Jan Rostlinka
Founder of Feather Crown Ayahuasca Ecuador
A guide to Amazonian traditions, retreat organizer and long-term student of Indigenous healers. Jan has lived in the Ecuadorian Amazon since 2008.
Jan Rostlinka is the founder and director of Feather Crown Ayahuasca Ecuador, known in Czech as Výprava do Amazonie. With the help of others, he built the Sacred River retreat center on the banks of the Piatúa River in Ecuador’s Pastaza province. Together with Indigenous healers and a support team, he organizes ayahuasca retreats and traditional plant dietas.
His work brings together years of living in the Amazon, personal study of local healing traditions and practical care for visitors. During retreats, he is a host, organizer and intermediary between participants and Indigenous healers. He helps with communication, explains the cultural context and assists during ceremonies.
From Linguistics to Life in the Amazon
Born in 1982, Jan comes from Moravia in the Czech Republic and studied linguistics. He first traveled to the Ecuadorian Amazon in 2008 to learn about traditional plant use directly from the people whose families and communities pass on this knowledge.
In Napo province, he began living among the Kichwa people. He learned about their everyday life, their relationship with the forest and the place of ayahuasca in local culture. Gradually, he came to understand the wider context of traditional practice: plant dietas, cleansing practices, songs, the relationship between teacher and student, and responsibility toward people seeking help.
What began as a journey became a long-term commitment. The Amazon is now his home, where he continues his studies and his work with visitors.
His Teachers and the Traditions He Studies
Jan learns through personal relationships with individual healers, stays with their families, traditional plant dietas and participation in their work. Each tradition has its own practices and ways of passing on knowledge.
Kichwa Traditions in Ecuador
One of his first significant teachers was Don Luis Andy Grefa, a Kichwa yachak, or traditional healer. Jan learned from him about ayahuasca, tobacco and other plants. He lived for approximately three years in a small house in the rainforest. During this time, Don Luis guided him through ceremonies and gradually shared his experience.
The project known in Czech as Výprava do Amazonie began during their collaboration. Jan organized retreats, interpreted, cared for participants and assisted during ceremonies.
Don Carlos Landázuri, a Kichwa healer from the Ecuadorian Amazon, also became an important teacher and long-standing collaborator. Working alongside him, Jan continues to gain experience in traditional practice and participant support.
Shipibo Traditions in Peru
Another part of Jan’s path is connected with Peru’s Ucayali region and the Shipibo people. He studied with Don Mateo Arévalo, stayed with his family and undertook traditional plant dietas.
He then continued studying with the family of Emilio Ramírez, known as Maestro Sina. Jan has chosen this lineage for lifelong learning. This path includes periods of seclusion, following the rules of a dieta, learning about plants and studying traditional songs known as ícaros.
His intention is to gradually develop the experience needed to continue his teachers’ work responsibly. His studies are ongoing.
Yawanawá Traditions in the Brazilian Amazon
Depuis 2025, Jan has also been learning within the Yawanawá tradition under Edivaldo Mew Yawanawá, who received teachings from Pajé Tatá.
Jan has completed several traditional dietas and is learning about this culture’s relationship with plants, prayer, song and community life. He approaches the tradition as a guest and student, with respect for its knowledge holders and the rules governing how that knowledge is shared.
Read more about his personal path at janrostlinka.cz (in Czech). Meet his current collaborators on our team page.
What Is Jan’s Role During Your Stay?
Jan plans the program, coordinates the team and oversees the running of the center. His years in Ecuador help him explain the local environment and support communication between visitors and the people guiding them during their stay.
His work includes:
- Retreat organization: planning the program, coordinating activities and working with healers and the support team.
- Ceremony assistance: supporting participants and assisting the healer within each program.
- Communication and interpretation: helping participants and Indigenous healers share questions, needs and experiences.
- Explaining the traditional context: introducing practices and cultural perspectives that may be unfamiliar to visitors from outside the Amazon.
- Personal conversations: discussing questions about the retreat, ceremonies or the traditional approach.
The Indigenous healers named in each program lead the ceremonies. Jan assists them and works alongside the other team members. Barbora Alegría, Mgr. contributes to the psychological aspects of participant support and integration.
The team shares day-to-day support responsibilities. If you would like to discuss something directly with Jan, you can arrange a personal conversation during your stay.
A Responsible Approach and the Limits of His Work
Jan’s experience comes from long-term life in the Amazon, traditional learning and organizing retreats. Traditional training is not a healthcare qualification, and retreat support does not replace medical care, psychiatric treatment or psychotherapy.
Ayahuasca is not suitable for everyone, and taking part in a ceremony does not guarantee any particular outcome. Before accepting a participant, the team reviews each application individually, including the health conditions and medications disclosed. This review does not replace consultation with your treating physician. Any changes to prescribed treatment need to be discussed with the clinician responsible for it.
Preparation includes understanding potential risks, the program’s rules and your own expectations. Making space to process the experience afterward is equally important.
Apprenez-en davantage sur health, safety and suitability, preparing for ayahuasca et integration after ceremonies.
Sacred River Retreat Center and the Surrounding Land
The Sacred River center stands beside the Piatúa River in Pastaza province, near Llanganates National Park. It occupies a 23-hectare property, much of which is rainforest.
The center grew out of Jan’s work and the help of local people, friends and other supporters. It provides space for retreats, ceremonies, plant dietas and meetings with Indigenous healers.
