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Parign Hak – Grandma´s Home

Name: Parign Hak – Grandma´s Home
Address: Manu Biosphere Reserve
Rating: 4.9

Manu Biosphere Reserve, Peru

4.9 (73 reviews)

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While living in the Southeastern Peruvian Andes and Amazon for 22 years, the co-founder leading practitioner Jessica has been trained and is working with Ayahuasca in the Shipibo tradition. She is certified as an “Onanya” (Ayahuasca master) by the School for Traditional Shipibo Medicine in Pucallpa and member of its advisory board.

A former Manu National Park rainforest guide, she does ongoing healing work requested by the indigenous people of the region. As a traditional practitioner she regularly participates in international conferences.

As a woman and mother, she is highly experienced in assisting people in bringing about positive life change by very practical and down-to-Earth means. She organizes and takes small groups of Westerners (2 to 5 persons) on 7-day-long retreats to “Parign Hak” (Grandma´s Home), a unique initiative of Manu´s indigenous Harakbut people to host her retreats, located in the mountain rainforest adjacent to Manu National Park, where she provides a culturally adapted healing and cleansing process that consists of traditional plant baths and three ceremonies in Ayahuasca´s natural home, combined with an intimate immersion into Harakbut culture.

Other local healer are usually on site and participants may be brought together in ceremony with Harakbut community people in an attempt to not only facilitate integral healing for all ceremony participants, but also to foster mutual cultural understanding.

As recommended by the International Center for Ethnobotanical Education, Research & Service (ICEERS), all participants go through an integral process of selection, preparation, ceremonies and integration. This process includes a pre-ceremonial information package, a previous personal interview, traditional dietary restrictions, integration circles, further one-to-one integration interviews in between ceremonies and availability for further consultations for as long as necessary after the third ceremony.

Reviews (73)

4.9 out of 5

Overall 4.9

Alexa89
July 5, 2018 at 2:28 pm

I’m not sure I’ll be able to explain how grateful I am for my time at Parign Hak, but I’ll certainly try. This place is a “hidden gem”, so to speak, and I probably wouldn’t have found it if my friend hadn’t raved about it to me. I knew I had to go to the Amazon. There are tons of retreat centers in or around Cusco, but Ayahuasca is from the jungle, and I felt like she’d been calling me to the rainforest for many years.

Parign Hak isn’t in Iquitos or Pucallpa, and is well away from all the weird ego-trips, competition, and dark “sorcery” of the Shipibo world (if you don’t know about this aspect of ayahuasca PLEASE research it before committing). Instead we were immersed into the world of the Harakumbut people. Our hosts were loving, attentive and eager to share their culture with us. Tons of people know about the Shipibo culture, but there are many other indigenous Amazonian groups that work with ayahuasca. These people have a fascinating history and culture, and in sharing it with us, I could tell they were strengthening it.

The part of the jungle Parign Hak is located is unbelievably beautiful. It’s in the mountain rainforest part of Manu National Park, and has incredible biodiversity. We saw jaguar tracks, a harpy eagle, this crazy nocturnal jungle rat, tons of birds, among many other amazing things. We visited during a rare cold-front and I ended up wearing my hoodie for the duration of the retreat, which was glorious. Versus, when I visited Pucallpa it was unbearably hot, flat, swampy and full of mosquitos. Manu is completely different, and if you want to see the Amazon in all its glory, I couldn’t recommend a better spot. People come from all over the world just to visit this park, and when you’re there you understand why.

Jessica is the shaman and she doesn’t bullshit you or sugar-coat anything. She’s very serious about the work, (while simultaneously having a great sense of humor about it). She’s a lot like the medicine itself, and will gladly hold up a “mirror” and show you what you need to look at. It’s not always pleasant, but if you’re serious about trying to heal a part of yourself, then it’s exactly what she and the ayahuasca help with. She was always there to talk to, and integrate my experiences. 5/5 stars, and if I could give them more I definitely would!!
Lucidos
June 30, 2018 at 7:10 pm

The week I spent at Parign Hak was one of the most important of my life. When I saw that this was the place Dennis McKenna sends people too, I had to research it further. While it seemed like a small and relatively unknown center, I had an incredibly strong “gut-instinct” about it, as soon as I started exploring the website and saw the beautiful photos on their Instagram account. I KNEW this was the place I was supposed to go to for my first ayahuasca retreat. I’m so glad I trusted that feeling. Jessica is the ayahuascera and she conducted a very thorough pre-screening process. I’m grateful for that, as the other people in our group were AWESOME, and now hopefully lifelong friends. She only takes participants who are serious about working with ayahuasca and respectful to the native family that runs the retreat. Which meant that everyone in our small group was on the same page (even more so after the retreat). I’m still processing what I learned about myself during my time there, but what I do know was that my week in the jungle has changed me forever and for the better. Please give this wonderful little place a chance!
zeinzubi
June 28, 2018 at 5:36 pm

I just spent a week with the beautiful people at Parign Hak – I couldn’t have asked for a better experience. The location is unbelievably beautiful (and clean). The food traditional and delicious. And Jessica’s medicine is very female led with absolute integrity. She’s an incredible Shaman and leads beautiful life-changing ceremonies. I’ve been to a few Ayahuasca retreats in Peru and this was by far my favorite. I highly recommend it for anyone looking for a safe and loving space to work with the plants.
Veronica89
June 26, 2018 at 2:10 pm

Parign Hak is a small, intimate and amazing alternative to some of the big-name retreat centers. “Big name” also seems synonymous with “big groups”, and some of the most popular places on here have upwards 80 participants at a retreat, AND in the ceremonies. In researching centers, I wanted to stay away from the large, super-popular ones, as I assume that if there are almost a hundred people at a retreat you’re basically just a number to whoever’s running it.

Parign Hak maxes out at 5, and in the retreat I went to there were only 3 of us. This allowed for plenty of personal attention both in and out of ceremony. I hate crowds, and the idea of drinking ayahuasca with a large group of people seems awful to me. It’s very easy for me to pick up on other people’s energy during a ceremony. So logically, more people means more shit you could potentially take on. The ceremonies were peaceful, quiet, and I was able to do some really deep healing work. The icaros were beautiful, powerful and unlike anything I’ve heard before.

Jessica (the ayahuasquera) was ALWAYS there when I needed her, both in and out of ceremony. The whole retreat I felt very taken care of and supported by the on-side Harakbut family. I’d never heard of the Harakbut people before coming to Peru, but over the course of the week I learned so much about this fascinating and resilient culture. I loved this place so much, and I’m already planning my return trip!
Xena
June 25, 2018 at 9:57 am

My visit to Parign Hak changed my life! For me as a single female traveller I felt completely safe and taken care of. It was the perfect combination between transformative ceremonial work and profound immersion in rainforest nature and local Harakbut culture. I felt so welcomed into Vicky and Alberto´s family! Jessica is an extraordinary wanderer between cultures, an outstanding ceremony leader with an angelic voice and on top of it a very knowledgable rainforest guide. Everybody on site was extremely supportive and shared even their own intimate experience with the medicine. Previous stays in other retreat centers in Peru have not provided as deep a healing for me as my stay at Parign Hak. Also, the ongoing post-retreat integration check-ups are so important and amazing! No doubt, I will be back for sure!