Hummingbird Healing Center

The Hummingbird Healing Center provides a beautiful safe, and supportive environment for your personal journey with ayahuasca. Located near Iquitos, Peru, we offer ayahuasca retreats of different lengths to meet your personal needs. All of our retreats include at least one san pedro ceremony, the visionary cactus of the Andes that is very complementary with ayahuasca. Our longer stays include a master plant dieta with a plant selected by our shaman depending on what you are looking to heal, address or learn.

Our holistic approach encompasses the physical, emotional, energetic and spiritual aspects of healing, as well as understanding and changing negative patterns of conditioning in our thoughts and belief systems. In the shamanic view of illness, physical and psychological problems have their source in negative thought forms, a reflection of one's spiritual state of consciousness. Illness is an effect of these distorted thoughts. Unfavorable thoughts arise in the conscious mind and are then held in the subconscious, from which they can be transferred into the physical body. Because of this, true healing always has to begin at the spiritual level.

From one’s spiritual aspect into the subconscious level of the physical, this deep level of the mind can then erase the negative thought forms and emotions it holds, such as anger and fear, replacing them with light. This is how the cause of illness is dealt with and how all true healing is accomplished, and our ayahuasca retreats reflect these beliefs on healing.

Our mission is to empower each guest to reconnect with their mind, body, emotions and spirit, learning to live in self awareness so they may more freely and truly express their authentic selves. Under the guidance maestro Don Fernando Laiche, an traditional healer with over 38 years of experience, we combine plant medicine ceremonies and dietas with regular integration sessions and lessons on mindfulness and examining our thought patterns and belief systems. This process provides tools for each guest to apply on a daily basis so they can take charge of their own growth and healing over the long term.

See Our Reviews!Personalized Retreats

The Hummingbird Healing Center provides a beautiful safe, and supportive environment for your personal journey with ayahuasca. Located near Iquitos, Peru, we offer ayahuasca retreats of different lengths to meet your personal needs. All of our retreats include at least one san pedro ceremony, the visionary cactus of the Andes that is very complementary with ayahuasca. Our longer stays include a master plant dieta with a plant selected by our shaman depending on what you are looking to heal, address or learn.

Our retreats are limited to no more than 12 people and there are multiple caretakers in each ayahuasca ceremony who are not partaking of the medicine. Help is always available if you need it, and we encourage people to open up and talk about the struggles or frustrations they may have so we can coach them on how to transcend it with the help of ayahuasca and san pedro. We help people get clear on their intentions for each ceremony and can give practical advice on how to work with specific issues they may have.

The Hummingbird Center is dedicated to helping people find their own power, and to accept and like themselves. Self acceptance is a key for all personal growth, and with that one quickly learns to be themselves without concern of what other people think. It is surprising how similar all people are, how deep inside we are not so very different in our emotional responses to life, while at the same time being being so incredibly unique. When we accept ourselves, we naturally discover acceptance and compassion for others.

Self acceptance goes beyond tolerating the way you view yourself. It is accepting your behavior, attitude and lifestyle, acknowledging them and working towards making a desired change. Practicing self acceptance means embracing all flaws and accepting who you are today, not the idea of who you will be after you reach your goal. The Hummingbird creates a sacred and encouraging space for this humbling yet courageous journey of self discovery.

An integral part of all our retreats are talks on our beliefs, thought patterns and the interplay between our conscious and subconscious minds. We will learn about the conditioning we received as children, and why we often have many unproductive and often harmful “programs” stored in our subconscious mind which limit our ability to live successful happy and joyful lives.

During an ayahuasca ceremony, la madre will often clearly show us these limiting beliefs and teach us how to live in a better way. You will learn how to tap into our natural creative abilities and reprogram our subconscious minds so we naturally attract events into our lives more closely aligned with our hearts desire. You will learn techniques to become the master of our mind, our emotions and destiny and gain the tools to create a rich and fulfilling life.

