A. Plant medicine can serve as a powerful tool for healing, as well as spiritual and emotional growth. It can be described in simple terms as a very big, very shiny mirror, and with the right set and setting, this can allow us to understand the true roots of the fear, trauma, and other emotional sources that manifest in various ways in our life. From a place of compassion and love, this can offer us deep insight into our own psyche and provide us with the tools and understanding to let go of the patterns that are no longer supporting us. However, it’s important to have the right time, space, and highly skilled healers and facilitators to help you make sense of what comes up and surrender to the process fully.

With the proper screening, preparation, container, and integration support, it is very rare that negative psychological effects result from partaking in plant medicine ceremonies. However, there are certain medical conditions that are contraindicated with plant medicine, including (but not limited to) schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and psychosis. Additionally, certain medications are contraindicated and should be discussed with your doctor to determine if this experience is right for you and if it is possible to change or taper any medications. Beyond medical contraindications, a medicine experience can be considered unsafe due to inexperienced healers who are unable to hold the energetic space during ceremony; admixtures to the brew that can negatively react with the guest; lack of support or an unsafe container throughout the process; or medicine stacking, wherein numerous different plant medicines are taken within a short period of time which can overload the system and potentially cause someone to become ungrounded.

In line with this, our focus on integration takes the same approach of a strong and supportive container. We understand that while a powerful experience and initial cleansing are crucial catalysts towards healing, really thats just the first step in the much longer (truly lifelong) process. In order to create lasting healing, we feel it’s necessary to empower the person with the tools needed to enact the benefits of such a catalyst into their day-to-day life. And beyond that, provide a supportive container over the long-term to help inspire lasting change. Much of our team has come from working at previous plant medicine retreat centres, and within our communities we saw the need people had for a longer-term relationship with their process, whatever form that may take.

A. During ceremony, guests have their own mattresses or yoga mats in a circle around the outer rim of the maloca space, with their own buckets in case the need to purge arises during ceremony. Usually there are bathrooms just outside of the maloca, and our facilitators are on call to help guests should they need any assistance. The healers and facilitators are in the front of the maloca, and during ceremony the healers may come to sit in front of each guest’s mat and sing a personal icaro (healing song) based on their intention and what the healers feel is needed. Traditionally the Shipibo do not employ instruments or any other tools besides song, mapacho (sacred tobacco), and flower water. We do however incorporated music into our ceremonies and encourage you to sing along to songs you know.

A. We believe in offering personalized care for every guest so they can have the space to immerse themselves fully in their process and have the support they need to do so. We also feel strongly that the community aspect is an important part of the healing, which we believe can get lost if there are too many people in a group. Therefore, we keep our groups rather intimate, and have a high healing team-to-guest ratio. Our maximum capacity is 15, and for that amount, we work with, 5 facilitators plus additional support staff.

A. As one can probably guess, the medicine works in different ways in different people. Visual imagery, while it can be part of some people’s experience, is often less common than one might think from reading or hearing experiential accounts of others. Oftentimes the medicine works on a much more energetic level than we may consciously be able to perceive. The experience itself can take many forms, such as physical/energetic work, bodily sensations, physical purging through yawning, laughing, crying, sweating, vomiting, or shaking, to name a few or deep thought, emotions coming to the surface, mental imagery, reliving past experiences, or a feeling of oneness and connectedness. It can be different not just for every person but for every individual experience. We encourage guests to surrender to the healing work, let go of expectations, and trust that they will get what they need, even if it isn’t in the way they expected.

A. It is true that medicine work can involve purging including vomiting and diarrhea. If you need help getting to the bathroom, our facilitators are on call to do so, and they will let you know how to easily signal them should you need assistance. It is important to note that the concept of purging can take many different forms for different people, including crying, yawning, sweating, shaking, and laughing, among other things. Nevertheless, our facilitators are trained to respond should any scenario arise, and you will be well taken care of quickly and lovingly should a challenging physical situation occur. As we like to say, everything is normal on the medicine, and whatever happens during ceremony is perfectly fine and nothing to be ashamed of or worried about!

A. At NRNZ, we have had many guests come through who have had little to no experience with psychoactive medicines, who have found deep and profound healing working with us. In fact, less experience can sometimes be more beneficial, as it can make it easier to enter into the experience without prior expectations, a key component that can play a major part in how much you get out of ceremony.

Working with the plants can be a process, which is to say, if you are planning on working with the medicine especially for the first time we recommend allowing yourself the space and time to undergo multiple ceremonies in a safe and supportive container. This is because it can take some time to build up enough trust and a relationship with the medicine that will allow for the deeper work to unfold. Often times, just one ceremony can open up the work but be insufficient to get significant benefit from it and then have a chance to energetically close what has been opened. It is for this reason that our minimum retreat stay is six nights. We have found that at least three ceremonies, along with integration support during and after to help guests process what has come up, can allow for a deep level of healing to occur.

A. This is an optional addition to our retreats . Many people find that the Kambo Ceremony is the perfect way to start a retreat with a deep cleansing of the body, mind and spirit. You can find more information here. If in doubt please speak with one of our facilitators.

A. If possible, we recommend discontinuing all supplements 7 days before your retreat. The basic idea behind working with master plant teachers is to bring a clean slate of a body. To learn the most one can from the experience of connecting with the medicine, one is always recommended in the Shipibo tradition to temporarily stop the use of any other supplements, plant treatments (unless prescribed by the healers), and synthetic drug treatments. If you can put these things on hold (unless it’s necessary to continue treatments), then you will experience a more direct connection.

As CBD oil comes from the marijuana plant, we do recommend refraining from using this for at least two weeks before and after your retreat. This is not medically contraindicated, however in order to prepare your body for working with medicine, it is recommended to stop using all other plant medicine for the specified time before and after.

If there are any that you are needing to continue throughout the retreat, please indicate this on your registration form and we will follow up with you.

A. This won’t prevent you from participating in ceremony. While some traditions do indeed indicate that women on their period should not participate in ceremony, our recommendation is that you simply tell one of our facilitators if you are on it, to relay to the healer, for them to be aware of that energy release happening during ceremony.

A. We will have integration discussions during your stay which incorporate different aspects of your experiences and are designed to help you flesh out an actionable plan from the time you begin your process with NRNZ to help carry you back into the default world and enact the lessons and insights you gain from your experience. We also have a number of clinical psychologists and other trained professionals who we can refer you to should you require additional support.

A. At most of our retreat locations yes. However we do recommend that during your time with us you disconnect from the outside world as much as possible. A facilitator can provide you with an emergency contact if you need.

A. In terms of best practices regarding coming as a couple, one thing that we recommend is that couples do not sit next to each other inside the maloca during ceremony. This is to ensure each can undergo their own process and minimize energetic influence during ceremony. Outside of ceremony, we do require that all guests abstain from sexual and sensual contact with themselves or others during the retreat. Beyond that, we empower guests to decide what works for them as it relates to their accommodations. While some people may feel it would be best for their process to have separate accommodations than their partner, others prefer to be able to process things with each other and share a private accommodation. This part is really up to you and what you feel would work best for you both.

A. Yes. If you require this please let us know and we will generate a payment link for you.

A. If for any reason you need to cancel your retreat we will endeavour to fill your space. If we are successful your payments can be transferred to another retreat of your choosing. If we have insufficient time or are unable to fill your place all payments are non-refundable and non-transferable.