Rejuvenate your mind, body and soul on a truly unforgettable retreat experience in the majestic Peruvian Andes.

Length – 10 days / 9 nights / 6 Ayahuasca Ceremonies

Cost: Donation (see details of our donation based retreat model)

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“The doctor of the future will prescribe no medicine, but will interest his patient in the care of the human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of dis-ease” – Thomas A. Edison

The philosophy of our ayahuasca retreats is to create an environment in which you can explore and develop, with guidance, your own way to heal yourself, doing away with the traditional doctor/patient relationship. Our aim is to create a stepping stone to the doctor of the future, as envisioned by Thomas Edison.

Ayahuasca Satsangha’s specific focus when working with you and the sacred ayahuasca medicine is twofold:

Firstly, there is the traditional shamanic medicinal aspect of healing and dieting, whereby existing energetic imbalances are corrected by the medicine and by the maestros.

Secondly, we work with guiding you on your own journey of consciousness growth and development, as per the Hindu and Buddhist traditions because all suffering and illness manifests first as imbalances arising at the level of mind, due to incorrect training, focus and application of consciousness. If we were to simply remove your energetic and physical imbalances without helping to bring awareness to the causes of those imbalances, one would simply return to one’s home environment and automatically recreate them.

Working with ayahuasca allows one to, step by step, shine the light of consciousness into one’s subconscious, thus illuminating habits that one was previously unaware of. Once one is conscious of negative or self destructive tendencies, one is then in a position to work with reprogramming them and establishing positive, correct functioning of consciousness in their place. The medicine most certainly helps with the process of becoming conscious of these habits but it is then one’s own personal work to de-energize the old habits and energize consciously chosen new habits. This is where the eastern practices come in. Traditional pitfalls along the path of consciousness growth are identified and millennia old, tried and tested, consciousness development techniques are shared.

Extensive experience with both the sacred eastern philosophies and practices and the western shamanic traditions has led us to our focus on providing a synthesis of the two as being the most rapid means available for personal transformation.

Location

Our mountain retreats take place at ‘The Way Inn’, a mountain lodge situated at 3,700m on the western flank of the Peruvian Andes, surrounded by stunning views of the snow capped mountains. The setting is one of great peace, majesty and natural beauty which is, in and of itself, a powerfully transformative environment. The lodge is equipped to western standards with orthopaedic mattresses, down duvets/comforters, unlimited hot water, great food, and sitting rooms heated with wood burning stoves. The days are usually sunny and warm but the temperature drops greatly at night.

The Shamanic Team

All the maestros that we work with are curanderos, ayahuasceros, vegetlistas, paleros and sangeros. They come from the Don Julio Jerena lineage. As Banco (Maestro of the Maestros) of the mesa, Don Julio taught Maestro Don Roldan, Maestro Don Alberto, Maestro Don Gumercindo and Hamilton Souther, to name but a few. When Banco Don Julio passed in 2007, the title of Banco and head of the mesa was given to Don Alberto Torres. Maestro Gumercindo spent two years studying under Banco Don Julio prior to his death and has studied under both his father, Maestro Don Roldan, and Maestro Don Alberto. All of the Maestros continue to work with Don Alberto in Jenero Herrera whenever he has ceremonies there.  For the Mountain Retreats, Maestro Gumercindo leads ceremonies with the help of Alex Good and Zach Poitra.

Food at Ayahuasca Satsangha and Dietary Restrictions

All guests will be participating in a modified “dieta” for their first retreat.  This dieta has been modified for the high altitude. This dieta is not a true shamanic dieta as we have discovered that the shamanic dieta is simply too difficult to do at high altitude.  If you want to do a shamanic dieta, we suggest one of our jungle retreats.  For the entire retreat there is no consumption of sweets (sugars and fruits). The restriction of refined sugars (some fruits are ok) must be followed 3 days after you end the dieta. There will be no consumption of acid fruits during your stay at Ayahuasca Satsangha. Guests are restricted from eating acid fruits for 3 days after the dieta ends. Consumption of pork or duck and pork or duck products are not allowed during the stay and both are restricted for 6 months after the dieta ends. Alcohol and street drugs are not allowed at Ayahuasca Satsangha at any time. They must be also abstained from for 30 days after the dieta ends.

