Riosbo Ayahuasca Retreat Center in Peru

Profound Healing in an Ancestral Tradition

Ayahuasca Retreats at the Ayahuasca Foundation

The Ayahuasca Foundation is a one of a kind ayahuasca retreat center located inside a pristine natural reserve deep in the Amazon Rainforest of Peru. Founded in 2009, the Ayahuasca Foundation offers healing ayahuasca retreats and training courses led by an incredible family of authentic Shipibo healers.

Our retreat programs provide comprehensive holistic plant medicine treatments, enhanced by complementary practices, offering much more than a typical ayahuasca retreat. We teach elements of the Shipibo healing tradition on every program to enhance the healing potential of the retreat experience.

OUR AYAHUASCA RETREATS

Superbly talented.
It was memorable and very fine.
If you want rock-solid ceremonies,
The Ayahuasca Foundation delivers.

Chris Kilham

Ayahuasca Foundation Logo

Discover Healing and Harmony: Ayahuasca Retreats Guided by Authentic Shipibo Curanderos

An ayahuasca retreat at The Ayahuasca Foundation offers participants the opportunity to discover and address the root causes of their afflictions. Guided by Shipibo plant doctors, participants receive treatments that help to remove the obstacles preventing the realization of their health and harmony. Cleansed of the detrimental obstacles on the levels of the mind, body, and emotions, retreat participants can achieve the highest states of health and well being.

Serving a cup of ayahuasca in an ayahuasca ceremony at the Ayahuasca Foundation

Shipibo Family Lineage of the Noya Rao Tradition

The Ayahuasca Foundation works in a very unique familial lineage. The Lopez family practices a multi-generational healing tradition rooted in the deep connection and relationship to a remarkable tree called Noya Rao, also known as the tree of Light.

Shipibo Family Tradition

Shipibo curandero blows mapacho smoke over an ayahuasca retreat participant at the Ayahuasca Foundation

Plant Medicine Treatments and Complimentary Practices

Beyond the power of the ayahuasca ceremonies, ayahuasca retreats include comprehensive treatments with a variety of effective plant medicines specific to healing on every level of our being. Complimentary practices further enhance these treatments.

Receiving Treatment

Ayahuasca Foundation retreat participant receives integration counseling after the retreat

Ayahuasca Preparation and Integration Guidance

Our dedication to creating long lasting healing benefits goes beyond the time participants spend at our retreat center. We provide preparation recommendations and methods to integrate important changes and improvements into their lives to realize true transformations.

Preparing for Ayahuasca

Shipibo curandero don Enrique with a student during an ayahuasca course in Peru

Responding to the Call

Ayahuasca Courses led by a true Shipibo Maestro

Ayahuasca courses at The Ayahuasca Foundation were designed for people who have felt the call to liberate their inner healer or to learn the ayahuasca tradition in the Amazon rainforest. Ranging from four to eight weeks, these courses provide the space to cultivate deeper relationships with plants, nature, and our true selves.

The opportunity to learn directly from the teacher plants in their native setting of the Shipibo tradition is a real honor for students from all over the world. Navigating the world of plant spirit medicine can be very challenging, but receiving guidance from a Shipibo maestro and his apprentices can accelerate and deepen the plant dieta process on the journey to becoming a healer.

OUR AYAHUASCA COURSES

Ayahuasca Foundation initiation course participants connect with the Noya Rao tree before opening their dietas

Plant Dietas: the Roots of the Ayahuasca Tradition

The Shipibo family’s profound healing tradition offered at the Ayahuasca Foundation centers around a connection to five powerful plants: Noya Rao, Bobinsana, Marusa, Chiric Sanango, and Chullachaqui. These amazing plant spirits are sacred maestros and maestras.

Plant Dietas

Ayahuasca Healing Empowerment Course students practice singing an icaro with the Shipibo maestro

A Stuctured Teaching of Ancestral Wisdom

The course has been offered over fifty times and continues to grow and develop innovative methods to teach the foundations of the Shipibo healing tradition. The true teachers of the course are the plants themselves, guided by the maestro and facilitators.

Healers & Team

A Noya Rao tree at the Ayahuasca Foundation's plant medicine academy

Spreading the Energy of Noya Rao Across the Globe

Nearly one thousand students have participated in Ayahuasca Foundation courses and there are now communities in North America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia built by our students to spread the healing energies of the Shipibo tradition and Noya Rao.

Noya Rao

Through this immersive experience,
I gained invaluable spiritual insights
and emerged with a profound sense
of appreciation, gratitude,
and connectedness.

John

Our Team of Shipibo Healers: The Lopez Family of Curanderos

Since the Ayahuasca Foundation was formed in 2009, we have only worked with one family of healers. The Lopez family is part of a unique and special lineage of plant medicine doctors and ayahuasca healers from the Roaboya community near Pucallpa, Peru. They have contributed significantly to the design of our programs and due to many years of collaboration we have achieved a tremendous depth of treatments and curriculums in our ayahuasca retreats and training courses. The respect and love we share with this family and our strong bonds of friendship are expressed in the warmhearted care they provide for all of our program participants.

