About this trip
Join us this summer in Oaxaca, Mexico for 7 days of daily yoga, meditation, breathwork, cold exposure therapy, locally grown organic farm to table meals, daily activities including two sound baths, daily integration circles, temazcal (traditional indigenous sweat lodge), two sacred mushroom ceremonies, fresh mountain air, and a wonderful community of beautiful conscious souls to connect, heal, and grow with! Community is essential for healing and thriving!
Ascension Oaxaca Mastermind Retreat 2023
Last year’s retreat was simply out of this world and so epic that we decided to run it again, this time during fresh mushroom season on the full moon in August. According to our medicine woman, the spirit of the mushroom is more present during the full moon. With such a powerful opportunity on our hands, we have decided this year’s theme as an Ascension mastermind especially geared for psychedelic facilitators, shamans, therapists, yoga instructors, meditation teachers, doctors, nurses, health practitioners, and anyone in the wellness space interested in spending a week in the mountains with a very special group of people to see what manifests. Our mission is of course to ultimately help alleviate suffering around the globe. If you are not in the wellness space but are interested, then this is probably the best retreat you can choose, to be surrounded by so many healers, and this could be your doorway into this growing, thriving, promising space.
The Evolution of Ascension
Ascension Workshops & Retreats started in San Diego, California with a simple intent to help: Gerardo started a Meetup on Meetups.com offering to teach a breathwork class, donation only. Gerardo’s first class had one attendee and he made $10USD. The next few weeks saw a growing interest and a growing audience. Many inner fires were relit after just one breathwork session. Fate quickly led Gerardo to Tamara, and eventually to Kathryn and Margy, and between the blossoming wellness community in San Diego at the time, the first Ascension workshop was born. It was a wild success followed by many more powerful workshops and then soon expanded into a retreat in Yosemite, California right before our first ever international Ascension Sacred Mushroom Retreat last October in Oaxaca, Mexico, the world’s origin and epicenter for psilocybin mushrooms. We are now ready to hold space for another group of incredible souls to heal and thrive, and are extremely excited to welcome our newest member to the Ascension team, Sienna Marie Browne: psilocybin facilitator, medicine woman, reiki master, healer, and artist!
Take a journey of the soul with us!
The Psychedelic Renaissance
You may have noticed an uptick in talk of psychedelics for mental health in mainstream media lately. This may be what piqued your curiosity into such modalities and why you are here.
We are living in a very exciting time; a time of resurgence of these powerful plant medicines that have been driven underground over and over throughout history. Specifically in these mountains of Oaxaca, Mexico, where you will spend 7 days with us, psilocybin mushrooms were driven underground and brutally suppressed for thousands of years. It is thanks to extremely brave wisdom keepers of these mountains that these ancient traditions and practices have been kept intact and passed forward, generation after generation, so that we can benefit from the power and magic of these powerful plants and fungi today. The knowledge that these medicines impart and the growth that they offer was too important for the inhabitants of these mountains to give up, so it went underground. For thousands of years. They risked everything. They risked brutal executions, because they could not let the truth dissolve.
We have such great admiration and respect for this community, these practices, and this wisdom. And it is the greatest honor to be able to continue this tradition and keep passing the baton of wisdom forward so that we may continue to heal future generations, thereby healing our world.
Psychedelics re-emerged in the health and wellness scene in the early 2,000’s with breakthrough studies conducted by prestigious universities in the United States like Harvard, UCLA, Johns Hopkins, and NYU. By now, every prestigious university in the world has a psychedelic research center and there are tens of thousands of research papers detailing the scientific findings of the application of psychedelics for mental health, and thousands have been, and continue to heal around the world. This is why we do what we do.
The psychedelic experience is an absolute game changer, and psychedelics are without a doubt the future of mental health, which underlies ALL health.
