Megan was born and raised in Tasmania Australia and graduated from the University of Sydney in Asian Studies and Sociology. She completed a masters’ degree in clinical social work at the University of Melbourne and has pursued graduate training in Gestalt Psychotherapy in Australia and the United States.

Megan has worked as an educator and social worker for the Japanese and Australian governments and for NGOs in Asia, Central America and Australia.

Megan has spent the past decade practicing as a social worker, psychotherapist and clinical consultant with a focus on holistic psychotherapy, clinical mental health and trauma informed care and practice.

Megan was introduced to plant medicine and psychedelic assisted psychotherapy while studying in the United States in 2015 and has become increasing interested in these modalities as powerful vehicles for personal growth and healing.

Megan is incredibly grateful for the opportunity to learn from and practice alongside the team of healers at Pisatahua. She looks forward to continuing in her own journey as a student of plant medicine while working to bridge traditional medicine with progressive psychotherapy and supporting retreat participants in exploring and integrating their own experiences with the medicine. 

Wara Wara Puma is a Female Shaman and Medical Doctor of Aymara origin, brought up by her mother and grandmother, both native aymara women, and is well versed in Aymara healing practices and spirituality as well as Ayahuasca and San Pedro (achuma) ceremonies. She is also a Sun-Moon Dance and Moon Mother. She has a Pure and Courageous Heart and Sings with the Voice of an Angel. Truly a treat to behold.  She works with Love, Surrender and Devotion. Utmost respect and care for her patients.

Tupak Wayra is a Bolivian healer from two indigenous linages: Quechua in the Amazon, and Aymara in the Andes. He is the cofounder of numerous organizations that work for the restitution and diffusion of indigenous knowledge such as: “Camino Ancestral Bolivia” (Organization providing ceremonies with plant teachers), “Ayllu Phunchhawi” (Practical workshops and investigations on ancestral music), Ayllu Qollañan (Education and Indigenous investigation) and Casa Ajayu (Cultual and Healing Center). He also leads distinct workshops about indigenous cultural history and knowledge. Alongside his community, he travels throughout Bolivia, organizing ceremonies to heal and spread indigenous culture.

“To cure ourselves we must return to our roots”; for this reason the healing ceremonies must always be accompanies by the wise words of Mother-Earth (Pachamama). The techniques utilized for healing can be teacher plants (Ayahuasca, San Pedro, Willka, and Tobacco), offering to sacred locations, teas from plants that heal specific diseases, and consultations with the sacred coca leaf (a very important master teacher plant in the indigenous Cosmo-vision that acts as our oracle).

Master Curandero Don Marcial was born in an indigenous community outside Riberalta in 1937. His parents are both Tacana natives that migrated from the Ixiamos region at the height of the rubber boom at the beginning of the 20th century.

Don Marcial, the youngest of his three brothers, discovered many of the jungles’ mysteries and developed a deep spiritual connection with the Amazon from a very young age. He would accompany his brothers for excursions that could last months, surviving on the abundance of fruits, fish and nuts they found along the way.

Despite his 81 years of age, Don Marcial is extremely fit and spends most days working in his gardens. He leads ceremonies and has the ability to concentrate and chant for many hours. He is extremely attentive to participants and Pisatahua guests often comment of his strength and warmth.

Don Marcial is windowed and the father of 16 children. He lives a 15 minute drive from Pisatahua with many of his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Selfies normcore four dollar toast four loko listicle artisan. Hoodie Marfa authentic, wayfarers church-key tofu Banksy pop-up Kickstarter Brooklyn heirloom swag synth. Echo Park cray synth mixtape. Tofu gastropub squid readymade, trust fund Wes Anderson DIY PBR 8-bit try-hard +1 Shoreditch lo-fi tote bag.

Selfies normcore four dollar toast four loko listicle artisan. Hoodie Marfa authentic, wayfarers church-key tofu Banksy pop-up Kickstarter Brooklyn heirloom swag synth. Echo Park cray synth mixtape. Tofu gastropub squid readymade, trust fund Wes Anderson DIY PBR 8-bit try-hard +1 Shoreditch lo-fi tote bag.

Selfies normcore four dollar toast four loko listicle artisan. Hoodie Marfa authentic, wayfarers church-key tofu Banksy pop-up Kickstarter Brooklyn heirloom swag synth. Echo Park cray synth mixtape. Tofu gastropub squid readymade, trust fund Wes Anderson DIY PBR 8-bit try-hard +1 Shoreditch lo-fi tote bag.

