7 Day Women’s Healing Retreats
BE ANIMAL
Date: April 23 - 29, 2024
Women's Healing Retreat 2024
Only 7 spots left!
$1,500 per person 12 participants (not including staff)
Includes transportation Tumbaco - Mindo - Tumbaco
meals, accommodation, ceremonies, workshops and accompaniment.
When: Tuesday, April 23 – Monday, April 29, 2024
Location: Mindo cloudforest, Ecuador
Price: $1,500 per person (not including fees, if applicable)
Retreat guides: Rosa, Paulina, Shiram, Jo, Sabine and Sandra (see full list)
Price Includes: transportation, food, accommodation, ceremonies & accompaniment
Weather: Warm, comfortable days though can get hot, generally rainy, but in a lush, tropical way. Can get cool at night and in mornings.
An invitation - general information about 7 day Women's Healing Retreat
Dear beautiful souls,
We are excited to announce and invite you to BE ANIMAL Women’s Healing Retreat 2024.
Join us and 12 other women in a sacred space, Nuestra Tierra Creative Village in Ecuador’s cloudforest, to rekindle your innate wildness, an ancient force that resides within each of us women. As the flames flicker in the maloka – the heart of our communal space – we will delve into the depths of our souls, awakening the dormant whispers of our inner spiritual guides. Over the course of 7 days, you will gradually feel how the primal rhythms of nature reconnect with the essence of your being.
In the quiet of this retreat (no internet or electricity to distract us :), the echoes of ancestral wisdom resonate. Here is an invitation to rediscover the forgotten language of our souls and true nature. Join a team of seasoned medicine woman as well as a sisterhood of explorers. Together, let’s traverse the landscapes of our own wilderness, bravely facing the uncomfortable and unraveling the tapestry of our existence and embracing the untamed beauty that lies within.
This 7 day Women’s Healing Retreat is not just an event—it’s an immersion into the sacred dance of self-discovery, where the wilderness of our spirits converges with the wisdom of the ages.
Register soon! These retreats are only held 1 or 2 times a year.
This retreat is ideal for women:
- Seeking greater connection with ones true and divine essence
- With a calling to honor their past and cultivate a deeper relationship with the natural world
- Desiring to awaken and unblock facets of themselves that have been concealed over time
- Desiring to heal from trauma and re-encounter self love and respect
- Longing to connect with the spiritual realm and master plants like Tobacco, San Pedro and Ayahuasca
- Seeking to further develop their knowledge in medicinal plants and ancestral healing by learning from authentic, experienced, respected healers.
♥️"
The price of this 7 day women’s healing retreat ($1,500 per person) includes:
- Transportation Tumbaco (close to airport) – Mindo retreat space – Tumbaco
- All food and accommodation
- Traditional Rapé workshop
- Song Circle (s)
- 3 Medicine Ceremonies – 1. San Pedro/Wachuma Medicine Temazcal 3. Ayahuasca 4. Mushroom workshop
- 1 Shuar Plant Medicine Cleansing Ritual led by Rosa
- Group excursion along river
- 2 Temazcal/sweatlodges – one to open (with medicine) and one to close
- Closing Animal Spirit Dance with medicine
Reserve by emailing: [email protected]
Retreat healers / hosts
This retreat will involve a group of female healers, wisdom keepers and workshop leaders.
The healers come from diverse backgrounds and are highly experienced. Many of them are recognized as leaders in their path or with their medicine. Among them:
Rosa Utitiaj Sechanua
Activity: Ayahuasca ceremony and plant medicine cleansing ritual
Rosa is a representative and wisdom-keeper of the Shuar indigenous nationality of the Ecuadorian Amazon. We are honored to learn from her during this retreat as she shares a plant cleansing ritual, transmitted from generation to generation in a matrilineal way since the beginning of time. We will have the blessing of being cleansed by this 52 year old grandmother and accompanied in the ceremonies with her prayers and songs…
Apart from the ayahuasca ceremony, Rosa will guide us in the ancestral rituals of sacred cleansings with medicinal plants and flower baths for the blossoming of our paths. These energetic cleansings are ancestral rituals that energetically cleanse the bodies on physical, mental, and emotional levels, thus opening the barriers or blockages found in these three fields. Rosa carries ancient chants, powerful prayers that help balance and harmonize our lives. It is a great honor to receive an energetic cleansing from her hands. She is a grandmother belonging to the Shuar tribe of Ecuador, inheritor of knowledge through her grandmothers, grandfathers, father, and mother. It is very gratifying to receive her wisdom and work in this special retreat of connection to the animal self.
