30 Things I Wish I Knew Before Drinking Ayahuasca
Be Open for the Experience, Let Go of Expectations
The medicine will give you what you need, not what you expect—surrender to your unique journey.
Prepare Yourself Accordingly
Follow the recommendations and understand that preparation is more than just the physical aspect.
Find a Place You Trust
Your safety depends on choosing the right retreat center—trust your intuition and don’t compromise.
Have a Support System in Place for After the Experience
Integration is where real transformation happens—line up support before you drink.
Key takeaways: Ayahuasca Soul Healing
Be Open for the Experience, Let Go of Expectations
The medicine will give you what you need, not what you expect—surrender to your unique journey.
Prepare Yourself Accordingly
Follow the recommendations and understand that preparation is more than just the physical aspect.
Find a Place You Trust
Your safety depends on choosing the right retreat center—trust your intuition and don’t compromise.
Have a Support System in Place for After the Experience
Integration is where real transformation happens—line up support before you drink.v
Table of Contents
#1 It’s a Portal
Be prepared. Once you open this can of worms, you can’t put it back. You see the world differently and you can’t ever unsee it. I wouldn’t want it any other way, but I do think it’s useful to have that information and be in consent over it.
She’ll always give you what you need but rarely the way you want it to be delivered. This is a medicine of deconstruction. Maybe this will happen and maybe not, but be prepared for things to fall apart that are not working and to be rebuilt stronger and more aligned. This does not happen in one sitting but is a long and drawn-out process.
This medicine has a pebble-in-a-pond effect. Once dropped in the water, the rings start to move outward and begin changing all those who are close to you as well. Don’t be surprised if a partner feels the effects of the medicine, even if not in ceremony. The energetic ties can carry this medicine to others who are not even there.
It’s a beautiful medicine. It’s such a profound experience and changes the way you look at the world. Hold your experience closely and cherish it. Try to not project it onto others who do not know this medicine. They will not understand, and it can push people further away from their own journey by putting a bad taste in their mouths.
Good luck and happy travels.”
- Reddit user “SandraLi48”
Preparation
#2 Don’t Expect Anything
When you arrive at ceremony with specific expectations about what should happen, you set yourself up for disappointment or resistance. The medicine works in mysterious ways, and your healing might look completely different from what you imagined. Come with openness and curiosity rather than a checklist of outcomes.
#3 What Happens Before and After the Ceremony Is More Important Than the Ceremony
The ceremony itself is just one moment in a much larger journey. How you prepare your body, mind, and spirit beforehand, and how you integrate the insights afterward, determine the real value of your experience. Think of the ceremony as the seed, but preparation and integration are the soil and water that allow it to grow.
#4 Make Sure You Follow the Dieta
The dieta isn’t just a suggestion—it’s a crucial part of preparing your body and energy for the medicine. Certain foods, substances, and medications can create dangerous interactions or cloud your experience. Following the dieta shows respect for the medicine and creates a cleaner vessel for the work ahead.
#5 Diet Doesn’t Just Consist of What You Eat
Beyond physical food, the dieta includes what you consume mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. This means limiting social media, violent or overstimulating content, sexual activity, and unnecessary drama. What you feed your mind and energy body matters just as much as what you feed your physical body.
If you’re getting ready for your first ceremony, it’s essential to understand how to prepare for Ayahuasca properly.
#6 The Journey Starts Once You Make a Decision to Drink Ayahuasca
From the moment you commit to drinking, the medicine begins working on you. You might notice synchronicities, dreams, emotional releases, or life changes even before you arrive. Pay attention to what comes up during this time—it’s all part of the preparation process.
#7 Wish I Hadn’t Consumed So Many Trip Reports
While it’s natural to research, reading too many detailed trip reports can create expectations or fears that aren’t yours. Everyone’s journey is unique, and filling your mind with others’ experiences can prevent you from having your own authentic encounter. A little knowledge is helpful; too much can be a hindrance.
