Gaya Kali Center
Atmosphere
Features
Atmosphere and feature ratings above are based on Best Retreats research (October 2026). They will be updated if Gaya Kali Center submits its own information.
Gaya Kali Center: An In-Depth Review for Ayahuasca Retreats in Alto Paraíso de Goiás, Brazil
Gaya Kali Center sells ayahuasca, kambo, iboga, a “toad” ceremony, San Pedro, peyote and psilocybin mushroom retreats in Moinho, a village about 9 to 12 km from Alto Paraíso de Goiás in Brazil’s Chapada dos Veadeiros. It is led by two facilitators who use spiritual names, Abhaya Kalima and Sahaj Kaliman, and lists packages from $800 to $4,300 on Retreat Guru and BookRetreats. It rates 5.00 from 15 reviews on BookRetreats, all five stars, and has no reviews on Retreat Guru. Against that, it publishes no contraindications and no cardiac screening for iboga, schedules two iboga doses within 36 hours in one program, welcomes children under 12, names no legal entity, and sells ayahuasca packages that Brazil’s drug policy council rules list as unacceptable outside religious use.
🎯 At a Glance
- Locations: “Moinho, Alto Paraíso de Goiás,” according to its Retreat Guru center page, with no street address published. Brasília airport is 220 to 230 km away.
- Approach: A blend of Indian traditions (yoga, Advaita Vedanta) and Brazilian indigenous practice, with a multi-medicine menu, breathwork, massage and waterfall tours.
- Suitable For: Experienced adults, once the center publishes its contraindications and cardiac screening. Not suitable for children, people taking antidepressants, or anyone with a heart condition considering iboga or the “toad” ceremony.
- Costs: $800 for three days in a shared room to $4,300 for 14 days in a suite; eight days of ayahuasca and kambo from $2,200; eight days of iboga from $3,300, according to its BookRetreats and Retreat Guru listings. Deposits are refundable until one day before the start.
- Overall Assessment: Warm hosts and flexible refunds, offset by iboga and “toad” ceremonies without published cardiac screening, no contraindication list, minors welcome, no legal entity, unverifiable purity and experience claims, and commercial ayahuasca sales outside Brazil’s religious framework. Directory evaluation: C-.
💬 What Guests Are Saying
| Platform | Rating | Reviews | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| BookRetreats | 5.00 / 5 | 15 | March 2021 to September 2024; same pool on four listings |
| Retreat Guru | None | 0 | No reviews despite more than 15 listed events |
The positive picture. Reviewers describe warm, loving hosts (“Abhaya, Sahaj and the family”), a sense of community, the forest, river and waterfalls, and personal healing.
The negative feedback. No review of three stars or lower appears on any platform.
Who is writing the reviews. The reviews are short and emotional, and none describes the ceremonies, the medicine, screening or medical care. Only three are tagged “Verified user,” and visible reviews cluster on April 15 and 16 in 2021, 2022 and 2024. The latest is dated September 2024. If you have attended, we encourage you to share your experience through our submission form.
🚩 Incident Report
We searched review platforms and English, Portuguese and German-language news for reports involving Gaya Kali Center, both facilitators’ spiritual names and the two doctors named on its listings.
- Deaths and serious injuries: None found.
- Sexual misconduct: No allegations found.
- Theft and fraud: None found.
- Legal action: None found.
The facilitators’ legal names are not published, which limits any search. Our earlier profile found no theft, sexual misconduct or crime.
If you have experienced or witnessed an incident with this center, please report it confidentially.
🔍 Critical Notes
Iboga and “toad.” A 14-day program lists “2 Iboga ceremony (within 36h),” and an eight-day program pairs “pure, traditional Iboga root” with a “toad ceremony” whose substance is not named, according to its Retreat Guru listing. Neither page mentions an ECG, QT interval check or liver panel. A Spanish clinical ibogaine trial uses hourly ECGs and a cardiology unit, and dozens of people have died of arrhythmias after taking ibogaine, as eldiario.es reports. Brazil’s health regulator banned non-pharmaceutical ibogaine preparations in 2016, according to Chacruna.
Minors. BookRetreats listings say “Children under 12 are welcome with parental supervision” and that teens join after “a maturity assessment.”
