by Michaela D'Amico | Nov 30, 2024 | Ayllu Medicina Retreats, spiritual practices
We believe it is crucial to have ways to purify and renew on a regular basis, and there are a variety of practices to do this. At Ayllu Medicina retreats, we offer many forms of purification, including temazcal (sweat lodge), smudging, yoga, breathwork, meditation, ceremonies, and ice baths.
Ice baths, otherwise known as a cold plunge or cold exposure, have become popular in fitness and wellness circles due to its many health benefits – both physical and mental. The practice is often preceded by an ancient breathwork technique called Tummo breath, a Tibetan Buddhist practice, also known as “inner fire” breathing, aimed at generating intense heat within the body and cultivating a deep state of awareness and control over the body and mind. Wim Hof, known as “The Iceman,” has popularized the use of ice baths combined with Tummo breathing, bringing ancient techniques into modern wellness practices.
Beyond the huge benefit of giving us a chance to cleanse and renew, ice baths can support our health in many ways, from reducing inflammation to boosting mental resilience. Here are 7 reasons why you should consider taking the icy leap!
1. Strengthen the Immune System
Firstly, ice baths can activate and strengthen the immune system. Research shows that when your body enters the cold, it can provoke an increase in the production of white blood cells. This increase in immune cell activity has been shown to improve your body’s ability to defend itself more effectively against illness and infection.
2. Reduce Inflammation
Whether your inflammation is from something chronic like arthritis or heart disease, or from a recent injury or workout, an ice plunge can help your healing process. When you enter the Ice bath, your blood vessels constrict, which slows down the flow of blood to muscles, reducing swelling and tissue breakdown. This cold-induced vasoconstriction limits the movement of fluids to inflamed areas, helping to prevent excess inflammation. Once the body rewarms, blood vessels dilate, increasing blood flow, which helps flush out waste products like lactic acid and promotes recovery by delivering oxygen and nutrients to the muscles.
After engaging in physical practices like yoga, hiking, or even sitting for a night around the fire in a ceremony, the body often carries physical tension. ice baths are a natural way to reduce inflammation and soothe sore muscles by causing blood vessels to constrict and limit swelling. This leads to faster recovery and less discomfort.
3. Enhance Sleep Quality
Cold therapy has been shown to improve sleep by calming the nervous system and helping the body enter a more relaxed state. Exposure to cold water lowers the body’s core temperature, which can facilitate the natural drop in temperature that occurs during sleep, promoting a deeper and more restorative rest. It is an effective way to prepare the body for restful sleep after a long day. As we all know, sleep is an essential aspect of wellbeing, as it plays a vital role in physical health, mental clarity, emotional stability, and the body’s ability to recover and rejuvenate.
It is also crucial to get restorative sleep on a retreat, so the body and mind can assimilate the lessons from the day. A more calm nervous system is also incredibly important for going into a ceremony with plant medicines like Ayahuasca or San Pedro. The more your body and mind is calm, the more you can surrender to your purpose and what the plants have to teach you.
4. Increase Mental Resilience
Stepping into an ice bath isn’t just a physical challenge—it’s a mental one, too. The cold can be shocking, and it takes mental strength and a clear purpose to remain calm and endure it. Immersing yourself in cold water requires a deep sense of presence and the ability to stay calm amidst discomfort. Finding calm within the cold, icey water can help train your mind to handle stress more effectively. This practice teaches you how to breathe through challenges, and show yourself that you can reach any goal you set, with proper guidance and a clear purpose.
At Ayllu Medicina retreats, ice bath sessions also include a yoga and Tummo breathing session beforehand. The process requires emotional and mental fortitude, helping participants cultivate the same resilience that may be needed for plant medicine ceremonies. The act of surrendering to the cold is symbolic of surrendering to the healing process and letting go of what is not serving you, which is a strength you can carry forward into daily life.
