Stop the Amazon being turned to Sand: Book an Ayahuasca Retreat Today

120 hectares of the Amazon jungle are about to be purchased by a construction company and turned into sand to make concrete. If before the 30th of September: ***144 people purchase a week-long Ayahuasca retreat by buying a token*** The Shipibo-Conibo people who live on this land can raise the funds they need to buy their home and stop this catastrophe. We have to face the truth. If this construction company is allowed to purchase this land and turn it literarily into sand many hundreds of people will be unable to feed themselves, their water supplies will be contaminated from the mining, and they will be unable to access the medicines they rely on and their lives are at risk. *The situation* 120 hectares of the Amazon jungle located in Loreto, province of Mainas will be purchased by a construction company that plans to extract sand to make concrete for the construction industry. This land is the home of the Shipibo-Conibo peoples. They depend on it for food. It is where they hunt and forage. They depend on this land for medicine. Indigenous communities lack access to formal health care however the powerful medicine plants that grow in this part of the jungle combined with their ancient traditional knowledge have provided them with effective medical care for generations. Moreover, this land, which is deeply sacred in their tradition, is fundamental to their identity.  Some of the rarest plants and animals on earth live within these 120 hectares. Plants which exist nowhere else on earth grow here. Such as the Remocaspi, which is considered a teacher three and is a key ingredient in shamanic medicines that have been shown to cure a range of diseases from cancer to COVID. Animals such as the El Montete, and Las Panguanas which currently face extinction live here and if this part of the jungle is destroyed they will die.    It is hard for us living in the West to understand how important this part of the jungle is to the Shipibo-Conibo peoples. The situation is critical. If Shipibo-Conibo NGO Green Hands do not buy the land before the 30th of September the construction company will – and all will be lost. *How can you help?* If before the 30th of September: 144 people purchase tokens that can be traded or used at any time to book a week-long ayahuasca retreat at the Yosi Ocha Centre in the heart of this 120 hectares. The Shipibo-Conibo NGO Manos Verdes will be able to raise the $180,000 they need to buy the land and save their home, one of the most biodiverse areas on earth.  Many of us in the West have been drawn to work with Ayahuasca. This is in part due to the ability of Ayahuasca to enable individuals to transform their lives and find meaning and purpose. It is in part due to the fact there is a significant and growing body of evidence-based, peer-reviewed research which proves that Ayahuasca provides safe cures for diseases western medicine cannot effectively treat, such as cancer, infertility, addiction, PTSD and a range of mental illnesses. Thousands of people in Europe are drawn to travel to the Amazon and undertake an Ayahuasca retreat with an experienced Shayman. Please help the Shipibo-Conibo by undertaking your Ayahuasca retreat at the Yosi Ocha Centre, one of the world's most respected Ayahuasca centres, under the guidance of Maestro Heberto Garcia, who is recognised as one of the most powerful and respected Shayman alive today.   *Why is Maestro Heberto Garcia considered one of the most respected and powerful Shamans alive today?*  Maestro Heberto Garcia's ancestral lineage includes an extraordinary number of Onanyas (Master shamans) and Merayas (the ninth and highest grade of a shaman). As a child, Heberto completed his arduous shamanic apprenticeship under the guidance of his grandfather Yosi Ocha, who was recognised as the last living Meraya. For over 30 years, Heberto has continued to study and endured extreme privations in the ongoing development of his shamanic craft. He has also studied biology at the National University of the Peruvian Amazon enabling him to combine western ‘scientific’ understandings with his profound ethnobotanical knowledge. Ayahuasca ceremonies conducted by Maestro Heberto Garcia include many of the most ancient Shipibo rituals which have fallen into disuse due to the loss of knowledge following the disappearance of the “Merayas” Maestro Heberto Garcia established the Yosi Ocha centre to aid those seeking health and spiritual fulfilment, particularly at a time when the world is receiving warnings about the dangers of ‘Ayahuasca tourism’  More information on Maestro Heberto Garcia and the Yosi Ocha Centre of the Peruvian Institute of Shamanism and Natural Medicineretreats can be found on the Yosi Ocha website