Ayahuasca Retreat Reviews — Helping You Stay Safe with 5,000+ Independent Reviews
Our Program
At Arkana, we create the space for you to get in touch with your truth, opening your path for deeper meaning and greater fulfillment in your life. We work with ancestral medicines such as Ayahuasca, San Pedro, Bufo Alvarius, Rapé , using the traditional practices of the indigenous cultures of the Peruvian Amazon. We currently operate two centers in Peru, one in the Peruvian Amazon and a second one in the Sacred Valley (close to Machu Picchu), and one in Mexico, the choice is yours.
With great respect for the plants and the knowledge and healing that comes with them, our lineage of Shipibo shamans set the stage for truly deep and profound healing. Awaken your inner power through their sacred and powerful icaros (healing songs), and discover your connection to all things by exploring some of the 2.2 million hectare Pacaya Samiria National Reserve which is our backyard. Nourish your body and soul with fresh, clean, delicious meals that promote your Ayahuasca experience, and integrate healthy habits into your routine with our yoga classes and extensive selection of gym equipment for all levels. We believe the health of physical body sets the foundation for the health of the energetic body – Often ignored in this type of spiritual work, we find this to be an important part of the healing process, so you can begin implementing the healthy habits that will carry this work with you into your life back home. Finally, relax your mind and spirit with sound baths, meditations, breathwave sessions, and OM circles, or simply enjoy the tranquil views of both sunrise and sunset from our front porch on the banks of the Ucayali River, surrounded by lush biodiversity and the mesmerizing sounds of the jungle.
Arkana’s exceptional team of highly-trained Shipibo Master Shamans represent an unbroken lineage of plant medicine work. With a combined history of over 70 years of experience working closely with Ayahuasca and other master plant teachers of the jungle, our compassionate healers lovingly share their teachings, healing songs (icaros), capabilities, and knowledge with integrity and honor. We strive to maintain the traditional practices passed down through thousands of years of indigenous Amazonian culture, in order to continue to promote the true purpose and nature of plant medicine work.
Experiencing the medicines with us is a transformative personal journey, and so much more. We also work closely with our local community, the Amazonian village of Libertad, to ensure that our Center can benefit and give back to the people who have so generously let us into their homes and hearts. We create employment opportunities, teach free English classes, provide a space for the ladies to sell their handmade crafts, and assist in construction projects, among other things. Our latest endeavor is outfitting the entire village with free solar panels, so every house can have light and electricity. When you join us, you are helping the rainforest and the Amazon communities that live here.
Guests that come to our Center often say they feel like “part of the family” with us – that’s no coincidence, as we are one big family at Arkana! The people that are with you throughout your experience can simply facilitate your own healing journey or become an integral part of it. Our experienced, loving, and professional team of caregivers welcomes you to join our tribe, where we strive to make you feel at home and at ease, supported and cared for with all the love and compassion that is at the core of the plant medicines and people we work with.
Ayahuasca is a powerful medicine that offers us the opportunity to understand our true nature, by shining a light onto our darkness, and holding a mirror up to our fears, negative thought patterns, and self-limiting beliefs. We provide the environment and expertise of a team of highly skilled, warm, compassionate Shamans and facilitators to guide you through the process of awakening, of choosing differently, healing, and expanding. It is a slow but steady path towards freedom – from fear, from illusion, from self-constructed boundaries – resulting in a lighter, brighter, more authentic self, and the full experience of love. It is our honor to help you on this most fulfilling of all journeys: the journey back home.
We look forward to having you with us!
Lots of Love,
The Team
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ritae
October 11, 2019 at 1:58 pmI’ve taken my time writing this. I wanted to give it a good amount of time after my experience to give my true and authentic review of this place.
For personal reasons, I was unable to tell many people where I was going and what I was getting up to. From the moment I entered the Amazon retreat I felt like royalty. It was breathtaking and nothing much surprises me these days.
Jose and the staff really take the time to make this a special event for each person and my initial thoughts of having spent more than I should have for an Aya retreat were immediately dispelled on seeing what exactly I was paying for.
About the retreat itself: I felt that every single detail of this retreat was perfectly thought out to a precise schedule for maximum enjoyment. The facilities were exactly as expected for a jungle location and sometimes beyond. It was nowhere near as uncomfortable to sleep in the heat as I thought it would be but the bitey bugs definitely did match my expectations. Its a small price to pay though.
