Ayahuasca Retreat Reviews — Helping You Stay Safe with 5,000+ Independent Reviews
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The Setting
We offer San Pedro ceremonies each week in a cozy, private, safe, and relaxing space, The countryside around Santa Isabel, Ecuador (just outside of Cuenca) is stunningly beautiful and provides the backdrop for what is sure to be a profound experience for you, as it has consistently been for us as well.
The Medicine
San Pedro, also known as Huachuma or Wachuma, is a sacred cactus that has been used in shamanic plant medicine ceremonies for thousands of years in the Amazonian region.
It is said to be a plant teacher, and you will quickly discover why as you begin to have a conversation with the spirit of the plant, which is known as Grandfather San Pedro. Because, just a like a grandfather, he can swaddle you with a level of emotional warmth and tender affection that will touch your heart in a way you might not have even felt before, and he can also provide you with tough-love advice if it’s needed too.
The Ceremony
Every day starts with a warm cup of tea of coffee and friendly conversation as we settle into the new day.
Then, around 10a.m. Steve smudges us all with white sage to clear any sort of negative energies that may be present.
Next, we sit in a small circle, and Steve shares some basic guidelines to the ceremony, and then one-by-one, we each share our intentions with the medicine. This might be as simple as “My intention is to know myself better”, or you might choose to go into more detail.
The medicine is then poured in a glass for each person, and after taking as much time with it as you would prefer, you are welcomed to drink the medicine and find a nice place to settle in.
From then on, the primary element to the ceremony is a conversation that will begin in your head between you and the medicine. You might liken this to speaking to yourself silently, although it will very likely soon be clear that the entity you’re speaking to is a very wise plant teacher who is lovingly known as Grandfather San Pedro.
Just like a grandfather, he can swaddle you with a level of emotional warmth and tender affection that will touch your heart in a way you might not have ever felt before, and he can also provide you with tough-love advice if it’s needed too.
You will feel the primary effects of the medicine for about 10 hours, during which time you’ll be given plenty of space for solitude, surrounded by the amazing beauty of the Ecuadorian countryside.
This provides many opportunities to look inside yourself in many different ways, and you will have an unlimited amount of Steve’s support, not only as a warm, gentle human being, but also as a trained and experienced counselor, with specialties in addictions and childhood trauma.
Steve is always within earshot if support is needed, and he checks on you periodically to see how you’re doing. You’re also welcome to roam around the property to find whatever little perch suits you best.
Midway through the ceremony, fresh fruit is served, which is always a welcomed treat, and at the end of each ceremony, a warm and hardy meal is served which really warms your bones to the core.
Finally, Steve provides angel card readings which you will likely find quite illuminating and may provide some clarification to your experiences throughout the day.
The Facilitator
Workshops are held at the Eagle’s Nest – home of Steve Eagle Sewell – who is self-described as a plant medicine specialist and has chosen to dedicate his life to providing plant medicine to those who need it most.
And after a 2-year apprenticeship in Peru, he’s also facilitated ceremony for over 3,000 people and drank the medicine himself over 500 times. He is well acquainted with it’s healing power as the ultimate healer of addiction, dis-ease and dis-order.
The Bottom Line
If you want to discover who you are, what you believe in, how to heal, and how to find your path, you’ve found the right place 🙂
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mleon
June 29, 2018 at 3:02 pmI had the honor of being involved in the inaugural ceremony of Steve and Samay’s beautiful new retreat center. After having been to two very authentic and locally run ayahuasca centers in Peru and having done 15 ayahuasca journey’s with traditional shamans, doing San Pedro with Steve and Samay was a completion I had been seeking since my ayahuasca experience. While I have tremendous respect for the vine and the shamans that are the keepers of the medicine, I am a white western English speaking woman and I needed someone who could bridge the gap and meet me in a paradigm
that allowed me to make sense of my experiences. Steve is perfect for this. Trained as a drug and alcohol addictions counselor, he is able to take people through the mystical and have it make sense through the lens of western psychological terms and scientific explanations about phsysiology, brain chemistry, and dysfunctional emotional patterns. I highly recommend this center and his medicine if your intentions are for emotional and psychological healing and I look forward to continuing my work with him.
shingo
May 14, 2018 at 11:53 amHaving experienced San Pedro many times I always enjoy drinking medicine with different shamans. The whole experience with Steve was very powerful, his medicine is some of the strongest I’ve experienced and while the journey was tough it was exactly what I needed on the day.
Our experience really came about in an off the cuff manner. My father in law was visiting from Russia and had already done a few Ayahuasca ceremonies and one San Pedro in Vilcabamba before meeting me in Cuenca. He expressed a desire to share a San Pedro ceremony with me and so we contacted Steve and Sammy. They are very accommodating and I really appreciated the quality of the directions to the house.
