First off, let me say, I have tremendous gratitude for everyone working at the retreat: Maestro Heberto, Ercilia, Eunice, Doro, and Herminia, among others, for the level of care they provided throughout this experience. I was freaking out before arriving, as I had no previous experience with aya, but the minute I set foot in Onikano, I felt immediately safe and comfortable, its like life made sense while I was there. The center has a really good energy and you feel it the moment you arrive. The nature is sublime, premises have exactly what you need and the food was amazing, I was expecting it to be much more bland due to the dieta, but every meal felt like a treat.

About my experience:
I spent a week in Onikano in February, mostly wanting to heal on OCD issues and Self-Love. I’m not a very spiritual person, and certainly not good at giving up on control, but I convinced myself to do ayahuasca after seeing great results with close friends. I was freaking out before my first ceremony, but after the first one, fear was gone and I enjoyed every minute of my week at Onikano (except San Pedro Day, which I believe its not for me lol).

My experiences were profound, not necessarily easy, but certainly necessary. I felt Maestro Heberto really knew what he was doing and was treating everyone like a doctor, connected to each and every one of us and our needs. We were all connected in ceremony, we were all one. I don’t really know how to describe the experiences or whether it’s relevant, but what happened there was definitely the most profound experience I’ve ever had on my life. I connected with my deceased grandma, died and then resurrected, and then die again, it was definitely a ride and not an easy one.

The 4 ceremonies were all very different, first one I felt I did not connect with the medicine, as I didn’t see much, however, after a few months might have been the most relevant one. A lot of its makes sense after a few months I guess.

One caveat for me and that not many people talk, is about what happens after a retreat, the famous ‘integration process’. If you decide to go this healing route with abuelita, you need to be prepared for everything that unloads after the retreat, as it hasn’t been easy for me at all. In my experience, I was really vibing high after all my ceremonies in the retreat, even after some difficult ones, like I overcame some specific fear or discovered some sort of higher truth, but after I left the retreat, the 1st two weeks were amazing, and then I felt sort of going down, energy drained and my OCD suddenly increased. I’m currently accompanying the process with my psychotherapist, who’s been amazing at making sense of all these emotions and sensations, and yes, despite how painful its been, this follow-up process feels like growth, but hasn’t been easy and you need to be prepared for that, as I wasn’t. I felt after the retreat like I didn’t need therapy anymore, as everything made sense now, and no. The fall was hard. the past few months feel like I’m unloading a lot of past emotional baggage, while it feels healthy and some necessary work, at the same time its been very energy consuming and not the easiest of processes, and its been like this for at least a few months now. Maybe next time, I really need to do the recommended two weeks? Maybe it’d be a good idea to incorporate integration sessions? I don’t know…

As you can see, I’m still trying to make sense of this spectacular experience, so removed from anything I’ve known or done. Either way, all emotions and energies are mine, and you just gotta be accountable for them. Right now, I haven’t been able to get rid of fear, but some good has come from this experience, e.g. I stopped drinking alcohol all of the sudden after the retreat ( and I used to drink quite a lot), alcohol doesn’t make much sense for me after what I saw on the ceremonies and breaking this habit has been very helpful for my integration process.

In conclusion, If you got the call, I can only recommend Onikano and Maestro Heberto for your healing journey.