I want to thank Awakenings Ayahuasca for such an incredible experience. I felt so immensely accepted and welcomed by the community. There were many fantastic elements about the retreat, of note…

There is a big focus on using the medications for a healing purpose. After every ceremony, there are individual integrations with a translator, and the shamans work with you to make sense of the experience and to assist you in informing a direction into the next experience. The small ceremony numbers (for me, most of the ceremony was just me and my partner, with a maximum of 4) allow the Shamans to understand you as a person and follow your journey, providing individualised guidance along the entire journey.

Every person involved is very well-intentioned. The shamans take their job very seriously, and you feel like they are investing a piece of themselves into each ceremony. They have a deep spiritual connection with medicine and actively live in line with continuing to strengthen the connection. Strangely, they don’t make significant efforts to put everyone on the same medicine schedule; instead, they prioritise the best schedule for you, and if that means they run a ceremony with one person one night and then two the next night, they do. I felt this highlighted the lack of financial focus the retreat has. The personnel themselves do not make themselves out to be all-knowing or above you, providing guidance rather than statements/rules, instilling belief in yourself. Living right next to all the workers/ family involved, you constantly get to interact with them. The regular warm smiles or check-ins from the family made me feel cared for and loved in many ways. This felt particularly significant for me as I disclosed my Autism, which I rarely do, and received nothing but equal love and acceptance. To those out there with neurodiversity, Autism or disabilities, please note that this retreat is very accepting, and I would highly recommend coming here.

The additional cultural emersion was such an additional massive win. It did not take away from the healing space but enhanced the experience that much more. Taking plant medicine in a culture that has such a deep relationship with it made it feel so profound, like I was doing deep ancestral work. The powerful icaros and instrumental music would shake my body. The local setting was grand, and the property was surrounded by and immersed in nature. I greatly appreciated the opportunities to learn about the Tsachila culture and felt the importance it meant to them to keep the culture alive.

We struggled to find many photos of the accommodation and property grounds and were pleasantly surprised. I was pleasantly surprised by the lovely pool!

My partner and I have returned and received such a beautiful, warm embrace from the Tsachilla community. We were integrated into the family’s activities, and of note, they went to great lengths to celebrate me on my birthday- including decoration and a party.

I want to thank Awakenings Ayahuasca for providing a genuine, authentic, and trustworthy Ayahuasca experience.

**This is just a heads-up to bring non-technology entertainment when you are there. While there are some activities, there is also a lot of downtime if you stay there for a while. So, notebooks, colouring books, cards, crafts etc., would be recommended. Also, I would recommend bringing lots of light layers of long pants, socks, and tops to minimise insect bites.

The retreat I am at would like me to share my experiences as someone with Autism partaking with the plant medicine Ayahuasca. Prior to this experience I found limited information of Autistic people’s experiences with the medicine so am writing this to potentially help the next person looking for information.

My experience was very positive, and I didn’t feel that the autism made my experiences that dissimilar for other. Just like everyone else it works with the brain you have. For me a rational thinking mind my experience was mostly in speak/thoughts and feeling, but for my partner they were mostly in imaginative visions playing to how our brains normally compute. Through thoughts, parts of my mind were accessed and links were made that I believe I would never had made on the conscious level. As similar to the wider population I think that if you are super fearful and am not willing to surrender to the medicine then potentially you might not have the be not leaning into the experience then

Externally people would worry for me regarding the medicine potentially enhancing my sensory environment and it being to much for me. But the reality for me is that walking through a city is 20x worse, then lying down in a comfy candle lit darkness space where rhythmic music is being played and the darkness made me more comfortable to stim as much as I would want.

For me it has always been a worry of taking any mind-altering substance out of fear of my conscious capacity to mask being removed. For me having the Autism known and accepted by the employees and Sharman’s at the retreat allowed not have to hide my oddness and weirdness.

At the retreat I went to their was a lot of strong smells as a part of the ceremony, and at times loud banging noises right next to your head, or leaves being waved in your face. They were quite unpleasant sensory wise but I chose to lean into as way of fully leaning into the experience. However I am sure if tell the team of your specific sensory needs and no gos they would be able to accommodate.

The constant noises of the nature were also a bit challenging. At this retreat it was pretty normal level of birds and insects chirping, which I managed but was a bit difficult. However I have heard of loud screeching monkeys in the Iquitos peru area- so that might just be a consideration when deciding where to go. But if you have noise sensitivity noise cancelling headphones are always a safe back up.
I am a bit pulled about doing this post. From one side it is good doing this post as for myself I struggled to find information out there on Autism and the medicine to hear from peoples experiences. But on the other hand. Whilst the number of officially diagnosed people with Autism partaking in the plant medicine may be low, I have no doubt their has been many many undiagnosed Autistic people partaking. I say this with confidence as I see the high prevalence of neurodiversity and Austism in the spiritual community, with even many shamans fitting a lot of the criteria. Going into the experience myself I gained confidence in knowing this- that in fact many similar people have walked the path.

The centre I went to Awakening Ayahuasca in Ecuador was very accepting and supportive of my difference, and would highly recommend if anyone is interested.