My First Ayahuasca Retreat: Before

written 4/4/21

koriharrison.com

I spent the month of March in Costa Rica. I went for a Holos retreat, then stayed on for another 3 weeks with a few from the group to integrate, bask in the post-retreat energy, nourish the lifelong connections that were sparked that week, and explore more of this magical country together.

What I learned and experienced that month was more transformative than all the internal work I’d done in the past year combined, I’ll share some of that with you in a few posts. Here’s the first.

Poems. Lessons from the past. Letters to my future self and partner. Lists of what gives me energy, and what drains it. Dried flowers from the jungle. Dreams. Desires. Drawings, symbols, visions. Intentions. Releases. These are what pepper the physical journal I carried everywhere with me in the week leading up to retreat and after. My journal writing usually lives in Bear, but I very intentionally entered a new mode of being in those first few days. A being most supportive for receiving something new. For crumbling old and seeding new. I was ready and pushy about it. Like most things, I was driven to get the most out of this trip, these experiences. I was going to do it right. Walks in nature. Meditation. Breathwork. Yoga. Writing. No devices. I will surrender to the experience, my journal read. I will be present and humble and bring my full self, traumas fears walls and all. So that I can meet them and move past them once and for all.