AUTHENTIC STUDY OF SHIPIBO HEALING – $6850
Ayahuasca Curandero Initiation Course
Ayahuasca Initiation Courses are an opportunity to experience an authentic training in the Shipibo healing tradition of curanderismo, focusing on plant dietas, ayahuasca ceremonies, and natural remedies. This course is a condensed version of an ancestral initiation, teaching the core principles of Shipibo ayahuasca plant medicine in Peru. The plant dietas, in-depth teachings, and personal insights provide the first steps toward an apprenticeship in the sacred art of ayahuasca healing.
The course takes place at the Kesten Rono school for plant medicine, a space designed specifically for plant dietas and our courses. If you feel called to learn the ancient healing traditions of ayahuasca and Shipibo plant medicine, this course is a wonderful place to begin. If you are already on the path to becoming a healer, the initiation course offers a chance to fully immerse yourself in the Shipibo culture and the world of plant spirit healing in the Amazon rainforest.
Profound Plant Dietas
Plant dietas are the central focus of the course, as they form the core of traditional curandero training. It is through dietas that students can become curanderos, and how curanderos become true maestros. The course teaches students how to maximize the benefits of plant dietas, how to deepen connections to the plant spirits, and how to best maintain and continue dietas after the course.
During the Ayahuasca Foundation’s initiation course, students spend the first half of the course in dieta with Noya Rao, and the second half in dieta with one of the following teacher plants: Bobinsana, Chiric Sanango, Marusa, Chullachaqui, or Padma Rao. These dieta plants (except padma rao) are growing around the school. The ability to see, touch, and commune with the Noya Rao tree is incredibly rare and a true honor for every student who attends the course.
When plant dietas are combined with comprehensive teachings the potential for growth is tremendous. Students learn to continue their dietas beyond the course, enabling the insights gained and lessons learned to deepen and develop further. The path of a curandero never ends, but with a solid foundation of the principles of the tradition, the journey can be more fulfilling and beneficial with each step forward on the path.
Lectures and Workshops
Our structured approach offers a step-by-step path to understanding the foundations of the Shipibo ayahuasca healing tradition. Students learn about dieta navigation and enhancement, ceremony preparation and guidance, and plant remedy administration, through informative lectures and workshops led by a Shipibo maestro and our facilitators.
Treatments and Training
In addition to the lectures and workshops, students actively practice what they learn throughout the course. Whether it’s singing icaros in ceremonies, applying techniques used in treatment, experiencing healing remedies, or discovering personal insights through plant dietas, students advance in their training on the path to becoming healers.
Firsthand Experience
Some of the course material is studied, but the most vital lessons come from firsthand experiences in ayahuasca ceremonies and personal connections students form with plant spirits. These wise spirits are the true teachers of the plant medicine healing tradition, and the initiation course creates an ideal environment for students to learn directly from them.
Connect to the Roots of Healing
Over the course of eight intensive weeks, students are immersed in profound plant dietas, guided by in-depth workshops and discussions on the Shipibo healing tradition. With over twenty ayahuasca ceremonies and a variety plant treatments, they embark on a lifelong journey of learning and healing with plants.
This course offers a series of illuminating lectures, workshops, experiences, and activities that lead students through sacred plant dietas and intense ayahuasca ceremonies. The deep connections formed with plant spirit teachers allow them to uncover their unique path to becoming a plant spirit healer.
What is Taught on the Course
Students are taught the basic principles of curanderismo, working with ayahuasca, and plant medicine. With a foundation of understanding and practice, they can continue to develop their comprehension of the ideologies and methodologies of the ancestral healing tradition.
CURANDERISMO
Plant Dietas
Plant dietas are the core of the plant medicine tradition. It is through dietas that curanderos build relationships with plant spirits, strengthening connections and communication in ayahuasca ceremonies and treatments. The plant spirits are the teachers, and the method by which their teachings are received and enhanced is through plant dietas. On the course, students embark on two plant dietas. The first is with Noya Rao, and the second is with one of the following: Bobinsana, Chiric Sanango, Marusa, Chullachaqui, or Padma Rao.
