At the time of booking, you must agree to confidentially report any known medical problems and/or medication use.

Ayahuasca has been discovered to be incompatible with a number of pharmaceuticals and treatments. Before taking plant medicine, it's imperative to cease using the following medications and give your body enough time to rid itself of them. If you have any questions, please contact your doctor. You should never abruptly cease taking any prescribed medications, including antidepressants, without first speaking to your physician.

If you take the following medications or have any of the following medical conditions, working with Ayahuasca is not safe for you:

Ayahuasca is known to have hazardous adverse effects when combined with any drug that contains monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs). Before using ayahuasca, it is imperative that you cease taking these medications under your doctor's guidance and give your body plenty of time to eliminate them from your system.

Selective Serotonin Re-Uptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) and other medications that have an impact on the serotonin system. Combining these medications with ayahuasca can induce serotonin syndrome with potentially fatal results. Prior to applying for a retreat, we ask that visitors stop using SSRIs under their doctor's guidance to give their system enough time to clear. When discontinuing some of these medications, it is important to give the negative effects plenty of time to pass. Without first consulting your doctor, never stop taking any medications suddenly. Please be aware that St. John's Wort (hypericum perforatum), a herbal antidepressant, should not be consumed within 2 weeks of working with ayahuasca.

Decongestants, antihistamines, sedatives, tranquilizers, some hypertensive medications, sympathomimetic amines (including pseudoephedrine and ephedrine), carbamazipine, methylphemidate (Ritalin), macromerine, phenelanine, tyrosine, tryptophan, asarone/calamus, some asthma inhalers, and diet pills are among the other medications that must be discontinued.

Ayahuasca can be harmful to people with a history of psychological issues even if it hasn't been proven to cause psychosis or other mental abnormalities. If you have a history of mental health issues, do let us know.

We are unable to provide you with plant medicine, if you have a heart condition or have chronic high blood pressure. In this case we might consider other options, like Hypnotherapy and energy healing.

Hepatic guests/volunteers must first speak with us and give us further details about their health conditions. Ayahuasca use is prohibited for those who have Tuberculosis.

Family history of (Severe) mental illnesses:

If your family has a history of psychosis, we would first need to make sure that you:

1. do not directly have a history of serious mania, psychosis, or depersonalization concerns

2. have never taken any medicine for these illnesses in the past

3. are not taking any mental medications at this time

If none of these three criteria apply to you, we might be able to arrange for a retreat for you. However, if there is a history of severe mental illness in your family, please let us know so we can decide on a alternative method, that is appropriate for you personally. These methods might me: hypnosis (Rapid Transformational Therapy), energy healing, coaching.

Dietary precautions:

We must stress that following dietary restrictions are a crucial component of the healing process. For own safety, please follow these guidelines, avoid foods that are rich in tyramine. 

Street drugs (such as cocaine, ecstasy, heroin, etc.), prescription drugs (especially anti-depressants and anti-psychotics) and pork are the three most important prohibitions before and after a session. We are not responsible for the outcomes if a visitor chooses not to follow this important guidance after leaving the Retreat (which can be severe psychological and energetic damage).

We reserve the right to deny admittance to a retreat if we have reason to believe that street drugs have been used or if it is obvious that alcohol has been used soon before arriving at the Retreat.

Your guidelines to a healthy diet:

The best way to approach this diet is with fresh, wholesome meals like potatoes, fruits, vegetables, and grains like bread, rice, cereals, and wheat. If you are not a vegetarian, it is advisable to keep your meat consumption to a minimum and stick to white meats, like chicken, turkey and fish.

Use moderate amounts of spices and cut back a bit on your intake of salt and sugar, but don't completely take them out of your diet.

2 weeks prior to retreat:

• Stop the usage of medication (consult your medical professional first). When in doubt, please contact us.

• Stop eating pork.and red meats and sausage (e.g. salami, pepperoni, corned beef and liver)

• Stop eating fermented foods (kimchi, sauer kraut, pickles, yoghurt, kefir)

• Stop eating cheeses with a long shelf-life. Fresh cottage cheese is oaky.

