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Atmosphere and feature ratings above are based on Best Retreats research (October 2026). They will be updated if Alma Healing Center submits its own information.

Alma Healing Center: An In-Depth Review for Retreats in Mindo, Ecuador

Alma Healing Center is a female-led, LGBTQ+ affirming ayahuasca center founded in 2018 by Sandra, who is Dutch-born and does not serve medicine. Its main retreats run at an off-grid compound in the cloud forest beyond Mindo, about three hours from Quito, with overnight ceremonies in Tumbaco near Quito. Ceremonies are led by the Ecuadorian medicine woman Paulina Quilla Pakari-Tsunkinua. It is affordable, from $700 to $800 for four days, and well reviewed: 4.86 from 75 reviews on BookRetreats. It publishes a real contraindication list, and we found no incidents. The concerns are remoteness and medical backup. By the center’s own account the Mindo site is two and a half to three hours from a hospital, with no phone signal, only a basic first aid kit and no medical staff. Its pregnancy policy contradicts itself, a directory listing advises medication users to “detox with Andean doctors,” and refund terms differ by booking channel. Our earlier profile needs updating on the land, team, prices and policies.

🎯 At a Glance

• Locations: An off-grid compound on what the center calls a 52-hectare private reserve at about 1,400 meters, roughly 40 minutes past Mindo town and a 20-minute hike in, with pack horses for luggage, according to its 4-day retreat page. Overnight ceremonies are held in Tumbaco, near Quito, and earlier retreats ran in Pintag.
• Approach: Ceremonies led by Paulina, who says she trained with Shuar, Shipibo and Piaroa teachers, with live icaros and music, rapé circles, an integration session, temazcal (sweat lodge) at some retreats, and waterfall and river outings. The center also offers San Pedro day hikes, a women’s retreat, a vision quest and private therapy retreats.
• Suitable For: Healthy, adventurous guests, including first-timers and LGBTQ+ travelers, who want a small, affordable, rustic retreat in the cloud forest and accept being hours from a hospital. Not suited to anyone with heart problems, other significant medical risks or a need for comfort.
• Costs: The 4-day retreat costs $700 in a shared room on the center’s pricing guide but $800 on its retreat page, Retreat Guru and BookRetreats; a private room is $1,000. The overnight ceremony in Tumbaco is $200, the women’s retreat $1,500, and a 6-day private therapy retreat $3,000, according to its pricing guide.
• Overall Assessment: An affordable, warmly reviewed, women-led center with a published contraindication list and dedicated ceremony assistants, offset by a remote off-grid site hours from a hospital, no medical staff, inconsistent policies and prices across channels, and conflicting facilitator bios. Directory evaluation: B-.

💬 What Guests Are Saying

Here is how Alma Healing Center rates across review platforms in October 2026:

The positive picture. Reviewers highlight feeling safe, including as solo and queer travelers, good communication before arrival, powerful music and icaros, home-cooked food, the cloud forest setting, fair prices and hosts who treat guests like friends. Our earlier profile also cited praise for the women-led team in the Facebook group “Ayahuasca Experiences.”

The negative feedback. A three-star BookRetreats review says the guest was unclear about dosing and ceremony rules and had some difficulty communicating with the facilitator; the reviewer also skipped the integration sessions. A 2023 Retreat Guru review complains of a cramped ceremony space, with three people sharing a mattress. The text of the one- and two-star BookRetreats reviews was not visible. Our earlier profile cited Reddit discussion raising concerns about communication gaps (unverified), and said ceremonies could be opened to people not on the retreat, for example 12 people in a ceremony with eight retreat guests.

Who is writing the reviews. Most reviews sit on BookRetreats, and the Google reviews the center cites cannot be checked. The platform listings contain errors: Retreat Guru lists air conditioning, Wi-Fi, a spa, sauna, pool and fitness center that contradict the off-grid site and places the center in “Baños,” and BookRetreats photo captions mention rice terraces and a glamping tent that do not match the described site. We found no review incentives. If you have attended, we encourage you to share your experience through our submission form.

🚩 Incident Report

We searched review platforms, Ecuadorian, Spanish and English-language news, and legal sources for reports involving Alma Healing Center, Paulina Quilla Pakari-Tsunkinua and Sandra.

• Deaths and serious injuries: None found. A forum thread about a US citizen who died at an ayahuasca ceremony in southern Ecuador names no center and is not linked to Alma.
• Sexual misconduct: No allegations found.
• Theft and crime: No reports found.
• Legal action: None found.

If you have experienced or witnessed an incident at Alma Healing Center, please report it confidentially.

🔍 Critical Notes

Hours from a hospital. The center’s safety page says the Mindo site is approximately 2.5 to 3 hours from a hospital. The site has no internet or phone signal and is reached by a 20-minute hike. There are no medical staff, only a basic first aid kit, and the emergency approach is described as musical, verbal and physical “accompaniment”; Paulina and the temazcal leader Shiram Ucucuy are said to be trained in crisis accompaniment. No evacuation plan is published. Ask how a guest would be carried out and transported at night, and whether there is a satellite phone.

Policies that contradict each other. The safety page lists pregnancy as an absolute contraindication and also says participation is possible “case by case.” A Third Wave directory listing says people on long-term medication are advised to “detox with Andean doctors,” which is not a substitute for supervision by the prescribing doctor. Refund terms depend on where you book: on the center’s own site, cancelling more than 60 days out costs 30% and anything inside 30 days is non-refundable, while Retreat Guru and BookRetreats advertise a deposit refundable until a day before. Group size is given as 4 to 8, up to 12 or up to 15.

Conflicting bios. Paulina is listed on Retreat Guru as “Paulina Oviedo,” and her experience is given as more than 15, 20 or 25 years, alongside a stated age of 39. Shiram’s experience is given as 10 years in one place and more than 20 in another.

