Ayahuasca Retreat Red Flags

There are certain signs worth paying attention to before choosing an ayahuasca retreat—not out of fear, but as a form of wise discernment. Ayahuasca can be deeply healing, but only within a safe, respectful, and responsibly held space.

🛑 Lack of Basic Safety Protocols

• No medical screening: Let’s start with the basics: no medical screening? That’s already a red flag. Anyone taking medications like SSRIs or struggling with mental health challenges needs proper evaluation and guidance before drinking.

• No emergancy plan: There should also be a clear emergency plan. What happens if someone has a panic attack, a seizure, or a serious medical issue? If that question isn’t met with clarity, be cautious.

• Participant-to-facilitator ratio: If ceremonies are overcrowded, with too few people holding space? That’s not sacred—it's unsafe.

🛑 Inexperienced or Questionable Facilitators

• Who is in charge?: Who’s actually leading the ceremony? Sometimes, that’s surprisingly unclear. If facilitators have no training in traditional Amazonian lineages (like Shipibo), or are vague about their background, it's worth questioning.

  
  

• Who is there to help you?: inexperienced facilitators drinking medicine while holding space for others. Deep in their own process, they cannot safely support someone else’s.

Also, unclear roles within the team—no distinction between lead facilitator, support, or sober guardians—can create confusion and instability in the space.

🛑 Spiritual Bypassing and Manipulation

• Questionable advertisement: Statements like “All your trauma will be healed in one ceremony” sound appealing, but they’re rarely true. Deep healing is rarely a one-night event—it’s a process that unfolds over time, with space for integration and support. These quick-fix promises often exploit people’s desperation for relief, turning healing into a sales pitch rather than a sacred journey.

  
  

• Problematic emotional contracts: Is there pressure to return? Are participants encouraged to “join the family” or seen as more spiritual if they stay involved? When language like “we’re going to change the world together” is used to create a sense of obligation or exclusive belonging, it can blur the line between inspiration and manipulation. These dynamics often foster emotional dependency rather than true empowerment or autonomy.

  
  

• Charismatic leader dynamics: When one person becomes the unquestioned authority, placed on a pedestal, and seen as the sole source of truth or healing. This often looks like excessive reverence, where their words aren’t questioned, their actions go unchallenged, and the group begins orbiting around their personality rather than the actual medicine work.

• People may start to suppress their own intuition, override boundaries, or second-guess themselves because “the leader must know best.”

🛑 Sexual Misconduct or Poor Boundaries

Unfortunately, it happens. Reports of sexual misconduct—especially involving facilitators—are a major red flag, and even rumors should be taken seriously. These spaces often involve deep emotional vulnerability, altered states, and blurred personal boundaries, which can be easily exploited. What may be framed as “loving energy,” “shamanic transmission,” or “healing touch” can actually be a violation in disguise.

“Innocent” touch presented as energy work, without clear, enthusiastic, and informed consent, is not innocent. In altered states, people may be less able to advocate for themselves, which is why facilitators must hold higher—not looser—standards of integrity and care. Vulnerable states require more clarity around boundaries, not less.

🛑 Profit Over Care

Ayahuasca retreats should first and foremost be places of healing, respect, and genuine human connection—not sales events. If you find yourself constantly being offered products, paid add-ons, or extended retreat packages during your stay, it’s worth pausing. Ask yourself: Do I feel seen here as a human being—or as a potential source of income?

Some unethical providers take advantage of the emotional openness after a ceremony to push participants toward extra spending—whether it’s for “exclusive” plant baths, costly one-on-one healings, or “essential” follow-up ceremonies. Hidden fees or an unclear pricing structure are also clear warning signs.

In a space of true integrity, the price is transparent from the start, and all decisions are made without pressure and from a place of free will. Healing requires trust—and that can only grow when there are no hidden financial motives at play.

🛑 Lack of Integration Support

The work with Ayahuasca doesn’t end when the last song fades and the lights come on—in many ways, that’s when it truly begins. In the days and weeks after a ceremony, emotions can run high, and sometimes confusion arises. Old patterns may break open, and new insights need to be grounded in everyday life.

A responsible retreat provider knows this and ensures there is space for integration—through group sharing circles the next morning, personal check-ins, or longer-term aftercare via video call, phone, or email. If there is no opportunity to share experiences, ask questions, or receive guidance, it can lead to inner isolation or even destabilization.

Healing is a process, not an event. If someone sends you home without support, they are leaving you alone with the aftereffects—and that can diminish rather than deepen what you’ve experienced.

🛑 Isolation from the Outside World

Some degree of retreat and disconnection during a ceremony can be helpful—less distraction, more focus. But if you are actively forbidden or strongly discouraged from contacting your family or friends, you should be alert. Statements like “Only here can you find true healing” or a clear “Us vs. them” narrative are typical signs of manipulative group dynamics.

This form of isolation can start subtly—by questioning your past relationships or by constantly stressing that only the community on-site “truly understands what’s going on.” In its extreme form, it can lead to emotional dependency and weaken your ability to make your own decisions.

True healing strengthens your connection to yourself and to the people who matter to you. A legitimate provider will never try to separate you from your wider support network.

🛑 Pressure to Drink or Take Higher Doses

Ayahuasca is not a requirement—and your body, your boundaries, and your inner yes are what matter. Any serious facilitator respects if you want to skip a round, take a smaller dose, or abstain altogether.

If pressure is applied—whether openly through persuasion, subtly through shaming comments, or indirectly by suggesting you’re “not really doing the work”—this is a clear warning sign. The decision about how much you drink, or whether you drink at all, must be entirely yours.

True healing requires voluntariness, trust, and self-responsibility. If these foundations are not respected, it’s not only unethical—it can also be psychologically and physically unsafe.

🔎 One more really important point:

What is ayahuasca actually made of?

Traditionally, it’s a brew of just two plants: the ayahuasca vine (Banisteriopsis caapi) and chacruna leaves (Psychotria viridis), which contain DMT. Only in combination do they activate the full visionary experience—nothing more is needed.

But in some retreats, additional plants are mixed in—sometimes without full transparency. This can make the experience not only more intense but also significantly more unpredictable and harder to integrate. These additions are often justified with promises of “more visions” or “deeper healing,” but in many cases, it’s a desperate attempt to stand out, offer something more extreme, or create a kind of spiritual spectacle that attracts attention.

Some added plants carry serious risks. For example, Angel’s Trumpet (Brugmansia), sometimes used in certain settings, contains scopolamine, a powerful compound known to disable free will and induce confusion or amnesia. It’s been referred to as “the devil’s breath” for a reason. In vulnerable states, substances like this can open the door to severe psychological harm—or worse, abuse. It’s especially dangerous in cases of sexual misconduct, where conscious resistance or memory of the event may be compromised.