Rythmia's post-retreat survey data on addiction, anxiety, depression, trauma, and suicidal ideation, measured half a year after guests return home.
Week after week we are confident to share that almost everyone feels great on the last day of a retreat at Rythmia. It's easy to be in the glow on day seven and feel ready to take the miracle home, shine your light, and tell everyone you know what happened to you. The harder work is what starts to happen after a month being back in the real world, when the calendar fills back up, the inbox reopens, and the ordinary pressures of life settle back onto your shoulders.
We at Rythmia are committed to our guests, and part of that commitment lives in the data we track, study, and observe. Every guest fills out an exit survey on their last day at the center, and we survey them again six months later. Day seven tells us how someone feels walking out the door, but month six tells us whether that change held, deepened, or evolved into something new.
What the six-month data shows
Six months is long enough for the glow to fade and for ordinary life to pull almost anyone back toward baseline. Across our more than 24,000 guests surveyed six months after completing The Rythmia Way Program, guests report:
- 73% reduction in suicidal ideation
- 70% reduction in trauma and PTSD
- 63% reduction in addiction
- 56% reduction in anxiety and depression
- Over 98% describe their week at Rythmia as one of the most significant of their lives, often using the word "miracle" to describe their outcome.
These figures come from Rythmia's own post-retreat guest surveys, and reflect what guests actually report about their own lives, six months after the fact, once the return to routine has had time to test whatever they found during their time with us.
SPIN Magazine examined these findings in The Silent Crisis, a feature on how plant medicine is changing the conversation around depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation, and on how many people are still falling through the cracks of conventional care.
Why the change tends to hold
Roughly 30% of people diagnosed with major depressive disorder are considered treatment-resistant, meaning standard antidepressants do not deliver meaningful relief (Johns Hopkins Medicine, 2025). Many of the people who arrive at Rythmia have already cycled through years of prescriptions and talk therapy. They understand their patterns intellectually, but, unfortunately, the patterns have simply refused to move.
Our model is built on the observation that these conditions are often the same wound wearing different faces. Depression, financial anxiety, addiction, and suicidal ideation frequently trace back to unprocessed trauma the nervous system has been carrying for decades, buried far below the reach of insight alone.
Every modality here is organized around three intentions: to see who you have become, to merge back with your soul, and to heal your heart. Plant medicine ceremonies are an integral part of this process, but are complemented by breathwork, yoga, meditation, integration, medical oversight, and personal development classes.
"People struggling with suicidal ideation have often lost hope in themselves and in what life can offer. What I've witnessed at Rythmia over the past ten years is nothing short of remarkable: veterans with debilitating PTSD finding breakthroughs, celebrities breaking cycles of addiction they thought were permanent, and everyday people moving past depression they never believed they could survive. The Rythmia Way Program gives people a path back to themselves, allowing them to become their own healer, their own advocate, and the author of their own healing."
Dr. Jeff McNairy, Chief Medical Officer, Rythmia Life Advancement Center
Who these numbers belong to
The people behind this data represent a diverse group of individuals, including high-functioning professionals who cannot put down the tension they carry into every meeting. They are parents whose anxiety has subconsciously shaped every decision they have made over the last twenty years. They are veterans, artists, executives, teachers, and people who stood at the edge of their darkest moments, but eventually found their way to Costa Rica because they were finally ready for something to change on a cellular level.
Six months later, most of them are still different, and that number is something powerful to consider.
Ready to find out what your six months looks like?
The Rythmia Way Program is a seven day program (Saturday to Saturday or Sunday to Sunday) and runs weekly, year round. If you have questions about whether the week is right for you, our guest coordinators can walk you through the schedule, the medical intake, travel logistics, and anything else you may want to understand before you make the commitment.
Rythmia is a legal plant medicine retreat and life advancement center. It is not a psychiatric facility or a substitute for emergency care. If you are in crisis, please contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline (call or text 988 in the US) or your local emergency services.
