Frequently asked questions

FAQs Pratical

  • THE CLOSEST INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TO BLUE SPIRIT IS LIBERIA INT’L AIRPORT (LIR)

    Approximately a two-hour drive, Blue Spirit has multiple shuttles picking up guests at the Liberia Airport on Saturdays ONLY. Note: shuttle not included. According to the arrival times of all major airlines, there are group shuttle pickup times ranging between 12:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. for all flights arriving from midday to early afternoon, and between 7:00 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. for all flights arriving in the evening.

    You can book your shuttle to/from LIR airport here.

    ***IMPORTANT: Please reserve your shuttle on the Thursday prior to your arrival before 12pm CST at the latest. Transportation requests and/or changes after this deadline must be made directly via e-mail to info@bluespiritcostarica.com or via a phone call. If you are already in Costa Rica dial +506 2656-8300, otherwise please call our US number (845) 684-2007.

    Shuttle reservations sent via this form later than Thursday prior your arrival 12pm CST are NOT processed, even though you may receive a confirmation e-mail.

    If you are arriving out of schedule contact Blue Spirit for options at info@bluespiritcostarica.com

    If flying through SJO airport (4 hours driving distance), we recommend this transportation company.

    Upon request, booking a private taxi is possible but there is limited availability for this service.

    If you would like to arrive early or stay extra nights, please contact Blue Spirit directly: reception@bluespiritcostarica.com

  • The Nature Within reserves the right to cancel a program at any time. If The Nature Within cancels a program, you will receive a full refund. A refund, minus 3% stripe fee of your room cost and a $200 processing fee, will be offered for cancellations made on or before the close of business, 45 days before each program. No refund or credit will be offered for cancellations made with less than 45 days notice; if you do not show up; or if you leave a program early.

    We highly recommend that you purchase travel insurance, which insures you against unforeseen sickness, injury, job loss, inclement weather, and more.

  • Blue Spirit is located in Nosara, Guanacaste in the Nicoya Peninsula. It is about 2.5 hours from the Liberia airport and is located on the beach. It is approximately a 10 minute drive from the town of Nosara.

    For more location details, visit this link.

  • The retreats at Blue Spirit are from Saturday to Saturday. The first retreat activity takes place on Saturday evening and the last one is Friday evening. Arrivals and departures are best on Saturdays.

    Due to the nature of this retreat, we ask all the participants to stay for the whole week. The first days are designed to prepare you for the ceremonies and after the ceremonies, there are integration tools that will be shared. Everything is important. Please, if you need to leave, contact a team member.

    CHECK IN & CHECK OUT TIMES

    General Check In time for all rooms is 4:00 p.m.

    General Check Out time for all rooms is 10:00 a.m.

    Guests’ luggage can be stored at the Front Desk at no charge before or after the indicated hours on arrival and departure days.

    If you would like to arrive early or stay extra, please see the answer to this question below.

  • Upon request, Blue Spirit will do its best to provide for special meal needs (such as lactose intolerance, food allergies, …etc.). We require that these requests be communicated at least 2 weeks in advance. Please communicate your request to the organizer of your program. Please keep in mind that a huge variety of non-allergic products are not as easily available in Costa Rica (as for example in the U.S.). Once you have arrived and settled in please ask for the Chef to discuss your needs and how we may assist you.

    An additional way of satisfying special meal needs is our PURE FOOD OPTION, which is part of our daily buffet style served lunch and dinner: offering of greens, grain, and legume (beans) without oils or seasoning.

    Also, we have a refrigerator where guests can store their medications ONLY.

  • WHAT-TO-BRING-LIST

    Don’t forget to pack: Beach-towel, Camera/batteries/charger, alarm clock, sunscreen, sun hat, bathing suit, water bottle, natural bug repellent, your special medication, and hiking sandals. We also recommend bringing a flashlight if you are staying in an eco-cottage or a tent. Pack a light rain jacket as it does rain often here.

    -A water bottle

    -Costa Rica is warm but layers are helpful as the temperature can drop in the evenings and the medicine also can cause fluctuations in your body temperature.

    -A flashlight

    -Socks

    -Bring comfortable clothes, we traditionally use white during ceremonies, but any color is fine. the most important thing is to be comfortable.

    -You may want to bring some sacred objects: crystals, essentials oils and any other sacred objects. The Taita can bless these objects for you in the ceremonies.

