Christon ~ W.
$2,500+ And A Weekend Of My Life Wasted & Stolen From Me I'll Never Get Back
I did one day of what was supposed to be a two-day Ayahuasca retreat hosted by HummingBird Church. It was held in Franklin TN April 4-6 But after the first night I went to bed angry & disgusted. After more than 4 cups of the foulest viscous substance I've ever had the misfortune of ingesting, I felt absolutely nothing, but nausea The next morning I changed my flight ordered my own uber and left. Although I heard they apologized profusely to everyone else involved, to me they said nothing I've taken part in multiple legitimate Ayahuasca ceremonies. This was most definitely not that And while they make a feeble effort to appear kind, they're not good people at all. Quite the contrary in fact. I think the whole 'church' is little more than a poorly executed scam. They're grifting good people out of money they don't have and robbing them of the hours & days of their lives they will bitterly never get back I spent 7 days @ Rythmia in Costa Rica this past New Years. It was awesome! The complete mind body soul fusing adventure I had there was diametrical in its difference. Including the medicine served: 2 different types at the 4 different ceremonies I took part in. Each more amazing than the last. I know 1st hand what Ayahuasca is Whatever drug they're dosing u with at these hummingbird ceremonies, is certainly not ayahuasca. The experience itself from arrival to departure could not have been more disappointing. I left Los Angeles 7am that morning, landed in Nashville at 12 noon but had to wait until 4pm for the shuttle. No food of any kind was made available the entire day The ceremony was not even scheduled to start until 8pm with no activities planned. There are no amenities at all in the middle of nowhere. It did not actually begin until well after 11 But they then babbled on for three full hours about nothing before serving 'medicine' that did even less than nothing. NADA! EVERYONE sat around looking at each other bored, angry confused and by then just tired. But mostly every single person in the room was crushed, super disappointed That's the other thing; u are confined to 1 room smaller than my bedroom at home with 35-50 people you've never met. On the 2nd fl, the stairs are dangerously steep. The outside area, even more fraught with opportunities for you to fall or trip Not it matters since you can't talk or touch or smile or laugh or even leave the tiny, cramped room. 4 the 8+ hours u're expected to sit there on ur mat alone, u can't even go to the bathroom without 1st raising your hand (like a child) & asking permission Then led to and from, the female escort was almost hostile toward me weirdly refusing to even speak or respond to my attempts at casual conversation. She also waited outside the door, like a prison guard I found it most interesting too, this seemed to be the 1st time taking ayahuasca for everyone else there but me. The word 'church' implies a community. But this was just a collection of gullible strangers, their target demographic. They've no interest or intention of ever building community, only recruiting new innocent unsuspecting foolishly trusting 'marks', those in genuine search for honest decent people, to exploit One of the speakers said the quiet part out loud: 98% of the people in the room would never be back And for very good reason. I would most definitely not, under any circumstances ever waste my time or money. The worst trip I've ever taken. Again, whatever they're dosing you with, it's not ayahuasca I would strongly discourage anyone from participating in one of these retreats, or quite frankly having anything to do with this 'church' in any way. They could literally give you anything; LSD, Toad Venom, DMT, GBL, mescaline...anything. You could have no way of knowing. These are not people u should ever trust. As there are no professionals even pretending 2B involved with this grift; No doctors, therapist or even a nurse. If there is a problem of any sort, you're on your own (having signed ALL of your rights away for holding them responsible for anything, to include your death from their negligence) all this and more for the privilege of wasting $1,500+ of your hard earned money and a weekend of your life stolen from you you'll never get back. The rot/corruption begins & ends with Courtney. She is the source, the root of it all. You're an evil person C. Karma Is Coming 4 U. How's it possible they have both 501c tax exempt status and a religious exemption to bring illegal, dangerously addictive drugs into the country? Given The Deaths, how has there not been a DEA or even a news investigation into this 'Church' or the proliferation of many others popping up quietly all over the country, completely unregulated or even monitored? We're on the precipice of another OxyContin level addiction crises. And No One Seems To Care.