We left Cuenca on the 7:30am bus and arrived shortly after 9am. The bus ride offered us some amazing scenery to take in along the way. Upon arrival we were greeted by Sammy and a couple of very friendly dogs and immediately made feel welcomed. After assembling on the back porch Steve opened the ceremony with a sage cleansing and blessing. Once we shared our experience since our last ceremony and our intention for the day we drank a glass of San Pedro. The medicine usually takes between 40 minutes to one and a half hours to kick in for me but after 10 minutes I could feel it’s strength.
My experience was very difficult as I wrestled with various aspects of my life, letting go, gaining a deeper level of self acceptance and inviting the great spirit in, all an effort to realise my power, potential and on how to live in peace and happiness. It was great to share the space with my father-in-law and the medicine really helped to strengthen our connection and bestowed another level of respect and admiration for the job he has done in raising a family. At times when I was caught in a loop Steve appeared beside me and we spoke one on one about what was going on with me. The simple act of verbalising it can go along way in helping break a cycle and progress with the medicinal journey.
In the evening Sammy prepared a delicious meal to which we helped ourselves to seconds and thirds. After dinner and before the ceremony closed we did an Angel card reading. It was really profound and stirred me emotionally.
All up it was a very beneficial, therapeutic and enriching experience and I thoroughly recommend Steve’s medicine to anyone wising to experience the beauty and connection that San Pedro brings.
Thanks guys, until next time.
susmoore
May 1, 2018 at 4:38 amI felt at home from the moment I stepped in this house. Steve and Sammy are so welcoming and loving.
I’m a psychologist and have been working on myself for more than 10 years. I am convinced that this is the best way (I know) to heal and to connect with yourself. San Pedro showed me aspects of me that I didn’t want to take anymore and I literally throwed them up. I also felt a deep connection with myself and nature. And it took me to Heaven itself. Never felt so good in my life!! There is so much love and happiness!
At some points, I went through some difficult moments and Steve’s presence and his words help me very much.
Sammy’s dinner at the end of the day made me feel nurtured. Her food is absolutely delicious!
The views are stunning, the garden is wonderful with lots of fruits trees…
It’s a really good place to find yourself, to love you and share love with others, to find your purpose in life, to be one with the Universe, to feel happinness…
Do you need anymore reasons? Just go!
evhan
April 30, 2018 at 5:14 pmMy time with Steve and Samay was a true blessing. I am grateful to have experienced the healing of San Pedro in the space they have created. The medicine did what it does, leading me to insights where my heart could sing. These lessons were accessible because of the ceremonial practice lead by Steve and Samay. They lead with a delicate encouragement, much like San Pedro. The safety and security provided during vulnerable times allowed my inner exploration to continue unhitched. I learned much about my past, present, and future. Traumas were let go of, peacefulness in the present was achieved, and my aspirations have entered a new clarity.
I recommend San Pedro Workshops for anyone curious in the healing properties of plant medicine. Its gentle nature held in the space by Steve and Samay is the perfect combination to explore what you have about healing love.
DancingCobra
April 29, 2018 at 11:38 amSo I had felt called to do plant medicine for some time. I had a strong inner feeling that it could offer me a sort of crucial missing piece in my healing work. When I read about San Pedro I knew it was the medicine for me. I was attracted to its light, healing, warm and self-assured kind of qualities, sensing that these characteristics would render me balance. I searched for the element of safety, basically, since I felt very unsafe at a core level. At Steve’s place, I got exactly this, and so much more. The reason why I chose to work with Steve was mainly that he seemed trustworthy to me. This turned out to be true, and I am so happy that I chose to trust that feeling and travel to Ecuador to work with Steve for a two week long San Pedro workshop.
I had struggled with many of the symptoms of trauma; depression, anxiety, eating disorder, body pain and addictions for so long (many, many years). And I had tried most things: support groups, pills, therapy, self help books, diets, exercise, massage, you name it. After working with Steve and San Pedro for two weeks, most of these symptoms are completely gone. Vanished! I feel happy, light, and also so much more able to just DO than before. I no longer feel stuck in procrastination and fear, there is nothing blocking me from taking action anymore and this is like a HUGE gift!!! It is such an indescribable liberation. I feel like I gained my life back. Honestly. I drank the San Pedro medicine six times, and I also went through two of Steve’s special shamanic journey massage sessions. These massages made a huge difference for me. Steve found the parts of my body that needed healing, and targeted his healing work both physically and energetically at these parts. We cut energetic cords which is an enormous relief for me afterwards, and Steve got some bad, stored sexual experiences out of me leaving me feeling freer in my own body.
Spending the days with Steve and Samay is also a healing thing in itself. They are beautiful, kind and funny people, and I gained a lot just talking to both of them and felt very safe in their presence. Also, Samay’s food is wonderful and everything you need.
Now I am back home, and of course there is still work to be done. I am focusing on getting my life aligned with my new, emotionally, physically and spiritually much more healthy self. And I am already thinking about when I will be able to go back.