Preparing for a psilocybin retreat means more than packing a bag. It’s a whole-self reset, mind, body, and soul. You’ll need the right mindset, a supportive environment, and practices that ground and open you. This guide will walk you through how to do just that, step by step.
We’ve guided over a thousand guests through this journey, and here’s what we know for sure: your preparation shapes your experience. When you set strong intentions, nourish your body, and create emotional space, the medicine works differently. It meets you with clarity.
This isn’t about chasing visions or escaping reality. It’s about remembering who you are, beneath the noise, beyond the fear, before the world told you who to be. Let’s start where real transformation begins: with preparation.
What to Expect from a Psilocybin Retreat (And Why Preparation Matters)
A psilocybin retreat is a ceremony of remembrance. Guests arrive seeking clarity, healing, or a way back to themselves. What they find is structure, support, and a sacred space to release what no longer serves.
Each retreat follows a rhythm designed to support transformation:
Here’s what a typical retreat includes:
- Ceremonies: Guided psilocybin sessions held in intentional, ceremonial space with trained facilitators.
- Integration: Group and one-on-one support to help process insights and ground the experience into daily life.
- Rest and Reflection: Time to unplug, journal, and simply be, without pressure to perform or produce.
- Wellness Practices: Breathwork, movement, nourishing meals, and connection with nature to support the body’s healing response.
These are not just comforting extras. Every element is part of a larger container that supports your nervous system, emotional process, and spiritual inquiry.
But none of it works without preparation.
Guests who take the time to prepare often experience more grounded, meaningful journeys. When your body is clean, your mind is clear, and your heart is open, the medicine has space to work.
This is where set and setting come in.
What “Set and Setting” Really Means
The concept of set and setting is not just a psychedelic cliché. It is one of the most important principles in this work. In every ceremony we hold, it is clear that how you arrive and where you arrive shape everything that unfolds.
Understanding Your ‘Set’: The Inner Mindset You Bring
Your set is your inner landscape. It includes your thoughts, emotions, beliefs, fears, and hopes. This is the lens through which the medicine works. Psilocybin meets you where you are, not where you wish you were.
This is why curiosity matters more than control. The mind wants to grip, analyze, and steer. But the most powerful journeys begin with surrender and trust.
Here’s how to shape your set before the retreat:
- Cultivate curiosity: Let go of needing a specific outcome. Ask, “What am I ready to see?” instead of “What will this fix?”
- Name your fears: Write them out. Acknowledge them. The medicine can work more gently when you are honest about what feels hard.
- Set intentions that are open-ended: Try “I want to understand myself better” or “I’m ready to let go of what I’ve been carrying,” instead of “I need to heal this one memory.”
And if you’re asking, “What if I don’t know what my intention is?”
That’s more common than you think. Sometimes your intention becomes clear during the preparation process. Sometimes it arrives mid-ceremony. You don’t need a perfect mission statement to be ready.
Remember, the medicine gives you what you need, not always what you want. When the inner soil is soft, the insight can take root.
Setting the Stage: Your Outer Environment and Its Role
While your set is internal, your setting is everything around you. This includes the physical location, the facilitators, the music, and the energy of the group. Each of these elements becomes part of your experience.
We always encourage guests to research their retreat space with the same care they would use choosing a surgeon or therapist.
Key factors to look for in a safe setting:
- Experienced facilitators: Ask about their training, personal experience with the medicine, and how they handle challenging moments.
- Supportive group dynamics: Smaller groups, respectful boundaries, and clear agreements make it easier to feel safe and seen.
- Intentional use of music and ritual: These elements guide the emotional flow of a ceremony and can deepen the connection to self and spirit.
- Clean, natural environment: Being close to nature supports regulation and reflection. Harsh lighting, loud surroundings, or chaotic energy can work against the experience.
Where you do this work matters. The environment either holds you or distracts you. Choose a place that respects the power of the experience and honors the process you’re stepping into.
Pre-Retreat Preparation: Your Physical and Mental Tune-Up
The journey does not begin in the ceremony. It begins the moment you say yes to it. The preparation phase is where your body softens, your mind steadies, and your heart begins to open.
