MUNAY MEDECINE TRIP

April 3-16, 2024

“By unravelling the bonds of the personality structure so that we become permeable to our authentic, boundless nature, the Dieta experience is a powerful change agent.” – Jessica.

Plant Medicine Dieta, Centro Munay, Peru. With Don Jose Campos, Jessica Toral & Diana Bourel

If you are searching for a profound physical & spiritual experience, and/or you would like to deepen your relationship to Ayahuasca & other master plant teachers, then the Dieta is an incredible vehicle for deep personal growth. Having a clear sense of intention is most beneficial. What is it that you wish to heal? This voyage is in every way an initiation, & to some degree, changes your life. It requires self-discipline, self reliance and entails a certain level of discovery on both physical & psychological levels that will take you out of your comfort zone. It also reaps huge rewards. This medicine has been practiced for thousands of years by the Amazonian people. Ayahuasca is considered a master plant teacher, & one that kept jungle communities healthy and spiritually sound. During this Dieta, the container, or setting for the ceremonies respects the architecture of ritual that has been handed down from generation to generation in a community experience that requires a healthy respect for self, others, the teachers, the staff & the environment.

Dates at a glance

April 3 : Arrival in Lima, Peru, overnight stay in Lima

April 4 : Arrival Pucallpa, Peru Don Jose Guest House

April 5 : Arrival Centro Munay

April 6, 8, 10, 12 : Evening Ceremonies

April 15 : Return to Pucallpa Don Jose Guest House

April 16 : Departure Pucallpa to Lima

Whatever date you choose to arrive in Peru, you’ll need to be in Pucallpa, our starting & finishing point, sometime on April 4. That first evening as a group will be spent at Don Jose Campos’ guest house.

After our first night in Pucallpa, we have a group breakfast, & set out for Centro Munay by van. The ride is uncomfortable & takes us over bumpy roads. Dress comfortably, have a water bottle and plan your sun protection. We have about 3-4 hours on the highway & country roads, a short river shuttle, & after more road travel, a 45-minute canoe ride on the Ucayali, a tributary of the Amazon river. Depending on the water level (whether the river is high with rain or low during dry season) an additional 30-minutes walk to Munay Dieta Retreat Center may be required. In all, the voyage takes the better part of a day.

Upon arrival at Centro Munay …

We will have a communal lunch, settle into our tambos, the individual huts that serve as your jungle home. The Tambo is a small screened in jungle cabin & contains a desk, a chair, a hammock, a storage cabinet, candles, a 5 Gallon Water tank, a double bed with mosquito netting. Each tambo has an outdoor composting toilet. Most of the tambos are not within site of one another for maximum privacy. There is no electricity, no running water, no telephone.

There is no internet connection either. Our last communal meal will be the same eveningof arrival, on that last evening, the organizers will speak about the dieta, make suggestions about how to live it to the fullest. After that, meals will be brought to your Tambo & we will not eat together again until we break the dieta after the 5th & final ceremony ten days later.

The food served during the diet is purposely bland (salt and sugar free) & consists of a variety of offerings that can include : quinoa or brown rice, potato, green plantains, steamed carrots, cucumbers, avocado, river fish & the occasional chicken, boiled egg. Meals will be served twice a day, & on ceremonial days, served early enough for you to be digestion-free when entering ceremony. It is not unusual during a dieta to drop a few kilos.

We will be in the secondary forest, meaning that the presence of man is fairly minimal. During our stay, an indigenous staff member will bring your meals & daily medicinal plants directly to your hut. These medicinal plants are served as infusions to be sipped throughout the day & help to regulate hormonal activity. They have other therapeutic action, too. The plant medicine is assigned to participants based on their history, their needs & their intentions. Filling out the medical form with accuracy is of great importance so you get the support you need.

The on site staff is discreet, loving, kind, highly & experienced. They also bring us leaves every morning, which we then soak in buckets of water we fetch from the river. These leaves are used for personal washing hygiene and replace soap, all cosmetic & chemical products which are suspended during the entirety of the dieta.

What is this trip about ?

This is an initiation into healing plant medicine in the Mezo-Amazonian tradition with Don Jose Campos, one of the most respected and experienced teachers in the plant medicine space worldwide.

It will be held in Centro Munay, the Dieta camp he created in the Peruvian Amazonian forest. He will be joined by an experienced vegetalista, Jessica Toral, and Diana Bourel, a transpersonal therapist and ATMA-certified Psychedelic Assisted Therapist.

The Dieta may be for you if you are interested in :

Journeying with sacred plant medicines in a safe, legal, & supportive context.

Experiencing traditional sacred plant ceremonies witht headded support of Western-based integration protocols.

Healing undigested trauma that affects your mind, body, spirit & clearing dysfunctional patterns of thinking and action.

Synthesizing past personal work and teachings to support your changing consciousness.

Learning more about key plants of the Amazonian Shaman’s pharmacopeia including preparation, dosing & benefits. Learning and Sharing Medicine Songs (Icaros) & learning about the sacred embroidery of the Shipibo tribe. If you have past experiences with psychedelics & a desire for deeper exploration of mind-expanding experiences.

A desire to connect profoundly with your own creativity and authentic heart to live your most joyful life.