    -You can bring a photo of a family member or friend that is suffering severely from a mental or physical illness and the Taita will offer healing to them from distance in the ceremony.

    -Bring a swimsuit and a travel towel or shawl for the steam baths we offer that help integrate your experience

  • This is a base example of what the retreat schedule will look like for the week, but this will vary from retreat to retreat in part depending on what guest teachers we have who will be leading classes.

    Due to the nature of this retreat, we ask all the participants to stay for the whole week. The first days are designed to prepare you for the ceremonies and after the ceremonies, there are integration tools that will be shared. Everything is important. Please, if you need to leave, contact a team member.

    Saturday –

    1:00 pm – 5:00 pm Arrival Time & Check In

    6:00 pm - 7:30 pm Dinner

    7.30pm - 8.30pm Welcome gathering

    Sunday –

    7:00 am – 8:00 am Yoga Class

    8:00 am – 9:00 am Breakfast

    9:30 am – 10:15 am Blue Spirit Orientation

    12:00 pm – 1:00 pm Lunch

    1:30 pm – 3:00 pm Framing Retreat and Group Introduction

    4:00 pm – 6:00 pm Ancestral Plant Wisdom Talk with Taita

    6:00 pm - 7:30 pm Dinner

    Monday –

    7:00 am – 8:30 am Yoga Class

    8:00 am – 9:00 am Breakfast

    8:00 am – 12:00 am Consultations with Taita

    8:30 am - 12:00 Plant Steam Showers

    12:00 pm – 1:30 pm Light or no Lunch

    1:30 pm – 6:30 pm Rest and Relaxation Before 1st Ceremony

    6:30 pm – 7:00 am Sacred Ancestral Plant Medicine Ceremony

    Tuesday –

    7:00 am – 9:00 am Breakfast

    9:00 am – 8:30 pm Rest and Relaxation

    1230 pm – 1:30 pm Lunch

    6:30 pm – 7:00 am Sacred Ancestral Plant Medicine

    Ceremony

    Wednesday–

    7:00 am – 9:00 am Breakfast

    9:00 am – 7:30 pm Rest and relaxation

    12:00 pm – 1:30 pm Lunch

    6:00 pm – 7:30 pm Dinner

    7:30 pm – 9:00 pm Sound healing

    Thursday–

    7:00 am – 8:00 am Yoga

    8:00 am – 9:00 am Breakfast

    8:30 am - 12:00 Steams

    12:30 pm – 1:30 pm Lunch

    4:00 - 5:30 pm Ancestral Plant Wisdom Talk with Taita

    6:00 pm – 7:30 pm Dinner

    Friday –

    7:00 am – 8:00 am Yoga Class

    8:00 am – 9:00 am Breakfast

    9:30 am – 12:00pm Spiritual Payment

    12:00 pm – 1:30 pm Lunch

    2:30 pm – 6:00 pm Closing circle & celebration dance

    6:00 pm – 7:30 pm Dinner

    Saturday–

    8:00 am – 9:00 am Breakfast

    09:00 am – Returning Home

    This Retreat Schedule is subject to change, depending on the energy of the group. We take each retreat in its uniqueness and will alter the retreat as we feel is best fit for transformation and spiritual growth of the whole group and for each participant!

  • Blue Spirit is a retreat center that receives groups who check in on Saturdays and check out the following Saturday. The possibility of extending your stay would depend on Blue Spirit‘s availability for the week before/after our retreat. If you would like to extend your stay, we recommend you contact Blue Spirit directly to check availability for your room type: info@bluespiritcostarica.com

FAQs Spiritual

  • The most important thing is to ask your heart. Inside of all of us there is a calling to live with more love and to uncover our innate freedom. It is our journey to find what tools can support us in this inner discovery. As well to find a community that is in that same search so we can remind each other when we inevitably fall of the path.

    If you have never tried the medicine before and there is something drawing you towards it then it’s worth a try. In the end it may not be a path you continue to follow but it could also bring a big shift in our lives. If there is hesitancy around joining also know that you can go at your own pace. As an example, if you feel you would prefer to start with a little bit of medicine then you can share this with us during you consultation with Taita and we will work accordingly. Taita himself always explains that this is a path of patience and so we each of us can find a rhythm that feels appropriate.

  • There are many different traditions which serve Ayahuasca. Each one has their own uniqueness in how their ceremonies are held. Our ceremonies are held through the union of the Inga and Siona traditions. Our teachers are direct descendants of the Inga people but they were brought up in a Siona community and thus we have these two influences.

