When you sign up for a retreat with us, we will send you important information on how to properly prepare for it. You will receive simple guidelines that will make a big difference in your transformation process.
Meanwhile, these are some excellent practices you can add to your life. They will bring you to a whole new level.
Meditation is one of the most valuable tools we have to settle the mind, increase focus, develop discipline, and control emotions. Ancestral and plant medicine ceremonies can get intense sometimes, and mental states are often accelerated.
Meditation can allow you to keep your focus on the desired intention without getting distracted by what can sometimes be a multitude of other stimuli during the process.
It can help you to face your fears, traumas, and other negative emotions or thought patterns without getting lost, which can be incredibly beneficial when trying to pull the roots of suffering or release destructive energy, thoughts, or actions from your life.
It is also one of the most valuable practices to assist the important process of integration afterwards, as well as a great habit in our lives.
While most of the attention is typically focused on the mental and emotional effects of ancestral and plant medicine ceremonies, there are physical effects as well, and having a fine-tuned physical body can certainly reduce discomfort, which can allow more work to be done in the spiritual realms.
Yoga also develops discipline, which is one of the most beneficial qualities to strive for in life, for it is what will keep you on the right path, free from temptation, and achieving the greatest state of productivity in whatever you choose to do.
If you are looking to be healed or explore your own identity, having practices that promote discipline in your lifestyle will be of real value. The benefits of yoga are almost immediate and continue to grow and deepen as your practice develops and becomes a part of your lifestyle.
Plant medicines are considered the mother of the jungle. Through its use, curanderos as well as participants can communicate with the spirits of plants and animals to better understand the true nature of afflictions and the practices and paths that will restore balance and health.
Even though you can communicate with these conscious elements of nature at any time, it takes practice to do it so on a much more subtle level. The subtle relationships you form by spending time communing with nature on a regular basis will result in a foundation for a far deeper relationship to be developed during your retreat experiences.
It can be as simple as going to a park, walking among the trees or plants, or sitting on the grass and opening yourself up to the energy of the plants. Touch the plants, talk to them, get to know them, and allow them to know you. It may sound strange, but when you incorporate ancestral and plant medicine into your body for the first time, you will understand it much better and be glad you did.
BE This goes far beyond just preparing for a retreat experience, for you literally are what you eat, so eat what you want to be made of. It doesn’t take reading books or taking classes to know how to eat healthily. You don’t have to be a genius to know that a chocolate glazed donut is not going to do as much for you as a fruit salad. You don’t have to go crazy with it, as you are more than just your physical body, and pleasing your emotional, mental, and spiritual bodies is important too, but there is a balance. If your body is not doing well, it will affect your emotions, and if you’re not eating properly, that will definitely affect your mental state, so just be conscious about what you consume. If you end up being on a diet during a retreat or for treatment, you’ll have no trouble dealing with the limitations if you are already eating a natural and healthy diet. You can go deeper into what it means to consume and include what you watch, read, listen to, etc.
How we would love to be able to just sit in a jacuzzi and be fed chocolate covered cherries and be healed of all our afflictions and be able to achieve our goals. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. Most things must be earned. Probably you have never encountered someone proud of an accomplishment that was easy. So, be prepared for it to get hard, but understand that you will never be presented with a challenge you cannot overcome, you will never be given a test you cannot pass, or ace, even. Knowing that the process may be complicated, may involve a certain level of suffering, and may cause you to doubt your own abilities, is proof that it will be worthwhile. We doubt anyone who climbed Mt. Everest was surprised by a few frozen toes. If they were, they probably didn’t make it to the top. Trusting the process means putting your faith into it, embracing it, and smiling at it, whatever it may be.
We don’t give enough credit to the power of this simple act. If everyone would become a master of the art of smiling, the world would have very few problems, so don’t worry about everyone else mastering it, just focus on you mastering the art of smiling. Practice it. Look at yourself in the mirror and smile. Make yourself smile, but in a way that doesn’t look or feel forced, with the goal of getting to the point where you can turn on a smile at any time of day, regardless of the situation you may find yourself in. This is a great lesson for life, but when you’re in ceremony and things are getting difficult, having a smile handy can really change things around. The act of smiling sends positive messages to the mind and body and literally make you feel better, happier. Smiles make such a big difference, and we can smile whenever we choose.
This is definitely the last suggestion on the list, as it is not as important as the others, but can be helpful. However, it can also be harmful, as expectations can be a hindrance to your unique and individual process. No matter what, it will not be like what you read, or what you saw or heard. It will be what it is, and if you’re not trying to make it something else, you’ll have a much easier time getting the most out of the experience, instead of being let down that it wasn’t what you expected. Often times, it is way more than what you expect, but one thing for sure is that it won’t be what you expected, so just leave your expectations at the door before you sit down for the ceremony. Allow it to happen however it happens. That being said, there are still some good resources to understand what you’re getting yourself into, and that will provide benefit regardless of whether you plan to join a ceremony or not.