Ayahuasca Prep Guide: Steps to Prepare Mind & Body for the Ceremony
Feeling the call? Ayahuasca could change your life — but it’s no walk in the park. Preparing your mind and body is essential. Here’s what the experts recommend before taking the plunge.
An ayahuasca ceremony takes your mind, body, and spirit on a journey through planes of existence you never imagined possible.
That means users should ‘pack accordingly’ for the trip.
The effects of ayahuasca surpass the mild visual and auditory hallucinations available through other, more common psychedelics — so the right preparation becomes much more important with this psychedelic than something like LSD or magic mushrooms (though preparation is still crucial for these substances).
You should view the ayahuasca ritual as starting several weeks before you actually sit down to drink. The process begins with some mental preparation and abstinence from certain foods and behaviors to give yourself a solid foundation from which you can absorb and integrate the experience.
Ayahuasca reflects the effort we put in — so if we show her we're willing to do the work by giving up some of life's pleasures, we're often rewarded.
This pre-ayahuasca timeline offers a quick reference guide on when to abstain from certain activities as you prepare for your ceremony.
Four Weeks Before Your Trip
The timeline to start the preparation process varies by tradition. The most intensive programs ask participants to start cutting things out a month in advance — this is more common in places like Peru (such as among the Shipibo and Mestizo). Other traditions start about 2-weeks ahead, while some only ask you to cut things out a week in advance.
Generally speaking, the sooner you can begin the process, the better — but if you’re only 2 weeks out to your trip date, don’t fret — nothing bad will happen if you start the prep cycle a few weeks later.
1-month before your planned ayahuasca trip, you should limit (or completely cut-out) the following activities:
Alcohol
Cigarettes
Caffeine
Red meat & pork
All other drugs & substances (Remember to consult your doctor before stopping prescription medications)
Sexual intercourse and masturbation
Two Weeks Before Your Trip
Starting 2-weeks before your planned ayahuasca trip, you should heavily limit or completely stop using:
Alcohol, caffeine, cigarettes, recreational drugs
Dairy products
Red meat & pork
Strong spices
Fermented foods
Overly stressful interactions
Screen time/excessive intake of media
One Week Before Your Trip
Now that you're in the home stretch, it's time to limit the most challenging foods, substances, and behaviors.
1-week before your planned ayahuasca trip, you should limit or completely stop using:
Fatty foods
Heavily-salted foods
Foods or snacks with added sugar
The bottom line here is that you want to avoid anything that's processed or irritating to the body and start to introduce some discipline around your daily habits before your journey through the cosmos.
The idea is to use these practices to help make the vessel of your body as light as possible so you can travel through the time-space continuum with less friction. Ayahuasca has a particular way of dragging those with high friction in their lives (bad habits, traumas, unresolved conflicts, or emotional blocks). The more you can clear these out before the trip, the better.
Food Prep Before Ayahuasca
We’ve covered what to cut out, but let’s dial in on some specific dietary recommendations ayahuasqueros normally advise participants to help them prepare for an upcoming session.
What to Eat Before Drinking Ayahuasca
The best way to prepare for an ayahuasca ceremony is to eat whole foods and a plant-based, bland diet. Make sure to eat mostly fruits and vegetables and drink plenty of water in the days leading up to your ceremony.
Before drinking ayahuasca, you can consume the following:
Herbal teas
Raw fruits
Cooked vegetables
Water
Whole grains (buckwheat, quinoa, oats, etc.)
On the day of the ceremony, it’s a good idea to have a hearty breakfast and a light lunch 6–8 hours before the session. You don’t want to have a full stomach going into the session, but you don’t want to be depleted, either.
Most ayahuasqueros recommend fasting for at least one full digestion cycle (about four to six hours) to ensure all food is digested before the ceremony begins.
What NOT to Eat Before Drinking Ayahuasca (Dietary Restrictions)
In general, you should avoid eating anything that's heavy and hard to digest, as well as particularly pungent or overly processed foods. If you have food allergies or insensitivities of any kind, it's important to avoid any potential triggers as well.
Similarly, users should avoid foods that contain tyramine since these are mild MAO inhibitors that may interact with or alter the effects of ayahuasca. This includes aged cheeses, processed meats, fermented foods, avocados, figs, and aged nuts or seeds.
Avoid eating or drinking the following foods before taking ayahuasca:
Alcohol
Citrus fruits
Coffee
Dairy products
Fats
Fermented foods (certain cheeses, kimchi, kombucha, yogurt, etc.)
Meat
Pungent spices
Salt
Sugar
These foods and drinks could react with ayahuasca to cause headaches, high blood pressure, or nausea during the experience.
It’s also a good idea to avoid the following supplements or medicinal plants before consuming ayahuasca:
Cannabis
Ephedra
Ginkgo
Ginseng
Kava
Kratom
Licorice root
Other psychedelics (e.g., mescaline, psilocybin, etc.)
