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I’m going to Rythmia for an Ayahuasca retreat in Costa Rica.

Holy cows. I cannot believe I just wrote those words.

Before I tell you what Rythmia is and what I’m actually doing, I want to give you the context. Because I know thousands of people are going to read this and think: you’re doing what? Why? Are you nuts?

So here’s the story.

2019

Shortly after my dad passed in 2019, I was invited to an ayahuasca ceremony in Sedona.

I was working for Delighted By Hummus as Director of Marketing at the time. The founder, Makenzie, had a shaman she’d worked with for years. She rented the whole team a house for several days and invited anyone who wanted to join for a two-night ceremony.

I thought about it hard. I really wanted to do it. But I never did.

Cold feet. That’s what it came down to.

2022/2023

Somewhere in 2022 or 2023, sludging through some dark points, ayahuasca came to me again.

I can’t remember how or why. But it did. So this time I started researching the best and safest place in the world to experience it.

The first place that popped up was a retreat center in Costa Rica called Rythmia. There were others. But it was Rythmia that made me think: this could be right.

I can’t remember why I didn’t go then. I just didn’t. And I mostly stopped thinking about it, unless it showed up in my feed.

2026

About a month ago, on a random Saturday, I got an email from Rythmia, inviting me to come.

I had never reached out to them. They found me through my work with A Gutsy Girl.

I looked them up 3 or 4 times because I couldn’t believe it was the exact place I’d researched years earlier.

It was.

From 2019 until now, there has been this pull. And now, ayahuasca has literally fallen in my lap. Or through my computer screen. However you see it.

I filled out the medical form. The rest is history.

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Disclosure: I’m attending Rythmia on a media trade. The links in this post are affiliate links. If you book through them, I earn a referral fee. I’m telling you that up front, before you read another word, because that’s how I do things here.

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What Is Rythmia? Why I’m Doing Ayahuasca in Costa Rica (November 2026)

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Rythmia is an all-inclusive resort in Guanacaste, Costa Rica that runs 7-day ayahuasca retreats. It calls itself the only medically licensed plant medicine facility in the world authorized to serve ayahuasca as its core therapeutic modality.

The program is called the Rythmia Way. It’s a structured 7-day schedule that combines four ayahuasca ceremonies with yoga, breathwork, meditation, integration classes, and daily teaching sessions. Rythmia says it has hosted more than 23,000 guests since 2016.

Guanacaste is one of the world’s five Blue Zones¹, the regions researchers have linked to unusually long lifespans.

You can read their full program page here: The Rythmia Way

What is ayahuasca?

Ayahuasca is a brew made from the Banisteriopsis caapi vine² combined with a DMT-containing plant, usually Psychotria viridis. Indigenous groups across the Amazon basin have used it in ceremony for generations. The caapi vine contains compounds that act as MAO inhibitors, which is what makes the DMT orally active. That same MAOI activity is why the medication warnings later in this post matter so much.

Rythmia has a full guide on where it came from and how it spread: Exploring Ayahuasca: A Brief History

I’m not an expert on any of this. I’m a person who has spent 20 years working on her gut and her nervous system, and I got curious. That’s the whole credential.

When I’m going

To know me well is to know just how much of a connection I feel to 11.11. In fact, I have a tattoo of it on my forearm.

So I looked at the calendar to see if 11.11 in 2026 would fall on a ceremony day. Sure enough, it does.

I’m going to Rythmia from November 8 – November 15, 2026.

That’s the week. If you want to be there at the same time, that’s the date to book.

What’s included in the week

Rythmia’s program is all-inclusive once you’re on-site. Your 7 nights include:

• 4 ayahuasca ceremonies
• 7 nights of resort accommodations
• 21 farm-to-table organic meals
• 6 yoga classes, 3 breathwork classes, 3 meditation classes
• 3 plant medicine integration classes
• Teaching sessions including Gerry Powell’s “About Your Miracle,” Dr. Jeff McNairy’s Nu-Heart class, and Michael Beckwith’s “The Answer Is You”
• 2 medical evaluations by staff physicians
• 1 healing massage, 2 hydrocolonic cleanses
• Access to the spa, gym, steam room, volcanic mud baths, and saltwater pool
• Lifetime access to the RLife app, which includes a 13-week at-home integration program

The Connection to A Gutsy Girl

And here is the part where I want to tell you how this relates to my work with A Gutsy Girl.

It’s been a few years since I created Gut Healing: ELEVATED. If you’ve ever been through the course you know my stance on how we heal the gut (and anything for that matter) long term. And it’s NOT another diet or another supplement. It’s lifestyle; everything else. The part that you will work on for the rest of your life in order to stay healthy and well.

Anyways, this is exactly how I’ve done it. It took decades to heal, and once I did (in 2018), I’ve never looked back.

I haven’t had to because I got serious about the lifestyle.

So in addition to the massive curiosity about ayahuasca, I had been looking for something that would offer many different optimal health modalities in one place. Everything above checks it all off.

Note: I have never done a hydrocolonic cleanse, and this is very much so in my lane to experience and then share.

More than anything, though, if you want the truth I believe deep down that emotions and the nervous system are vital to overall health. I have things I want to release, and that’s where ayahuasca comes in. Maybe for better or worse. But to avoid these things at a foundational true health and wellness level no longer serves me.

