– Join an upcoming Ayahuasca and Plant Dieta Info Session –
Complimentary Information Sessions on Zoom are available for anyone interested in an Ayahuasca Retreat in Peru at Caya Shobo. This is a great opportunity to ask us questions you haven’t been able to find answers to on the website, or to share with family and friends who want to learn more about what we do.
You’ll have the opportunity to chat with our experienced Ayahuasca Retreat facilitators and get a general feel for our approach with Shipibo traditional medicine, especially the time-honored shamanic tradition of master Plant Dieta.
ATTEND AN AYAHUASCA RETREAT with PLANT DIETA INFO SESSION – January 23, 2025 at 5PM – 7PM (PST)
See you there, or stay tuned for the next one by subscribing to our newsletter now.
– Preparing for Ayahuasca & Plant Dieta Healing –
When Ayahuasca appears in our lives there is often a mysterious feeling of being called to explore this ancient medicine path. Somewhere within our body or our soul there is an unexplainable intuition that here is something that may hold real insight for us and the potential for genuine renewal in our life.
But how to prepare for this experience? As we have been educated to do in our Western approach to learning, many feel inclined to research Ayahuasca – either online or in books, or by talking with others – to discover something about others’ experiences with the medicine and to anticipate what our own experience may be like.
At Caya Shobo we encourage you to take your own experience. With our many years of working with Ayahuasca, we have observed one consistent truth – that Ayahuasca is a unique experience and the spiritual path is a unique journey for each individual. No one person can tell you what will be your journey with Ayahuasca or the other Master Plants. You must make your own passage.
The Shipibo people say that Ayahuasca reflects to us the reality of ourselves – she is a powerful master spirit that brings up all the bad and all the good within us – within our bodies, our minds and our spirits. The Maestros, with their advanced knowledge, then help us clean away the bad and clarify and enhance the good. The experience of the Ayahuasca Ceremony itself, as described here in more detail, is a mysterious and personal adventure that no-one can fully predict.
Having said that, there are important steps we can and must take to prepare our bodies and our minds for the experience of Ayahuasca Ceremony and for the path of healing with the other medicine plants.
Medical History
When requesting a stay at Caya Shobo, you will be asked to provide detailed information regarding your medical, physical and mental health history before your reservation is confirmed.
Caya Shobo offers comprehensive treatment for a wide range of health concerns. However certain physical and mental conditions and/or pharmaceutical medications or substances may inhibit your eligibility to drink Ayahuasca and/or other medicine plants, and some guests may require a specific preparation plan for treatment.
To ensure your safety and the safety of others, and to obtain the maximum possible benefit from your treatment at Caya Shobo, it is critical that you provide comprehensive and detailed information in your medical form.
General Dietary Restrictions
It is necessary to follow certain food restrictions during the time you are participating in Ayahuasca Ceremony and while taking the prescribed Dieta Plants, as well as certain restrictions regarding social behaviour and private relationships.
Consuming red meats, salt, dairy, citrus and other acids, sugar and sweeteners, and other products, can not only disrupt and delay the healing of the patient, but in many cases can produce undesired effects. For this reason, in this medicine tradition, the discipline with respect to Dieta restrictions is of vital importance.
For at least 10 days before and during your visit to Caya Shobo it is essential that you observe a restricted diet of:
- No marijuana or any other drugs whatsoever. If you are required to take medications it is imperative that you inform Caya Shobo before your arrival of the name of your medication/s and your daily dosages.
- No alcohol.
- No salt or very salty foods. (Vegetables naturally high in sodium, like celery, are ok.)
- No vinegar, lemon juice or other highly acidic foods (eg kombucha, mayonnaise, pickled foods, etc).
- No pork or red meat. (Chicken or fish is ok.)
- No spicy food – such as chilli, curry, hot sauce, etc
- No dairy – milk, cheese, yoghurt. (Eggs are ok.)
- No sugar or sweeteners.
- Avoid caffeine.
- Avoid fried and oily foods.Most natural supplements are ok, but avoid natural supplements that are very potent (such as Oregano Oil) or highly acidic (such as Vitamin C) or that affect brain chemistry (such as St John’s Wort).
- It is also recommended to avoid all aged and fermented foods including miso, tofu, smoked fish, etc.
In most cases retreat in solitude and sexual abstinence also take on crucial importance during the treatment.
Menstruation & Moon-Time
During your menstruation you will be asked to take rest from the Ceremony and not enter the Maloka. While menstruating we recommend that you focus on making connection with your Dieta plants in quiet meditation. Please contact us if you have questions about this requirement.
– Integration of Ayahuasca Healing at Caya Shobo –
The experience of Ayahuasca retreat in the Amazon, with quiet time in nature and the peaceful ambience of the jungle, clean food and daily Dieta treatments with medicine plants, brings us to an extremely cleansed and highly sensitive mental and energetic state. The stark contrast with the regular world when we initiate our return journey and become re-immersed in the responsibilities of our job, our family situation, the city environment, etc, can be a really intense shock.
