The Jungle meets the Andes Plant Medicine Retreat – Mai Niti comes to Cusco in December

The Mai Niti family and team are heading to The Sacred Valley of the Inkas, Cusco, for a special retreat wherein the powerful medicines and practices of the jungle will meet those of the Andes Mountains.

We’ll be staying at a beautiful retreat center in the awe-inspiring Inkan Village ‘Ollantaytambo’ for retreats led by the Mai Niti team and maestros.

Availability: November / December 2023 – May / June 2024. Get in touch if you are interested in other dates.

The Picturesque village of Ollantaytambo

It’ll be our first retreat outside of the center as a team – and for some of the family, their first time heading out of the jungle… So as you can imagine, we’re super excited.

For those of you who don’t know Maestros Lucila and Leonardo – they’re two Curanderos (Shamans) who have dedicated their lives to Traditional Shipibo Medicine and have in recent years become known by guests and plant medicine enthusiasts around the world for their power, kindness, and highly effective treatments utilising not just the vine, but Icaros (sacred healing songs) energy work, and hundreds of other jungle plant medicines also.

They’ll be bringing their tribe’s practices from the jungle along with them – since we’ll be in the Andes region, we’ll also be working with arguably the Ande’s most powerful plant Medicine and also learning a thing or two from the ancient Andean wisdom of the Q’eros (widely known as the last living direct descendants of the incas) who will host a Despacho ceremony with us, and share their spiritual practices and Cosmovision.

During the retreat, we’ll learn about the process of preparing medicines and even take part in preparing some medicine ourselves.

We’ll be taking a deep dive into our inner worlds, with the time, space, safety and guidance required to make powerful shifts in the way we live and experience life. When approached correctly, we’re able to address issues that are holding us back and shift perspectives in a way which can have a positive impact not just on our own lives, but also on the lives of those around us. You’ll find plenty of 5-star reviews online from guests who have left the center happier, healthier, and with more capacity to enjoy life and to face the challenges life brings.

If you’re interested in joining us for an intensive journey of healing with powerful plant medicines from the jungle and the andes, plus other practices like Kambo, Temazcal, Yoga, and massage, don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Retreat schedule

Kambo Cleanse:

We’ll start the retreat with a Kambo cleanse to activate a mental, physical and emotional cleansing of the body.

Kambo is a medicinal treatment used by indigenous tribes of the Amazon Jungle to heal, strengthen and detox the mind, body and spirit.

Participant receives new burns next to old ones prior to receiving Kambo

3-6 Shipibo Ceremonies:

We’ll then attend 3 ceremonies under the guidance of a father-daughter team of true Curanderos from the Shipibo Tribe, who have a collective experience of over 80 years. These ceremonies allow you to go deep into yourself, to gain wisdom, insight, understanding as well as the purging of negative and stagnant energies.

Ceremonies lead by Maestros Leonardo and Lucila

2 Cactus Ceremony Hikes:

Just like the Jungle, the Andes also has its own powerful plant medicine that’s been used for centuries – we’ll work with highly experienced andean shamans as we explore ourselves through ceremony with the plants as our guide.

The medicine, which has been used by civilisations in Peru for at least 4000 years, has the potential to catalyse deep healing at many levels, bringing insight into how we can live happier, healthier lives.

We’ll prepare our medicine together and brew our own medicine ahead of our hiking ceremony.

After drinking our medicine, we’ll take a hike with a local Andean Shaman to beautiful lakes nestled high up in the mountains. Here, we’ll find space, beauty, tranquility and silence, which help us receive the medicine’s lesson.

Inipi Ceremony (temazcal / sweat lodge):

The Inipi (which means ‘to live again’) ceremony, or ‘sweat lodge’ of the Lakota tribe, is a spiritual purification ceremony of awakening, rebirth and rejuvenation. For this ceremony, we’ll enter an enclosed igloo shaped hut. Once inside, water will be poured over hot rocks to produce steam. The ceremony is performed in order to detoxify the body and mind of those in attendance, and has been practised for thousands of years by pre-hispanic indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica.

Despacho ceremony:

The Q’ero Inca shamans of the andes are known as the last living direct decendents of the incas who escaped the Spanish Inquisition by hiding high up in the mountains of Peru. In more recent years, they descend in order to depart their wisdom and teachings of how to live in balance and give back to Pacha Mama (Mother Nature) in recprocity (ayni) with each other and the planet.

We’ll attend a despacho ceremony, which is a ceremonial offering of our prayers, gratitude and intentions to Pachamama and the Apus (mountain spirits)

Yoga / Massage:

To compliment these practises, we’ll have frequent Yoga sessions, as well as the option to receive Thai Massage.

Visit the world-famous Machu Picchu ‘lost city of the Incas’ and the Pisac Ruins

Machu Picchu:

Hidden high up in the slopes of the Andes, the ruins of Machu Picchu (Machu Pikchu in Quechua) reveal mysteries of the Incan Empire. Easily Peru’s most famous attraction, and one of ‘The New 7 Wonders of the World’, a visit to this stunning archeological site is sure to be memorable.

Huayna Picchu:

From Machu Picchu, a steep climb up the famous ‘stairs of death’ lead you on an exciting adventure to the lesser known Huayna Pichu (Wayna Pikchu in Quechua) – where you’ll find more stunning Incan ruins and of Macchu Picchu’s signature viewpoints.

Pisac Ruins:

We’ll also have an opportunity to visit some of the most intact Incan Ruins to date at the Pisac Ruins site – from atop this mountain, you’ll find stunning views over Pisac and the surrounding mountains, and will likely be mesmerised by the beautiful ruins and stonework that to this day have engineers baffled as to how they were built.

Please note: you’ll need to make a request for these visits (they aren’t part of the retreat package), and they’re subject to availability – so, the sooner you get in touch the better!

About The Team at Mai Niti:

The healing retreat will be lead by Maestro Leonardo and Maestra Lucila of Mai Niti center – along with 5 other team members which include an integration specialist and training shaman, as well as 4 additional support staff (with extensive experience in healing practices, supporting guests, and fluency in both English and Spanish) will be available to you around the clock, to act as cultural bridges between yourselves and the Shipibo Shamans, and to support you with both integration and anything else that may come up during the retreat. The Center has recently garnered a lot of positive attention, and has multiple 5 star reviews across the web from guests who consider their visit one of the most healing experiences of their lives.