The food was absolutely out of this world- words cannot do it justice.
The rooms were kept clean with daily housekeeping and the laundry service was reliable and fast enough.
The location was remote which was great. For this journey it is important to be in the middle of nowhere and the jungle retreat certainly was.
Overall, this was the most amazing experience I have ever had, worth every cent, life changing in ways you wont understand until you experience it for yourself.
At first, after coming home from my trip, I really felt that whilst it was an amazing experience, it wasn’t as transformational as all the Youtube clips make out. I didn’t have the grand visions or see Lady Aya or any of that. What I have realised now, 6 weeks to the day after my last day at the retreat, is that I completely underestimated what happened to me. Something has changed in me that words cant describe and things are happening to me that I feel I have no control over which is kinda how I ended up at Arkana in the first place. At this point I would say that if you want to discover who you really are, this is the way to do it. Arkana is definitely the place to do it as well if you want to feel like you are supported, cared for and expertly guided. The results are gradual and at this point after my trip, my understanding of the whole “trust the process” stuff is truly coming to light.
Cannot thank Arkana enough for offering this exceptional product. I cannot wait to come and try the Sacred Valley location.
Orange
October 8, 2019 at 9:22 amThe two weeks at Arkana were the most important and intense weeks of my life, and I have learned so much. The dedication of Jose, the teachings, and the joy of Shantanu as he taught, the wisdom of Carolina ,the warmth and compassion of the volunteers, the friendly staff ,the best and freshest food I could have wished for, and the Love that was spread were a great blessing. These were the most important parts of the retreat.
Going there was one of the best decisions I have made in my life, and I am very great full that I had the opportunity, great-full for everybody who was part of my two weeks, and great full for life. I have no doubt, I made the right decision coming here and can highly recommend it to anyone.
phongsan
August 8, 2019 at 5:59 amThis is a superb Ayahuasca retreat center with exceptionally well planned schedule and effective medicine. We were in the Sacred Valley and everything was like a dream; beautiful mountains by a major river, super fresh cool air, nice & cozy facilities, and of course, all the loving and friendly staff. The room is very nice & clean with super comfy beds and soothing shower. They even have free laundry service on Wednesday. Oh, and the morning yoga classes are simply blissful, absolutely not to be missed.
At first, I thought 3 Ayahuasca ceremonies in a week would be too few but it turned out to be just perfect. The shaman’s Icaros are blissful and powerful. The facilitators are very professional and really care about you in a personal level. The closing with San Pedro and an amazing nature walk with loving new friends was to be remembered for a lifetime. It’s one of the best day in my life in a long time. They also have the optional Sapo (Bufo Alvarius medicine) between the second and third Ayahuasca ceremony, which I highly recommend. It was THE MOST powerful experience in my entire life and it seems to help my last Ayahuasca ceremony as well.
With all the positive things mentioned, be mindful that Ayahuasca ceremony is still a very difficult and challenging process by nature for many people, but as long as you fully trust in the process they provide, and completely surrender to all the feeling that the medicine would make you feel, it’s all going to be okay in the end and beneficial to your life long after you left the center.
If there is anything I have to comment about, it would be the food, which most people find it very good but since I am not used to vegetarian food, I found it a bit bland (although some meals are simply amazing). This is perfectly understandable due to the diet restrictions of the ceremony but, given the superb ingredients they use, I feel they could have incorporated a bit more umami containing veggies like mushrooms and winter radish (daikon) to add more dimensions to the food. Don’t get me wrong, all the ingredients they use is top notch, super fresh and fully organic. It’s just my personal preference that a little more could be done to boost the taste up a bit.
If you are looking for an Ayahuasca retreat in the Sacred Valley, I can’t think of a better place than Arkana; very professional, very secure, very well planned and organized. In fact, we are already thinking of going back there again! Highly recommended for both first timers and experienced ones.
GetOutThereAlready
July 23, 2019 at 3:39 pmThis was my first retreat. I did lots of research before finding this place and so glad I did. Whether you decide to do the mountains or the jungle, you’re in good hands. After this retreat, we are definitely going back and will do the jungle next time.
The facility itself is beautiful, and the staff is so wonderful and attentive.
I won’t go into specifics about my journey itself as everyone has such a personal and different experience. I will say that the medicine itself shows you what you need, not what you want. Some nights were difficult and I doubted myself, but I followed the Shaman’s and facilitators’ advice: I kept going and I trusted the medicine. Once you’ve had time to process, you understand that it was working the whole time and that all that change was necessary.
