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Temple of the Way of Light
The Temple of the Way of Light is a traditional plant-medicine shamanic healing center located in the Peruvian Amazon Rainforest that offers intensive ayahuasca retreats with female and male Shipibo healers. We are dedicated to providing our guests with the opportunity to benefit from the ancient healing wisdom of the Shipibo people, and to helping this unique culture preserve its knowledge and identity in the 21st Century.
We work with some of the most respected and powerful healers (Onanya) from the Shipibo tribe. They are highly experienced, gentle, caring, and deeply dedicated to healing and embodying the wisdom and sincerity of their people. The healing traditions of the Shipibo people offer an ancient yet pioneering path to health, re-discovering our true nature and re-awakening to our true purpose.
The Temple firmly believes in respecting and honoring the ancient practices of the Onanya, experts in ayahuasca healing and plant-spirit shamanism of the Amazon. They bring a rich cultural and medicinal legacy to the healing process: time-honored rituals, intricate practices, an expansive cosmology, an encyclopedic knowledge of medicinal plants of the Amazon, and a far-reaching ancestral lineage.
The Temple has safely facilitated healing for thousands of people since 2007 and has forged an exemplary reputation for stringent safety protocols, compassionate care, and a balance of female and male healers and facilitators. We have used our experience to fine-tune a synthesis of ancient Shipibo medicine traditions and modern and Eastern integrative practices that now extends to comprehensive aftercare and integration support long after guests have returned home. All this takes place with an institutional focus on sustainability, permaculture, ethics, and social responsibility.
We offer ayahuasca retreat programs of varying duration, focus, and intensity, with a balance of female and male Shipibo healers, experienced western facilitators, floral baths, a steam bath, a high ratio of healers to guests, a high number of ayahuasca ceremonies, individual consultations, a nutritional and balanced ayahuasca food diet, and a strong focus on how to process and integrate healing, both during and after each ayahuasca retreat.
The safety of our guests is paramount. We are constantly working to offer the safest container and most effective ayahuasca healing experience in the Amazon. We have developed the most stringent health and safety protocols available on any ayahuasca retreat in Peru. The Temple’s commitment to guests begins with in-depth medical and psychological screening during our booking procedure and continues after the retreat through our integration support. Guiding you safely through deep personal healing and growth is our priority, both in and out of ceremony.
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Jennasez
May 9, 2018 at 3:44 pmI participated in a 23 day deep immersion program from March 23rd to April 14th and it was incredible. The staff, facilitators, yoga/meditation teacher, and healers at the Temple truly care about the “whole person.” From the moment I signed up until now (and I know the coming months) I received such care and attention. I knew from their website alone that I was going to the right place for me. Not only did I have the privilege of working with the medicine in a beautiful ceremonious way but the workshops that were offered in between greatly helped me to both process and integrate my experience. I have taken responsibility for all parts of me, am currently integrating them into my life, and experienced a self love and lightness that is indescribable. I know that I am finished working with Ayahuasca and I can’t wait to go back to the Temple and hopefully volunteer to help others have the same level of healing I experienced.
aacmli
May 7, 2018 at 4:19 pmI can’t say enough good things about my experience at the Temple. Don’t get me wrong, it was a difficult journey, but also transcendent, communal, and deeply healing. I felt very safe throughout and had deep trust in the facilitators, who each brought their whole selves to the table — Tanya a commanding presence, Scott a deep calm, and Jessica a sincere compassion — and held space masterfully. All of them made you feel seen, heard and loved. The maestra/os brought their decades of experience to bear and worked tirelessly to direct and support the profound energetic healing of the group and all its members. It was a powerful experience I’ll never forget. Highly recommend to anyone who is committed to growth, discovery and healing.
jaden66
May 5, 2018 at 3:30 pmThis was my first time taking the medicine and I only came to TOTWOL for the 9-day Integration Workshop because someone I highly trust recommended it highly. I was not disappointed, and you can stop reading at this point as everything else I’m going to say simply elaborates on this.
Nobody comes to the jungle to drink ayahuasca unless they’ve got some stuff to deal with. There’s a thousand ways it can go wrong, so I was balancing being open to the process with keeping my eyes peeled for red flags. There were none. Don’t get me wrong, there were some dicey events where some members of our 20+ group dealt with any number of issues that arose in person, in group, in the ceremonies, etc. but the healers and facilitators dealt with it in the most gentle and professional manner.
And then there’s Tanya.
There’s a 1000-watt head and heart in that woman and I was inspired by the way she gave her all to each member of the group, including myself. You know when somebody looks at you and you can tell that they really see you? She does.
The facilities, the amenities, the program, the healers, the medicine itself, all fitting to the task. I feel like I got what I came for, and believe most of my cohorts did as well. Some of the toughest nuts were cracked, and while I know my journey has an individual trajectory I was amazed by the diversity, thoughtfulness and intelligence of the others in my group and the loving dynamic within.
I may come back. Not sure. Too early. But I did recommend wholeheartedly to those with whom I can discuss.
