Novalis Conservation and Retreat Center
The Embodied Transformation Retreat invites you to immerse yourself into your deepest inner-sense of your true nature with the transformational intelligence and sensorial connection of Gaia.
We’ve created an opportunity for you to plug into the heart of Gaia, recharge within the womb of her life giving essence, commune with the intelligence of the Earth, and embody your true nature- untamed, wild, and free.
It is with deep honor and trust to hold a sacred container meant for you to dive into the deepest depths of your souls greatest calling in this lifetime. To deepen into your inner sense, blossom into your highest self, and celebrate your fullest expression.
The time has come to take all of the teachings, healings, initiations, and transformations of the Online Sacred Plant Immersions and carry our practices together into the deep, luscious, vitalizing jungle of Peru where some of the most powerful master plant elders live, grow, and thrive. Of which you will get to intimately live, commune, and diet with.
If you walk the plant path in anyway, this immersion is a foundational stepping stone for you to embody this path with integrity, humility, and gratitude.
Are you ready to embody the transformations the plants activate within your being?
- Transportation from Puerto Maldonado to NOVALIS and back (30-minute car ride followed by a 1-hour beautiful boat ride along the river, and a 40-minute scenic hike through the rainforest)
- 15 nights and 16 days of accommodation in our shared tree houses completely screened in from mosquitos, with netting provided over the beds, fresh sheets, and lanterns.
- English – Spanish – Shipibo translation
- Individual dieta consultation with our medicine team
- Sharing circles before and after ceremonies
- 1 plant bath during your dieta
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Various Workshops: Plant Communication, The Way of Dieta Workshop with Don Loyver, and Embodied Transformation
- Individually selected and isolated 7 day plant dieta
- Opportunity to deepen your knowledge of shamanic practice(s) and the use of medicinal plants
- Nature Immersions (plant identification walks, nature walks, forest bathing)
- Morning Yoga
-
Fire Circles
-
Despacho Ceremony
- Locally grown vegetarian meals cooked with love (All meals included)
- 4 Ayahuasca Ceremonies
- Transpersonal Psychology Integration Circles
Prior to the Retreat:
- One month of Pre-Dieta Preparations guided by Kristen
- One-on-one Consultation with Kristen
First Group Call is May 10 followed by 3 more calls
*All calls are mandatory*
Post Retreat:
- One month of Post- Dieta Integration guided by Kristen
- First Group Call is July 12 followed by 3 more calls
Retreat Itinerary
Day 0
(the day before your retreat begins)
A meet and greet (5pm) with the group and retreat facilitators for an informal get together to ensure everyone is ready for departure on the next day.
Day 1
10 am Depart Puerto Maldonado
12:30pm Arrive to Novalis!
1pm Lunch
2-6pm Land Tour and Get Settled
6pm Dinner
7pm Opening Circle and Introduction
Day 2
7am Movement meditation
9am Breakfast
10am dream interpretation workshop
1pm Lunch
2-4pm Jungle hike and offerings to the land
4-6pm Personal Reflection time
6pm Dinner
Day 3
7am Movement meditation
9am Breakfast
10am dream interpretation
1pm Lunch
2-4pm Workshop: Plant Communication
5-8pm Personal Reflection for Ceremony
8pm Ayahuasca Ceremony 1: Welcome
Day 4
9am Breakfast
10am Integration Circle
1pm Lunch
Personal One-on-One Consultations throughout the day
Plant Walk (TBA)
6pm Dinner
7pm Evening Counsel
Day 5
7am Movement meditation
9am Breakfast
10am dream interpretation
1pm Lunch
2-4pm Workshop: The Way of Dieta
5-8pm Personal Reflection for Ceremony
8pm Ayahuasca Ceremony 2: Opening the Dieta
Day 6-12
Dieta in isolation in a tambo or tree house
Includes 1 plant bath
Day 12
Last day of the dieta
8pm Ayahuasca Ceremony 3: Closing the Dieta
Day 13
9am Breakfast
10am Integration Circle
1pm Lunch
2-6pm Personal Reflection and Continued Integration
6pm Dinner
7pm Fire Circle
Day 14
7am Movement meditation
9am Breakfast
10am dream interpretation
1pm Lunch
2-4 pm Workshop: Embodied Transformation
5-8pm Personal Reflection for Ceremony
8pm Ayahuasca Ceremony 4: Celebration
Day 15
9am Breakfast
10am Integration Circle
1pm Lunch
2-4pm Despacho Ceremony
6pm Dinner
7pm Closing Circle
Day 16
8am Breakfast
11am Depart for Puerto Maldonado
*This schedule is subject to change at any time*
HOW DO I KNOW IF THIS IS FOR ME?