The shamanic dieta includes the following foods:

• Fish (Boca Chico, Sardinas, trout)
• Chicken
• Eggs
• White Rice
• Yucca, including Farina (dried yucca)
• Potatoes
• Cucumbers
• Coconuts
• Water
• Herbal Teas
• Quinoa
• Limited vegetables

Foods that are excluded from the shamanic dieta:

• No Sugar
• Very Limited Salt
• No Added Oils/Fats
• No Fruits
• No Vegetables That are not Listed Above
• No Spices
• No Dairy products
• No Meats that are not Listed Above
• No Coffee and Other Caffeinated Drinks
• No Processed Foods
• No Brown Rice, Oats, etc….

Vegetarians/Vegans/Pescetarians- please notify us at the time of booking about your dietary needs.  You are still required to follow the above dietary restrictions.  We will simply increase the amount of the foods you can eat in lieu of the foods you can not eat.

Superfood Menu (prior to Treebark Diet)

“That your food be your medicine and your medicine be your food” – Hippocrates

This axiom, from the father of medicine himself (hence the Hippocratic Oath of doctors) guides our approach to self healing. In accordance with this, all foods served during the retreat will be not only in accordance with the restrictions of the shamanic plant diet, but also in alignment with this maxim.

In our ongoing commitment to doing our very best to enable you to take away as much of what you get from us and implement it in your daily lives back home we will also be providing a selection of recipes and ingredients for you to play with at home.

Yoga and/or Qi Gung

Throughout the retreat and especially during the ceremonies you will be ejecting energetic baggage from your system, much like cleaning out a pipe that has had deposits accumulating on its walls for years and this allows a great increase in the level of energy that flows through you. To most effectively incorporate this energy into the meridians and nadis – to lock it in and ground it – we offer yoga and/or Qi Gung training for those interested.  We will offer at least one discipline on each retreat depending on which teachers are on staff.

Meditation

When working with the sacred ayahuasca medicine you will find that she guides you through the minefield of your mental perceptions, projections, attachments and judgements and will reveal to you the neuroses that we have all inherited from our families, our friends and our society in general. Indeed, three ceremonies with Mother Aya can generally be equated to ten years of meditation.

However, whereas the benefits derived from ten years of meditation are stable due to the gradual nature with which the insights were experienced and implemented, the full benefits derived from working with ayahuasca run the risk of being shorter lived due to the amount of data that comes through in such a short time, the inherent difficulty of successfully integrating the information, the nature of the energetic environment to which you will return after the retreat and the nature of the diet you will return to.

Therefore, in order to help stabilize and habituate new modalities of thinking, emoting and acting, thus fully harnessing the benefits of your time with aya, we offer daily meditation times with guidance on difficulties you may encounter as you go through your own process.

Breathing Techniques

Ayahuasca helps to remove energetic blocks, in the form of repressed emotions, from one’s field. As this occurs the ‘Kundalini’ energy starts moving. As it does so it moves through the chakra system and energizes egoic habits in each chakra. Breathing practices help to bring clarity and awareness to this process and to guide the consciousness past the arising impediments to further growth. The breathing practices are also great tools for getting one through the inevitable difficult periods that one will encounter when working with the medicine.

Silence encouraged

Whilst it is important to share your experiences with your fellow participants, we encourage you to go into silence as often as possible during the retreat as this will greatly enhance and further induce the realizations that are the true benefit of the space we create for you on this retreat. These personal realizations and understandings will be the foundations for you continuing your own personal journey upon your return to your home environment. The setting of the lodge is fortunately exceptionally conducive to this!

2 Private Shamanic Consultations

You will sit down with our Maestro Shaman, Gumercindo,  and have the opportunity to discuss specific issues and conditions that you wish to work with during the retreat. This will aid our shamans in their energetic treatments of you as they can in this fashion gain more specific knowledge of your individual state in a shorter period of time. Your discussions will aid them in knowing what areas specifically to look at during the evening ceremonies.

These consultations will be held at the beginning, middle and end of the program in order to effectively monitor the progression of your individual journey with the medicine. To ensure that each participant can receive sufficient time and attention from the maestro, we limit the number of participants we accept on each retreat.

Special Note:  Women and Their Cycles

It is important for women to consider their monthly period when deciding which retreat dates to attend.  It is not a good idea for a woman to be on her period and drink ayahuasca.

The reason for this is that a woman’s period is her natural way of cleansing the body.  Part of this cleansing is the release of energies.  Those energies tend to rise up towards the head in the form of heat.  This is a similar process that happens with ayahuasca and is increased even more while on the dieta.  This “double whammy” is not good, and therefore it is not recommended for women to be on a retreat during this time.

This is by no means a gender bias issue.

