5-day Ayahuasca retreat in Ecuador: Itinerary

Day 1: Meeting us in Santa Clara, Pastaza province, Ecuador. Transport to our center. Optionally, you may opt-in for private transport from Quito/airport. After arrival, rest or explore this beautiful place. Welcome dinner at the center.

Day 2: Guided walk in a primary jungle to connect with the beauty of local flora and fauna, visiting a giant Ceibo tree. (On specific dates, this activity may be replaced by the hands-on preparation of the Ayahuasca brew.) Cleansing and rejuvenating bath in sweet medicinal plants. In the evening, a preparatory session before the Ayahuasca ceremony. The 1st Ayahuasca ceremony at 8 pm.

Day 3: Sharing and integration session with questions & answers about the last ceremony, with Don Carlos and Jan. Then rest & free time to bathe in the sacred river. Optionally, you may let the Kichwa people help you to create beautiful gifts from rainforest seeds or the Ayahuasca amulet. Optional: Night-time jungle walk.

Day 4: Guided walk in the jungle. Plant bath. 2nd Ayahuasca ceremony.

Day 5: Sharing and integration session.  End of the retreat after lunch. You may end of the retreat in Santa Clara, province of Pastaza, or continue to Quito/airport in a private bus..

The Ayahuasca ceremony

Ceremonies at Feather Crown are run in a grounded, safe and responsible way, led by an elder shaman and assisted by several, usually five facilitators. The setting of the ceremony is a large Ayahuasca temple. Before the ceremony the participants are given a PDF with complex information about the ceremony. One hour before the ceremony begins, participants meet our facilitator for briefing with questions and answers. At eight in the night, the shaman joins and begins the Ayahuasca ceremony offering the Ayahuasca brew. It is not a requirement to drink Ayahuasca to be able to participate or receive healing from the shaman. After drinking, candles are blown off and everybody rests on comfortable mattresses in the ceremonial space, waiting for the effects to manifest.

After 10 minutes, the shaman begins to use instruments and starts to chant visions-modulating songs, guiding participants on this inner journey. He cleanses any negative energies that are purged from the participants and call spirit guides who provide compassionate, loving, and healing energy for all who are present.

Later during the night, participants are assisted to come and sit in front of the healer, who sings and cleanses everybody with a bundle of leaves gathered in the rainforest. The healer also uses blowing, sucking, and other advanced techniques aimed to help the patient. This cleansing ritual or “limpia“ is an important part of the ceremony, where the energy of the participants can be balanced, and where different illnesses can be removed from the body.

Integration session

The next day in the morning, there is a translated group session where you may share your journey and also ask the leading shaman and the facilitators your questions. If necessary, anyone can ask for a private conversation with the leading shaman or the facilitators. A special diet will be prescribed for the following days. The support in the integration process can continue over the internet, assuring all participants properly understand and integrate their journey.

Progress during the Ayahuasca retreat in Ecuador

Usually, the first ceremony removes the heaviest negative energies from the energetic field and physical body and can involve purging. In the second ceremony, participants usually have more trust, because they already know that ceremonies are conducted safely and have a positive outcome. Their bodies have already been purified in the first ceremony. This results in being able to relax more and work more consciously with the energy of the Ayahuasca plant, learning how to concentrate in the trance, receiving visions, teachings, and blessings.

Safety of the Ayahuasca ceremony

Sober helpers are always present during the whole ceremony, until everybody returns from the journey and leave the temple, this may take all night until dawn. Responsive assistants help participants walk to the bathrooms and feel safe and comfortable. There is always an English-speaking assistant in the ceremony. The space itself is carefully prepared, physically safe and perfect for hosting this type of activity, with bathrooms just 10 meters from the temple. In case of having a strong reaction to the Ayahuasca, the team knows perfectly how to help participants to go through their journey without any harm.

Ayahuasca brew

Our medicine is prepared with care and in a traditional way by cooking on fire. It is made from two plants only: Banisteriopsis caapi (ayahuasca) vine together with the leaves of Diplopterys cabrerana (chalipanga) vine. The leaf amplifies the consciousness-expanding effects and helps one to receive visions. You will have the opportunity to work with a selected variety of the Ayahuasca vine that has been passed on by powerful lineages of healers. We always strive to make Ayahuasca strong to provide deep healing and teaching for everybody. Our Ayahuasca is safe and never contains plants such as Datura.