Paulina Quilla Pakari -Tsunkinua
Activity: Echoes of Nature: Weaving Animal Bonds in the Psychedelic Forest
Echoes of Nature: Weaving Animal Bonds in the Psychedelic (cloud)forest is a day-long workshop that delves into the richness of the connection between nature and the animal spirit. Conducted outdoors, in a ‘Field Exploration’ space, this workshop provides a unique self-discovery experience through the use of magic mushrooms and cacao.
Through various exploration techniques, we will connect with our primal instinct to unlock patterns and belief systems that prevent us from liberating our behavior and allowing our animal nature to express itself.
Paulina received the Chakana altar, Andean table, and Heart of the Carnation altar from the Andean elders. She has been working with ancestral medicines for about 25 years. Founder of the collective group Mujeres de Luna, she works with chants as a prayer for healing of the spirit and body. She is a Leader of the Sacred Fire of Itzachilatlan and a conductor of temazcals. She is also a trained Gestalt therapist specialized in accompanying processes.
The journey begins with a prayer circle, where we’ll share the sacred medicine of cocoa with medicinal mushrooms, asking permission from the forest and connecting with the animal spirit within each of us.
As we venture into the forest, we’ll encounter strategic stations designed for rest and connection. Each station will provide an opportunity to delve into meditations, songs, moments of silence, and music, all with the purpose of healing our primal relationships. We’ll address stored memories with our grandmothers, mothers, sisters, fathers, grandfathers, and brothers, as well as the complexities of our romantic relationships.
The premises for each station will be presented in detail, guiding us through a profound process of healing and personal development. This journey through the psychedelic forest invites us to weave bonds with nature and ourselves, exploring the deepest corners of our experiences and relationships. Get ready for a unique day of connection, reflection, and transformation!
Sabine Cihuatlcoatl
Activity: Medicine Temazcal
Sabine Cihuatlcoatl, Daughter of the Earth, wild wachuma guardian, naturalist and pioneer in the therapeutic use of ancestral medicine with wild animals.
Medicine temazcal / sweatlodge description:
This is a ritual space where we return to the womb of Mother Earth to connect with the four evolutionary stages of our life: childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age. It’s a moment to review our path and, in darkness, with the help of master plants, work through our experiences, traumas, and memories that weigh us down. This is the place to let go of what we no longer want to carry and continue our journey with more lightness, openness, and connection to the peace, love, and natural balance of our body, mind, and spirit.
For about 5 hours, we will connect with our emotions, sensations, and thoughts guided by the wisdom of Grandfather Tobacco, gaining another perspective on the struggles that afflict us. We will ask for the help of the four givers of life – Earth, water, fire, and air – to guide us in this new moment.
The power of plants, water vapor, darkness, tobacco, and ancestral prayers will give us the tools we need to be better people in our daily walk.
The Medicine Temazcal is an ancestral ritual that takes us back to the beginning of creation. This sacred space, guarded by ancient stones, is where all life-giving elements come together to transform our cellular memories. Sabine, a woman of medicine, creator, and artist with a special connection to animals, will be our guide on this deep and personal animal journey through the Medicine Temazcal.
During this journey, Sabine will share with us ancestral medicines such as Grandfather Huachumo (San Pedro Cactus) and sacred chants. Combined with medicinal mushrooms (optional), this experience is a wonderful opportunity to explore our inner selves and discover the vast world of the animal instinct within us. It is the primal instinct, the wildness that has long been suppressed and now seeks to manifest itself to teach us the wild and sacred connection humans share with nature.
This journey not only allows us to understand this connection but also becomes a guide for our daily lives. We learn to be vulnerable, to show ourselves as we are to avoid wounds, to break our masks, and reach the essence of being an animal.