5. Improves Blood Circulation
Ice baths play a vital role in stimulating circulation, a benefit that is especially important after long hours of working out, sitting at a desk, or. When you immerse into an ice bath, the cold causes blood vessels to constrict, pushing blood away from the extremities. Upon stepping out of the bath, your blood vessels dilate, promoting an influx of oxygen-rich blood to the body. This can also support heart health when done regularly, since the cold exposure helps train the cardiovascular system, potentially improving heart function and blood pressure regulation.
We have seen that the physical benefits like improved circulation after an ice bath helps participants reconnect with their body’s rhythms, facilitating a deeper, more harmonious experience with themselves and the healing environment around them. As the body circulates fresh energy, the mind becomes more attuned, allowing for greater presence.
6. Supports Stress Relief
Inviting cold exposure into your routine can support the reduction of adrenaline-driven responses to stressors. Imagine you are about to dive into a freezing lake – what happens to your mind and body? Most likely, you will experience heightened levels of stress as well as a fear response in your brain which is trying to protect you from any danger. And then, you take the leap! Afterwards, you are feeling happy, proud, and energized. Doing this with the additional support of breathwork and guidance in an ice bath is even more effective, as you have the support of your prepared mind and body and others to cheer you on. Completing an ice bath teaches your brain and your inner being that you can overcome a challenge, even if it involves some stress and fear, and over time these two factors decrease.
Many people come on a retreat because they are overwhelmed by life and want to take an intentional pause to relieve their stress. Ice baths are just one of the many pieces that go into this process of reducing stress. We also have daily yoga, breathwork, and meditation, ceremonies, workshops on connecting with your cyclical nature, along with detoxifying plant-based meals. Why not take a week to fully experience many practices that you can add to your routine to stay healthy and stress-free?
7. Increases Dopamine Levels and Boosts Mood
One study shows that ice baths can increase dopamine levels by up to 250%, and the effects of this can last for hours! The shock of cold water stimulates the release of endorphins and norepinephrine, hormones known for boosting mood and increasing alertness. This natural boost can help alleviate symptoms of depression and anxiety, promoting a sense of calm and resilience in the face of stress.
We reach to so many different things to boost our mood, many of which are detrimental to our health. What if you could instead try this effective and fun practice that has been proven to lift your mood and provide physical benefits as well?
Cold plunges can help reduce symptoms of anxiety and boost our mood by lowering cortisol levels and calming the mind. Cold exposure, especially when preceded with yoga and breathwork, encourages deep, controlled breathing, which activates the parasympathetic nervous system, responsible for relaxation.
Take the Plunge – Join a Retreat to Purify with Ice Baths and more
It is recommended to receive a thorough introduction to this powerful practice with so many mental, emotional, and physical benefits. Why not try it or continue your practice while also immersing into a weeklong transformational retreat to more holistically support your wellbeing?
Our guides help you to combine exposure to cold temperatures with breathing techniques and mindfulness practices so you can experience benefits of the practice, and even be able to do it at home with cold showers. Incorporating ice baths at our Transformational Plant Medicine Retreats has allowed participants to go into plant medicine ceremonies with Ayahuasca and San Pedro with even more energy and belief in their ability to surrender and let go of what is not serving them in life. With daily yoga, meditation, sharing circles, integration guidance, medicine music, and so much more, a retreat is a perfect place to try an ice bath surrounded by others who are also committed to their inner transformation. Join us at an upcoming retreat to see this for yourself!
by Michaela D'Amico | Mar 22, 2023 | Plant medicines
San Pedro is known to be a grandfather spirit and comes from a cactus of South America. The Incans used to use this medicine to walk for days on end – San Pedro gave them energy and a greater connection to their purpose as well as the Earth. If you are going to take part in a San Pedro ceremony, we first recommend that you ensure you are doing so with a respected and experienced medicine man or woman and that it is in a space you can trust.
Once you have ensured this and are ready to sit around the fire with this powerful medicine, we recommend the following ways to prepare for a San Pedro ceremony.
1. Meditate on Your Intention
As in any ceremonial experience, it is crucial to have an intention that you would like to work with the San Pedro medicine. This purpose will be something you can come back to any time, and it will help direct what you will see, feel, and experience throughout the ceremony.
