AYAHUASCA RETREAT
Embark on a Transformative Ayahuasca Journey
Tarapoto, Peru
September 13 – 20, 2025
Discover
Yourself
“Your task is not to seek love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”
-Rumi
Ayahuasca holds a mirror to you. It reflects your internal landscape onto the surface of awareness, where you’re forced to confront it, to hold it, to listen to it, to learn from it. It sheds your stories and defenses and exposes your true nature, your true Self.
It can be an uncomfortable and challenging process because it can bring our deepest fears, emotions, and discomforts to the surface. But this is where transformation begins—when loving awareness, or Mother Aya, can shine her light and warmth on them.
Once you allow all of these pieces of yourself to be seen in that greater Awareness, that formless and open space of mind that holds and knows everything without effort or judgment, you realize that none of those pieces are you. After all, how could they be? They are arising in this greater space of Awareness.
Are you not Awareness itself? Entirely whole, perfectly awake, and always at peace.
$2,500 | What’s Included:
- 7 Nights near Tarapoto, Peru (Food included)
- Optional Stay in Tarapoto on 12th & 20th (for flight flexibility)
- 4 Ayahuasca ceremonies with authentic Shipibo Shamans
- 1 Rapé Ceremony
- 1 Huachuma or San Pedro (mescaline) ceremony
- Aya Cooking & Planting Workshop
- Waterfall Hike & Mud Baths
- Daily Meditation & Workshops at retreat
- Daily Yoga in the mornings
- 1-month meditation course to prepare for the journey
- 1-month meditation course after to integrate
- Two 1:1 Zoom meetings with John or River prior to the retreat (optional)
- Group Zoom follow-ups for integration & accountability (optional)
- *Flights not included
Discover
Yourself
“Your task is not to seek love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”
-Rumi
Ayahuasca holds a mirror to you. It reflects your internal landscape onto the surface of awareness, where you’re forced to confront it, to hold it, to listen to it, to learn from it. It sheds your stories and defenses and exposes your true nature, your true Self.
It can be an uncomfortable and challenging process because it can bring our deepest fears, emotions, and discomforts to the surface. But this is where transformation begins—when loving awareness, or Mother Aya, can shine her light and warmth on them.
Once you allow all of these pieces of yourself to be seen in that greater Awareness, that formless and open space of mind that holds and knows everything without effort or judgment, you realize that none of those pieces are you. After all, how could they be? They are arising in this greater space of Awareness.
Are you not Awareness itself? Entirely whole, perfectly awake, and always at peace.
Is Ayahuasca Right For Me?
- Are you holding onto past traumas?
- Have you recently lost your faith?
- Are you looking for a new direction in life?
- Are you struggling with loss, grief, or depression?
- Has the world lost its color and aliveness?
- Are you looking to tap into your creativity?
- Do you feel there may be more to life?
- Are you interested in exploring the nature of your own mind?
Questions & Concerns
Trying ayahuasca can be intimidating. It is an incredibly powerful psychedelic. And it can bring much of what you have hidden in the depths of your subconscious to the surface of awareness – pains and traumas, self-deceits and defenses, but also your deepest gratitudes, values, and aims.
It shows us that your path to healing begins by facing yourself – all of yourself. You must first open to, feel, and accept the pain, fear, trauma, and regret you have buried deep within before you can begin to heal and find peace.
So, if you have any questions or concerns before you embark on this journey, let’s talk. I want to do everything in my power to make sure you feel safe and loved while you explore the deepest dungeons and highest peaks of your being.
You are undeniably beautiful. A truly remarkable fact of existence.
John
Mindfulness & Ayahuasca
Mindfulness practice asks us to stay close to and intimate with our experience. It asks us to see clearly whatever is arising without judging it, without clinging to the pleasant or pushing away the unpleasant. It asks us to awaken to the continuous, interconnected, and seamless nature of consciousness, of existence. It asks us to occupy more than our bodies. It asks us to be whole.
Ayahuasca orients us similarly toward experience. Though mindfulness may provide a more stable and lasting path to inner peace, or an undivided mind, Ayahuasca provides an excellent window into this holistic perspective. It allows us to step outside our limited self and beliefs and view everything from the unbound space of awareness.
More About Ayahuasca
Ayahuasca is a powerful and sacred brew that has been used by cultures near the Amazon basin for thousands of years to heal mental and psychological illnesses.
Ayahuasca is a tea-like brew sought by spiritual seekers, artists, leaders, veterans, and wounded souls alike.
It has been known to help with chronic depression, drug and alcohol addiction, and has been especially effective for emotional and psychological disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (or PTSD).
