Uni is prepared from the Banisteriopsis caapi vine and chacruna leaf, following a preparation the Yawanawá have refined across generations. Received across three ceremonies, held by Vovô João, Panany, and Txana Pexa together, accompanied by the Saitis. Modern pharmacology confirms Uni's DMT and MAOI-inhibiting beta-carbolines act together to produce a sustained shift in consciousness, with research linking guided ceremonial use to improvements in mood, outlook, and connection.

Kambô is the secretion of the giant monkey frog, Phyllomedusa bicolor, applied to small superficial points on the skin. Among the Yawanawá it is a hunter's medicine and a cleanser of panema. Research has isolated bioactive peptides including dermorphin and deltorphins that interact with opioid, vascular, and immune pathways.

Rapé is a sacred snuff of finely ground tobacco and forest ashes, blown into each nostril through a ceremonial pipe. For the Yawanawá it grounds the body, clears the mind, and aligns the spirit before ceremony. Ceremonial use differs from recreational tobacco: small, spaced doses within a contemplative frame, associated with focus, emotional release, and respiratory clearing.

The Vãkuxi is a personal blessing offered by Vovô João, transmitted through breath, chant, and the touch of the crown. It is the way an elder places the spirit of the medicine, and the protection of the lineage, upon one person at a time.

Saitis are the sacred chants of the Yawanawá, received in dreams and passed down through the mukaia. Shanipahu is the tradition of ancestral storytelling, transmitted at night around the fire. Research on chant, mantra, and group singing describes entrainment of heart-rate variability, felt safety, and group coherence.

Kenê is the language of pattern and geometry the Yawanawá read across the body of the forest and paint upon the skin. During the retreat, participants receive traditional Kenê body painting as part of the second ceremony.

Aerial view of a river winding through the Amazon rainforest at golden hour

Chakaruna 11:11 Presents

Un Solo Corazón Amazónico: Yawanawá Immersion Retreat

Name: Un Solo Corazón Amazónico
Start: 2026-10-03
End: 2026-10-10
Location: Ecuador's Cloud Forest

One Amazonian Heart

In more than ninety years of life, Vovô João has never once left the Brazilian rainforest, until now. This October, for the first time in Yawanawá living memory, the oldest mukaia of his people travels to Ecuador alongside medicine keepers Panany and Txana Pexa, carrying ceremony, chant, and a lineage of knowledge rarely offered beyond the walls of the Amazon.

October 3 – 10 · Ecuador's Cloud ForestReserve your place

Although the Yawanawá call the Acre region of the Brazilian Amazon home, the rainforest has never known borders. Its rivers, its forests, and the spirits that move through them have united the peoples of the Amazon since ancestral times, and this retreat honours that same unity, allowing the Yawanawá tradition to take root, for the first time, in the living energy of Ecuadorian land.

Over eight days, participants are guided through Uni, Kambô, Rapé, sacred Saiti chants, traditional Shanipahu storytelling, and Kenê body painting, complemented by daily sound healing, somatic movement, and full immersion in Ecuador's cloud forest. It is a path of introspection, learning, and reconnection, held directly by the tradition's own guardians rather than through intermediaries, an offering that grows rarer each year, as fewer elders of Vovô João's generation remain to carry it.

Who they are

The Yawanawá People

The Yawanawá originate from Acre, Brazil, on the border with Peru, in the heart of the Amazon rainforest. Today their population numbers roughly 1,800 people across seventeen villages along the Gregório River. Their way of life, social order, and spirituality are inseparable from their relationship to the world of dreams, a space of knowledge through which their pajés, healers and spiritual guides, have received the chants, rituals, and wisdom passed down since the origins of their people.

Like many Amazonian peoples, the Yawanawá endured decades of disruption under the rubber economy before reclaiming their territory and reviving their ceremonial life. Among the last great pajés of the generation before this revival were Yawarani and Tata, who each lived more than a hundred years. Today, Tima Shawãhu, known as Vovô João, Yawarani's younger brother, is the oldest guardian of this knowledge, a living library of the Yawanawá worldview, carrying teachings from elders who had little contact with the Western world.

It is this same knowledge, held until now almost entirely within the Yawanawá territory, that Vovô João, Panany, and Txana Pexa are bringing to Ecuador this October.

The Guardians

Coming to Ecuador This October

Vovô João (Tima Shawãhu)

Elder · Oldest mukaia of the Yawanawá

At 93, João is the oldest mukaia of the entire Yawanawá people and younger brother of the legendary pajé Yawarani. He is a living library of his people's memory and cosmovision. After completing the Muka Samakãi, the highest spiritual diet of his tradition, he dedicated his life to studying the medicinal plants of the Amazon, learning to treat both physical and spiritual illness. Today his mission is to preserve ancestral knowledge and the Yawanawá language for younger generations, offering the Vãkuxi blessing and the sacred Saiti chants during ceremony. To receive it from him directly, so late in his life, is a gift very few outside his own people have ever been given.

Txana Pexa Yawanawá

Apprentice · Musician & translator

At 27, Txana is Vovô João's grandson and son of Biraci Nixiwaka. He lives close to his grandfather in the village of Amparo, absorbing his teachings so that, one day, he may carry them forward. He studies his mother tongue and translates his grandfather's stories, and is a gifted musician who carries the gift of the Txanas, jungle birds said to imitate any song, elevating the ancestral Saiti chants through guitar and voice, bridging the sacred and the contemporary as an apprentice and guardian of a living tradition.