Shipibo Icaros
Icaros are the songs sung by curanderos in ayahuasca ceremonies to connect and communicate with plant spirits. Students are encouraged to devote a great deal of attention to learning the Shipibo icaros taught on the course. Students receive an mp3 player with over twenty icaros and a course book with the lyrics and translations. These icaros are powerful healing tools and incredibly important components of the ayahuasca ceremonies and the tradition as a whole, for they are a key method for communicating with the spirits.
Shipibo Language
All of the icaros taught on the course are in Shipibo, so in order to understand the meaning of what is being sung, as well as to gain the ability to craft icaros according to intention and purpose during a ceremony, it is very helpful to learn elements of the Shipibo language. Therefore students are taught the basic mechanics and vocabulary of Shipibo. Knowing phrases related to various aspects of work done in ceremony with the icaros provides the ability to better understand the ceremonies and to use icaros for specific purposes.
Making Ayahuasca
Ayahuasca is a sacred medicine made by combining two plants, but it is also a wise and powerful spirit that opens the world of spirits and allows direct access to the spirits of plants, animals, and our ancestors. Students learn how to make the ayahuasca brew and spend a week taking part in the process to make a batch of the medicine. Beyond understanding the physical process, students also experience the powerful connection between the curanderos and spirits by working directly with the plants, especially when making ayahuasca.
Mapacho and Pipes
Mapacho, the jungle tobacco, is an essential tool in the tradition and very powerful plant spirit. Mapacho may have been the first plant medicine discovered by humans in the Americas. Students receive pipes during the course and learn to use them in their dietas, as well as in the ayahuasca ceremonies and plant medicine treatments. Students learn techniques that involve blowing smoke for various reasons, which is a vital element of the Shipibo healing tradition. They also learn about pipe dietas and other ways to use mapacho.
Agua Florida and Perfumes
Another essential tool for curanderos is agua florida, a perfume made from flower essences. Students learn to use this perfume in various ways, which involve rubbing it on the body, inhaling the aromas, spraying the liquid with the mouth, and sucking through the liquid while it is in the mouth. On the course, students learn these important and potent techniques and the numerous reasons and effects of their use. Students practice the techniques and employ them in preparation for ceremony and when needed to help themselves or others.
WORKING WITH AYAHUASCA
Ayahuasca Ceremonies
Ayahuasca ceremonies form the trunk of the Shipibo plant medicine tradition. Through the ceremonies, curanderos gain a more profound form of communication with the spirits of their dieta plants, and important healing work is done during these ceremonies. Students learn and practice ceremony techniques, develop their use of icaros, and discover their own connection and communication with their dietas to expand their insights during the ceremonies. Students also experience leading a ceremony, as well.
Preparation and Opening
Preparing for an ayahuasca ceremony contributes tremendously to creating the optimal inner and outer environment for the experience, especially when leading a ceremony. In order to lead an ayahuasca ceremony, a student must understand how to open a ceremony properly. This process provides access for the curandero and participants to enter the spiritual dimension and for the spirits to enter into the ceremony to do work. Students learn specific steps and methods for preparing for and opening an ayahuasca ceremony.
Managing Mareacion
Another important ability to learn and master is how to raise and lower the effects of ayahuasca (the mareacion) in order to achieve the optimal healing environment for the most effective work to be done. Opening the world of spirits to bring the visions, establishing a balanced and harmonious energy in the ceremony, and adjusting the energies and their impact on the ceremony and individual participants, are important abilities to understand, practice, and eventually master on the path to leading ayahuasca ceremonies.
Healing Work
Ayahuasca ceremonies can provide the opportunity for tremendous growth and healing. Connections developed through plant dietas, communication achieved and expressed through icaros, and the power of focused will, consciousness, and spirit, along with the use of important healing tools, guide incredible healing transformations. Learning the various components and developing relationships and familiarity with the spiritual landscape, spirit teachers, and healing energies, are incredibly important lessons.
Helping Others
Ceremony participants can have a wide variety of reactions to the effects of ayahuasca and the challenges within their own personal healing process. Sometimes, they need help moving through a heavy or difficult stage of their healing. Students of the initiation course learn how to provide help to people who are overwhelmed by the experience, are in pain, or are suffering for various reasons, in order to return them to a state where the most effective healing and personal growth can be achieved.
