As a retreat center, we receive visitors from all across the globe, from many cultures, coming with a vast range of intentions for working with Ayahuasca. Ranging from no prior experience to decades of experience, we are always inspired by the feedback we receive regarding the integrity and approach we hold within our organization.

Here, we wish to share with you a bit about our process of formation with Medicine, our Approach to Medicine, and our Medicine Team of facilitators.

In our observation of the modern world's increasing access to ancient practices like Ayahuasca, such as the Amazonian tradition, we've noticed the emergence of various new approaches as these traditions go global.
 

In light of this, we continuously refine our moral and ethical understanding, aiming to consciously and respectfully navigate tradition in the midst of a rapidly evolving and changing global landscape. The accessibility and popularity of Ayahuasca sometimes lead to its adoption in ways that overlook essential traditions and foundational structures, often in favor of convenience, modernity, or the creation of new infusions that may disregard traditional knowledge.
 

OUR MEDICINE APPROACH involves an active exploration of ethical methods to uphold tradition in the contemporary age. While we acknowledge the intelligence of change, we also recognize the importance of maintaining access to core traditions and root systems in spiritual practices. We are vigilant against fostering Western entitlement—by this, we mean avoiding actions that may imply a sense of superiority. 

Therefore, in our center, we navigate the current period of transformation by carefully learning how to preserve tradition amidst the changing dynamics of the forest, cultures, and the medicines themselves. We proactively engage with "bridge systems", which we consider essential for Western individuals to communicate and integrate with indigenous systems of belief and spiritual practices.​

OUR FACULTY & MEDICINE TEAM consists of medical plant practitioners, or in Spanish, ayahuasqueros. Each of the ayahuasqueros with whom we work has a family heritage deeply rooted in Ayahuasca practices. We specifically work with Shipibo, Matsegengka, and Mestizo practitioners. For general clarity we will refer to any of these people as ayahuasquero, although they have their own specific terms in the indigenous or mestizo tradition they come from.

The Ayahuasca tradition in Peru is vast, and there is not one lineage. As we work in a team setting at Novalis, the persons serving you medicine in the ceremony and facilitating will come from different lineages depending on the time of year. Please contact us for the specific time you are interested in joining, and we will let you know who to expect. Our listed retreats also name each person in the ceremony with you.

Additionally, we have a dedicated support team that actively supports the medicine space and serves as bridge between visitors and the indigenous community (our Novalis Medicine Team). On-site, we are fortunate to have many indigenous friends residing both within our center and in neighboring communities. They play a crucial role in weaving their traditions into our approach, providing ongoing education, and contributing to the evolutionary process of our ayahuasca work.

Together the support team and the ayahuasqueros will form our core Medicine Team. We are facilitators in your process. You are also obviously an integral part of this team, and we work for and with you.

ROLES OF OUR FACILITATORS:​ Our Medicine Team fulfills diverse roles within our center, serving as ayahuasca ceremony facilitators, cacao ceremony facilitators, integration circle counselors, morning practice instructors, personal counseling agents, translators, field guides to local plants, and providers of classroom-style teaching. We offer constant on-site support, ensuring a comprehensive and holistic experience.

There is a continuous infusion of knowledge through the shamanic guidance provided by the ayahuasquero as we collectively conduct ceremonies as a core team. The ayahuasqueros view the plants as teachers within the shamanic and medicinal plants realm, actively engaging with the plants in your treatment, dieta, and other plant therapies. This is possible because in Amazonian Plant Medicine, plants have spirits.

It is important to remember the word SHAMAN comes from a completely different geographic region and tradition, but we will use it because it is understood in English to be a stand-in for the lacking terms within the Amazonian plant medicine practice.

Our team's passion extends to sharing their cultural traditions, providing insights into their worldview of plants, and offering perspectives on ways of living.

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Please feel free to contact us for any further questions regarding our approach to medicine work at Novalis.