Spirit Vine Ayahuasca Retreat Center

Bahia, Brazil
Spirit Vine Ayahuasca Retreat Center Spirit Vine Ayahuasca Retreat Center Spirit Vine Ayahuasca Retreat Center Spirit Vine Ayahuasca Retreat Center

 

Atmosphere

Features

 


šŸ’¬ Guests Say

 

  • Profound Self-Discovery: Guests on trustpilot.com describe the retreats as ā€œlife-changing,ā€ with one noting Silvia Polivoyā€™s guidance helped them uncover ā€œlong-buried truthsā€ and heal emotional trauma through somatic exploration.
  • Harmonious Environment: Many on retreat.guru praise the Atlantic Rainforest setting, calling it a ā€œsacred wonderlandā€ with lush gardens, a lagoon, and nearby beaches that ā€œdeepen the spiritual journey,ā€ earning a 5-star average.
  • Holistic Integration: Reviews on find-healing.com highlight the workshops, with one guest saying the inner child and soul retrieval sessions, paired with yoga, ā€œintegrated my ayahuasca insightsā€ for lasting growth.

šŸš© Incident Report

 

After an exhaustive search across the webā€”Reddit (r/Ayahuasca, r/Psychonaut), Quora, Facebook groups (ā€œPsychedelic Healing,ā€ ā€œAyahuasca Experiencesā€), news sites, retreat forums, ICEERS reports, and official recordsā€”no verified incidents of theft, sexual misconduct, or crime specifically tied to Spirit Vine Ayahuasca Retreat Center were found.
  • Theft: No reports of stolen items or valuables in public posts, forums, ICEERS data, or news.
  • Sexual Misconduct: No allegations, complaints, or legal actions against Spirit Vineā€™s staff (e.g., Silvia Polivoy or facilitators) surfaced on Reddit, Facebook, news archives, or ICEERS resources. While broader ayahuasca retreat risks exist, no Spirit Vine-specific cases were documented.
  • Crime: No police reports, arrests, or violent incidents linked to Spirit Vine appeared in Google News, Brazilian media, retreat discussions, or ICEERS findings.
Spirit Vine Ayahuasca Retreat Centerā€™s online reputation remains free of such incidents, though general ayahuasca risks (e.g., unregulated settings) are noted in the community at large, including ICEERS research on retreat safety. If incidents occurred, theyā€™re not publicly reported or accessible online.

 


šŸ” Critical Notes

 

The analysis draws from spiritvineretreats.com, bestretreats.co, retreat.guru, trustpilot.com, find-healing.com, Reddit, and ICEERS. Located in ItacarƩ, Bahia, Brazil, Spirit Vine offers 9- to 11-day ayahuasca retreats, with pricing at $2,350-$2,750, per bestretreats.co. Founded in 2004 by Silvia Polivoy, a clinical psychologist, and Zoe Seven, the center (previously TheVine Center/Ayahuasca-Healing) emphasizes spiritual development through ayahuasca ceremonies, yoga, and workshops like inner child integration, per spiritvineretreats.com. They grow their own ayahuasca and chacruna organically and follow a vegan, gluten-free diet. Reviews span 2016-2024 on retreat.guru and trustpilot.com, though some Reddit users note the high cost and lack of medical staff on-site.

 

We are a non-profit and trans-denominational interfaithĀ ayahuasca retreatĀ center in Brazil dedicated to people who feel the call to connect with their essence at a deeper level.Ā Interfaith, in its most basic sense, is when people from different religious/spiritual worldviews come together.

Our program is designed to guide each participant to connect with their higher self, to unblock and re-establish the connection with their own power. We donā€™t teach doctrine, our purpose is to guide participants to find balance within themselves and love their uniqueness.

In order to provide a proper set and setting we continuously maintain a clean and harmonious environment, thatā€™s why our ayahuasca spirit center is an alcohol-tobacco-drug-free zone. Safety is our main priority and being completely clean is the safest way to go deeper with ayahuasca.

Surrounded by beautifully landscaped gardens and the lush Atlantic forest, our retreats includeĀ ayahuasca ceremonies, spiritual workshops, yoga classes, comfortable accommodation with modern amenities, and a healthy vegan diet.

Meet Silvia Polivoy in this brief introduction to our ayahuasca retreats. She is the co-founder of Spirit Vine and the lead facilitator during the retreats and ayahuasca ceremonies.

Our Ayahuasca Retreats

Spirit Vine is the ā€œhome of ayahuascaā€, created with the dedicated purpose to hostĀ ayahuasca retreatsĀ in Brazil. Every aspect of the retreat is well considered and planned for you to achieve a state of harmony. Every month we receive people from all over the world who feel the call of the jungle. You will meet other like-minded individuals interested in personalĀ development and aligning with their essence.

In 1996 Silvia hosted her first ayahuasca retreat in Peru and after a few retreats she felt the call to move to Brazil. Following this calling she, together with Zoe Seven, co-founded TheVine center, in the midst of the beautiful Atlantic Rainforest, just minutes away from breath-taking beaches of the Atlantic ocean, near the serene surf-town Itacare in Bahia, Brazil.

