Retreat Itinerary | 10-day Ayahuasca retreat in Ecuador led by a Shipibo elder

Day 1: Meeting us in Santa Clara, Pastaza province, Ecuador. Transport to our center. Optionally, you may opt-in for private transport from Quito/airport. After arrival, rest or explore this beautiful place. Welcome dinner at the center.

Day 2: Guided walk in a primary jungle to connect with the beauty of local flora and fauna, visiting a giant Ceibo tree. Cleansing and rejuvenating bath in sweet medicinal plants. In the evening, a preparatory session before the Ayahuasca ceremony. The 1st Ayahuasca ceremony at 8 pm.

Day 3: Sharing and integration session with questions & answers about the last ceremony, led by a facilitator and the shaman. Then rest & free time to bathe in the sacred river. Optionally, you may let the Kichwa people help you to create beautiful gifts from rainforest seeds or the Ayahuasca amulet.

Day 4: Guided walk in the jungle. Plant bath. 2nd Ayahuasca ceremony.

Day 5: Sharing and integration session. Free time / handcrafts with the Kichwa. 

Day 6: Guided walk in the jungle. Plant bath. 3th Ayahuasca ceremony.

Day 7: Sharing and integration session. Cultural presentation of the Kichwa people with songs and dances.

Day 8: Short drive by car and then walk to a majestic waterfall.. Plant bath. 4th Ayahuasca ceremony.

Day 9: Sharing and integration session. Free time / handcrafts with the Kichwa. 

Day 10: Departure in the morning. You may end this Ayahuasca retreat in Santa Clara, province of Pastaza, or opt-in for private transport to Quito/airport.

Optional additional Ayahuasca ceremonies for those who wish to work more with the medicine are possible and will be sheduled according to the group’s needs.

The Ayahuasca ceremony

Ceremonies at Feather Crown are run in a grounded, safe and responsible way, led by an elder shaman and assisted by several, usually five facilitators. The setting of the ceremony is a large Ayahuasca temple. Before the ceremony the participants are given a PDF with complex information about the ceremony. One hour before the ceremony begins, participants meet our facilitator for briefing with questions and answers. At eight in the night, the shaman joins and begins the Ayahuasca ceremony offering the Ayahuasca brew. It is not a requirement to drink Ayahuasca to be able to participate or receive healing from the shaman. After drinking, candles are blown off and everybody rests on comfortable mattresses in the ceremonial space, waiting for the effects to manifest.

After 10 minutes, the shaman begins to use instruments and starts to chant visions-modulating songs, guiding participants on this inner journey. He cleanses any negative energies that are purged from the participants and call spirit guides who provide compassionate, loving, and healing energy for all who are present.

Later during the night, participants are assisted to come and sit in front of the healer, who sings and cleanses everybody with a bundle of leaves gathered in the rainforest. The healer also uses blowing, sucking, and other advanced techniques aimed to help the patient. This cleansing ritual or “limpia“ is an important part of the ceremony, where the energy of the participants can be balanced, and where different illnesses can be removed from the body.

Integration session

The next day in the morning, there is a translated group session where you may share your journey and also ask the leading shaman and the facilitators your questions. If necessary, anyone can ask for a private conversation with the leading shaman or the facilitators. A special diet will be prescribed for the following days. The support in the integration process can continue over the internet, assuring all participants properly understand and integrate their journey.

Progress during the Ayahuasca retreat in Ecuador

Usually, the first ceremony removes the heaviest negative energies from the energetic field and physical body and can involve purging. In the second ceremony, participants usually have more trust, because they already know that ceremonies are conducted safely and have a positive outcome. Their bodies have already been purified in the first ceremony. This results in being able to relax more and work more consciously with the energy of the Ayahuasca plant, learning how to concentrate in the trance, receiving visions, teachings, and blessings.

