An ayahuasca ceremony is an event that takes place, often during an ayahuasca retreat, where a group of people gather together to take ayahuasca under the leadership, instruction and guidance of a professional native Amazonian healer.
Ayahuasca ceremonies are usually made up of a few to a couple dozen people. In addition to the healer and attendees, one or more plant medicine facilitators is often present to support the psychedelic experiences that the attendees have during the ceremony.
Ayahuasca ceremonies are more often than not held indoors, inside traditional structures native to the Amazon. In keeping with traditional medicinal practice, the ceremony space is usually unelectrified and no electronic devices are present during the ceremony.
The ceremony itself is lead but a curandero or curandera, a traditional healer, whose cultivated practice of administering plant medicine is unique to him or her self as well as to the particular heritage and tradition in which he or she studied medicine.
Ceremonies can be accompanied by sacred chants called icaros, sacred offerings, incense, other herbal treatments, or a number of other related modalities employed by the healer leading the ceremony.
An ayahuasca ceremony often lasts six to eight hours, which includes gathering, setting intentions, opening the ceremony, taking ayahuasca, experiencing the psychedelic effects of the plant medicine, and concluding the ceremony in due time.
