– About Caya Shobo –
Caya Shobo was founded in 2016 by 4 friends hailing from different corners of the globe, who each shared a deep appreciation for the remarkable healing power of Ayahuasca and the Shipibo-Conibo medicine tradition, especially the Shipibo Plant Dieta healing process.
Together they held a combined 45 years of experience working with Ayahuasca and had made the choice to devote their lives’ work to sharing this medicine with others seeking deep healing and personal transformation.
They birthed a dream to create a beautiful ‘home base’ where their medicine communities could stay in a comfortable and supportive environment, with access to the highest quality Ayahuasca and other Amazonian ‘teacher’ plants, and where they could work and learn directly with their favorite master Shipibo healers.
Caya Shobo is the realization of that dream.
Conveniently located just 20 minutes drive from Iquitos airport, in the heart of the Western Amazonian Basin, Caya Shobo is an oasis of flowering gardens, sun-dappled trees, and gentle ponds rich with the energy of nature and life.
Since it opened, Caya Shobo has helped thousands of guests from dozens of different countries experience the healing benefits of Ayahuasca and genuine Shipibo plant medicine.
Our team of master shaman healers and experienced facilitators have achieved profound, life-changing results for guests, treating numerous modern illnesses including depression, post traumatic stress disorder, certain cancers, and many other physical, mental and emotional ailments affecting the world’s population today.
Caya Shobo is one of the few western operated Ayahuasca healing centers to have been officially endorsed by the Coshikox (Shipibo Conibo Xetebo Tribal Council) as to the authenticity of our master healers and the strength of our medicine offering in accordance with Shipibo plant medicine traditions – especially our knowledge and appreciation of Master Plant Dieta.
Our commitment to preserving the ancient approaches of the Shipibo tradition and honoring our Onánya maestros who generously share their knowledge, has been recognized and applauded by the Shipibo tribal elders.
We work with a team of high level Shipibo Maestra and Maestro Onánya Curanderos who each hold a minimum of 15 years, and typically over 30 years experience working with Ayahuasca and Shipibo master plant dieta healing.
For over 20 years, our resident plant pharmacist has been making first-class Ayahuasca and dozens of other plant medicine preparations to treat a vast array of health concerns.
Our entire team of facilitators and managers are deeply, personally engaged with the Shipibo master plant dieta healing and learning process.
Each lead facilitator is carefully screened and required to undergo years of training in Shipibo plant medicine learning and appropriate guest care before assuming responsibility of guest facilitation at Caya Shobo.
With this training and with great respect for the highly individual and complex nature of healing with the Shipibo plant medicine tradition, our facilitators provide a safe and supportive container for each individual to enter their healing process with confidence.
Some of the Caya Shobo facilitators and managers, dedicated to supporting you during and after your stay..
Caya Shobo offers Ayahuasca retreats throughout the year. All our retreats emphasize the Shipibo Plant Dieta healing process, fostering a direct appreciation of the wisdom and power of the master Amazonian ‘teacher’ plants.
Our standard 12-day retreat program includes 8 powerful Ayahuasca ceremonies, a personalized healing diagnosis and plant treatment prescription. All plant medicines are prepared in-house by our expert plant pharmacist.
Other complementary therapies include flower baths, plant teas, massage (optional extra), regular opportunities for discussion with maestros and facilitators, educational classes and activities related to traditional Shipibo plant medicine healing and plant dieta.
The Caya Shobo community of experienced dieters, facilitators, managers, therapeutic advisers and founders is an amazingly co-supportive community, directly accessible through our Facebook Integration forum, and regular online group chats.
For many friends of Caya Shobo, this community represents a blessed sanctuary of mutual care and solidarity around the shared values of prioritizing deep healing in our lives, of the wisdom and intelligence of plants, and the beauty, wonder and power of the Amazonian shamanic medicine traditions.
– Our Vision & Values –
Caya Shobo means House of Great Spirit.
Our Vision is:
– To provide a safe, secure and beautiful place for sharing Ayahuasca and powerful plant medicine healing –
– In respect and harmony with nature, the local community and the ancient Shipibo traditions –
– With practitioners who have real empathy, real experience and real knowledge –
– To help each individual make meaningful progress in their healing with a high degree of personal attention and support –
– With acceptance and understanding for the unique challenges, fears and issues that arise –
– For every person on a healing path, regardless of his or her personal history or past associations and actions –
– With mindfulness of our responsibility to the entire community as well as to each individual. –
Caya Shobo is a special place, with a unique vision. Over the years we have become more clear about what we believe in, what we stand for and what we don’t.
We believe in deep healing, the kind that goes to the roots of trauma and disease and heals from there (and certainly not in the popular pursuit of psychedelic ‘highs’).
We believe in the healing power and wisdom of the plants. We honor the native Shipibo people and their ancient knowledge for appropriately and safely accessing the plants’ healing and teaching power.
We believe in patience and dedication to the healing and learning process, which is usually long and involves many phases and changes over the years. We know that plant dieta healing and learning, when done properly, grows slowly, just as the plants do. (You won’t, for example, find Caya Shobo offering any 6-week shaman’s certification courses!)