You’re reading all of this and feel excited and lit up about the opportunity to join this transformational experience of a lifetime
You love the outdoors, connection, adventure, and wish to take your relationship with Gaia to the next level
You want to activate your souls calling and embodied wisdom
You love nature, plants, animals, fungi, and culture
You are interested in exploring the imaginal realms of the plant Queendoms and Kingdoms
You are a healer, practitioner, herbalist, facilitator or you’re a human interested in new ways of expanding your true nature and toolset
You are calling in healing and miracles on a mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual level within your being
You are interested in learning indigenous ways of connecting and communing with life
You desire transformational experience that uplift, recharge, and amplify your joy in life
You want a space to learn and practice plant language, plant communication, and listening to the voice of the Earth
Your intuition tells you powerful initiations within your being is possible and waiting for you
MEET THE TEAM
Rhea Alexander
Guide – Herbalist – Chef – Co Facilitator
Rhea is a bridge between interweaving western culture with the carriers of ancient Peruvian traditions and the ancestral voice of the Earth. Her core studies evolve around vitalist herbalism, holistic nutrition, indigenous studies, core shamanism, integrative pharmacology, plant communication, dream work, transpersonal psychology, and medical astrology to harness a unique intuition and sensitivity that now humbly inspires, guides, and supports her clients to find their way of living their purposeFULL life from the heart. Rhea shares the way of the “the self-initiatory” path that directly connects them to the teachings, healings, initiations, and transformations from Gaia.
Don Loyver Yui
Vegetalisto – Musician – Co Facilitator
Don Loyver is Shipibo from the Alto Ucayali community of San Francisco and learned to work with rainforest plant medicines under the tutelage of his mother, who learned with her grandfather, father and father-in-law. Loyver’s mother recounted her many experiences of medicine and ceremony to her young son. Loyver holds the tradition of Icaros (medicine songs), overseeing ceremonies and is a visionary painter. He has been dieting plants and serving medicine for over a decade while supporting his wife and six daughters. Ayahuasca was the teacher he needed to find all of the answers he needed which was hidden inside of his body temple. In this way, his life has changed to living a more intentional, sacred life, which he believes is very important for staying connected and weaving a life of love and unity. Don Loyver continues doing this work to deepen into himself and inspire his children.
Breanna Shannon
– Retreat Manager – Herbalista – Co Facilitator
Breanna is a strong willed and devoted Mother. She gave birth to her son in November of 2020 at home in her teepee as well as continuing the first 40 days postpartum in that space. Since then, she has created an outdoor children’s program where she uses the natural environment as teacher for the children. She has practiced 10 years of organic farming, from tropical to pacific northwest climate, and has held her PDC, Permaculture Design Consulting, since the year 2013. She lived in the Amazon rainforest of Peru for 2 years, 2016-2018, while participating and studying through different lenses of ethnobotany. She plays the ngoni, and flute while finding a particular exhalation to sound and song through vocal expression
Juan Zuniga
Founder of Novalis – Director – Linguist
Juan was born and raised in Cuzco, Peru of ancestral Incan lineage. He studied Linguistics at PUCP (Pontifical Catholic University of Peru) specializing in Quechua. He has been active in the region of Madre de Dios since 2001 and has extensive experience in working with local communities both in the Andes and the Amazonas for over 18 years. Juan has designed formal bi-lingual education programs for Quechua, Yine, and Ese Eja nations, community intermediation, nutritional information modules, and natural construction. His goal is to develop a way to live in harmony with the natural and ancestral traditions within the forests that he now calls home.
Cassandra Caroline
Co-founder of Novalis – Strategic Sustainability Planning – Ethnobotanist – Advisor – Logistics
Cassandra is our main logistics coordinator, helping you to have a joyful, comfortable and safe stay. She has been living with Novalis for the last 6 years, and knows many of the plants and animals onsite intimately. She is one of the best to get in touch with about conservation efforts as she has been a driving force in our conservation efforts, particularly in the protection of an additional 1100 hectares through local partnerships. She has a Bachelor of Science in Biology and Environmental Studies from the University of Victoria in Canada. Her focus was on environmental restoration of degraded ecosystems, ethnobotany, and political ecology. She completed her Masters in Strategic Leadership Towards Sustainability from the Blekinge Institute of Technology in Karlskrona, Sweden in 2012.
Her masters thesis was focused on Danish Social Enterprises and their use of business as a way to create positive social and ecological benefits in their communities. These focuses on ecology, sustainability and socioeconomics have been driving forces in Cassandra’s work, volunteer and research experience.
Energy Exchange:
$3,333
A $433 discount is available for those who have been apart of an online sacred plant immersion
To secure your space you will need to fill out an application form, then schedule a video call with Kristen
Upon acceptance you will need to pay in full or if you’re needing a payment plan, then send a $800 non-refundable deposit via zelle, money order, or credit card
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What is a dieta?
A dieta is a container that involves immersing yourself in isolation with the jungle combined with Ayahuasca ceremonies, while following a certain diet, protocols, and ingesting a specific plant in various ways to cultivate an intimate relationship with and merge the plants subtle energies and consciousness into your being. This can lead to profound healings, transformations, initiations, teachings, and evolutionary growth.