Passionflower
Rhodiola
St. John’s Wort
Valerian root
Yohimbe
General Advice: Basically, if you're taking any supplements (including herbal supplements), it's best to abstain for a few days before taking ayahuasca. The exception, of course, is any herbs the shaman may give you leading up to the session.
Post-Ayahuasca Diet
The period immediately following an ayahuasca ceremony is a sensitive and important time for integration.
During this time, you'll be assimilating the insights from the medicine into your life through reflection, mindfulness, and intentional action. This stage can be very transformative and is arguably the most important part of the ayahuasca ritual — so it’s wise to continue your dietary restrictions for a week or two after the experience while you stabilize and support these changes.
You should also continue your avoidance of alcohol, stimulants, other psychedelics, and stressful environments or situations (as much as possible) for at least two weeks after an ayahuasca ceremony.
This allows your fragile and freshly revived mind, body, and spirit to adapt to the effects of the plant medicine rather than immediately jumping back into conditioned or patterned behaviors (some of which may not have been serving you well.)
Many people embrace the pre-ceremony dietary restrictions and behaviors after the ayahuasca journey and commit to these lifestyle choices indefinitely.
Avoid Drugs & Medications Before Ayahuasca
While we’re not advising you to stop taking any essential medications, it’s a good idea to cease using medications that aren’t completely necessary at least four weeks before your trip.
This includes supplements and marijuana, too.
Some prescription medications may be able to be paused leading up to the trip as well, but you’ll need to speak to your doctor about this first.
Prescription Medications to Avoid Before Drinking Ayahuasca
Certain types of prescription medications could result in serious interactions with ayahuasca. Others could actively negate or hinder the effects of ayahuasca.
Medications that alter neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine are especially problematic.
Avoid the following classes of drugs (pending your doctor's approval, of course):
Antidepressants (SSRIs, SNRIs, MAOIs, tricyclic antidepressants)
Antipsychotics (e.g., risperidone, olanzapine)
Stimulants (e.g., Adderall, Ritalin, Vyvanse)
Benzodiazepines (e.g., Xanax, Valium)
Barbiturates
Opiates (e.g., morphine, oxycodone, codeine)
Decongestants (e.g., pseudoephedrine)
Hypertension medications
Appetite suppressants or diet pills
Antibiotics (check with your doctor about specific ones)
Phenylalanine or tyrosine supplements
Note: It can be dangerous to suddenly stop taking prescription meds, especially if you plan to consume a psychoactive substance in the days following. Always speak to your prescribing doctor if you’ve been using any of these medications before you stop.
The general rule is that any mind-altering substance should be avoided (even caffeine is included on the list of foods/substances to avoid) — but serotonergics (including tryptamines and phenethylamines) and dopaminergics are especially risky.
Mindset Matters: Aligning The Mind For Ayahuasca
It’s just as important to prepare yourself mentally for ayahuasca as it is to prepare physically.
Ayahuasca is a medicine for the mind and soul — so getting yourself in the right headspace will go a long way.
This will take some time, so starting early is a good idea.
1. Avoid or Reduce Social Media Consumption
Limiting your exposure to social media and stress-inducing news outlets or stressful experiences is a good idea. Minimize your exposure to situations or interactions triggering you — so stay off Instagram and Twitter… or X or whatever it's called these days — excessive media/technology consumption before ceremonies can lead to the insights feeling more chaotic and difficult to grasp during the ceremony.
Also… don’t spend days scouring Reddit for trip reports on ayahuasca — this only creates unrealistic expectations or unnecessary fear around the experience.
Understand that the experience you have is uniquely yours, and reading endless stories of other peoples' experiences doesn't really help.
2. Be Mindful of Work-Life Balance
It’s easy to overwork yourself leading up to an ayahuasca ceremony because you’ll likely be preparing to take off a week or more of your time.
Remember why you’re doing this, and avoid overworking yourself before you leave (or in general).
Remember the age-old Taoist quote — “Nature never hurries, yet everything is accomplished.”
3. Start Journalling
Journalling is one of the best ways to prepare your mind and set intentions before a session (and in general). There are a million ways to journal, so the best one is simply what works best for you.
Some people like using guided journal prompts (such as our very own Shadow Work Journaling Prompts (30 days of prompts).
Shadow work pairs well with ayahuasca and other psychedelics, so it's a good angle to apply for journaling leading up to the ceremony, but it's far from the only approach to base your journaling practice on.
Others prefer to use a freeform style in a notebook or app like Notion. Anything works. If you’re a more visual person, you can also use art as a form of journaling.