Closing the Ceremony
Just as opening a ceremony is important, so is closing the ceremony. Diminishing the effects of the ayahuasca in the space, and the energies of each ceremony participant, is as significant as the amplification of those energies. Students learn particular steps to achieve these effects and are guided in their communication with the plant spirits to express gratitude for the blessings they receive from the plants to teach them and lead them to deeper levels of understanding and healing abilities.
PLANT MEDICINE
Vapor Baths
An especially powerful healing treatment, vapor baths are a principle component of the Shipibo healing tradition taught on the initiation course. Students experience the purifying effects of the vapor bath by doing them repeatedly, witnessing their own detoxification and deep connection to the medicinal plants used in the treatment. Students learn to prepare and administer vapor baths, and the variations that can be used to adapt to the different environments in other regions of the world.
Plant Baths
Plant baths are a principle treatment of the Shipibo healing tradition taught on the course. While vapor baths are generally viewed as a method for removing negative energies, plant baths are generally viewed as a way of introducing positive energies. There are many kinds of plant baths, some of which are specific to plant dietas. Students learn how to prepare and administer some of these baths, and gain the understanding of how they function through direct personal experience and practice.
Purgatives
Purgatives are a category of plant medicines used specifically to induce purging of toxins and contaminants from the digestive system. Cleansing the digestive system is paramount to healing all the systems, as our immune system is rooted in the gut biome and digestive system. Purgatives are an essential part of the Shipibo tradition. During the course, students experience the cleansing effects of purgatives, observe the impact of the cleanse, and also learn to prepare and administer the treatments.
Poultices
A topical treatment used for a variety of conditions, poultices are another example of how plants can be used to contribute to the healing process. On every course, at least some of of the students can benefit from receiving a poultice treatment, so their treatment is used as teaching opportunities for other students to observe, and for the students receiving the poultices to experience firsthand. Many examples of treatments are used as teaching opportunities in this way during the initiation course.
Plant Remedies
The most commonly known treatment methods are plant remedies. There are hundreds of medicinal plants known in the Shipibo tradition and a wide variety of plant remedies are used to treat nearly every health issue. During the training, students learn to prepare and administer some remedies, but there are far too many to learn experientially, so the focus is usually on general remedies or plant remedies that are needed by students for their own healing or sometimes for their family members.
Every initiation course is different, and the lectures, workshops, and treatments may change according to the needs of the students, as well as the guidance of the plant spirits. The quantity of treatments and activities may also vary according to the course dynamics.
A Shipibo Plant Medicine School in the Amazon Rainforest
Discover the magical Kesten Rono school for plant medicine, located in the jungle outside of Iquitos, Peru. Here, in the heart of the Amazon, you’ll be surrounded by the energies of the plant spirits of the rainforest, home to the rare and mysterious Noya Rao trees, which grow on the property. Stay in rustic accommodations that honor the indigenous way of village life as you saturate your soul in the ancient wisdom and power of this sacred landscape, where each moment offers the opportunity to deepen your connection with the potent essence of nature.
