A Spring Equinox Plant Medicine Retreat
Harness the renewing + revitalizing energy of the Spring Equinox to take the next step on your healing journey in the lush jungles of Costa Rica.
Reserve Your Space
The Invitation
Each spring, as the sun crosses the equator and day and night stand briefly equal, the whole earth passes through a threshold of balance and turning.
At Lumira, held in the still, dry-season quiet of the Costa Rican mountains, we gather for seven nights inside that same turning point: an intimate, weeklong ancestral healing immersion held by Mariah Gannessa and Jhon Freddy Cepeda, built around traditional plant medicine ceremony, ritual, and the quiet work of self reflection and personal transformation.
This is not a vacation from your life. It is a doorway back into it, a chance to release what you have outgrown, meet what wants to be born in you, and return home changed, steadier, more yourself.
Is this for you?
A note on timing — in the yagé tradition, women cannot partake in the ceremony of yagé during their period. For menstruating women, please see FAQ’s regarding planning around your cycle.
The Experience
Two all night ancestral Yagé ceremonies held within an intimate ceremonial container, guided with care from opening to close.
Vomitivo (purgative), plant saunas, and traditional Temazcal (sweatlodge) practices supporting preparation, cleansing, and a clear return to the body.
Private consultations with Mariah and Jhon, held individually so your process is met with real attention.
Charlas, rituals, and a full integrative curriculum designed to help ensure that the insights and clarity from ceremony take root in daily life.
Medicinal gardens, birdwatching, jungle immersion, fresh water bathing, and spacious, unscheduled time for rest and reflection.
The Setting
Set on a 30-hectare family farm in the hills above Turrialba, Lumira is a quiet ecotourism project built with a homey, handmade elegance, with forests and streams on every side and panoramic views from nearly anywhere you stand. A 30-meter swimmable lake, secondary forest with giant old trees, a medicinal plant garden, and an open-air ranch overlooking the valley and its volcano all sit inside the property, exclusively reserved for our group for the full seven nights.
8 Days 7 Nights Limited Space
Your Week at a Glance
Arrive + Open
Arrival · Welcome dinner · Spring Equinox ritual
Orient + Prepare
Opening charla · Private consultations · Plant Saunas
Purify + Connect
Vomitivo · Medicinal garden immersion · Plant Saunas
Enter Ceremony
Birdwatching Meditation · Plant Saunas · Yagé Ceremony I
Deepen
Rest · Integration · Plant Saunas · Yagé Ceremony II
Integrate
Rest · Integration · Plant Saunas · Spiritual payment + bonfire
Close + Celebrate
Temazcal · Closing charla · Celebration dinner
Depart
Breakfast · Departures
Accommodations
Dormitory
Same-sex dormitory rooms with 2 bunk beds each
$2,300
$1,300 deposit to reserve
Double Occupancy Shared Room
Room share requests are accommodated whenever possible. If you’re attending alone, we’ll do our best to match you with another guest of the same sex, though we cannot guarantee a match.
$2,500
$1,500 deposit to reserve
Private Room
$2,700
$1,700 deposit to reserve
Meet Your Guides
Medicine Woman & Healer
· Facilitator
For more than eleven years, Mariah has studied traditional Amazonian plant medicine, apprenticing with Ingano and Cofen elders and medicine keepers in Colombia. Her immersion in the five-thousand-year-old yagé tradition, alongside her study of Amazonian botanicals and herbal practices, became the seed of much of her life's work. She has been blessed to sit at the feet of grandmothers and grandfathers, learning to walk in accordance with Suma Causay, the art of good living, a path that has guided her back to her essence, her origin, and her connection to her ancestors.
She has facilitated retreats, ceremonies, and healing gatherings around the world, creating spaces for these traditions to be approached with reverence and respect. She is the founder of Four Visions, and through teaching and storytelling, she explores the healing potential of plants, the role of ceremony and ritual, and how plants can deepen our relationship with nature, the sacred, and ourselves.
Medicine Man & Healer
· Facilitator
Jhon Freddy has been on the path of medicine for more than 20 years. He was trained in the indigenous customs and traditions of the Muisca by his grandfather and by his parents who hold Guahibos, Tuneos and Jicaros indigenous ancestry. His father was a botanist and midwife. His maternal grandparents: sowers of lagoon water. It was his ancestors who transmitted to him the knowledge, use and management of medicinal plants, to heal emotional, physical and spiritual illnesses. He is a master medicine maker who has developed the skills and art to cook the medicine throughout his many years of study and deep learning.
Jhon and Mariah met together as students of the yagé tradition more than 10 years ago. They are brother and sister on the spiritual path, and their friendship, devotion to the plants, healing, and tradition of the yagé is the inspiration for this offering and their ceremonial work they hold. They have attended hundreds of patients over the last decade together. Jhon’s medicine of firmness, strength, and wisdom, weaves with Mariah’s medicine of sweetness, grace, and compassion, to form an alchemical balance of the masculine and feminine, supporting the healing container.
