YAWANAWÁ 1 week retreat | MARCH 24th - APRIL 1st 2025
with our special Yawanawa Family from Aldeia Sagrada
Chief NIXIWAKA, PUTANNY, NAWASHAHU, PEU, MUKASHAHU, MUHAVEINE…..
Retreat includes [all activities with 6 of our yawanawá spiritual guides from aldeia sagrada]
traditional uní ceremonies
traditional rumê healing circle with storytelling, chants and teachings of the medicine of rapé & sananga
yawanawa traditional chants, songs workshop to learn deeper from this tradition
traditional body painting of sacred geometry of the yawanawa for protection and guidance during our works and connection with your unique spirit (with the medicine of jenipapo - nanê)
traditional storytelling to connect deeper with the spirit of the yawanawá people, their history and medicines, as well as the importance of the resurrection of the feminine and masculine healing forces & their ways of initiation into becoming a pajé [a healer that carries the medicines], their diets and ways of life
[option private healing includes: a private healing session with master pajé Peu Yawanawa. He has received his healing training from both his Yawanawa elders as well as the Marubo people and has been given the blessing to perform powerful private healings for people.] *limited capacity
*all pictures taken on our last visit to the sacred village, aldeia sagrada and our yawanawa retreat 2024 lake atitlan
* retreat price includes
opening circle
uni ceremonies
rûme ceremony
song study with nawashahu
Traditional Yawanawa Face Painting with natural black ink (jenipapo)
yawanawa concert at Lush Atitlan*
TUJ (traditional mayan sauna with Nana Ixquik Lopez Zavala)*
Sunrise-Hike to the Rostro Maya (Indian Nose)*
Closing Water Prayer Ceremony
Integration Circle
3 nourishing meals per day catered to the diet required
unlimited teas, purified water available at all times
paddle board use at any time during the day
group shuttle from GUA airport to retreat site & from retreat site to GUA airport (only at organised shuttle times)
*retreat price does not cover:
airfare from and to guatemala
transportation to venue from airport outside of organised shuttle times
for additional information and PDF of the retreat please sign up to our email communication for the yawanawa retreat here
for additional payment options [wise, bank transfer, crypto...] please contact us directly here
with our special Yawanawa Family from Aldeia Sagrada
Chief NIXIWAKA, PUTANNY, NAWASHAHU, PEU, MUKASHAHU, MUHAVEINE…..
Retreat includes [all activities with 6 of our yawanawá spiritual guides from aldeia sagrada]
traditional uní ceremonies
traditional rumê healing circle with storytelling, chants and teachings of the medicine of rapé & sananga
yawanawa traditional chants, songs workshop to learn deeper from this tradition
traditional body painting of sacred geometry of the yawanawa for protection and guidance during our works and connection with your unique spirit (with the medicine of jenipapo - nanê)
traditional storytelling to connect deeper with the spirit of the yawanawá people, their history and medicines, as well as the importance of the resurrection of the feminine and masculine healing forces & their ways of initiation into becoming a pajé [a healer that carries the medicines], their diets and ways of life
[option private healing includes: a private healing session with master pajé Peu Yawanawa. He has received his healing training from both his Yawanawa elders as well as the Marubo people and has been given the blessing to perform powerful private healings for people.] *limited capacity
*all pictures taken on our last visit to the sacred village, aldeia sagrada and our yawanawa retreat 2024 lake atitlan
* retreat price includes
opening circle
uni ceremonies
rûme ceremony
song study with nawashahu
Traditional Yawanawa Face Painting with natural black ink (jenipapo)
yawanawa concert at Lush Atitlan*
TUJ (traditional mayan sauna with Nana Ixquik Lopez Zavala)*
Sunrise-Hike to the Rostro Maya (Indian Nose)*
Closing Water Prayer Ceremony
Integration Circle
3 nourishing meals per day catered to the diet required
unlimited teas, purified water available at all times
paddle board use at any time during the day
group shuttle from GUA airport to retreat site & from retreat site to GUA airport (only at organised shuttle times)
*retreat price does not cover:
airfare from and to guatemala
transportation to venue from airport outside of organised shuttle times
for additional information and PDF of the retreat please sign up to our email communication for the yawanawa retreat here
for additional payment options [wise, bank transfer, crypto...] please contact us directly here
with our special Yawanawa Family from Aldeia Sagrada
Chief NIXIWAKA, PUTANNY, NAWASHAHU, PEU, MUKASHAHU, MUHAVEINE…..