We believe that each individual’s path of healing is unique. Deep self-reflection and courageous self-honesty is necessary to truly see and untangle the roots of our disquiet. Ayahuasca and the plants can teach much, but ultimately we must each become the master of our own healing. We don’t advocate devotion to maestros as gurus. Rather we regard these generous teachers as knowledgeable guides who may help us along our journey and through fostering our own direct relationship with the plants, help us to create greater harmony and wellness in our lives.
We also believe in accessing the strengths of Western medicine. We of course respect the incredible power in modern technology for diagnosing disease, for treatment of physical injury, for sanitation and effective emergency response, and also the high standards of integrity in patient care and proper administration of facility operations which is lacking in much of the developing world.
Our aim is to harmoniously balance the gifts of ancient Shipibo wisdom to access the healing power of nature while embracing an approach of modern Western professionalism in terms of respectful care and treatment of guests.
Finally, we believe in practicing kindness and respect to ourselves and to one another along the journey of self-discovery and healing.
Ultimately, our ethos is that every person looking for deep healing and personal transformation is welcome at Caya Shobo. We invite guests of all ages and backgrounds who wish to experience the powerful healing benefits of Ayahuasca and the Amazonian master plants in accordance with the ancient Shipibo traditions.*
Take a journey into an awakening of spiritual consciousness in the safety and care of experienced practitioners and the peaceful, secure environs of Caya Shobo.
*Please note: Confirmation of your stay at Caya Shobo is conditional upon review of your medical situation, and may be subject to preliminary psychological evaluation, and/or written doctor’s approval. More serious healing cases may require a unique treatment and support plan or in some cases may not be able to be treated at Caya Shobo.
A PREVIEW OF CAYA SHOBO ON AYAMUNDO.COM
COSHIKOX ENDORSEMENT OF CAYA SHOBO
Caya Shobo is one of the few Western-owned Ayahuasca healing centers to have received endorsement from Coshikox (the Shipibo Konibo Xetebo Tribal Council) as to the authenticity of our maestros and medicine offering in accordance with the true Shipibo traditions. (Coshikox is the only defined ICCA leadership body for the Shipibo tribal people).
SUPPORT FOR TETAI NOMABO
Caya Shobo also supports the Shipibo women’s sewing association Tetai Nomabo which serves to celebrate and preserve the artisanal heritage of the Shipibo tribal culture while supporting Shipibo families with sustainable income. Our in-house textile arts store showcases a beautiful array of works created by women from this association.
Rafael was born into a family of Ayahuasca Curanderos in the Shipibo village of Santa Rosa de Dinamarca, 5 hours journey by riverboat to the south of Pucallpa. Growing up immersed in the world of Ayahuasca, he observed his parents and the men and women of his extended family always working in healing ceremonies and guiding plant dietas. At the age of 18, his curiosity to learn more about this path inspired him to open his first plant dieta, and he has since been learning and dieting with different master plants over the past 15 years.
Meeting Walter you immediately recognize his natural warmth and humility as a person, as well as his impressive capability as an experienced Onánya Maestro healer. His beautiful, lower toned voice and variety of melodic Icaros can transport you to a place of peace and reconciliation with your life’s experiences and your healing path. Walter is always solid in the middle of the storm.
Maestra Maricela is a highly experienced Shipiba Onánya curandera and Raomi herbalist. Born in the Alto Ucayali river village of Roya, south of Pucallpa, her father Nicolas Vardales is a well known Shipibo medicine man with a strong famileal lineage of medicine knowledge. At age 13, in receiving treatment for some serious health issues of her own, Maricela began to learn about the healing properties of Amazonian medicine plants. She continued dieting with different master plants until she started working with Ayahuasca in her early 30’s.
Immersed in the medicine world her entire life, Maestra Lucinda is the eldest daughter of renowned Shipibo Onánya Maestro Pascual Mahua Ochavano, born in the Shipibo village of Paoyhan or ‘Water of the Pearls’ located on the banks of the beautiful Ucayali river, north of Pucallpa. When she was a tiny infant of 4 months old her father opened her first learning dieta to bring her the advanced knowledge of the Noya Rao “Tree of light” of her ancestors.
Orlando also belongs to the famous family Mahua. His great-grandfather Manuel Mahua was renowned as one of the most powerful Onánya shaman in the entire history of the Shipibo tribe. Manuel’s daughter Manuela, grandmother to Orlando, is also a well – known living Onánya Maestra. Manuela brought up Orlando from early childhood and opened his first medicine plant dieta at age 7. 
Fernando Levi, also born in the village of Paoyhan, is the grandson of Pascual Mahua, and, like his father, his grandfather and many generations before him, Fernando has inherited the Shipibo name “Sani Piko” which means “The Great Medicine Men.” This legacy of ancestral knowledge and the discipline Fernando has brought to developing its power within himself is clearly evident in his Icaros, in his medicine and also in his extensive knowledge of master plant dieta for healing and learning.
Francisco (or Pancho) has been working with the Shipibo medicine path since his early 40’s, and is now in his late 60s.
As a teenager, Pablo felt the call of the medicine, but without access to knowledgeable teachers in his own family or community, he pursued his own learning path with Ayahuasca in the way of the ancient Shipibo Maestro Onánya – by entering the jungle alone and following the call of the plants in isolation dieta.