DAY ONE Welcome Ceremony
A day for guests to meet each other, connect with providers, settle in and make themselves comfortable. At dark, we gather around the fire and share. Our providers speak about their own experiences with Iboga, the history of the plant and the Bwiti, wisdom about how to get the most out of the experience, and discuss the session schedule and general retreat information.

DAY TWO First Iboga Ceremony
Early in the day, providers have a private, one-on-one chat with each guest to discuss life intentions and questions for the medicine. A late lunch is served, after which guests fast for the remainder of the day. At dark, there is a group Iboga Fire Ceremony, where traditional Bwiti music is played and wisdom teachings are imparted. Guests take the medicine, which is administered as both Iboga Root Bark and its Total Alkaloid (TA) extraction.
We talk about Life and other important things that come from the Bwiti tradition. This tradition is actually the study of Life itself. After about an hour or so, Iboga is given to each person who is participating in the ceremony. For most people, it takes about an hour until they begin to ‘feel the medicine’. Once someone is feeling the Iboga, they are escorted to a mattress in the ceremony area where they will spend the rest of the night.

Our staff is present throughout the ceremony to help people with their needs, some water to drink, more iboga if needed, help getting to and from the nearby bathroom, purging (vomiting), or offering direction as needed. We create a very safe environment for you so you can focus on your experience.

When the time is right, we will begin the process of guiding you into yourself. This process has been used by the Bwiti for many generations. By guiding you, you can get the answers to any questions you may have about your life. You may be able to see and converse with your own spirit (your soul / higher self). Many people are able to ‘travel’ spiritually throughout the world. It is also possible to make contact with deceased family and friends using this process. During this guided journey we will also ‘open’ your third eye (spiritual vision) using special herbs and barks prepared by the Pygmies.

The remainder of the night is spent journeying in the ceremony area, until sunrise, when guests are taken back to their respective rooms.

DAY THREE Discovery Day
This day is all about introspection, insight, release, and acceptance. Commonly, so much happens during the active Iboga journey itself (day two), that many of the insights and processing of that journey are realized on Discovery Day. As the intensity of the medicine settles, Iboga’s gifts are presented. It is common to experience intuitive messages and deep personal knowingness in the stillness of day three — so it is extremely important to preserve that repose by staying off of phones, computers and other electronic devices. By removing distractions, we keep ourselves open to receiving messages. Devices and distractions block Iboga from continuing its work.

DAY FOUR Offsite Excursion & Spiritual Shower
By this day, guests are feeling more grounded in their bodies, the mind is quieter, and the body is lighter. Lessons are still coming, but guests feel ready to venture outside of the retreat grounds to witness the teachings.

Day four is an important time to reconnect with nature. Iboga leaves us open and sensitive to the energies around us. This is the time to allow nature to fill the spaces that are opened up. And the purest form of intelligent wisdom and true resonance can only come from the Earth.

The day is spent outdoors, at one of our secluded local beaches. Guests are able to connect to the profoundly healing energy of plants, trees — and most importantly, the ocean, the ultimate washer-away of what does not serve us.

Following the beach, guests are given a Spiritual Shower, which is held in traditional Bwiti ceremony. Because Iboga has dislodged deeply stuck emotions, beliefs, traumas and patterns, the purpose of the Spiritual Shower is to fully release those things. In the space created by their absence, guests can invite their deepest dreams and wishes into being.

Each person must bring a change of clothes to this ceremony (which they must be comfortable leaving behind). The physical shedding of old clothing is symbolic of the spiritual shedding of old patterns and traumas.

The Spiritual Shower is an ancient African ceremony. We work with plants and nature’s water spirits to call in positive, self-serving patterns and release negative, self-sabotaging patterns. The depths to which we can release negativity in this ceremony are limitless — we are even able to access and shed negativity from our ancestral lineage. It is all able to be washed away, cleansed and renewed.

DAY FIVE Onsite Activities & Second Iboga Ceremony
ceremony under palapaDuring the day, guests have the option to schedule in-house massages. Wonderful massage therapists come to the center and perform a full body massages for our guests. Many guests have said it was the best massage of their life.

Guests also sometimes have the option of requesting to go horseback riding on the property grounds. *not always available

In the evening, we hold our second Iboga ceremony. Around the fire, as we begin to take the medicine, guests are invited (but not required) to share about their first ceremony. The things that were cleared out during the first journey will not need to be addressed again; the second Iboga ceremony allows us to move even deeper inward.

DAY SIX Discovery Day
What transpires on the second Discovery Day is much like the first; Iboga’s wisdom and teachings reveal themselves as its ceremonial energy begins to quiet. We spend time without distractions, exploring the peace and truth of our own spirits’ stillness.
DAY SEVEN Offsite Excursion & Group Music Therapy
Our day is spent soaking up the healing sunlight and cleansing ocean energy at another beach along the coast. Following the beach, guests have the option to browse works from local artisans and shops in the downtown community.
In the evening, we gather as a group and enjoy one of Life’s most beautiful medicines — music. Our center is furnished with guitars, a keyboard, shakers, rattles and traditional Bwiti instruments to ensure our closing night group music therapy session is a memory to cherish.

DAY EIGHT Departure Day
Breakfast and lunch are served at the center while guests wait to be taken to the airport to board their departing flights or on to the next destination in Costa Rica.
Everything offered during our 8-day retreats is optional; if guests do not feel comfortable participating in certain scheduled activities, they may opt out. It’s all about empowered choice, and the choice to partake is always up to the individual.