• Stop eating nuts (peanuts, walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts etc.)

• Begin reducing processed foods, caffeine, alcohol and other stimulants.

3 days prior to retreat:

• No alcohol and no drugs

• No red meat, heavy fats and processed food

• No pork

• No dried or fermented sausage/meats (e.g. salami, pepperoni, corned beef and liver)

• No fermented cheeses or foods (canned foods, sauerkraut, soy, tempeh, kimchee)

• No old cheeses (young cheese, ricotta, mozzarella, cottage cheese & cream cheese is ok)

• No overripe bananas or avocado

• Limit figs and raisins

• Limit dairy products

• No dried or salted fish

• No nuts and seeds (peanuts!)

• No large amount of chocolate

• No protein extracts or supplements (they often contain yeast extract, e.g. Marmite/Tartex)

• Limit artificial sweeteners

• As little as possible spices

• No caffeine (coffee, some teas, energy drinks, chocolate)

• No herbal drinks/teas, like Ginseng & St John's wort

• No nose sprays

• No sexual interactions

• Drink plenty of water

Keep up the diet for at least 3 days after the ceremony.

Even while it is not required, it can be highly beneficial to start a body/mind practice, such as yoga or meditation, if you don't currently have one. This kind of exercise teaches you how to direct your energy and connect with your breath, which may be quite beneficial during the ayahuasca experience.

If you have any questions regarding the diet or any other topic, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Usage of Marihuana/weed: there is no contraindication per se. That being said, anecdotally we know that Ayahuasca does not "like" weed. If you are a regular smoker, you will find that there are going to be less or no visions coming up in your Ayahuasca journey. Additionally you might find that there is more purging involved. Therefore we recommend to stop smoking weed for 3 weeks prior to the retreat.

That being said we understand that many people are using marihuana for a better sleep or even for pain. If you find it impossible to discontinue for 3 weeks, then at least stick to the 3 days prior to the retreat, but be conscious about the fact that you will have a difficult journey. Ayahuasca will still work on you, but you will have a hard time.

Additional information and contraindications

Combining stimulants and MAOIs is extremely risky and may be lethal. When combined with MAOIs, the use of cocaine, amphetamines, or MDMA (ecstasy) can significantly raise blood pressure, increase the risk of cerebral hemorrhage and stroke, and make it easy to overdose on a relatively small amount of cocaine. (There has been a fatality associated with mixing cocaine and peganum harmala. The medical literature lists fatalities brought on by mixing amphetamines with prescription MAOIs.)

Serotonin syndrome can develop when an MAOI is used with other serotonin agonists or precursors. Fever (up to 40 °C / 104 °F or greater) and/or a strong and persistent headache (the same symptom as an MAOI tryptamine interaction) may be the primary serotonin symptom. Other signs of serotonin syndrome can be a fast heartbeat, sweating, trembling, dilated pupils, reflexes that are too quick or sensitive, hyperactive bowel movements, or elevated blood pressure. Severe serotonin syndrome can be fatal and can result in shock, agitated delirium, stiffness and high levels of muscle tension, renal failure, or convulsions.

Tricyclic antidepressants can have dangerous side effects, such as rapid fever, excessively high blood pressure, seizures, and even death, if taken within two weeks after taking MAOIs.

Fluoxetine (Prozac) within five weeks of taking MAOIs may cause high fever, rigidity, high blood pressure, mental changes, confusion, and hypomania.

Benzedrine, Benzphetamine, Desipramine, Desoxyn, Dexedrine, Dopamine, Ephedrine (contained in some asthma drugs), Epinephrine, Guanadrel, Guanethidine, Hydralazine, Isoproterenol, L-dopa, Metaraminol, Methyldopa, Mirtazamine, Norepinephrine Oxymetazoline, Phendimetrazine, Phentermine, Phenylephrine, Phenylpropanolamine, Pseudoephedrine, Ritalin, or Venlafaxine with MAOIs may cause a hypertensive crisis (severe spike in blood pressure).

