I Spent A Week at a Amazon Rainforest Biohacking Retreat—Here’s What I Learned

Would you want to know the age you’re predicted to die? A question that likely splits most of us into two groups. One that’s rather in the unknown, and the other that wants to know it all, take control, and Ideally extend it.

In October, I spent a week in the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador with a group from the latter category. Eight strangers from different corners of the country, a wide range of ages, and varying careers, yet they had more things in common than either of them ever thought. As part of Dave Asprey’s new venture, Unlimited Life, along with his co-founders Marc Kielburger and Dr. Tim Cook, they created an immersive experience at the intersection of longevity medicine, biohacking, and fulfillment. They call it the “trifecta.”

They provide tests at the cutting-edge of longevity science, dive deep into biohacking at a hyper-personalized level, and help members discover what truly fills their heart and drives them to living longer. Part of the program is an exotic retreat to foster connection, serving as a kickoff to a year-long journey of personalized testing, protocols, and quarterly check-ins with the founders.

“There are longevity clinics popping up all over the country, but many of them miss one thing,” Dr. Tim Cook, Unlimited Life co-founder, internal medicine specialist, and pioneer of integrative longevity medicine, tells me, adding that while many may offer testing and protocols, the long-term follow-up and guidance are missing. “I’ve never seen this level of execution put into practice.”

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Dave Asprey Biohacking Retreat

After landing in Quito, the capital of Ecuador, the team from Unlimited Life took care of everything for us. From transfer, hotel and food to any special requests, no needs were unmet.

We spent one day in the city exploring a museum at the equator then flew to a small airport in Coca, boarded a motorized canoe for a three-hour ride upstream the river until we made it to the Minga Lodge & Reserve.

Amidst the smell of lush greenery, the sounds of birds, monkeys, and insects, the slightly slippery wooden path, and the sight of something out of a Tarzan movie, the jungle said, hello. We’ve arrived at a world where ancient wisdom is held and where all of us guests started as strangers before growing into a tribe.

Often referred to as the “Father of Biohacking,” Asprey is well-known for making gadgets and supplements mainstream. However, with Unlimited Life, he’s tapping into connection and community deeper than ever before. Connection to self, connection to others, and connection to nature.

“I’ve dedicated my life to spending time with people who are interested in living longer better,” Asprey tells me, as he was among the guests at the retreat. “I love being here with likeminded people in such an intimate setting in the most powerful biohacking lab on the planet; in nature.”

He travels the world speaking on stages, so what most people see is his public persona. While he was giving talks here too, this trip was different. From leading yoga Nidra in the

morning, partaking in a cacao ceremony and sweat lodge session, to sharing every meal and having genuine conversations, the group got to see Asprey not as an author, marketer, leader or public speaker, but as Dave.

This intimacy wasn’t by chance. There was a clear intention behind plucking people out of their environments and dropping them in the jungle.

The Trifecta Takes Shape

Marc Kielburger, New York Times best-selling author, social entrepreneur, and humanitarian, has spent over two decades taking people on trips, and through his work with Martin Luther King III, he’s witnessed firsthand how purpose and connection fuel a fulfilling life.

After transforming his life and discovering how the sacrifices he had made chipped away from his longevity, he was excited to see this trifecta being born.

“Longevity medicine gives you time, biohacking gives you energy, and fulfillment gives you love. Love is what connects and reconnects us and then it’s what ultimately heals,” he adds.

He tells me that at the root of dis-ease and disease in our lives is disconnection. “The most upstream element is a large source of disconnection,” he explains, adding that everything at the retreat is meant to tap into connection and to lead us back to love.

Céline Cousteau, award-winning environmental activist and granddaughter of ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau, also consults with members throughout the program. During one afternoon session, she spoke about what she calls “Nature Deficit Disorder”, a term that landed hard with the group.

“The more complacent we get, the more disconnected we become from our true nature,” she explained. Sitting in the heart of the Amazon, her words carried extra weight.

But can connection, or lack thereof, be measured? And more importantly, can disconnection show up in our blood work, our hormones, our biological age? That’s where the data comes in.

The Tests

Remember that opening question about knowing when you’ll die? Dr. Cook and his clinical team curated a long list of tests and assessments and developed a predictive algorithm that estimates your age of death within a 36-month window.

During the onboarding in August, Dr. Cook’s team in Toronto, Canada, performed several biological age tests, a genomic test, blood panels, hormone panels, an NAD test, full body MRI, CT angiogram, microbiome analysis, and so much more.

I found their visualization of the wheel of the 12 Hallmarks of Aging fascinating. According to the latest research, there are 12 primary drivers of how we age, including cellular senescence, mitochondrial dysfunction, dysbiosis, epigenetic alterations, and the list goes on. While these can be targeted individually via interventions, it’s a deeply interconnected web of systems. When you improve one, you’ll likely create a positive ripple effect across several others.

“The excitement that’ll blow everything out of the water is reversing the 12 Hallmarks of Aging,” Dr. Cook pointed out.