It can be a question or a simple word for how you want to feel, like peace or joy. If you are not clear on what purpose, we recommend starting with gratitude for everything that has happened in your life so far.
2. Be Gentle and Clean With Your Diet
Having a mostly whole-food diet light in spices, fats, and sugar is the best route before the San Pedro ceremony. Ideally, eliminate drugs, meats, alcohol, sugars, citrus, and foods high in spices or fats 3 days prior to a plant medicine ceremony. It is also best to not engage in sexual activity during the days prior.
3. Continue or Begin a Meditation Practice
Breath can be your anchor during a plant medicine ceremony. It is possible that there are intense moments, both physically and emotionally, and the more you practice coming back to your breathing, the better! You can also try a yoga nidra practice or guided meditation before the San Pedro ceremony to rest and center.
4. Rest!
A meeting with San Pedro is best done when you are well-rested and nourished. Especially for all-night ceremonies, it is crucial to take a nap or take it very easy that day. The more energy you can conserve, the more you can use to focus on your intention.
5. Wear Something Beautiful and Comfortable
When we go into a ceremony around the sacred fire, it is believed that our ancestors come to join us to see how we are doing. So, we recommend wearing something nice for these spirits to see you doing well!
You can wear something meaningful to you, like jewelry or a special scarf. For women, a long skirt or dress is highly recommended – as a way to honor our connection to the Earth, and it offers a ring of protection. However, do not wear a tight dress or a very itchy pair of pants – you want to ensure your focus during the night is on the fire and your purpose, not on your discomfort.
6. Wear Protection and Braid Your Hair
Traditionally, people will wear a protection belt, or a “faja” as they are called here in Ecuador. It can be wrapped around your womb area and almost feels like a seat belt – this protection can help you feel more grounded and contain your energy.
Braids are also recommended for longer hair as it is a way to weave your energy in connection to the Earth.
7. Listen to Some Medicine Music
In traditional San Pedro ceremonies, the person who is leading the drum goes around the circle with a rattle and staff, offering each participant a turn to sing sacred prayer songs with these sacred instruments. It is good to have some songs prepared in case you feel the call to sing.
By listening to some San Pedro ceremonial songs, you can get an idea of what kind of songs are appropriate. Check out the Pájaros de Luz album for some beautiful prayer songs. We recommend songs that mean something to you and that come from tradition, such as traditional songs from your childhood (not pop songs).
Join Us Around the Fire in a San Pedro Ceremony
Going into a ceremony with a mind and body that is prepared will make all the difference for your encounter with this powerful medicine of San Pedro.
Reach out to us if you have any questions about these recommendations or our upcoming retreats and plant medicine ceremonies. We hope to see you around the fire soon!
by Michaela D'Amico | Feb 2, 2021 | Ayllu Medicina Retreats
We got a question recently about why our retreats had so many ceremonies – 2 Ayahuasca and 1 San Pedro. Why not just 1 ceremony, some yoga, and a chance to relax and detox?
Our response was, it is actually 5 or more ceremonies – since Sweat Lodge (or Temazcal) is also considered a ceremony, and we always do at least two if not more of these powerful purification processes.
In fact, we believe that there is actually very little that can happen from ONE ceremony. Everyone has many layers that need unravelling for true transformation and commitment to integrating what you experienced back in your life to be possible. So a process involving a series of ceremonies is much more effective, and during a 1-week retreat, much can be healed and realized.
As we talk about in this blog about Sweat Lodge, we always begin a retreat with this strong purification process which allows you to begin grounding your energy. It is also continuation of the detoxification which you hopefully began before arrival via your diet.
During a retreat, and starting in the sweat lodge, you are receiving a complete detoxification from:
- certain foods that are not supporting your health (no sugar, salt, spices, caffeine, alcohol),
- what you are seeing (the sweat lodge involves praying and singing in the dark, and Ayahuasca ceremonies involves the focal point of the fire),
- the speed that you usually move in (all ceremonies are long and slow processes that also need long and slow unstructured time in between for integration),
- and from the things you are normally speaking about (we encourage participants to pause from normal conversation topics, and to take time to integrate before fully sharing about their visions/learnings. We lead circles to give you a chance to share what feels necessary and helpful).
