreat is best for you.

What do you hope to achieve from the Ayahuasca Retreat?

Are you looking to be healed of a particular illness?  Do you consider the illness to be serious?  Do you wish to explore the spiritual dimensions to get to know yourself better?  Are you lost and trying to find your path in life?  Do you lack self love and don’t know how to get it back into your heart?  Has your mind become your worst enemy?  Are you suffering from an affliction that western medicine cannot diagnose or heal?  Do you want to further your experiences in your personal adventure through this lifetime?

These are all good questions to ask yourself, and most of us would answer yes to more than one.  The two week ayahuasca retreat and the three week ayahuasca retreat have been designed to fulfill all of these goals.  However, some of the goals are more difficult to achieve in a shorter amount of time.  We have found a few basic principles in our observations of the healing work done with ayahuasca and the science of plant spirit healing.  These are not set in stone but seem to be general rules when working with patients taking ayahuasca:

At Least Four Ceremonies Are Needed

Ayahuasca tends to start on the surface and work its way into the deeper into the core of our being.  The first ayahuasca ceremony is often very physical, with many physical sensations and purging and can sometimes be uncomfortable.  The second ceremony tends to penetrate into the emotional body and is often accompanied by crying, feelings of despair or deep emotions that are being released, often after long periods of accumulation or storage.  The third ceremony enters into the spiritual body where the roots of deep afflictions can often be found and pulled up.  It usually takes three ceremonies for someone to get a handle on what’s going on, so that he/she can then become a more active participant in the process.  The fourth ceremony is usually where the ayahuasca ceremony participant begins to take control of the experience and guide and direct the spirits to help or to do the necessary work him/herself.  At this point, more ceremonies do allow for more work to be done.

Our two week ayahuasca retreat has six ayahuasca ceremonies to ensure that participants have time to figure out what is happening and to take control of the experience to make it work for them in the best way possible.  Our three week ayahuasca retreat has nine ceremonies to give participants a chance to go even deeper and to even to begin doing healing work on their family and friends.  Measuring your own condition can be difficult if you have never experienced the healing power of ayahuasca.  Regarding depression or lack of self love, if you can still function in life, that is, still go to work and maintain relationships with friends and loved ones, then your condition is probably not that serious, and the two week ayahuasca retreat would most likely be enough.  If you are in need of serious help because you simply cannot live with such depression or sadness or your past traumas are haunting to you all the time, then the three week ayahuasca retreat is most likely the best option.

18 Days are Needed to Properly Treat a Physical Illness

There is much more to treatment than just drinking ayahuasca, especially when you have a physical illness like diabetes, cancer, psoriasis, hepatitis, etc.  To treat an illness properly, it takes at least 18 days to heal.  The patient must take a plant medicine and do a diet in conjunction with the treat for two and a half weeks, typically, but sometimes even longer.  For the effect of the vapor baths and baths to sink in, it takes a little longer than two weeks.  If you are serious about healing a physical affliction, then the three week ayahuasca retreat is the better option.  During the three week retreat we spend 19 days at the jungle camp, with the first and last days of the retreat back in Iquitos.  This is enough time to properly treat most illnesses.  Recently, we did have an AIDS patient come who required more time and we made arrangements for him to receive treatment privately to ensure that he was healed, and he was.  For most illnesses, however, eighteen days is enough time.  It may be necessary to take some medicine back with you to continue the treatment, but the major work will have been done before you leave.

If you have the ability to take three weeks off from your work, your family, your friends, your life… then I recommend the three week ayahuasca retreat.  If, however, you do not feel that your illness is that serious, but, of course, would still like to be healed, then the two week ayahuasca retreat is most likely best.  If you are just looking to explore and experience more that is out there, then it is up to you how far you’d like to go or for how long you’d like your adventure to last.  You are sure to learn a great deal during the two week retreat, and even more during the three week retreat.  There is really no end to the learning potential of ayahuasca and the plant spirit healing tradition of curanderismo.

Only You Can Decide How Long It Will Take To Heal

Because the healing tradition of curanderismo includes the patients participation, it is ultimately up to the patient to determine how long the healing treatment will take.  Your faith in the medicine, in the curandero, and in the process makes a big difference in the effectiveness of the treatment.  If you are totally on board, meaning that you are ready to do whatever it takes and know that this form of medicine is the way to get it done, then you will have great results.  If you are skeptical and apprehensive, then it will be more of a challenge for you and for us to send you home healthy.  Sometimes, a condition like depression can complicate this situation, but it takes digging deep and finding the strength to make it happen.  We can only do so much.  The more you help, the better the results will be.  If you are reading this then you are most likely 90 percent of the way there already.  Look into your heart and muster up the last 10 percent and you will be healed.  Nothing is impossible when you truly believe.  You can be healthy and happy again.  We will do everything we can to make sure that you are.