Reflections & Experiences

For me this was a trip I had been moving towards for a long time. More than once in my life I was drawn towards a more professionally guided Ayahuasca experience and now finally it was time.

With Silvia and Tio I found just the perfect environment. The expertise on the plant medecine, Silvia’s expertise as a therapist and the perfectly organized facility that was built to take care of us.

Although I already knew this (otherwise I would not have traveled to the other side of the world to do so), during the stay it becomes perfectly clear, that the diet, preparation, workshops, sharing, the group work and environment play a huge role in what ayahuasca can bring you. And afterwards you will not be done. The integration of all that in your life will define the real transformation and you will have to do all by yourself. But you get to still share your challenges, progress tips and tricks with the group you started the retreat with, which is wonderful.

I have faced my first challenges and overcome them differently, healthier and quicker than before. I am currently in contact with some of the other participants as well as with Tio.

This makes the journey all the more worthwhile. I have felt safe, cared for, unjudged and comfortable. I applaud everyone at the retreat and am forever thankful for this experience.

My journey to Spirit Vine started before I even purchased my flight. Finding this place was in fact one of the first times I had used my intuition in what feels like years. As I sat with over 10 tabs open for different retreats (ready to analyze!) I decided I was not going to do it like that. I didn’t know exactly what I needed but I had a rough idea. I wanted to feel safe, secure and in the right hands.

Silvia’s background and reviews really drew me to Spirit Vine and I quickly applied to only one retreat. It’s all history from there! My experience was more than I could have imagined. The environment that they have created is spectacular and I felt safe and comfortable the entire time. Rooms were more than comfortable and clean. The food was an experience in itself! Silvia puts a major emphasis on clean eating and I completely understand why now. It gave us a much better and in-depth experience and when you are taking the time and money to do this, it is best to do it right and that is exactly what they help you do.

Every ceremony was a beautiful journey even when they were challenging. Silvia and Tio were always there for everyone and I can’t imagine being anywhere else. The group element was extremely important. There is something about sharing and being open with others that brought out a lot of learning and healing. We had a ton of fun while exploring ourselves and it was an experience that I cannot thank myself for enough. It was the single greatest thing I have ever done for myself. My connection with my inner child is now growing and developing and I am thankful that I was able to experience this relationship for the first time with ayahuasca.

Much thanks and love to the Spirit Vine team!

I wish I had the words to describe my experience, but I do not. Simply put, this was a majestic experience. Silvia and Tio are a perfect pair. They facilitated one of the most spiritual and reverent experiences I have ever had. That’s saying a lot coming from a person who has been religious most of their lives and a member of a very conservative church being the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I highly recommend this retreat to anyone, especially if it’s your first experience with Ayahuasca. You will be educated, cared for in the highest regard, and protected throughout the whole experience. Everything about this experience was magical and transformation took place on many levels for everyone involved. Not once was I concerned about COVID or any of the wild things going on in our world. Definitely a place of solitude. Thanks so much Silvia and Tio!

I cannot thank Sylvia and Tio enough for their wonderful support and care during my stay. This retreat is currently rated #1 for a reason. There was not one minute when I did not feel safe and well cared for. The ceremonies were challenging but well worth it. And the support classes were wonderful and very helpful. Going alone to a foreign country where I did not speak the language was a huge deal for me. But I went to Spirit Vine in April 2019 for 9-10 days. I learned some previously unknown truths by exploring my subconscious mind during ceremony. Vivid memories I had long forgotten emerged and were quite shocking to me. But the life lessons did not begin until I arrived home. And they continue to this day. My life has dramatically changed since my trip. I’ve faced big challenges I’ve avoided all my life. I see that I’ve been hiding away from the world for decades! And masking the pain with alcohol and other substances. Anything to avoid the pain and emptiness I’ve felt all my life. What Mother Ayahuasca taught me was to run towards what you fear in order to overcome it. She’s taught/reminded me to care for my body. it’s the only one I have. And I have damaged my health. I’ve stopped all alcohol. And i will continue facing my demons of which there are several. I am grateful for this unexpected blessing I’ve received……the chance to return to health and to myself.

Beginning of 2020 I participated in the 9-day retreat at Silvia’s magical place in the Bahian jungle. It was a wonderful, safe and very peaceful experience and I can highly recommend it to everyone interested in expanding consciousness or looking for spiritual growth and healing.

