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yoga PLANT MEDICINE RETREAts
Breathe and Flow & AYLLU MEDICINA

​Thank you everyone for your interest - we sold out nearly 40 spots in 10 minutes via our newsletter!

 

If you're still interested in attending but missed out on securing your spot, you can join the waitlist to be notified if cancellations happen. To join the waitlist, follow the booking process in each event booking page and add your email to the waitlist. To be notified of future events, subscibe to our newsletter at the bottom.

If you're not able to attend a retreat we are teaching but you're still interested in attending a plant medicine retreat with our Ayllu Medicina family, then please head to their retreat website. Use our discount codes for any of the ayllu retreats we're not teaching at:

 

BREATHEANDFLOW for $111 off (booking for one person)

BREATHEANDFLOW2 for $222 off (booking for two people)

Join Bre & Flo in Ecuador as we connect with nature and step into the magic at this Breathe and Flow yoga retreat. Submerge yourself for 8 days of yoga, breath work, lectures, workshops, ice baths, delicious plant-based meals crafted from local chefs, plant medicine ceremonies, temezcal sweat lodge, a trip to the beach, and so much more. 

 

Immerse yourself in a sacred space allowing yourself to open up and receive deep insights as the catalyst for inner healing and personal growth. Ecuador is home to an ancient and cultural tradition of meditation, prayer, and healing so we're excited to start the New Year with clarity, intention, and connection alongside a community of beautiful like-minded souls. We’ll be utilizing the insights and lessons gained from our experiences in the last year and gather for some deep introspection, cleansing, and goal setting. Together, we'll start the year with more energy and clarity, a renewed grasp on our lives, our health, our well-being, and our future. 

 

With ice baths, nearby surfing, a transformative healing space, an opening fire ceremony, and several yoga classes that integrate pranayama and meditation, you'll cultivate love and spaciousness as you tune into nature while tuning into yourself. This is a down-to-earth retreat for those who want the grounding experience of being engulfed by the healing land.

 

Connect more deeply with your Self, mother nature, and those around you, while opening yourself up to new possibilities, physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually by taking time to ground down in the land of the Andes and Amazon. 

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ABOUT OUR RETREATS

WARNING: if you're on the hunt for a yoga retreat where there's just two classes a day, shopping, gossiping, chillin' at the beach all day, then going out dancing and getting drunk at night, then our yoga retreats are NOT for you. We have a different way of hosting yoga retreats. When we sat down and put together our dream yoga retreats, we designed each of them with the agenda that would inspire *us* to attend the retreat ourselves.

 

We share everything we know and love, from creatively-sequenced power vinyasa flow classes that integrate functional range conditioning kinstretch to restorative yin yoga with essential oils, pranayama breathwork, meditations, ice baths, myofascial release therapy, satsang community gatherings, plant medicine with Shamans, and more. We'll snap some dope pics of you throughout the retreat and add the edited versions to the group photos folder afterwards so you can reminisce on the experience.  

 

If you’re at a pivotal moment in your life, processing a new direction, or looking for a transformative and meaningful way to remember who you are and reconnect to your personal power, THIS IS IT! Our retreats are designed for people interested in personal growth surrounded by a supportive community of new friends while exploring movement, breathwork, and activities that connect and challenge your body and mind. Our concept is, "you do you," so you're not required to attend everything in the packed agenda, but we deliver plenty of opportunities to make this an experience that will ignite positive shifts in your life if you show up and say YES!

 

We welcome all levels of experience. Thinking you're not "advanced" enough to attend yet? Think again. It doesn’t matter how long you have been practicing yoga, ALL our classes and workshops are for all levels, beginners as well as very experienced practitioners and instructors. Expect the movement classes to be accessible, challenging, and playful no matter your level of fitness. You don't need to be a yogi (whatever that is anyways) or a gym junkie - you just need to be a human being interested in growing. You can come alone, with your partner or with a friend - most of our retreat attendees are solo travelers and we become a wolfpack instantly - you’ll feel as though you’ve arrived hOMe.

 

We limit the bookings to 18 students to provide enough 1:1 time with each student throughout the retreat. This means that you'll receive personalized attention and support from both Bre and Flo and the entire Ayllu Medicina family, allowing you to process on your personal journey feeling supported and heard.

