Embracing the Sacred: A Psilocybin Experience
Our first Embracing the Sacred experience was held on February 12 – 16, 2025 in the highlands of Mexico. Together, we encountered mysticism, medicine, and meaning.
Based on the success of our first event, we will be holding future experiences. Please stay tuned for upcoming event dates! You can also join our email list for the most current updates.
Support Children in Need in Huautla de Jimenez, Mexico
We invite you to support our Embracing the Sacred colleague, friend, and teacher, “Abuela” Alejandrina Pedro, in her dedicated work with the orphans at Casa Hogar Paraíso Infantil. Your donation will have a direct and meaningful impact on the lives of these children, providing them with essential care and support. By contributing, you will be helping to make a tangible difference in their well-being and future opportunities.
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 trainers 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 trainers will include Alejandrina, a respected Mazatec shaman, as well as Dr. Amezcua, a Mexican psychiatrist deeply immersed in this tradition.
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.
Cost: $3,800*
*Price does not include travel costs, accommodations, or meals. All participants are required to make a reservation with the venue in addition to making 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.
Eligibility
All participants must have completed one of PRATI’s Foundational or End of Life trainings with two monitored ketamine journeys and receive clearance from our medical team.
Trainers
This event will be curated by a diverse and multidisciplinary team of PRATI trainers, each bringing personal and professional expertise in psychedelic medicine and mystical encounters. This group will include psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and Indigenous healers, all collaborating to create a profound and meaningful experience.
Safety
PRATI emphasizes participant safety, beginning with a medical evaluation prior to the event and continuing throughout the entire experience. Our team will establish a nurturing container that encourages openness and personal exploration. With a high medically-trained and experienced staff to participant ratio, we will ensure adequate support and prompt response to any physical or emotional needs that may arise. This carefully structured setting, combined with our commitment to honesty, integrity and respect for each person’s unique journey, allows for a profound and transformative experience while prioritizing both physical and emotional well-being.
Medical Evaluation
Individuals selected in the lottery will be required to complete a pre-event virtual medical evaluation in order to be cleared to participate in the plant medicine component of this event. Appointments for this screening will be made available from November 5 – 15, 2024. Please plan for this in your schedule before registering for this training.
Cancellation Policy
- If you cancel more than 60 days prior to the training start date, you will receive a full refund of payment, minus deposit.
- If you cancel after the full payment deadline up to 3 weeks from the event start date, you will be refunded 50% of payment, minus deposit.
- Cancellations 3 weeks or less from the event start date forfeit all of the payment made.
Important Dates & Deadlines
- October 15 – 31, 2024 – Lottery signup window
- November 4, 2024 – Lottery winners notified
- November 6 – $500 deposit deadline to secure spot at event
- November 8 – 15, 2024 – Pre-event medical screenings
- November 18, 2024 – Selected participants notified and invited to formally register
- December 15, 2024 – Full PRATI payment deadline AND 50% payment for accommodations (non-refundable)
- December 30, 2024 – Full payment deadline for accommodations
Location
The Embracing the Sacred event will take place in the Highlands of 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.
PRATI Trainers
Scott Shannon, MD – Training Director
Scott has been a student of consciousness since his honor’s thesis on that topic at the University of Arizona in the 1970s. Following medical school, MDMA assisted psychotherapy became a facet of his practice before this medicine was scheduled in 1985. Scott has published four books on holistic and integrative mental health including the first textbook for this field in 2001.
Christine Pateros, RN MA – Training Operations Director
Chris Pateros serves as PRATI’s End of Life Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy Course Director. She has been in the healing arts as a clinician since the 1980s. After “dying” in the Amazon jungle in 2011 in her own life affirming psychedelic journey, Chris’ course as a healer was transformed from clinical nurse and clinical drug researcher to shamanic energy healing practitioner and psychedelic nurse therapist.
Wilhelmina De Castro, LCSW, Executive Director
Wilhelmina De Castro, LCSW (She/They) serves as PRATI’s Executive Director and is trained in KAP (Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy) through PRATI and MDMA Assisted Psychotherapy through MAPS. They support organizations in building justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives, systems, and cultures.
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.
Larry Leeman, MD, MPH
Dr. Leeman is a Professor in Family and Community Medicine at the University of New Mexico (UNM) School of Medicine and board certified in Addiction Medicine. He founded and directed UNM’s Family Medicine Maternal Child Health program from 1999-2024 and the Milagro Perinatal Substance use program since 2011. In 2020, he had a UNM School of Medicine supported sabbatical in the use of Psychedelic Assisted Therapies for Trauma and Addiction.
Suzanne Blaising, PhD
Suzanne Blaising, PhD is the psychedelic lead at the Wholeness Center in Fort Collins, Colorado. She is a dedicated and compassionate therapist who understands that life’s challenges often require us to adapt and grow. With over 25 years of experience, she specializes in helping adults navigate through depression, anxiety, grief, self-esteem, and relationship issues, providing a safe environment that fosters healing and growth.
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.