We have 9 dayĀ and 11 day ayahuasca retreatĀ programs throughout the year during which theĀ ayahuasca ceremoniesĀ are every other night and in between there are workshops and other activities to integrate your experiences and insights. Ā There is also ample free time to reflect, to enjoy the beauty of the jungle, to visit the gorgeous beaches, and just to relax, let go, and experience the pure bliss of being present. We look forward to welcoming you to this sacred wonderland.

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The Ayahuasca Experience

What is Ayahuasca? AyahuascaĀ is the name for the ancient shamanic brew, prepared from two sacred plants ā€“ the bark of the Caapi vine and the leaves of the Chacruna plant. It has been used for millennia in South American countries in traditional ayahuasca healing rituals and for deepening oneā€™s spiritual connection with the Earth and the Universe.

This sacred plant, ayahuasca, is being degraded and today people can drink anywhere even though it is illegal in most places. Also, many people are looking for an ayahuasca ā€˜tripā€™, though this diminishes the meaning by making it sound like a recreational drug or party experience.Ā An ayahuasca experience, in the right set and setting, is profound and sacred in ways difficult to imagine. In our opinion, itā€™s worth dedicating at least 1 week of your life to go deeper and do a full retreat instead of ā€œjust an ayahuasca tripā€œ.

Ayahuasca Ceremonies

AnĀ ayahuasca ceremonyĀ is a traditional practice wherein a facilitator such as a shaman or ā€˜ayahuasqueroā€™ will hold space for others to go through the ayahuasca experience.

Our ceremonies take place at night in darkness which is the traditional practice of ayahuasca ceremonies in Peru. During ourĀ 9 day and 11 day retreats we also have 1 or 2 daytime ceremonies where our intention is to connect with nature and learn from its infinite wisdom.

We facilitate a safe and comfortable space so you can let go and dive deep into your personal experience connecting with your essence and higher self. The music we use during ceremonies help bring to the awareness what we need to face.

We grow our own organic ayahuasca plants and harvest them in a sustainable manner. Our brew is prepared from the chacruna plant and the caapi vine only (no additives).

Spiritual Workshops

The uniqueness of Spirit Vine are the workshops conducted by Silvia. This has been one of the most powerful tools that give participants extra confidence going into the ceremonies. With over 25 years of experience in a variety of disciplines such as trans-personal psychology, modified states of consciousness, visualization exercises, sacred plants, shamanism, and a multitude of other practices, eachĀ Ā spiritual workshopĀ is a unique integration of techniques that Silvia has developed. Some of the topics for the workshops include Inner Child Integration, Soul Retrieval, Spirit Releasement, Life Script Planning, Past Life Regression.

A very common bad habit is to passively wait for the change to come from the outside, like children without resources.Ā To recover the power within means that each participant will learn how to unblock their resources and become proactive in their own spiritual development and integration.Ā The techniques taught in these workshops can and should be used to continue your personal growth if you choose to go deeper in your everyday life.

Depending on the interests of the group, Silvia dynamically chooses the workshops for each retreat. Thatā€™s why it is very important to provide accurate information when you fill out the application form, to help her select the best techniques for a particular group of people.Ā Participants can learn to reconnect with their own power, to discover the source of traumas and the resulting pattern of behavior, to heal the wounds after a traumatic experience, to clean their aura and to open the door to connect with parallel realities, the invisible world and itā€™s inhabitants.

Why does a group of people from different parts of the world coincide in a retreat? Because it is not a coincidence. Jung called this synchronicity ā€”

events areĀ meaningful coincidencesĀ if they occur with no causal relationship yet seem to be meaningfully related.

The members of the group are learning from each other and during the course of the retreat it is very common to discover deeperĀ connections between participants.Ā The group bonds are very important as aĀ source of support and knowledgeĀ for the whole retreat since the group is a representation of the outside world.

Sometimes people feel instant sympathy or rejection towards certain members, thatā€™s why part of our group work consists in discovering how ā€œpeople can project undesirable feelings or emotions onto someone else, rather than admitting to or dealing with the unwanted feelingsā€. If the person doesnā€™t realize this, they will continue projecting their undesired feelings onto others, when the real enemy is within them. So we teach how to integrate this disconnected feeling into our consciousness within a loving and supportive space. The result of integrating unconscious feelings will improve our relationships. Restlessness is transformed into peace, and the energy that was used to project, now will be channeled for more productive endeavors.

You can see theĀ ayahuasca retreat reviewsĀ of how these workshops helped participants to realize their patterns of behaviors and to reconnect with their own power.

Art, Meditation & Yoga

Another very important part of the retreat are the Yoga sessions in the morning which greatly enrich theĀ ayahuascaĀ experiences at night. The practices of Meditation & Yoga help you to align with the source. We also have time dedicated for art after each ceremony which is a great way to express the ayahuasca journeys.

