The ikaro is the main working tool of a Shipibo Healer. They're the healing songs which the Healers sing. Through the vibration of the songs they connect to spirit and to various energy fields and forces.

How long does an ayahuasca ceremony last & when does each ceremony take place?

Our ceremonies start in the evening and last, depending on the group, for between 2 to 6 hours.

Where do the Plant Medicine & Ayahuasca Ceremonies take place?

The ayahuasca experience can bring hidden areas to the surface, giving you the opportunity to become aware what you haven´t been aware of before. We have a Maloka which is a traditional ceremony building.

What happens during our Shamanic Plant Medicine Healing Ceremony?

During ceremony everyone stays on their own mat, there is no talking or touching. Everyone is asked to stay present with their own process. The maestros/maestras sing the ikaros for a couple of hours, and, depending on the situation, they sing from the center of the Maloka or they may move in front of someone's mat.

What are the effects of ayahuasca?

Some examples of often reported effects are: greater self-acceptance, more compassion, less depression, less anxiety, improved interpersonal relationships, less alcohol and drugs, better health behaviours, cosmic shifts in worldview, feeling changes on a cellular level, feeling more connected to life, new understanding about love, positive influences on creativity, alignment, realisation about personal new meaningful activities in life.

What is an ayahuasca experience & ceremony like?

Sometimes people have the sense nothing is happening, sometimes they feel they experienced so much in one night as in their whole life. The art is to learn that everything what we experience is full with teachings, if we are open.

Purging - will i purge in an ayahuasca ceremony?

Purging is a very important part of the process as it helps with your cleansing. Everyone is purging, or releasing energies, in different ways. This can happen through vomiting, diarrhea, shaking, sweating, freezing, muscle contracting, excessive thoughts, and/or strong emotional experiences, ..etc.

Shipibo Ayahuasca Ceremonies in our Masterplant Retreats

There are many different ways to work with Ayahuasca or to do a Dieta/Sama with a Masterplant.

In our True-Journey Retreats, the Ayahuasca ceremonies are mainly influenced and held with Shipibo medicine and ancient energetic technology passed on by an old, well-known healer lineage.

I have been in apprenticeship since 2016 and organizing retreats since 2018 with Shipibo teachers and healers of the Mahua Shipibo family.

Every maestro/maestra has their own way of connecting you to spirit and guiding you through the different dimensions and experiences.

Luckily, I have always felt safe, whatever challenges came inside of ceremony, during dieta, or in life in general. There was always safe guidance, and I felt protected. I know that part of my safe journey is connected to being under the umbrella of this Shipibo family.

Even if a Shipibo family belongs to the same lineage, each has, over many years, developed their own personal way.
I feel very grateful that the work in True-Journey got shaped and formed through my apprenticeship with this lineage.

The Shipibo maestros we work with are very well selected, and I have a long relationship with them. You don’t find that often — I want to mention that.

How is the experience in a Shipibo Ceremony like?

The intention in our ceremonies is about learning and healing.
We all focus on that, and our intention is to create a safe space that allows our participants to go deep and feel safe.

The facilitators and the maestra/maestro are there to help each individual. We create small group settings, so it feels mostly like a little family or friend circle. We like the intimate atmosphere rather than bigger groups.

The effect of the medicine during the ceremony is different for everyone. It can be mellow, or it can be a huge roller coaster.
You can feel it mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually, energetically, or on all layers at the same time.
You can travel far out of this world into the unknown or be very present in your body. Everything is possible.

Sometimes people have the sense that nothing is happening; sometimes someone feels so full and so expanded that it needs much time to consciously integrate that.
The key is to trust that the medicine always works in its own ways with us.

For some people, it is a very strong spiritual experience, and for some, it is very much about their human life here on the ground.
Long term, mostly we learn about all the connections, from the most subtle to the very physical.

The art is to learn that everything we experience in ceremony is there for us to learn and grow. We need to open to receive that. It can come up in very different ways.
Often it is not what it seems to be in the first place. The teachings and reflections can unfold for a much longer time if you are open for that.

The guidance is to learn to "master" the effect of the plant medicine and to learn to navigate your "boat," not with control but with a certain center inside yourself. This is a beautiful journey of learning — not only for ceremony but also for life. Facilitators are there to support you.

Some ceremonies are very silent besides the Ikaro which is sung. In other ceremonies, you hear much purging going on or other noises.
Remember, it is not a "dinner table" — sometimes it can get quite noisy with purging sounds.

Some ceremonies feel super calm, deep, and peaceful. In others, much energy in many waves is moving through the space.

Often we have long-term dieteros in ceremony. This has a different energy than having new people.
That said, everyone is welcome to apply if you take this journey with respect and the deep readiness to continue to learn and heal.

Our Shipibo Ceremonial Space

To give you an idea:

There is one Shipibo healer who guides the energies
There are 1–3 facilitators/helpers who support the participants and the space
Each person has a mattress where he/she stays at all times during ceremony, besides going to the bathroom
You have a bucket, natural tobacco, and a perfume
There is no talking or touching between participants during ceremony
The ceremony starts about 7 pm and goes into the night. Depending on the participants, the work from the healer might finish between 00:00 and 2:00 on average
Each one is encouraged to focus and concentrate on their own process
Everything that shows up for you, you are encouraged to see that as your healing and learning process
Plant students who have participated in Sama with us before or are in a longer diet with us can sing during ceremony (not louder than maestro) — singing during the mareación (effect of Ayahuasca) is part of the practice to be a long-term plant student
After the work from the maestro, there is space to sing for each one who is able to sing gently and attuned with the space (if you play an instrument, we need to talk before; mostly we keep the space without strong instruments to allow the after-echo of the Ikaro to unfold)
Singing is the way to connect with the sacred plant; in Shipibo medicine this is a very important practice
During ceremony, it is important to listen and follow the guidance of the Ikaro of the maestra/maestro and facilitator
After the healer finished the work, there is a facilitator available if needed to support and help in case the medicine or process is challenging

Dosage

We start with smaller amounts, and depending on the experience, we go step by step up. Our intention is not to shoot someone far out into the universe. Our intention is to provide a healing and learning experience, and sometimes that includes that someone will have an experience far away from their common experience as a human.