Shipibo curandero don Enrique leads initiation training courses at the Ayahuasca Foundation

Don Enrique

Don Enrique leads the eight week initiation courses for the Ayahuasca Foundation. With over 30 years of experience, don Enrique continues to study, diet, and deepen his knowledge and relationships with the plants and plant spirits. His passion for teaching and his deep knowledge and connection to the plants is truly incredible, and it is an honor to know him and work with him.

Shipiba curandera dona Angela leads ayahuasca retreats at the Ayahuasca Foundation

Doña Angela

Doña Angela is the sister of both don Enrique and don Rono. She leads our healing retreats, including the veterans retreats in collaboration with Heroic Hearts. She has done extensive plant dietas and has a soft and motherly energy in ceremony and in life. She is humble and approachable with a warmth and gentle nature that puts retreat participants and staff at ease in her presence.

Shipibo curandero don Rono leads ayahuasca retreats at the Ayahuasca Foundation in Peru

Don Ronor

Don Ronor is don Enrique’s youngest brother and trained with him for over a decade before leading ceremonies on his own. He currently leads the longer retreats and Empowerment Courses at the Riosbo Ayahuasca Retreat and Research Center. His gentle, playful spirit allows program participants to feel comfortable in his presence, creating an optimal environment for healing and connection.

We Only Use Pure Ayahuasca Medicine

Clean, Safe, and Powerful Ayahuasca

Our ayahuasca is always prepared by the Shipibo family of curanderos. They only use two ingredients: ayahuasca vine (banisteriopsis caapi) and chacruna leaves (psychotria viridis). Other than chacruna, we do not use any admixture plants. Our ayahuasca is made at the homes of the curanderos, or at our school for plant medicine, surrounded by the rainforest and gardens of medicinal plants. We do not buy brewed ayahuasca. Our ayahuasca is filled with healing energy and served in an environment of compassion and love.

Ayahuasca Information

Such a wonder filled experience. Mentally, emotionally, and spiritually rewarding! I can’t speak highly enough. You really can’t put words to this.

Robert
Ayahuasca Retreats & Courses in Peru - Ayahuasca Foundation

Demonstrating the Healing Potential

Ayahuasca Research:
The Effects of Attending an Ayahuasca Retreat

The Ayahuasca research currently underway at the Ayahuasca Foundation focuses on the healing potential of the ayahuasca plant medicine tradition in the treatment of depression, anxiety, PTSD, and childhood trauma.

Complimentary studies are also running concurrent with the main research investigating potential epigenetic changes resulting from treatment during an ayahuasca retreat. Another study is also being conducted in collaboration with Heroic Hearts Project specifically for military veterans to measure the health benefits of attending an ayahuasca retreat for the treatment of PTSD.

Ayahuasca Research

Ayahuasca research demonstrates how attending an ayahuasca retreat reduces depression

Reduces Depression

Research demonstrates that attending an ayahuasca retreat greatly reduces levels of depression. It is especially interesting to note that levels of depression continued to reduce in the months after the retreat, without any further treatment, suggesting a lasting improvement.

Ayahuasca research demonstrates how attending an ayahuasca retreat reduces anxiety

Reduces Anxiety

Studies also show that attending an ayahuasca retreat greatly reduces levels of anxiety. As with the reduction of depression levels, anxiety continued to reduce in the months after the retreat, without any further treatment, suggesting a lasting improvement.

Ayahuasca research demonstrates how attending an ayahuasca retreat reduces global distress

Reduces Global Distress

Defined as the overall distress someone feels due to any mental health challenge, problem, or disorder. Research found that attending an ayahuasca retreat lowered levels of global distress and that the levels did not return, even six months after the retreat.

Friends, Partners, & Collaborators

The Ayahuasca Foundation has formed important relationships to make our programs available at the highest level of quality and care. Our research center has been funded since its inception by the trust and generosity of the Grant Town Foundation, a charity organization in the United States. We’ve worked with MAPS as our fiscal sponsor for over a decade, and with Onaya Science since the ayahuasca research began in 2016. We became a founding member of the Psychedelic Medicine Association when it was created, and teamed up with Heroic Hearts Project to offer healing retreats to military veterans since 2023. Our new Therapists Healing Retreat is in collaboration with ATMA, the leading psychedelic assisted therapy training provider. We also collaborate with One Million Acres to support the preservation of the rainforest and indigenous cultures. It is through these friendships and collaborations that we are able to accomplish the wonderful work we do at the Ayahuasca Foundation.

Ayahuasca Foundation hosts ayahuasca research on military veterans with PTSD
Ayahuasca Retreats & Courses in Peru - Ayahuasca Foundation

Activate Your Healing Potential

Explore the Ultimate Ayahuasca Experience

Experience the profound power of an authentic Ayahuasca retreat at our renowned center, where healing and self-discovery are our top priorities. Our retreat offers a safe, supportive environment meticulously designed to facilitate deep transformation. With a proven and effective operational model, we ensure the highest potential for healing through Ayahuasca ceremonies and potent plant remedies.

Unlike typical Ayahuasca retreats, our program delves deeply into the Shipibo plant medicine tradition of Peru. This journey is an activation of the inner strength and beauty within you, guiding you to remove obstacles and illuminate your true self. Join us for a transformative Ayahuasca retreat that transcends the ordinary.

What Happens on a Retreat

I can tell you that this is by far one of the most difficult things I have ever done in my life, but I can also tell you that it is by far one of the best things I’ve ever done in my life!

Sara