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.
Accommodations are priced separately: $1,200 USD per person for a shared room, or $1,400 USD per person for a single room—for a four night stay. This rate includes lodging, three meals per day, and snacks.
Participants are responsible for their own transportation to and from the venue; information about a recommended shuttle service will be provided to participants.
Alejandra 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.
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, 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.