I recommend to you too.
vivienw
May 5, 2018 at 1:04 pmI am just back from the Temple and it’s 10 day integration intensive. Over all it was a very worthwhile experience. The facilitators Tanya, Scott and Jessica and Yin Yoga instructor Anya were all extremely good at their art form. The innate talent and love for their work and the plant medicine more than the professional training (though top notch no doubt) is what impresses. Many came because they had heard that The Temple uses Gabor Mates integration methods and trauma theories. I have more of a spiritual paradigm than a psychological one and I found that they mesh the 2 seamlessly and to great effect.
Mind you, I am not here to judge the efficacy of Ayahuasca as a medicine but merely to give others an idea of what to expect of the Temple. So here I go:
The rooms are dare I say luxurious tho simple and quite bare which I loved. The jungle sounds and the slight breeze and the cozy room was heavenly. A plus for the rooms.
The grounds are quite lovely and slightly manicured but not too much. A plus for the grounds.
The food is great and plentiful: A plus food.
The Curanderas and shamans (will call them the healers) The healers are master energy movers and passionate and committed to the tasks at hand. They command the ceremonies with their Icaros in what resonates as a masterful opera of chaos and power. This is perhaps the most difficult area to discuss and to convey. I really do not have words for what it is that they do.
I have experienced Ayahuasca many times and in different places but never in an indigenous context. The shamans are the ones who speak to the plants and without them the medicine has little direction. As I write this last sentence
I can see how incomplete and meaningless it sounds. I can not describe the effect of the healers suffice to say that until one experiences Ayahuasca within this context one does not understand the full import of the plant medicine. One small and again one meaningless example though more quantifiable is that the effect of the medicine lasts about 4 hours and maybe 2 of them as a plateau. At the temple the full effect can be 8 hours.
I would like to add that the commitment to healing and heartfelt caring that the members of our group brought to the experience was a big part of the healing. A plus for fellow pasajeros (journey men and women).
I would like to add a special thanks to Scott facilitator who helped me through hard moments, Jessica for her soft and sweet and powerful presence in the ceremonies and always and Tanya for her deep heart and wisdom and humor.
Fraser B
May 4, 2018 at 10:41 amI first visited the Temple of the way of Light in October 2017 for a 13 day retreat at a time in my life when I was feeling a little lost. Life on the surface was very good, but I felt like I was lacking direction and purpose.
On arriving at the temple I felt at home immediately and very comfortable to share the challenges I was experiencing in my life. The facilitators work very hard to explain in detail the process used to work with the medicine and there is plenty of time to settle in to the environment and meet the healers before the first ceremony.
I made some pretty big changes following the 13 day retreat, I actually proposed to my girlfriend during the last group share and we have since married. The insights and wisdom received during the ceremonies were integrated through discussions with the facilitators and the integrative activities than run throughout the retreat. I made some strong bonds with the fellow participants and on leaving felt certain I would be returning.
Sure enough, I returned with my wife to complete a tobacco dieta followed by a three week deep immersion in March through April 2018. You can view my video testimonial here:
[video_lightbox_youtube video_id=”UTtZFTbJGyA” width=”640″ height=”480″ auto_thumb=”1″]
The tobacco dieta was a very different experience: 7 days and nights in solitude, only fruit juice for breakfast and lunch, drinking the tobacco brew every night. This process induced a deep physical, mental and spiritual cleanse. At the time it was difficult to explain exactly what was happening, just a knowing that many shifts were happening and that the significance of these shifts would present themselves in due course. I left feeling grounded, clear minded and total at peace with myself.
Jason and Valko provided support and guidance before, during and after the dieta, seemly able to say exactly what I needed, exactly when I needed it. Their knowledge and wisdom has been cultivated over many years of working with the plant(s), taking themselves to the depths of their own consciousness. Being able to work with people demonstrating their level of commitment to the frankly terrifying, extraordinary and wonderful path towards finding who you really are was an real honor.
The deeper workings of the tobacco dieta became abundantly clear during the first and subsequent ayahuasca ceremonies of the deep immersion retreat that commenced 9 days following. The insights that came were direct, specific and systematically worked through each area of my life. The sheer volume of insights and wisdom I received in each of the ceremonies was overwhelming. The tobacco opened me up, opened my heart and my mind and allowed the ayahuasca to penetrate deeper.
Overall, I have experienced profound mental, emotional, physical and spiritual growth during the last 6 months. I feel more excited to be alive than I have for many years, with a greater sense of purpose than ever before. My experiences at the temple have peeled back the layers of conditioning that we all accumulate as we go through life. As each layer falls away I become more of who I alway have been, more connected to my inner truth. As Jason always says this work is a process of taking things away.
The main lesson I would like to offer to anyone looking to work with plants is find someone you can trust. The more I trust in the space, healers, facilitators and medicine provided by the temple the more profound the healing I received becomes.
Ultimately, finding a place you can trust will only take you 50% towards whatever it is you want to heal, the other 50% comes from your commitment and resolve to work through whatever it is inside of you that’s standing in your way.