Spirit Vine was my first experience with Ayahuasca. I’m grateful to Sylvia and her amazing team (especially Noor!) for cultivating a wonderful energy that made this experience equally beautiful and valuable. Conversations and workshops with Sylvia were key to navigating and translating what ayahuasca is really about – the understanding of which has been unfolding over time. Her deep knowledge of ayahuasca and her history as a clinical psychologist was profound – a combination which, for me, made her an ideal guide. As for the logistics, everything was efficiently arranged with careful attention to detail. The sprawling property in the jungles was gorgeous and food was great everyday. In short, being there was an incredible learning experience, one that exceeded my expectations by far.

I was at the February 2020 retreat.

I watched a documentary on Amazon Prime last September called, ‘The reality of truth’ As soon as I watched it, I felt a calling that I have never experienced before. I had never heard about Aya prior to watching this documentary.

In the days to follow, I searched the internet for retreats around the world. I found 2 other potentially suitable ones. I was still not 100% convinced due to the mixed reviews and then by random chance I stumbled across Spirit Vine. I looked at Silvia’s credentials and the trip advisor reviews and I was immediately convinced that this was the one. I am happy that I followed my instinct.

It has taken me a bit of time to write the review, mainly because I have found it difficult to put into words the amazing experience I had.

I would like to thank the facilitators, all the participants, kitchen staff, 2 massage ladies, housekeeping staff, cleaners and everyone who made the experience so enriching for me. I received so much warmth and love from everyone and I gained answers to many questions that I was not even looking for and more crucially, all the dots just seemed to join up by the time the retreat was over.

As it was my first visit to Brazil. I was somewhat anxious. I called one of the facilitators and Silvia from the UK prior to departure. They answered my queries, including the confirmation of a taxi to pick me up from Ilheus Airport to my hotel in Itacare.

On arrival at Sao Paolo, I had to pick my luggage and recheck it in again for the transfer flight to Ilheus, despite having boarding passes issued for both flights in the UK. I stayed in Itacare for 2 nights before the retreat. It’s a gem of a place and the photos on the internet don’t do it justice.

The first day of the retreat, I was welcomed by one of the facilitators. He took me to my room and introduced me to my roommate. Thereafter, we met all the retreat participants, followed by an introduction part 1, dinner and introduction part 2.

Spirit Vine is like heaven on earth. It is magical. Silvia has achieved something out of this world. The attention to detail that has gone into everything is second to none, including the quality of food, cleanliness, the timings of the daily schedule, the ceremonies, the activities etc. Everything was just perfect.

In terms of the ceremonies, in the beginning, there was a stage where I felt I was not sure if I was getting anywhere, but by the time I finished the third ceremony, despite finding it quite challenging at times, I found the answers I was looking for and everything suddenly seemed to fall into place. I started to notice my limiting patterns of behaviour over my life that had hindered my growth and that had made me more fearful.

Upon reflection of the 4 ceremonies, I would say, don’t try & imagine what to expect at the outset. Go with the flow. Everyone’s experience is different & don’t negatively compare yours with others. Write things down as soon as you can after each ceremony. Don’t lose hope and have faith in the process. Silvia appears to have formulated the perfect process & it seems to work in some magical way. It definitely worked for me. Talk to the facilitators and let them know if you have any queries/questions at all after any of the ceremonies. They are there to help and by talking, they can try and make sure that you get most out of your experience; I found talking to them helped me achieve my answers as they guided me and made sure I got what I needed (& not necessarily wanted); Group sessions were extremely useful and it felt safe to open up, where I learnt more about myself & others. Workshops left me with an entirely new way of thinking. I have learnt how better to handle challenging situations in life. I would suggest staying 2 nights in Itacare after the retreat. Thank you so much to everyone.

I attended a retreat at Spirit Vine in January 2019 and it remains among the top 10 most significant and impactful experiences of my life. If you have any fears, anxieties, or worries…just read through the rest of these reviews. They say it all. The facilities are fantastic, the location and surroundings are stunningly beautiful, the food is delicious (although it took me a few days to adjust to complete lack of added sugar and salt lol). I felt safe and supported the entire time. Words are truly too limited to encapsulate how good Silvia and Ti0 are at creating and facilitating deep, introspective, and safe experiences for everyone. I’ve had a year to reflect on my experience and I discover new insights and wisdom every week. If you are ready to go deep inside yourself and consciousness – this place is for you. I’ve had a lot of time to think about what I want to share and I’ve put together some things that I would have found helpful before going.

