The centre is run by a Shipibo family in the Pucallpa region. Marisela leads, her husband Francisco works beside her, and the children support daily work and care. They have been in their own family-run space for three years, but carry many more decades of experience between them.
Marisela was ten when her great grandmother placed her first plant in her hands and set her to diet for a month. She was very young to carry a dieta that long and when the elders who had given it to her were gone, she could not hold it alone and became seriously ill. A distant relative found her and carried her to another, who gave her the resin of yahuarcaspi. That plant stayed with her for a year, and it became her first true master plant dieta. What nearly ended her became the beginning of her path.
Marisela is fifty-five now, giving her over forty years of experience working with medicinal plants and dietas. Around seventeen of those years have been working as a master healer in other centres and the last three running her own centre alongside her family. She works with ayahuasca, mapacho, icaros and over three hundred healing and master plants, many of which are secret.
“I like supporting people to give themselves over to the plant, because the plants give you wisdom, and among many other things they also give you peace and a great deal of knowledge. I love my lineage and my customs of natural medicine. It is a gift that is learned, and that we all have.”
“As I advanced in the dieta, the plants taught me and gave me wisdom. I fasted many times, and I was even able to connect with the Incas. From there comes my Inca name, which in Shipibo is Inkanrina, princess of the Incas.”
Francisco is Marisela’s husband and a great master healer in his own right. They have worked together for more than thirty-five years and hold ceremonies and dietas together.
Maestro Francisco began working with plant medicine and learned from his in-laws when he was young. During his youth, he faced a life-threatening ordeal. While hunting, he was bitten by a highly venomous snake. His parents came to his aid, administering a plant remedy made from piri-piri to counteract the venom, saving his life and allowing him to walk again after being bedridden for months and continue his study. He learned from his parents and began the practice of dietas, now having over 40 years of experience. He frequently incorporates fasting into these diets and has completed more than 40 master plant dietas, a practice that has helped him save many lives. He also studied through the Bible, a practice that sparked much debate, yet one he never abandoned and continues to this day.
He is a great master healer who has shared his teachings with many others. All four of his children are now plant masters themselves, carrying the tradition, and many others have healed themselves and grown under his guidance.
Marisela’s children are present through the healing work as they learn and practice the lineage. They also support the daily operations of the centre and additional care for guests.
In ceremony, it is never one person alone. Marisela and Francisco lead the night together, with others supporting as the ceremony progresses. There are six maestros in the family, ready to support you throughout your process.
My responsibility is to ensure that you arrive to the centre optimally prepared and re-enter life with clarity and support.
I came to this medicine for my own reasons and the results were nothing short of life saving. In the years after, I sat in hundreds of ceremonies, completed 8 dietas of my own, years of training and helped hold ceremonies and dietas alongside Shipibo mentors. I also saw the harder side of this world, and I know what it’s like to feel let down, scared and alone in this work. Once I started taking full responsibility for my life, grew in maturity, returned to England and truly surrendered to the winds of life, that’s when Marisela and I met. Having now sat through several dietas with her, everything about how she and her family held the work, the integrity, the strength, safety and care, was what motivated me to begin working with centres and guests again.
Now, I am very happy to be working with the family and their guests and commit to using my years of experience to be of best service.
If you feel called to work with the family, book a call below to explore further.