- Join us on the coast of Ecuador and deepen your yoga practice at this special plant medicine retreat.  Discover how exploring your inner world strengthens your practice and ability to share it by combining yoga, Ayurveda, and plant medicine, which compliment each other in many ways.

- Deepen and strengthen your yoga practice with workshops,  Ayurveda classes and heart technology practices in our beautiful yoga shala. There will be daily asana, meditation, and pranayama classes. You will also dive into yoga philosophy and Ayurveda with our experienced yoga teacher, Vanessa, and heart technology with Hwaneetah. 

- Meet with the sacred plant medicines, along with sweat lodges, rituals, meditations, and ancient wisdom workshops to learn new ways to purify and align. 

- Gain a supportive  community of yoga teachers who recognize the power of supporting each other, sharing wisdom, and growing together. 

Ayllu Medicina's Fire of the Heart Retreat in June 2026 is designed to help you strengthen your own yoga practice by opening up space to explore your inner world. When we open space to explore our inner world, we can then hold space for others and gain more clarity on our own path. 

This transformational plant medicine retreat is the first of its kind, combining the healing of yoga, Ayurveda and plant medicine specifically for those interested in deepening their practice and finding balance emotionally, physically, and energetically, with experienced guides.

This week is full of powerful Ayurveda workshops, heart meditations, classes, ceremonies, , and activities, along with nourishing food, snacks, and rest time, so you can go deep into your inner nature. 

Purifying your body, mind, and spirit can help you align with your heart, which is why we include different types of ceremonies as part of our plant medicine retreats in Ecuador. These ceremonies are led by our experienced guides, honoring the ancient traditions from which they come. 

Plant Medicine Ceremonies 

We will gather together in two Ayawaska ceremonies at night and one San Pedro ceremony- in the day, a walk along a special river nearby.

Ayawaska is often compared to a wise Grandmother, and like an onion, she can help you find your center and let go of what no longer serves you. She can help you shine a light on areas of darkness, finding your way to the infinite love in your heart. 

Grandfather San Pedro is the healing masculine energy, helping you find alignment and open your heart once more, ready to take flight. We will meet with Grandfather San Pedro once after our ceremonies with Grandma Ayawaska. The plant spirit can also help you integrate your retreat week and let go of anything that remains which is blocking you from residing in your center. 

We will provide preparation support, and we hold circles during our plant medicine retreats to discuss any questions you may have in advance. After our plant medicine ceremonies, we also have sharing circles, so you can share any pearls from your ceremony experience. Some women have sat in ceremonies previously, whereas, for others, it is their first time meeting with the plant medicines. 

You can learn more about these medicines on our Ayllu Medicina blog. 

Sweat Lodges 

There will also be multiple sweat lodges (temazcales) throughout the plant medicine retreat week. Enter the womb of Mother Earth to integrate, purify, and experience rebirth. 

Our volcanic grandmother stones are heated in the fire and are placed in the womb, the sweat lodge. Different incenses are placed on the stones before the door closes, and the heat begins to rise as water is poured over the stones. We share prayers and songs to guide each round. 

We´re going to learn ancient meditations and techniques to answer our sacred and eternal heart’s call. This radical consciousness movement can bring profound shifts in perspective and reality. Some of the workshops and meditations include: 

• Heart technology 
• Basic understanding of our electromagnetic fields - torus or toroid.
• Trinity Heart Meditation and Activation
• An ancient way to reconnect our heart with our sacred Universal Mother’s heart, represented by Mother Earth - and our Universal Father’s heart, represented by Father Sun.
• Expeditions into the heart:
• Moving our consciousness from the brain into our heart.
• Guided imagery is a spiritual technique to live and create from the heart.
• Exploring our sacred space of the heart, the space that holds our soul's history and spiritual guides, through Imagery exercises and meditations.
• Exploring the sacred, tiny saint space of the heart (singularity, oneness)

Join us for daily yoga classes led by Vanessa, our experienced yoga teacher. She has over 1000 hours teaching students from around the world. She studied under the guidance of Yogi Vishvketu in the style of Akhanda yoga in Canada, is a yoga teacher trainer, has level 2 Reiki and has been studying Ayurveda for 12 years - she is a practitioner and teaches certified courses. 

