Integration: the key to lasting results.
A dieta will bring profound benefits to you. Whether they stay depends on what happens around it: how you prepare, how you are held during and what you do once you leave the jungle.
Why is integration so important?
A dieta is a profound experience, and profound experiences need thorough preparation to be managed well. Before you even arrive, you need to be ready physically, mentally and culturally: understanding the restrictions, knowing the tests a dieta can bring, having grounded intentions and holding the tips and techniques that make the work both safer and more productive.
Then comes the hard part. You leave your ordinary life, move through an intense physical, mental and spiritual experience, then return to a world that has barely changed at all. Without support, the internal changes, realisations, new habits and psychological shifts can fade quickly, or feel impossible to carry into daily life.
Studies that follow people after ceremony find that structured support before, during and after is closely tied to whether the change lasts, and a global survey of over 1,600 ayahuasca drinkers found integration is often a long-term process that continues well beyond the first weeks. A dieta keeps working in you for six weeks to a year, depending on the plant, which is why the support here runs the whole way through, not just after you fly home.
We use one word, integration, for the whole arc, but it has three distinct parts, and each asks something different:
- Preparation — before you travel.
- Encounter — the dieta itself, in the jungle with the family.
- Integration — back in ordinary life, where the work becomes lasting.
Getting you ready, inside and out.
The work begins as soon as you commit. From that moment, Marisela, the plants and your being begin the work: you may start to feel fears, doubts, joy, excitement, intentions and many other sensations arise. Our job is to help you manage those and ensure you are optimally prepared physically, mentally and logistically. As soon as you are cleared through the health and safety screening and make the commitment, we begin preparing together.
Before you arrive, we will cover the practical, contextual and ceremonial:
- The logistics: where to travel to, what to pack, which hotels to book, and where and when the family will meet you.
- The Shipibo cultural context of master plant dietas and ayahuasca, and how to set your intention.
- The pre-dieta dietary restrictions and why they matter.
- The dieta schedule while you are there and rules, tips and tricks for working with ayahuasca, master plants and ceremonies.
- A little Spanish for the things that matter.
It is 3 x 1 hour calls beforehand, plus pre-recorded videos and ad-hoc support whenever needed.
The family holds the work itself.
During the dieta, Marisela and the family hold the ceremonies and guide your work with the plant. The preparation we have done together travels with you into that space and helps you navigate with skill and grace. During the experience, there will always be family members present to support with your journey.
Helping the work take root.
The initial jungle experience is where the seed to a better life is first planted. What you do when you leave determines how much it flourishes. We will continue to work together to ensure that the positive changes and growth continues throughout the weeks, months and years after you leave the jungle.
What that support looks like:
- 3–6 × 60 minute structured 1-2-1 coaching calls to help make sense of what came up and how to integrate that into your life (quantity depends on the length of your post-dieta, and ad-hoc support and calls are always available).
- Access to self-directed tools for meditation, journaling, and working with dreams to allow the plants’ teachings to come through.
- Access to a private WhatsApp group with group shares and integration materials.
- Additional materials on managing post-dietas: the rules, tips and tricks covering the physical, mental, social and spiritual.
- Marisela will also continue to clean, protect, align and strengthen your dieta from afar using icaros, mapacho and other energetic tools.
On top of the personalised 1-2-1 coaching calls, ongoing support from the family, Marisela, Cameron and community is available whenever you need it throughout your dieta.
Full integration support is included for everyone and is supported by voluntary donations.
A dieta is still open and working with you for weeks to months after you leave the jungle. Usually, this means critical ongoing integration support costs increasingly more, takes more of the family’s retreat fee, or leaves you to face new, challenging experiences alone. We believe it should be included for all, not bound by finances. Here, what would normally cost $849–$2,499 is included for every guest, supported entirely by the voluntary, heartfelt donations of those who came before.
Who walks beside you.
Cameron is the bridge between you and the family and the lead integration coach across the whole arc. He balances traditional dieta experience, Shipibo cosmovision and contemporary Western thought to support guests throughout their entire experience.
Cameron’s background includes:
- Over 6 years working with plant medicines and the Shipibo culture.
- Over 3 years of experience completing 8 dietas, upwards of 1 year long, and under the apprenticeship of Shipibo maestros.
- 3+ years of experience supporting guests through Ayahuasca ceremonies, dietas and integration.
- Formal training in Ayahuasca safety, facilitation and integration with ICEERS.
- 5+ years experience as a teacher, coach and consultant.
- Ongoing training in analytical psychology and Root Healing modalities.
If you want to know exactly how we can support you, feel free to book a conversation below.