The psychoactive ingredient in the brew is dimethyltryptamine (DMT) – a chemical that occurs naturally in the brain and is associated with dreaming and the visions that accompany near-death experiences.
Ayahuasca is powerful and should be approached with reverence and respect – (some even encourage to approach it with trepidation). It can bring you to the highest peaks as well as the deepest, darkest caves.
The experience is normally led by one or more shamans and the brew is consumed in a group setting. The ceremony typically lasts about four to six hours and takes place at night in a dark room, usually a ceremonial building that has cultivated a sense of love, reverence, and openness.
The shamans usually begin by gathering the participants’ intentions before offering each person a small cup of the brew. Although it varies from person to person, the medicine usually takes 30 to 40 minutes to kick in and the peak lasts for about an hour. After that it is common to experience the medicine in waves that last about 30 minutes each.
The shamans will sing sacred songs called icaros, which have specific healing intentions. Some people will experience the music visually in complex geometric landscapes or visual tableaus.
At the end of the ceremony, the shaman formally closes with a prayer or incantation. People are then allowed to drift off to sleep or to sit and talk, eat some fruit, and drink some tea or water.
Loving-Kindness & Ayahuasca
Ayahuasca’s path to love and gratitude can be difficult since it first requires us to face our darkness – our traumas and bad habits.
When we’re kids, we inherit many negative patterns and habits from our parents and community, and are hit with many traumas that leave energetic imprints on us.
If we refuse to face these as we move into adulthood, if we keep suppressing them, they often can turn into addiction, depression, anxiety, and self-hatred.
Ayahuasca gives us the chance to unlock these patterns. It allows us to step away from our limited sense of self and look at them from a more loving and encompassing perspective.
By bringing subconscious pains and blockages to the surface, we are given an opportunity to practice real love, compassion, and forgiveness towards ourselves.
Another way I’ve noticed how Ayahuasca overlaps with Buddhism is in this practice of self-love and -compassion. The Buddhist practice of metta, or ‘loving-kindness,’ makes it a discipline to cultivate the feelings of loving-kindness, compassion, and joy towards oneself and towards all beings everywhere.
In this practice, some of us can feel a lot of resistance – sometimes it can even be painful, or it can bring about the opposite feelings of loving-kindness, like when we try to shine metta on someone who abused us.
But if you stay dedicated to the practice, eventually you will open to your wounds and shine the light of love and compassion on them.
Additional Medicines
Rapé
Rapé is incredibly grounding. It raises all the energy to what is commonly referred to as the ‘third eye,’ clearing and sharpening the mind.
It’s is an excellent way to prepare for Ayahuasca because it provides you with the opportunity to hold your intention while the medicine works on you. It can also cleanse your body, and sometimes even cause you to purge, physically and/or emotionally.
It is native to several Amazonian tribes in Brazil and has been used by their people for thousands of years.
It gets snorted into your nostrils using a special bamboo stick or pipe. And is composed primarily of tobacco but also includes barks and leaves of numerous medicinal trees from the Amazon jungle.
San Pedro
San Pedro (Echinopsis pachanoi) is Spanish for “St. Peter’s cactus.” Like St. Peter, who guards the gates to heaven, San Pedro can give you a peek into heaven.
The use of this cactus as a plant medicine and entheogen dates back at least two thousand years to the Moche culture.
The cactus contains a variety of alkaloids, including the well-known chemical mescaline, the same chemical in Peyote.
Its effects are generally reported as a gentle but profound connection with people and nature, which can last for up to ten hours.
San Pedro pairs wonderfully with a hike and engaging with nature. It also puts you in an excellent place to contemplate your priorities and direction in life.
About
John Driggs
Author, meditation teacher, philosopher, and host of the Love & Understanding podcast.
Hey! My name is John Driggs. I live on a quiet mountain property with my partner River and our four kids.
Our home is a sanctuary and a place of growth – a place where people can come to feel safe and loved, a place where teachers and artists can come together to share their wisdom and beauty, where they can host retreats, workshops, and other experiences that soften our hearts and expand our minds.
I’m looking forward to sharing my unbounded love and tender heart with each of you.
John
About
John Driggs
Author, meditation teacher, philosopher, and host of the Love & Understanding podcast
Hey! My name is John Driggs. I live on a quiet mountain property with my partner River and our four kids.
Our home is a sanctuary and a place of growth – a place where people can come to feel safe and loved, a place where teachers and artists can come together to share their wisdom and beauty, where they can host retreats, workshops, and other experiences that soften our hearts and expand our minds.
I’m looking forward to sharing my unbounded love and tender heart with each of you.