Shiram Ucucuy
Activity: Spirit Animal Dance leader
Shiram Ucucuy is a carrier of ancestral medicine. She has been working with native rituals and power plants for 15 years. She is a conductor of temazcals and a co-founder of the group Mujeres de Luna.
Along her path, she has worked with the feminine energy and the obsidian mirror. She accompanies the work of some of the Andean and Amazonian elders.
The Animal Dance is a space we open to integrate the entire process we will go through during the Be Animal encounter. It is an ancestral experience that connects with dance, movement, and the use of master plants. It is a space of liberation, of integration, allowing the primal instinct to emerge to guide the body’s movements, freeing ourselves from mental, physical, and spiritual blockages, letting the animal instinct that dwells within our spirit come to the surface.
The dance is accompanied by live music and a well-organized set to guide the steps of our dance. Invoking the animal spirit guide of each woman, we want to evoke the dance of the jungle and let ourselves be seduced by the music to free ourselves from prejudices and simply be animals. It is an experience that invites us to explore the connection with our most instinctive nature and celebrate the authenticity of our being through dance and movement.
Jo Tucuna Shungo
Activity: Traditional Brazilian Rapé / Hapé workshop: Craft to Consecration
Learn the sacred, traditional ways of preparing rapé / hapé medicine from the heart of Brazil, unlocking its potent healing energies.
Rapé is a sacred medicine for indigenous communities that serves to focus the mind and call the spirit into the body. It has various healing properties; it is antiseptic, antibacterial, and helps clear the respiratory system.
Meet Jo Tucuna Shungo, a woman deeply rooted in the healing traditions of her ancestors. Hailing from the vibrant heart of Brazil, she is a Tucuna by lineage and a guardian of the sacred medicine of rapé. As a biologist, her understanding of nature intertwines seamlessly with her role as a traditional midwife, specializing in the sacred practices of Andean and Mexican midwifery. Jo is not just a herbalist, but a steward of plant medicine, a homeopathic therapist, and a Reiki master, channeling energies to restore balance. With each Temazcal ceremony she leads and every water prayer she guides, Jo embodies the spirit of a medicine woman, devoted to the well-being and spiritual journey of those who seek her wisdom.
Rapé, a blend of powdered tobacco and ashes, is a powerful tool for mental clarity and emotional healing. Through its breath, one experiences a deep spiritual connection, cleansing, and purification, unlocking stagnant energies and communing with the spirits of Nature.
Join us as we invoke the ancestral wisdom of Rapé medicine. Together, we’ll transform Sacred Tobacco and Tsunu Ashes into a potent elixir, a Sacred Medicine for our community and beyond.
Sandra Elena ten Zijthoff
Activity: Song Circle
Sandra is a queer Peruvian and Dutch artist that expresses herself through music and clay. In this workshop, she will be leading a few ceremony songs to add to your repertoire! No experience is necessary.
Sandra will share with us a circle of songs with the aim of expanding our knowledge about ancestral chants. We will learn songs in native languages, delve into their melodies and meanings, and discuss the significance of sharing sacred songs in ancestral ceremonies. Our objective is for each woman to learn at least 2 sacred songs correctly, and a songbook will be provided for access to more songs, allowing each woman to learn at her own pace and rhythm. This is an opportunity to immerse ourselves in the spiritual essence of ancestral music and carry this valuable knowledge with us.
Schedule for 7 day Women's Healing Retreat 2024
The schedule for this retreat will include the following:
(note that some changes may be made to the schedule in terms of order)
Day 1 – Tuesday, April 23
- 7 am Meet up in Tumbaco and begin drive to Mindo
- 10 am Arrival to Nuestra Tierra
- 11 am Welcome and Introductions
- 1 pm Lunch
- Afternoon rest
- 7 pm Animals of Power Medicine Temazcal with Sabine
- 9 am Breakfast
- 11 am Herbal plant bath / cleanse with Rosa
- 5 pm Song Circle with Sandra
- 7:30 pm Dinner
- Time to hang out, get to know each other, explore surroundings
- 9 am Breakfast
- 11 am – 3 pm Traditional Rapé / Hapé making workshops with Jo
- 3 pm Lunch
- Time to hang out, get to know each other, explore surroundings, swim in the river
- 7 pm Dinner
- 9 am Breakfast
- 11 am All day mushroom workshop with Paulina
- 7 pm Dinner
Day 5 – Saturday, April 27
- 9 am Breakfast
- Walk along river
- 3 pm Lunch (no dinner tonight)
- Nighttime ayahuasca ceremony led by Rosa and Paulina
- 9 am Breakfast
- Rest
- 12 pm Integration circle
- 2 pm Lunch
- 8pm Animal Spirit Dance with San Pedro Medicine with Shiram
- Closing temazcal
- Travel back to Tumbaco (Quito area)
or simply email [email protected]
Food and Translation
Conscious and healthy food
For seven days we will eat vegetarian, dairy and sugar-free meals rich in local fruits and vegetables. This will help us detoxify our body and cleanse our lymphatic system.