To ease the journey home and minimize the loss of connection with the experience and the healing which you received during your time at Caya Shobo we always plan retreats to allow a day or two of rest after the final Ceremony. This down-time allows you to re-ground and receive guidance and counsel from our experienced facilitators on how best to re-enter your day-to-day life.
A slow re-integration to the world and to daily living in terms of food choices, activities, social behaviour and general mental patterns is key to obtaining the most benefit possible from your time in the jungle. Typically after a 2 week retreat in the jungle we recommend some quiet alone time of 5-7 days. If you don’t have this luxury and need to return to other commitments, our facilitators will teach you during your retreat about preparing your own energy cleansing flower baths and other tools for protection and cleansing.
Another vital part of the healing process is psychological support to help you interpret and integrate the powerful healing experiences with Ayahuasca Ceremony and with dieting the medicine plants. In this path of healing many difficult and confusing experiences, thoughts and visions may arise and can invoke feelings of fear, pain, sadness, anger, confusion and uncertainty. Particularly for a Western educated mind where our rationality and ego-based control patterns can be our worst enemies.
During your stay at Caya Shobo you will have the opportunity to meet with our experienced facilitators and our Maestros in private and/or in group session. Seeking guidance with humility from those with years of practice in this path and from the Shipibo Maestros who hold a very different way of thinking and perceiving life, can be very helpful in showing us how to walk a path of healing with love and understanding, and peaceful confidence in our hearts and minds.
The focus of Integration work after attending a Master Plant Dieta retreat at Caya Shobo is different than what is involved simply with integrating the visions and insights that came up for you during Ayahuasca ceremony.
We often say that when the Dieta is closed, it is ‘born’ into your world and continues to grow slowly (if you take care of it), just as a plant would keep growing when planted in your garden.
In fact Master Plant Dieta can have a hugely transformative impact in your life and often inspires the making of important decisions for positive change, which were not possible before. This process can be ongoing for some time after you depart Caya Shobo, particularly if you decide to continue dieting with Master Plants. The plant energies will gradually build their presence and influence within you and in all your relationships.
Such changes, which ultimately can be very favorable to your life can also be challenging or bring stress, not only for yourself but for family too, and potentially your circle of friends. Receiving expert, skilled advice during these changes can be invaluable.
Plant Dieta Integration work is Unique
The focus of Integration work after attending a Master Plant Dieta retreat at Caya Shobo is different than what is involved simply with integrating the visions and insights that come during Ayahuasca ceremony.
We often say that when the Plant Dieta is closed, it is ‘born’ into your world and continues to grow slowly (if you take care of it), just as a plant would keep growing when planted in your garden.
Master Plant Dieta can have a hugely transformative impact in your life and often inspires the making of important decisions for positive change, which were not possible before. This process can be ongoing for some time after you depart Caya Shobo, particularly if you decide to continue dieting with Master Plants. The plant energies will gradually build their influence within you and in all your relationships.
Such changes, which ultimately can be very favorable to your life can also be challenging or bring stress, not only for yourself but for family too, and potentially your circle of friends. Receiving expert, skilled advice can be invaluable.
Our facilitators and experienced community of dieters are available after your departure from Caya Shobo to provide ongoing guidance in helping you to make positive, well-considered choices for your life in a loving and balanced way, through the Caya Shobo Integration Forum facebook page and through regular Zoom group conferences (see below).
Transformation is ok, but always with love.
We also encourage you to stay up to date with what’s happening in the Caya Shobo community by following our various social media profiles and subscribing to our regular newsletter.
– Join an upcoming Caya Shobo Dieta Integration Session –
One week after each Dieta Retreat at Caya Shobo we offer group Dieta Integration Sessions on Zoom – which are free for recent retreat guests, and priced at US$25 for all other attendees. These small group sessions provide an excellent opportunity to receive expert in-depth guidance related to integration of Ayahuasca ceremony experiences and Plant Dieta work, and can help you gain clarity on moving forward with your Shipibo plant medicine healing and learning path.
Each participant will have the opportunity to present 1 unique question or topic for discussion during the session (the equivalent of approximately a 10-15 minute discussion/exploration).
Maximum attendees: 10
Session max. duration: 2 hours
You’ll have the opportunity to ask our experienced lead facilitators a question about your Dieta or Integration process and hear questions and sharing from other attendees.
The following Integration Session is scheduled for: JANUARY 8 at 5:00pm (PST)
Or email Reservations at Caya Shobo for more information.
Please read the Legal Disclaimer and Liability Waiver for Caya Shobo Integration Sessions and Coaching Services
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.