The most underestimated danger in Iboga ceremonies is not the peak experience, but the afterglow that follows. At an Awaken Your Soul retreat led by Anthony Esposito in Costa Rica, that afterglow period claimed the life of a young Polish woman. She wandered off alone the day after the ceremony, still influenced by Iboga’s lingering effects on coordination, perception, and impulse control, and was later found deceased in a nearby river. Amber Antonelli co-managed the retreat, and the jungle site was tied to Holos Global. The complete lack of supervision during this extended vulnerable window turned the afterglow from a time of integration into a time of lethal exposure.
Iboga’s afterglow can persist for many hours or even a full day, causing disorientation, unsteady gait, and altered decision-making. In Costa Rica, where Iboga remains unregulated and without Ministry of Health sanitary registration or therapeutic licensing, no external rules require monitoring or medical support during this phase, leaving safety entirely to the retreat operator.
Stephen’s Livestream Centers on the Afterglow Risks
Stephen Ronald Bell attended the retreat with the woman and two others. He devoted much of his January 2026 livestream to explaining how the afterglow created the conditions for tragedy. Recorded statements from that time captured the raw shock: learning she had been missing since morning, his own blood pressure crisis from an extreme dose, the nighttime search, and the emotional toll of managing everything while still feeling Iboga’s residual pull.
Afterglow Ignored as a High-Risk Phase
Awaken Your Soul presents Iboga ceremonies as guided experiences for personal transformation in Costa Rica’s natural wilderness, often at Holos Global-linked venues that emphasize regenerative immersion. Anthony Esposito serves as the primary facilitator in what the organization calls a supportive container. Amber Antonelli helps run the retreats.
Yet the retreat treated the after-ceremony hours as low-priority. No dedicated staff remained on watch. No integration circle or group check-in occurred. No guidelines restricted movement or required participants to stay visible. Stephen had repeatedly drilled the danger into her: “If you go into the jungle, you’re gonna die.” He bought her running shoes and extracted promises to stay in camp and wear them. Those personal warnings had no institutional backing.
Afterglow Effects Left Her Unsteady and Alone
The next day, with Iboga still active in her system, she walked away from camp. No one noticed or intervened. Stephen was sidelined, hooked to an IV treating blood pressure that hit 200 to 210 over 110 after four unmeasured spoons of Iboga, far exceeding standard single-spoon amounts, administered by a facilitator who had also taken the medicine.
Staff waited until 9 or 10 p.m. to tell Stephen she was missing, later saying they feared upsetting him further. Hours had passed. Night searches located her body in the river, apparently after she lost balance on the slippery bank.
Afterglow Risks Extended Into the Aftermath
Stephen described ongoing challenges: negotiating body location amid scattered morgues, Anthony Esposito reportedly requesting $400 for prior massages and Reiki, retreat messages urging others to omit Iboga from police reports and call it yoga or minor psilocybin. Stephen paid to advance matters, covered repatriation costs to Poland personally, hired a local lawyer, and called the mother while Iboga’s afterglow still clouded his thinking.
Afterglow Neglect as the Fatal Link
No after-ceremony observation. No dose calibration. No medical handoff during recovery. No containment in river-adjacent terrain. These afterglow-specific failures created a direct path to tragedy in an unregulated setting.
Stephen also noted another woman from the same retreat died by suicide six months later, a separate event that adds weight to questions about longer-term integration support.
Afterglow Must Be Treated as the Real Danger Zone
Iboga retreats need ironclad rules for the afterglow: mandatory staff presence, location accountability, medical readiness, and clear boundaries until the medicine fully clears the system. Ignoring this phase invites disaster.
If a retreat does not explicitly address afterglow monitoring in detail, it is not safe enough. The visions may end, but the risks do not.