The center opened in 2018. Its first ayahuasca ceremony took place later, in 2019. Opening the facilities and beginning ceremonies are two separate milestones in its history.
Living in this area has also led Jan to support local communities in protecting the river and surrounding forests. In a 2019 article, he described taking part in and helping with a march in Puyo to protect the river.
Explore our retreat center, read about reciprocity and our relationship with local communities, or see Jan’s 2019 account of supporting Amazon protection (in Czech).
Writing About Ayahuasca and Life in the Amazon
On Výprava do Amazonie, the Czech-language website of the project, Jan publishes articles about Amazonian traditions, retreat preparation, ceremonies and life in Ecuador.
He writes primarily from the perspective of someone who lives in this environment, learns from local healers and helps organize retreats. Personal experience and traditional explanations should be distinguished from scientific findings and individual medical advice.
Jan also organizes the retreats offered here. The content on this website therefore describes the approach and practices of his own project.
What Guests Say About Jan’s Work
Selected feedback about Jan’s approach, guidance and care during retreats.
Avis Google
The following are summaries of selected public reviews of Feather Crown Ayahuasca Ecuador, also known as Výprava do Amazonie. Follow each link to read the reviewer’s original words in full.
Jin Blaha describes Jan as a welcoming host and guide, highlighting his enthusiasm for Ecuador’s culture and forests.
Read Jin Blaha’s original Google review
Lukas Travnicek praises Jan and the team’s professionalism and describes feeling safe and able to trust the people supporting the retreat.
Read Lukas Travnicek’s original Google review
Maeslife highlights the kindness and helpfulness of Jan, the guides and the wider team, and the care they took to make guests feel comfortable.
Read Maeslife’s original Google review
Jarad Stiles praises Jan as a teacher and guide and describes feeling comfortable, safe and well cared for throughout the stay.
Read Jarad Stiles’s original Google review
Articles and Reports About Jan
Koktejl – Radek John: Cesta za Ayahuascou (June–July 2024)
Radek John’s report, whose title translates as A Journey to Ayahuasca, describes his stay at the Sacred River center, ceremonies with Maestro Sina and life in the rainforest. It also includes his meeting with Jan Rostlinka.
Read Radek John’s report from Koktejl magazine (in Czech).
Dieťa vesmíru – Veronika (31 January 2024)
In her personal account Moje stretnutie s Ayahuascou (My Encounter with Ayahuasca), Veronika recalls her May 2021 stay at Jan’s center in Pastaza province. She describes the setting and the circumstances of her journey to Ecuador.
Read Veronika’s personal account (in Slovak).
Ara.cz – Jan Konáš (2021)
The travel account Za ayahuascou do ekvádorského amazonského pralesa (Seeking Ayahuasca in Ecuador’s Amazon Rainforest) describes a family visit, meeting Maestro Sina and Jan’s role as organizer. The author records both positive and difficult aspects of his experience and appreciates the opportunity to meet an Indigenous healer.
Read Jan Konáš’s travel account on Ara.cz (in Czech).
Legalizace – Jana Nenadalová (2017)
Ayahuasca českýma očima (Ayahuasca Through Czech Eyes) explores Czech interest in Amazonian traditions. Its section on journeys into the rainforest mentions Jan Rostlinka and his years of study with Indigenous teachers in Ecuador and Peru.
Read the article in Legalizace magazine (in Czech).
Poutník – Výlet do Amazonie (Issue 1/2020)
Jiří Luner wrote about visiting Jan’s center in autumn 2019 in Výlet do Amazonie (A Trip to the Amazon), published in Poutník, issue 1/2020, pages 19–22. It is a visitor’s personal travel account.
Read the article in Poutník (Czech PDF).
Epochální svět (16 December 2016)
The article Peruánští šamani nejsou svatí: Někteří dokážou vážně ublížit! (Peruvian Shamans Are Not Saints: Some Can Cause Serious Harm) quotes Jan’s warning about placing unquestioning trust in spiritual teachers and the abuse of participants’ trust.
Read the article on Epochální svět (in Czech).
PLUS 7 DNÍ (31 October 2016)
The article Mystická rastlina amazonských Indiánov: Jej drastické účinky vyskúšal aj náš politik introduces Jan and his life in the Amazon. It also mentions his views on the limits of traditional medicine and the risks of uncritical trust.
Original link to the PLUS 7 DNÍ article (in Slovak).
Czech Free Press – Emil Kalabus (26 June 2015)
In Tvrdý byznys s duchovnem (The Hard Business of Spirituality), Emil Kalabus quotes Jan’s warning about fraudulent shamans, healers and spiritual teachers.
Read the article on Czech Free Press (in Czech).
SME Blog – Pavel Baričák, “Hirax” (18 March 2013)
Čo mi šepla ayahuasca – ceremónia začína (1. časť) (What Ayahuasca Whispered to Me – The Ceremony Begins, Part 1) is Pavel Baričák’s personal travel account of a ceremony with Don Luis in Ecuador. He mentions Jan and Zuzka Rostlinka, who helped arrange his visit.
Contact Jan
If you are considering a retreat or would like to ask about the experience, you can write to Jan and arrange a conversation.
Courriel : kontakt@janrostlinka.cz
WhatsApp : +593 999 608 184
Before deciding, we recommend reading the retreat program and our information about health, safety and suitability. You can also share your questions and expectations in the formulaire de demande.
