Season of Surrender
- Courtney Crook
- Oct 25
- 4 min read
What Ayahuasca Teaches Us About Letting Go
“Surrender is the simple but profound wisdom of yielding to rather than opposing the flow of life.” — Eckhart Tolle
This week, new guests are gathering in Costa Rica for the October retreat. Each retreat carries its own unique energy, but there’s something about this time of year that naturally invites reflection. Across much of the northern hemisphere, fall is in full swing. The trees have changed color and released their leaves, the air is turning crisp, and the light has softened. Farmers gather their harvests, savoring the fruits of their labor, while pruning and composting what has reached its natural end, trusting that what's dying is no longer needed and will feed whatever is coming next.
While other parts of the world are shedding, Costa Rica is humming back to life. The rainy season turns everything impossibly green and lush. Birds and monkeys reappear, the forests are full of rain, rivers swell, and everything is moving towards balance again. It's a powerful reminder that loss and growth are simultaneous acts. What appears to be a loss may actually be nourishing something unseen elsewhere.
The season also serves as a lesson in courage, quietly asking us, 'What is life inviting you to let go of right now?'
This mirrors one of the deepest lessons we can learn from ayahuasca - the art of letting go. And one thing is certain: it's not easy. Our attachments to who we think we are, to comfort, or control, make change hard to accept, even when it's the very thing we desperately want.
During a ceremony, it's the letting go part that can be the most difficult threshold to cross, even for those who've sat with the medicine multiple times. It can feel terrifying, like standing on the edge of a cliff. But slowly, or sometimes all at once, the mental grip loosens, the breath deepens, and the current of the experience takes over. Ayahuasca isn't something we can think our way through (believe me, I tried), but it's an invitation to trust, to be present. That's where the real journey begins.
Nature mirrors this process beautifully. When the leaves fall and break down into the soil, it shows us how to let go. The soil thickens, the roots go deeper, and the ground quietly prepares for new life (no pun intended).
The act of purging during an ayahuasca ceremony is a similar concept. The waves of physical and emotional release that come can feel intense or even painful, but they clear the way for growth. Every season, especially the fall and winter months, reminds us why this inner work matters. It's the perfect time to examine our own lives and think about the emotions, relationships, or patterns that may need to "decompose" to make space for what's next.
Ayahuasca can teach us lessons with vivid clarity, only to dull as time passes and emotions resurface. This quiet, post-retreat energy dip can feel confusing, almost like you've taken a step backward. This is why integration is so important. The medicine has stirred the "soil" within us, and integration helps the lessons settle into deeper layers of lasting change.
Letting Go Rituals
Here are some simple ways to practice letting go of the things that no longer serve you. The key is to make these rituals intentional, not performative…the real ritual is being present.
Fire ritual: write down what you’re ready to release and burn it safely, offering gratitude as it burns away.
Nature walk: collect fallen leaves and assign each one something you’re letting go of, then return them to the ground.
Journaling: write freely without censoring yourself in a stream-of-consciousness style. Try to resist editing or re-reading over what you've written, then tear, burn, or bury the pages.
Breathwork: exhale the habits, thoughts, and beliefs that no longer serve you; YouTube has some easy breathwork tutorials that you can start with.
None of these are requirements, but they can be a good way of consciously giving attention to your inner life once you've left the retreat and returned to the rhythm of your everyday routine.
I keep thinking about how this whole process of letting go, trusting, and growing…it never really ends. It’s not something you master; it’s something you keep bumping up against in new ways. Sometimes it’s peaceful, but more often than not it’s awkward and uncomfortable. You think you’ve released something, and then boom! It shows back up when you least expect it.
That’s something ayahuasca is teaching me to make peace with. This work isn’t about getting it perfect, but it’s about noticing what’s ready to release and having the courage to let it go. Whether you’re in the jungle or at home halfway across the world, the invitation is the same: let what’s ready to fall, fall. Either way, it’s all practice. And maybe that’s the whole point.
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