Safety of the Ayahuasca ceremony

Sober helpers are always present during the whole ceremony, until everybody returns from the journey and leave the temple, this may take all night until dawn. Responsive assistants help participants walk to the bathrooms and feel safe and comfortable. There is always an English-speaking assistant in the ceremony. The space itself is carefully prepared, physically safe and perfect for hosting this type of activity, with bathrooms just 10 meters from the temple. In case of having a strong reaction to the Ayahuasca, the team knows perfectly how to help participants to go through their journey without any harm.

Ayahuasca brew

Our medicine is prepared with care and in a traditional way by cooking on fire. It is made from two plants only: Banisteriopsis caapi (ayahuasca) vine together with the leaves of Diplopterys cabrerana (chalipanga) vine. The leaf amplifies the consciousness-expanding effects and helps one to receive visions. You will have the opportunity to work with a selected variety of the Ayahuasca vine that has been passed on by powerful lineages of healers. We always strive to make Ayahuasca strong to provide deep healing and teaching for everybody. Our Ayahuasca is safe and never contains plants such as Datura.

Who can benefit from this Ayahuasca retreat in Ecuador

This Ayahuasca retreat in Ecuador is recommendable for people who feel the personal calling and have the necessary respect for the plant and the sacredness of the ritual. This is not a tourist experience. It should not be taken lightly as a tourist attraction. This journey might not be pleasant in all of its parts, but in the end, it is worth taking. The Ayahuasca ceremony is deeply meaningful and healing for those who prepare themselves and who have trust in the healing process with the Ayahuasca plant as well as trust the people who lead the ceremony. The Ayahuasca medicine can bring suppressed emotions to the surface, in order to clean any negative energies and allow for deep change and permanent positive transformation within oneself.

Individual healing session during the ceremonial night

Sina (Emilio Ramirez) – Shipibo tribe – Leading ceremonies on selected Ayahuasca retreats in Ecuador

Sina was born in the Ucayalí region of Peru and is a respected Shipibo indigenous elder. His ancestors were onayas, traditional shaman-healers, who passed their knowledge on him from an early age. Sina has spent life in service to others and has been practicing healing for his community as well as many foreigners for the past 35 years.

Expect to meet a humble shaman who is knowledgeable, serious, and skilled in his practice. During the Ayahuasca ceremony, Sina is able to “see” energies of people and access deep layers within the energetic bodies of his patients. Through the singing of beautiful icaros (healing songs) throughout the night, Sina heals, cleanses, harmonizes, and brings transformation. Sina is also able to release traumas, dark energies and check on substances or plants which you have been using before and “order” energies which are crossed or bad.

Sina is a warm-hearted grandfather who is happy to share and teach, and he helped many apprentices to graduate as healers. Jan Rostlinka, the organizer of this event and retreat center owner, has cultivated a deep relation of trust with Sina during the past 5 years, undergoing strict dietas and ceremonies with foreign guests. It is a great honor to invite this exceptional and very special healer to the Feather Crown center again.

Sina will lead all Ayahuasca ceremonies and provide one-on-one work to each participant.

What is included in the price

(Find dates and prices here.)

Included in the price:

– Accommodation in a double-bed room for 9 nights (10 days)
– 4 Ayahuasca ceremonies
– 4 individual cleansing sessions with the shaman (one in each Ayahuasca ritual)
– 4 medicinal plant baths
– 4 guided jungle excursions, including one to a sacred waterfall
– All transportation, fees and entrances
– All meals and drinks (delicious vegetarian or vegan cuisine)
– 4 questions & answers sessions
– Materials, tools, and guidance for creating your Ayahuasca necklace

Not included:

– Airfare to/from Quito, Ecuador
– Extra treatment sessions for specific ilnesses (info here).
– Gifts or products that you purchase
– Lunch on your way to/from Quito

Can be arranged for an extra fee:

– Transport to the center from Quito/airport on the first day of the event, or back to Quito/airport on the last day ($50 USD one-way)
– Extra nights at the center ($40 USD) with extra meals of your preference ($10 USD per meal)
– Extra Ayahuasca ceremony ($120 per person when at least 4 participants)
– Private accommodation instead of shared room (add $50 per person/night)