Preparation and Guidelines

What is a Dieta?

A dieta — sometimes translated as jejum (fasting) — is more than a set of dietary restrictions. It is a ritual of relation, a way of preparing body, mind, and spirit to meet the medicine with clarity and respect. In Indigenous Amazonian traditions, dietas are not simply pragmatic health measures; they are part of a cosmology of discipline, humility, education and reciprocity with the plants.

At a physiological level, a dieta helps cleanse the body and nervous system. Avoiding certain foods, substances, and habits (such as alcohol, stimulants, pork, excess salt, and sexual activity) lowers toxic load, balances neurotransmitters, and creates a state of openness where ayahuasca can act safely and deeply. Preparation through fasting and restraint is also crucial for  ensuring physical safety.

At a psychological level, a dieta is a practice of intention. By renouncing excess and distraction, the participant signals to themselves and to the community that they are entering a liminal space. The hunger, simplicity, and discipline of the dieta quiet the restless mind and cultivate humility, qualities without which deep work can easily become consumption or escape.

At a ritual level, the dieta echoes the logic of ceremony: it suspends the rhythms of ordinary life to create a sacred interval. Ritualsl“stabilizes life through symbolic repetition. A dieta does exactly this. It marks a threshold between the profane and the sacred, the ordinary and the extraordinary. It is not deprivation for its own sake, but an embodied gesture of reverence: you prepare yourself so the medicine can recognize you.

Within ayahuasca cosmologies, dietas are also conversations with the plant spirits themselves. In traditions such as those of the Huni Kuin, Shipibo, and Tukano, to enter a dieta is to enter a relational contract with the ibos or mothers of the plants, spiritual intelligences who teach through dreams, visions, and songs. Certain foods are avoided or embraced not only for biology but because they are related to the plant spirits. A dieta, then, is not just a medical precaution but a spiritual apprenticeship, where plants become teachers and the body becomes a vessel of learning.

Finally, a dieta is not only preparation but also integration. After a ceremony, continuing in restraint — through food choices, silence, prayer, or time in nature — extends the resonance of the work. Integration is not an intellectual exercise but a lived continuity: what was received in vision is grounded in daily habits, discipline, and community practice.

Thus, a dieta is at once safety protocol, psychological preparation, ritual practice, spiritual apprenticeship, and integration method. It reminds us that healing is not instantaneous but relational: it requires respect, time, and the humility to listen, not only to ourselves, but to the forest and its spirits.

What is a Ceremony?

A ceremony is not an event you attend; it is a form of relation. In the Amazonian and Brazilian traditions we walk with, an ayahuasca ceremony is a carefully held space where medicine, song, community, and cosmos are woven together. Unlike the Western concept of a “session” or “treatment,” a ceremony is not oriented toward performance or consumption. It is an act of alignment, of bringing human life into resonance with forest, ancestry, and the invisible dimensions of existence.

Philosophically, ceremony is the opposite of what Byung-Chul Han calls the “society of achievement”, a culture of exhaustion, optimization, and endless productivity. In the ceremony, one does not achieve but receives; one does not accumulate but allows themselves to be. Time slows down, silence acquires weight, and vulnerability becomes the condition of truth.

From a psychological perspective, as clinicians such as Gabor Maté have noted, healing emerges not from the suppression of pain but from its safe expression. An ayahuasca ceremony provides this condition: difficult emotions, memories, and traumas are not pathologized but welcomed, held within a collective container of song, ritual, and care. What the individual meets in visions or in the depths of their own suffering is reframed, not as a private pathology but as part of a wider field of meaning and connection.

From a decolonial standpoint, a ceremony is also a counter-gesture to commodification. In an era when ayahuasca is marketed as a wellness product, a ceremony insists that medicine is not a drug but a sacrament, not a service but a covenant. Every element — the preparation of the brew, the rhythm of the hymns or chants, the seating of the community, the invocation of ancestors — refuses reduction to technique or entertainment.

Thus, an ayahuasca ceremony is at once psychological practice, philosophical critique, collective healing and sacred offering. It is a place where inner wounds meet collective care, where the forest becomes a teacher, and where the self dissolves into a wider network of kinship. To enter a ceremony is to cross a threshold: from achievement to receptivity, from isolation to relation, from consumption to covenant.

Safety and Responsibility

All the medicines we serve — ayahuasca, rapé, sananga, and jurema are legal in Brazil when used in ritual contexts. We integrate biomedical caution (screening for contraindicated conditions, and ensuring physical and emotional readiness) with traditional safeguards of prayer, song, and community. Every medicine is prepared with respect, never extracted for profit, always offered as part of a lineage of reciprocity.

These are not “substances” or “tools.” They are kin, allies, and teachers. To receive them is to step into relationship, not consumption.

In a world eager to patent, package, and sell what was carried through blood and memory, we choose another path: to serve these medicines as covenant, to defend them as relations, and to practice what we call cosmic diplomacy, a refusal of extractivism and a celebration of life’s continuity and deep collective healing. 

🌿 Our Ethical Guidelines

At Jornadas de Kura, ethics is not an afterthought. It  is the foundation of everything we do. 

1. Legality and Safety

All our retreats operate within a recognized and legal framework in Brazil, ensuring that ayahuasca and other sacred plant medicines are served responsibly, with respect for tradition and national law. We maintain clear safety protocols, medical screening, and integration support for every participant.

2. Respect for Ancestral Traditions

We honor the Afro-Brazilian and Indigenous lineages that sustain this work, ensuring that ceremonies are guided with reverence, cultural integrity, and humility. Our role is to serve, protect, and amplify - never to appropriate or exploit.

3. Community and Family Life

Jornadas de Kura is not an isolated retreat center. It is a living community. Families, children, and elders share this land with participants, creating an atmosphere of authentic daily life, intergenerational respect, and continuity. Healing here is not abstract; it is woven into the rhythm of community life.

4. Reciprocity and Accessibility

We are located in a quilombola territory, and our work is inseparable from it. A portion of every retreat supports community projects, land care, and cultural continuity. We also offer scholarships and sliding-scale options to make participation more inclusive.

5. Sustainability of the Medicine

We are deeply committed to the long-term sustainability of ayahuasca. All the medicine consecrated in our works is prepared in a sacred way here on the land, with prayer and reverence. Every guest is invited to plant a vine, ensuring that future generations will inherit a living cycle of care and abundance.

6. Transparency and Consent

Every participant receives clear information about our practices, medicines, and expectations before joining. We uphold the principles of informed consent and absolute respect for personal boundaries.

7. No Exploitation, No Abuse

We maintain a zero-tolerance policy for any form of abuse — physical, sexual, emotional, or financial. All facilitators are held accountable to the highest ethical standards of conduct.

8. Integration and Ongoing Care

Healing does not end when a retreat finishes. We provide structured integration support, helping participants bring insights into daily life, family, and community.

9. Environmental Stewardship

We recognize the land itself as a teacher. Our work includes reforestation, conservation, and sustainable living practices, ensuring that every retreat strengthens the ecology of the Serra do Cipó.