 

a summary of the deets

  • Dates: Retreat One [Jan 06 - 13 2024] and Retreat Two [Jan 27 - Feb 03 2024]

  • Bookings Open: May 18th at 10a PDT - link is sent via our newsletter [scroll to the bottom to join]

  • Location: An oceanside retreat venue in Manglaralto, Ecuador

  • Yoga Type: Vinyasa Flow Yoga

  • Plant Medicines Offered: Ayahuasca (twice), San Pedro (once), Water Tobacco (many times) 

  • Retreat Size: 18 students

  • Retreat Length: 8 days / 7 nights

  • Meals: 2 daily locally-grown organic plant based meals [buffet] plus all day tea/fruit

  • Skill Levels: All Levels

  • Cost: Ranges from $3300 [shared 4-person quad] to $4400 [private 1-person queen]. With a $300 non-refundable deposit, you can utilize the payment plan option to pay off the remaining balance by Oct 5 [for the first retreat] and Oct 26 [for the second retreat]

  • Beyond these reteats, the next ones will be in 2026

VEnue and Lodging

Ayllu Medicina is based on the coast of Ecuador, in Manglaralto, situated near the world-famous surf capital of Montañita and the peaceful haven of Ayampe.  Immerse yourself in nature in their retreat space and experience the beautiful sounds of birds singing and waves crashing. You can easily access the beach, which is a ten-minute walk from the venue. The venue has everything you need to be comfortable, feel at peace, and retreat inwards during your stay, including a swimming pool with ocean views, one of the best spots to enjoy Ecuador's sunsets! Each room includes air conditioning, a private bathroom, and hot water.  

 

Ecuador encompasses a wide range of natural formations and climates, from the desert-like southern coast to the snowcapped peaks of the Andes mountain range to the plains of the Amazon Basin. The gorgeous South American country is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world as houses the Andres, the Amazon Rainforest, and the Galapagos Islands. 

PLANT MEDICINE CEREMONIES

We’ll have plant medicine ceremonies (2 Ayahuasca and 1 San Pedro) throughout the week and participation is mandatory. This retreat provides the opportunity to explore the self and understand the true nature of your reality. The plant medicines utilized cleanse the mind, body, and spirit and are healing both physically and emotionally. The plants are here to assist you on your journey inward, to expand your consciousness, to heal your wounds, and to reconnect to all that is.

 

Your experiences will be guided by Aime Bertot and Hwaneetah Calderon; an amazing Shaman and Medicine couple who embody the divine feminine and masculine in love and have been working with medicine for over 20 years in the Sacred Fire of Itzachilatlan lineage. The medicine is harvested by their own hands which is a meticulous process that takes many weeks to complete. With their beautiful music, strong prayers, and heart opening medicine, these two healers/curanderos are the best in the country and create life changing ceremonies. If you’ve ever been interested in plant medicine, this is the PERFECT introduction to working with the sacred power plants in a safe and beautiful environment. Before you sign up, please read through the entire FAQ on Aime and Hwaneetah's website to ensure that you're well informed about the medicine. 

FOOD

The dedicated and loving onsite chefs cater two delicious plant-based meals served buffet style each and every day as well as an all-day tea and fruit bar. During the entire duration of the retreat, we follow a yogic whole food plant based (WFPB) diet; no animal products are allowed on the property.  Prior to the event, we will be sending out more information about the WFPB diet and the Ayahuasca diet which we encourage you to follow the two weeks leading up to the retreat.

 

We will send an intake form to all attendees prior to the training to inquire about general topics including diet restrictions and allergies. We will try to accommodate any allergies and restrictions that our attendees have, such as gluten free, peanut, or fruit allergies. However, if you have a lot of dietary restrictions, especially any airborne allergies, please email us ahead of time to see if the kitchen staff can make accommodations for you as we can’t guarantee it unless discussed prior to booking. 

TRAVEL INFORMATION

General Travel Info

  • The exact venue location will be sent to registered guests. 

  • Plan to arrive and depart the venue on the first and last day around lunchtime.

