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Overcoming Depression and Addiction with Medicinal Plants
In this courageous testimony, Maribel shares her healing journey at Takiwasi. Her experience reflects the challenges and lessons of a true process of change: leaving behind dependence on medications and alcohol, facing family attachment, overcoming doubts and fears, and finally discovering inner strength and humility as the foundation of a new life. Subtitles available in English.
Recently at Takiwasi we opened the possibility of outpatient addiction treatment for women, responding to the many requests we had received. In 2023 we took a first step with a one-month seminar exclusively for women struggling with addiction, with excellent results. In 2025 we went further by integrating women into a mixed treatment, where they participate in plant sessions and therapeutic workshops alongside men, though under a semi-residential format. In 2026 we will organize a new seminar in the month of November.
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Retreats/Diets with Master Plants 2026
We are happy to announce all the dates for our Master Plants Retreats/Diets for 2026.
• 12 - 24 January
• 9 - 21 February
• 9 - 21 March
• 6 - 18 April
• 11 - 23 May
• 15 - 27 June
• 13 - 25 July
• 17 - 29 August
• 7 - 19 September
• 19 - 31 October
• 30 November - 12 December
For more information and to start the registration process please write to: terapia@takiwasi.com
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Tribute to Don Juan Flores
The directors of the Takiwasi Center express their deep sorrow for the passing of master healer Juan Flores.
We pay tribute to the Sheripiari, Ashaninka healer, bearer of the gift of teaching and healing through Amazonian plants. Due to his great qualities as a healer, he was invited on numerous occasions to Takiwasi, where he shared his wisdom and skills in the care of patients struggling with addiction, as well as with participants in dietas and seminars.
We express our condolences to his family and disciples for this irreparable loss, with the confidence that he now rests in the peace of the Lord. His legacy will live on in all those who truly recognized and appreciated his gift for teaching. Our eternal gratitude for having taught us his ícaros, allowing us to use them in the ayahuasca ceremonies at Takiwasi.
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Ayahuasca & Ptsd
We share the video of the conversation held in English by our research department to explore the meeting between traditional knowledge and modern clinical research in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Michèle Anne Barocchi, director and co-founder of MAPS Italy, talks with Matteo Politi, research manager at Takiwasi, as she shares the latest academic findings on psychedelic-assisted therapies along with her personal insights related to PTSD. They are joined by Arnaud Montagne, therapist at Takiwasi, who presents the results of the therapeutic retreat program for military veterans in the Peruvian Amazon.
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Enriching Psychotherapy with Amazonian Traditional Medicine
We share the conversation in Spanish between Veroniká Kavenská, clinical psychologist and therapeutic coordinator at Takiwasi, and Matteo Politi, research and development manager.
Takiwasi’s 33 years of experience show that Amazonian traditional medicine can significantly enrich psychotherapeutic work, both in healing processes and in personal development, as long as it is applied in the right context and in the proper way. The use of medicinal plants, together with other healing techniques, makes it possible to address issues and challenges with greater depth and to integrate the bodily and energetic-spiritual dimensions that conventional psychotherapy can hardly reach. In this way, healing acquires a more integral, complex, and lasting character.
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Master Plants Retreat Testimonial
“Takiwasi's Retreat for Veterans and First Responders was a profoundly powerful experience. So much occurred during such a short period of time. I am incredibly grateful for having done it and for the fact that Takiwasi exists on this Earth. That may sound like exaggeration, but, please believe me, it's not. At every juncture, Takiwasi's integrity, responsibility, care, patience, and professionalism are clear. From the little things to the big things, from the way the day-to-day schedule is crafted with precision, to the way the healers know what you need without you saying a word, Takiwasi's decades of experience shine through.