However, the intelligence in these plants and fungi far surpass human intelligence. They have never let themselves be abused or misused without repercussion. These modalities are the complete opposite of the pill a day model we have been accustomed to in our modern technological, medical world. The secret is that these plants don’t do the healing. They simply unlock the key to our mind so that WE can be our own healer. This experience, any responsible psychedelic experience, is only the beginning. The beginning of a lifelong journey of self-discovery, self-awareness, self-improvement, and continual learning. The hardest work is yet to come.
The psychedelic experience, as well as the local people, flora, fauna, foods, traditions, practices, and customs of this beautiful land of Oaxaca, must be treated with the utmost respect. This is a big part of our mission.
Respect nature and nature will respect and nurture us beyond our wildest dreams.
Happy journeying and welcome to Ascension!!
What to expect: Find yourself under the spell of personal growth and inner healing as Gerardo Urias (author of Taking Back My Mind: My Journey Out of Depression with Psilocybin Mushrooms, breathwork facilitator, psilocybin ceremony facilitator, personal coach, public speaker, traveler & adventurer), Kathryn Eipl, (reiki master, sound healer, emotional mentor, relationship guide, yoga instructor), Sienna Marie Browne (psilocybin facilitator, medicine woman, reiki master, healer, artist), and our local medicine woman (wisdom keeper of the forest), guide you through a week of powerful transformation, shedding dysfunctional patterns and shattering the inherited traumas of our ancestors as you welcome in a new way of life, a new perspective of your yourself, your world, and your place in it. Rise to the next dimension with us as we become a conduit for the universe to flow through us as we birth unimaginable, unlimited potential and possibilities.
What’s Included:
- Beautiful private cabins built out of clay on an organic farm high up in the Sierra Sur mountains of southern Oaxaca.
- Transportation from Oaxaca to the retreat in the mountains and back to Oaxaca.
- Three delicious organic meals per day grown on site.
- Daily Yoga: Connect mind, body, & soul daily.
- Daily Meditation: Cut through the layers of analytical thinking and sink into your body.
- Daily breathwork: Slow your mind down, boost your immune system, eliminate stress, & anxiety, flood your body with endorphins, and experience the ultimate cleansing of the mind.
- Temazcal: Traditional sweat lodge built out of clay; a traditional Zapotec healing practice. Sweat your stress away and optimize your physiology.
- Hike through a stunning valley to a waterfall.
- Two sound baths. Sink into the vibes.
- Daily Integration Circle.
- Introduction to Stoic philosophy & Internal Family Systems as integration tools.
- Portal painting art workshop.
- Opening & Closing Ceremony.
- 2 Sacred Mushroom Ceremonies in two different styles. Cleanse the cobwebs of your mind.
- Signed Book: Signed copy of Taking Back My Mind: My Journey Out of Depression with Psilocybin Mushrooms by Gerardo Urias.
- Ascension Journal: Customized Ascension Journal to continue your new journaling practice.
Photos:
Testimonials:
“I would absolutely recommend this retreat. It changed my life and I plan to do it again when the opportunity arises! This retreat has seriously advanced my journey of returning home to myself.” ~ Joan
“This retreat has without doubt participated in elevating me to another stage in my life. I came with the purpose to fully understand and experience what unconditional love means, and this is exactly what happened.” ~ Sylvie
“The Oaxaca retreat put on by the Ascension team was nothing short of magical. Every aspect of the experience felt very intentional and lovingly created. The location and the immersion in nature was incredibly restorative, the ceremony was a gentle and profound journey, and all of the practices created a true opportunity to heal body and mind in all respects. The faciliator team brought such vibrant energy, joy, and love. I found myself, on the last morning of the retreat, overcome with an all-enveloping sense of pure love around me and within me. It was the most beautiful feeling. And that, for me, was the culmination of these 5 days. It was powerful, deep, soul enriching, heart opening. I am very grateful for this experience. ~ Chelsea
“The location was magical. The yoga, sound bath, breath work and meditation was amazing, everyday! Great location, great people, and the facilitators were organized and on point. Well done! ~ Jacob
Energy Exchange:
$3,333 per person
$3,000 Early Bird Discount expires May 1, 2023
$3,000 Couples / Shared Room Discount
Your Facilitators:
Gerardo Urias: Author, Breathwork Facilitator, Psilocybin Ceremony Facilitator, Personal Coach, Public Speaker, Traveler & Adventurer:
Gerardo Urias is an author, breathwork facilitator, public speaker, personal coach, psychedelic facilitator, and an avid lifelong traveler and adventurer, spending his entire life since he turned 19 in places like Bavaria, southeast Asia, Mexico, Central America, Cuba, and Colombia. Gerardo’s recently published book, Taking Back My Mind: My Journey Out of Depression with Psilocybin Mushrooms, details his journey out of depression with psilocybin mushrooms, breathwork, cold plunges, yoga, meditation, time in nature, accessing “flow state,” travel, and philosophy.