Adderall with MAOIs can result in high body temperature, seizure, and in some cases, coma.

Using Bupropion within two weeks of taking MAOIs may cause serious side effects such as seizures.

Buspirone with MAOIs may cause high blood pressure and increased sedative effects.

Carbamazepine with MAOIs may result in fever and may increase seizures, especially in epileptics.

Clomipramine with MAOIs may cause high fever (hyperpyrexic crisis) and seizures.

CNS depressants with MAOIs may increase the depressant effects.

Desipramine with MAOIs may result in hypertensive crisis.

Dextromethorphan with MAOIs may cause excitement, high blood pressure, and fever, or brief episodes of psychosis.

Fenfluramine with MAOIs may result in fever (hyperpyrexic crisis).

Kava with MAOIs may result in hypotensive crisis (severe blood pressure drop).

Lithium with MAOIs may cause fever and serotonin syndrome.

Meperidine with pharmaceutical MAOIs has resulted in deaths from a single dose.

Metaproterenol or other beta-adrenergic bronchodilators with MAOIs may cause blood pressure elevation and rapid heartbeat.

Mirtazapine with MAOIs may result in hypertensive crisis.

Nefazodone may result in high fever.

Temaril with MAOIs may increase chance of side effects.

Terfenadine with MAOIs may cause an increase in MAOI blood levels.

Theophylline with MAOIs may cause rapid heartbeat and anxiety.

Trazodone with MAOIs may result in high fever.

Tryptophan or L-tryptophan with MAOIs may cause disorientation, confusion, amnesia, delirium agitation, memory impairment, hypomanic signs, or shivering.

Venlafaxine with MAOIs may result in hypertensive crisis.

Ziprasidone with MAOIs may cause serotonin syndrome.

Alcohol with MAOIs may cause side effects like angina (chest pain) or headaches. The headache may mask or be mistaken for hypertensive crisis caused by MAOI interaction. MAOIs can also increase the sedative effect of alcohol.

Opiates with MAOIs carries a risk of respiratory depression.

Diuretics with MAOIs may cause a greater drop in blood pressure than normal and increase in MAOI blood levels.

Anesthetics with MAOIs may potentiate the anesthetic effect.

Sleeping pills, tranquillizers (major or minor), or barbiturates with MAOIs may increase the sedative effect.

1. By submitting the reservation form the participant declares to agree with these terms and conditions.

2. By submitting the reservation form the participant places an official booking request. Next step is an introductory call. You can set it up directly, or wait for the intructions in the email after submitting this form. If you are accepted to the retreat, a down payment (the equivalent of 2 ceremonies or 50% of the total balance) will be required to secure a booking, once complete all bookings are binding under these terms & conditions. The open balance will be paid at the retreat.

3. Participants are free to cancel a booking. In certain cases there is no right to a refund and/or a payment obligation still applies. Please view the cancellation terms paragraph 5.

4. If the participant wishes to cancel a booking, they must inform Vine of the Soul Retreats in writing within time frames detailed in paragraph 5.

5. Cancellation Terms: If it is not possible to attend the booked ceremony or retreat due to unforeseen circumstances, you can schedule another suitable date with Vine of the Soul Retreats, any price differences between booked and future retreats will be discussed on individual basis.

Cancellation Terms for Retreats organised by Vine of the Soul Retreats:

When cancelling at least 30 days prior to the retreat, you will get a refund minus a 15% administration fee. Should you come back at a later point, the administration fee will be deducted from your open balance.

When cancelling a booking up to 14 (fourteen) days before the retreat, you will be liable for 50% of the total retreat price. 

When cancelling a booking between one to thirteen days before the retreat date 100% of the retreat price is non-refundable. This is partly to cover non-refundable deposits that allow our retreats to happen. In the event that something unforeseen arises and you are not able to attend, do contact us as soon as possible at info@vine-of-the-soul.com and we will work with you on an individual basis to choose a more appropriate future date. Any price differences between booked and future retreats will be discussed on individual basis.

