Preparing your body for Ayahuasca, the diet
What you may and may not consume.The preparation diet is important before your retreat. A pure body helps you effectively connect with the spirit of the medicine. In the Amazonian tradition, the more time you spend dieting, the more benefits you reap from the medicine. The minimum amount of time you must follow the diet is one week before your retreat, keeping in a mind state of peace and meditation all the while.
Please avoid for minimum one week: Red meat, shellfish, pork and chicken. Do not have food with excess salt, sugar or spices. No peppers such as jalapeños, habaneros, etc. No fried food. NO CANNED, frozen or other preservative foods(condiments). Avoid cow products (DAIRY). Not drinking cold drinks helps clear your system over time, try to drink hot or at room temperature beverages. Do not consume marijuana or alcohol. No sexual contact.
We recommend eating either Vegan or Icto-Vegan diet: Fresh fish, boiled eggs, vegetable milks (almonds, sesame, soy, rice), salads with vegetables, lentils, rice, garbanzo, beans, yuccas, potatoes, sweet potatoes, acidic fruits, sweet fruits, olives and avocados.
The effects of Ayahuasca
The effects of the medicine vary from person to person, it may take effect within 30 minutes of being ingested. Physical effects can start with numbness, cold, heat, chills, nausea or physical discomfort; you will most likely vomit (purification) and have psychedelic visions. You will enter in connection with the spirit of the plant (Mother Ayahuasca) and leave humbly. Through purification you will align your life to a greater understanding, live in harmony, accepting your mistakes, forgiving yourself and forgiving others.
It is normal to mourn or laugh during the ceremony, the plant can open the connection with your inner self (the subconscious), with past experiences, fears, traumas or other emotions, which you can work through with and overcome. In the end you will have better intuition, patience, love and harmony with yourself and the world around you.
Getting to Cusco and the Sacred Valley
If you need any assistance in setting up your itinerary, please feel free to contact our team. Depending on what country you are coming from flight times into Peru vary. If your flight comes into Lima late at night we recommend staying in the airport for a few hours and at 5:00AM there are flights to Cusco. Once you have arrived in Cusco, take a marked taxi to your hotel or hostel, this should cost around 20 soles. There are taxis waiting immeditately in front of the airport.
We will meet in a designated location that is close to the centre and if you would like to tour museums or see the city of Cusco for the day before your retreat, it will be comfortable for walking.
On the day your retreat begins the driver will meet you at the location at 5:00PM. Depending on the day you finish your retreat, we will leave the Sacred Valley at about 11:00AM and will be in the city centre in Cusco by 12:00PM.
Where are the retreats located?
Our centre is about an hour and ten minutes from Cusco city in the Sacred Valley, nestled inbetween Pisac and Calca. We are surrounded by mountains and an hour and a half walk up our mountain is a Sacred Inca site to the resting place of their creator God. There are condors living here, fruit trees and a river to walk along. This is a small Peruvian village it is simple and very quiet. You can safely take walks and we will take hikes up the mountain as long as you are interested in doing so.