Simultaneous translation
All events will have simultaneous translation into English. Several members of the team speak English; no event will be held without proper translation.
Location, Transportation, Accommodation
This retreat will take place in near Mindo cloudforest, about 2.5 hrs from Quito at Nuestra Tierra – our new project location. Nestled deep in the rainforest, our facilities are basic, as in a true camp setting. Accommodation is shared in a dorm-like setting. Please read more below!
The plan is to depart Tumbaco (Quito area) together early in the morning on the 26th of September to arrive at the retreat location. On October 2, we will similarly be departing the retreat location, arriving to Tumbaco (near Quito) that afternoon/evening. We recommend that you purchase flights arriving on the 25th of September (or early morning on the 26th) and departing on the 3rd of October (or late evening on the 2nd) and stay the night at 1 of 2 recommended hotels in the Tumbaco area. The Tumbaco area is located between Quito airport and Quito city. We will be departing from and arriving to this area together.
The dream for Nuestra Tierra – Creative Village in Mindo, Ecuador was borne 15 years ago from the need to create an integral, community space, combining healing tools such as art and master plants to enable transformative, therapeutic processes while respecting and conserving the environment in a sustainable way.
In 2023, we began the construction of the village with 10 hectares of primary and secondary forest.
Up until now, we have:
– A ceremonial house / maloca
– Temazcal/sweatlodge
– A covered space/pergola
– A guest house suitable for 10 people in a single space, each with their individual bed, living room, balcony, dining room, kitchen, and dry toilets.
All of this on beautiful, lush, tropical land with a nearby river for bathing and paths to hidden waterfalls.
The retreats that take place at Nuestra Tierra will allow us to connect with a natural, deep, and rooted experience, activating community living dynamics such as cleaning shared spaces, gardening, kitchen service, caring for ceremonial areas, carrying firewood, and taking care of grandfather fire.
Praying for the hearts of every woman to open their understanding and surrender to service and to inhabit a state of openness; stepping out of our comfort zone can be difficult but is necessary for profound life change.
What to bring this women's healing retreat - 2024
Not sure what to pack for your retreat? Here are a few recommendations:
- Offerings: We would be grateful to receive sage flat cedar and organic tobacco offerings, which are difficult to get in Ecuador.
- Sun protection – sunscreen, hat, sunglasses (remember, we are on the equator; the sun is strong!)
- Clothes to hike: loose/breathable, comfortable long sleeve is best.
- Other changes of clothes comfortable for humid weather e.g.leggings can be used under shorts or skirts, tank tops
- Bathing suit and towel
- Light sweaters – evening sometimes gets chilly
- Waterproof jacket or poncho
- Hiking or trekking boots, closed toes, waterproof preferable
- Socks (these are helpful especially if there are mosquitos)
- Head lamp
- Sarong or wrap for entering sweat lodge (optional)
- Flip-flops or sandals to wear when not in hiking boots
- Headlamp/flashlight
- Medication you may need, also anti-histamines can be useful (Benadryl, here there’s something called histacalm)
- Kindle, book and/or journal
- Toothbrush and toothpaste
- Phone for pictures – no photos allowed during ceremonies
- Bug spray
- Cash, especially small change
- Ear plugs & sleep mask – accommodations are shared
Gallery - Women's Healing Retreat March 2023
Gallery - Women's Healing Retreat 2022
