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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

zlarsen
September 22, 2019 at 3:00 pm

Parign Hak was a transformational experience and I consider it one of the best decisions I have made as an adult.

A bit of info about myself coming into this ayahuasca world. I work as a software engineer and definitely am more logic-based. I would not describe myself as spiritual or the “hippie-dippie” type but I am extremely curious. I had deep-seated problems with existential dread concerning death and a number of traumas from my childhood that have grown into insecurities that plagued my thoughts. I wanted to give ayahuasca a shot and I was very curious about what the experience could be. If nothing else it would be an interesting time.

I found this retreat with extensive online research. I found many other retreat centers that looked amazing but had weird things that popped up in my research that made me wary.

Plus the name “Parign Hak- Grandmother Home” resounded with me deeply as a down to earth serious retreat that was not about being super “Ultra Spiritual”.

Once I reached out to Parign Hak about my interest in attending one of the retreats, they were very prompt in contacting me and kept up clear and consistent communication. I was given plenty of material to prepare myself and when I ask for supplemental resources they had even more than I had time to get into! Kat was my main contact in the weeks leading up to the retreat and she was incredibly helpful.

The retreat itself was much more integrated into the local culture and environment then I realized. Parign Hak took special care in making sure that we had time to learn about the surrounding rain forest and the local Harakbut people who were hosting us. It was a very holistic experience beyond just taking ayahuasca.

The retreat was very small and intimate. It truly felt like I became part of a family. Everyone had plenty of time to have a one-on-one with our ayahuascera, Jessica, to help work through whatever the previous ceremony brought to our attention. Jessica is incredibly open and was hard-working during the whole experience. She presents herself as a normal human being and not some special more “enlighted” shaman being. I am truly impressed with the years and passion she has dedicated to ayahuasca, the Manu rainforest, and the local Harakbut people. She’s been doing this almost longer than I have been alive and it shows in the quality of her work as a shaman.

The rest of the team on site are Harakbut people who are very friendly and open. They shared their stories which gave incredible perspective about how ayahuasca has helped them in their journeys. I regret not knowing more Spanish to be able to better communicate but Jessica was always around to help translate.

The facilities are very basic with no running water or electricity but are well kept. I personally really enjoyed this opportunity to have so little separating me from the surrounding nature and not having any distractions like my phone. Plus I got to really learn that I don’t need ANYTHING in order to be so happy and fulfilled. The most important things in life are the relationships you have with others and not material things. I’ve always “known” this but actually living it is what made me realize this life lesson in a deep way.

The food was always fresh and amazing. Lots of fruits and veggies with freshly caught fish from the river. The whole team eats together family-style.

The actual ayahuasca ceremonies are well-conducted and I always felt completely safe. My three ceremonies were incredible, healing, and I learned concrete things that will help me in my day to day life.

The integration process starts the next morning when we share what we are comfortable with sharing and continues to long after the retreat is completed. The support I continue to receive has been wonderful for me to really get the most out of my ayahuasca experience.

Overall I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend Parign Hak. I came to Parign Hak as an open-minded skeptic and left incredibly thankful for the hard work that I have done with the team. I will definitely return and I am excited to see my Parign Hak family again.
Suzybaker
September 12, 2019 at 8:41 am

My week at Parign Hak is one of the most significant of my entire life. The amount of healing and transformation that occurred goes unparalleled to anything thus far for me. I felt like I was in a mini hospital with the highest qualified caretakers right at my side. Jessica respects this plant, the history of it, the Harakbut people and preserving their culture in a way that makes the whole experience feel fully legitimate. Parign Hak is as much about the local community as it is the guests. I felt I was somehow contributing to something bigger than myself. I can’t say enough about how powerful this little spot in the amazon is. The 3 meals per day were fantastic and my body had never functioned better. There is also quite a bit of free time to write, explore do whatever. I felt such a creative surge while I was there and actually got quite a bit of writing done. The only thing I could ask for is more time. I will definitely be back and bringing more people. I want people to experience the pure magic that is Parign Hak, Jessica Bertram and the team.
Highlights for me:
*Food is amazing and PURE
*During the ceremonies Jessica is 100% there for YOU and ready to assist you through ANYTHING. She is incredibly skilled and qualified in a way that not only releases patterns no longer serving but replaces them with power and love
*Vicki and her family see each of the guests as new family members and want to get to know you and your story so they can share theirs. It’s a loving and natural exchange that made me feel COMPLETELY at home
*During the week we saw 5 SPECIES of monkey
*Jessica has a personal relationship with the plants that exists in the amazon. This being said- she knows all the medicinal purposes and beyond which is fascinating. She’s very gracious with her extensive knowledge on all things amazon
*The little houses you stay in are quite comfortable and I have never slept so consistently well in my life
Just go and experience for yourself and be changed for the better.
lagogato
July 1, 2019 at 11:35 am

Terence McKenna’s brother Dr. Dennis McKenna, referred me to Jessica and to Parign Hak. I just returned from a retreat there last month, and I could not recommend it more highly. Parign Hak is the small family home of indigenous den-mother, and retreat owner Vicky and her family. It’s an intimate setting, and me and the 4 other participants were immediately welcomed in as part of that family. The retreats max out at 5 people, which was something that really appealed to me, and was one of the reasons I chose Parign Hak. Many of these centers I found, seem to have 20-30+ people at any given retreat. The small group size gave us all plenty of time to bond with the host family, Jessica and with each other. Jessica the Ayahuasquera, while incredibly qualified, is a western woman and not the stereotypical shaman. She’s very grounded, down-to-earth, and practical in her approach to Ayahuasca, which she views as a traditional medicinal practice. She’s not a “new-age” ultra-spiritual hippy at all, so don’t expect her to sugar coat anything during the Ayahuasca integration process. She knows exactly what to say to help people figure out how to get the most out of their Ayahuasca experiences, and truly transform their lives. As a single female myself, I was looking for an authentic experience, but I was also apprehensive about traveling into the Amazon alone to drink Ayahuasca. The staff at Parign Hak helped me every step of the way, and I felt completely safe and looked after the entire week. 5 stars!
kera.pesall@gmail.com
June 23, 2019 at 9:39 am

I recently returned from Jessica’s Parign Hak retreat in May 2019. I would recommend this retreat to anyone looking for an authentic and non-commercial experience with traditional medicine. Jessica has a unique way of combining culture, history, nature, community and healing into an eight-day experience. I liked the small group size (5) and getting to integrate with the local people. Ceremonies were profound sacred. I enjoyed the hot spring, jungle tour, seeing jaguar and tapir prints, eating local food, learning about traditional culture of the area, getting “tattooed” with plant tints and seeing traditional cooking methods. The community she is connected with is so friendly and I now consider them all as friends. I intend to return when I can.
Brave-heart
June 21, 2019 at 2:17 pm

I was looking for an Ayahuasca retreat near Cuzco.
When I came across Parign Hak on the internet, I immediately felt that Parign Hak was the place for me..
And I was right.
The experience was deep …very deep.
It touched my soul and changed my life.

The great organization of jessica bertram.
The professional ceremonies.
The powerful Ayahuasca.
The beautiful location, with his authentic vibration.
The pure delicious food.

The intimate immersion in the harakbut culture is beyond everything that I could have expected.
Deeply Touched by the intense friendliness and beauty of these people.
A week in their presence was a wonderful and hugely educational experience.
There was a strong connection from day 1, and it only grew during the week.
I felt so welcome….so Welcome..
I became family And that’s how it felt. Familia! in my heart!
it has bin said, I say it again: not just an Ayahuasca retreat.
So much more…

Go(D) and find out!

Braveheart