Something has called you here. That call matters.
This guide is a living companion for the weeks ahead — not a checklist to complete, but a space to inhabit. Read it slowly. Return to it. Let it work on you before the medicine does.
In the shadow of your mountains, in the skin of your rivers, the pulse of invisible hands lingers — the unseen creators of your existence, where the smallest particles of life are born.
You didn't arrive here by accident. Something in you recognized this as the right moment — maybe a slow knowing that had been building for years, maybe something you can't yet name. That recognition is enough.
At Alma Healing Center, we work with plant medicine in the Mindo cloudforest and near Quito — held in ceremony by Paulina Quilla Pakari, a mestiza medicine woman with twenty-five years of experience working with plant teachers in living Amazonian and Andean traditions. Having received the blessings of Shuar elders and Shipibo and Piaroa medicine keepers, she is widely recognized for both the depth of her practice and the rigor with which she has learned. Sandra, Alma's founder, handles all preparation and integration support, bilingual from first contact through the days after you leave, and brings live guitar and voice into the ceremonial space.
Our approach is not about taking you somewhere extraordinary. It's about helping you come home to yourself — which is often harder, stranger, and more worthwhile than any journey outward.
This guide is not meant to be read once and set aside. It's a companion for the weeks ahead. Let it inform not just what you eat or what you pack, but how you spend your time, where you put your attention, and how you begin to open the interior spaces that the medicine will meet.
The most important thing to know: you don't need to arrive ready. You need to arrive willing.
We are here if you have questions. Write to us anytime.
With care,
Sandra & Paulina
Alma Healing Center
Every step I take, every step I have taken, every step I offer — a gift of life. You burn within the pulse of my essence, a rhythm unfolding in a world that crackles, crunches, sparks, alive with mystery.
Preparing for a retreat is not only physical. The mental and emotional ground you tend in the weeks before matters as much as the dietary protocol. The medicine will meet whatever you bring — so bring something good to it.
Begin asking yourself honestly: Why am I going? What am I ready to look at? What do I hope to carry away? You don't need a perfectly formed answer — the beginnings of one are enough. Write in a journal. Take slow walks outdoors. Reduce screen time and news consumption. Begin to notice what's running in the background of your mind.
Begin a daily meditation or breathwork practice — even ten minutes a day makes a real difference. Start the dietary protocol. Reduce alcohol, stimulants, and chaotic environments. Limit emotionally charged conversations or media. This is the beginning of the ceremony, not a prelude to it.
Eat light, simple meals. Rest more than usual. If there are unresolved tensions with people close to you, see if you can address them — not because the medicine demands a clean slate, but because an unburdened heart creates more space. Spend some time in silence.
The preparation is complete. Trust what you've done. Your only task now is to show up, present and available. We will take care of the rest together.
Internal oceans expand with each inhale, sinking beyond the visible, beyond the spoken, while breath rises from within — sliding along the sacred paths of our bodies, vibrating in every breath, in every heartbeat, in every shadow of our being.
The medicine works best in a clean, unencumbered body. What you eat in the weeks before is a form of respect — not only a safety protocol, but the first gesture of the ceremony itself.
Begin these guidelines 1–2 weeks before your retreat, or as early as you're able.
Two days before the retreat begins, simplify further. Reduce salt, sugar, onion, and garlic — these can dull the visionary quality of the experience. Prioritize hydration with electrolytes: coconut water, cucumber, and fresh water. Eat light. A clean body is a welcoming vessel.
A floating space within space, suspended in your vast and silent dance — in the freshness of your movement, in the quiet trembling of all that is born and dies within your chest.
Our retreat spaces are set in the living forest. Travel light, travel simply. Everything you bring must be carried in — sometimes with the help of horses. Pack in a backpack.
We offer pickup on Day 1 of the retreat only, from the Cumbayá/Tumbaco valley area and from Mitad del Mundo. Travel into central Quito significantly extends the drive to Mindo and we are unable to accommodate it. We recommend staying the night before in Cumbayá/Tumbaco or meeting the group at Mitad del Mundo. Let us know and we can suggest nearby accommodation options.
If you are traveling with extra luggage, contact us in advance — we can try to coordinate safe storage.
I inhale, and with each breath, the memories rise like a warm mist — scented with copal, cedar, palo santo, myrrh. I inhale, and something within me opens — a hidden passage, where each tiny vein of my cosmic trees expands.
Daily practice in the weeks before your retreat builds the interior spaciousness needed to meet the medicine with openness. You don't need to be an experienced meditator. You need only to practice being present — consistently, without forcing anything.
Alternate nostril breathing. Balances the nervous system, quiets mental chatter, and prepares the body for altered states. A simple ritual for morning or before sleep.
10 min / dayBuilds somatic awareness — the ability to feel the body from the inside. By learning to inhabit your body in ordinary consciousness, you become more at home within it during ceremony.
