Deep in the Jungle, Your Journey Has Already Begun.
Welcome to an 8 day immersive retreat in the untouched jungle and ecological reserve of Jama, Ecuador A sacred land surrounded by wild cacao plantations, howler monkeys, and ancient silence. This is not just a retreat. It is a return to your truth, your body, your spirit.
Guided by our Plant Medicine Tayta (Shaman), wise Medicine Woman Mama (Shaman) Avelina Rogel, Artivist & Ethno-Therapist Nicolas Chaka Schipper Pérez & space holder Esteban Acosta, this experience invites you to go beyond the surface and into the depths of your being. This retreat is more physically demanding and more out of your comfort zone than our Inner Guide retreat. Set deep in the raw, unfiltered embrace of the jungle, it challenges you to meet yourself fully beyond convenience, beyond habit, and beyond the familiar.
The retreat takes place in the Jama Coaque Reserve, a protected rainforest sanctuary spanning 2,900 acres in Ecuador’s coastal mountain range. As one of the last major remnants of the Pacific Forest, it safeguards two unique ecosystems: the pre montane cloud forest and the moist seasonal evergreen forest. This untouched land is not only breathtakingly biodiverse but also deeply sacred.
Through powerful plant medicine ceremonies, meditations, therapeutic practices, nourishing local meals, healing rituals, and integrative teachings, you’ll reconnect with the essence of who you are. By participating in this retreat, you are also directly supporting the local community that calls this jungle home. You are helping sustain their land, culture, and well-being through conscious collaboration.
The jungle is calling. Your soul is ready. Welcome.
INCLUDED IN THE RETREAT
› Eight days & seven nights in the deep jungle
› Become a part of a unique international community
› Wholesome meals every day
› ARPI TALK & SURUNA DRUM Therapy by Chaka Schipper
› Integrative teaching by Mama Avelina
› Therapeutic practices by Chaka & Mama Avelina
› Two Deep Plant Medicine Ceremonies with Tayta (Shaman)
› Group consultation with Tayta
› Rapé & Wayusa Ceremony
› Cacao experience in local community
› Meeting the local community
› Jungle walk led by a local
› Waterfall experience led by a local
› Transport from Quito to the jungle and back again
› Dedicated integration with time for sharing
› National and international facilitators
› Translation from Spanish to English (we also speak German, Danish & French)
› Group follow-up integration session via zoom after the retreat
› Access to our private integration Whatsapp group
› Follow up talk with Danish Therapist Freja Fabrin
Are you ready to go on a life changing journey?
CEREMONIES
› PLANT MEDICINE CEREMONY
Under the guidance of our Tayta and Mama (Shamans)—wisdom keepers who have carried their traditions through generations—you will embark on a transformative journey supported by several dedicated space holders. A sacred plant known for expanding consciousness, this ceremony invites deep introspection, healing, and reconnection with self and the natural world. Participants often gain powerful insights, heightened awareness, and a profound sense of peace and clarity.
› RAPÉ & WAYUSA CEREMONY
A ceremony of transformation and connection to the four elements (fire, water, earth & air). It focuses on internal work and inner healing through meditation, supported by the sound of drums, the intake of Rapé (Abuelo Tobacco. Sacred, medicinal tobacco, Nicotiana rustica) and Abuela Wayusa (herbal infusion). This will open your heart, guide your spirits and realign your energy and connection to nature.
› WELCOME TO THE TERRITORY CEREMONY
In this ceremony we will show respect to the first nations of the land and interact with the cosmic energies from rivers, mountains, lakes, forests and energy centers. Through burning of sacred medicine (smudging) we raise our consciousness to enter the depth of our souls and begin this retreat.
› CLOSING CLEANSING AND HARMONISATION CEREMONY.
This ceremony is a thank you and closing to the entire process of the retreat. Accompanied by the sacred fire and through the intake of Abuelo Tabbaco (sacred, medicinal tobacco) we reach a state of balance. This will activate our willpower and strength to be specific with our purpose and intentions, while balancing our elements (fire, water, earth, air) mentally and emotionally.
