Peru Retreat Information
You are about to embark upon an adventure into the Amazon rainforest of Peru! This retreat is an excellent opportunity not only for those interested in working with the profound benefits of the ayahuasca medicine, but who would also like to learn more from the wisdom of ancient cultures. With the assistance and guidance of an authentic Amazon healer, Don Luis Romero, retreat participants will follow individualized treatment plans. This would include following a special diet during the two weeks, drinking individualized plant remedies, having plant baths to purify ourselves using flowers to refresh the body and our spirit, spiritual counseling, and sometimes massage, exercise, and divination. Not only will the participants receive plant remedies to assist in their healing, there will also be workshops available on shamanism and shamanic healing techniques based upon the common principles and practices of shamanism.
It has been said that because these powerful shamans are still familiar with the ancient healing techniques and traditions of plant spirit medicine, they are able to access the roots of many afflictions that would be considered incurable in Western Society. Once the curandero and the patient have discovered the roots of the problem, then the healing process works to pull those roots and bring the physical, emotional, and spiritual bodies back into harmony. Participants learn a great deal about themselves and the importance of love and compassion in maintaining a healthy, balanced life.
Ayahuasca ceremony
During this two week retreat, we will be drinking ayahuasca up to six times in the traditional ceremonial manner. Ayahuasca is a sacred medicine used to gain access to other dimensions to communicate with spirits and understand our true nature. For many people, drinking ayahuasca is the beginning of a process of profound personal and spiritual discovery and transformation. During the ritual itself, there will be blessings at the beginning of the ceremony, icaros sung, and a gentle healing will be performed. It is my hope that with this retreat, the experiences and knowledge gained will result in the participants return home with a new outlook on life, and continued healing even if one never drinks ayahuasca again.
This is what one person, Ralph Miller, author, had to say: "The ayahuasca ceremony is an intimate night gathering that includes music and chanting performed by a trained shaman, an important, if not essential, intermediary or go-between. What seems to be happening is awareness on a quantum level not typically experienced in a person's lifetime. Yet the experience for many is familiar and may be reminiscent of the earliest moments of our life when we first reached this world from a source that is somewhere else. This familiarity nurtures a confidence that we will ultimately return to a source we already know."
The Curendero
Don Luis Romero was born in the San Martin area in Peru where he lived in the midst of nature learning from his tachers developing his abilities. He has over 40 years of dedication to the study and treatment using natural jungle medicines. His use of tobacco and the medicine ayahuasca helps him to have visions of the past, present and future and to visualize what happens inside of people, both physically and spiritually. He is a gentle healer, and a true vegetalista, working with countless medicinal plants. His icaros in ceremony further enhance his psychic connection to these plants.He is such a wonderful person, and his ceremonies are filled with joy and love.
The Workshops
These workshops are designed to apply shamanism and shamanic healing techniques successfully to your daily lives. The workshop introduces the participant to the classic shamanic journey, a visionary method used to explore the hidden universe. Participants will learn to meet and study with their spirit helpers, and to meet and discover their own power animals. With the power animal workshop, we will investigate what our chief power animal may be, and what our birth animal is. This workshop is to awaken the connection of the energy within and helps to allow you to be a natural and integral part of life itself. During the workshops, individual counseling and/or drum journeys will also be offered to assist each individual in their healing process.