After the first Sweat Lodge on Day 1 of the retreat, we have the 1st Ayahuasca ceremony on Day 2. This is when you will begin to ground and work the outer layers that you brought with you. This is just the beginning. We are like flowers, that little by little begin to open as we dedicate to this transformational process of detoxification and grounding.
Then, we have a rest day, and another Ayahuasca Ceremony on Day 4. This is when you will not only be working to understand and peel back your outer layers, but also beginning to ground your energy back to yourself, where it’s meant to be.
Ayahuasca especially works on the roots of your being and your family tree. With two ceremonies working with Ayahuasca, you will be opening space so you can gain a deeper understanding of your roots, clear the roots that are not supporting you, and begin to connect back to your heart.
And then from that grounded point, and having done some healing with your Ayahuasca journey, we go into a San Pedro Ceremony on Day 6. It is with this Grandfather spirit Awakolla, San Pedro, that you will begin to work with the upper branches of your tree. After grounding with Ayahuasca, you will now be ready to work more deeply on the heart.
During our retreats, you have the rare chance to spend the entire week in a focused, calm, and supported space so you can truly clear out what you no longer need and connect deeply to your purpose. The ceremonies are just one piece of the journey, and can assist you to see and clarify your path. However, the real ceremony begins when you leave the retreat – the ceremony of life. All of our participants so far have expressed their readiness and excitement in applying all they experienced back to their life and with their friends and family. AND you may even find that you would like to continue to do even more ceremonies, and can likely find a place to join a Sweat Lodge or singing circle!
by Michaela D'Amico | Jan 4, 2021 | Plant medicines, spiritual practices
During our retreats, everyday we cleanse and purify our minds in different ways – with meditation, purification, and with different forms of tobacco. Gaining new relationships with different parts of nature, or improving your current connections, is a crucial part of integrating your experience. However, before any power plant medicine ceremony, we have to begin a holistic detox and purify ourselves, mentally, emotionally, and physically.
Purification
There are several purification (what some might consider a form of detox) practices that we use to cleanse ourselves before entering the sacred space to work with plant medicines. One of these practices is meditation. Another is temazcal, or sweat lodge, where the heat allows us to purify all of our 5 senses, including releasing the toxins in our body. Through sweating and with the addition of various herbs and prayer, we purify our emotions and undergo a full 360 degree purification process. We also use Sacred Tobacco for purification, in 3 forms – liquid, smoking, and offering it to the Earth.
Sacred Tobacco
Tobacco, which is native to the Americas, is of course well known for its use in commercial cigarettes. However, it was used first thousands of years before within native traditions, and is considered the highest power plant of all the medicinal plants. One reason for this is because of its use is linked to the 4 elements – Earth, Fire, Air, and Water. During a retreat, you will get to experience the many beneficial and sacred ways to connect to this power plant.
Perhaps you are surprised to hear that tobacco is part of ceremonial spaces. We are NOT talking about cigarrettes. There are two species of tobacco that are commonly used today – Nicotiana tabacum and Nicotiana rustica. Nicotiana Tabacum is the variety used by cigarette companies, mainly because it is smoother and less potent so it can be used more habitually. Nicotiana Rustica, a much stronger variety, is used in the native traditions, including in Native America and the Amazon.
Liquid Water Tobacco
The Amazonian cultures of Ecuador use liquid tobacco for purification. The practice includes making a “tea” in which the tobacco plant is soaked in water. Then, we inhale this water through each of our nostrils, cleansing all the breathing channels that lead to our mind. That same water we exhale by spitting it out our mouth. Beyond the physical cleansing, energetically this practice allows us to open and activate the pineal gland so our breath can connect to it directly. This process is used to literally cleanse the thoughts. It allows us to refocus and cleanses the mind. If we do it well, we cleanse all of our thoughts.
This is one of the main ways we use this strong power plant. We inhale water tobacco before sweat lodge and before ceremonies, to get our minds ready to focus on our main purpose.
