Updated: Mar 24
This week, Mercedes and I began a two-week-long private ayahuasca retreat in Ecuador. The private ayahuasca retreat intends to create a container for individuals who have an intention they’d like to work on in a space that is 100% dedicated to them.
We hold ceremonies and retreats at a center nestled away from the busyness of the city, yet easily accessible to the airport and downtown Tumbaco. Quito is only 30 minutes away. It has beautifully manicured gardens, a meditation pond, and breathtaking mountains and Cotopaxi Volcano views. The center itself is located on Ilaló, an ancient and inactive volcano.
Individuals who come for a private ayahuasca retreat stay on the grounds, in a whimsical and comfortable home on-site.
The design of the private retreat in Ecuador option varies, depending on the individual, what they are looking to get out of the experience, and how they desire to spend their time. The person with us now has already participated in both a private ayahuasca retreat and one of our group ayahuasca retreats, so they are familiar with ayahuasca, experienced other ancestral medicines, therapies, and excursions that we typically include during our retreats. This time, they opted for a more reflective and meditative experience. Over two weeks, they’ll sit in six ceremonies. While not in ceremony, they have the time and space to relax and take in the nature they are immersed in at the center, read, write, reflect, and work on personal projects.
This is one of the benefits of the private ayahuasca retreat – it can be tailored exactly to what one needs for their journey with ayahuasca.
This week also happens to be very powerful astrologically. We moved from Pisces to Aires season, the spring equinox is upon us, and we’ve entered eclipse season. I love to be guided by astrology and see these events as an opportunity to work with the energies to support my intentions and prayers. It’s a time that feels like much is coming up for us to gain more awareness and integrate the lessons we need to continue to evolve. It’s also a powerful time for planting the seeds of intention for the next chapter of our lives.
As a ritualist, I felt called to propose an offering ceremony as an impromptu component of the retreat. This ceremony of gratitude is an ancestral rite from the Andes in South America. It represents reciprocity, respect, and wisdom. It also helps to restore balance to our relationships. Man, nature, and the divine are united in the Andean cosmovision. The Andean principle of life is to be in Ayni, to live reciprocity with all relationships. In many communities, people live in harmony with nature, ancestors, sacred places, and the spiritual world. During the ceremony, an offering is created with seeds, sweets, herbs, flowers, and more. Each detail has a symbol that contains a spiritual message and prayer. In the “Ayni Despacho” Ceremony, we ask for the harmonization of work, health, emotional relationships, family, home, material and spiritual abundance, luck, travel, and protection.
I strive to keep this concept of Ayni present with me always, and it felt appropriate to include this ceremony to give thanks for all of the ways we are being supported and sustained by the medicines, the mineral, vegetal, animal kingdoms, our guides, and ancestors during this private ayahuasca retreat.
If you feel like there is an intention you would like to explore in an intimate setting with the guidance of ayahuasca, consider a private ayahuasca retreat in Ecuador that can be designed to support you physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually!
