Rooted in Crisis: How a Bolivian Retreat Center Found Light in a Year of Global Darkness

Outside of the centre itself, the community here in Riberalta like many communities in Bolivia and in the wider Amazon region have been deeply affected by the events of this year. Latin America and especially the Amazonian region have experienced significant out breaks of COVID-19 without the resources or medical infrastructure to allow for adequate quarantining or provide basic care to affected individuals and communities. In addition to this, many of the retreat centres and communities in the region that rely on international guests have been without means to generate income for much of this year and remain uncertain of when it will be possible to welcome international guests again.

Here at Pisatahua we’ve been using some of the time and space offered by the events of this year to enquire into what our work with plant medicine and psychotherapy has to show us about navigating the complexities and uncertainties of these times.

While we don’t want to minimise any of the struggles or suffering that have been caused by the advent of COVID-19, we believe that there is an opportunity to not just simply survive these times but grow through them and have been exploring what the challenges and adversity of this year might teach about cultivating hope, resilience, compassion and clarity.

In thinking about this we’ve been reflecting on the phenomena of post-traumatic growth which is a theory that proposes that significant positive transformation is possible following challenging and traumatic experiences. This theory was developed by Psychologists Richard Tedeschi and Lawrence Calhoun in the 1990s and argues that individuals and communities who endure psychological struggle following adversity can and often do experience positive growth in the aftermath of these events.

Tedeschi argues that “people develop new understandings of themselves, the world they live in, how to relate to others, a better understanding of their life path and a reprioritisation of their values systems.”

Tedeschi has proposed seven areas of growth that develop from adversity

• Greater appreciation for life
• Greater appreciation and strengthening of close relationships
• Increased compassion and altruism
• The identification of new possibilities or a clearer purpose in life
• Greater utilisation and awareness of personal strengths
• Enhanced spiritual development
• Creative growth.

Tedeschi argues that a person’s capacity to be open and willing to the possibility of embracing new experience is key to their ability in turning a difficult  or even traumatic experience into one of personal growth and development.

While we are living in deeply challenging times and holding more individual and collective trauma than perhaps ever before, we continue to believe in the possibility of post-traumatic growth and possibility of using the difficulties of these challenging times wisely to grow and begin to live in a way that is ultimately more aligned and alive than ever before. Since closing the centre in March we’ve been considering our role in supporting and enacting this growth and healing and feel so grateful for the lessons that plant medicine work us offered us in understanding and navigating these challenges.

Ayahuasca teaches us to meet our fears, challenges and shadows with self-compassion and trust.  The medicine shows us that we are not only capable of meeting our greatest fears and deepest shadows, but that great growth and healing is possible when we are willing to meet the darkness and it is this process that ultimately allows us to access the light. In addition to this she is a powerful teacher in points to the areas of our lives that are out of alignment or need some attention and shows us how meeting our shadows will help orient us towards health and wholeness.

Here at Pisatahua we’ve been reflecting on these lessons and what we might do to meet our shadows and  enact greater alignment, growth and healing with ourselves, each other, our community and the wider world.

On an individual level, our healing team have been using the time in their schedules afforded by this break to engage in personal healing and growth practices including plant medicine dietas, meditation and yoga.

Beyond this we’ve been working on a number of new building infrastructure projects including a new garden, repairs to the dock and a new roof for the Maloka. We have also been developing new approaches to our retreat programs including the creation of an integration program and an extended retreat program with wachuma which will be offered when we reopen in 2021.

This time has also offered powerful learnings in interconnectivity and reciprocity, both fundamental teachings in most traditional Amazonian communities and to this end we’re in the process of developing a number of community engagement programs including a scholarship program to support Bolivian Nationals who would not otherwise be able to afford to attend our retreat programs.

We will continue to enact this work and these projects in the months to come as we look towards recommencing our retreat programs in early 2021.

We feel deeply blessed for the support we’ve received this year in our work with the plant medicine and  believe that this work is needed now more than ever. We believe that the plant medicine work has a vital role to play in supporting individual and collective healing and the possibility of greater growth and alignment from the events of this year.

To this end, we remain committed to developing our program and approaches at Pisatahua and look forward to welcoming guests ready to engage in their own journeys of growth and healing in the new year.