1) Start cleansing your body with as much time in advance. I feel that this is particularly helpful/important if you’re anxious about vomiting (I definitely was). I always think about Silvia telling us that part of the reason she asks us to refrain from meat, alcohol, tobacco, sex, excess sugar, salt, etc in the weeks leading up to the retreat is that it helps to purify your body so that the Ayahuasca doesn’t have to. Essentially, doing this before hand will help you get into “the work” faster and get more out of the experience. I didn’t throw up during any of the ceremonies and, while i’ll never know for sure, I feel that it was largely due to following the suggested diet/regimen prior to going.

2) Manage your logical mind and mitigate your skepticism. It’s hard – I get it. No one escapes the global systemic conditioning that tells us spirituality & mysticism = crazy, “woo-woo”, silly, not real, BS…etc. But if you can surrender and “buy-in” so to speak, you’ll have a better/deeper experience. I’m not telling you to turn off the skeptical part of your brain – I don’t believe that is possible or helpful. But I think it’s worthwhile to look intently at and bring awareness to those parts of ourselves that instinctively doubt and invalidate this process. I wish I had more diligent about practicing meditation, breath work, and abstaining from social media ahead of time.

3) This goes hand-in-hand with the second point: Make the most out of the workshops. They feel challenging because Sylvia asks you meditate, go back in your memories, or call certain experiences to mind, among other exercises/practices. You might feel silly at first or be thinking: am I doing this right? Am I the only one here whose having a hard time turning off my mind/thoughts? Am I just making shit up in my head so I have something to contribute? Pretty much everyone is thinking/feeling this! Lol. Just go with it!! Sylvia will teach you that the psyche is infinitely wise so whatever comes up for you has something to show you. Surrendering to the workshops will help you in the ceremonies.

4) Be mindful and selective about the research that you do about ayahuasca before hand. It’s so easy to go down a rabbit hole of Youtube videos that show people writhing around on the floor, screaming in a jungle somewhere while someone is chanting and hitting them with leaves. Spirit Vine is not like that at all. Sylvia spends a lot of time curating a playlist for the ceremonies but other than the music, it’s very mellow, quiet, and peaceful. Everyone is having their own experience and it’s not this chaotic-demon-purging-loud environment that a lot of videos would have you believe.

5) Think about your intentions for doing this – what do you want to get out of this? Obviously you can’t control what you’ll see, hear, or experience during the ceremonies but I really do feel that there is room to communicate with the Ayahuasca. For example, I’ve really struggled with self-worth and body image as a woman so my intention for one of the ceremonies was “I ask that you show me how to heal and love myself”.

6) Lastly, when you leave Spirit Vine and return to your every day life – find a therapist! It will help sooooo so so much to integrate the experiences and learnings that you’ll undoubtedly come away with. The dominant global system/societal structure/whatever you want to call it isn’t set up to nurture your spiritual journey. I can’t say it enough – invest in therapy after you leave the retreat and make sure you shop around for one who won’t be dismissive to your Ayahuasca experience or non-Western practices of spirituality and healing.

Hopefully this can be helpful to someone who is considering coming to Spirit Vine!

Lots of love to Sylvia, Ti0, Noor, and all the incredible staff. I’m so grateful to you all.

Amazing healing experience! Silvia and Ti0 are very experienced educators and facilitators. They compliment each other and were always available to the retreatants. I have left the retreat with the tools I leaned from the workshops which I use almost daily. The retreat also provides yoga classes and massages every other day. The center is very well maintained with daily housekeeping and delicious nutritional, appropriate for the occasion meals. They accommodate dietary restrictions. Also, I want to thank to all the people working behind the scenes for creating this extraordinary experience.

To top it off I visited the most beautiful beaches located in close proximity from the center. Heaven on Earth!

I have just returned from a 10 day retreat at Spirit VIne. One of the best idea of my life. I was totally scared at first, but as soon as I arrived, Silvia, Tio, and the vibe of the other participants around,made me feel at home almost immediately.

The experience is definitely hard. But the learning are tremendously huge. You are in the middle of a whole mechanism, orchestrated by Mother ayahuasca, the kindness, support, wisdom, humor, and triggering of Sylvia and Tio, the energy and mirroring of the other participants and the extreme beauty of the luxurious nature around.

I have just returned home with an open heart and an awaken inner eye. It’s definitely worth the price, and a wonderful place to overcome your fears, and learn new tools. I’ll definitely be back! :–)