"Life Changing Connections & Experience"
Overall Experience: Incredible, magical, life changing, worth the money. Rythmia does a fantastic job of creating instant psychological safety from the second you arrive at campus. 98% of the staff here are incredible, heart-centered people who truly care about your well-being, safety, and happiness while you're under their care. It's truly heart-warming. The way Rythmia sets up this culture allows guests to bond really quickly and go deep with each other and the medicine within a few days. It's like adult summer camp, where you're sad when it all comes to an end because you've created so many memories and deep, lasting, lifelong friendships with the people you've been with for the week. (Or maybe we're all just trauma bonded now? Just kidding, kind of...) Ayahuasca Ceremonies: Trippy, in the best way. Do you throw up on ayahuasca? 100%. If you show up here and didn't realize that doing ayahuasca involves purging out of every orifice, well now you know (you're welcome). Just trust me when I say it's really not that bad. The purging cleans out decades of old trauma and emotional baggage. It's wild. Plus the visuals are super cool, especially experiencing the medicine while swinging in a hammock during a heat lightning storm. Other worldly, epic. The shamans and healers are AMAZING at supporting you throughout the ceremonies while you're under the medicine. I felt so safe and always had access to help whether or not I asked for it. One of the "angels" would be right there, encouraging me or helping to shift my energy the second I needed it. And the music is unreal. They let you have the playlists in an integration app when you leave, and they've been on repeat every day since. (One note here: any reviews that say a guest "wasn't allowed water" or "didn't receive help" while under the medicine is a lie. Everyone brings water bottles into the maloca for each ceremony, and help is just a raised hand away. There were about 1 helper to every 3 guests in each ceremony I attended, with a group of about 60 guests.) Education: Essential Rythmia does a great job of preparing you for the experience with their daily classes, explaining all the steps of how you'll experience the medicine (body, pinta, consulta, surgery, nada). They do a thorough job of including relevant training around every ceremony, and requiring certain classes so that everyone is prepared going into each night with the medicine. They also encourage sharing so that you can process your experience along with others in your group. It's really beautiful. (Could they do without the lame reenactment of Gerry's story on Day 1? Yes, but it's the price you pay for admission.) Grounds: Charming The grounds at Rythmia are beautiful, but slightly underwhelming for the price you're paying for your stay (especially realizing most people are sharing rooms with strangers, and you're not even ON the ocean). For a 5-star resort, the mattresses could be more comfortable, and hot water could be more consistent. But the food was DELICIOUS - I have never eaten cleaner, fresher food in my life. I wish I was still eating like that now that I'm back in the States. The "Cons" 1) You can't leave campus. My main suggestion to Rythmia would be to arrange more off-site excursions. It's hard to spend that much money to visit Costa Rica and NEVER see Costa Rica except on the way to/from the airport. Two one-hour trips to the beach are not enough off-campus time for a weeklong stay. Would have loved to visit Tamarindo or other nearby towns, go horseback riding, snorkeling, anything to get me off campus. 2) It's a money-making enterprise (duh). Healing is BIG business, people. I laugh reading any negative reviews of places like Rythmia because "they are raking in cash." I just assume all these people are angry they didn't think of the idea first. It's capitalism, man. You have to know that when you're dropping $$$$ to go. Look, not all apples are good ones in the self-help space, especially when there are millions to be made. Are there some people on staff whose motives lean more towards helping you spend money instead of helping you heal? Probably. But again, it's a business, not a non-profit. Are there some lame upsells to condos and stem cell treatments while you're here? Also, yes. But no one is forcing you to drop tens of thousands of dollars if you don't want to. Just say no, people. It's not that tough. Pro tip: wait to buy your souvenirs at the airport to save a couple hundred bucks (even though stopping in to see Shawna at the gift shop is worth it.) Overall, if Mama Aya is calling you, THIS is the place to go.
KC
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