Gerardo is currently working on a documentary about his journey, a second book detailing his recent journey with 5MeO-DMT in Tepoztlan, Mexico, wellness workshops in California, and building multiple psychedelic healing retreats in California and Mexico. Learn more about Gerardo’s projects on his website: https://takingbackmymind.com/
Kathryn Eipl: Reiki Master, Sound Healer, Emotional Mentor, Relationship Guide & Yoga Instructor:
Kathryn is an Emotional & Empath Mentor, Relationship Guide, Reiki Master, Sound Healer, Yoga and Meditation Guide, and Medicine Woman. She has degrees in Psychology, Management and Theatre (which comes out in her coaching sessions and yoga classes), and certifications in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Life Coaching, Reiki, Yoga and Meditation with an emphasis in Sound Therapy. Kathryn fuses psychology with ancient yogic practices and meditation to help you learn to regulate your nervous systems and connect to yourself on a deeper level, uncovering patterns about yourself that they want to change and provides a space for you to practice acknowledgment and acceptance. Then she uses cognitive behavioral therapy coaching to support you in changing those behavior and belief patterns to instill new beliefs and behaviors, while infusing the whole process with humor and light-hearted fun.
In 2017, she created her own wellness practice, E.I.P.L. Healing, Every Individual is Love Healing. She knows that everyone is healing in their own way and looking to bring more love into their life, whether it is self-love or romantic love. This is the basis for her work. Her sessions combine multiple modalities including reiki, sound therapy, meditation, soul/spirit energy work, emotional clearing / energetic cord cutting, cognitive behavioral therapy coaching, plant medicine, and mindfulness exercises.
Sienna Marie Browne: Psilocybin facilitator, Medicine Woman, Reiki Master, Healer, Artist:
Sienna Marie Browne is an Artist and Healer. Sienna is a living testament that art heals. As a reiki master and medicine woman, Sienna combines skills and modalities she has gathered over her lifetime to create incredibly unique art pieces and healing offerings.
Sienna creates Portal Paintings – artworks that serve as gateways to upliftment in physical space. Her artwork is created with the intention to positively change the energy of a space, and to be used in meditation and healing practices. In addition to her personal art practice, Sienna teaches the Portal Method to others, opening the space for them to use art to create healing for themselves.
Sienna has studied the foundations of ritual and ceremony from many healers and teachers, providing her with the knowledge and experience to curate specialized healing work specific to the individual or group.
Our Curandera (Medicine Woman, Healer, Wisdom Keeper of the Forest):
Our curandera was born and raised in a small village located high in the mountains of Oaxaca, Mexico. Born into a lineage of healers, she has kept alive the sacred wisdom that lives in the plants and fungi of the surrounding forest. Our medicine woman learned from her grandfather, who claimed he was called upon by God, by way of the forest, to learn the healing potential of the local plants and fungi of the surrounding mountains. Keeping in line with Zapotec tradition and passing forward the ancient wisdom of our ancestors, she has effectively kept these vibrant traditions, rituals, and practices alive, healing many people throughout her life. It is a true honor and privilege to take part in these sacred rituals and witness the carrying forth of these ancient methods, innate knowledge, intuition, and wisdom.
Please send inquiries below.