High in the Andes. Deep in presence.
Shambala Retreat Center
Guasca, Cundinamarca – Colombian Andes
Nestled high in the heart of the Colombian Andes, Shambala Retreat Center rests at over 3,000 meters above sea level, surrounded by vast mountain landscapes, ancestral trees, native flowers, and an abundant diversity of birdlife. The altitude, silence, and open skies create a natural sense of spaciousness—an environment that gently invites presence, reflection, and inner stillness.
Conceived as a City of Light, Shambala is more than a destination; it is a sacred, intentionally held space devoted to conscious retreat, reverence for nature, and respectful engagement with ancestral wisdom. The land itself becomes part of the experience, offering grounding, clarity, and a deep sense of listening that supports inner alignment.
Ayahuasca ceremonies at Shambala are facilitated by experienced shamans with a long-standing relationship to the medicine and its traditions. Each ceremony is held with great care, ethical responsibility, and profound respect for the spirit and timing of the medicine, prioritizing safety, containment, and integrity at every stage of the process.
Shambala provides the physical, logistical, and ceremonial container for the retreats hosted on its land. The combination of thoughtful stewardship, skilled guidance, and natural silence allows participants to feel supported and at ease—creating the conditions for experiences to unfold organically and be integrated with care.
The union of altitude, living nature, and intentional holding makes Shambala an ideal setting for retreats centered not only on profound experience, but on integration, grounding, and conscious return—bringing what is opened back into life with clarity and steadiness.
The Return
A Conscious Integration Retreat · 7 Days
From Trauma to Love
This retreat is not centered on the experience itself. It is centered on how we return to life with what we have lived.
The Return is a carefully designed seven-day process that supports deep experience through preparation, presence, and integration. While each group brings its own energy and depth, the structure remains the same, a human, grounded map that honors the full arc of the journey.
The retreat unfolds over seven days: a day of arrival and settling in, several days of guided process, and a final day of conscious closure and departure. The Ayahuasca ceremony, facilitated by the Shambala team, takes place on Day 5, intentionally positioned after the body and nervous system have had time to regulate and trust has been established. This timing allows the experience to be met with greater clarity and ensures there is real time afterward for integration.
The process moves through four essential moments, each one supporting the next.
The first is arrival; a time to inhabit the body, slow down, and land fully in the present moment. During these initial days, the focus is on grounding, regulation, silence, and creating a safe internal and external field. There is no pressure to open personal stories or revisit trauma. The work is gentle and embodied, allowing the system to settle before anything deeper unfolds.
From there, the retreat moves into understanding. This is where the foundational experience From Trauma to Love is woven into the process. Rather than functioning as a separate workshop, this space provides an internal map for everything that follows. Participants explore trauma in human, accessible language; how experience is held in the body; why love is not simply an emotion, but a regulating experience; and how meaning begins to reorganize itself. This moment often brings relief; offering context, reducing fear, and preparing participants to meet the ceremony with greater trust and orientation.
The third moment is crossing, the ceremonial experience itself. At this stage, the process is held by the Shambala team, with the medicine supported by experienced shamans and a clear ethical container. The role of facilitation is presence rather than direction, allowing the experience to unfold naturally within a space of safety and respect.
The final movement is return, the heart of this retreat. The days following the ceremony are devoted to integration: giving language to experience, grounding insight into the body, and translating what was lived into everyday life. Through guided reflection, writing, and careful dialogue, participants explore how to carry what has been opened without becoming overwhelmed. The focus is not on big promises or dramatic change, but on small, real commitments that can be lived once the retreat ends.
The Return is offered four times a year, always with the same structure and intention. Each group is different. Each experience is unique. What remains constant is the care, the pacing, and the commitment to integration.
This retreat is for those who feel that true work begins not during the experience, but after; in the way we return to ourselves, our relationships, and our lives with greater presence, steadiness, and meaning.
