The ceremony opens the door. Ayahuasca integration is how you walk through it — gently carrying the healing of the Amazon into the whole of your everyday life.
“The experience is only the first step; integration is where the real work begins.” — Idi Cohen
Time spent deep in the Peruvian Amazon — held in ceremony, supported in your vulnerability — can open profound transformation. Yet returning to the pace and pressures of ordinary life can be its own kind of test. You come home changed, while the world around you has stayed the same.
These moments are often our greatest teachers. With the right support, the insight that arrived in the maloca becomes something you can live — in your relationships, your habits, and your sense of who you are. Formal integration is what protects and deepens the healing you worked so courageously to receive.
At AYA, integration is never an afterthought. It is woven through the whole of your journey — beginning with a personal preparation session before you arrive, continuing through one-on-one care during your retreat, and held by dedicated integration support for as long as you need once you return home.
A private 1:1 preparation session to clarify your intentions and prepare you, body and mind.
One-on-one care with our Shipibo maestros and facilitators throughout every ceremony.
A private 1:1 integration session, plus ongoing coaching and community to help it last.
Integration is the practice of taking the insight, healing, and lessons you receive in ceremony and weaving them into the way you actually live.
An ayahuasca experience can reveal a great deal in a short time — old patterns, buried grief, moments of profound clarity and connection. But revelation is not the same as change. Integration is the slower, gentler work that follows: turning what you saw and felt into new habits, healthier relationships, and a steadier sense of self. It is, in many ways, where the real healing is made durable.
Returning home, you will almost certainly meet situations that test what you learned. People and circumstances may not have changed, even though you have. How you meet those moments — with the tools, perspective, and support you’ve gathered — is what determines whether the medicine’s gifts take root or quietly fade. This is precisely why integration deserves real attention, and real support, rather than being left to chance.
In traditional Amazonian communities, integration is simply part of life — insights are shared, woven into the rhythms of the community, and held collectively. In the modern world, most people return from a retreat to environments that don’t understand plant medicine, and to schedules that leave little room for reflection. Without intentional support, the afterglow can fade into confusion or isolation. A structured, compassionate integration process is the antidote: it keeps your experience alive and turns it into lasting growth.
Good integration starts before you ever sit in ceremony. Thoughtful preparation — clarifying your intentions, understanding the diet, and honestly naming your hopes and fears — shapes the entire arc of your journey. At AYA, your preparation is not a form to fill out; it is a personal conversation that lays the foundation for everything that follows, and directly informs how you are cared for, ceremony by ceremony.
Many centers treat preparation and integration as separate, impersonal steps. At AYA, they’re a single, continuous thread of care — so the person who prepares you also helps you integrate, and nothing about your story is lost along the way.
Before you travel, you meet your practitioner one-on-one. Together you explore your intentions, expectations, inner resources, and any sensitivities or triggers — so you arrive grounded and known.
Private 1:1What you share is carefully passed to your on-site facilitators, so the team holding you in ceremony already understands how best to support you — with sensitivity and full context.
Informed supportOnce your retreat is complete, your facilitator reports back to the same practitioner who prepared you — sharing how your journey unfolded, so your care continues seamlessly.
Seamless handoverYou return to a private 1:1 session with the practitioner who already knows your story. Together you make meaning of your experience and shape practical, lasting next steps.
Private 1:1
Your preparation and integration sessions are held by AYA’s dedicated practitioner team — trained, supervised, and mentored by Atira Tan, who brings over thirteen years of experience in trauma recovery and a deep, personal relationship with sacred plant medicine.
Under her ongoing guidance, our practitioners offer trauma-informed sessions grounded in Somatic Experiencing™ principles — a compassionate, body-aware approach that helps you process safely and find your own footing. It means that wherever you are on your path, you are met by someone skilled, caring, and supported by genuine expertise.
Your 1:1 sessions are the heart of our care. To surround them with support between and beyond, we’ve partnered with Nectara — a nonprofit devoted to preparation and integration for people working with plant medicine. Every AYA participant is welcomed in, freely.
“The work of a lifetime deserves support that lasts a lifetime.”
Nectara is a trusted home for integration — resources, courses, live circles, and coaches who understand this path. For years they’ve helped journeyers prepare thoughtfully, connect with one another, and translate their insights into lasting change.
Because their dedication mirrors our own, we’ve opened their doors to everyone who journeys with us. Take a breath, and step inside — we’re glad to welcome you.
Access your free supportYours to explore at your own pace — past, present, and future participants alike.
Simple, grounding practices to carry the medicine forward. Begin gently — there is no perfect way, only your way.
A daily rhythm — meditation, yoga, journaling, or a walk in nature — anchors you to yourself and keeps your intentions close as life resumes its pace.
Stay connected to those who understand this path. Through Nectara’s community and your fellow participants, you never have to integrate alone.
Return to the intimacy you felt with the plant world. Time among trees, water, and open sky keeps the healing alive and offers a place for gratitude.
Your body is the vessel of your transformation. Nourish it well — mindful food, rest, movement, and sunlight all deepen and sustain your integration.
Writing helps the experience settle into memory and meaning. Revisit your intentions and notice, over weeks, how your insights continue to unfold.
Your integration session and Nectara’s coaches are there for the questions that surface later. Reaching for support is a sign of strength, not struggle.
The practices may seem simple, yet living them is the real work. Your body has undergone deep healing, and it may take weeks or months to find a new equilibrium. It is normal to feel tender, and even lost, along the way. What follows are a few quiet signs that your integration is taking root.
Integration is the gentle, ongoing work of bringing the insights from ceremony into your everyday life — your relationships, habits, and sense of self. A powerful experience is often just the beginning; integration is what helps it last. That’s why we support it before, during, and long after your retreat.
Every AYA participant receives a private 1:1 preparation session before the retreat and a private 1:1 integration session afterward, with a trauma-informed practitioner who follows your journey from beginning to end. You also receive free year-round access to Nectara’s resources, community, and coaching.
Your sessions are held by AYA's dedicated practitioner team, supervised, and mentored by Atira Tan — a Somatic Experiencing® practitioner with over 13 years of experience in trauma recovery.
In your preparation session you’ll share your intentions, expectations, inner resources, and any sensitivities. This is carefully passed to your on-site facilitators so the team holding you in ceremony already understands how best to support you — and after the retreat, they report back to your practitioner so your integration continues seamlessly.
Nectara is a nonprofit dedicated to preparation and integration for people working with plant medicine. Through our collaboration you receive free access to their resource library, guided courses, community spaces, live integration circles, and 1:1 coaching support.
Yes. Free guest access is included for every AYA participant at no cost. If you’d like to go deeper, Nectara offers an optional supporting membership by donation (suggested $5–20/month), with no minimum and no obligation.
No. Every retreat participant receives access as part of their care, and we’re also glad to share free access with anyone sincerely exploring this path — just use the “Access your free support” button above to join.
Integration is a lifelong, unhurried process — the most active period is usually the weeks and months right after your retreat, when new habits and perspectives are taking shape. Consistent practice and ongoing support are what help your healing endure.
Whether you’re preparing for your first ceremony or returning to deepen your path, you won’t walk it alone. Ask us anything — there’s no pressure, only care.