#8 Know What Medications You Can Continue Taking, and Which Ones to Stop and For How Long
This is critically important for your safety. Certain medications, especially SSRIs, MAOIs, and other psychiatric drugs, can have dangerous or even fatal interactions with ayahuasca. Work with your doctor and be completely honest with your facilitators about everything you’re taking. Your life depends on it.
For an in depth guide, check out or blog on who should not drink Ayahuasca.
#9 Better to Not Do It Than With the Wrong People
The container, facilitators, and community you choose are everything. If something feels off about a retreat center, shaman, or the energy of the space, trust that intuition. A safe, experienced, and ethical setting is non-negotiable. Take your time finding the right place—this isn’t something to rush into.
We invite you to consider Harmonica Retreat in Colombia.
#10 Develop a Spiritual Practice Before
Having an existing practice—whether meditation, prayer, yoga, or time in nature—gives you tools to work with during ceremony and integration. These practices create a foundation that helps you navigate challenging moments and anchor insights afterward. You don’t need to be advanced; you just need something to return to.
#11 I Wish I Knew About It Sooner
Many people feel this way after their first ceremony, wishing they had found this medicine earlier in life. While the timing is always perfect, knowing that ayahuasca exists as a healing option can bring comfort. If you’re feeling called now, trust that this is exactly the right moment for you.
Find out if Ayahuasca is right for you
- Will you be safe physically and emotionally?
- How will you be supported in the ceremony?
- How do the facilitators handle difficult situations?
- How will you be able to process the experience?
- You want change, but will your life be unrecognizable after Ayahuasca?
+ 13 things to consider before drinking Ayahuasca?
Ceremony
#12 Ayahuasca Is a Tool to Access Your Own Wisdom
The medicine doesn’t give you answers from outside yourself—it helps you access the wisdom that’s already within you. You are your own healer, and ayahuasca simply removes the veils and opens the doors. Everything you discover in ceremony is something you already knew at a deeper level.
#13 Don’t Believe Everything You See in Ceremony
Visions and experiences can be profound, but they’re not always literal truth. Sometimes the medicine speaks in metaphor, symbol, or shows you your hopes, fears and desires. Observe your experiences and discern what’s genuinely meaningful versus what’s just mind theater. Integration helps sort this out.
#14 Wear Comfortable Clothes
You’ll be sitting or lying down for hours, possibly purging, sweating, or feeling temperature shifts. Wear loose, comfortable layers that you can adjust easily. Think soft, breathable fabrics with elastic waistbands—this isn’t the time for anything tight or restrictive.
#15 It Doesn’t Always Work, Even If You Follow the Dieta
Sometimes people drink and feel nothing, or very little. This can be frustrating, but it doesn’t mean you did anything wrong or that the medicine doesn’t want to work with you. Sometimes the healing happens on levels you can’t perceive, or you need more ceremonies. Trust the process.
Here’s why you might not feel anything on Ayahuasca—and what it actually means.
#16 The Ayahuasca Is Not Making You Feel Anything—What You’re Feeling Is Already Within You
The medicine doesn’t create emotions or experiences; it brings to the surface what’s been buried inside you all along. Every fear, joy, trauma, or insight you encounter is yours. Ayahuasca is simply the flashlight illuminating what was always there in the dark.
#17 Focus on Your Breath During the Ceremony
Your breath is your anchor. When things get intense, scary, or overwhelming, returning to your breath brings you back to center. It’s the one thing you can always control, and it helps move energy through your body. Deep, conscious breathing can guide you through any moment.
When things get intense, it helps to know how to navigate a difficult Ayahuasca ceremony with awareness.”ds
#18 Ayahuasca Is Not About the Visions You Receive
While visions can be beautiful and meaningful, they’re not the measure of a successful ceremony. Some of the deepest healing happens in the darkness with no visions at all—just feeling, releasing. The comprehensions can come in many different ways. Don’t judge your experience by how visually spectacular it was.
