Embracing the Sacred: A Psilocybin Experience

A Psilocybin Experience in The highlands of Mexico

Join us from February 12 – 16, 2025 in Valle de Bravo, Mexico for an encounter with mysticism, medicine, and meaning.

PRATI remains committed to supporting spirituality and the reconnection to the sacred. As part of this effort we are offering another innovative experiential for personal and professional development: Embracing the Sacred. This will be a four-day immersion designed to deepen our connection to self, community, and planet. PRATI faculty will create a safe and deeply supportive container, with a staff-to-participant ratio of approximately one to two. Reflecting our respect for indigenous wisdom and local knowledge, our faculty will include Alejandrina, a respected Mazatec shaman, as well as Dr. Amezcua, a Mexican psychiatrist deeply immersed in this tradition.

Participants for this event will be chosen through a lottery system, with no upfront cost to enter. Entries will be accepted from October 15 to October 31, 2024.

Lottery selections will be announced on November 4, and a $500 deposit will be required to secure your spot. Those selected in the lottery must complete a medical evaluation before being formally accepted to participate.

Over these four days, we will explore together a range of transformative experiences that include guided meditation, breathwork, journaling, prayer, poetry, nature, music, dance, and ceremony. We will explore how awe, service, and spiritual alignment can support the creation of a mystical experience. Participants will join together in deeper ceremony to facilitate an experience of unity and transcendence. As part of this experience, participants may elect to journey with or without plant medicine. This allows us to become more familiar with the mystical experience and learn how to support this process for others. To add further depth, the faculty will bring a spiritually diverse background and hold space for the widest possible container of spiritual beliefs.

We will limit the size of this event to 18 participants to engender greater rapport, connection and support. There will be a staff-to-participant ratio of approximately one to two. 

Tuition: $3,800*

*Tuition price does not include travel costs, accommodations, or meals. All participants are required to make a reservation with the venue in addition to making tuition payment to PRATI.

The cost of accommodation is $1,200 USD/person for 4 nights ($300/night). This includes lodging, three meals a day, and snacks. Participants will also be responsible for the cost of transportation to and from the venue, and information on recommended shuttle service will be provided to participants.

 Scholarship Opportunities

We are pleased to be able to offer a limited number of partial scholarships for this experience.

If you would like to apply for a scholarship, please complete the application linked here. The deadline for submitting applications is October 31, and scholarship awardees will be notified via email.

Scholarships do not include travel costs, accommodations, or meals.

Location

The Embracing the Sacred event will take place in Valle de Bravo, Mexico at a secluded retreat center nestled in the mountains outside Mexico City. This stunning location offers farm-to-table dining, immersive nature experiences, and spa-like services. It is accessible via a 2-3 hour shuttle ride from Mexico City’s Benito Juarez International Airport, which provides direct flights from most major U.S. cities.

Course Faculty – Mexico Partners

Alejandrina pedro castaneda

Alejandrina is a traditional healer of the Mazatec culture in Oaxaca, Mexico. She is trained in ancestral medicine and the use of sacred mushrooms in the Sierra Mazateca. Her knowledge is based on ancestral practices passed down from generation to generation, which have been used for centuries for religious and healing purposes.

Alejandrina supports the decriminalization of sacred mushrooms in Mexico, although this is a controversial topic among the collectives of the indigenous community. In Huautla de Jiménez, Oaxaca, Alejandrina performs healing practices, such as cleanses (purification rituals) and other treatments with medicinal plants. In her teachings, she shows that spirituality is rooted in the daily life of the Mazatec community, and sacred mushrooms are considered a tool for connection with the divine and healing.

Carmen Amezcua, md

Dr. Amezcua has more than 24 years of experience in health care leadership. Following her medical degree from UNAM, she received postgraduate degree in psychiatry from the National Institute of Psychiatry Juan Ramón de la Fuente with a specialty in adolescents and affective disorders. As a part of her training, she worked on community mental health projects at Veterans Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin.

Trained in Psychedelics assisted therapy by IPI, she currently teaches courses in medical cannabis, integrative psychiatry and psychedelic medicine. Dr. Amezcua is also an active participant in several community programs and NGOs. Mother, cook, artist and self-declared social phobic.

Claudia Janneth Chapa García, MD, FASAM

Born and raised in Monterrey, NL, México. Currently residing in Boerne,Texas. She completed Medical school in Universidad de Monterrey. Then pursued a Psychiatry residency at Lincoln Hospital at Bronx, NY were she treated severe mental illness, trauma and substance use disorders. There is where her passion for the treatment of trauma and addictions were born. She completed a fellowship in Addiction Psychiatry in Pittsburgh, PA with the Western Psychiatric Hospital/UPMC.

While in Pennsylvania, she acquired a fellowship by the Integrative Psychiatric Institute for Integrative Psychiatry and a diploma of for Psychedelic Assisted Therapy training, completing the MAPS requirements for treatment of PTSD with MDMA Assisted Therapy. Claudia has found an interconnection between allopathy and natural medicines which she utilizes in her day to day as recommendations for her patients. 

Course Faculty – PRATI Faculty

German Ascani, MD

German Ascani, MD, has a broad range of clinical experience having worked over a decade in public psychiatry, community mental health systems, and private practice in California. In his current Colorado practice he uses an integrative approach and uses Ketamine, including Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy.

Stephanie Thomas, PharmD, NTP, CGP

Stephanie is PRATI’s event coordinator. She is a pharmacist, a certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, and a certified GAPS practitioner focusing on the interplay between nutritional and mental health.