“Ayahuasca, also called the Vine of the Soul, or the Vine of Death, allows us to deeply & intuitively understand the root causes for our physical & psycho-spiritual malaise and also where our joy & freedom lies. We learn to heal ourselves by the keys the plant provides.” – Don Jose.

For the 4 evening ceremonies, we gather at 5 pm in the maloca, the community ceremonial center, & begin by 6 pm.

Our final ceremony is a daytime ceremony & begins at 7 am.

We break the dieta after that ceremony.

The ceremony itself typically lasts from four to five hours.

During the ceremony, you will be served a dose of plant medicine composed of Ayahuasca (Banisteriopsis Caapi) & Chacruna (Psychotria Viridis) that has been prepared for you by Don Jose & his team.

Ayahuasca contains alkaloids, specifically harmine, harmaline and tetrahydroharmine which are MAO (monoamino oxidase) inhibitors.

The chacruna plant is a synergist & contains DMT, dimethyltriptomane, a serotonergic receptor agonist.

The visionary element of the experience, DMT, is not active if orally ingested without Ayahuasca, because it is destroyed by the MAO enzymes in the GI tract.

Because of the inhibiting action, the DMT can break the blood-brain barrier & penetrate the circulatory system, which produce hallucinogenic effects, or healing visions, by stimulating the pineal gland.

In addition to the ayahuasca ceremonies you will receive one or more master plants to be taken daily that have been specifically selected for you based on your intentions and your mental & physical health needs.

It is the relationship and the support created by the synergy of these plants, your awareness & attention to their teachings that serves as the heart of your personal experience for deepening awareness, spiritual connection & healing.

Don José

Don José has been working with Ayahuasca plant medicine for nearly 4 decades. His presence within circle as a healer, musician & leader is rare & precious. He remains one of the most experienced, serious, joyful medicine men of this traditional Meso-

Amazonian lineage. He has taught the world over, but remains convinced that the Dieta, is best experienced in the Amazonian forest. It is here that Ayahuasca is ‘at home’ and in the jungle, we are taught by a thriving living pulsing natural world where we understand the diversity and interaction that links us all and to which we are able to reconnect.

In Peru

Ayahuausca is a natural national heritage and is both recognized & protected. So too, are we. This creates a deep sense of safety.

A retreat of this magnitude requires both autonomy & discipline. Though you will be supported, the work you have come to do only you can do.

To undertake this type of intense healing work, both mindful preparation and integration are essential. There are also contra-indications to be aware of.

After an interview with Diana or Jessica to determine that there are no contraindications that may compromise your safety, you will be asked to fill out, sign and return a medical disclosure form & a waiver release form, a contract wherein you agree to fully respect the terms of the trip. Please be as thorough as possible when filling out your medical form.

Pharmaceuticals like antidepressants, heart medication, blood thinners, allergy medications and cortisone are typically contraindicated. A list of contra indicated medications will be provided to participants. To prepare for the dieta, you will be asked to discontinue use of any medication, including hormone supplements, allergy meds.

Once in dieta, we discontinue the use of any chemicals or agents, including shampoo, soap, toothpaste, creams.

Before, during and after the dieta, there are dietary restrictions to observe. This will give your body and mind the optimal conditions for working with the medicine safely.

During your jungle dieta, you are responsible for the upkeep of your tambo,for your personal belongings, & for contributing to the wellbeing of the group by being on time for ceremonies, respecting each other’s personal space and quiet time. The jungle experience is a rare opportunity to reconnect to a digital-free, completely organic world. It offers both the silence and the safety to allow you to go deep into your personal process with minimal external distraction. During the ceremonies, we work together, purify together, support each other and rise together.

If you are traveling with your life partner, you’ll be asked to sit apart from one another during the ceremony itself so as not to distract one another from the work each has come to do. The same is true of family members in ceremony together.

We will all be asked to prepare for this trip by practicing sexual abstinence 2 weeks prior to the Dieta, during the Dieta, & for about 10 days following. This safeguards your personal space and that of your fellow group members, and keeps you available to the medicine.

At the end of each ceremony, there will be a period of pacification, healing & prayer to be sure that everyone has returned from the soul journey.

On off-ceremony days, Diana will be teaching restorative yoga classes to help ground your experience.

To foster embodiment and integration, talking circles hosted by Jessica & Diana allow the group to share its experiences, mysteries, & teachings with each other.

Please note the price does not include international flights into & out of Lima or domestic flights from Lima to Pucallpa. To secure your space, a 50% non refundable deposit is required. The balance of the fee in cash is to be paid in Pucallpa.

April 3-16, 2024 – 1950$ USD

5 traditional Ayahuasca Ceremonies in a group setting led by Don Jose Campos, Jessica Toral & Diana Bourel. Evening ceremonies are held on April 6, 8, 10 &12, closing day ceremony on April 14.

An individual healing-session.

1 Plant Purification Bath for protection, cleansing & balance.

All food, lodging & ravel, from arrival in Pucallpa on April 4 to departure on April 16.

Daily Yoga & Meditation (optional).

Personal Integration sessions with ATMA-certified integration counselor.

Plant Walks.

Gratuity for staff in Pucallpa & Centro Munay.

Your daily DIETA plants, customized for you.

Two online integration meetings post-Dieta.

PS: This is a person specific info sheet & as such, confidential. If you have a friend who might like to come, please clear this with either Jessica or Diana ahead of time. We count on everyone to help us protect the integrity and privacy of the entire group.