About this Retreat
This is a small retreat program that brings together the relational healing of Internal Family Systems with the power and relational healing of Ayahuasca ceremonies.
This is a community gathered together for a season:
Five weeks of preparation together over Zoom
A seven-day residential retreat in Mexico
Six weeks of group integration work over Zoom
The goal is about community: healing and growing together with our internal families; with each other; and with the Medicines. All of those are the “home base,” and all are the path forward for this retreat program.
The Shape of the Program
This is a fourteen-week arc, not just a single week. All three phases are integral to the program and must be committed to for participation:
Five weeks of online preparation groups.
Weekly gatherings where community forms first. The inner and outer relational groundwork is started, and each person preparing themselves — body, all their parts, with each other, and with all their relations — for the work ahead.
A seven-day residential retreat.
Wednesday, February 10 – Wednesday, February 17, 2027
Three Ayahuasca ceremonies; daily IFS group work; a brief, focused individual session with Dick Schwartz; time on the land and in the culture of Mexico; and living together in community for the week.
Six weeks of online integration groups.
The healing path of a ceremony does not end when the ceremony ends. Sometimes ceremonies point to needed future healing rather than providing direct healing. These groups after the retreat will help the healing become part of our lives in living, relational and therefore ongoing ways.
Who Holds This Work
Dick Schwartz, creator of Internal Family Systems, will be co-leading the residential retreat portion of the program. He is a pathfinding pioneer in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, and has been leading ketamine-assisted group retreats for several years.
Curt Kearney, an IFS and ketamine-assisted psychotherapist, will be co-leading the residential retreat portion and leading the online preparation and integration program. Kurt is the author of Psychedelics and Internal Family Systems: a partnership in relational healing.
Jupiter Rain, a psychedelic-assisted therapist and doctoral student researching Indigenous women’s perspectives on ayahuasca, will be assisting throughout the online and residential components of the programs.
Cielo Azul, a doctoral student researching the intersection of ayahuasca, psychology, and IFS, will be assisting throughout the online and residential components of the programs.
Curt, Jupiter, and Cielo have decades of experience and training in working with Ayahuasca ceremonies in several traditions, including assisting in ceremonies.
Anja and Armando will lead the ayahuasca ceremonies, and are Mexican psychologists who are sanctioned by their Shipibo and Noki Koi teachers to lead ceremonies. Anja was among the first practitioners to integrate Western clinical psychology with Indigenous ayahuasca lineages. Her pioneering research, conducted three decades ago, explored the therapeutic use of ayahuasca in addressing substance use disorders. Together, Anja and Armando own and steward the retreat center that will host the program.
Jupiter, Cielo, Curt, and Dick will assist in the ceremonies.
Flow of the Retreat
The residential days have a rhythm: morning practices, group work, shared meals, rest in the afternoon, afternoon sessions, and in the evenings either ceremony or gathering.
There are three ayahuasca ceremonies and two temazcales across the week, with relational IFS work between them. There are brief individual sessions available with Dick Schwartz (one per person for the program). There will be time in nature, hiking, music, and the ordinary joys of living in community.
This program asks preparation of you before you ever arrive: a medical screening; dietary, lifestyle, inner relational and external relational preparation in the weeks beforehand; and a strong recommendation that you have your own individual therapy in place. None of this is for ideas of some kind of “purity.” It is how people arrive well-prepared and move forward fruitfully. It is how the work becomes deeper, safer, smoother, more integrated, and enduring.
Logistics and Investment
Tuition: Approximately $7,000-10,000 (varying by room). This includes the full fourteen-week program — pre-groups, the seven-day residential retreat (lodging, meals, and ceremonies included), and post-groups.
A small number of partial scholarship places are available. If cost is a barrier, please let us know in our conversation together.
Travel to and from Mexico City is arranged on your own and is not covered in the program tuition. Neither is the optional night in a Mexico City hotel as a group on Tuesday, February 9.
In-Person Dates: The residential retreat runs Wednesday, February 10 through Wednesday, February 17, 2027. We recommend arriving in Mexico City on Tuesday, February 9 for an optional group night together, then traveling with the group to the retreat center on the morning of Wednesday, February 10. If you’d rather make your own way, the arrival deadline at the retreat center is 3:00 PM on Wednesday, February 10. Departure from the retreat center is the morning of Wednesday, February 17 after breakfast.
Online Pre-groups: five weekly sessions, Wednesday, January 6 through Wednesday, February 3, 2027.
Online Post-groups: six weekly sessions, Wednesday, February 24 through Wednesday, March 31, 2027.
All groups meet 7:00 PM Central / 8:00 PM Eastern / 5:00 PM Pacific, for one hour.
Preparation and Screening
Because IFS informs every phase of this program, priority will be given to applicants with a strong foundation in IFS through training, personal experience, or both. Completion of Level 1 IFS training or comparable experience is best, along with ongoing personal IFS work or therapy. The application will invite you to describe your background so we can assess whether this retreat is a good fit.
If you are newer to IFS, we still welcome your application. This retreat is part of an ongoing series, and future programs will be designed to include participants with a wider range of IFS experience. With your permission, we can retain your information and contact you about an upcoming retreat that may be a better fit.
Because Ayahuasca interacts with certain medications and is not appropriate for everyone at all times, careful screening is required before anyone is confirmed. Some medications and conditions are absolute contraindications; others require a letter from your prescriber. This is discussed early and honestly, because it protects you, everyone in the program, and the integrity of the work.
Applying is the first step in the process. Someone from the team will reach out to schedule a follow up intake call. You can ask questions during this call as well. Registration is only possible after intake conversations.
A Note on What This Is, Legally and Relationally
This program is offered as coaching and education in service of personal growth, not as psychotherapy or medical treatment. The facilitators may be licensed professionals in their own practices, but in this program they are not acting as your therapist or physician. Participation is not a substitute for medical or mental health care, and we strongly recommend that you keep your own care in place, or get such care into place before even applying for the program.