FOOD AS MEDICINE
During the retreat, food is an essential part of the work. It is not treated as fuel alone, but as medicine that supports the nervous system, digestion, clarity, and emotional balance.
All meals are freshly prepared by a locals using seasonal, locally sourced ingredients. The food is simple, nourishing, and intentionally chosen to support the body during deep inner work. Eating becomes a practice of presence and awareness.
By food as medicine we mean returning to real food. Being conscious of what we take in, and questioning what we have learned to call food. This is not about following a diet, but about remembering how humans have always eaten, in relationship with the land and its cycles.
The meals are mostly vegetarian, with occasional river fish or local chicken, prepared with respect for the land. All food is free from refined sugar, dairy, pork, alcohol, caffeine, red meat, and processed products. This is not about restriction, but about creating the conditions for the body to regulate, rest, and listen.
The intention is that you take this understanding home with you. To continue choosing real food, eating with awareness, and relating to nourishment as an act of care. This is not something new to learn, but a remembering of who we actually are.
EXPERIENCES & ACTIVITIES
THERAPEUTIC PRACTICES
ARPI TALK by Chaka opens a dialogue rooted in ancestral memory and living experience. Mama Avelina brings integrative teaching that weaves tradition with the rhythms of everyday life, offering pathways of learning. Together, Chaka and Mama Avelina guide therapeutic practices that invite presence, reflection, and deep connection.
CACAO EXPERIENCE
Join the local community to understand agroforestry (a proces that improves biodiversity, fights climate change and restore soil health) and be part of a unique journey with sacred cacao. Experience the traditional process from bean to bar of the finest cacao in the world.
COMMUNITY MEETING
Be welcomed into the heart of the jungle by the local community who call this land home. Share stories, smiles, and connection with the people your presence directly supports through this retreat. You’ll witness firsthand how your participation contributes to local projects and the well-being of the families who live here.
JUNGLE WALK
Step into the lush, living jungle on a guided walk led by a local who knows the land like family. As you move through the vibrant ecosystem, you’ll learn to see, smell, and listen with new awareness — discovering the healing plants and natural rhythms that sustain life here. A journey of connection, respect, and deepening your relationship with the Earth.
WATERFALL WALK
Follow a jungle path to a hidden waterfall, where the sound of rushing water and birdsong fills the air. Let the cool mist cleanse your spirit as you bathe in nature’s purest offering — a sacred place to pause, reflect, and simply be.
INTEGRATION WEEK
After the intensity and depth of the ceremonial journey, Integration Week is your invitation to gently return—softly, slowly, and with intention. This sacred container is designed to support you in grounding the medicine, embodying the insights, and reconnecting with the wisdom that has awakened within you.
Rather than returning abruptly to the noise and demands of the outside world, this week offers a nurturing bridge between the inner realms you’ve explored and the life you are returning to. Through daily embodiment practices, nature immersion, guided reflection, and nourishing food, you will begin to anchor your transformation into the physical, emotional, and spiritual layers of your being.
This space is for the soul who knows that true healing unfolds over time—not just in ceremony, but in the integration that follows. It is for those who want to be held in community as they digest the revelations, soften into the body, and learn how to live from this new frequency.
Integration Week is only available to those who have journeyed with us in a VIDAYA retreat as an extra activity one of our retreats, offering a safe and familiar environment to deepen the medicine’s teachings, and to walk the first steps of your new path with presence, love, and support.
“Always go with the choice that scares you the most, because
that’s the one that is going to help you grow”
JAMA, ECUADOR
Hidden within the lush embrace of an ecological reserve, the jungle of Jama offers a truly untouched experience of Ecuador’s natural beauty. Nestled among wild cacao plantations and ancient trees, this sacred land is alive with the sounds of howler monkeys, tropical birds, and the heartbeat of the Earth itself. Far from the noise of modern life, it’s a place where biodiversity thrives and time slows down — where nature, wildlife, and deep rest exist in perfect harmony.
