Aya Healing Retreats
Ayahuasca & Noya Rao Dieta COSTA RICA
- FINCA MIA, COSTA RICA
- February 5 - 15, 2023
Aya Healing Retreats
The Ayahuasca and Master Plant Dieta retreat in Costa Rica is similar and yet very unlike our standard retreats in Peru. It is an 11-day immersive journey into the Shipibo’s tradition of the renowned Lopez family, a legendary family of Shipibo curanderos whose lineage stretches back hundreds of years.
Nestled in the Chirripo Mountain Reserve’s lush foothills, sitting gracefully along the banks of the pristine Talari River, Finca Mia is an enchanting jungle retreat offering many amenities healing modalities, and an unforgettable experience.
Located at an elevation of 4000 ft, the cold nights and warm days make the climate at Finca Mia the perfect balance. Surrounded by rainforests for secluded tranquility, yet graced by a vibrant community, this healing retreat center is full of warmth, the opportunity for self-reflection, insight, and restful rejuvenation. Finca Mia is a haven to many, and it is an honour for us to share this magical gem with you.
Lodging at Finca Mia is unique as no two rooms are alike. The accommodations are exquisitely symbiotic with nature, intended to promote relaxation. All the rooms are beautiful and pleasing to the senses, designed to make your stay as comfortable as possible.
Noya Rao which is otherwise known as “The Tree of Life” or “Camino a la Verdad” – The Path of Truth is a mythical plant, of which there are only three in the entire Amazon Basin. has belonged to and been used in sacred ceremony by the Mahua Shipibo traditions for centuries. In the Shipibo tradition dieting on the bark of the Noya Rao is believed to be essential in the path towards becoming a healer. Noya Rao is believed to enhance one’s connection and relationships to the spirits indwelling in other sacred plants and to facilitate profound transformation in the individual. Dieting on Noya Rao can lead to greater capacity for organised thought, clarity, highly activated intuitive capacities as well as helping to bring to light unconscious assumptions one may have about the world, leading the dietero to have the newfound courage necessary to change them.
Transform
This unique retreat is located at Chirripo Mountain Reserve, Costa Rica, one of Costa Rica’s wilder national parks, where you will find a tranquil setting which inspires change, facilitates healing, and will help you realize your full potential
Interested in flexible pricing options? Speak to our program coordinator today or email info@ayahealingretreats.com
Elio Geusa is the founder of AYA Healing Retreats and is a qualified Social Worker with over thirteen years of experience working both on national and international humanitarian projects, supporting adults experiencing mental health and intellectual disabilities, and refugee populations throughout Asia, Europe, and Australia.
Elio believes that loving and inspired action can create meaningful change in the world.
Elio has been devoted to the path of plant medicine and Ayahuasca since 2009 and began an apprenticeship under the guidance of Maestro, Vegetalista Manaco Manai. In his long time in Peru, he has continued to deepen his knowledge, experience, and understanding of the workings of the sacred plant medicines, studying the Shipibo traditions under the revered Mahua family and has undertaken numerous Master Plant Dietas with well-respected curanderos in the Peruvian Amazon.
This immersion in the sacred plant medicines of the indigenous peoples of Peru enabled Elio to experience deep and profound healing. He has overcome crippling anxiety and anger as a result of traumatic childhood experiences and healing that trauma imprints that were not possible through the Western medical paradigm. His renewed sense of self-worth, love, compassion, and empathy for himself enables him to extend those same qualities to others.
Elio founded AYA Healing Retreats because he is convinced of the healing potentialities of sacred plant medicines. Not only does he hope to share the indigenous wisdom of the ancient traditions of the Indigenous people of the Amazon, but he also hopes to make a bigger difference by investing profits from AYA Healing Retreats into humanitarian projects that create a more compassionate world.
