Yoga Ayahuasca Retreat – Palomino, Colombia

The Yoga Ayahuasca Retreat is a seven-day ayahuasca and yoga retreat in Colombia, held by Ancestral Retreats & Academy on a private beach in Juan de Acosta, Atlántico. It is for people who want to take part in ayahuasca ceremonies inside a week of yoga, breathwork and quiet, in a small group and with medical care close at hand. The ceremonies are guided by Taita Salvador, an elder of the Kamëntsá Nation from the Colombian Amazon.

The retreat is offered once a year, and the group is capped at fifteen guests. The organizers put it plainly: they won't promise you a new life, but they do offer a week away from everything familiar, alongside people who have sat with this medicine many times.

What to Expect

The retreat runs seven days with six nights. At its center are two ayahuasca ceremonies, each lasting from nightfall until morning. A doctor is present throughout.

Around the ceremonies, the days are deliberately left unhurried. The yoga, breathwork and quiet that Ancestral Retreats teaches year-round form the container for the medicine work, so the ceremonies sit within a rhythm of practice and rest rather than standing alone. The organizers describe working with two medicines: one that comes from a plant, and one that comes from within you.

With no more than fifteen people, the atmosphere is intimate. Former guests describe a sense of community, and one writes of still processing the messages received with plant medicine months afterward, and of staying in touch with the people met there.

About Taita Salvador

Taita Salvador is an elder of the Kamëntsá Nation, an Indigenous people of the Colombian Amazon. He guides the ayahuasca ceremonies at this retreat.

The Setting

The retreat takes place at Ancestral Retreats & Academy, on a private beach in Juan de Acosta in the Atlántico department of Colombia. The beach lies between the Caribbean and the Sierra Nevada, at the foot of mountains the Kogi call the heart of the world. One past guest describes the beachfront location as pristine and the accommodation as luxurious in the middle of the jungle. Guests of Ancestral Retreats also speak warmly of the food, which they say is prepared with care.

Before You Go

Spots are limited, and the small group size is part of the design. The retreat suits people who are drawn to ayahuasca and want it held within yoga, breathwork and stillness, with an elder guiding the ceremonies and a doctor present. Ancestral Retreats also runs yoga teacher trainings and other retreats, and those who have joined them tend to speak of a welcoming community that stays in touch long after the week ends.