Panany Yawanawá

Woman of medicine in formation · Activist

At 30, Panany is Vovô João's granddaughter and daughter of Biraci Nixiwaka, a mother of two walking the spiritual path of her elders. Her studies centre on the Saiti chants, sacred songs that open paths between worlds, and Kenê, the sacred geometries through which the Yawanawá read the language of the forest. Her voice rises as a ceremonial force, embodying the strength and resilience of Yawanawá women. As a mother and activist, she stands as a guardian of her people, defending Indigenous rights and the protection of the Amazon rainforest for the generations that follow.

Facilitators

Sarah Sanchez

Founder of Chakaruna 11:11 · Life & Executive Coach

With over two decades at the helm of a multimillion-dollar corporation, Sarah brings a rare blend of business acumen and spiritual wisdom to her work as an NYU-trained Life and Executive Coach. Based in the heart of Ecuador, she is the founder and visionary behind Chakaruna 11:11, where modern psychological frameworks meet ancestral tradition and the wisdom of the Pachakuti mesa, bridging material success and spiritual fulfilment for every guest who arrives.

Araceli, Kutashi Shahu

Woman of prayer · Sacred plant medicine facilitator

Originally trained in veterinary medicine, Araceli's path turned toward the sacred through a deep desire to connect with nature and the animal world. For more than fourteen years she has travelled the globe learning from native traditions, adopted into both the Lakota and Yawanawá cultures after completing demanding initiation rites and year-long plant diets, and serving as a Sun Dancer for over seven years. Carrying a twenty-four-year family bloodline working with the Santa María plant, she facilitates sacred healing work that reconnects each person with the spirit of the earth.

Sacred Practices

Ceremonies & Medicine

Each practice is held exactly as passed down through Yawanawá lineage, presented here alongside what current research understands about it.

Uni is prepared from the Banisteriopsis caapi vine and chacruna leaf, following a preparation the Yawanawá have refined across generations. Received here across three ceremonies, Uni is held by Vovô João, Panany, and Txana Pexa together, and accompanied throughout by the Saitis, the sacred chants that open, guide, and close each ceremonial space. For the Yawanawá, Uni is taken not to escape reality but to see it more clearly: a teacher plant through which the forest, the ancestors, and one's own inner world can be met directly.

What research shows

Modern pharmacology confirms much of what Amazonian traditions have long held: Uni's DMT and MAOI-inhibiting beta-carbolines act together to produce a sustained, measurable shift in consciousness. A growing body of clinical and naturalistic research links guided ceremonial use to meaningful improvements in mood, outlook, and a sense of connection, echoing, in scientific language, what these traditions have taught for generations about Uni as a medicine of mind and spirit.

Held with care: every participant completes a health screening before arrival, covering psychiatric history, cardiac health, and current medication (particularly SSRIs and MAOIs), so the ceremony can be held safely for each person.

The Path

An Eight-Day Immersion

Sat, Oct 3

Arrival & Opening of the Path

Landing in the cloud forest, a Bitter Herbal Bath to release the energy of the journey, and a sunset sound healing to open the circle.

Sun, Oct 4

Purification & the First Uni Ceremony

A morning Kambô application, sound bath integration, and the first Uni ceremony under the Saitis at nightfall.

Mon, Oct 5

Waterfall & Integration

A morning circle, an excursion into the cloud forest's sacred waterfalls, open-air massage, and an evening of sound and Rapé.

Tue, Oct 6

Kenê & the Second Ceremony

A second Kambô application, traditional Kenê body painting, and the second Uni ceremony after a sound and movement preparation.

Wed, Oct 7

Rest, Dance & Story

Integration, conscious dance, Shanipahu storytelling, and a deep-rest sound bath.

Ask about the option to join for the weekend retreat, which includes one ceremony.

Thu, Oct 8

Preparation & the Closing Ceremony

A quiet day of art and reflection ahead of the third and final Uni ceremony, one of gratitude and closure.

Fri, Oct 9

Blossoming & Blessings

Personal Vãkuxi blessings from Vovô João, a Blossoming Floral Bath, and a closing circle of song.

Sat, Oct 10

Return

A final blessing, farewell to the community, and the journey home.

The full day-by-day schedule, including ceremony timings, meals, and rest windows, is shared privately with confirmed participants ahead of arrival.

The Retreat Includes

3 traditional Uni ceremonies
2 Kambô applications
Daily guided sound healing
Rapé (Rume) circles
Personal Vãkuxi blessing from Vovô João
Bitter Cleansing Bath & Blossoming Floral Bath
Cloud forest waterfall excursion & open-air massage
Yoga, conscious dance & art therapy
Sacred Kenê body painting
Shanipahu ancestral storytelling
2 psychotherapy sessions for preparation, navigation, and integration
Time with the Yawanawá community
Full accommodation & meals aligned with the ceremony schedule

Health & Safety

These are traditional medicines with real physiological effects, held here with the same care and screening used throughout Chakaruna's retreats. Kambô is contraindicated for anyone with cardiac, renal, hepatic, or major psychiatric conditions, recent surgery, or pregnancy. Rapé is not advised with uncontrolled hypertension, acute respiratory conditions, recent ENT surgery, or pregnancy. Uni requires screening for psychiatric history, cardiac conditions, and interactions with SSRIs, MAOIs, and other medications.

Applicants must be 18+, complete a health screening prior to arrival, and disclose all medications and medical history. This retreat is not a substitute for medical or psychiatric care.

Walk the Path With Us

Spaces are intentionally limited, so every participant receives the full presence and care of the elders.

Reserve your place

Chakaruna 11:11 · Expect to Self Rescue