Living Two Months with Shamans

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For this two month course, I lived with Shamans in the middle of nowhere in the Peruvian Amazonian Rainforest at Paititi Institute. During this time I learned and experienced their practices, entered a world full of magic and ancient wisdom, and healed and faced so many parts of my other side.

This post tries to give you an insight into all my experiences there. Starting from how I found this authentic place, why and in what way it faced my other side, how much I grew, and my four biggest shamanic wisdom takeaways. But let’s start from the beginning:

How did I find an authentic Shamanic experience?

I was watching the highly recommended documentary “The Sacred Science.” It deals with eight people who suffer from terminal illnesses like Cancer, Parkinson’s, Crohn’s, etc. and western medicine basically gave up on them or the other way round. They then decide to take part in this “experiment” to go to the Amazonian rainforest and get treated there for one month by Shamans. I was so intrigued by the authenticity of this healing place that I researched it. And long story short that’s where I went. Meanwhile, it is called Paititi Institute, and they offer different programs like transformation retreats.

How can a retreat place still be authentic?

The reason is the unique combination at Paititi Institute. Around 16 years ago, Roman, a western guy ventured on his own into the Amazon trying to find some remedy to his Crohn disease. There deep down in the Amazonian rainforest he found indigenous Shamans and started to live with them. Within eight months they healed him completely. After that, he was so intrigued that he apprenticed and became a Shaman himself. During the last 15 years, he then lived with different tribal lineages of medicine men and learned everything about sacred plant medicine & authentic shamanic healing. He now is the wisdom holder of this ancient knowledge and acts like an intercultural bridge to the western world.

After the Sacred Science movie created some awareness, Paititi Institute was born. A non-profit organization with the vision to heal other “western” people while still preserving the indigenous wisdom & culture. One core ability of Paititi institute is that they serve as an intercultural bridge having both the ancient healing wisdom and the knowledge of our western implications/lifestyle.

Volunteering at Paititi Institute

At this magnificent place, I was volunteering for seven weeks. About one month of it I was helping to facilitate the “Embodying true Nature – Transformation retreat.”  Although mainly in service to others and with quite some workload, I myself had a deep transformation experience. I was allowed to take part in so many ceremonies, teachings, and healings that I went on a deep healing journey myself. I believe either way as a volunteer/service team member or as a participant this transformation retreat is a Game Changer and I couldn’t recommend it more!

The reason for that is that I’ve never been in a place before where ancient traditional healing disciplines from different lineages were combined so powerful but without westernizing them or destroying their true essence.

Paititi – an Incredible Powerful healing Container

The reason why Paititi is such a great place is that it is like a pressure cooker for your other side. You don’t have any chance to escape. I lived in a tent for seven weeks. It’s in the middle of nowhere 4 hours away from the next civilization. In fact, I didn’t see a car in 7 weeks and not even a single airplane in the sky. So you can’t distract yourself.

Moreover its this unique combination of ancient healing modalities. It combines not only sacred plant ceremonies like Coca, Ayahuasca and San Pedro but it also blends them together with Dreamwork, Breathwork, Qigong, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Tibetan teachings & Meditation. Alongside with continuous deep integration work and sharing circles, this creates a healing container I’ve never found anywhere else so far. (If you want to get to know more about the different healing modalities offered there have a look here)

My own Hero’s Journey and Healing for HSP’s

In these two months I’ve spent in the jungle I’ve grown and learned more than in several years of my life before and I could only come to realize that magic and different realities are real and always around us. I went to my darkest deep buried shadows and to my brightest lights. Along the way, I not only found myself but a second home and a new family.

It’s still hard for me to put into words all the incredible things that happened at Paititi Institute. What I can say is: It was an amazing self-journey and I faced so much of my other side, which I am infinitely grateful for but it was also super intense. My advice for you is to only go there if you are really willing and feel ready to fully face yourself. You should also have already built up a foundation of your other side to build upon. But trust your intuition & fear as guidance. If you are unsure especially as an HSP whether this is suitable for you, write me a Mail/post in the comments or check-in with the amazing team at Paititi directly.

Have you ever had Shamanic experiences? Where and how was it? Lastly, I want to share my 4 biggest wisdom takeaways from my time at Paititi Institute with you:

My 4 Shamanic Wisdom Takeaways:

1 – “No Mud – No Lotus” – Go to the root and always keep showing up

Everyone has its own shadows and wounds. In the West, we always want someone/something to make our wounds go away, like a magic pill you swallow, an instant cure or surgery to cut it out. But these wounds are a part of us, they made us who we are. So we need to go into the darkness to see the root of what they really are – without our wanting to fix it attitude. This can be a long process. And the only thing we can do is to keep showing up, to observe the pain and to go into it with a lot of softness and the attitude to be ready to loose it. We want to bring the light in and not to try to chase the darkness out. Because darkness itself is just the absence of light. We don’t have to be sad to have our wounds, instead, we should be proud of them and embrace them as our best teachers in life.

Plant medicine can show you all these dark places, all your hidden wounds & shadows. But it also shows you this spark, this glimpse, the door. Again It is like darkness, just the absence of light. So one candle, one opening door can be enough to light up a 20-year-old darkness.

2 – Vulnerability is our true Strength

Our Ego believes that in our resistance lies our strength. We try to be in control all the time. We constantly resist our inner emotions. In our western business world the only emotion that is okay to express is anger, because it shows your alpha and aggressiveness. But we all have a few more emotions. In fact what happens when we feel weak, sad or depressed is that we either withdraw or start to blame the external.  We use all these ego defenses and false masks.

But what happens once you don’t use these ego defenses and false masks anymore? You become very simple, very real. That’s dangerous says the ego. You’ll get hurt. You’ll become vulnerable.. What the ego doesn’t know of course is that only through letting go of resistance, through becoming vulnerable can you discover your true and essential invulnerability.

3 – There is no good and bad just ignorance and wisdom

Every incident is empty in itself. It just becomes good or bad when there is a Me and I involved. Without that there is no good & bad. Just basic ignorance & wisdom. And basic Ignorance just means here: “Doing your best not knowing any better.” Every human genuinely just wants to be happy and believes that his/her actions will bring him/her happiness. Someone who did you harm was just not strong enough to see this and to break out of this vicious cycle. So let us know better, let us be strong and end our own vicious cycle.

4 – It’s not about learning new things, it’s about unlearning – about remembering

Our own Hero’s journey is not a journey of learning but of unlearning. Unlearning what conditioned our rational mind from the day we stepped into this world. Breaking through our rational defense mechanisms. It’s a journey of remembrance. This ancient wisdom, this true nature, our pure essence is already inside of us, we just have to remember it and reconnect to it.

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This post was originally published on MasterOfLoveAndLife.com and is republished with the author’s permission.

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Photo by Kal Loftus on Unsplash. Inline photos by author.
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