Who can benefit from this Ayahuasca retreat in Ecuador

This Ayahuasca retreat in Ecuador is recommendable for people who feel the personal calling and have the necessary respect for the plant and the sacredness of the ritual. This is not a tourist experience. It should not be taken lightly as a tourist attraction. This journey might not be pleasant in all of its parts, but in the end, it is worth taking. The Ayahuasca ceremony is deeply meaningful and healing for those who prepare themselves and who have trust in the healing process with the Ayahuasca plant as well as trust the people who lead the ceremony. The Ayahuasca medicine can bring suppressed emotions to the surface, in order to clean any negative energies and allow for deep change and permanent positive transformation within oneself.

Individual healing session during the ceremonial night

Don Carlos Landazuri - Kichwa Tribe - Leading ceremonies on selected Ayahuasca retreats in Ecuador

is a 78-years-old native Kichwa yachak ("the one who knows") and a traditional healer from the province of Napo, Ecuadorian Amazon. Don Carlos started to receive teachings from his elders at a very young age, and he has been practicing his ancestral spirituality for decades to establish strong bonds with beneficial spirit doctors of nature, such as the spirits of plants, waterfalls, lagoons, mountains, stones, caves, and forests. His helpers are the spiritual forces of the jaguars, anacondas, and eagles. Don Carlos is sought by patients from different provinces of Ecuador. During his ceremony, he performs powerful individual cleansing rituals to all patients, using his leaf fan and singing, channeling healing powers of different healing spirits. In his visions, he makes each patient sit on a beautiful throne and receive all the beautiful energies of a particular spirit. According to Don Carlos, every patient is in need of different energies and he adjusts his healing so that the ritual is most beneficial. Don Carlos beams with strong energy and firmness during the ceremonial night, creating a strong veil of protection, and he is able to perform a special ritual of "sucking out negative energies" from the patient's body. Don Carlos will be leading Ayahuasca ceremonies.

You can turn on the English subtitles for this video by clicking on the [cc] icon.

What is included in the price

(Dates and prices are included in the table below.)

Included in the price:

– Transport to the center from the town of Santa Clara, province of Pastaza, including return transport
– Private accommodation 5 days/4 nights
– 2 Ayahuasca ceremonies
– 2 medicinal plant baths
– 2 personal cleansing sessions with the shaman (one during each Ayahuasca ritual)
– 2 guided excursions to the jungle
– All meals and drinks (delicious vegetarian or vegan cuisine)
– Materials, tools and guidance for creating your Ayahuasca amulet
– Two questions & answers sessions
– Service of a Spanish-English interpreter

Not included:

– Airfare to/from Quito, Ecuador
– Extra treatments of specific ilnesses with other medicinal plants (info here).
– Gifts or products that you purchase
– Lunch on your way to/from Quito

Can be arranged for an extra fee:

– Extra activities which may be booked separately (see the list).
– Transport to the center from Quito airport on the first day of the event, or back to Quito airport on the last day ($130 per car, can be shared among all participants)

What differentiates the Feather Crown Ayahuasca retreat in Ecuador from other places

Our work is a life mission and we take it very seriously. Feather Crown has over 10 years of experience with hosting Ayahuasca retreats in Ecuador. We work with plants in a grounded, responsible, and highly ethical way, carefully assisting visitors on their spiritual journey and helping them to achieve balance and improve their mental, physical and energetic health. Our events are not “tourist” experiences and we pre-screen all visitors. Our private center was built on an energetically very pure location specifically for plant medicine work. The jungle that surrounds the lodge is the home of the Ayahuasca plant and many other sacred and medicinal plants that we grow reciprocally. While you stay at the center, you will be undisturbed by the noise of civilization, community, or workers. Groups are limited to 12 participants allowing the work to be very personal. In our ceremonies, women are respected and the environment is free of sexual advances. No use alcohol is permitted at the lodge. The ceremonial leader is an indigenous elder, a high-ranked experienced shaman, who deeply cares for the wellbeing of all participants. In his ceremonies, he provides an individual cleansing session and sings a tailored icaro (sacred song) to each participant, according to her/his needs. The Ayahuasca medicine is brewed with skill, using only two plants, the Ayahuasca vine and an admixture leaves, which results in a strong healing experience. Translations to/from English, Spanish and Czech are available.