Don Miguel was born into a Shipibo community called Roaboya on the River Ucayali. When Don Miguel was a child, Angel Sanchez Vargas, his grandfather was the community’s curandero. Vargas was an expert in sacred plant medicines and was frequently called upon to heal and share his spiritual wisdom with members of Roaboya. The school built some years later was named after Vargas and Roaboya went on to be recognised as the first indigenous community 114 years ago. Don Miguel grew up surrounded by the Shipibo wisdom and possess intimate knowledge of the sacred plant medicines. At a very young age he began his apprenticeship as a curandero through plant dietas under the supportive guidance of his grandfather. Miguel is also a trained literature professor and thoroughly enjoys teaching the Shipibo language and culture. Since 2012, Don Miguel has spent the bulk of his time leading lectures, workshops, initiation courses and retreats. Don Miguel will lead our Ayahuasca ceremonies, circle discussions and be available for personal consultations whilst on retreat.
Kara has spent her life expanding her healing gifts, offering counsel to many, and building her career around the pillars of healing while offering services in many areas such as art and art therapy, music and sound healing, hands-on healing through Reiki and deep integrative trauma release bodywork and studying what draws her into deeper realms of healing through plant medicine, healing the body with food, and daily practices to keep the body and mind centered. Growing up with parents in the US that loved to travel, Kara realized at an early age that she loved traveling. Now spending the majority of her time in South and Central America, Peru and Guatemala have become her new homes.
In 2005 Kara met Ayahuasca and the introduction was life-changing for her. After moving into the work slowly – about 4 years only sitting once every two years – it wasn’t until she met her first teacher that she heard the calling to the medicine in a deeper way. After that calling, she began a serious 7-year study of this sacred plant medicine and found herself in Peru. Studying and learning from some of the most revered Shipibo’s curanderos in South America. Today she focuses most of her learning time with the Mahua family and the Gomez family in the Peruvian Amazon.
Her work with the Amazonian plants has deepened her own journey into facilitating retreats with her teacher(s), hosting her own retreats, and offering ceremonies. One of her main focuses in these spaces is integration. Kara believes the most important work comes during the time after the retreat – how we integrate the plants and their knowledge into our own daily lives is the key to successful plant medicine healing.
Kara offers facilitation and ceremonies that are built with the participants and their own intention. Holding a light to their goals and journey, Kara brings seven (+) years of study and practice to the circle, holding you with love, healing and humor, and with creative solutions and paradigms to help allow new information to integrate into your soul. Kara believes this is the best work we can offer to our own development. You can find more information about Kara’s offerings at www.karacura.com.
While living mindfully in the present, we are always excited for the future and we have much in store for the coming year. Among other upgrades to better serve our guests, we will be:
Part of our improvement plans include raising our prices starting in 2024 to support our continuing efforts in improving everything that we do. With that said, we will always do our best to keep our prices attainable and within reach for as many people as possible, and we will also offer the possibility of discounts in a few different ways:
We will continue to provide payment plans for all of our retreats, please contact us at info@ayahealingretreats.com to discuss options.
We are committed to prioritizing the quality of our retreats, giving you the most personalized and authentic experience possible, and caring for the health, safety, comfort and well-being of everyone who comes to AYA Healing Retreats.
…and access to our limited duration promotions for new retreat offerings, online courses, and giveaways.
Our comprehensive screening questionnaire has been developed in partnership with the International Centre for Ethnobotanical Education, Research and Service (ICEERS). Please take your time to answer it as honestly and with as much detail as possible. This information will remain strictly confidential and will only be used to assess your suitability for a place on retreat with AYA Healing Retreats and keep you safe
Please remember that the purpose of this screening questionnaire is to determine whether plant medicine healing is suitable for you…not whether you are suitable for plant medicine healing. Plant medicines are tools, like any other healing modality and like other tools for healing experiencing them entails certain risks. We need to make sure that our plant medicines will not compromise your wellbeing or harm you in any way before we allow you to begin your healing journey with us. In short, we care about your safety and we need to do what we can to ensure that during your time with us you are not at risk of harm. Plant medicines can be dangerous if the plants are not the right fit for the individual. Your answers to this questionnaire will help us to determine whether the plants we intend to use are going to help, rather than harm you
