PUTUMAYO
A grounding week in the Amazon foothills. Slow mornings. Ancestral medicine traditions. The kind of conversations that do not happen in cities.
Why Putumayo.
Putumayo is where the Andes step down into the Amazon. The retreat is held inside the reserve of the Inga indigenous community, at the maloka of taitas regarded as among the most respected in Colombia — in their home, on their land, in their care.
This is the first retreat of the Academy year. The work that happens here threads through the rest of the year for those who choose to come. The retreat is not the curriculum. It is what the curriculum is sometimes asking for.
Twelve people, no more. Seven days. Four ceremonies held by the taitas in their tradition, spaced through the week with full integration days between. One on one work and time in small group. Time with the elders and the wider community. Learning from the teachers, and from the plants. Hammocks by the river. Evenings of fire and quiet.
It is not luxury and not austerity. It is real, and what the work needs.
The shape of the week.
Slow arrival into the land. First evening shared meal. Brief frame for the week. Early to bed.
Dawn practice. Introduction to the taitas and the maloka. Walking the land of the reserve. Setting intention in small group. The first ceremony in the evening, held by the elders. No fanfare.
Quiet morning. One on one reflection. Time with the wider Inga community through the day. The second ceremony in the evening, held in the same form. Each ceremony builds on what arrived in the last.
A full day of rest. Solo time by the river. Group circle in the afternoon. Evening meal in silence, by request. No ceremony.
Slow morning. Walking. One on one work in the afternoon. The third ceremony in the evening, held by the taitas. The work goes deeper as the week settles.
Integration morning. Time with the elders and the plants. The fourth and final ceremony in the evening, held by the taitas. The week comes to its weight.
Closing circle with the taitas and the community. Small group reflection. A simple ceremony of leaving. Slow re-entry. Travel out in the afternoon.
Travel, logistics, care.
Fly into Bogotá. Internal connection details and ground transport are shared privately on confirmation.
Deep in the jungle. Raw, beautiful, wild. Inside the reserve of the Inga indigenous community, at the maloka of the taitas. Hammocks by the river, under the maloka. Real, and authentic.
Whole, local, prepared with care. A specific diet supports the work. Details shared on confirmation.
A full screening conversation precedes any invitation to participate. Some conditions are exclusionary.
Twelve. No more. Drawn from the apprenticeship, the mentoring path, and a small number of long-standing friends of the Academy.
Shared with the invitation. Includes all on-the-ground costs. Travel to Bogotá is the participant's.
Reply to your mentor.
There is no public booking. If the retreat is for you, the invitation came directly. Reply to the mentor who sent it. A medical and intention screening follows. A place is held only after both are complete.