Diet and Detox: What to Eat (and Avoid) Before Your Journey
What you feed your body influences how psilocybin interacts with your system. Clean eating is not about restriction. It is about creating the clearest path for the medicine to reach you.
Key dietary shifts to make in the weeks before retreat:
- Caffeine: Overstimulates the nervous system and can make it harder to drop into stillness.
- Alcohol: Impairs emotional processing and disrupts natural sleep and recovery cycles.
- Processed sugar and heavy foods: Trigger inflammation and can fog emotional clarity.
If you are taking SSRIs or benzodiazepines, it is important to consult your medical provider. These medications work on similar receptors and can dull or block the effects of psilocybin. Some guests who have used SSRIs long term may need more time for their system to adjust before the medicine can reach them fully.
Detoxing is not just physical. It is energetic. It helps you arrive clean, open, and ready.
Emotional and Spiritual Prep: Practices to Begin Now
Emotional readiness is just as important as physical detox. The more familiar you are with your inner world, the more clearly you can navigate the experience.
Simple but powerful practices to begin before retreat:
- Journaling: Explore prompts like, “What am I ready to release?” or “What parts of myself do I avoid?” Let your writing be honest, not perfect.
- Meditation and breathwork: These help quiet the mind and stabilize the nervous system. A few minutes a day builds resilience.
- Gentle movement and time in nature: These bring you into presence and help you reconnect with your body.
We often recommend emotional dry runs. Practice expressing something vulnerable to a friend or therapist. Letting yourself be seen now prepares you for the release that may come during the ceremony.
Planning Your Post-Retreat Integration
A retreat is a doorway. What you do afterward determines how long the light stays with you. Integration is not optional. It is where the healing becomes real.
Plan your integration just as thoughtfully as the retreat itself:
- Create a support circle: A therapist, coach, or integration guide can help unpack and process what arises.
- Give yourself space: Block at least three days post-retreat for stillness, journaling, and reflection. This helps the insights take root.
- Protect your energy: Limit screen time, avoid draining conversations, and create a calm space where your experience can settle.
The medicine is only part of the story. How you respond to what it shows you is where the transformation lives.
What Happens During the Ceremony
Stepping into a ceremony is unlike anything else. It is a space set apart from ordinary life, designed with care to help you feel safe, supported, and open to whatever the medicine brings. No two journeys are the same, but the framework we hold allows for both surrender and strength.
The Ceremony Flow: From Arrival to Afterglow
Every part of the ceremony is intentional. Nothing is rushed. Nothing is random.
A typical flow looks something like this:
- Arrival and grounding: Guests turn in phones, meet the group, and receive a medical check if needed.
- Tobacco cleansing and group sharing: These opening rituals help clear energy, connect the group, and set collective intentions.
- Psilocybin ceremony: Guided by trained facilitators, the medicine is offered in silence or with curated music to guide emotional flow.
- Integration circle: After the journey, there is time to share, process, or simply sit in reflection. Support is always nearby.
This is not a free-for-all. It is not about chasing visions or getting high. There are no neon lights or guru monologues. What we hold is sacred space. What you bring is your willingness to meet the moment.
And yes, guests often wonder:
“Will I cry in front of people?”
Very possibly. Many do. Tears are not weakness. They are a release. In this space, emotional expression is met with respect, not judgment.
“What if I decide not to take it at the last minute?”
You will never be forced. Consent matters. If it doesn’t feel right, that decision will be honored without question.
“Will it feel like a therapy session?”
Not exactly. It’s not talk therapy. But it is healing work. The insights that arise often reach beyond words, yet they touch the same parts of us that long to be heard and seen.
Physical and Emotional Experiences You Might Encounter
The medicine speaks a language of sensation and feeling. For some, it is soft. For others, it is intense. Everything you experience is part of the process.
Common experiences include:
- Nausea or purging: The body releasing what the heart has held.
- Crying or weeping: Emotional waves that bring clarity and release.
- Laughter, awe, or euphoria: Moments of beauty, insight, or connection.
- Stillness or silence: Sometimes nothing needs to happen. That too is sacred.
One of the most important reminders we give is this: the only way out is through. If fear or discomfort arises, it is not failure. It is the medicine doing its work. Our team is trained to support you through every moment.