The retreat, and Takiwasi itself, make no claim to be a luxury experience where you don't have to lift a finger. On the contrary, the retreat involves real sacrifice and deep personal work, and if that does not call to you, then likely Takiwasi is not the place for you. But if you wish to have an encounter with yourSELF, to really work with the medicine and the surrounding plant dieta and ancient traditions, to face discomfort and grow from it, to have one of the deepest imaginable encounters with your past and your emotions, and to perhaps find new ways of authentically expressing yourself in the face of the dire needs and problems of our world, then go to Takiwasi and trust in their care. Godspeed, my fellow traveler. May our paths cross one day.”
The dates for the new 2026 retreats specifically dedicated to military veterans and first responders are now scheduled. You can check the calendar and the full program on our website.
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Amazonian Wisdom and Health
Contemporary Amazonian culture, transformed by globalization, has lost part of its relational and ecological dimension. Among Indigenous peoples such as the Urarina, the use of plants still preserves a wisdom that integrates health, spirituality, and community, encompassing both human and non-human beings. Faced with the advance of extractivism and cultural erosion, there is a call to recover an ecological health based on reciprocity and respectful dialogue with ancestral knowledge.
On Tuesday, October 21 at 10:30 a.m., our research team will have a talk in Spanish with Emanuele Fabiano, a researcher specialized in Amazonian anthropology and in the social and cosmological effects of extractive processes.Emanuele Fabiano holds a PhD in Anthropology and Ethnology from the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris. He is a member of the Amazonian Anthropology Group at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru and a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Coimbra. His research has focused on the techniques of person-making (both human and non-human) and their implications in the processes of social reproduction among the Urarina people of the Peruvian Amazon.
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We are finalists for the Peru Recognition for the SDGs 2025!
We are very happy to share that our Amazonian Natural Products Laboratory has been selected as a finalist in the Planet thematic axis, NGO category, of the Peru Recognition for the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals). This great achievement reflects our team’s commitment and dedication to driving high-impact actions that contribute to Peru’s sustainable development.
We invite you to join us for the award ceremony on October 24, as part of the summit "Cumbre Perú Sostenible 2025". You can register for free through the button below.
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Reconstruction of a pedestrian bridge in the native community of Santa Cruz
The reconstruction of the pedestrian bridge in the native community of Santa Cruz has already begun. Our dear Edgardo Tuanama is leading this much-needed project for his people with great dedication.
With the first donations received, the community has organized to rebuild this bridge, which will allow children to reach school, farmers to transport their products, and elders and the sick to access medical care more easily in emergencies.
Edgardo still needs support to reach the goal and complete this vital project for about 15 Indigenous families. If you wish to join and collaborate, you can make a donation via Credit/Debit Card, PayPal, or Bank Transfer. All the information is available through the link below.
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Takiwasi Center Online Courses
We want to invite you to enroll in our online courses:
- Introducción al modelo terapéutico Takiwasi:
11 pre-registered classes taught in Spanish by the therapeutic team of the Takiwasi Center. Topics such as Traditional Amazonian Medicine are addressed, including the presentation of specific techniques such as plant baths and purges, and the application of Western psychological approaches in the treatment of addictions.
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Coherencias entre la iniciación cristiana y la iniciación amazónica: taught in Spanish by Dr. Jacques Mabit, course based on 5 pre-registered videos. The experience of the Takiwasi Center shows us that there are numerous and surprising points of coherence and convergence between the Christian faith and Amazonian shamanism.
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Help us with your donation!
Takiwasi is a pioneering institution in the rehabilitation of people suffering from drug addiction, combining the wisdom of traditional Amazonian medicine with modern therapeutic approaches. For over 30 years, we have witnessed profound transformations in the lives of those seeking to heal their body, mind and soul.
We invite you to be part of this change. With your donation, you are providing people with limited resources with access to a cutting-edge treatment protocol, recognized worldwide and proven effective by scientific studies. Help us continue our research and preserve the ancestral knowledge and medicinal plants of the Amazon.
Every contribution counts: your donation allows us to continue offering hope and healing. Find out how to donate by clicking on the green button below.
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