The legal position. Ecuador’s 2008 constitution recognizes ancestral medicine, but there is no detailed law, registry or protocol for ayahuasca ceremonies, leaving a legal gray area, according to an October 2026 legal briefing; ICEERS’s 2026 legal review covers Ecuador only through international Indigenous rights. Our earlier profile called the legal status “generally permissive,” which overstates the certainty. The center also uses psilocybin and San Pedro in some retreats, whose status we did not research. See our country-by-country legal guide.

Corrections to our earlier profile. The land is now described as 52 hectares, not 10. Sandra is the founder and does not serve medicine; our earlier profile described her as a facilitator and assistant. Medicines now include yopo, sananga and, in some retreats, psilocybin. Payment is by Venmo, Wise, PayPal, wire or cash, and the refund policy has changed as described above. The center now links Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest accounts. We could not re-confirm the courses in dome building and instrument making, the $35 extra night, or whether ceremonies are still opened to outside attendees.

🆘 Screening & Mental Health Risks

Alma asks every guest to complete a health questionnaire covering medications, mental health, heart health and psychedelic history, and says “Paulina and our team reviews every questionnaire personally,” sometimes followed by a call. Its safety page lists contraindications including SSRIs, SNRIs, MAOIs and tricyclics without a completed washout (typically two to four weeks), lithium and mood stabilizers, psychotic disorders, mania in the past two years, active suicidal thoughts and severe cardiovascular disease, and it links to a medication interaction page. Guests must be 18 or over. At least one ceremony assistant is present whose only role is support. ICEERS notes that ayahuasca’s MAOI component makes combinations with SSRIs and other serotonergic medications contraindicated, and that ayahuasca is contraindicated for people prone to psychosis. Erowid warns of extreme, possibly fatal reactions with some prescription drugs. Given the distance to a hospital, be fully honest on the questionnaire. Never stop a psychiatric medication to qualify for a retreat without your prescriber’s guidance.

🧪 Brew Substance

Alma does not publish its ayahuasca recipe. Traditional ayahuasca combines the Banisteriopsis caapi vine with a DMT-containing leaf such as chacruna, as Erowid explains. The 4-day retreat has two ayahuasca ceremonies, one in the daytime on day 2 and one at night on day 3, with rapé circles. Reviews on the center’s site describe extra doses given after a weak first effect. Other medicines include San Pedro (wachuma), cacao, mambe, ambil, yopo and sananga, and psilocybin is used in some retreats. Ask exactly what is in each cup and how extra doses are decided.

📍 Location, Setting & Style

• Setting: Cloud forest at about 1,400 meters, chilly at night and in the rain, with rivers, a waterfall and a maloca, inside a reserve held by Nuestra Tierra Aldea Creativa, which the center describes as its conservation community.
• Rooms: Rustic shared rooms, usually for two, in two guest houses and a main house, with mosquito nets, dry toilets and candlelit meals; private rooms are limited.
• Style: Traditional and intimate, with live music, rapé, river rituals and integration bodywork. Meals are home-cooked, mostly vegetarian and dairy-free, with light soup after ceremonies; guests are told to bring snacks. The team is bilingual in English and Spanish.

Practical guidance: Fly into Quito (UIO). Group transport leaves from Tumbaco or north Quito; airport transfers are extra, with an optional $75 transfer from the airport to Mindo. Pack light for the hike in.

Should You Book?

Alma Healing Center may suit you if you want an affordable, small, women-led retreat in the cloud forest with a team guests describe as caring and safe, and you are healthy enough to be hours from a hospital. Its contraindication list is better than most. The trade-offs: no medical staff, a site with no phone signal two and a half to three hours from a hospital, contradictory pregnancy and refund policies, inconsistent prices and group sizes, and bios that do not agree. If you go, get the group size, the emergency and evacuation plan, the refund terms for your booking channel and the medication exclusions in writing, and read our guide to verifying retreat facilitators.

The Team & Story

The center’s story page says Sandra founded Alma in 2018, first holding retreats with a Kichwa community in the Amazon, then in Pintag after 2020, and now in Mindo, and that a nonprofit was formed in 2024 to conserve more than 50 hectares of forest, though it is not named. Sandra describes herself as the first point of contact and integration guide. Paulina Quilla Pakari-Tsunkinua, the lead medicine woman, is described as an Ecuadorian Gestalt therapist adopted by Shuar elders, with training from Shipibo and Piaroa teachers. Other healers include Shiram Ucucuy, a temazcal leader and co-founder of the women’s collective Mujeres de Luna, and Rosa Utitiaj Sechanua, a Shuar grandmother. No legal entity is published. We did not independently verify anyone’s credentials.

Prep & Integration Tips

Before you go: Complete the health questionnaire honestly, list every medication and supplement, and complete any washout under your own doctor’s supervision. Prepare for a hike in, rustic conditions and no phone signal. After you return: The center offers post-retreat integration support. Arrange support from a qualified therapist at home as well. Our guide on how to research ayahuasca incidents can help you check any center.

Pros & Cons

Book Your Ceremony

Bookings are made through almahealingcenter.com, its Retreat Guru pages and BookRetreats. Upcoming dates include an overnight ceremony in Tumbaco on November 1 to 4, 2026, and a 4-day Mindo retreat on December 13 to 16, 2026, with monthly retreats through December 2027 and a women’s retreat in September 2027. Before paying, confirm in writing the price, group size, emergency and evacuation arrangements, medication exclusions and the refund terms that apply to your booking channel. Best Retreats does not take bookings; learn more about our mission.

Last reviewed October 2026.

This article is for informational purposes only and is not medical advice. Consult a qualified medical professional.