Legal context. Brazil recognizes religious ayahuasca use, but CONAD Resolution 01/2010 lists tourism, commercialization and therapeutic use as unacceptable, as summarized by ICEERS. Gaya Kali names no church and sells healing packages. DMT, psilocybin, mescaline and 5-MeO-DMT are controlled substances, and Brazil banned the sale of kambo in 2004.
Who runs it. No CNPJ or company name was found. BookRetreats names “Dr. Rodrigo Figueirado” as resident medical advisor, and one Retreat Guru page names “Dr. Roberto Cesar Leite” with no role; no medical council (CRM) number is given for either.
Marketing claims. The listings call the brew “#1 in the world in terms of purity” and “95% purity,” based on unnamed laboratory testing, and claim more than 30,000 participants and over 35 years of experience. Group sizes range from “up to 8” to “5-25” across listings, and ceremony counts conflict.
Corrections to our earlier profile. Prices run from $800 to $4,300, not $1,900. Retreat Guru listed dates through September 2026, and BookRetreats sells year-round. The center’s listings cite Brasília airport, not Goiânia. We found no source for a guest quote attributed to gayakali.com, praise for the waterfalls on Quora in 2023, or the gayakali.com website itself; those remain unverified.
🆘 Screening & Mental Health Risks
The listings promise “pre-retreat screening and preparation guidance with a doctor” and a “personalized intake,” but publish no form, criteria or exclusions, and no emergency protocol. The operator says Alto Paraíso, about 9 km away, has a hospital; its intensive care capacity is unknown. ICEERS notes that ayahuasca’s MAOI component makes it dangerous with SSRIs and other serotonergic drugs and that it is contraindicated for people prone to psychosis. Never stop a psychiatric medication to qualify for a ceremony without your prescriber’s guidance.
🧪 Brew Substance
The center says its ayahuasca is “cooked for 40 days” from vines 40 to 50 years old, and its brew-making program harvests jagube (Banisteriopsis caapi) and chacruna. Chacruna supplies the DMT, as Erowid explains. Kambo, iboga, San Pedro, peyote, psilocybin mushrooms, sananga and rapé are also offered.
📍 Location, Setting & Style
- Setting: Rural Moinho in the Chapada dos Veadeiros, with river access and guided waterfall trips.
- Rooms: Suites with a king bed, private bath and deck, private rooms with shared baths, and shared rooms; the gallery also shows glamping tents.
- Style: An Indian and Brazilian blend with breathwork, massage and integration circles; vegetarian and vegan meals.
Practical guidance: A staff member meets guests in Alto Paraíso. Airport transfers are included in the 10-day and 14-day packages and cost extra on others. Languages listed are English, Portuguese, German and French.
Should You Book?
Do not book iboga or the “toad” ceremony until the center publishes cardiac screening (ECG, QT interval and electrolytes), names its doctor with a CRM number, and states its contraindications. Do not bring children. Read our guide to verifying retreat facilitators.
The Team & Story
Abhaya Kalima’s bio cites studies in trauma recovery and social work at Alice Salomon University in Berlin and in yoga and meditation in India. Sahaj Kaliman’s bio cites years in Indian monasteries, study of Advaita Vedanta, and plant-medicine work with Latin American tribes that began about 35 years ago. The center says invited indigenous elders receive “100% of ceremony income.” The earliest review dates from March 2021. We did not independently verify anyone’s training.
Prep & Integration Tips
Before you go: Disclose every medication and condition in writing and get an ECG reviewed by your own doctor before any iboga. After you return: Arrange support from a qualified therapist at home. Our guide on how to research ayahuasca incidents can help you check any center.
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Deposit refundable until one day before | No published iboga cardiac screening |
| Warm hosts in every review | No contraindication list; children welcome |
| Waterfalls and river setting | No legal entity; doctors’ registrations unpublished |
| No incidents found | Unverifiable purity and experience claims |
Book Your Ceremony
Gaya Kali Center books through Retreat Guru and BookRetreats; Retreat Guru notes that payments through it “do not cover plant medicine, psychedelics, or similar products.” Confirm the medicine, screening and medical cover in writing before paying. 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.