From Data Overload to Actionable Steps

The amount of data is staggering. Even with color-coded scores and simplified dashboards, staring at your own biological blueprint can feel overwhelming. Which is exactly why the one-on-one consultations matter.

During the retreat, each member sat down with the founders for their first deep-dive consultation to decode the results and map out next steps.

“The failure of longevity medicine is the lack of longitudinal planning,” Dr. Cook explained. Rather than throwing everything at you at once, they identify the “lowest hanging fruit”, the few interventions that will move the needle most. Six months later, they retest key markers to see what shifted, then adjust the protocol accordingly. Classic biohacker methodology: test, optimize, test, tweak…

The team personalizes supplement stacks, prescriptions, hormones, and protocols, but Dr. Cook shared if you want to get one thing right first, you must start with diet.

“I really got the message that diet, sleep, and exercise are absolutely fundamental,” Craig Burkinshaw, one of the guests, told me. He’s now getting a continuous glucose monitor to track how different foods impact his blood sugar in real time. “It fascinates me. Once I understand the subject and have a logical base for it, and I believe in it, then I change my behavior and improve.”

For Martin Friedman, the results were eye-opening in ways he didn’t expect. Despite already having an extensive supplement stack, his genomic test revealed a critical gap that he can’t properly methylate vitamin B. “They suggested I take a different form of vitamin B, because what I’m taking, my body can’t even use,” he explained.

But his biggest surprise was significant mitochondrial dysfunction and suboptimal electron transport chain function. Issues he didn’t know could be measured. “Methylene blue, here I come,” he said with a smile.

Collectively there were several more workshops with Dr. Cook, Kielburger, and Asprey covering topics from stem cells, genomics and supplements to purpose and the power of connection.

“I feel very blessed to have these types of brains and expertise to advise in reaching my goals of longevity and healthspan,” Friedman shared.

How Connection Relates to All This

The data and protocols were one thing. But as the days passed, something else was happening, something harder to quantify but impossible to ignore.

With every detoxing, sweat-drenching temazcal, every heart-opening cacao ceremony, weapon training session, or optional psilocybin journey, our group connected deeper and felt safer being vulnerable. And that’s where the real breakthroughs happened.

“Whether it’s a personal or professional breakthrough, the objective of the retreat is to have a breakthrough,” Kielburger told us on the first day in the rainforest.

And people sure did. Friedman tells me that “it’s hard to put it into words. The profoundness of the experience came in the fulfillment piece for me. I didn’t expect to have such a profound realization about that piece, so it was a highlight for me.”

Former New York City ballet dancer, 30-year-old Jackie Bologna had a similar awakening in relation to connection. “In our busy life, it’s harder to feel connected to the world around us. Here, throughout the week, every day, multiple times a day you have such a strong feeling and sense of connection. I want to hold on to that as I go back.”

The Cost

The annual cost of Unlimited Life isn’t cheap. For the price of $125,000 you’ll get all the tests for the year, the retreat, quarterly consultations with the founders, and monthly coaching sessions focused on mental health.

Additionally, members get access to 40 Years of Zen, one of Asprey’s companies focused on neurofeedback and brain optimization. It’s designed to accelerate personal breakthroughs through intensive sessions that train the brain to achieve states typically reached through decades of meditation practice.

At first glance, the price tag feels steep. But it’s worth understanding the context. The global wellness tourism industry is exploding. According to Statista, it’s projected to reach $1.35 trillion by 2028. More than double the $637 billion market size in 2022. Wellness tourism now ranks as the fourth largest segment of the worldwide wellness industry, trailing only personal care/beauty, nutrition/weight loss, and physical activity.

A growing number of people are actively seeking proactive health experiences that include full-body diagnostics, advanced recovery tools, and programs that promise to extend not just lifespan but healthspan.

Unlimited Life sits at the center of that shift, combining cutting-edge medical testing, personalized protocols, expert consultations, and experiential transformation all in one package.

In its first year, the program has already gained traction globally. Their 2026 retreat for this cohort planned in Kenya, with more retreats running at the Minga Lodge next year too.

“Each year, this program will continue to evolve and deepen,” Asprey says. “We stay at the cutting-edge, so you can be on the cutting-edge of your life.”

The Verdict

So, would you want to know the age you’re predicted to die? After a week in the Amazon, I realize that’s the wrong question.

The real question should be: What would you do with that information? Having the brainpower of experts and scientists can help not only understand what living longer means, but more importantly, what makes those extra years worth living.

At over 100 grand each year, Unlimited Life may not be accessible to most people yet, but the team is working on ways to democratize this knowledge to benefit the masses. But its core insight applies to everyone: longevity without purpose is just existence with more birthdays. The cutting-edge tests and personalized protocols mean little if you’re disconnected from yourself, others, and what drives you.

As Jackie Bologna told me before leaving the rainforest: “Sometimes you don’t even realize you feel undernourished until you have a week like this and you didn’t know this is so much more than what you thought you needed.”