#19 Ayahuasca Doesn’t Have to Be Scary
While challenging moments can arise, not every ceremony is a battle with demons or a terrifying ordeal. Many experiences are gentle, beautiful, and filled with love. The medicine meets you where you are and gives you what you can handle. Fear of ayahuasca can sometimes be more intense than the actual experience.
#20 Your Experience Will Be Unique
Even if you drink in a room with others, no two journeys are the same. Someone might be laughing while you’re crying, or vice versa. Don’t compare yourself to others or feel like you’re doing it wrong because your experience looks different. Your path is yours alone.
#21 Healing Can Be Painful
Real healing often means feeling what you’ve been avoiding. You might revisit trauma, confront shadow aspects, or experience emotional pain as stuck energy releases. This discomfort is part of the medicine working. As they say, you have to feel it to heal it.
#22 Big Messages Can Come Through Small Moments
The most profound insights don’t always come with fireworks and cosmic visions. Sometimes it’s a quiet knowing, a subtle shift, or a simple realization that changes everything. Don’t dismiss the gentle whispers in favor of waiting for dramatic revelations. Pay attention to everything.
Integration
#23 Integration Takes Days, Weeks, Months, Sometimes Years
The ceremony is just the beginning. The real work happens in the days, weeks, and months that follow as you bring the insights into your daily life. Be patient with yourself and understand that integration is an ongoing process, not a quick fix. Some lessons reveal themselves slowly over time.
In this blog we talk about the long term effects of Ayahuasca people tend to experience.
#24 Allocate Time After the Ceremony for Rest
Don’t schedule anything demanding immediately after your retreat. Your nervous system needs time to recalibrate, and you’ll likely feel emotionally raw and energetically sensitive. Give yourself space to be gentle, to process, and to simply be. Consider it sacred recovery time.
To dive deeper into the topic of Integration we recommend our Blog “Ayahuasca Integration – how to maintain the magic” and also “common mistakes to avoid”.
#25 It Is Typically Not a Silver Bullet That Fixes Everything in 1-2 Ceremonies
While ayahuasca can catalyze profound change, it’s not a magic cure that instantly resolves all your issues. Deep healing is layered work. You might need multiple ceremonies over time, combined with therapy, lifestyle changes, and consistent effort. Set realistic expectations about the journey ahead.
In a separate blog we cover how many ceremonies you need for lasting healing and transformation
#26 Have a Support System in Place
Integration is much easier when you have people who understand what you’re going through. This might be a therapist familiar with psychedelic integration, friends who’ve done the work, or an online community. Don’t try to process everything alone—we heal in connection with others.
#27 Reconstructing Ego
The nature of the ego is to reconstruct itself in the days, weeks, and months after ceremony. Some of what was “seen through” during the ceremony will be forgotten and rebuilt in the ego, while other things are impossible to forget, so the ego finds replacement beliefs. If you want the most value, don’t let the ego do that—or at least don’t believe in the new constructs being created. Become comfortable with the discomfort that’s present when you realize there’s no real control and that your “truth” was never really true but existed just to create the illusion of control.
Understanding ego dissolution in Ayahuasca can help you surrender more fully to the process.
#28 Not Everybody Will Embrace the New You
As you change, some relationships may shift or end. People who knew the old version of you might feel uncomfortable with your growth, or your new boundaries might not work for them. This can be painful, but it’s part of the transformation. Trust that the right people will celebrate your evolution.
We explore part of this topic in our blog how Ayahuasca impacts romantic relationships.
Another topic arount that is career change after Ayahuasca.
#29 It Is Easier to Fall Back to Old Patterns Than You Realize
Even after profound insights, the pull of familiar habits and patterns is strong. Your neural pathways, environment, and relationships all reinforce the old ways of being. Be compassionate with yourself when you slip back, and keep recommitting to the changes you want to make. This is normal and part of the process.
#30 Not Talking to Others About My Ayahuasca Experience
While sharing can be helpful, not everyone needs to hear about your journey. Some people wish they’d been more selective about who they told, as not everyone will understand or respect the experience. Hold your journey sacred, and share only with those who have the capacity to honor it.