Vine of the Soul Retreats disclaims all liability from travel disruptions due to coronavirus, as this is now a known event and no longer considered an unexpected medical emergency.

6. The participant is obliged to follow the diet, alcohol, drugs, medicine restrictions and preparation instructions as stated in the booking confirmation and on vine of the soul retreats website.

7. If the participant is unable to attend the ceremony booked by him or her, substitution by another person is permitted, provided the information of the substitute participant has been submitted along with an assessment through a screening call in a timely manner and approved by Vine of the Soul Retreats.

8. Vine of the Soul Retreats has the right to postpone or cancel the ceremonies for important reasons beyond its control (e.g. force majeure or because of changes in the law). The participant will be informed of this at the contact details given in his/her registration. In the event of cancellation, the participant will be issued a voucher equal to the value of the participation fee already paid. The participant can redeem the voucher for all future ceremonies offered by Vine of the Soul Retreats. The participant has no right to a refund of the already paid participation fee. Further liability claims and claims for damages on the part of the participant are excluded unless they are due to intent or gross negligence on the part of Vine of the Soul Retreats. This also applies to accommodation, transport and related costs incurred by the participant.

9. Vine of the Soul Retreats vouchers are valid for one calendar year following the date of issue.

After one calendar year period has expired, the customer is no longer entitled to the voucher. There is no entitlement to a cash payment of the voucher. A return or cancellation of vouchers is not possible. Commercial or any other resale of vouchers is not permitted. Vouchers can only be redeemed by a named person for whom the voucher is purchased unless expressly authorised by vine of the soul retreats. 

Partial redemption of vouchers is possible, at the discretion of Vine of the Soul Retreats, the remaining amount can be redeemed within the validity period of the voucher. There is no cash claim for payment of the remaining value of part used vouchers.

LIABILITY

1. Vine of the Soul Retreats will ensure proper and orderly conduct of the ceremonies.

2. Participation in a ceremony is entirely voluntary and at your own risk. Vine of the Soul Retreats is not liable for injury and/or damage of any kind as a result of the stay and/or activities of the participant, nor for loss or damage of property.

3. Complaints must be made known to Vine of the Soul Retreats in writing. The complainant will receive a response within 14 days.

MEDICAL DISCLAIMERS

1. The ceremonies as we offer them are intended as an aid to emotional and spiritual development, not as a substitute for medically necessary treatments or therapy. Always discuss physical and/or psychological complaints with a qualified physician.

2. Always report to a ceremony facilitator prior to the ceremony if you have a physical issue or need extra support.

CHANGES TO THE CEREMONY SCHEDULE

1. Vine of the Soul Retreats has the right to make changes to the programming of a ceremony, for example when a ceremony facilitator can not (or no longer) provide the ceremony due to illness, relocation, pregnancy, or other circumstances. In that case Vine of the Soul Retreats will provide a qualitatively comparable replacement. Participants will be informed about this by email before the retreat starts.

HOUSE RULES

1. Our locations are a non-smoking area, apart from the smoking area that is intended for this purpose. Drug and alcohol use are not permitted during the entire stay at retreat locations. 

2. Respect for every person, regardless of their religion, opinions, nature, gender, and development is a core value. Vine of the Soul Retreats is respectful to all participants and expects participants to be respectful towards each other.

3. Vine of the Soul Retreats is choosing the locations with care to offer participants a safe and conducive environment during the stay. Therefore, treat the location and its surroundings with care, such as your own home. Groups or individuals causing any damage/loss will be liable for all costs involved in rectifying said damage/loss under these terms.

4. Participants who do not comply with the terms and conditions, house rules, or who do not follow the reasonable requests of Vine of the Soul Retreat staff, can be removed from the ceremony/stay. This does not entitle the participant to a refund of any kind.

5. Recordings of any kind during the retreats and ceremonies is strictly prohibited without prior approval from Vine of the Soul Retreats, and the expressed permission of all relevant parties to be included in such recordings.

If you have questions about our general terms and conditions, please contact us.