The interaction that matters most. Ayahuasca contains MAO inhibitors. Combining it with an SSRI, SNRI, MAOI, tricyclic antidepressant, lithium, tramadol, triptans or St John’s Wort can cause serotonin syndrome, which is a medical emergency and has been fatal. Stopping an antidepressant is itself a medical decision with its own risks and washout periods — it is never something to do on your own, or on our say-so.
Also excluded: personal or family history of psychosis, schizophrenia or bipolar disorder; significant cardiac disease or uncontrolled hypertension; pregnancy. This is a traditional ceremonial practice, not medical treatment, and it sits outside the scope of our Colombian IPS medical licence. Nothing here is medical advice.
Ayahuasca — yagé in Colombia — is a brew of Banisteriopsis caapi with a DMT-containing plant, prepared and served within Amazonian traditions that are thousands of years old. In Colombia it is held within a recognised traditional and Indigenous context. It is not an approved medicine anywhere, and we do not present it as one.
What is different about doing this here
Most people considering this are choosing between places that all describe themselves as safe. Very few can tell you what is in your blood.
Before you fly, you send samples and a complete medication list. Our medical team reviews the bloodwork, your cardiac and psychiatric history, and everything you take — prescription, over the counter and supplement. There are physicians on the property. If the review turns up a reason you should not sit, you are told before you have booked a flight.
Our doctors do not give you ayahuasca. They clear you, or they don’t. The ceremony itself is held by someone who carries the tradition.
Who holds the ceremony
[ TO BE COMPLETED — practitioner name, lineage, tradition, years of practice, and how they came to carry this medicine. Do not publish this page publicly without it. ]
If a website does not tell you who is pouring and where they learned, that absence is the answer. We will name ours.
How it runs
- Before you travel — samples, medication review, a conversation with the medical team and with the person holding the ceremony.
- Diet and preparation — the traditional dietary restrictions matter here for pharmacological reasons, not only ceremonial ones. You get the list well in advance.
- The night itself — held after dark, with the tradition-holder and support staff present throughout. Purging is common and is part of the practice, not a sign something has gone wrong.
- Medical cover — clinical staff are on site, which is not the case at most ceremonial venues.
- The days after — integration sessions, quiet, food, and people to talk to. This is the part most places leave out, and it is where the value usually is.
What we will not tell you
We do not claim this resolves depression, PTSD, addiction or trauma. There is real research underway into related compounds, and it is genuinely interesting — but a ceremony on a mountain in Colombia is not that research, and anyone implying otherwise is selling you something.
We publish no outcome figures. Experiences vary enormously, some are difficult, and a difficult night is not evidence of anything going right or wrong. If you are in crisis right now, this is not the thing you need — please talk to a doctor where you are.
Where it sits
Ceremony is a small part of what happens at Mountains of Hope. The larger part is diagnostics, functional medicine, the water circuit, food grown on the property, sleep and time. You can read the clinical side on the therapies index, and the rest of the ceremonial work on the plant medicine page.
Book a consultation and bring your medication list. That is the real first step.