Seeds of Soltara - Our Story

A story with Ayahuasca at its heart necessarily begins in the Amazon. For Soltara, in more ways than one, our seeds were first planted in the Peruvian Amazon River Basin.

The Shipibo families who would offer their wisdom and medicine for so many in the Soltara community came from multiple villages around Pucallpa, Peru - the capital of the Ucayali region and home to many people of the Shipibo-Conibo Nation (now often called Shipibo, as the two nations have mixed with each other).

Two hours up the Ucayali River, in the small village of Libertad, Peru, was where Soltara’s first team members would meet in 2015. Although Soltara would not be formed for another 3 years, in Costa Rica, this particular community of the Amazon river basin was where Maestros Wiler, Angelita, Teo, & Marina, Daniel, Melissa, Sylvia, and Jesse spent two years supporting Ayahuasca ceremonies and retreats.

Ayahuasca and the wisdom of the Shipibo Maestros had fundamentally changed the lives of each of Soltara’s team members, to the point that each of us has dedicated our lives to this path of service. For Daniel, Soltara’s co-founder, it helped him heal physically and mentally after a tragic and nearly paralyzing fall from a cliff. For Melissa, a former scientist and engineer, it became a path of purpose to contribute towards a greater mission - to bridge-build across ways of knowing and paradigms of healing, in support of collective thriving. For Sylvia, Ayahuasca reminded her of who she was - the light and the dark. It reconnected her to her authenticity, the courage to pursue her passions, and to share them with others, so that they might be brave enough to traverse their own shadows to reveal their light.

For the Shipibo Maestros, most of whom had dedicated their lives to the path of curanderismo, or healing, from a very young age, collaboration was a way to help others through the wisdom of the medicine, and continue to preserve, transmit, and share their tradition with the world.

Under the lush canopy of the rainforest, overlooking the calm Ucayali, this Ayahuasca retreat center became one of the most highly rated and reputable centers in Peru at that time. Alongside a great team and members of the surrounding village, the community slowly grew.

Meanwhile, other future team members were also working and apprenticing in the Amazon at that time, within Shipibo communities and at other highly rated Ayahuasca centers. One thing that Sylvia, Melissa, and Daniel noticed in 2017, in other places and in their own space, was a greater need for improved before- and after-care support, also known as preparation and integration. Those who came to work with Ayahuasca would have beautiful and profound experiences, but would find it challenging to translate, or integrate, those experiences into lasting positive change back home. There was minimal support for this from the retreat space at best.

When the time was right, Costa Rica called. At the same time, the medicine also called us to build a better bridge between the Shipibo medicine tradition and those coming to participate - often from Westernized countries and frameworks, with a need for psychological, therapeutic, and body-based holistic support - before, during, and after the retreat.

We knew we could do better for our community, and so we collaborated with the Maestros and enlisted the support of an Advisory Board of experienced bridge-builders across culture, trauma, science, psychology, reciprocity, and plant medicine:

Dr. Bia Labate, PhD, Executive Director of the non-profit Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines, an organization that promotes reciprocity in the psychedelic community, and supports the protection of sacred plants and cultural traditions. Chacruna also uplifts the voices of women, queer people, Indigenous peoples, people of color, and the Global South in the field of psychedelic science.
Dr. Dennis McKenna, PhD, the prolific ethnopharmacologist whose research and work with psychedelics, plant medicines, and Ayahuasca over his 50+ year career has been foundational to the so-called ‘psychedelic renaissance.’
Dr. Clancy Cavnar, PsyD, a clinical psychologist, author, and on the Board of Directors for Chacruna, who brings decades of experience working with Ayahuasca in various traditions to support therapeutic preparation and integration support.
And later, Dr. Gabor Maté, MD, bestselling author, international speaker, and retired physician, whose groundbreaking work and research on the link between addiction and trauma earned him Canada’s highest civilian distinction. He advocates for the potential of psychedelic therapy and created the Compassionate Inquiry program, which supports a trauma-informed approach to healing.

With their support, we created an innovative preparation and integration program, and programming that supports guests while also maintaining the integrity and wisdom of the Shipibo tradition.

Soltara was lovingly built on the following pillars:

Respect for Tradition: For our Ayahuasca retreats, we work exclusively with Ayahuasca plant medicine, and exclusively with Indigenous Peruvian Shipibo healers. We ensure the rest of our programming supports, and is not contraindicated with, Ayahuasca and the energetic container our Shipibo Maestros hold for each guest. We empower our community with high-quality information that continues the legacy and wisdom of those who came before us. We aim to create a culture and community based on balanced, practical, accessible information grounded in a spirit of cultural awareness and education.
Safety & Professionalism: Our highest priority is the physical, emotional, energetic, and spiritual safety of our guests. We work with an experienced team of facilitators and therapists to support guests with a wide range of holistic, trauma-informed, and body-based modalities. Our stringent medical & psychological intake process, preparation, onsite safety protocols, and aftercare programs are supported by highly qualified professionals and advisors.
An Integrative and Holistic Approach: We address healing from a whole-person and contextual perspective. Our retreat spaces are immersed in nature, connected to community, and incorporate farm-to-table practices that reduce waste and connect us to the local land. Our healing modalities incorporate an understanding of physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, relational, and environmental contexts. We understand the physiology and psychology of trauma to act as a bridge between our Shipibo Maestros and the healing processes of our guests.
Community and Collective Healing: We co-create safer spaces, in person and virtually, for each of us to show up authentically, witness and be witnessed, and share our wisdom, insights, and humanity. We understand that healing happens in relationship, and we foster our global mycelial network because we believe in the power of community and what we can do together. We also offer support for our guests' families and loved ones through our new program, Entwined, to move from individual to collective healing and integration.
Reciprocity, Inclusivity, & Community Alliances: We support healing for people and planet with our Reciprocity Fund and initiatives, including donations towards Amazon conservation, a Shipibo school for Shipibo children, scholarship funds, BIPOC-specific scholarships, and local community projects. We are proud to collaborate with multiple organizations in the fields of reciprocity, education, conservation, and Shipibo-led initiatives. Click the link above to learn more.

We hope to do our part supporting humanity in returning to right relationship with the Earth, its beings, ourselves, each other, and the more-than-human worlds. We take seriously our role in the globalization and expansion of Ayahuasca and other plant medicines, and we strive to be in right relationship with all beings as we bridge the gap between traditional medicines and a modern world.