Authentic Ayahuasca Practice
At Naturalia Retreat Center, we approach Ayahuasca with humility, responsibility, and deep respect for the tradition from which it originates.
Ayahuasca is approached here as a sacred medicine, used for generations by the Shipibo people as part of a structured process of healing, learning, and reconnection.
Our role is to honor this lineage by offering a clear, grounded, and respectful ceremonial framework.
Our practice is intentionally focused and coherent.
We work exclusively with Ayahuasca, allowing the medicine to express its depth without interference, and ceremonies are guided with moderation, care, and clear intention.
Rather than seeking intensity or extraordinary experiences, we cultivate a space of safety, presence, and containment.
In our experience, it is within this calm and attentive environment that deeper understanding and genuine transformation naturally arise.
Working with small groups allows us to offer close human support and to adapt each process with sensitivity and discernment.
We do not promise outcomes, but we commit fully to providing a safe, ethical, and traditional setting in which each participant can engage with the medicine at their own rhythm.
At Naturalia, Ayahuasca is not an escape, but a tool for inner work — approached with respect, patience, and responsibility.
What is Ayahuasca?
Ayahuasca is a traditional Amazonian plant medicine that has been used for centuries by Indigenous peoples of the Amazon basin, particularly for healing, learning, and spiritual guidance.
More than a substance, Ayahuasca belongs to a broader cultural and ceremonial framework. Among the Shipibo people, it is considered a sacred medicine that supports processes of self-understanding, emotional clarity, and reconnection with oneself, with others, and with nature.
Traditionally, Ayahuasca is consumed within a ceremonial setting guided by an experienced healer. The ceremony is not centered on visions or extraordinary experiences, but on presence, intention, and the relationship established with the medicine. Songs known as icaros, silence, and ritual structure all play an essential role in guiding the process.
Ayahuasca works on multiple levels — emotional, psychological, and symbolic. Each person’s experience is unique and unfolds according to their personal history, sensitivity, and readiness. Rather than imposing an outcome, the medicine invites a process of inner exploration that requires patience, grounding, and proper support.
In traditional contexts, great importance is placed on preparation, intention, and integration. The effects of Ayahuasca do not end with the ceremony itself, but continue through reflection, understanding, and the way insights are gradually integrated into daily life.
The traditional preparation of Ayahuasca at Naturalia
At Naturalia, the Ayahuasca brew is prepared according to the most ancestral traditions of the Amazon.
The preparation takes place in an isolated and dedicated space, away from daily activity, allowing the process to unfold in silence, focus, and respect. The medicine is prepared using freshly harvested Ayahuasca vine (Banisteriopsis caapi) and Chacruna leaves (Psychotria viridis), gathered directly from the land of Naturalia.
Water used for the preparation comes from one of the many quebradas — natural streams that originate within the protected territory of Naturalia. In accordance with traditional knowledge, great care is taken to ensure that the water used for any medicinal preparation remains free from chemical contamination, preserving its natural purity.
The brew is slowly cooked over a wood fire, following a long and attentive process that can span several days. Throughout the preparation, icaros are sung and mapacho is traditionally smoked, accompanying the cooking with intention, presence, and continuity of lineage.
At Naturalia, the preparation of Ayahuasca is not treated as a technical task, but as a sacred and intentional process. Each step is approached with patience and humility, honoring the plants, the land, and the ancestral wisdom from which this medicine originates.
Who are the Shipibos people
The Shipibo people are an Indigenous people of the Peruvian Amazon, traditionally living along the banks of the Ucayali River and its tributaries. Their culture is one of the most recognized Amazonian Indigenous traditions, known for its deep relationship with the rainforest, rivers, and Amazonian plant medicine.
Shipibo knowledge has been transmitted for generations through oral tradition, lived experience, and direct apprenticeship. Rather than being separated into religion, medicine, or daily life, healing within Shipibo culture is understood as a holistic process involving the body, emotions, community, nature, and the unseen dimensions of existence.
Within Shipibo tradition, plants are regarded as living beings endowed with intelligence and spirit. Healing practices are based on relationship, respect, and long-term learning, rather than technique alone. This worldview forms the foundation of Shipibo healing tradition and ceremonial practices.
Ayahuasca holds a central place in Shipibo culture and traditional healing practices. It is approached as both a medicine and a teacher, used within a clearly defined ceremonial framework guided by experienced Shipibo healers. Becoming a healer traditionally involves many years of discipline, learning, and responsibility, often beginning at a young age and guided by elders and lineage holders.
A distinctive element of Shipibo ceremonies is the use of sacred songs known as icaros. These songs are an essential component of Shipibo healing ceremonies, functioning as tools of guidance, protection, and energetic orientation. Icaros are not considered artistic performances, but expressions of a deep and precise knowledge of plants, healing processes, and energetic balance.
Shipibo visual art, particularly their intricate geometric patterns, reflects the same cosmological understanding. These designs are understood as visual representations of energetic pathways and structures that mirror what is perceived through song, ceremony, and interaction with the natural world. In this way, sound, vision, and healing are intimately connected within Shipibo culture.
At Naturalia, working with Shipibo tradition means engaging with a living Indigenous culture, not reproducing an idealized or simplified image of Amazonian spirituality. It requires humility, ethical awareness, and a clear understanding that Shipibo knowledge cannot be separated from its cultural, human, and environmental context.
Our collaboration with Shipibo healers is based on continuity of lineage, mutual respect, and long-term relationship. The tradition is approached as something alive and evolving — not a product to be consumed, but a responsibility to be honored and preserved.