Upcoming Retreats
Join us in the heart of the Amazon with the
Yawanawá tribe in Brazil.
Begin the new year in Mutum village through traditional celebrations, followed by a deeper journey into a month-long dieta guided by Matsini Yawanawá, chief and spiritual leader of the village. This is an opportunity to step away from everyday life and enter a space of learning, simplicity, and connection—both with the forest and within yourself.
Before the New Year gathering, we also invite you to a women’s retreat—an intimate space for connection, reflection, and shared experience.
Women’s Retreat | 11.11 – 18.11.26
New Year’s Retreat | 29.12.26 – 7.1.27
Samakey Diet with Matsini Yawanawa | 6.1 – 11.2.27
New Year's Retreat
Mutum Village
29.12.26 - 7.1.27
Immerse yourself in the ancient traditions, learning about the vibrant culture.
This retreat is a chance to connect with this incredible tribe in the heart of the Amazon rainforest, celebrating the new year together through traditional festivities and ceremonies.
Experience
Days unfold with ceremony, silence, learning, and connection.
You will take part in traditional practices, live within the village, and experience a rhythm guided by nature.
This is a space for reflection, simplicity, and deep inner work.
The Traditional 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.
kambo
A traditional Amazonian practice that uses the secretion of the giant monkey frog. Among the Yawanawá it is considered a powerful cleansing medicine, used to support deep physical, emotional, and energetic purification. It is often experienced as an intense but clarifying process, helping to release heaviness and restore balance in the body and mind.
In recent years, kambo has also attracted interest in the West, where it has been
explored for its purifying and immune-supporting properties, though it remains
a traditional indigenous practice.
Our Guides
Matsini Yawanawa
The village chief and spiritual leader- Matsini Yawanawá grew up working with the sacred medicines and learned about the spiritual path from a very early age. His father teached him a lot and he was a very dedicated student along with his sister Hushau, also a great student of their father Tata.
Growing up, Matsini became the spiritual leader of the village Mutum and is now the currently chief of Mutum. He is guiding many young Yawanawá people as well as not-native people into the culture, diets and spiritual studies of the Yawanawá with a lot of care and dedication.
He followed his vision and founded a diet center in Mutum where many sacred medicines are growing and among them people can study, diet and retreat themselves. He has studied deeply and has a lot of knowledge, and by telling the Yawanawá sacred stories he is passing on the teachings and spiritual keys in the traditional way. He is firmly grounded in the Yawanawá culture and as well embracing new ways of working.
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 theforest. 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.
The family
Although Matsini Yawanawá is the chief of Mutum village
and the one holding the main responsibility for this immersion,
the Yawanawá way is always carried by the community. Knowledge,
ceremonies and traditions are shared and held
together by families, elders and young people of the village.
During the immersion, members of Matsini’s family and other people from the Mutum community will also be present, supporting the ceremonies, sharing songs, stories and the daily life of the forest. In this way, participants are welcomed not only by one person, but by the living spirit of the Yawanawá community
.jpeg)
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”.
.jpg)
