Pura Vida Collective
Pura Vida Collective
Pura Vida Collective
The evidence behind the experience, from the world's leading institutions, curated for the women who ask better questions.
From the land, from the science, and from the sacred medicine path: written from the sanctuary, for the women who ask better questions.
Why I'm Hosting My First Women-Only Retreat
Read · 5 min →
Inside a Blue Zone: What Nicoya Taught Me That No Lab Could
Read · 5 min →
The Science of Ceremony: A Woman's Nervous System in Deep Work
Read · 6 min →
What the Data Can and Cannot Tell You About Transformation
Read · 5 min →
What Is Bufo? A Trauma-Informed Introduction
Read · 6 min →
The Wolf Moon: Why We Planned a Retreat by Moonrise
Read · 5 min →
Emerging research on neuroplasticity, nervous system regulation, trauma, social connection, and psychedelic-assisted therapies is reshaping how human wellbeing is understood. At the same time, the world's oldest healing traditions have always emphasized what the laboratories are now measuring: environment, ritual, integration, and relationship. At Pura Vida Collective, these are not two worlds, they are one practice, held in one sanctuary.
The center that reopened psychedelic science in the modern era, landmark studies on psilocybin, meaning, and mental health.
Johns Hopkins Medicine →
NYU's program investigating psychedelic-assisted therapies for depression, addiction, and existential distress.
NYU Langone →
The multi-decade research effort that carried MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD through Phase 3 clinical trials.
MAPS →
Stanford examines why the people of Costa Rica's Nicoya Peninsula live some of the longest, healthiest lives on Earth.
Stanford Medicine →
How natural environments measurably shape stress physiology, immune function, and long-term wellbeing.
Environmental Health Research →
Certain medicines and immersive practices are increasingly studied for their impact on emotional processing, nervous system regulation, neuroplasticity, perspective, and long-term wellbeing, when approached responsibly, intentionally, and within trauma-informed environments. Below, the modalities most relevant to this field of work; which of them belong in your journey is decided together, in private consultation, through The Medicine.
Selected research references · The field continues to evolve
Randomized clinical trial: psilocybin-assisted therapy produced large, rapid reductions in major depression.
JAMA Psychiatry →
Phase 3 results: MDMA-assisted therapy significantly outperformed placebo for severe PTSD.
Nature Medicine →
Investigating how 5-MeO-DMT engages the brain's capacity for rapid structural and functional change.
NIH / PMC →
Controlled study: brief daily breathwork practices measurably improved mood and reduced physiological arousal.
Cell Reports Medicine →
Evidence for body-based approaches to trauma, why the nervous system, not the story, is the doorway.
Trauma Research →
Meditation practice associated with structural changes in brain regions governing attention and emotion.
Psychiatry Research →
120 minutes a week in nature is associated with significantly higher health and wellbeing.
Nature (Scientific Reports) →
This research library is shared for education, not as medical advice. External research reflects the work of its authors and institutions, not an endorsement of Pura Vida Collective, nor ours of every conclusion. The field is young, alive, and still being written.
A complete self-guided course: seven lessons of breathwork, somatic release, meditation, integration, and ritual, drawn from the heart of the work we hold at the sanctuary, with guided interactive practices and private reflection. Join the circle and it opens instantly, along with occasional letters from the sanctuary, written with intention.
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