  • Ground transportation will be coordinated closer to the event date on your own but Ayllu can reserve taxi rides for you (per direction to/from GYE airport for $100 per person) 

  • Arrival by plane to nearby airports: 

    • Manta (MEC) // 2 hour drive

    • Guayaquil (GYE) // 4 hour drive (best/cheapest option)

    • Quito (UIO) // 10 hour drive

 

Government Legal Requirements

  • A valid passport is required 

  • Passport must be valid at least six months after your departure date from Ecuador

  • Passport must have at least two blank pages 

  • You must have printed proof of onward / return flights 

  • For most countries, no visa is required for a stay of up to 90 days but please confirm your visa requirements before booking your flight

  • There are currently no vaccination nor covid test requirements but it’s your responsibility to stay up-to-date with your specific country travel restrictions. Global travel restrictions per country can be found here

 

Travel Insurance 

We recommend purchasing travel insurance to cover the entirety of your trip. If you book your flight through Expedia.com, they offer travel insurance and health insurance as an additional add-on cost but you can also purchase travel insurance independently. We recommend this provider.

 

Traveling Solo and/or looking for Travel Buddies?

  • We traveled Ecuador for several months (we even gave birth there!) and felt very safe but we also know it's different when you're traveling alone. We're happy to help coordinate additional requests for you to ensure that you feel safe and comfortable enough to travel.

  • The Ayllu team can help coordinate private and shared taxis with their verified drivers.

  • Based on past live events, 80% of our students come solo so rest assured that you’re not alone. Nearly everyone coming won’t know each other so we'll be offering plenty of opportunities to build community - you’ll feel like family in no time. 

  • For our live events, we always have a shared spreadsheet with everyone's travel itinerary which you will receive shortly after booking your spot. 

  • A month before the event, we also do a group chat on whatsapp so everyone can sync up with logistics (and so we can send out reminders, resources, dope music playlists, and good vibes).

  • We encourage folks to link up with each other before/after the events so they have travel buddies and so you can also save money by carpooling/dorm sharing. 

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Reducing Impact

As human beings, by simply existing on planet earth, we leave behind an unavoidable carbon footprint. We always encourage people to explore this beautiful world and of course love that you’re joining us for this YTT, but we also understand our responsibility to sustain and protect the beautiful places we all have the privilege of visiting. We invite you to join us in reducing our carbon footprint and contributing to a more sustainable future by purchasing carbon offsets as we have. More information can be found on the Environment page of our website. Thank you for joining us to reduce our impact on this beautiful planet!

PAYMENT

Terms: All prices are per person and include retreat costs only; they do not include airfare, ground transportation, travel insurance, visa fees, nor additional add-ons. If the retreat is canceled for any reason including Covid-19 related issues and political unrest, you will be given a full refund of all payments made to BnF. By booking a spot, you agree to our Breathe and Flow Yoga Retreat Terms & Conditions. If you have any questions regarding our policies, please contact us via email at events@breatheandflow.org.

 

Pricing: Prices will range from a shared quad twin bed room for $3300 USD to a private single queen bed room for $4400 USD. The retreat includes dozens of offerings so please read the full list of “what’s included.”

 

Deposit: Reserve your spot with a non-refundable $300 deposit per person. 

 

Payments

  • Full payment is due 60 days before the retreat start date

  • Payments can be made by either:

    • Bank Transfer Direct Debit from most countries for no fee or

    • Credit / Debit card for a bank service fee (bnf pay for the WeTravel transaction fees but you will pay for the credit/debit fees which vary depending on country and card type - more info here)

  • Payment plan is available but only if paid by credit/debit card

  • We recommend that you set up your WeTravel account where we host our events so you can glide through the checkout process seamlessly when bookings open. Their website can be a bit confusing since it appears you need to set up as a seller but it's actually really quick and simple as a buyer. Here are the steps to add in your bank/card info:

    • Login to your account

    • Hit "Profile" (top banner tab) 

    • Hit "Payment Settings" (left side banner)

    • Click "Add Payment Method"

    • Add in your bank account, credit card, and/or debit card 

    • The new bank/card will now show in your payment settings with your name, the bank, and the last 4 digits of the account/card number

    • That's it! There's really nothing else you need to do on the WeTravel account (no verification, no address, no nothing).

    • You can either login to WeTravel before 10am PDT on 5/11 or you can login after you click on our booking link but either way, it will sync your account with the booking and make checkout a breeze.

  • The booking links will be emailed to our newsletter subscribers on 5/11 @ 10a PDT. ​

 

Payment Changes: If it is necessary to make changes to previously submitted payment types such as updating an expired credit card, please contact BnF at events@breatheandflow.org. Do not send credit card information over email.

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Discount: As a way to show our support to our Patreon Community, we offer discounts to active Karma or Moksha Level Patreon Members. See Patreon for all the details. 

