The 4 things to consider for a SpiritRivers retreat
All the above medicines also called master teachers are certainly far from recreational and must be approached with the utmost respect, care and humility.
Before committing to a plant medicine retreat, it’s paramount that you understand the in-depth preparation involved with working with these ancestral medicines as well as the openness to the process of integration during and even after your retreat to ensure true transformation.
We’ve identified four areas to focus on before embarking on a SpiritRivers retreat:
- Mindset preparation and habit
- Diet also called ‘Dieta’
- Crafting and setting your intention
- Surrender — No resistance
Mindset Habit
It’s vital to prepare the mind and body and eliminate as many impurities, poisons, and intrusions as possible, so you may approach this deep work with your full energetic potential.
We emphasise enough the value of the time to prepare your mental and spiritual bodies, in addition to your physical.
This can include meditation, yoga, walks in nature, art or dance classes before a retreat. Anything that connects you with yourself or nature , so that you get a deeper understanding of what you truly wish to accomplish during your retreat.
Our advice is to choose a regular time of day when you will meditate and work to stick to it. Mornings tend to work best to clear your mind right before the day begins. Guided meditation apps, such as Headspace, Calm, and Insight Timer are great starts for those who are beginners.
Pick a particular place to meditate in your house or outside in quiet nature as you’re more likely to create a habit and stay focused when you have a time and place routine and favourite space.
Dieta
A vital component to working with all plant medicines comes from what we’ve learnt from ancestral traditions, be they Shipibo, Q’ero, Achuar, Yawanawa or so many othersDetoxifying and nurturing your body also restores your psyche to the perfect state to approach those medicines. All of them.
The crucial aspect of a dieta is it’s intent to prepare all aspects of the person, body, mind and soul to absorb the characteristics and healing potency of the medicines.
Following a diet you prepare for the encounter and cleanse the body which reduces dramatically the need to ‘purge’ during ceremonies.
Setting an intention
An ancestral medicine journey requires that you bring a personal contribution to it. Something that you have prepared, identified and that will be the thread for your experience. Your intention is an anchor for ANY plant medicine journey. Coming into this journey, it’s important to bring something with you to guide you.
Your intention is like the thread to your real life when entering the altered spaces offered by our medicines. It will also allow for your to keep focused and with a purpose for deep work. completely acceptable to shipt your intention mid-course however the initial focused is what it takes to set the right parameters for transformational sacred work.
We offer an excellent breakdown of how to set your intentions before your retreat here.
Surrender — No resistance
The goal for our SpiritRivers retreats is to cleanse, clear, and transform, transmute the locked energies from either trauma, learnt patterns and limiting beliefs that hold you back in life, express themselves in emotional distress or create the right conditions for pain, depressed mind states and illness to manifest.
Surrendering is an awkward term: everybody knows the meaning of it, yet, we are all helpless when it comes to the ‘how-to’. You literally can’t make yourself surrender. It’s a side effect of offering no-resistance.
No resistance to the healing process is essential to allow the spirit of a medicine to teach and help you clear embedded blocks, energetic imprints of self-limiting behaviors.
This is often what gets in the way of us re-discovering our “true selves” and living a life filled with joy, abundance, and inner peace.
‘No resistance’ creates the right setting for an invitation to a dance with a Spirit teacher and an extraordinary experience.
Huachuma, Ayahuasca, Yopo or Bufo are magnifiers and will bring to the surface patterns and programs that no longer serve you. Medicine does not allow us to suppress issues and escape reality. The exact opposite in fact. Instead, it helps us with a sense of responsibility that comes naturally when we are compelled to face, resolve and release issues that have been buried throughout our lives.
When we offer no resistance, whether conscious or unconscious to this journey, we allow the medicine to fully reach us and deploy it’s true beauty and efficacy.
If you feel called to experience one of our SpiritRivers retreats, we are currently accepting bookings for our Mexico and European venues.
Book here or feel free to reach out for additional information.