Selfies normcore four dollar toast four loko listicle artisan. Hoodie Marfa authentic, wayfarers church-key tofu Banksy pop-up Kickstarter Brooklyn heirloom swag synth. Echo Park cray synth mixtape. Tofu gastropub squid readymade, trust fund Wes Anderson DIY PBR 8-bit try-hard +1 Shoreditch lo-fi tote bag.

Selfies normcore four dollar toast four loko listicle artisan. Hoodie Marfa authentic, wayfarers church-key tofu Banksy pop-up Kickstarter Brooklyn heirloom swag synth. Echo Park cray synth mixtape. Tofu gastropub squid readymade, trust fund Wes Anderson DIY PBR 8-bit try-hard +1 Shoreditch lo-fi tote bag.

Don Rene was born in the community Nueva Ethea located on the banks of the Madre de Dios River in a Tacana indigenous community. As a child, spirits would visit him and tell him their secrets. At the age of 12, he began working with sacred medicines like ayahuasca (siño), alongside his father and older brothers. His understanding and sensitivity to the spirit world heightened as he worked with the medicine in ceremony and in isolation. Soon people from surrounding communities came to visit him to for divination and healing.

As an adult, Don Rene lived his entire life in the Bolivian Amazon, moving frequently as a young man. He traveled up and down the Beni River, learning and sharing his knowledge with other healers he found during his journeys.

Today, At 57 years of age, he is extremely active in his community as both a healer and a dedicated community service leader. For the last 15 years, Don Rene has served as a volunteer caretaker of the school in his community, assisting hundreds of young men and women realize their potential. He is a man of integrity and well known for his generosity among all the families in his community.

Chaca was born and raised in Riberalta, the capital of the Bolivian Amazon.  For over 25 years, he’s worked as a professor of socio-cultural anthropology at the University San Andres in La Paz.  He’s conducted research and written extensively on native communities of the Bolivian Amazon with a focus on high risks populations, indigenous sexuality, spiritual culture, sustainable development, indigenous rights and political participation.

Wigberto also served as the Bolivian State Minister for indigenous affairs, he’s been an adviser to numerous indigenous organizations, and worked as a consultant for indigenous development projects.  He helped establish multiple indigenous territories and fought extensively for ingenious land rights.  His investigations concerning ethnic and cultural diversity were used by the Bolivian Government as a basis for the new constitution of the Plurinational State of Bolivia.

He’s co-founder of Pisatahua and the Bolivian-based non-profit Fundacion Amazonia.

Erik was born and raised in Northern California, graduating from UC Davis with a degree in political philosophy. He’s worked as an educator in the US, a researcher for the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung in Berlin, Germany, and as a consultant and board member to non-profits in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. He holds a masters’ degree in sociology from the Universities of Freiburg (Germany), KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa) and Jawaharlal Nehru (India). Erik is the founder and executive director of the 501(c)3 non-profit organization, Sustainable Bolivia.

For more than a decade Erik has conducted research in the Peruvian, Ecuadorian and Bolivian Amazon on cross-cultural shamanic plant medicine. He’s worked as a researcher and graduate assistant at the University of New Mexico, he’s dieted master plants and studied ancestral medicine from a spiritual guide in Bolivia. Alongside his wife, Sasha, he’s utilized his unique personal and professional experience to facilitate plant-medicine ceremonies in Europe, the US and South America. In 2013, Erik and Sasha received a powerful message regarding their life purpose — 2 weeks later they moved to the Bolivian Amazon to start Pisatahua.

Erik is cofounder to both Pisatahua and the Bolivian-based non-profit Fundacion Amazonia.

Sasha was born in Riberalta, Bolivia, a short distance from the retreat center Pisatahua. For the first two years of her life, she lived in an indigenous Esse Ejja community, before moving to the Bolivian capital La Paz. Growing up she would split time between the Andes and the Amazon, attending high school, while accompanying her father into the jungle on multiple anthropological expeditions.

She considers herself a life-long student, having studied ancestral & medicinal plants from a personal spiritual guide, law and human rights in Bolivia, and psychology in the US. She’s speaks multiple languages including Spanish, English and Portuguese as has followed a diverse professional path — working as a model, a TV moderator, the director of project development for a non-profit in Bolivia, and a as gardener on a Northern California farm …to name a few. She’s taught yoga and pilates, worked as facilitator for plant medicine ceremonies and as has experience as a nature guide.

Sasha’s life-history provides her a unique perspective where indigenous cosmovisions a ‘modern’ healing practices collide. As co-founder of Pisatahua, she continues to integrate different healing modalities, while further developing Pisatahua’s integrative approach to mental/physical health.