How much does Rythmia cost?

The 7-day all-inclusive experience starts at $4,900 USD. Final pricing depends on which room you choose, so the number goes up from there.

One thing to understand before you book. The payment for the ayahuasca ceremonies themselves ($250 USD, confirmed once I booked) is separate. Rythmia’s pricing page states that all money paid for the plant medicine ceremonies goes to a third party, unrelated to Rythmia, paid on-site in Costa Rica. That payment is optional and is only owed if you choose to take part in the ceremonies.

I am not going to pretend this is some cheap retreat. It’s not.

But I did read through many of the 2,800 5-star reviews³ to confirm its worth.

Booking and pricing: Rythmia retreat

Is ayahuasca safe? What the medical screening covers

THIS right here was and is my biggest concern. It always has been.

Rythmia’s pitch on safety is its medical infrastructure. They have two doctors, six nurses, a 24/7 on-site clinic, and a medi-vac helicopter.

In addition, every guest goes through a pre-arrival medical screening reviewing health history, current medications, and psychological readiness. I have already done one medical screening. I’ll do another upon arriving. And the protocol for everything from diet to medications prior to going is pretty rigorous.

The screening exists for a real reason, and this is the part I want you to actually read.

Ayahuasca contains an MAO inhibitor. Combining it with certain antidepressants, most importantly SSRIs and SNRIs, can trigger serotonin syndrome, which can be life-threatening. This is documented in the peer-reviewed literature, not just retreat marketing. A 1999 paper in the Journal of Analytical Toxicology warned specifically about the interaction between ayahuasca’s harmala alkaloids and SSRIs producing a potentially grave serotonin syndrome.⁴

Because these medications have long half-lives, you cannot just stop them the week before. Published ayahuasca medical guidelines advise discontinuing most SSRIs about 4 weeks before, and fluoxetine (Prozac) about 6 weeks before⁵, because of its long half-life, always under a doctor’s supervision. Stopping an antidepressant on your own carries its own risks, including discontinuation syndrome.⁶

So the honest version: ayahuasca can be reasonably safe in a screened, medically supervised setting, and far riskier outside one. The screening is the safeguard. Which brings me to who this is not for.

Who this is NOT for

I write a “who this is not for” section into everything, and it matters more here than it does for magnesium.

Do not do this without clearing it with your own doctor first if any of these apply:

• You take an SSRI, SNRI, MAOI, or other serotonergic medication. This is the big one. The interaction can cause serotonin syndrome.
• You have a personal or family history of psychosis, schizophrenia, or bipolar disorder.
• You take lithium. Combined with psychedelics it can raise seizure risk.⁷
• You have a cardiovascular condition, uncontrolled high blood pressure, or a seizure disorder.
• You are pregnant or nursing.
• You are looking for a cure to skip the work, rather than a starting point for it.

Talk to your prescribing physician. Not your friend who went, not me, and not a thread online. Rythmia’s screening is thorough, and being fully honest on it is the whole point. Withholding medication details is the thing that turns this dangerous.

Preparing for Rythmia

As I mentioned early on, I feel like I have been preparing since 2019.

But once this became a true reality, I really started the deep dive.

I have been binge reading and listening to personal accounts of people who have gone to Rythmia. I’ve read through the fine print. I’m starting to study ayahuasca in greater detail. Just because I want to understand.

I know myself. And I know that while I’m so excited, I’m also terrified. If you want the truth, there it is. But I’m guessing this is what 95% of the people who go to Rythmia feel.

In addition…

Watch The Reality of Truth before you decide

There’s a documentary about plant medicine and about Rythmia specifically. If you’re on the fence, watch it first.

The Reality of Truth

Rythmia also has a plant medicine series that goes deeper: Plant Medicine Series

FAQ

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Closing

As I prepare to go, I’ll write more then. My diet is already very “clean,” but I will have to cut coffee (and I might cry) and most meat (again, sobbing). But since I’m a rule-follower to a ‘T,’ I will do all. the. things.

Then, I’ll write about what actually happens when I get back. The real version, including the parts that don’t make a clean caption.

If you want to come, the week is November 8-15, 2026, and you can book here. If a different date fits your life better, book a different date. In fact, I was thisclose to going still this summer because I’m so freaking excited! So if you go before me, report back mmmmmkay?!

If you liked this article, you might also enjoy:

1. Eat Local, Not “Safe”: 3 Days of Eating in Vietnam
2. When the Feet Hold the Nervous System
3. Physical Symptoms of Solar Plexus Chakra Opening

Xox,
SKH

1. https://www.bluezones.com/explorations/nicoya-costa-rica/ ↩︎
2. https://www.rbppsiquiatria.org.br/details/2114/en-US ↩︎
3. https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g309251-d12154725-Reviews-Rythmia_Life_Advancement_Center-Santa_Cruz_Province_of_Guanacaste.html ↩︎
4. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9924842/ ↩︎
5. https://www.ayahuascafoundation.org/medical-guidelines-for-participation/ ↩︎
6. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3627130/ ↩︎
7. https://psychopharmacologyinstitute.com/section/examining-the-combined-use-of-psychedelics-and-psychiatric-drugs-2813-5750/ ↩︎