Smoking Tobacco
In native cultures all around the world, it is said that the tobacco plant has a memory of the way that humans have used it. We give direction and power to the plant depending on the use that we give it. The tobacco plant has been used for centuries to communicate with God, or the Great Spirit. When we smoke tobacco, we are opening a direct pathway to connect to God, and to the Universe.
This is how we can communicate our intentions through the smoke. The belief is that every inhalation of tobacco is one less breath for your life. That is why when we are smoking tobacco, we pray carefully and focus our intention. And we send this little bit of energy of life through the smoke up to the sky to connect to the rest of the Universe.
Offering tobacco to the Earth
Beyond cleansing and praying, we also use tobacco for offerings, protection and connecting to everything that is sacred. It is well known all over the world that nature recognizes the language communicated through the tobacco plant. For example, when we get to a new place, we give a little bit of tobacco to the Earth. It is a ritual action just to say, “Hello, we are here, we are going to honor and care for you, Mother Earth.”
And there’s more!
There are several other ways we begin the process of purification and detoxification, including rapé or snuff which is the ash from tobacco and other sacred plants, and offering tobacco to the fire to set our intention. Another key step for purifying and detoxing is following a simple cleansing diet. Head over to our FAQs to read more about this, and subscribe so you can receive our next blog which will dive into the explanation behind eliminating certain food groups in preparation for a ceremony.
by Michaela D'Amico | Dec 30, 2020 | plant medicine ceremonies, spiritual practices, Uncategorized
It is New Moon, the sky is dark and full of stars. A time for renewal and reconnection to ourselves and our source, the new moon reminds me to pause and give thanks.
I walk out to the small palm tree on the path to the garden and dig a small hole, singing about the love and abundance that surrounds me. Prepared with me is an offering of food and treasures I prepared throughout the day – toasted corn, plantain, a chocolate bar, eggs, a beautiful crystal found on the beach, earrings made from seeds, dried tobacco leaves, palo santo, a few coins, and essential oils. As I offer this heap of abundance to the small hole for Mother Earth, I pray with gratitude for all that she has offered me this past month. I thank her for the sunshine, the waves in the sea, the lush soil nourishing our vegetables, the fruit trees blossoming with guayaba, the vast skies, and include some prayers for what I would like to bring to my life in the coming weeks.
We hold sacred this practice of nurturing and acknowledging our Mother Earth, especially during the New Moon. This includes giving an offering to the tierra, the Earth, to sustain that familiar and love connection that we have with the Earth as a live being. The ritual is renewing for the Earth and for us. The idea is that we must help keep her alive, so we feed her and this connection between us. We open a wound, literally a hole in the ground, trying to always use the same one each month.
Maybe you are wondering, what could we possibly offer the Earth that she does not already have? Again, the idea is to bring her life and sustain our connection, so the act is as much symbolic as it is literal.
We save food from each meal that day, and also give her a bit of everything we have eaten during the month. The idea is not to give things you do not need anymore – the end of the candy jar, the last bit of leftovers, or the necklace you don’t wear anymore. Rather, it is important to offer things that have true worth for you, and even things you have been working with the whole month. The offering is like a summary of what we are grateful for from the past month. All of this we want to share with and give to Mother Earth.
For example, sometimes I even include in my offering Vitamin C or a certain type of tea that I have been using that month.
The Earth does everything that is in her power to keep us alive, so in turn, this is our way of nurturing this connection and showing our gratitude.
Indigenous people all around the world have been following the moon calendar since their existence, and also follow this ritual. New Moon is the time for planting and planning, and Full Moon is for harvesting.
We align with this by praying and giving on the New Moon. We give voice to what we want ot thank the Earth for, as well as what we want to receive in the weeks that follow. By giving and praying in this way, we can receive with humility and gratitude throughout the rest of the month.
During the Full Moon, we continue the offering, by giving liquid, milk, or plant medicine, to keep this offering of gratitude alive.
More on the Full Moon soon. For now, it is New Moon, and we are singing:
“Mother Earth, dear Mother Earth, we are here, we are here, hear our cry.”