Accommodation

There are Three Room Options at Ayahuasca Satsangha’s Andean Retreat:

- Shared Room, Two People, w/Bathroom

- Shared Room, Three People, w/Bathroom

- Individual Room w/Shared Bathroom

- Dorm Room w/Shared Bathroom

We are trusting you in that you choose the appropriate lodging for your donation.  The dorm rooms are for those who will donate significantly below the $1,200-$2,300 USD.

Transport

This retreat is based in the Andes mountains overlooking the small city of Huaraz. Huaraz is located 420km north of Lima and can easily be reached by bus from Lima.

There are several bus companies with high quality luxury buses out of Lima.  Our favorite is Movil Tours.  They have offices in Lima and near the airport in Los Olivos.  There are several departure options including a night bus.  The trip takes approximately seven hours from Lima.  Their website is http://www.moviltours.com.pe/portal/.  We can arrange/reserve your ticket in advance, then collect the cost upon arrival in Huaraz.  Please let us know if you would like us to do this.

The cost of travelling to Huaraz from Lima is approximately $25-$42 each way depending on the seat class selected. We will send you full details of how to travel here upon registration.

There are flights between Lima and Huaraz.  The airline is a small Peruvian airline with brand new prop planes.  The cost of a one way flight is $90-$125 each way.  If you budget $125 you should be fine.  To book a flight from Lima to Huaraz go to http://www.lcperu.pe .

To get to Ayahuasca Satsangha (The Way Inn) you have two options:

- Take a private taxi from Huaraz to Ayahuasca Satsangha.  This costs 40 soles per taxi.

- Take a shared taxi organized by Ayahuasca Satsangha.  We meet up for this shared taxi at noon the day the retreat starts.  The meeting  point is  The California Cafe in Huaraz.  The cost is split amongst those riding up.

- If you are flying into Huaraz we can arrange a taxi pick up at the airport.  The cost of the taxi from the airport to Huaraz is 40 soles.  If you are going directly from the airport to the retreat center the cost is 75 soles.  We can arrange for a taxi pick up, please advise the date and time of arrival.  Then advise where you want the taxi to take you.

Cost & Payment

This is a donation based retreat so there is no fixed price.

Ayahuasca Satsangha does require a deposit of $500.00 USD to reserve a space for a retreat. This deposit needs to be received at least two weeks prior to your preferred retreat dates. We are requiring a deposit as an indication of commitment. The deposit is paid via Pay Pal.

At the end of your retreat you will have an opportunity to provide Ayahuasca Satsangha with a gift or donation beyond the $500.00 deposit that has already been paid OR if you feel that you have not received anything of value from the retreat we will gladly refund your money.

Again, this gift is to allow us to continue our work. We are still living in a money based society. Money is needed to pay staff, maintain our infrastructure, improve the infrastructure, and expand the infrastructure. Any funds that are received that are above and beyond the operational costs of Ayahuasca Satsangha will be directed towards our sustainable community project, Ka’Way Mallki. A description of the Ka’Way Mallki project can be found by clicking here.

Similar retreats in Peru carry a price tag of $1,000.00 USD- $2,300.00 USD. These suggestions are per person, per week long retreat. If you can donate in line with the normal retreat prices that is great. If not, we are here to help.

If you choose to give more than the above price range, you will be helping those people that can not afford the minimum donation to come and do the work that they need to do with us. As mentioned above, you will also be supporting sustainable community development across Peru.

What Does an Ayahuasca Retreat Cost to Run?

You may be wondering what is a fair donation. We do ask that our guests try at least to help us cover our costs, since if we can’t meet our costs then this donation model will be unsustainable and therefore not something we can continue for very long. To that end we’ve decided to publish our costs in some detail. You can view these on our new costs page

Forthcoming Dates:

2012

May 26th – June 2nd
June 10th – 19th (Fully Booked)
June 24th – July 3rd (Fully Booked)
July 14th – 21st 8 day retreat
July 31st – Aug 9th
Aug 12th – 21st
Sept 2nd – 11th
Sept 16th – 25th
Sept 30th – Oct 9th
Oct 21st – 30th
Nov 4th – 13th
Nov 18th – 27th
Dec 14th – 23rd

Registration

To register for this retreat please fill in our application form. Due to the intense nature of working with ayahuasca we feel it’s important to find out a few things about you beforehand. We reserve the right to refuse applicants if we feel they are not suited to a retreat of this nature.

Click here to register

Got a Question About Our Mountain Ayahuasca Retreat?

Ask us about anything you like, we’ll usually get back to you within 24 hours.