Cost of the Initiation Course: $6,850
The $6,850(USD) price includes:
TEACHINGS
22 traditional Ayahuasca Ceremonies
Three ceremonies per week led by the Shipibo maestro curandero and the AF facilitators
2 plant dietas with Noya Rao and another master plant
Three week dietas with noya rao, chiric sanango, bobinsana, marusa, chullachaqui, or padma rao
Lectures, workshops, and discussions on plant medicine
Over fifty lectures and workshops covering a wide range of topics within the Shipibo tradition
Traditional Shipibo healing tools
Shipibo cushmas, plant dieta pipes, agua florida, mapacho, and other helpful items included
Comprehensive initiation course booklet
Developed over the past fifty courses to provide an incredibly informative guide to Shipibo healing
Translations and interpretations of the teachings
All the lectures, workshops, and discussions by the Shipibo curandero are translated to English
Recordings of all the lectures and discussions
Photographs and recordings of each course are made accessible to the students on a google drive
Vapor baths, plant baths, and smoke baths
Treatments provided to enhance the connections to the dietas and provide healing relief
Making and taking plant medicine remedies
Students participate in the making of various plant remedies that they also experience taking
Preparing the sacred medicine ayahuasca
Students make the medicinal brew ayahuasca from beginning to end to learn the process
Complimentary healing practices
Yoga, meditation, trauma release exercises, counseling, sound healing, and other modalities
Additional treatments may be provided
Poultices, plant medicines, healing massage, or other natural remedies may be administered
ACCOMMODATION
Pre-course zoom calls with the AF staff
Students meet each other and the staff one month prior to the course to discuss preparation
Course preparation and travel guide
Helpful advice for traveling to Peru and preparing for the initiation course is sent prior to the course
Iquitos airport pickup
You’ll be met at the Iquitos airport and brought to the hotel where the group gathers before the course
Accommodations for 7 nights at a hotel in Iquitos
The night before, during the break, and at the end of the course is included – the hotel has a/c and wi-fi
Accommodations for 49 nights at the Kesten Rono School
Private rooms with private bathrooms, mosquito netting, and daily electricity in a rustic village-style setting
Transportation to and from the school
An air conditioned bus takes the students to the trailhead where their luggage is transported on motorcarts
At least two meals a day, following a traditional plant dieta
Simple and plain, but nourishing meals, except for days when fasting at the start of each plant dieta
Access to the AF facilitators for help and guidance
Two facilitators and one alumni volunteer will be available throughout the course to assist and teach students
Extra course materials and helpful items
Backpack, notebooks, mosquito coils, incense, plant remedies, pens, and other items to help the students
Local artisans market with high quality goods
Purchase Shipibo clothing, textiles, pipes, and other tools, as well as medicines and gifts at the school
Integration counseling session after the course
Meet with the group on zoom with the AF director and a former facilitator who offers integration counseling
Integration resources to continue the healing process
Connect with the network of AF communities, facilitators, practitioners, and offerings around the world
8 Week Initiation Course Schedule
| Dates | Available Spots | Register |
|---|---|---|
| January 12 - March 8, 2025 | 1 | Register Now |
| April 6 - May 31, 2025 | 4 | Register Now |
| July 6 - August 30, 2025 | 6 | Register Now |
| October 5 - November 29, 2025 | 8 | Register Now |
An Example Itinerary for the Initiation Course:
Basic Schedule of Activities
Day 0 - Saturday
Regardless of what day or time you arrive, you will be met at the Iquitos airport and accompanied to the hotel where all the participants stay the night before the course. In the afternoon, attend a meeting to get to know the other participants and discuss the course itinerary and details.
WEEK ONE
SUNDAY:
Travel by bus and then hike to the school and get settled in. Orientation meeting.
MONDAY:
Morning purgative. Ceremony and dieta discussion. Open the dieta. CEREMONY #1
TUESDAY:
Vapor baths begin. Mapacho workshop. Visit to the Noya Rao tree in the evening.
WEDNESDAY:
Vapor baths continue. Health issue consultations. Pipe discussion. CEREMONY #2
THURSDAY:
Vapor baths continue. Consultations continue. Treatments begin. Sharing circle.
FRIDAY:
Vapor baths continue. Shipibo language and Icaro workshop. CEREMONY #3
SATURDAY:
Morning purification treatment. One on one spiritual consultations. Rest and relax.
WEEK TWO
SUNDAY:
Take a day to rest, focus on the dieta, and process the previous week’s lessons.
MONDAY:
Vapor baths continue. Plant remedy workshop. Icaro workshop. CEREMONY #4
TUESDAY:
Vapor baths continue. Inner child – trauma healing workshop. Sharing circle.
WEDNESDAY:
Vapor baths continue. Sinus cleanse. Shipibo language lecture. CEREMONY #5
THURSDAY:
Morning digestive system cleanse. Managing ceremony challenges workshop.
FRIDAY:
Deep respiratory system cleanse. Vision discernment discussion. CEREMONY #6
SATURDAY:
Group icaro singing workshop. Massage therapy. Making ayahuasca lecture.
WEEK THREE
SUNDAY:
Making ayahuasca begins: breaking down vines, collecting leaves, preparing pots.