4. Meditation
Meditation is a cornerstone practice for preparing your mind for the challenges and revelations of an ayahuasca ceremony. It’s wise to spend time practicing meditation before you take ayahuasca to equip you with the tools to navigate the overwhelming moments that are inherent to the experience.
Even a simple 10–15 minute meditation, yoga session, or quiet sitting time in nature is going to have a major impact on your ability to stay grounded and present during the journey.
During the ceremony, if things start to feel overwhelming, there’s no better way to ground yourself and pull through the other side than focusing on your breath. Meditation and breathwork serve as an anchor to pull you out of a difficult space and help you regain clarity and composure.
5. Set Intentions For Your Ayahuasca Journey
Intention setting is a method for ascribing meaning and purpose to the existential shift ayahuasca may produce.
In some traditions, they suggest that this ancient plant medicine contains in itself the teacher or spirit guide. Students of the medicine are directed to come with an intention to share with the ayahuasca spirit.
This can take the form of a question, a call for guidance, or an overall goal you'd like to achieve.
The intention should center around an area in your life that needs healing, support, cleansing, change, or clarity:
Perhaps you are seeking direction to resolve a persistent pattern in your life that causes you pain.
Maybe you are looking for a resolution to an interpersonal relationship or internal emotional challenges.
You might hope to gain insight into a decision or crossroads you are facing.
Or you may simply seek a deeper connection to yourself, others, or the world around you.
In the weeks leading up to your ceremony, reflect on your current situation and sift out a clear, simple intention that's both personal and meaningful to you.
A good starting point is considering why you want to take ayahuasca in the first place.
Can I Take Ayahuasca If I Have A Medical Condition?
Although ayahuasca is generally safe for the majority of people, it can be dangerous to take if you have certain medical conditions.
If you take prescription medications for any of the following health conditions, talk with your doctor first. (You should also mention any medical conditions to the shaman at the retreat you plan to visit, but only after speaking to your prescribing doctor):
Autism
Bipolar disorder
Diabetes
Heart disease
Hypertension
Manic depressive disorder
Parkinson’s disease
Psychotic depression
Psychotic mania
Schizoaffective disorder
Schizophrenia
Schizophreniform disorders
What You Need to Know About Purging During Ayahuasca
Purging refers to the forced “release” of physical and non-physical “substances.” This comes in the form of physical vomiting and crying, as well as an emotional “release” facilitated by the experience of memories and visions.
The purging process is considered an essential element of what gives ayahuasca its healing capability. Traditional Amazonian medicine sees this purging as a larger form of purification and cleansing that removes negative energetic imprints from the body, mind, and spirit. This includes stagnant and troubling emotions or thoughts and past traumas.
Much of the reasoning behind eliminating the use of toxic substances and behaviors is thought to minimize the need for this deep, energetic purging.
This gives you time to reduce or minimize stored negative imprints, so you’ll only be purging that which has been lingering within your energy field and not the superficial surface layer of negative content you absorbed most recently.
Purging happens in various forms during an ayahuasca experience, including:
Crying
Defecating
Laughing
Screaming
Shaking
Sweating
Vomiting
Yawning
Chemically speaking, the purging is caused by a variety of compounds in ayahuasca — primarily the MAO inhibitors that allow it to function.
Various compounds inside ayahuasca are responsible for the purging action. MAO inhibitors in the ayahuasca vine itself are known to stimulate the digestive system and induce nausea. Herbs like Syrian rue (Peganum harmala) contain high concentrations of these alkaloids and have a long history of traditional use revolving around its strong purgative action.
Ayahuasca: Preparing For The Ceremony of A Lifetime
Ayahuasca may not be a cure-all, and it may not be for everybody, but its effects are far-reaching for those who can stomach the experience.
For people who choose to go on the quest with this intense indigenous hallucinogenic, it’s important to start preparing weeks before the journey.
Start by limiting the consumption of processed foods and avoid alcohol and red meats for anywhere from 2–6 weeks before the ceremony.
It’s also incredibly important to avoid all recreational drugs and stop using certain prescription medications (under the observation of a doctor) before drinking ayahuasca since many combinations could produce dangerous side effects.
As part of your preparation, you’ll want to establish a clear and personal intention to give meaning to your experience and help you make the most of the trip.
On the day of your ayahuasca ceremony, fasting is recommended to minimize the possibility of nausea and vomiting (though it won't eliminate it entirely).
After the ceremony, it’s a good idea to continue eating healthy and avoiding drugs and alcohol for at least a few weeks while you integrate the ancient wisdom and insight that the great teacher, ayahuasca, shares with you.
Further Reading:
Putting in the Work Post-Purge: How to Integrate Your Ayahuasca Experience
Psychedelic Safeguards with Jules Evans (Tripsitter Podcast)
Ayahuasca vs. Ketamine: Unexpected Allies in the Fight Against Depression
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