Trust, Safety & Readiness
Your journey begins the moment you make the commitment to attend. Our team will provide ample preparatory guidelines to support the dieta before the retreat. There will also be a preparatory video call and a whatsapp group to connect with other participants and ask questions/receive guidance beforehand. During the retreat, our team of experienced practitioners accompanies you every step of the way, with a personalized approach to care and support.
Reserving your space is simple: your deposit secures your spot. After that, we'll ask you to complete an in-depth medical intake form so we can screen for anything that may contraindicate this work, a genuine check that this container is right for you, and you for it. If for some reason, we believe this offering is not a fit for you at this time, we will refund you your deposit.
The work doesn't end when the retreat does. You'll leave with integration guidance and practices to carry home, with the option of ongoing one-on-one support if needed.
A Return.
A Renewal.
A Remembering.
Ceremony · Nature · Community
Testimonials
I deeply appreciate what Mariah and Jhon bring, both to those who sit with them and to our greater community. What stands out to me is their ability to combine a deep respect for the traditions they work with and the wisdom of knowing when and how to adapt them, making these experiences more accessible and meaningful to different people. Their genuine care, dedication, and passion for what they do create a space for deeply meaningful and potentially transformative experiences”
I sat with Mariah in a ceremony that was a profound turning point in my personal and professional life letting go of what had been and making space for something new to emerge. Throughout the ceremony I felt deeply held and safe as I was meeting the edges of my awareness, opening to what previously been unconscious, owning more of me. Her guidance, her song was both deeply inspiring and grounding. Her deep commitment to her path and her long training with an ancient lineage in Columbia, combined with having grown up in the US gave me a beautiful bridge to connect with the medicine and experience healing as a community.“
Mariah, I wanted to say thank you so much for an incredible set of ceremonies. I was blown away by you and your medicine family in holding such a beautiful space for us all. After living in so much confusion, I feel so clear and calm. The relief from those feelings is incredibly liberating. I owe this to you and Jhon Freddy: your guidance, the authenticity of your love and intention, and the experience and insights of the medicine journey you shared to teach us. I will be integrating a lot, but I have never felt so confident and unburdened after what I have recently experienced. Thank you so much!“
What’s Included
| Tier | Price | Deposit | Due on arrival |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dormitory | $2,300 | $1,300 | $1,000 |
| Shared Room | $2,500 | $1,500 | $1,000 |
| Private Room | $2,700 | $1,700 | $1,000 |
Ceremony · Renewal · Remembrance · Reconnection
Reserve Your Space
Retreat Investment
$2,300
$1,300 deposit
Quadruple room · shared bath
$2,500
$1,500 deposit
Twin room · shared bath
$2,700
$1,700 deposit
Twin room · en-suite bath
Frequently Asked Questions
This is for those who feel a sincere call to deepen their spiritual path and are ready to commit to a process of growth, healing, and transformation.
No, but a foundational openness and respect for this path is important. This container is best suited for those who feel genuinely called to this work.
Yagé is a traditional plant medicine from the Amazon basin, used in ceremonial contexts for physical, emotional, and spiritual healing under the guidance of trained facilitators. This retreat holds the ceremony in the traditional format passed down to Mariah & Jhon from their elders.
Yes, plant medicine work typically requires a preparatory diet (the "dieta") in the weeks before ceremony. This includes reducing salt, caffeine, and other heavy foods, eliminating alcohol, abstaining from sexual relations, and reducing consumption of media. The full dieta protocol will be shared with you upon registration.
Fly into Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO) in San José. Aim to land before 2:00pm on Saturday, March 20 — the drive to Lumira is about two and a half hours, and we want everyone settled in before dinner and the Equinox ritual. For your return, book a flight departing after 1:00pm on Saturday, March 27.
Round-trip shuttle transportation between the airport and Lumira is included in your retreat tuition. Once you’ve booked your flights, send us your arrival and departure details and we’ll build the shuttle schedule around the group.
Many guests choose to fly in the evening before and stay near the airport, which makes for a gentler first day. If that sounds good to you, write to us and we’ll share some hotel suggestions.
In the yagé tradition, women who are menstruating do not partake in the yagé ceremony. We recommend planning to attend this retreat only if your moon is not scheduled to come during these dates. However, sometimes the moon can be unpredictable. If your moon does arrive during the retreat, there will be a supplementary women's curriculum and a women's ceremony with different medicine to support your healing process. If you know a month or more in advance that your moon is likely to fall during these dates, please write to us and we will refund your deposit. To summarize, it is best to make an effort to attend only if your moon is not scheduled to come during the dates, to ensure you will be able to participate in the yagé ceremonies. However, if it does come, there will be an alternative program for you to replace the yagé ceremonies.
Lightweight jungle clothing, layers for cooler evenings, closed shoes for trails, a bathing suit for the lake, a sarong for plant saunas, a flashlight for walking between buildings at night, and a reusable water bottle. Full packing list will be included in post-registration emails.
Cancellations made at least 30 days before the retreat begins are eligible for a refund of your deposit. Within 30 days of the start date, payments are non-refundable, and no refunds are given once the retreat has begun. If an emergency or something out of your control comes up within 30 days of the retreat, refunds will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, or a credit towards a future event will be offered.