Our methods combine proven shamanic techniques with the latest understanding of human consciousness and how our belief systems influence our lives. Unique to our retreats are two talks on how the conditioning we received as children shapes our perception of the world, how the programs stored in our subconscious mind predominantly determine our experience, and what we can do to change those programs.

This directly complements ayahuasca's ability to reveal the subconscious helping us let go of limiting beliefs.' Our ayahuasca retreats put an emphasis on safety , and we carefully monitor all participants during ceremony, being close at hand to offer guidance and assistance if needed or desired.

The Hummingbird Center's approach uses a combination of traditional amazonian healing, mindfulness, lifestyle coaching, changing our subconscious belief systems, and compassionate and loving support throughout the healing and transformation process. The center is an environment of openness, authenticity and emotional safety where one can relax and be themselves. Jim the owner is the primary facilitator and this has been his daily work for the past 10 years, guiding over 1500 people through their ayahuasca retreat. Having gone through his own 30 year struggle with depression and alcoholism, he deeply understands people's struggles and listens with compassion and empathy.

Our Personalized Ayahuasca Retreat programs include one or two master plant dietas. Plant dietas are a fundamental part of Amazonian healing traditions. Ayahuasca by itself will bring a certain, and often profound, level of cleansing, insight and healing. Including a dieta with a master medicine plant can take this to a much deeper level resulting in growth and healing far beyond what working with ayahuasca alone can achieve. Depending on what is being addressed or sought, a dieta may be required to realize meaningful results.

A master plant dieta is a traditional method of physical and mental detoxification, of forming a connection with the spirit of a plant for the purpose of learning or healing. Dietas at the Hummingbird Center are primarily done for the purpose of healing. Individual guidelines may vary, but usually it is a process done in addition to the regular retreat program, and the person dieting may participate in all scheduled retreat activities. The work of the medicine plant spirits is energetic, spiritual and subtle. Some fairly strict rules need to be followed, which can be considered the necessary conditions for the medicine plant to do its work. It is a time of quiet, reflection and meditation, of allowing the subtle energies of the medicine spirit to do its work. Done well, the dieta will slowly reorganize the dieter’s mind, body and spirit, bringing the system into greater harmony, health and well-being.

With any process of growth, transformation and healing, the individual’s attitude and commitment makes a profound difference in the results received. Strict adherence to the dieta, without complaint and maintaining a positive attitude, is also a clear demonstration of their commitment to heal, to step into a new way of being. Deep commitment lends strength and energy, removing resistance and lethargy, and the Universe responds!

Since opening in 2010 the Hummingbird has been dedicated to helping people heal, grow and transform their lives. We decided early on that we would take the “hard cases”, the people who truly needed help and had not found a solution elsewhere. We are one of the few centers that will accept people with serious long-term problems with depression, anxiety and PTSD. Healing from these long-term issues takes time, and it is why we have 3 and 4 week stays available in our Personalized Retreat program.

Most of the top 10 retreat centers (search for “ayahuasca retreat” and pick one) have turned away people, who ultimately chose the Hummingbird and got the healing they were hoping for. Our program has changed the lives of over 200 people with 15+ years of depression, anxiety or PTSD. Take a look at our Tripadvisor reviews for their testimony.

We have a process that works, IF one is committed to heal, willing to do the work needed, trust the medicine, and follow our simple yet effective suggestions while at the center. Ayahuasca is not a magic potion. If you do not do your part, not much benefit will come from your time at an ayahuasca retreat.

This medicine is not for everyone, and there is a thorough screening process to make sure ayahuasca is a good fit for each person, to understand their background and needs, and to ensure they are actually committed to growth. This is why we do not have a registration form immediately available, and start our process with an email dialog. We want to understand people’s challenges so we can give the best advice possible on whether this is a good approach for them, and if so, how long of a stay is most likely to result in long-term positive change. Our registration and screening process is described in more detail on our our registration page.