AYAHUASCA AND SAN PEDRO RETREATS IN THE SACRED VALLEY
Ryan Joseph Retreats offer a one of kind Spiritual Wellness Retreat of Healing Ayahuasca /San Pedro ceremonies and immersive Art, Yoga, Meditation in the Sacred Valley of Peru in an authentic, professional, & comfortable environment.
MEET YOUR HOST RYAN JOSEPH
Artist, behaviour therapist, facilitator and tour guide, Ryan Joseph will be leading guests through the Sacred Valley of Peru for this journey of a lifetime! With years of hosting groups in Peru, Ryan will act as the bridge connecting everyone with the traditional practices of the local shamans, medicines, guides, and culture, helping to bridge the gap between the two worlds. His background in psychology and behaviour therapy for over 15 years along with his artistic skills form to make a great connection between the mind and the arts. Offering different views of integrating the spiritual experience and putting it into place in order to make life bettering changes. Ryan will introduce and share open heartedly the many tools and practices that have improved his life and connect our guests with the wisdom and knowledge of the areas most talented professionals.
Ryan Joseph Retreats represent a combination of ancient practices, techniques, teachings and medicines that have had a personal impact on my own life personally. We offer an all-inclusive small boutique retreat so that we can work with each individual deeply.
“From past suicidal attempts and mental illness to now enjoying life to its fullest, it is my duty to share what has saved my life and helped me so immensly. Art, yoga, meditation, breathwork, and plant medicine are all tools in my toolbox of wellness and collectively play a part into my overall well being.”
With these combined practices and techniques we believe our retreats offer the fastest way to accelerated learning and connecting with our true self. Our team will be honoured to help guide you on your spiritual journey every step of the way during your time with us.
Our Ayahuasca retreat in the serene and mystical Sacred Valley of Peru is considered one of the most energetically powerful places on Earth and is truly a trip of a lifetime. We find that simply being in the presence of the ancient Andean mountains, historical ruins, and crisp air offers wisdom and deep nourishment for the mind, body, and spirit. Experience the sacred healing power of plant medicines, awaken to your inner truth through witnessing and exploring the beautiful natural Andean landscape, relax and dine at luxurious resort and cultivate a sense of mindfulness and appreciation for yourself as part of it all. Not only will you be healing yourself from deep within and transforming your life but also getting to witness some of the most beautiful sites in the Sacred Valley. We have gone to great details to organize our retreat for maximum personal benefit combined with other exciting excursions but yet balanced with enough down time for reflection and relaxation.
OUR TEAM
Accompaning Ryan, will be a team of hand selected, trusted professionals that have worked closely alongside Ryan over the years. This is a talented and experienced group of Healers and Facilitators including Shipibo and Q’ero shamans, to bring you a comprehensive program deeply rooted in the traditional practices of ancestral medicine, natural healing modalities and integration. We offer a safe, caring, and effective space to begin your journey of transformation, helping you every step of the way as you uncover the energetic roots of any trauma, negative thought patterns, unhealthy habits, or spiritual imbalance. Our carefully constructed program optimizes your healing by incorporating Eastern and modern philosophies for long-term integration into a modern world. Following your time with us, you will return to life back home with a new perspective and a deeper understanding of yourself and your truth, and will be equipped with the skills and tools necessary to integrate your experience into your everyday life.
DAILY ITINERARY
Our retreat programs, 8 Days and 8 Nights with 5 ceremonies consisting of:
1 Nunu ceremony
2 Ayahuasca ceremonies
2 San Pedro ceremonies (2nd is Optional)
Natural Healing Modalities including:
Temescal Ceremony
Sound Healing
Breathwork
Art Therapy
Yoga
Meditation
Cold Therapy
Horseback Riding
This amount of medicine is considered to be a perfect balance of deep transformation and extreme enlightenment. They are designed for those who want to 'do the work' and take every opportunity the plants offer for deep transformation and enlightenment. As such, we put great care into your daily itinerary and retreat schedule. Practiced over years of experience, we intertwine the intensity of ceremony with the need to rest; to explore; to stretch; to admire; to be; to process; and to integrate. Our plant medicine retreats can be extremely transformative and enlightening, and we know that such work also requires the need to experience stillness and solitude. Our goal is to welcome and guide you to new findings resulting in a lighter, brighter, more authentic self, and the full experience of love. It is our honor to help you on this most fulfilling of all journeys: the journey back home.
