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About Us
Our focus is on authenticity, safety for our female guests, and great Value for money. Since we believe in providing our ‘pasajeros’ with personal attention, our group is limited to eight guests, as opposed to other typical retreats with groups of fourteen, seventeen, or more. Trust us, you will get more personal attention that way. Please reserve your spot early because our retreats fill in quickly. We specialize in the traditional Shipibo Master plants Diets, with Bobinsana and the almost mythical Noya Rao tree. They are both heart-openers and full of love, light, and wisdom.
We strongly believe that there are the two master plants with the most healing potential. The best way, in our eyes, to heal the mind and to purge the subconscious of past traumas and programs, has its source in the heart. Love is what our world needs. There is no substitute for Love and that sums up our mission. We often have erected barricades around our hearts to protect ourselves from pain. Bobinsana and Noya Rao will change that paradigm for you.
“The only devils in the world are those running around in our hearts. That is where the battle should be fought.”
Gandhi
Our food is the traditional Shipibo diet with no meat (although chicken will be available), no salt, no oil, and no dairies. Grilled river fish wrapped in banana leaves will always be on the menu with fresh vegetables, rice, yucca, beans, and fruits. Of course, no alcohol, no drugs, and no sex. We are half an hour in Motokar from Puccalpa and since we are not in the jungle, we operate year around.
This is a private and quiet property. It rains less during the wet season and there are far fewer insects to worry about. Our accommodations are private tambos (wooden cabins with thatched roofs) with an individual shower and toilet. Our electricity comes from solar panels and we have reliable WiFi. We have a volleyball and soccer field on the property. The river to go for a refreshing swim and the Yarinacocha Laguna, a magical place to explore on a boat at sunset, are 20 minutes away.
Our Team
About Maestra Juana
Isa Yaka was born into the Shipibo community of Pahoyan, one of the most powerful Shipibo healing lineages in the Peruvian Amazon. She is 68 years.
She has a husband and eight children.
She has studied for many years with her uncles Papa Pascual and Papa Benjamin, as well as with her aunt Mama Manuela who are all members of the highly-respected curandero family, the Mahua family. Juana began her first Noya Rao dieta with her father, when she was 15 years old and has dedicated her life to the path of healing ever since. She once dieted Noya Rao for four straight years. Juana is also very learned in the workings of the human body, possessing an excellent knowledge of the bones and skeletal system.
Juana specializes in bone massage.
Just like the energies of Bobinsana and Noya Rao, she is pure light, love and wisdom. Her powerful icaros reflect that state of grace. She will sing individually to each guest as well as to the entire group.
Rai Nima is one of Juana’ s five sons and was destined to be a shaman. He is thirty-six years old and he likes to say that the medicine and the master plants have been impregnated into his DNA, well before his birth, from his mama, aunts, uncles, grand-fathers and all his ancestors.
He attended his first ceremony at the age of thirteen and has not stopped since.
He is a dedicated husband and father with three kids.
His real passion and calling are to share the healing power and the wisdom of the medicinal plants with his fellow ‘pasajeros’.
He sings the Icaros with a beautiful voice and has a commanding and reassuring presence during the ceremonies.
She is Darwin’s wife and has three kids.
She will be a grand-mother in October 2023.
A hard working woman like all women in the Shapiro community, she is in charge of the groceries, the cooking, the laundry and the overall cleaning at the center.
She will make sure that the guests get their say when it comes to food preferences.
About Limber
Also a father of three kids, he is married to Darwin’s sister Marce.
He is the go-to man at the center and will take care of all the communication with the guests, beforehand and afterwards and all the logistics.
For many years, he has accompanied Juana in her travels to various retreat centers in Peru and Mexico and has served as her interpreter and agent/confident.
He is also the owner and custodian of the property.
He will serve as a volunteer consultant to the center.
When he is not indulging in his passion to travel around the world and learn new modalities, you might catch him at Isa Yaka to continue his diets with the master plants.
He has just completed a three months diet with Noya Rao and had done previously a six weeks diet with Bobinsana.