MONDAY:
Making ayahuasca continues. Dieta and protection discussion. CEREMONY #7
TUESDAY:
Making ayahuasca continues. Sharing circle. Student led ceremony discussion.
WEDNESDAY:
Making ayahuasca continues. Plant walk. Dieta discussion. CEREMONY #8
THURSDAY:
Making ayahuasca continues. Student led ceremonies pairing discussion.
FRIDAY:
Making ayahuasca continues. Arcana and post-dieta discussion. CEREMONY #9
SATURDAY:
Making ayahuasca completes. Sharing circle. Deep dieta focus discussion.
WEEK FOUR
SUNDAY:
Inner focus and concentration. Group enters into silence to end the dieta.
MONDAY:
Group silence continues to focus on personal connections. CEREMONY #10
TUESDAY:
Group silence continues. Gratitude journaling and dieta meditation.
WEDNESDAY:
Silence continues. Closing dieta lecture. Noya Rao dieta ends. ARCANA CEREMONY #11
THURSDAY:
Ending the dieta. Sharing circle. Post dieta – break discussion. CEREMONY #12
FRIDAY:
Go back to Iquitos for a three night break. Recharge and Relax.
SATURDAY:
Free day in Iquitos
WEEK FIVE
SUNDAY:
Free day in Iquitos to rest, connect with family and friends, prepare for dieta.
MONDAY:
Return to the school. Opening of the second plant dieta. CEREMONY #13
TUESDAY:
Vapor baths begin. Plant dieta extract making workshop and discussion.
WEDNESDAY:
Vapor baths continue. Student ceremony procedure workshop. CEREMONY #14
THURSDAY:
Vapor baths continue. Home and pipe dietas discussion. Remedy preparation.
FRIDAY:
Sharing circle. Consultations. Student led ceremonies begin. CEREMONY #15
SATURDAY:
Cord cutting and clearing discussion. Student ceremony feedback circle.
WEEK SIX
SUNDAY:
Take a day to rest, focus on the dieta, and prepare for the next ceremony.
MONDAY:
Treatments and remedies lecture. Student ceremonies continue. CEREMONY #16
TUESDAY:
Plant baths begin. Ceremony feedback circle. Afternoon smoke bath.
WEDNESDAY:
Plant baths, smoke baths, and student ceremonies continue. CEREMONY #17
THURSDAY:
Ceremony feedback circle. Kitchen remedies and healing baths discussion.
FRIDAY:
Jungle walk for most of the day. Student ceremonies continue. CEREMONY #18
SATURDAY:
Ceremony feedback circle. Student led workshop on complimentary practices.
WEEK SEVEN
SUNDAY:
Take a day to rest, focus on the dieta, and process the previous week.
MONDAY:
Facilitation at home discussion. Student ceremonies continue. CEREMONY #19
TUESDAY:
Ceremony feedback circle. Facilitator and plant medicine ethics discussion.
WEDNESDAY:
Final plant treatments, if needed. Student ceremonies continue. CEREMONY #20
THURSDAY:
Ceremony feedback circle. Sustainability lecture. Integration discussion.
FRIDAY:
Arcana lecture. Group Q&A session. Safety standards discussion. CEREMONY #21
SATURDAY:
Free day with possible solo ceremonies (without the curandero)
WEEK EIGHT
SUNDAY:
Free day with possible solo ceremonies (without the curandero)
MONDAY:
Final ceremony led by the maestro. Closing of the second dieta. ARCANA CEREMONY #22
TUESDAY:
Ending the dieta. Course review sharing circle. Final integration discussion.
WEDNESDAY:
Students can return to Iquitos or stay for an optional ceremony.
THURSDAY:
Spend the day shopping for supplies, remedies, and gifts to bring home.
FRIDAY:
Rest and relax with good food and good company. Final group dinner.
SATURDAY:
Receive course certificates and say goodbyes…
Each course varies, and the itinerary may change based on its flow. Workshops, discussions, and material can be adjusted, and updates may not always appear on the website. Led by the plant teachers, assisted by the Shipibo maestros and assistant healers, the course’s structure is flexible, making daily activities hard to predict.
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