Upcoming Retreats
Yawanawá New year's vivencia + Diet
in Awavana center
29th of December 2025 - 11th of February 2026
Dear Friends,
we are very happy to invite you on a mystical journey into the depth of the Amazonian Rainforest. We have specially arranged a NEW DATE for the diet so that we are able to create a smaller but more intimate group that allows us to dive deeper into the wisdom of the sacred medicines and study the rich culture of the Yawanawá tribe
New year's celebraion + Diet at Yawanawa
29.12.25-9.2.26 (optional shorter stay possible)
Join us for a transformative journey deep in the heart of the Amazon with the Yawanawa tribe in Brazil.
Begin the new year with the Yawanawa celebrations in Mutum village-Awavana center, followed by a month- long dieta led by the spiritual leader
Hushahu Yawanawa.
This rare opportunity offers profound personal growth, spiritual connection and to embark on a deep healing journey, opening doors to inner transformation and clarity that can ripple through all areas of your life.
For registration and any questions don't hesitate to contact us at
sacredgatherings.info@gmail.com
Love & Light
Adam, Shani and the Yawanawa family
The Yawanawa Tribe
The Yawanawá are the legal guardians of almost half a million acres of Brasilian Amazon. There are over 1,000 Yawanawá, living in 9 tribal villages along the Gregório River. The Yawanawá and their allies are dedicated to developing a model of sustainability that allows them to protect their lands and engage with the outside world on their own terms, without compromising their cultural and spiritual identity.
The tribe has been working tirelessly to increase territory, reinvigorate Yawanawá culture, and establish economically and socially empowering relationships with the outside world. They plant and hunt their own food and live in wooden houses, their pharmacy is the forest. Due to a history with missionaries, part of their culture got lost and devalued. However, today they recaptured a lot of their tradition and are very grateful and proud to be able to share this beautiful treasure. Yawanawá roughly translates to "people of the wild boar”.
The Medicines
Rume (Rapé)
For the Yawanawá tribe Rume is the principal medicine. It's the medicine that gives security and that has the strongest healing power. Being with the Yawanawá one can really study this medicine and part of the study is to receive a Rume initiation.
Sacred Tea
Sacred Tea is the drink they have been using since their very beginning. It is the primary medicine used to connect you to what the Yawanawá call "the force”, the spiritual dimension present that we typically do not have access to. In the village the Sacred Tea is traditionally brewed fresh before a ceremony and we have the opportunity to accompany the process of preparation.
Sananga (Kanapa Vetxexeketi)
Sananga is a medicine, made from the bark of the root of a plant called Tabernaemontana genus. Sananga has various properties, it can help to heal the physical eye, improve eye sight, it can help to open the third eye and inner vision, it illuminates subconscious mind patterns, it can 'break' mental or emotional 'loops' and it is used to relieve headache.
Nipui plant baths
Plant baths are one of the practices of the Yawanawa tribe with a deep healing effect, a way to connect and to align oneself with various healing plants. Various plants are collected and we'll first receive the vapor in a small hut and will then be fully washed and rubbed by the 'tea', receiving the vibration, information and love of the plants present.
Urucum and Jenipapo body painting
These plants are used to pain the body, giving protection and the force of different animals and elements being painted. It's a way to introduce ourselves to the spirit world and also do they give physical protection.
Our Guide
Hushahu Yawanawa
Together with her sister Putanny, Hushahu was the first woman to enter into a spiritual study in the story of her people and of other tribes in the region. She lived many strong experiences in the tribe from a young age and became determined to discover the world of the Pajé (Shamans) – to find healing and wisdom for herself and her people. Hushahu asked her father Tuîkuru to study and, after spending many years gaining their trust, her father and the late Pajé Tata accepted her onto the path to study. She spent one year and three months in Samakẽi – isolated in the forest with strict rules and without contact with anyone besides her teachers.
During this time she began to discover the world of the Pajés as a woman, expressing this through her art and her voice, bringing a female voice to the traditional songs. On her return she brought equality between men and women to her people. The Yawanawá women now sit alongside the men as equals in ceremony and in daily life. This transformation, along with the beauty of the songs and art she brought back, inspired many, both men and women to re-engage with their tradition. Following her time in Samakẽi, Hushahu continued to study with Tatá until his death, later repeating this period of study for another year.
Today Hushahu is one of the spiritual leaders of her village Mutum and is dedicated to keeping the tradition of her people alive. She has many students among the youth of the village as well as from the world outside where she travels and shares the teachings that were passed to her. The designs that she received in visions are used in the artworks of many different tribes in Brazil as well as her own.
Her work has drawn international attention, being featured in the magazine of Brazilian airline GOL and being the subject of the VR movie Awavena which featured at Sundance Film Festival and World Economic Forum amongst other events aronund the world before winning an Emmy award in 2020.
In 2021 she began to build Centro Awavãna next to her village as a project to preserve and give life to everything she strove for in her life. Today she lives at Centro Awavãna together with Adair where they continue to strive to make it an example of sustainable living within an indigenous community.
The Shaman Tatá Txanu Natasheni
Tatá is the spiritual leader of the Yawanawa tribe and passed away two years ago with the age of 104. More than a leader, the shaman was a brother of spirituality, and a great friend who always brought the sunshine, and the light of love, governed by the teachings of the
forest. Direct from the woods, the shaman lived a centenary of great wisdom, preserving the Yawanawá culture, as well as crossing the curves of the rivers and making the culture of the people of the Acre forest known worldwide,
through the enchanting Yawa festival.
Tatá leaves a legacy of knowledge that is a true inspiration for the pursuit of balance and life in harmony. Although his physical body died, his spirit is still very present in the tribe, the ceremonies and in the forest.
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