Don Guido founded La Luna del Amazonas as an extension of the services provided in the village clinic.
Guido has worked at many different healing centers in the amazon jungle, but he has never abandoned the family clinic in the village, where he still receives local patients.
Guido is well known in Santa Maria where he has cured countless illnesses using his knowledge of the medicinal plants of the Amazonian jungle and his physical and spiritual healing knowledge.
He explains that the healing during a ceremony takes part on an energetic level. The ayahuasca enables him to see and remove any energetic blockages the patient might have.
"For example, During a traumatic experience you might subconsciously block energetic channels or chakras as a defense mechanism to protect yourself from further pain of that experience. This can later in life manifest as depression, anxiety or physical disease. During the ceremony I will remove the blockage, and when thats done, you are healed" says Don Guido.
Don Guido is a maestro de las plants, and will sort out any specific plant diet to attend to your specific ailments, depending on needs and intentions. Don Guido was trained by his grandparents alongside his brothers Don Marlon and Don Luis.
Don Leonardo grew up on the Marañon and Yanashi river and was introduced to the medicine at an early age by his family. From the age of 12 he sat in ceremonies every Tuesday and Friday (traditional ceremony days) with his father and grandfather among other curanderos from the village. He got interested in the shamanic practices and the art of healing when he witnessed sick people getting healed from natural treatments and plants. As a young apprentice he did many different plant dietas in isolation as part of the training. Don Leonardo has been at La Luna since the very start and is happy to share his magic with our guests.
Don Benigno is still drinking the medicine at his age of 79 years, and he´s from the old school of vegetalistas (shamans), and grew up on the border to Ecuador. His first encounter with mother ayahuasca was at the age of 6 years old. His icaros is a mix of native quechua and spanish. He has been working with La Luna from the beginning and is Don Guidos father in law.
As an old master, he has multiple disciples, and has shared a wealth of knowledge to his students, patients and our guests.
Back in the days, Benigno used to do ceremonies 4-5 times a week, and received patients from all over the world and treated a countless of diseases.
As the youngest of the brothers he also grew up in a family with strong healer traditions. However, it wasn't until recently Jack decided to pursue the calling.
He is under good guidance from both his older brother Don Guido and Don Leonardo. Once he starts whistling in the maloka (temple), there will be no doubt he is one in the lineage.
Jack is often seen as Don Guidos or Leonardos right wing, and preforms flower baths and medicinal plant tours. But he wont get to his highest potential until in the ceremony room, where he can make the roof take off with his Icaros.
Greg is from the United States. He was born in Iowa and raised on a farm. He later moved to Columbus, Ohio where he graduated college with an Engineering Computer Science degree and has spent the last 20 years living there and working in the IT industry.
From an early age Greg was disillusioned with most of western culture and never felt like he wanted to be a part of it but was stuck existing within it.
For many years his life consisted mostly of going to work, smoking marijuana, playing video games, and not looking for much else out of life. A couple years ago, Greg started doing higher doses of psilocybin mushrooms and began to see that he could get much more out of life. He began to learn how to become more connected with himself and explore his spiritual side.
These experiences led him to ayahuasca and a 2 week retreat La Luna del Amazonas where his ceremonies greatly changed him. He connected deeply with ayahuasca and she told him that he had a calling to be at La Luna and his journey was just beginning.
He went home, quit his job, and returned to the amazon to continue his healing and learning.
Greg is a practitioner of Yang style Tai Chi and Neigong and is willing to teach anyone who wants to learn. He facilitates ceremonies and performs other tasks around the center.
Ada is our Swedish facilitator and translator. She has been a family member for the last few years, and decided to return to the jugle magic again fall 2021. Apart from translating and facilitating for our guests she also do yoga and extatic dance workshops.
Enrique has participated and facilitated more than 700 ceremonies and has a deep understanding of the medicine and the magical world of the shamans that he is happy to share with our guests, and serves as a bridge between the modern western secular culture and the ancient amazon spiritual culture.
Enrique is first aid and CPR certificated and used to work for 911 (112) in Sweden before he moved to the Amazon.
He is involved in the Zendoproject by maps, where he works with psychedelic harm reduction and integration of challenging psychedelic experiences.
Today he spends his time as a student at Stockholm School of Theology, trying to understand the ancient mysteries and texts and compare them to the direct experience that ayahuasca delivers
Lidia is descendant from the yagua tribe, and grew up in the village of Santa María. She comes from a family of paleros (tree healers) and curandoeros from the famous Diamante Azul on the Napo River. At the center she gives a helping hand where needed, and can be a comfortable asset facilitating ceremonies or providing flower baths to our guests.