By sensitizing the body through isolation, eating minimal food, having minimal distractions, abstaining from sexual activities, rewilding in nature, and simplifying your life, you become more open and can listen more clearly to the spirit of the plant and the plants subtle energetics. The plant can also go deeper into your cellular memory for transformational healing. These ways of sensitizing the body, mind, and spirit are also offerings to the spirit of the plant, showing your humble commitment, devotion, and respect to cultivating a relationship with the plant as an elder during the dieta.
This ancient traditional way of communing with plants is also a practice for learning the plant language and communicating with the plant realms more clearly.
Plants are seen to have a physical and spiritual body that can act as powerful allies, protectors, healers, teachers, and guides along the journey of life. We call upon the plants as our elders to facilitate the ancient path of initiation that has been forgotten from Western influences. The intelligence that lies within the physical components of plants are powerful forces of nature that shift the ecology of the human body, or inner ecosystem. Plants activate the DNA within the blood that lies dormant and essentially “wakes up” the universal intelligence and life force energy within our being. This can create transformational, transcendental experiences that awaken our consciousness and allow us to remember who we truly are and the essence of our true nature. Plants support bringing the body into balance, generate harmony and peace within, and activate our vital force energy to not only survive, but thrive in the world we live in today.
What food is served during the dieta?
It is usually plain potatoes, yucca, rice, plantains, and/or quinoa. However, this can change based on your personal consultation with the medicine team.
Can I interact with other people during the dieta?
It is highly encouraged to immerse yourself without any interactions, eye contact, or physical touch from anyone, except communicating your needs, if you need to, to Kristen. This gives you the opportunity to be fully present with the plant you’re dieting.
There will be someone coming to your Tambo every morning to drop off your plant medicine, water, and food for the day.
What do I bring with me?
We provide a detailed list of everything you will need to bring, but here are the basics:
- Headlamp & Extra Batteries
- Water Bottle
- Light rain jacket
- Eco-friendly Soap & Washing Detergent
- Loose Clothes
- Jacket/poncho
- A large journal with extra pens
Can I have more information about the Novalis Conservation and Retreat Center?
More information available on the Novalis Center Website
Is Medical Insurance Required?
Medical insurance is not required, however it is highly recommended.
What airport do I fly into?
Puerto Maldonado Airport
The best way is to fly to Lima, Peru then get a domestic flight (starperu, avianca, or LAN) from Lima to Puerto Maldonado at least a day before the retreat starts.
Do I need a visa to come to Peru?
If you have a United States passport then you do not need a tourist visa. You can stay for a maximum of 90 days with a valid passport.
Is a vaccine required to come to Peru?
COVID vaccines are not required to come to Peru. However, you either need to have proof of a full vaccination certification at least 14 days prior to boarding your first flight OR you can show a negative COVID-19 NAAT test result issued at most 48 hours before boarding your first flight. Tests accepted are: CRISPR, HDA, LAMP, LampORE, MPOCT, NAAT, NEAR, NGS, PCR, RTLamp, RT-PCR, RealTimeRTPCR, SDA, TMA, TRC, WGS, Orf1abgenedetection, Egenedetection, Ngenedetection, Rdrpgenedetection and Sgenedetection.
You’ll also need to complete an “Affidavit of Health and Geolocation Authorization” within 72 hours before departure.
A face covering is also required when traveling within the airports of Peru.
There are no other vaccination requirements to enter Peru.
What is the weather like?
In the rainy season (mid November to early April) it could rain all week! Rains are generally heavy at first, with thunder storms, and then can continue through the day. The rain then clears it it is spectacularly hot and sunny… Don’t expect to dry clothes. Bring a rain poncho and rubber boots. During the rest of the year it’s generally very hot and dry – especially June, July and August, though we do have a siesta during the regional cold weather system, called ‘Friaje’ (15-8C) which usually normally only occurs in May-September.
What is the cancellation policy?
A non-refundable deposit of $800 USD is required to reserve your space no later than April 10, 2023. This can be paid via Venmo, Zelle, or PayPal with $1,000 USD in cash due upon arrival in Puerto Maldonado.
If you need to cancel, deposits are only refundable if we can fill your space. Investing in travel insurance for any unforeseen circumstances is recommended.
If you decide to depart early from the retreat, there will be no refunds or partial refunds given.
Do you offer payment plans?
Yes we do. There are up to 4 installments (depending on when you put down your deposit) with $1,000 USD in cash due upon arrival in Puerto Maldonado.
What is not included?
- Flight costs
- Visa costs
- Travel and medical insurance
- COVID tests
- Any bookings, expenses, and travel before and after the retreat dates
How do I secure my space?
By filling out the application form, scheduling a call with Kristen, then sending a non refundable deposit of $800 to secure your spot.