A core pillar of the ayahuasca experience is the dieta – a time-honored tradition designed to prepare your body, mind, and soul to receive profound healing. More than just a physical regimen, the dieta is a sacred dialogue; it demonstrates your discipline and sincere commitment to the spirit of Ayahuasca and the plant allies who guide the healing process.

The central aspects of the ayahuasca dieta we follow at the Temple are common to the teachings of all ayahuasquero/as across the Peruvian Amazon. In some cases, there is also definitive scientific evidence that these food restrictions are essential for safety.

We advise you to begin the ayahuasca dieta at least two weeks before a retreat and to continue the dieta for at least two weeks after the last ceremony. It is essential to continue the ayahuasca dieta to ensure that the ikaros you have received and any prescribed plant remedies have sufficient time to integrate.

The food at the Temple is prepared by our wonderful cooks, who provide you with a well-rounded, healthy, and plentiful diet throughout your stay whilst adhering to the essential restrictions. All of our chicken, eggs, and fish are farmed organically onsite.

Ayahuasca Dieta - Prepare your body, mind and soul for the healing

Ayahuasca Dieta – Pre-Retreat Required Restrictions

For 2 weeks prior, abstain from:

Any natural medicines/psychedelics (including San Pedro, ayahuasca, mushrooms, LSD, cannabis, kambo, rapé, etc.)
All street drugs (cocaine, MDMA, amphetamines, etc.)
Sexual activities of any kind, including masturbation
Alcohol
Pork
Spicy foods
Ice, ice cream, or ice-cold drinks

For 1 week prior, abstain from:

Reﬁned sugars
Red meat
Junk foods
Excess salt (only add salt to food if necessary for health reasons, and keep it to a minimum)
Sweets or chocolate
Oils (if you must use oil, use olive or coconut oil very sparingly)
Animal fats (lard, etc.)
Carbonated drinks (including diet sodas, energy drinks, non-alcoholic beer, seltzer water, etc.)
Dairy products (anything made with animal milk)
Fermented foods
Caffeine & other stimulants

Additional Restrictions:

IMPORTANT: Please ensure you have listed all medications in your application, and email us at [email protected] regarding any medication use you did not reveal during your application process.
If you will be menstruating during the retreat, please inform your facilitators upon arrival.
Ayahuasca is not compatible with pregnancy.
Avoidance of synthetic soaps, perfumes, toiletries, etc. Please bring only natural, non-toxic toiletries for your personal use at the Temple. We also produce and sell locally sourced, medicinal-plant-based toiletries on-site.

By eliminating the above from your diet, you will prepare your body, physically and energetically, to work with ayahuasca and perhaps reduce the amount of “purging” needed to cleanse your body.

In addition to the physical aspects, by showing your commitment and determination to ayahuasca and the master plants, you are creating the foundations of your relationship with them and offering them the respect which is important for this work.

Post-Retreat Required Restrictions

For 3 days after:

Protect the crown (your head) from sunlight and rain
Abstain from Ice, ice cream, or ice-cold drinks

For 1 week after, abstain from:

Spicy foods
Dairy Products
Red Meat
Intense exercise (gym and weights work, hard running, etc.)
Receiving and giving massages (gentle, therapeutic, sports, energetic, etc)
Doing energy work as a practitioner (and in some cases, it is best to wait two weeks – please consult with the healers during your stay at the Temple).

For 2 weeks after, abstain from:

Sexual activities of any kind, including masturbation
Alcohol

For 4 weeks after, abstain from:

Any plant medicines/psychedelics (including San Pedro, ayahuasca, mushrooms, LSD, cannabis, kambo, rapé, etc.)
All street drugs (cocaine, MDMA, amphetamines, etc.)
Pork
Other types of energetic work, such as Reiki and shamanic energy work.
Intense breathwork (such as holotropic, any deep process-inducing breathwork)

Medications: Many medications are pharmacologically and/or energetically contraindicated with ayahuasca, both before and after your retreat.

Please ensure you have listed all medications in your application, and email us at [email protected] regarding any medication use you did not reveal during your application process.

The healers recommend following a healthy ayahuasca dieta for the time after the retreat, and to also be mindful about intake of the following for 2 weeks after your retreat:

Reﬁned sugars
Red meat
Junk foods
Salt or pepper
Sweets or chocolate
Oils
Animal fats (lard, etc.)
Carbonated drinks (including diet sodas, energy drinks, and non-alcoholic beer)
Dairy products
Fermented foods
Caffeine & other stimulants

Critical Note – Due to a very limited number of past guests who have not adhered to dietary restrictions after leaving a retreat, we need to re-emphasize that maintaining the Ayahuasca dieta is essential to the healing process.

The four most fundamental restrictions after a retreat are alcohol, street drugs (cocaine, ecstasy, LSD, etc), sexual activity, and pork.

If a guest decides not to adhere to this critical advice after leaving the Temple, we cannot be held liable for the consequences (which can be severe psychological and energetic damage).

Please consider the Shipibo healers’ work as a “healing mirror” delicately woven into our guests’ energetic system. In the first two weeks immediately following a retreat, if the four key restrictions are not adhered to, then the mirror can be smashed. To repair the mirror and the potentially fractured psyche is then an extremely difficult process.