BRINGING A CHILD/SPOUSE

While we will have our son at the retreat with us, he will have two full time nannies to care for him from 6a - 7p everyday. We will sadly not be able to spend much time with him that week and that’s honestly the hardest part about teaching these live events. However, besides our son, we are not allowing any other children to attend the retreat regardless of their age. Along the same lines, we are also not allowing students’ friends/family to stay at the venue property during the retreat. 

 

Our retreat requires a very focused and intensive environment that involves plant medicine which can be challenging for both you and your child/spouse/friend as you will need space to process and integrate the experience. We understand that this may pose a challenge especially with young children, but we need to create an optimal environment for all of our attendees (including YOU!) so each of you can fully immerse yourselves in the retreat and receive the most benefit from it. If your child is too young to be separated from you for a full week, then we suggest attending our next retreat in 2026. Thank you for your understanding! 

WIFI and screen time

There is no wifi. At our plant medicine retreats, we encourage people to go completely offline for the week so they're not distracted by the outside world and can dive deeper inwards without external influence. The last thing you want during an ayahuasca ceremony is to be spending hours ruminating over some toxic office gossip, your uncle's political post on facebook, or your crush you saw on IG with a new partner (all random examples but really whatever you see the days leading up to ceremony is usually carried into the journey). You will get the most out of your journey by taking a break from screen time plus you'll probably just be exhausted and need to sleep, rest, journal, integrate after your ceremonies as there will be two Ayahuasca night ceremonies (8p - 4a but often the effects are felt until around lunchtime the next day). We will also be doing San Pedro once which is a daytime medicine from around 10a - 6p so you wouldn't even be able to type on a keyboard because you'll be in a sweat lodge. Although the schedule is pretty busy, there will be ~2 hours of free time everyday.

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If you're not able to take that week off work and be completely offline, then this isn't the time for you to attend our retreat. We will be having plant medicine retreats in Ecuador for the next few decades so you'll eventually have an opportunity to join when your work isn't so demanding and you can be offline. 

WHAT's INCLUDED

  • 7 nights accommodation at an Oceanside Retreat Center in Manglaralto, Ecuador

  • 2 daily plant-based meals served buffet style [fresh delicious meals plus tea and fruit throughout the day]

  • Orientation Video Call [an opportunity to discuss your intentions, receive guidance, and answer any questions you may have about how to prepare for the ceremonies]

  • Opening Fire Ceremony [calling to the four winds, connecting to the Sacred Fire of the Heart, and participating in a Tobacco cleanse]

  • 2 Ayahuasca Ceremonies [experience profound healing and shifts in your psyche during these night ceremonies]

  • 1 San Pedro Temezcal [receive the power to make positive changes through the help of this energetically healing medicine]

  • Sweat Lodge Ceremonies [experience purification through therapeutic herbs, steam, song, and prayer to release stress, muscle tension, and detoxify the mind, body and soul]

  • Orientation Video Cal [an opportunity to discuss your intentions, receive guidance, and answer any questions you may have about how to prepare, the location, agenda, or the ceremonies]

  • Daily morning yoga classes [vinyasa flow]

  • Daily evening yoga classes [yin/restorative]

  • Daily meditation [guided and non-guided]

  • Daily pranayama [breathing exercises]

  • Ice Baths [guided breathwork and journey into the ice to explore the edge of your comfort zone and experience the profound healing benefits of cold exposure]

  • Sharing Circles [integrate your ceremony experience in the sharing circles]

  • Song Circles around the Fire [bring your favorite instrument if you have one or borrow ours! connect to the medicine of music and learn some plant medicine songs when we gather to sing]

  • Womb Wisdom Lecture [learn from Hwaneetah about ancient womb technology, how women are cyclical in nature, and how to heal and connect with the power of the womb]

  • Mindful Nonviolent Communication Lecture [mindful lecture from Mika exploring how to navigate conversations with mindfulness]

  • MFR Ball

  • Detailed Packing List

  • Private yoga studio with mats, pillows, blocks, and blankets

  • Closing Fire Ceremony [calling to the four winds, connecting to the Sacred Fire of the Heart, and participating in a Tobacco cleanse to close out the full week ceremony]

WHAT's not INCLUDED

  • Transportation / airfare / ground / gas

  • Travel insurance

  • Visa Fees [if any]

  • WiFi

  • Additional treatments and activities offered by Ayllu Medicina

  • Laundry [service is available but for a fee]

that covers just about everything

Please email us at events@breatheandflow.org if you still have questions

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