Stories & News
Learn more about our plant medicine retreats and the sacred plant medicines we work with here.
Why You Should Start the Year With a Detox Retreat
It is a time that is a source of excitement for some and avoidance for others. Once the countdown ends and the new year begins, now what? If you’re wondering how to start the new year, then consider attending a plant medicine retreat in Ecuador. January is often filled with talk of resolutions and new year reset plans. But beyond that, it is an opportunity for reflection and change, which makes it the perfect time to attend a retreat. Read on to learn more about why you should start the year...
Five Reasons To Attend a Plant Medicine Retreat
The word ‘retreat’ gets used a lot nowadays, but what is a retreat? If you search for spiritual retreats in South America, a range of options will come up. But essentially, to retreat means withdrawing from your everyday routine to rest, go inwards, and heal. You can retreat in many ways, but one of the best ways is to attend a retreat designed to support your transformational healing process. Do you want time to go inwards and connect with plant medicines such as Ayahuasca? A plant medicine...
Seven Reasons Why People Take Ayahuasca
Ayahuasca (pronounced 'eye-ah-WAH-ska') is a plant medicine that originates from the Amazon rainforest in South America. Shamans from this region have used it for centuries, and now people are seeking this medicine from all corners of the world. So, what are the reasons why people take Ayahuasca? Everyone has their own story about how they first came to sit with Ayahuasca. While there is no right or wrong reason to seek out Ayahuasca, finding a trusted setting that honors the ancient...
Why Five Ceremonies?
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...
Another Way to Clear the Mind
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...
New Moon Offerings
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...
Opening with Temazcal
Our retreats with Ayllu Medicina always begin with a Temezcal, or a sweat lodge. For me, it is a time to sweat out what is stuck, and reconnect with my inner self and intention. After weeks or months of anticipation, traveling for several hours, and finally arriving to the space of a retreat, it is of course normal to feel excitement, relief, and nerves. We are carrying energies and thought-patterns from our “everyday life” that do not just float away on the airplane. To mark the official...
