This past July I attended Percy’s center for the 5th time since 2012. On this occasion I went with my fiancée for 10 days and participated in 5 ceremonies. Once again my stay proved to be of great existential import where profound amounts of cleansing and clarity were imparted to every part of my being. I have a rather long history with ayahuasca (16 years) and an even longer history of searching for answers (spiritual/ existential). I originally came to Percy’s Center with a wealth of experiences and a wealth of cultivated knowledge but with a slew of unresolved issues. I had the semblance of respectability (I was a successful teacher in a good school system and a functional member of the middle class – with all of its trappings). There were however unacknowledged weights that were undercutting my potential and were subverting my life. Inwardly despite many visionary experiences, both naturally and through the use of medicines, I was still a deeply vulnerable and hurt person who carried a slew of distortions and I was drawn to self defeating compensations that were keeping me subtlety imprisoned and were having a covertly negative effect on those closest to me.

So when I arrived in Percy’s Center in 2012 I was ready to begin a sacred work that would ultimately bring levels of healing and liberation I never thought possible; along with tangible transformations of my outer circumstances as well. Each time I have entered DAS I have come with the vision of healing firmly in mind – of integrating and grounding a vast array of experiences within a functional embodied framework – a healthy grounded male whose mind is both rooted in this reality but also with access to deeper mind-states / realms and whose heart is both open and discerning. Each retreat afforded me the insights and the openings to take meaningful steps towards this aspiration. Each time there were also great challenges and changes that would take place in my life. In a very real way these mindful engagements with the medicine while in ceremony activated (unpacked) subtle energies and potential that would flesh themselves out during the course of my life back home in unforeseen and ultimately healing / aligning ways. It has always been a question of my intellect catching up with the implications of these unfoldings. In the process many intuitive leanings and discerned leaps of faith have been taken. In the process
I have been left continuously humbled and grateful for this process in whom at best I am a junior partner.

So now 6 years later my life is in a radically new place, brimming with possibilities and new found potency. Six years ago I was in a covertly dysfunctional committed 14 year relationship, in the past we had been good for each other although we had reached the full positive potential of this relationship and now its negative aspects were creating hindrances for our continued growth. It was at times an agonizing process but by the time I returned to Percy’s Place our relationship had come to an end. Fortunately we’ve been able to transition into very good friends and continue to benefit from the connection in a good and positive way. In the retreat of 2013, quite unexpectedly I received a vision from ayahuasca that I would meet a woman that was substantially younger than me. Sure enough by 2014 this became a reality. Since then our relationship has blossomed beautifully and we are ready to take the next step and consecrate our love in marriage in the Spring of the coming year. These past two years my fiancee has gone to the DAS center with me and has gone through some profound healing and changes in her own life, both in terms of her relationship with food and in her relationship with herself and her family. In fact she is ready to take a further step in her journey this coming February and will be attending DAS on her own accompanied – ironically – by my former partner and now good friend.
This is only one example of the changes that have occurred in many areas of my life. In terms of food I’m almost fully vegan, work has presented many challenges and growth and now I’m in a very good and stable place. I am doing well economically (I’m in saving mode so that we can move to another area of the country, more rural / wholesome, to raise a family). Spiritually, my fiancee and I have found and embraced a beautiful path (Bhakti Yog) and it has proven to be a most ennobling path bearing very good fruits.

So this last time at DAS in July it felt like the process undertaken 6 years ago came to a culmination and conclusion. Three of the five ceremonies were the most deeply healing I’ve ever experienced in my life. It felt as if my psyche was going through a profound realignment – much as a body worker is able to realign the body, and in the process it felt like the distortions that had been undermining my life, and which I’d been progressively excavating and releasing throughout these 6 years finally were released from their roots (not fun to go through). It’s as if I had reached an inflection point where the good chi I had been progressively cultivating gave me the strength to dive to the causal depths of these issues and root them out. Once again the feeling was one of utter gratefulness and thankfulness for being given the opportunity to engage in this truly transformative work.

An important aside that I’d like to make is that Percy’s Aunt Maria Luisa and her daughter Amparo are both gifted Hueseras (bone setters) who have worked with me and loved ones in profoundly healing ways as well. I have seen them both in DAS and in Iquitos. They are available to work with anyone at the center that is interested (just mention it to Percy).

So in retrospect Percy and his Center has been an unfathomable blessing in my life and in the lives of several loved ones. His inherited knowledge passed down to him from his grandfather (he is part of a family lineage of healers and removers of black magic – part en parcel of life in traditional amazonian villages), his relationship with very powerful healing plants (he calls them the Doctors), his integrity, commitment, and humility (he sees himself as a medium through which these powerful forces are able to effect multidimensional healing). And, the depth of his experience has prepared him to offer a very unique service to mankind.

From a practical perspective he has a beautiful center that is very well run. Very good food, clean, comfortable accommodations; He has an architectural mind and he is always making additions and changes to the center. Currently he is working on expanding the Communal area by creating a three level structure for dining, reading, meditating, yoga, creative engagements (instrument/art space) as well as taking in panoramic views.

From an aesthetic/accommodation perspective it rivals any of the centers listed in this site, however from the perspective of doing inner work and healing I can’t think of any other center that I would rather take part in. Next July my fiancee and I plan to go back before we embark on our honeymoon to DAS to pay respects to the work that has been accomplished under the ever mindful guidance of Percy, and to share this joyous occasion with Percy, Maria Luisa and Amparo, people who have become friends and have played a pivotal role in this transformation and for that I am and will always be eternally grateful.