Our Mission
Our mission is to do the bridgework to a future where we once again usher in human stewardship instead of domination on the planet. This requires us to reconnect with the land, our ancestors, our higher selves, and our spirit guides — and with our more than human kin: the plant nation, the animal nation, the stone nation, and all other nations here on Earth. These connections require specific energetic reciprocity to keep these relationships in flow.
We aim to open our inner ways of knowing — to facilitate the remembering of who we are and to restore our ability to receive guidance and teachings from our guides, ancestors, and more than human kin. By opening these inner ways of knowing, we can once again be in right relationship — and this program is the doorway.
The Opportunity
We offer guidance through our teachers from Ishna Temple and Isa Sina Traditional Medicine School — guides who collectively come in a myriad of forms: deities, land spirits, ancestors, tree spirits, and more. This is a rare opportunity for direct connection with an ancient indigenous lineage of the Shipibo Konibo people, held within a framework designed to make it understandable to the modern mind.
Who are the Shipibo Konibo?
The Shipibo Konibo are an ancient indigenous nation of the Ucayali River in Perú, renowned worldwide as master plant doctors of the Amazon. Over countless generations, their healers have cultivated a living relationship with plants, animals, land spirits, and ancestors so deep and so reciprocal that it opens access to other realms, dimensions and other human capabilities that modern culture has largely forgotten was ever real. This knowledge is so vast it cannot be held by any one person; it lives in the collective, expressed through every dimension of Shipibo life from weaving to hunting to ceremony to art. Traditional apprentices studied for a decade before reaching their first level of mastery, and 30–40 years before one was considered at the highest level — not because the knowledge was withheld, but because the relationship with the living world that carries it takes that long to truly embody. This kind of lineage is now rare. Displacement from ancestral lands due to deforestation, mining, and lack of land rights has disrupted the cultural fabric that makes this depth of study possible, and very few elder masters remain.
Merraya by José Panduro Rodríguez
What is Sama?
'Sama' is the Shipibo word for an intensive plant medicine abstinence process, often translated into English as a 'plant diet' — and it is the heart of what our programs are built around. Today people undergo a sama for many reasons: for healing of trauma, mental conditions, or physical ailments; for spiritual growth and inner development, much like a meditation retreat; for direct training in Shipibo ceremony and healing work; or simply for immersive exposure to a living indigenous tradition that has been in practice for thousands of years. The process involves simplifying food, daily intake of plants (usually as tea), and reducing or eliminating social activity to deepen connection with the plants over a set period of time. In this program, you will be initiated into your own sama facilitated at the Isa Sina Traditional Medicine School.
Program
Shipibo Sama is an invitation to step outside the noise of modern life and into direct relationship with an ancient lineage of healing. Whether you are coming for personal healing, deep learning, or the beginning of a longer path of study, this immersion meets you where you are. This is meant for all levels of experience with traditional plant medicine.
The program centers on two weeks at Isa Sina Traditional Medicine School on Shipibo ancestral land outside of Pucallpa, Perú — a living encounter with Shipibo cosmovision and the reciprocal relationship between people, plants, land, and spirit that lives at the root of every human traditional culture.
Before you arrive, we prepare you with reading materials and two virtual sessions via Zoom — an introduction to how Shipibo medicine works and a chance to meet Douglas and ask questions, followed by a travel logistics call the week before departure. After your return, we gather once more for an integration call two weeks later to help you land what you experienced and carry it forward.
This is a rare opportunity to work directly with a traditional Shipibo healer in an authentic and supported context — with translation, cultural guidance, and care throughout.
For those called to go deeper, the 5th Dimension Sama pairs this immersion with an additional six weeks of virtual programming — four weeks of preparation and two weeks of integration — built around the 5D framework of Body, Spirit, Soul, Reciprocity, and Community. Learn more about the 5th Dimension Sama here.
Itinerary
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Fly to Lima, Perú Sept 26, 2026 | March 27, 2027
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Fly Lima to Pucallpa Sept 27, 2026 | March 28, 2027
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Perú Immersion - Sept 28-Oct 11, 2026 | March 29-April 11, 2027
Douglas will create a plant protocol for each person in the program, including teas, plant baths and dream interpretation. We begin with two days of cleansing of the body, emotions and mental state through purgative plants. To support the depth of the process, we will primarily spend our time in silence, with one meal a day. Learning activities include traditional Shipibo art, embroidery, and other ceremonial practices. We live in an immersive reciprocal relationship with the Shipibo, the land, medicine, and spirit. At the close of the two weeks, there will be a final ceremony — consuming psychedelic medicine is optional and not needed to participate in the ceremony.
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Fly home from Pucallpa, Perú Oct 12, 2026 | April 12, 2027
Meet Your Guides
The school is led by Douglas Tangóa and located on his family's ancestral land. Douglas is of the Shipibo Konibo tribe, trained by his grandfather — a well known and respected Merraya, or master level plant doctor. He is joined by family members and others from the area: medicine carriers, sacred artisans, and other tradition bearers. The school's goal is to create a bridge between the modern and indigenous worlds to foster healing, understanding and transformation through immersive experiential learning of Shipibo arts, wildcraft, cosmovision, herbalism and astral & healing knowledge.