The intention is to have an experience that someone can also integrate and embody afterwards in life. We talk about that individually. Each participant, the facilitator, and maestra will find the right dosing together. If the participant is experienced, very often you choose your dosage at some point. In the beginning, there is strong guidance by the facilitator/maestra in order to create a safe space and experience.

More Practicalities

Most of the time, we offer Ayahuasca ceremonies every 2nd night. For exact information, check the "retreat details" for each retreat. It can vary depending on the individual retreat offer.
To have this big amount of ceremonies can be quite intense and can bring up a lot (connected to fasting and silence times). No one needs to drink Ayahuasca in each ceremony. Sometimes participants just join to receive the healing Ikaro and connect without drinking Ayahuasca.
Many of our participants come with some experience already. If you are new, please know that we can take it slowly. If you apply, we will talk about that in the application process.
Traditionally, the patient who came to the healer in the past did not drink Ayahuasca. Only the healer drank this strong medicine. Today, still in Shipibo villages, the "normal inhabitants of the village" come to ceremony to receive the energy work without drinking Ayahuasca themselves.
In some venues, we have an extra building for ceremonies, called Maloka. In other venues, we meet in a bigger room integrated into our venue (temporary retreat home).
We always meet in our ceremonial space at least one hour before we drink the Ayahuasca together.
The day and days after ceremonies, there is a facilitator available to offer help with processing. The Shipibo healer is also around to offer guidance and support if needed.
We all agree that everything that happens in ceremony and in the retreat space will stay confidential.

The Most Important Healing Tool: Shipibo Ikaro

The Ikaro is learned by the plants during being in Sama.

The Shipibo healer who has many years of experience starts to sing when she/he feels the effect from the Ayahuasca — approximately 30–60 minutes after we drink the Ayahuasca.

The healer will sing to their own energy to get ready, to the space, to the group, and to the individual.

The enery work which happens through the Ikaro is a very ancient and unique healing tool that the Shipibo healer is offering. This healing tool has a very high value, and you are invited to listen and receive deeply.

Receiving these frequencies and energies through a song/channelled frequencies from the plant/universe is an ancient technique.

I feel very grateful to be able to offer this possibility to you to receive healing and learning.

Often people need to learn to just receive. That can be a learning experience in itself, to see what is in the way of receiving.

Through the vibration of the songs, you get connected to spirit and to various energy fields and forces. With the Ikaro, the healer opens the plant medicine world, helps you to clean, align, and connect you with higher energies/consciousness guided by the sacred plants.

Receiving an Ikaro can be experienced as an energetic surgery inside you, which creates a different vibration for you in life.

The Ikaro is used to channel the specific energy of the plant that the maestro has been dieting with for many years. They also call the spirits of the plant the "Plant Doctor" or "Plant Teacher".

In the end, you receive protection. All the work you received, you need to take care of afterwards through a healthy, aligned lifestyle. This is called post-dieta and integration.

Sometimes they sing while sitting in the middle of the Maloka (ceremony building), and sometimes they may sit directly in front of you.

Mapacho: Jungle Tobacco

In Shipibo medicine, Mapacho is an important plant ally and is used a lot during ceremony to support especially the cleaning process. As well, it is used to connect with the spirits, to gain clarity, and to help move energies. In many traditions, this plant is used as a powerful healing and teaching plant.

You are invited to use it as well. Each participant receives some tobacco in a rolled form, as well as loose tobacco for the pipe.

The pipe is another sacred ancient tool. It can be perceived as a "being", your personal guide or friend. You can build up your relationship with your pipe over time, if you feel open for that.

Important, before the tobacco is used, you will learn to put your prayer, intention, or song into the tobacco. You program the tobacco, you ask the tobacco for help.
It is only used with intention.

Soplado

It is a technique where the healer or facilitator is blowing tobacco on you in a certain learned way, to support your process and to help you connect with the plant energies.

Perfume

The healer sprays it with their mouth into the communal space or onto the person directly. This technique is called as well "soplado", the word soplar means to blow.

You will receive one for your personal use. To clean, to connect, to move energies, to help you focus or become more clear.
Similar to tobacco, you build up your own connection with your perfume.

Chupados

If necessary, some of the healers do "chupado", where they suck out "bad energies" with their mouth from your body. In case that will happen, a facilitator will explain and be with you during that process.

More Shipibo Healing Tools (Outside of Ceremony)

Bodywork
Many Shipibo healers as well move energy with their hands in a form of massage and bodywork. Maestra Juana is especially famous for her strong bodywork. This is often not comfortable. She sees with her hands and connects that with the Ikaro during ceremonies.
Vapor baths can help to move energies and to connect you with the plant wisdom. We offer them in most of our retreats, depending on the location.
Plant baths have leaves or flowers in them. In most of our venues, we offer them for cleaning and clearing. Depending on the location, we might use different plants.

Price and Application for Masterplant Retreat