15–20 minEach morning, sit quietly and hold your retreat intention in awareness. No analyzing — just letting it be present. Notice what feelings arise without trying to resolve them.
5–10 minWalk somewhere green without headphones. Observe closely. This attunement to the natural world — its textures, its slowness, its indifference to your thoughts — is one of the best preparations there is.
20–30 minThousands of free guided meditations. Search for "somatic awareness," "loving-kindness," or "plant medicine preparation." A useful companion for this period.
FreeSpend time listening to icaros and medicine songs — this opens the channels of the heart and familiarizes you with the ceremonial container before you arrive.
Tell me who I am and where this relentless current of days and nights is carrying me. Speak to me of the forgotten memory still hidden in the roots of our people, in the dust of the roads, in the flight of birds tracing messages across the sky.
These prompts are invitations, not assignments. Move through them at your own pace, in a physical journal. Writing by hand creates a different relationship with the material than typing — slower, more honest. Return to these pages during integration.
What brought you here? What is the longing beneath the decision to come?
Write without editing. Let the first honest thing come.
What are you most afraid to see or feel? What do you keep turning away from in your daily life?
Courage lives in this question.
What in your life is asking to be received more fully — where do you already have abundance that you haven't claimed?
Gratitude opens the same doors as ceremony.
How has your body been speaking to you lately? Where do you hold tension, numbness, or unexpressed feeling?
The body knows things the mind hasn't caught up to yet.
Which relationships carry unresolved weight? Is there something you've needed to say — or something you've needed to forgive?
The medicine often surfaces what love is waiting to resolve.
What showed itself during the ceremony? What images, feelings, or knowing are still alive in you now?
Write immediately after, before the mind tries to make sense of it.
What is one concrete change your life is calling for? What would it look like to begin it this week — not someday?
Integration lives in action, however small.
Write a letter to yourself one year from now. What do you hope you've done with what you received?
Seal it. Return to it in twelve months.
Guide my steps so I may remember why I have come, what it means to exist upon this earth. Let each glance, each outstretched hand, each brush with the energy of my brother, my sister, not be in vain — but an echo of what we once knew, what we once were, what we still have the power to become.
The ceremony ends when you leave the circle. The work begins when you return to your life. Integration is the art of turning insight into lived change — and it is as important as the experience itself, maybe more so.
Protect the first 3–7 days after retreat. Minimize obligations. Your nervous system needs time to recalibrate — give it that time without filling it immediately.
Write daily. The insights that seem obvious now can dissolve in a week. Record everything, including the strange and confusing parts.
Spend time outdoors. The natural world continues the work of the medicine, quietly and steadily. Let it do its part.
Share your experience with people who can hold it well. Seek out integration circles, therapists familiar with plant medicine work, or a trusted guide.
Continue the dietary protocol for at least 3 days after the retreat. Protect the softness that opens inside you during this time.
Delay major life decisions for 2–4 weeks. Avoid substances. The state that opens during ceremony is powerful and deserves careful tending.
Integration isn't always dramatic. More often it looks like: choosing differently in small moments. Noticing old patterns a little earlier. Feeling grief move through you rather than getting stuck. Saying something true you've long avoided. Caring for yourself with unfamiliar gentleness.
If it feels slow, strange, and not what you expected — this too is normal. Reach out to us if you need support. We don't consider our work finished when you leave the retreat space.
The unknown can feel daunting. These are the questions we hear most often. If yours isn't here, write to us.
No meditation experience is required. We ask guests to simply spend a few minutes in quiet stillness each morning — not forcing anything, just being present. Even this simple practice, done consistently, creates a real foundation. We'll support you further when you arrive.
Difficulty is a normal part of the process, and often the most valuable part. You will never be alone — our facilitators are present throughout the night, and you can communicate with them at any time. The discomfort that arises during ceremony is usually the medicine showing you what needs to be seen. Our job is to hold the space steady so you can move through it.
Tell us. Transparency is much more valuable than embarrassment. Small slips rarely require cancellation, but we may adjust timing or approach for your safety and comfort. We are here to support you, not to judge you.
Many people come precisely at these moments — grief, endings, major changes. Plant medicine can be extraordinarily supportive during transitions. That said, if you are in acute crisis, please speak with us before finalizing your booking so we can assess readiness together. A stable enough container matters for safe, meaningful work.
No. No ethical practitioner can or should promise this. The medicine works with what is present, and sometimes what is present needs to surface as discomfort before it can move. What we do offer is a safe, carefully held container — experienced facilitators, genuine care, and respect for both you and the tradition. Difficult experiences, when properly supported, are often the ones that change a life.
Reach out to us directly. We offer follow-up support for guests navigating the post-retreat period, and can connect you with integration specialists experienced in plant medicine work. You don't have to integrate alone — this is part of our commitment to you, not an add-on service.
Whatever you are carrying — whatever called you here — there is space for it. Come as you are. We'll be ready.
If you have questions before you arrive, Sandra is your first point of contact. Write anytime.