Retreat includes [all activities with 6 of our yawanawá spiritual guides from aldeia sagrada]
traditional uní ceremonies
traditional rumê healing circle with storytelling, chants and teachings of the medicine of rapé & sananga
yawanawa traditional chants, songs workshop to learn deeper from this tradition
traditional body painting of sacred geometry of the yawanawa for protection and guidance during our works and connection with your unique spirit (with the medicine of jenipapo - nanê)
traditional storytelling to connect deeper with the spirit of the yawanawá people, their history and medicines, as well as the importance of the resurrection of the feminine and masculine healing forces & their ways of initiation into becoming a pajé [a healer that carries the medicines], their diets and ways of life
[option private healing includes: a private healing session with master pajé Peu Yawanawa. He has received his healing training from both his Yawanawa elders as well as the Marubo people and has been given the blessing to perform powerful private healings for people.] *limited capacity
*all pictures taken on our last visit to the sacred village, aldeia sagrada and our yawanawa retreat 2024 lake atitlan
* retreat price includes
opening circle
uni ceremonies
rûme ceremony
song study with nawashahu
Traditional Yawanawa Face Painting with natural black ink (jenipapo)
yawanawa concert at Lush Atitlan*
TUJ (traditional mayan sauna with Nana Ixquik Lopez Zavala)*
Sunrise-Hike to the Rostro Maya (Indian Nose)*
Closing Water Prayer Ceremony
Integration Circle
3 nourishing meals per day catered to the diet required
unlimited teas, purified water available at all times
paddle board use at any time during the day
group shuttle from GUA airport to retreat site & from retreat site to GUA airport (only at organised shuttle times)
*retreat price does not cover:
airfare from and to guatemala
transportation to venue from airport outside of organised shuttle times
for additional information and PDF of the retreat please sign up to our email communication for the yawanawa retreat here
for additional payment options [wise, bank transfer, crypto...] please contact us directly here
video captured by El Suchi in our last visit to aldeia sagrada. this is the sacred village, ancestral lands of the yawanawa. it is from this heart of their culture that putanny, peû, nawashahu, mukashahu and mukaveine come to visit us from.
our retreat guides | yawanawá leaders
CHIEF NIXIWAKA BIRACI YAWANAWA
Chief Nixiwaka is one of the most relevant indigenous leaders of our time. He has dedicated his life to reclaiming his people’s ancient culture and spirituality. After reconquering the rights over their ancestral territory, Nixiwaka, alongside his family, led the opening of their culture to the outside world. Its main element is the Yawa Festival, which is held annually since 2002 in the village of Nova Esperança (“New Hope”). In the past years he has spent most of his time in the Sacred Village, dedicated to spirituality and healing, receiving teachings from the elders, in order to carry on the Yawanawa legacy. In his few journeys out of his village to represent his people, he’s also visited other spiritual leaders around the world and has partaken in the sharing of many cultural traditions.
PUTANNY YAWANWÀ
Yawanawa spirituality is a sacred territory where never a woman had dared to step, for since ancestral times, it had belonged exclusively to men. In 2005, Putanny and her sister were the first women to make the sacred oath of the Yawanawa people. They have since been recognized as the first women to undergo Yawanawa spiritual training. After a year of strict diet, Putanny earned her communities' respect as spiritual leader, opening the way into this sacred path for other Yawanawa women. A break in tradition that united the male and female universes - and brought the magic of feminine spirituality to strengthen the Yawanawa culture. Together with her husband, Chief Nixiwaka, Putanny currently leads the place of origin of the Yawanawa people, considered the cultural sanctuary of this Nation.
PEÛ YAWANAWÀ
Peû is one of the most devoted spiritual leaders from the younger generation of the Yawanawa people. He committed to the sacred samakei (diet), the Yawanawa’s highest spiritual initiation, for five consecutive years. In this period he received direct teachings from the elders Tata and Yawa, who have recently passed away.
NAWASHAHU YAWANAWÀ
Nawashahu and her sister Ykashahu have been very dedicated to their studies of Yawanawa spirituality, dieting with the elders and always seeking to learn more from the leaders of the tribe. She is a very talented musician, influencing through her deep devotion in her music.
Please have a listen to her newest album SAITI MAWAI SHAHU
MUKASHAHU YAWANAWÁ
Mukashahu is the youngest daughter of Yawanawa chiefs Nixiwaká and Putanny. She comes from a long lineage of indigenous leaders and medicine man and women and has been raised to be a leader of the Yawanawa people in the future.
MUKAVEINE YAWANAWÁ
Mukaveine is referred to as the “Little Chief”. He is the youngest son of Yawanawa chiefs Nixiwaká and Putanny. Mukaveine has the name of the prophet of the Yawanawá who received visions of the invasion of white men. The prophet instructed the Yawanawa people to form alliances with the invading people and not war. “Little Chief” Mukaveine is thus expected and raised to be a leader of the Yawanawa people.
THE YAWANAWA PEOPLE
There are approximately 1200 Yawanawa living in the Brazilian state of Acre, in villages along the banks of the Gregório river, where they have made their homes since time immemorial.
The Yawanawa people's first contact with the non-indigenous world happened around the 19th century. It was an intense period of much conflict with the rubber barons and missionaries who invaded their lands and tried to forbid Yawanawa language, culture and spirituality. In the 1980s, chief Biraci Nixiwaka Brazil led his people in the fight for the recognition of their native territories, and the Yawanawa became the first indigenous people to obtain the official rights to their lands in the state of Acre.
The Yawanawa have since then reclaimed their sacred medicines, rituals, song and dance, festivals, games, traditional body painting and adornment, artwork and food, in a profound journey of cultural revival.
SCHEDULE
(approximate schedule, exact schedule will be communicated upon sign-up)
DAY 1
welcome circle with the Yawanawa
DAY 2
traditional body painting for protection and guidance
&rume circle
DAY 3
traditional chants and song workshop
uní ceremony
DAY 4
time for nature immersion
uni ceremony
DAY 5
rest
optional: TUJ (mayan temazcal healing ceremony with our mayan elders)
DAY 6
singing circle & chants
integration circle & closing with Yawa family
DAY 7
water and gratitude ceremony, offerings to the lake
closing of the retreat container
hugs & goodbye