And if you’re thinking, “What if I don’t feel anything? Or worse, feel too much?”
Both are valid concerns. Sometimes the journey is subtle. Sometimes it is overwhelming. In either case, it is not about what you feel, but what you are open to learning from it.
Beyond the Trip: Wellness Activities That Deepen the Journey
The ceremony may last a few hours, but the ripple effect can stretch across months. What you do before and after plays a major role in how those insights take shape in your life. Think of wellness practices not as extras, but as vital tools that help integrate what the medicine reveals.
Real healing does not end when the ceremony closes. It unfolds slowly. Often, the most powerful breakthroughs surface not during the trip, but in the quiet moments afterward.
We’ve seen guests experience their clearest insights weeks later, while walking alone, cooking a meal, or writing in a journal. That is the power of integration. It turns insight into action, vision into change.
Practical tools to support your integration:
- Community check-ins: Stay connected with peers, facilitators, or support circles who understand the terrain you’ve walked.
- Journaling: Journaling gives you insights and helps track emotional patterns as they evolve, and creates a safe container for continued reflection.
- Symbolic anchors: Bring a photo, small object, or written affirmation into the retreat. Use it to stay grounded during the ceremony and revisit it during integration. These symbols help the nervous system reconnect with safety and purpose.
- Morning mindfulness rituals: Start your day with silence, breath, or a simple intention. This trains your mind to pause, listen, and respond instead of react.
- Connection with nature: Step away from screens and into the natural world. The rhythm of wind, waves, or birdsong returns your nervous system to balance and stillness.
Ready to Go Deeper? How The Buena Vida Helps You Prepare
Preparation is not an afterthought. It is our priority.
We support every guest with a 3-part protocol designed to make sure you arrive ready, in your body, in your mind, and in your heart.
What our preparation process includes:
- Physical detox: Guidance around diet, supplements, and wellness routines to support your body before and after the journey.
- Emotional readiness: Tools like journaling prompts, meditations, and connection calls to help you prepare internally.
- Integration support: Access to follow-up resources, integration circles, and community connections to carry your insights forward.
You’ll be met with respect, not judgment. With presence, not pressure. With care, not correction. Everyone on our team has done their own work and understands what it means to show up with uncertainty and hope.
1. Book a Psilocybin Retreat: Ready to go beyond microdosing and experience a guided, transformational journey? Apply to join a Buena Vida retreat and explore the healing power of psilocybin in a safe, supportive, and luxurious setting.
2. Reserve a Future Retreat Spot: Not ready to book just yet? Reserve your future spot with a small deposit and get VIP waitlist access, first notice of new retreat dates, and a free 1:1 call with our founder Amanda Schendel.
3. Watch the Webinar with Amanda: Want to know what really happens at a Buena Vida retreat? Watch our on-demand webinar hosted by Amanda Schendel, choose your own time and get a behind-the-scenes look at the retreat experience.
Common Questions We Hear All the Time
These are the kinds of questions that don’t always get asked out loud but they’re on many people’s minds.
The truth is, preparing for a psilocybin retreat stirs up uncertainty. That’s part of the process. These moments of doubt are often the first sign that something inside you is already shifting.
“What if I cry or scream? Will others judge me?”
Ceremony is one of the few spaces where emotional expression is fully welcomed. Crying, laughing, shaking, or vocal release are all normal ways the body processes emotion. Many guests say they felt safer in that moment than they ever have before. You will not be judged. You will be held.
“What if it doesn’t work for me?”
There is no right way to experience psilocybin. Sometimes the shift is immediate. Other times it shows up in dreams, subtle thoughts, or a new sense of clarity days later. A retreat is not a cure. It is a catalyst. The real transformation happens through the way you integrate what you’ve seen and felt.
“How do I know I’m ready?”
Readiness is not about having no fear. It is about having the willingness to show up. If something is nudging you toward this work, that is your signal. You don’t have to feel brave. You only have to feel curious.
“I’m scared of losing control.”
That fear is common and valid. In fact, it shows respect for the depth of this work. Letting go is not easy. But you are not alone in it. Trained facilitators are there to guide you, support you, and keep the container strong so you can soften into the experience with confidence.