The other travelers I met were wonderful, the excursions were great and the tour guides were very knowledgeable. The food was delicious and I’m so happy I got to share this experience with a loved one. There was also plenty to do, so we were never bored.
A few tips:
1. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable. It may not always be a walk in the park but you will come out a stronger, better person.
2. Let go and TRUST the medicine. This was my mistake. I got scared and started doubting and wanted to give up. It wasn’t until I was out in the clear that I understood why everything happened the way it did. I’m a much better person for it.
3. DO THE SAPO!!! By far, the highlight of the whole experience. I wasn’t going to do it at first, but was talked into it last minute. SO GLAD WE DID.
Abhiuasca
June 23, 2019 at 7:21 amI spent the first week of June 2019 at the Arkana Spiritual Center in the Amazon! I shall attempt to review the place and my experience by categorizing them separately.
1. Location
This is one of the prime attractions of the place. It is sufficiently isolated from busy city life so as to offer a peaceful, serene place to heal and contemplate. It takes about 4.0 hours from Iquitos to reach Arkana. The journey is beautiful and allows one to leave urban life behind and journey into the sights and sounds of the jungle.
2. Amenities
The Center itself is built on stilts and is a lovely little complex of thatched roofs and wooden bridges, all interconnected with each other. Each room- whether is your bedroom, the large and beautifully concentric Malloca, the dining room or the leisure room (Chilloca)- is protected by mosquito netting and simple electric fans. Considering that is the jungle, the facilities and amenities are very neat, cozy and comfortable. To those bothered by the odd tarantula or huntsman spider- well, it is the jungle! And they don’t need Arkana’s permission to enter the premises 🙂
3. Staff
In a place as energetically open and congenial as Arkana, it is impossible to be farcical about love and compassion. The care, generosity and empathy emanating from each facilitator in that place is genuinely palpable. It helps cultivate trust and with each passing hour, I sensed people starting to feel comfortable, open and at ease. It certainly plays a role in one’s healing process as one’s interaction with the facilitators – before, during and after the ceremonies – influences one’s heart and spirit during their transformative process. If you have any issues or questions, they are so approachable!
4. The shamans
Goodness, what a talented bunch those are! Maestro Justina with her infectious smile is a true healer. She helped each of us with our energy blocks by turn. She is incredible in that she can materialize energy! What that means exactly, ha..well, you have to see it for yourself to believe it. There were 4 shamans during my week there and boy, can they sing! the Icaros are magical, to say the least, allowing one to journey deeper and deeper into other realms. One literally rides with the music. On top of that, the faciliators are also musical-minded and pitch in with songs, drums, sound bowls and other instruments. It makes for some unforgettable sacred voyages!
5. The ceremonies
When you trust, you can relax. When you can relax, you can let go of trying to control the process. And when you do that, the medicines (Ayahuasca, Rape, Kambo [I didn’t do Sapo and hence, can’t comment but the feedback from others in my group was excellent]) serve you well! The Ayahausca at Arkana is strong and potent. It is pure jungle medicine and the shamans there know how to administer it in the right way, in the right setting, with the right prayers and attitude. It is transformational.
6. Other activities
There are many activities being organized around the week, ranging from visits to the sloths, monkey island, fishing and swimming as well as a jungle walk. This allows one to get some fresh air, get back into one’s body whilst still being within one’s own thought process. These activities are enlightening, enlivening and make for some real fun times! I have great memories. Also fosters a great group energy. Each activity is optional, but I would strongly recommend participating.
7. Other supportive ceremonies
These include a sound bath, 3 floral baths, 2-3 yoga sessions, a breathwave session. Each one is immeasurably helpful in one’s transformative journey and has a unique flavour to offer. I am presuming each person coming there has a deep desire to change their life for the better. Each of them sessions complement this desire. Recommended!
8. Price
Whilst doing my own research before I chose Arkana, I came across many places that looked attractive. But none of them offered the range of activities and complementary sessions that Arkana offered. And at such an attractive, affordable price! It is one of their USPs.
If you are considering this place, you are considering right! Choose it. It will be a beautiful week of healing, transformation and renewed energy. It will be a celebration. It will be a sacred voyage. It may be a struggle on a physical scale but that is called cleansing! Take the step 🙂 Good luck!