DAY 1 - ARRIVAL IN CUSCO
Welcome to Cusco! After your flight to Lima, Peru and your connecting flight to Cusco, Peru, we will be personally greeting you at the airport and escort you to our beautiful hotel in Cusco. In the afternoon you will have the opportunity to spend some time sight-seeing this incredible city. There are many museums, cathedrals, markets and other attractions to take advantage of. Officially we will start at dinner where we will all gather for an amazing meal and get to know each other and discuss our itinerary for the week. Then it will be time to relax and after a long travel day and enjoy a good night sleep before our adventure begins early the next morning.
DAY 2 - SAN PEDRO
Our journey begins bright and early as we travel to the top of Cusco to the famed Temple of the Moon where we will have our first ceremony - San Pedro.
San Pedro is a sacred cactus medicine which is very gentle and loving, filled with warmth and light. It is a master plant teacher used to heal on emotional, physical and spiritual levels. We will be surrounded by beauty as our ceremony will be held at an Andean Sanctuary Garden Casa de la Gringa Mountain House which features a ceremonial temple, stunning gardens or diverse flowers and cactus and many relaxing areas. It is the perfect spot to comfortably and safely connect deeply during your experience.
A few minutes walking distance away, we will have the opportunity to visit Temple of the Moon. It is considered to be an inter-dimensional portal and is filled with powerful energy. After we will relax to a unique sound healing session before a delicious meal and some stargazing and conversation around the fire before bedtime.
DAY 3 - SOUND HEALING AND NUNU
Today we will travel through the spectacular scenery of the Sacred Valley to our stunning retreat centre where we will make our home base for most of the week. After settling in and a chef prepared lunch, we will introduce you to some other wonderful healing modalities. Our first will be blessed with an incredible breathwork session. Our first we will be blessed with a very profound ancestral sound healing experience, with a space for reflexions on andean tradition and human life. Conducted by a Peruvian ceremonial and ritual musician, Master Sound Healer. Peruvian ceremonial and ritual musician, it is a very powerful experience that has a profound impact on people, helping to integrate the personal work within each one’s process, and as well helping to focus on what needs attention for healing and empowerment.
Following we will have some time to relax, prepare for our upcoming Ayahuasca ceremonies with meditation session and our Nunu ceremony performed that evening. The medicine of Nunu (Rapé) is a powerful and potent blend of ground tobacco. It is considered a traditional medicine with a multitude of physical and spiritual benefits. Known as “the medicine of air and fire,” the blend is blown up the nostrils by a shaman to facilitate a clearing of emotional, physical, and spiritual blockages, enabling a thorough grounding and centering of the recipient. The intense blow immediately focuses the mind, silences the chattering, and paves the way for your intentions to take center stage. Many shamans use Rapé to cleanse their energetic field and increase their connection with themselves and the world. As an added bonus, it also clears the sinuses and has incredible antimicrobial benefits for the nasal passages. The ceremony will take place prior to your first Ayahuasca ceremony, in order to help prepare you and connect you to the sacredness of tobacco, a powerful plant ally of Ayahuasca.
DAY 4 - BREATHWORK, FLORAL BATH AND AYAHUASCA
After breakfast, we will gather for group share with the team and the Shamans. Here you will learn about the Ayahuasca ceremony process. After the group share we will have each guest individually meet with the Shamans to discuss your intentions for the ceremony. Our Shipibo shamans, will guide you as you begin your healing journey with Ayahuasca, and integrate your intentions into the personalized Icaros (songs of the plants) that they sing directly to you during the ceremony. All this is done in the native Shipibo dialect, passed down through a lineage of Shamans from generation to generation. This time-honored tradition has a far-reaching ancestral legacy of plant spirit shamanism, in which the knowledge and healing energies of the plants are transmitted through the Icaros sung in ceremony to heal a wide range of mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical ailments.
In the afternoon, we will be blessed with a beautiful breathwork session. Breathwork utilizes breathing exercises to improve mental, physical, and spiritual health. We are very fortunate to have access to the best healers in the valley and our breathwork instructor is one of them. In addition to the breathing exercises, she incorporates sound, music and massage to create a magical experience. We will then have our floral baths in preparation for our first Ayahuasca ceremony that night. The hours right before ceremony are quiet time so you can prepare yourself mentally.
DAY 5 - WATERFALL, ART AND AYAHUASCA
After breakfast, we will gather for group share with the team and the Shamans. This is a great time to communicate and reflect how our ceremony went the night before and receive feedback and guidance from the shaman in preparation for the upcoming ceremony.
After we have our lunch we will have more expression through art therapy where we will be able to visually express our ceremonies through art and then go for a hike to a majestic waterfall before coming back for our Ayahuasca ceremony that night.