More recently she has completed a Masters Program in Pranayama with over 200 hrs of study,  and is now a Yoga Nidra and Meditation Faciliator.

There will also be guided breathwork and meditation to help you connect with your true essence.  

Your plant medicine experience and healing process will be led by Aime, a medicine man of the Sacred Fire of Itzachilatlan, a medicine family based in the Ecuadorian Andes, and his wife, Hwaneetah. Their purpose is to share medicine, prayers, music, and intention for healing with whoever is called to share in this journey. These two healers are well-known in the region for their music, resonant prayers, and heart-opening medicine. 

Aime and Hwaneetah speak fluent English, Spanish, and French and have been working with medicine for over 20 years, along with other healing modalities. Hwaneetah also runs women's sweat lodges and will be sharing wisdom on womb technology. 

You can watch Hwaneetah's talk on ancient womb technology on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_X9LkyK4bHw

The Ayllu Medicina team will be supporting you throughout your retreat week; you can learn more about our medicine guides and facilitators on our website under 'team'. We also have a great kitchen team who will be providing nutritious food and drinks throughout the week. 

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions. We will also be providing orientation support, and there are options for integration sessions post-retreat. You can also choose from other add-ons, such as a 1:1 moon session with Hwaneetah or a shamanic cleansing with Aime. 

Ayllu Medicina is based on the coast of Ecuador, in Manglaralto, situated near the world-famous surf capital of Montañita and the peaceful haven of Ayampe. 

Immerse yourself in nature in our retreat space, which is perfect for renewal. It is magical during ceremonies to hear the sounds of all the nature around, from the birds singing to the waves crashing. 

You can easily access the beach, which is a ten-minute walk from the accommodation. The accommodation has everything you need to be comfortable, feel at peace, and retreat inwards during your stay, including a swimming pool with ocean views, one of the best spots to enjoy Ecuador's sunsets! 

Rooms include air conditioning, large comfortable double beds, internet access (unless you want a phone-free week!), and hot water.  

Do you plan to stay for longer? We are happy to offer recommendations for where to stay and where to visit pre or post-retreat. 

- Arrive at our retreat space and settle into your accommodation. 

- Enjoy a welcome lunch and meet the rest of the group.

- Set your intentions and open the retreat week with our opening fire ceremony. 

- Opening sweat lodge (temazcal)

- Dinner

- Breakfast 

- Yoga, breathwork, & meditation

- Heart technology workshop

- Ice bath

- Light lunch  

- Intro to ceremony circle

- Rest time, yoga

- Ayawaska ceremony (beginning around 8 pm)

- Sweat lodge (temazcal)

- Breakfast

- Rest

- Lunch 

- Rest & integration 

- Gentle yoga, breathwork, & Heart Technology meditation

- Dinner 

- Breakfast

- Yoga, breathwork,

- Heart Technology Workshop

- Breathwork & cold plunge

- Light lunch 

- Rest & Restore

- Ayawaska Ceremony 

- Sweat Lodge

- Breakfast

- Rest & Integration

- Lunch

- Rest & integration

- Gentle yoga, breathwork, & Heart meditation

- Dinner 

- Breakfast

- Yoga Workshop

-Sharing Circle

- Lunch

- Intro to ceremony circle 

- Music and art time

- Rest

- Light dinner

- Yoga and Ayurveda session

-Rest

-day ceremony of San Pedro

• celebration dinner and music

- Breakfast

- Yoga, breathwork, & Heart meditation

- Heart technology workshop

- Closing fire ceremony to close the week and say farewell

-Check-out (2-3pm)

- Optional afternoon sweat lodge

The adventure continues...