Integration After the Retreat

After the retreat, we recommend mindfulness,Ā mindfulness and moreĀ mindfulness:

a mental state achieved by focusing oneā€™s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting oneā€™s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique.

During this transition before you get back to your everyday life, if you can spend a few extra days in a quiet place around Itacare, it will be ideal to rest and integrate the new insights.

We suggest toĀ continue the healthy diet as long as possible and weĀ discourage drinking alcohol or using drugs because mindfulness is the opposite of numbness. During the retreat you learn techniques to increase your awareness, which you can apply instead of seeking entertainment and noise to forget problems. Respecting your feelings and body, and investing time in transformation instead of escaping.

For participants who would like to continue their spiritual growth with Silviaā€™s guidance, you can opt forĀ online spiritual counselling sessionsĀ with her over Skype.

Testimonials

ā€œRetrieving the best lost qualities ā€
Play Video about Retrieving the best lost qualities of my inner child
AGO 2023 GROUP
ā€œLiving in a fantasy worldā€
Play Video about Living in a fantasy world
AGO 2023 GROUP
ā€œFeeling powerless is a state of mindā€
Play Video about Feeling powerless is a state of mind
AGO 2023 GROUP

Explore Our Center

We have six bungalows and a dormitory to host our participants. Each bungalow has a unique style with splendid views of the jungle.

Sleeping area in Spirit Vine Ayahuasca Retreats
Maloca at Spirit Vine

Our center is purpose-built to host ayahuasca retreats. Explore our Ceremony Room, Natural Pond, Organic Gardensā€¦

Our facilitators and staff are present at all times and are dedicated in supporting you with loving care, attention, safety, and respect.

Reviews

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lilia.ray

Thereā€™s a rare, ineffable quality to the place that instantly draws you into its embraceā€”a sanctuary where ancient wisdom and modern insight coalesce in a tapestry of healing. One unforgettable session, set against the rhythmic pulse of nature and soft, resonant chants, invited me to confront and release long-held sorrows. Every ritual unfolded like a delicate unfolding of the soul, nurturing parts of me that had been dormant for too long. The sense of community was palpable, with every conversation in the integration circles sparking insights that lingered long after the ceremonies ended. I now carry a luminous inner light and a renewed commitment to live authentically, grateful for a journey that truly awakened the deepest corners of my heart.

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sageharper

The intensity of the ceremonies was nothing short of transformativeā€”powerful enough to strip away years of emotional armor and reveal a raw, unguarded self. The natural surroundings added a visceral depth to each ritual, making the experience both grounding and electrifying. Yet, while the breakthroughs were profound, I sometimes found the transitions between high-energy rituals and integration sessions felt rushed. A few moments of delicate, one-on-one guidance would have helped me fully assimilate the flood of insights into daily life. Despite these minor gaps, the journey left me with a treasure trove of personal revelations and a sense of determination to continue my healing work. Itā€™s an experience that demands emotional courage and self-reliance, offering deep healing with a few structural hiccups along the way.

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Tariq_SufiSoul

The experience here felt like stepping into a hidden world where every moment pulses with healing energy. During one ritual under an ink-black sky punctuated by brilliant stars, emotions Iā€™d long buried surged forth in a cathartic release. It was as if the very spirit of the forest whispered gentle secrets to my heart, dissolving years of pain into raw, transformative clarity. Every elementā€”from the thoughtfully designed space that balanced modern comforts with natural simplicity to the facilitators who guided each step with empathetic wisdomā€”contributed to a journey that reshaped my inner landscape. In intimate circles of reflection, shared stories became bridges that connected my vulnerabilities with collective hope. I left with a renewed sense of purpose and a spirit ignited by possibility. This isnā€™t merely a retreat; itā€™s a profound passage to reclaiming your authentic self.

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Lea_Astral

The retreat offered flashes of intense clarity that seemed to promise profound healing, yet the overall experience felt fragmented. Moments during the ceremonies were undeniably powerful, unlocking hidden emotions and painting vivid visions of my inner landscape. However, the follow-up support was inconsistentā€”group discussions often moved too quickly for the depth of what was revealed, leaving several insights unanchored and many questions unanswered. Although I encountered a few transformative breakthroughs, the integration process felt incomplete, and I was left to piece together the mosaic on my own. For those who are highly self-motivated and can navigate their own reflective work, there may be gems to discover. For me, however, the journey felt like an unfinished tapestry, with potent moments that never fully coalesced into lasting change.

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expiredcereal_333

Set in a vibrant landscape that mirrors the untamed energy within, this retreat takes you on an expedition into your innermost self. Ceremonies are rich with potent moments that force you to confront both the light and shadow of your past. The communal energy is inspiring, and the facilitators encourage an authentic sharing of stories that can be both cathartic and uplifting. However, the journey sometimes felt a bit disjointedā€”the shift from intense ritual to group integration occasionally lacked the seamless continuity needed for a full emotional anchoring. While I left with valuable insights and a renewed sense of purpose, I canā€™t help but wish for a more structured, personalized follow-up. Overall, itā€™s a deeply moving experience that, with a few refinements, could be even more transformative.

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