DAY 6 - YOGA, SWEAT LODGE AND SPA
A day of connecting with the body and mind. Enjoy the solitude in the beautiful gardens and surroundings or take advantage of the optional massage and spa facilities at the retreat centre. This is your day for complete enjoyment. We will also be offering a sweat lodge Temescal ceremony. This is a low profile hut, typically dome-shaped or oblong, and made with natural materials. The sweat lodge ceremony is one of the most common ceremonies practiced by Native American people. The purpose behind all of these, however, is simple spiritual cleansing. The lodge is designed to provide a safe, sacred place where the participants can concentrate on the spirits that are invited to the ceremony. These spirits are brought in with the 'grandfathers', which are the stones that are heated in the fire. Splashing water on the grandfathers creates steam, and we then have all four elements present in the lodge: earth below, air around, fire in the grandfathers and water in the steam. This ceremony has many health benefits. Today is also another opportunity to work with the “grandfather” San Pedro. Combining with the temescal can be an extremely powerful option to experience. After dinner we will be able to take advantage of the newly installed luxury spa for some relaxation. This beautiful state of the art spa has been designed to naturally tie into the rock cliffside and features 3 different types of saunas including infrared, wet and dry, a salt cave from local salt mines in Maras and outdoor Jacuzzi tubs. Sit back and enjoy as you star gaze the millions of stars the Sacred Valley skies have to offer.
DAY 7 - OLLANTAYTAMBO SUN GATE AND SAN PEDRO
After breakfast, we will continue our journey to the charming village of Ollantaytambo, in the heart of the Sacred Valley. We are in for an unforgettable experience and the highlight of our week as we will hike on horseback up to Inti Punku, the incredible Inca Sun Gate. Here at this sacred site on the mountain top with stunning views of the snowcapped peaks of one of the sacred mountains Apu Veronica. Joining us will be one of the Q’ero Paqos who will bless us with a beautiful Depacho ceremony. This will also be an opportunity to integrate our week of medicine and healing with San Pedro. As we hike back down to the village we will pass many interesting sites on our way to our hotel. The evening will feature an authentic, delicious Peruvian dinner at a local restaurant.
DAY 8 - OLLANTAYTAMBO RUINS, PACHAMANCA AND CUSCO
Our final day will be filled with celebration! A celebration Quechua style with an authentic Pachamanca experience with a local family. Following we will have time to explore the massive archaeological park of the Ollantaytambo Ruins. Home to some of the best-preserved and impressive Inca ruins in Peru, the surrounding mountains only enhance their beauty. Both fortress and temple, these spectacular Inca ruins rise above Ollantaytambo and are famous for being one of the few places where the Incas defeated Spanish conquerors in a major battle. After exploring the ruins, we will browse the town street markets where local vendors sell a variety of unique gifts. We will then gather for lunch before heading back to Cusco for our final night together. Once checked in and some relaxation at our lovely hotel we will celebrate the week and all our successes over dinner. The next morning we will venture off to one of the Seven Wonders of the World, Machu Picchu with those extending their journey with us and say goodbye to those departing home. We wish everyone well with their new findings resulting in a lighter, brighter, more authentic self, and the full experience of love. It is our honor to help you on this most fulfilling of all journeys: the journey back home.
FOOD & DIET (OPTIONAL VEGAN)
According to the Shipibo, there is a time-honored tradition of following a special diet to prepare oneself for the healing energies of Ayahuasca. There is a discipline and commitment that is called upon. Our chefs will be providing exceptional meals (both regular or vegan) that adheres to this discipline from an exclusively plant-based perspective (with the exception of eggs for breakfast). We have passionately instilled in the chefs at our retreat centers a great pride in providing you with foods that open the potential of your journey inwards during your Ayahuasca retreat here in Peru. Please provide any meal restrictions or allergies in the medical form upon registration.
COMFORT AND SURROUNDINGS
Ayahuasca retreats can be physically demanding which is why we wanted to set our retreat above the rest, and incorporate the feel of luxury to your stay. The great majority of Ayahuasca retreats in Peru are located deep in the jungle lowlands of the Amazon Basin at purpose-built Ayahuasca camps which can be uncomfortable. We choose to host our retreats at a stunning, luxurious and secluded resort in Cusco, Peru. During our ceremonies we will be staying in comfort at a beautiful resort in the Sacred Valley. The resort has spectacular views of the mountains and valleys and stunning gardens and grounds. We can offer you those little luxuries more typical of a hotel environment including, wifi, reliable hot water showers, electricity (lights and fans), room service, large comfortable beds along with various pool and lounge facilities along with added spa options.
