For many people, ayahuasca begins as curiosity. A story from a friend, a documentary, a passing mention that lingers longer than expected. For Sam Believ, founder of LaWayra Ayahuasca Retreat in Colombia, that curiosity arrived gradually — not as one dramatic invitation, but as a slow series of encounters that eventually became impossible to ignore. What started as scattered conversations about a mysterious plant medicine eventually transformed into a complete change of direction, shaping not only his own healing journey but also the lives of thousands of people who later came through his retreat.
The Slow Arrival of a Calling
Sam first heard about ayahuasca through a friend working with indigenous communities in Ecuador. At the time, the stories sounded fascinating but distant — another unusual piece of information filed somewhere in the background of life.
Yet the subject kept returning. More people mentioned it. More stories appeared. The idea seemed to follow him, gradually moving from curiosity to something more persistent.
This slow repetition is something he now recognizes in many others. Ayahuasca often enters a person’s life indirectly, through small moments that accumulate until the timing finally feels right.
His first ceremony happened not in Peru, as many assume, but in Colombia — a country he later came to understand has one of the deepest ayahuasca traditions in the region, despite being overlooked by much of global psychedelic tourism.
Colombia’s Hidden Tradition
One of the misconceptions Sam often addresses is the belief that ayahuasca belongs mainly to Peru or Costa Rica. In reality, Colombia holds a deeply rooted medicinal tradition, often under the name yage rather than ayahuasca.
That linguistic difference alone has caused many outsiders to overlook the country’s role in plant medicine.
He explains that while recipes differ slightly depending on region and tradition, the essence remains the same: a sacred medicinal preparation used for healing, insight, and spiritual development.
This realization later influenced his branding. One reason his project originally carried the name Ayahuasca in Colombia was simply because he wanted people to know the medicine existed there at all.
Depression, Directionlessness, and the Need for Help
When ayahuasca entered his life more seriously, Sam was going through a difficult mental period. Depression had settled in quietly but deeply. He felt directionless, disconnected, and uncertain about what to do next with his life.
He did not arrive at medicine with a fully conscious healing plan. At first, curiosity remained the surface reason. But underneath, he now sees that he was looking for help long before he admitted it to himself.
Without formal therapy or traditional psychological support, ayahuasca became one of the first tools that genuinely shifted his internal landscape.
The medicine did not simply remove pain. It created enough space for clarity to appear.
Healing Before Understanding
What struck him most was that the process did not unfold in a linear or logical way. Unlike conventional decision-making, where one sees a clear goal and moves toward it, ayahuasca revealed direction indirectly.
First came emotional relief. Then came subtle internal changes. Then, later, understanding.
He describes how one of the strongest effects was not a dramatic mystical revelation, but a quiet removal of self-doubt. Suddenly, goals that had once felt unreachable began to seem possible.
The healing itself came before he fully understood what had happened.
Why the Retreat Was Never a Business Plan
LaWayra did not begin because Sam decided to start a retreat company. In fact, he often emphasizes that from a business perspective, ayahuasca retreats are among the most difficult operations one can choose.
The project emerged almost accidentally.
He was living in a rural property in Colombia when someone suggested using the space for ceremonies. At first, the idea was simple: rent the property.
But circumstances quickly shifted, and he found himself handling logistics — organizing mattresses, buckets, firewood, ceremony materials, and participant coordination.
Then the original arrangement fell apart, forcing him to find another healer and continue independently.
Without fully deciding it, he had already stepped into retreat work.
The Complexity Behind the Spiritual Image
What many people imagine as a peaceful spiritual project quickly revealed itself as something far more complex.
Running a retreat means running multiple businesses simultaneously: accommodation, food service, transport, ceremony coordination, emotional support, maintenance, staffing, and land management.
At LaWayra, that complexity expanded further because the retreat became integrated into family life itself.
The property where ceremonies happen is also where Sam lives with his wife and children.
Family Life Inside a Retreat Center
Today, family and retreat life exist side by side.
Participants arrive from around the world while children run through the same property, growing up surrounded by people from different cultures, languages, and emotional backgrounds.
This has created unusual effects. His children, for example, often assume everyone is a friend because so many people constantly pass through their home in kindness and openness.
The retreat environment has shaped them into naturally social and trusting beings, though not always in ways ordinary restaurants or public spaces understand.
Ayahuasca as Information
One of Sam’s most repeated observations is that ayahuasca gives information.
That information may arrive through visuals, sensations, emotional waves, memories, body pain, symbolic messages, or direct internal knowing.
But what matters is not the form — it is what the person does afterward.
He often reminds participants that visions are not the main point. Beautiful imagery can happen, but deeper transformation usually comes through quieter insights that later influence real life.
Why Integration Matters More Than Ceremony Alone
At LaWayra, integration is treated as essential, not optional.
Sam even developed a dedicated integration journal for participants because he noticed that without writing and reflection, many powerful experiences fade too quickly.
The medicine may temporarily remove pain or reveal truth, but unless those truths become daily action, old patterns often return.
Integration means turning short-term insight into long-term structure.
Sometimes that means journaling. Sometimes it means changing relationships, career direction, habits, or self-perception.
A Larger Philosophy of Healing
Over years of watching thousands of ceremonies, Sam has also noticed recurring spiritual themes reported by participants.
Without being told what to believe, many independently describe similar impressions: that life has purpose, that souls come here to learn, and that human experience may be part of something far larger than ordinary perception suggests.
Yet despite these spiritual dimensions, his own work remains grounded in practical healing first.
At LaWayra, the emphasis remains simple:
help people with depression, anxiety, trauma, directionlessness, and emotional pain.
The spiritual questions may come later — but only after life itself begins to feel livable again.
Building Something That Continues to Evolve
What emerges through his story is not a finished philosophy, but an ongoing process.
The retreat continues growing. The family continues growing. The responsibilities continue expanding.
But beneath all of it remains the same principle that first brought him there:
sometimes healing begins before we understand why we are being led somewhere.
And sometimes, only years later, the pieces finally reveal the shape they were always forming.
Listen to the whole podcast episode here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aoNYSLcTqI
Sam Believ is the founder and CEO of LaWayra Ayahuasca Retreat, the best-rated Ayahuasca retreat in South America, with over 520 five-star Google reviews and an overall rating of 5 stars. After his life was transformed by Ayahuasca, he dedicated himself to spreading awareness about this ancestral medicine to help address the mental health crisis. Sam is committed to making Ayahuasca retreats affordable, accessible, and authentic, with a focus on care, integration, and the involvement of indigenous shamans. He is also the host of the Ayahuasca Podcast.