How to Prepare for Your First Ayahuasca Ceremony
Date Updated: August 5th, 2026
Preparing for ceremony begins before you arrive at Casa Sagrada.
For us, preparation is an opportunity to begin paying attention. To your body. To what you’re consuming. To how you’re spending your time. To what is happening in your relationships. To the questions that keep returning.
You don’t need to spend the weeks before ceremony trying to predict what will happen or researching every possible experience.
Simplify. Listen. Pay attention.
And come as you are.
Before You Arrive — Why Are You Coming?
Before ceremony, spend some time with one simple question:
Why am I coming?
You may know immediately.
You may have ten different answers.
You may only know that something in you said yes.
Start there.
Your intention can change as you prepare. In fact, it often does. Give yourself enough quiet to notice what keeps coming forward.
Write about it. Walk with it. Pay attention to what comes up in your life as ceremony approaches.
When you arrive at Casa Sagrada, you’ll have a private consulta with Brad and Sarah. This is where you’ll have an opportunity to talk about your intention and anything else that feels important before entering ceremony.
You don’t need to arrive with the perfect words.
Come with what is true for YOU.
The Dieta
There are many traditions that work with ayahuasca and yagé, and with them come different ways of preparing for ceremony. Some avoid salt, sugar, meat, caffeine, garlic and onions, or certain plants. Some preparations last a few days; others last weeks or much longer. We hold deep respect for these different teachings without presenting one dieta as the dieta everyone must follow.
At La Matriztica, we invite you to use the time before ceremony to pay closer attention to yourself. What are you consuming, and how does it make you feel? What helps you feel nourished, rested, hydrated, and clear? What leaves you feeling heavy, depleted, or overstimulated? This includes food, but also alcohol, caffeine, sleep, social media, movement, relationships, and everything else you are taking in. Ceremony is an all-night experience, travel and purging can be dehydrating, and you will spend many hours without eating or drinking normally. Whether your preparation begins three days or thirty days before you arrive, consider what will help your body enter that experience well nourished, hydrated, and rested.
Medication is different. Certain medications, substances, and medical conditions can create serious risks when combined with ayahuasca, which is why every new participant completes our medical form and anything relevant is discussed with Sarah before ceremony. Please never stop or change a prescribed medication simply to attend ceremony without speaking with the clinician responsible for your care.
Read the full Dieta Guidelines
What to Bring
You don’t need much for ceremony, but a few things will make the night more comfortable:
Comfortable clothes you can rest and sleep in
Layers if you tend to get cold
A refillable water bottle
A journal and pen
Fragrance-free insect repellent, if you use it
Any personal items we’ve asked you to bring
You are also welcome to bring something meaningful from home.
A photograph. A stone. A small object connected to your intention or to someone you love.
Sometimes having something familiar to hold or look at during the night can be beautiful.
Please avoid perfumes, essential oils, heavily scented toiletries, or strongly fragranced insect repellents. We share the ceremony space closely, and scents that feel pleasant to one person can overwhelm another.
Arriving at Casa Sagrada
When you arrive at Casa Sagrada, we’ll welcome you into the ceremony space.
This first part of the evening is intentionally unhurried.
You’ll have time to meet the other people sitting in ceremony, find your place, have some tea, walk around, and simply be at Casa Sagrada while Brad and Sarah meet privately with each participant.
Everyone receives an individual consulta before ceremony.
This is your time with Brad and Sarah to talk about why you’ve come, your intention, anything relevant from your medical form, questions you may have, or anything else they should know before the night begins.
Once everyone has completed their consulta, we come together as a group.
Brad and Sarah open the evening with a conversation about the ceremony, the night's protocols, and anything they feel is important for the group.
There is time for questions.
Around 10 PM, we pray over the medicine, open the ceremony, and serve the first cup.
From there, the night unfolds.
If you’d like to understand more about what happens during the ceremony itself, we’ve created a separate guide that walks you through the experience in greater detail.
A Few Things We Want You to Remember
There’s nothing to figure out.
You don’t need to know what your ceremony will look like.
And you definitely don’t need to spend the weeks beforehand reading everyone else’s ayahuasca stories on the internet.
Come curious.
Come willing to listen.
Come willing to participate in your own experience.
Ceremony is a relationship, and relationship asks for your presence.
Take care of your body. Follow the dieta. Spend some time with your intention. Give yourself a little more quiet than usual.
We’ll take it from there together.
We look forward to welcoming you home.
When you are ready to go deeper into preparation, the Preparation page and the Dieta guidelines cover everything in detail. And when you are ready to take the next step, connect with us.
