Integrating your ayahuasca ceremonies in Peru as a way to bridge the Indigenous and the Western worlds
When considering Ayahuasca’s origins, we do not only think of geographical areas and ecosystems where the plants that offer us Ayahuasca medicine grow. We also recognize it stems from a deeply rooted tradition, honored and lived by many generations within native communities. For them plant medicine is interwoven with daily life – from the very early beginnings of one’s life.
Integration, as such, doesn’t exist within these traditional contexts. In indigenous spaces, preparation and integration is to do dieta, to live in close relationship with Pachamama and Spirit on a daily basis, and being in ceremony regularly — both with and without plant medicine. It’s a way of life. Integration of plant medicine happens organically.
For most of us who were born, raised and/or live in what we generally refer to as western countries, things are different.
Therefore integration is, in and of itself, a new way of going about drinking plant medicine in our modern world.
Responding to a need
The increasingly important practice of integration is responding to a need that arises when two very different worlds come together.
When taking part in an Ayahuasca retreat, we literally retreat from our day to day life. We step away from what we know — temporarily — to tune in to what plant medicine has to offer. After having this experience, we return to a daily rhythm and way of life that doesn’t prioritize a deep relationship with Pachamama, isn’t anchored in an ancestral system that breathes plant medicine, and that is mainly oriented towards individualism.
Integration is a way of offering plant medicine to people who weren’t born and/or raised in these native contexts, yet feel a genuine calling to connect with them.
Going to a plant medicine retreat and then returning to a western way of living can be a challenge: we need to learn how to deal with life after our ceremony.
We may return as a different, transformed person. Our consciousness may have expanded, deepened. Things may have come to the surface we can no longer deny. We may want to do things differently than before.
Not everyone will understand our experience, we may no longer fit in certain aspects of our life, our insights may require action, some of our relationships may take new forms, we may have difficulty coping with our old lifestyle, etc. It will be different for everyone.
Implementing this reconfiguration of self — step by step, respecting our unique journey and rhythm — is a big invitation that may require extra support.
We move from fragmentation to continuity, from isolation to interconnectedness, and from abstract insights to embodiment.
Once we have embodied our new reality, we may feel present in our body, mind, heart, emotions, and soul again — stepping into a new life with greater consciousness.
The Eagle and the Condor
At Willkamayu Spirit, we built a symbolic bridge that connects two very distinct worlds.
Whether they are familiar with indigenous spaces or not, every participant is warmly welcomed to transform and thrive. We have the necessary tools at hand to make your encounter and process with plant medicine as smooth and wholesome as possible.
Across the ages, the prophecy of the Eagle and the Condor has whispered that only when northern clarity of mind and southern compassion of heart soar together, can deep healing begin. When these great wings fly as one, we return to our highest calling, remembering who we are at our core.
We are dedicated to unifying the worlds. Heart and mind, north and south, masculine and feminine, spirit and matter, traditional and non-traditional.
Allowing everything to be there, and bringing together that which is perceived as separate, is at the core of integration. It’s an art exercised with love and professionalism.
The Willkamayu Spirit family and team hold awareness around the importance of a thorough screening and preparation process, having clear agreements, and having solid options for integration both during and (long) after the ceremony. You can choose an additional therapy during your retreat like inner child healing or some of our other supportive offerings. You can also join our Willka Integration community or receive 1:1 online integration sessions — where we share cues, invitations and exercises to inspire your integration.
We consciously invite in: continuity, reconciliation, cohesion, harmony within ourselves and with our environment.
For all our relationships.