    The Inga people are botanists and so they have vast knowledge of the jungle fauna and how to make remedies for all sorts of ailment’s whether they are physical, mental or spiritual. Whereas the Siona tribe have a strong understanding in the use of different elements in the Yage ceremonies such as the chondur, wyra, ortiga, cuyangillas and other allies which bring the ceremony together for more healing.

    Through this union we have structured our ceremonies in a very particular way. Upon arrival in the ceremonial space, we are all welcomed in and given time to settle. As we enter, we can already feel the vibration of prayer. In some time, one of the team members gives an introduction to the night which goes into full depth of what we should and shouldn’t do. These are practical and spiritual tips to support your journey. We share about the importance of using your breath as a way to calm the nervous system, tips on prayer and ways to connect with the Yage, what is the flow of the evening, and many other pointers.

    Always before the night starts the Taita, who is leading the ceremony will offer some ancestral words and then he will pray on the medicine with some of the team. The journey itself will start around 9pm and goes until the sun comes out in the morning. During the night every participant will receive a healing directly with the Taita and team. We also have live musicians playing and there is space to dance. In our ceremonies there is a fire present and this is area where we can go outside and connect with nature. In the morning time there is space for questions and sharing’s. The Taita will also have a morning ancestral wisdom talk and then we all go for breakfast together.

    In the day we recommend everyone to rest as much as possible. In this lineage we have two ceremonies back-to-back nights because we find this is the way we get the deepest healing. The first night is often more bitter and the second is sweeter so in this way we find balance. In the first night we often have emotions, pains or traumas that surface and the medicine is cleaning this out of our system. In the second night we are lighter and more open to connect with the medicine and we can uncover insights for our life.

  • We all have different blocks inside of ourselves. These could be carried from our genetic lines, excessive thinking, karmic winds, societal influence and our daily life. These blocks show up and they create stagnation in our subtle body. The energy field which connects our consciousness with our body.

    Ambiwaska works in a very beautiful way with us as she starts a dialogue with our heart. There is an investigation that starts to happen from the side of the Ambiwaska and in the same way there is an investigation that is happening within ourselves. In time we may find ourselves there with an old memory from childhood, or with a situation happening in our lives now that we haven’t really been able to confront. In this way the medicine helps us to bring to light what is already in our heart.

    Then the journey becomes sweet because we have rediscovered a part of ourself and now we can work on becoming friends. These areas of ourselves that are uncomfortable are small child parts that feel they have been abandoned and are really just looking for love. So, we start to talk with these parts and see what is it that they need. This is the journey of healing as we come into wholeness within ourselves, we then in a natural way live in that wholeness with life.

  • Our retreats are very safe. However, this is not always the case with all medicine retreats. At our retreats we have a highly experienced team who is supporting you during the whole week. The Taita’s have 30 years of experience, the retreat leader has 15 years of experience and the entire team is well trained. We recognize that it is deep healing work that is happening on our retreats and as a result we need to be held appropriately.

    We ensure quality at all levels. As an example, we know where the medicine comes from, who cooks it, how they have prepared it, where they harvested the plants from and most importantly what prayers are going into this sacred brew we will be drinking. You will also see that the Blue Spirit retreat centers is an impeccably held space which gives us a sort of cushion to rest on. The food, longevity center, ocean, massages, and just beautiful spaces all around.

    The retreat leader Eli is very experienced in many different modalities of self-practice such as meditation, breath work and internal family systems. These practices are woven together around the ceremonies to create an environment that is safe and joyous. Feel free to always reach out if you have any doubts or concerns.

  • If you were to go to receive heart surgery you would want to make sure that you were getting this procedure from the best. Going to drink medicine is like going for a spiritual surgery where we go to heal old karmic wounds from the past, to clean out energy stagnation in our subtle body and to come back to wholeness.

    Who knows if this will be your only time drinking the medicine or if you will come to drink again. Either way our spiritual growth is the most important thing we can invest in our whole lives. If our spiritual path is full then everything else in life comes into balance as result of this ground.

    In our retreats we realize that all of us are from different backgrounds and need a different tool set to bring us back to peace. In these retreats we weave together a wide spectrum of modalities from different traditions so that you can find the most supportive tools to go home empowered and ready to continue the path of true freedom.

    With our team at The Nature Within you can expect excellency and we hope to be able to support you in this journey sometime soon.

We Hope To Welcome You To Our Family Soon!