Isa Sina Traditional Medicine School
Douglas Tangóa is a traditional Shipibo Onanya, plant doctor, and clinical psychologist. Douglas began studying plant medicine with his grandfather at 15 years old and in the traditional style, he has continued studying ever since then. In addition to his work with the school, Douglas is part of his family's Shipibo medical clinic in Pucallpa and is a respected community leader who advocates for the rights and visibility of all indigenous tribes across Perú. He is the past head of the main indigenous rights group in Perú and is currently part of a coalition of indigenous healers and medical professionals drafting safety standards and protocols for plant medicine work with the Peruvian government.
harvesting resin
Ishna Temple exists for people ready to remember who they are beneath the noise — to reconnect with their body, their lineage, their soul gifts, and the earth — and to bring those gifts into community in a way that is sustainable, reciprocal, and alive. Shipibo Sama is one of the ways Ishna Temple brings this mission to life.
Ishna Temple
Douglas Tangóa
Sara is a community maker whose work is rooted in communal empowerment, care, and reciprocity. Her path into community building was forged through her own experience of severe postpartum depression — a crucible that led her to remake herself and create the belonging she needed. She spent much of her thirties attending and staffing two transformational training companies, and went on to co-found and lead Southwest Love Fest, a national polyamory community conference, for eight years. Sara's love of plants is equally lifelong — beginning with a childhood mulberry tree she named Paul, deepening through years of herbalism study, and expanding into the energetic dimension of plants through her certification as a Bach Flower Essence consultant. In 2024 she followed that love into Shipibo plant medicine, where her relationship with plants has expanded into receiving guidance, teachings, and healing energies directly from them. She now apprentices with maestro Douglas in the traditional decade-long intensive study.
Sara Bachman-Williams
Olesya Zrezartseva
Olesya is a somatic therapist, Core Energetics practitioner, and spiritual psychosomatic coach with over 15 years of experience guiding people through the intersection of body, psyche, and spirit. Drawing from a Ukrainian lineage of energy healing passed through her great-grandparents, she brings an embodied, ancestral intelligence to her work. Olesya holds advanced certifications in yoga (RYT 500), breathwork, sound healing, and Reiki. She has co-facilitated plant medicine ceremonies and dieta retreats in Perú and locally. Her path into this work is deeply personal. Having navigated her own healing from sexual trauma and the layered experience of growing up neurodivergent in Soviet Ukraine, she understands firsthand the profound preparation the body and spirit require before entering sacred medicine space — and brings that lived understanding to everyone she accompanies on this journey.
Nick has worked alongside Douglas for over a decade, providing support in medicine spaces. Native to Peru, with maternal roots in Lima and paternal roots in the Aymara culture of coastal Peru, Nick has found inspiration in his personal healing journey to help others. His experience with trauma and overcoming challenges has led him to develop deep empathy and wisdom, making him a valuable companion. As an aesthetician, he works with inner beauty, connecting with people through personal care. He also practices Reiki, channeling energy for holistic well-being. His work as a translator and facilitator in medicine spaces is an extension of his purpose to heal and support others.
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Nick Saravía
Contribution
We ask for a contribution of $2,200 to participate in the program. A $500 deposit secures your place, with the remaining balance due in full one month before the program begins. We are happy to create a payment plan to support your path to attending. This covers all teaching, immersive experiences, food, lodging, and travel within Pucallpa, Perú, including time at Isa Sina Traditional Medicine School, as well as a Shipibo artisan tapestry. International travel to and from Lima and Pucallpa is not included.
We believe those who are called to this work should not be turned away by financial barriers. Through the application process you can list what sliding scale and/or work trade options would work for you and we'll work out a mutually agreeable path together.
Travel to Perú
You will need to arrange your own travel to Lima, Perú. Once approved to the program, we will send you specific travel dates, info and a packing list. Once we have arrived in Lima, we will gather as a group and take a domestic flight together to Pucallpa, spending our first night together at a local hotel. The following morning begins the final leg of the journey — a two-hour boat ride followed by a 30-minute hike into Isa Sina Traditional Medicine School, where our program begins. At the close of the Perú immersion, we make the return journey to Pucallpa for one last night together before parting ways the following morning to begin your journey home.
Application Process
Spots are limited to 7 participants per program, with up to 3 sliding scale and work trade spots available. We are currently accepting applications for our Fall 2026 and Spring 2027 programs — please indicate in your application which dates work for you.
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Once your application is received and reviewed, we will invite accepted applicants to schedule an interview. The interview carries a non-refundable $50 fee, which is applied toward your total contribution upon acceptance and commitment to the program. The interview is a chance for us to make sure this program is the right fit for you, to get to know each other a little, and for you to ask any questions you may have.
Unsure or have questions? Email us or schedule a quick 15 min Q&A session with us.