Stories & News
Learn more about our plant medicine retreats and the sacred plant medicines we work with here.
How to Connect to the Elements of Nature
There are four main elements of nature: Earth, Water, Fire, and Air, along with the additional element of Space or Aether. When you are connected to these elements, your inner and outer worlds will feel more aligned. So, what can you do to align with these sacred elements? Respecting and honoring these great teachers of nature also helps you honor and respect yourself. After all, your body is made up of these elements, from the fire in your heart and digestion to the fact your body is up to...
Seven Ways To Prepare for a San Pedro Ceremony
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...
Five Benefits of Attending a Women’s Retreat
When women gather together in safe spaces, magic happens. And more than ever, women are beginning to remember this wisdom from our elders, coming back together and healing in many ways, including at women’s plant medicine retreats. A women’s empowerment retreat can make some women jump for joy, and some women hesitate, depending on their experiences gathering in sisterhood. The good news is that a women’s plant medicine retreat is the perfect space to receive the benefits of sisterhood and...
How To Celebrate Equinox and Find Balance
Mother Earth experiences four main seasons every year, with the transitions marked by Solstice and Equinox. Solstice and Equinox are significant astrological markers that are not only a time to focus on the external changing of seasons but your internal landscape too. So, with the March Equinox coming up, what should you do? The March Equinox is the Vernal Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere, also known as the Spring Equinox. And in the Southern Hemisphere, it is the Autumnal Equinox. Read on...
Plant Medicine and Music: The Sacred Connection
You may take several steps when preparing for your first plant medicine ceremony, including fasting, setting intentions, meditation, and a good rest. But nothing can prepare you for the role of music in your first ceremony. You quickly learn that the medicine is not only the sacred plants but there are also other crucial ingredients, including you and the music. The various ingredients that make up your ceremony are the reasons why sitting with sacred plant medicines is an individual...
What Happens on a Plant Medicine Retreat?
Humans have been connecting with plant medicines such as Ayahuasca for thousands of years. Now, there are different ways to meet the sacred plants, from attending plant medicine ceremonies to taking a pause and going on a retreat. But what happens on a plant medicine retreat? There are many different spiritual and wellness retreats out there, including yoga, meditation, and plant medicine retreats. This means that while ‘to retreat’ is to go inwards, there is no one answer to what happens on...
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...