He has also attended various Ayahuesca & San Pedro ceremonies in Mexico and Ecuador. Being retired, he is always available (as long as he’s not trekking in the Himalayas) for one on one interaction with the pasajeros, before arrival for advice and insights and long after the work is done, for helping with integration into their daily lives.
Do not hesitate to contact him if you have questions or concerns or for feedback.
Email: tajsimrit@gmail.com
Whatsapp: +91 98057 09579
He speaks English, French and Spanish fluently.
He is a certified Kundalini yoga teacher. He also has credentials from a pranic healing Institute in Dharamsala, India.
His autobiography book will come out at the end of 2023, with a few passages dedicated to the awesome power of Noya Rao, here at the center.
Ayahuasca
Ayahuasca is made from two Amazonian plants: the Ayahuasca vine and, traditionally, chacruna leaves. This sacred medicine is traditionally known by its Quechua name, Ayahuasca, which translates as “Vine of the Soul”. In Shipibo, Ayahuasca is known as Oni, meaning wisdom. There is little written documentation on the subject, but many verbal stories have been passed down by families about the use and origins of this sacred medicine. Traditionally, village healers used ayahuasca to help patients recover from illness. To diagnose the root causes of illness, they often sought the help of other plant spirits and doctors in their visions, and were told which plants to prescribe to cure them. Other examples of the shamanic use of ayahuasca by village healers concerned the resolution of village conflicts, hunting tactics or the attraction of a love partner. Chemically speaking, ayahuasca’s main active components are the alkaloids harmine, harmaline and tetrahydroharmine. It is the beta-carbolines, or monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs), which enable the dimethyltryptamine (DMT) contained in chacruna leaves to be activated in the body. DMT is a powerful psychotropic that promotes activation of the neurotransmitter serotonin. These plants must be used in combination, because if one of them is taken alone, the body inhibits any psychoactive effect. These chemicals already exist in the body, facilitating a natural change in the brain. The fact that DMT has receptor sites in the brain shows just how ready the body is to metabolize this chemical. It’s part of our innate biological design, embedded in our DNA, to be able to reach expanded states of consciousness, deep trances and experience other realms of the world. Pioneering work by Dr Rick Strassmans has shown the correlation between the pineal gland and its production of DMT. The pineal gland is also known as the “third eye” in many ancient traditions. In his book, DMT: The Spirit Molecule, he hypothesizes that the pineal gland triggers an influx of DMT when the life force enters the fetal body and, later, at birth, releases more DMT, then again when the life force leaves the body at the moment of death.
Brewing Process
Care and attention to the Ayahausca brewing process are of the utmost importance in the production of a quality medicine. We brew our own medicine in our Center, under the care of experienced Shipibo Ayahuasqueros. We use only Ayahuasca vines and chacruna leaves. No other mixture is used.
We begin by scraping the bark off the ayahuasca vines. This makes for a more pleasant taste, as it removes much of the bitter flavour. The vine is beaten with wooden mallets until it becomes fibrous and the pieces are separated. The chacruna leaves are cleaned in fresh water. The prepared ayahausca vines and chacruna leaves are layered in large pots and boiled for several hours until the final consistency is reached. Loving attention, prayers and positive intentions given during the infusion process are essential to the production of a powerful medicine.
MAPACHO (nicotiana rustica) is a natural tobacco that grows wild in the Amazon basin. It is said that the ancient Shipibo shamans found Mapacho before they found Mother Ayahuasca and that it led them to her. A faithful companion to Ayahuasca medicine, Mapacho has a wide variety of uses and is always available to our patients. It can be used to cleanse and eliminate negative energies and emotions in the moment or as a daily practice. During the ceremony, it can be used to help connect with the spirit of Ayahuasca. Shamans use it as a vehicle to carry the intention and energy of the person they are working with at the time. An Icaro is usually conferred on the Mapacho before it is lit. The smoke is never inhaled into the lungs or blown through the nose but smoked like a cigar. The smoke is then blown into the air or directly onto a person – on the top of the head, in the hands, on the front and back of the torso, and on the shoulders.