This is not a place just anyone can reach. It’s not a typical retreat destination — it’s a sacred, hidden sanctuary reserved for those ready to walk with nature, not over it. It’s a living, breathing jungle sanctuary — raw, real, and deeply rooted in ancestral energy.
ACCOMMODATION
The retreat will take place in a beautiful, open house with with 2 bamboo houses and a ceremony space. It is the perfect place to enjoy the untouched, raw nature, reconnect with yourself and experience something not anyone can.
The whole place is ours. Even though the house can room 29 people we chose to book the whole place, to have it for ourselves. The house has shared rooms in 2 different houses. You can choose to stay in a queen size bed (as a couple, friends or by yourself), a single bed or bunk beds. Find prices and more info further below. Everyone will share ourdoor showers and compost toilet. The house also has a beautiful common areas for everyone to relax and find peace.
Program
DEEP JUNGLE RETREAT
*Program will be slightly changed, since we are in the jungle.
First day – Day of arrival
– 06.00 Bus pick-up from Tribuna de los Shyris
– 13.00 Lunch (on the way)
– 16:00 Arrival to the jungle
– 18:30 Dinner
– 20.00 Welcome to the Territory Ceremony
Second day – Connection & Jungle Day
– 08.00 Breakfast
– 9.00 Jungle walk (3 hours walk)
– 12.30 Lunch
– 14.00 Psychotherapeutic Dynamic
– 18.30 Dinner
– 20.00 Fire Talk
Third day – Waterfall & Purpose Day
– 08.00 Breakfast
– 9.00 Waterfall walk ( 3 hours walk)
– 12.30 Lunch
– 14.00 ARPI Talk
– 18.30 Dinner
– 20.00 Fire Talk
Fourth day – Rapé & BreathIN Day
– 05:30 Rapé & Wayusa Ceremony
– 07.30 PAMBA MESA
– 13.00 Lunch
– 15.00 BreathIN
– 18:30 Dinner
– 20.00 Fire Talk
Fifth day – First Ceremony Day
– 08.30 Breakfast
– 11.00 Intention & Preparation
FIRST PLANT MEDICINE CEREMONY
– 17.00 Group Consultation
– 18.30 Dinner
– 20.00 Ceremony Fire & Conversations
– 21.00 Plant Medicine Ceremony
Sixth day – Second Ceremony Day
– 08.30 PAMBA MESA
– 09.30 Group Sharings & Integration
– 13.00 Lunch
SECOND PLANT MEDICINE CEREMONY
– 18.30 Dinner
– 20.00 Ceremony Fire & Conversations
– 21.00 Plant Medicine Ceremony
Seventh day – Community & Cacao
– 08.30 PAMBA MESA
– 09.30 Group Sharings & Integration
– 13.00 Lunch
– 14.00 Community & Cacao
– 18.30 Dinner
– 20.00 Creative Space
Eight day – Closing & Cleansing
– 08.00 Breakfast
– 09.30 Closing Ceremony + Group Photo
– 11.00 Transport back to Quito or San Vicente for the people going to the integrative week.
Your investment
Prior to being accepted onto the retreat, it requires you to complete a comprehensive psychological and physical health questionnaire. After filling up the questionnaire we will screen it within 24 hours and if your request is being accepted you will receive a link to sign up for the retreat.
BUNK BED
0 BEDS AVAILABLE
- Bunkbed (1 person)
- Shared room
- Shared bathroom
- All experiences & food included
- Soon the price will rise USD 250
- First payment 50% to save your spot
- NOTE: Price for 1 person
QUEEN BED
0 BEDS AVAILABLE
- Queen size bed (2 persons) or 1 person ($499 discount)
- Shared room
- Shared bathroom
- All experiences & food included
- Soon the price will rise USD 250
- First payment 50% to save your spot
- NOTE: Price for 1 or 2 people
SINGLE BED
0 BEDS AVAILABLE
- Single bed (1 person)
- Shared room
- Shared bathroom
- All experiences & food included
- Soon the price will rise USD 250
- First payment 50% to save your spot
- NOTE: Price for 1 person