Preparation and continuing care
Iboga has no strict "dieta" the way ayahuasca does, but a body that is clean, a mind that is clear and a soul that is ready let the medicine focus on what matters most. This page walks you from the weeks before you land on the Mayan Riviera near Cancun, Mexico to the three months after you leave.
Before you arrive
Your preparation call sets the frame: what to expect, how you are doing, and how to write your questions and your intention. The medical team adds the instructions that are specific to you. Here is the ground everyone shares.
Preparing your questions for iboga
Once you have taken enough medicine in ceremony you can ask iboga anything. Iboga connects you with your own truth, where the answers already are. Three steps, one notebook.
Take a notebook and draw a line down the middle of the page. On the left, write everything you currently do not like about your life. On the right, directly across from each one, write what you want it to look like instead. Each pair becomes a question: "How can I have a healthy relationship?"
The medicine helps you reach memories the everyday mind has filed away. Everything has a first time. For every line in your chart, ask when it started: "When did the problems with my partner begin?" If you know the specific issue, ask the specific question. The more precise, the better.
Once an old wound is seen, a new habit has to take its place or the old result returns. Ask the medicine how: "How can I communicate better with my partner?" Turn a ship by one degree and it reaches a different shore. The first realization is that you are the one at the wheel.
What I do not like
My partner and I are struggling.
I wake up anxious most days.
I drink to switch off at night.
What I want instead
My partner and I are in a healthy relationship.
I wake up rested and calm.
I end my day without needing a drink.
Bring the notebook to your preparation call. We go through it together and help you sharpen the questions before you travel.
What to avoid
Drugs, alcohol, pharmaceuticals and other plant medicines all interact with iboga, before the ceremony and for weeks after it. Here is the guidance we give every guest. Your own case is reviewed by our physician.
Stop alcohol and recreational drugs at least two weeks before ceremony; some substances need up to thirty days and a specific clinical plan. If you are using daily, tell us during the application: a detox needs its own protocol and we will advise you honestly on whether our program is the right place for it.
After the retreat you are more sensitive than usual, so both are best avoided as long as you can. Use can blunt the prolonged effect of iboga and its main metabolite, noribogaine, and guests who drank even moderately in the first weeks have reported headaches and hangover-like effects.
Every prescription and over-the-counter medication goes through a physician-led review before arrival. Some medications, especially SSRIs and other antidepressants, opioids, stimulants and anything that prolongs the QT interval, must be discussed with the medical team; some rule participation out, others need a taper planned weeks ahead.
Never stop or change a medication on your own. If a taper is needed, our physician builds it with your prescribing doctor. The same applies after the retreat: before you reintroduce any medication, talk to your prescribing doctor and our medical team.
If you want to work with other plant medicines after iboga, wait at least one month, ideally three. Iboga needs time to settle and unravel; mixing in ayahuasca, psilocybin or similar too soon can be overwhelming for your energetic and physiological systems and gives neither plant the chance to do its work.
Before the retreat, tell us about any recent ceremony or microdosing so the medical team can time your dates properly.
Continuing care
Old temptations will show up wearing familiar faces. Do not take the bait. This guide, and three months of care from our team, are here to support the new you.
Included in your program
The main metabolite, noribogaine, is stored in fat and liver tissue and released slowly for several weeks after the retreat. In the Bwiti understanding, iboga keeps working with you for up to three months. The work continues as long as you keep listening to the insights; it fades when you stop, or when you no longer need it.
Nurture the connection like any relationship. A meditation practice at home strengthens both your link with the medicine and with your own soul. Set times are good; presence all day long is better: slow down, take a deep breath, relax the face and the shoulders, check in. Over time you will answer your own questions without needing iboga to do it for you.
With presence, you will notice when conversations, situations and opportunities line up with what the medicine showed you. Speak your truth. Manage your reactions and ask what the lesson is. If something bothers you, ask why. This is how the teachings become part of you rather than a memory.
Iboga brings a reset and a window of heightened neuroplasticity, so this is the time to plant new habits and let go of the ones that no longer serve you. What seeds do you want to plant? What are you ready to release? When you catch your mind wandering to the old place, direct it where you want it to go. You are in the driver's seat now.
Start the day with a clear mind and gratitude; the one prayer in the Bwiti tradition is "Thank you, Creator. I've got this." End the day by cleansing yourself of it: forgive yourself, take a few deep breaths, and enter sleep peacefully so the body can do its overnight repair and you can begin again in the morning.
Plenty of water and herbal tea. For the week after the retreat, add electrolytes every day: a pinch of mineral-rich salt, coconut water, an electrolyte mix or a trace mineral concentrate. Your magnesium and electrolytes were followed during the program; keeping them up afterwards makes the landing smoother.
Rest and take it easy; do not rush back into everything. If you cannot take time off you will be fine at work, just fit in extra rest and processing where you can. Iboga shifts the sleep and wake cycle, so you may not need much sleep for a while. Appetite often changes too: less emotional eating, a pull toward cleaner food, more awareness of how food affects you. Listen and honor what the body asks for.
Vegetables, fruit, whole grains, legumes, plant fats (avocado, nuts, coconut) and quality protein. As much as you can, leave aside processed and fast food, dairy, excess meat and sugar. Whatever you eat, eat slowly, mindfully, and chew well.
Healthy habits
Habits that carry the retreat into your daily life. You do not need all of them; choose two that feel like yours and keep them for the three months the medicine stays with you.
Insights, feelings, and a daily gratitude list.
Regular exercise, whatever kind you will actually do.
Presence and self-awareness: slow down and take a deep breath.
Move your body, connect with your soul, shake it off.
Stretch out and tune in. You will find its teachings close to the Bwiti.
Connect with yourself and with others; laugh and enjoy yourself.
Green is the color of the heart. Go and stand in some.
Someone you feel aligned with, to help you process and make the changes stick.
Be fearless in the pursuit of what sets your soul on fire.
You've carried this long enough. Start with a conversation with our medical team.
