THE DIETA PROCESS

“A dieta brings a bright light into your heart. This light protects you, because negative spirits cannot come near the light. It will guide you anywhere you go. Your responsibility is to strengthen and grow that light.”

— Maestro Reshin Nika

If you feel called to diet a specific master plant at our Ayahuasca Retreat in Peru, Maestro Reshin Nika will first discern whether it is truly aligned for you. He may ask whether you feel drawn to a plant that leans more toward teaching or healing—though both qualities are always intertwined.

You may also choose to let him select the most appropriate master plant for your process (recommended), as he scans your energy and observes what is revealed during ceremony. Based on this guidance, he prepares the corresponding plant(s) into a tea for you to drink each day, establishing a direct connection between you and the plant’s spirit.

What Is a Master Plant Dieta?

In the Shipibo-Conibo tradition of the Peruvian Amazon, a master plant dieta is a sacred, disciplined path of learning directly from the spirit of a plant. It is not a retreat for comfort or recreation—it is a process of training, initiation, and profound healing that requires humility, commitment, and respect.

For Shipibo shamans, plants are not merely “medicines.” They are living teachers (ibo). Through the Dieta, the plant transmits knowledge, protection, deep healing abilities, and spiritual strength to the person dieting.

This wisdom is not learned intellectually. It is received through silence, solitude, dreams, visions, and energetic transmission. For more insight into this process, see the Gabor Maté film, “Ayahuasca and the Path of the Shaman”.

For Whom Is a Master Plant Dieta?

A Master Plant Dieta may be appropriate for those who feel called to:

• Heal beyond talk therapy

• Heal the physical body

• Clear long-held trauma, addictions, or energetic patterns

• Learn discipline, humility, and inner listening

• Prepare for deeper spiritual work

• Apprenticeship or serious plant medicine study

This path is not casual. It is not for those seeking entertainment, visions, or instant results.

How a Master Plant Dieta Is Done Traditionally

A traditional Dieta involves:

• Isolation in the jungle

• Strict dietary restrictions (simple food, no salt, sugar, oil, alcohol, or spices)

• Sexual abstinence

• Silence and inward focus

• Daily ingestion of a specific Master Plant prepared by the shaman

• Energetic protection and guidance from the shaman throughout the process

The shaman opens and closes the Dieta ceremonially, ensuring the plant is properly connected and later released from the body. Breaking the Dieta improperly can cause physical, emotional, or spiritual harm. For this reason, a Dieta must always be guided by an experienced traditional shaman.

The Master Plants

Each Master Plant has its own spirit, intelligence, and purpose. These plants provide:

• Emotional and trauma healing

• Powerful physical healing

• Strength and grounding

• Heart opening and compassion

• Vision, dreams, and perception

• Protection and spiritual boundaries

• Connection to ancestral knowledge

The plant chosen depends on the person, their condition, and the intention of the Dieta.

The Process

We provide you with a private Casita (Tambo Hut). During your time with Reshin Nika, you will mostly remain alone in your hut, allowing space for meditation and direct connection with your master plant and the teachings received in ceremony. Simple meals are brought to you two to three times per day, prepared in alignment with your master plant dieta. The daily dieta is intentionally limited, consisting primarily of root vegetables, rice, eggs, and occasional fish or chicken, to support the depth and clarity of the Master Plant dieta process.

Each casita is enclosed with electricity, mosquito netting and includes a bed with a netted canopy, a flushing toilet, a shower, sink, and filtered drinking water—providing essential protection and comfort while living in the jungle. This simple setup supports extended periods of solitude, allowing you to connect deeply with your prescribed master plant(s) while remaining protected from the elements.

However, this is the jungle, and on rare occasions, creatures such as tarantulas or snakes may enter your space. (Snake bites are extremely uncommon and typically occur only when an animal feels threatened or is provoked. Tarantulas generally remain on walls or in high corners and are not aggressive or interested in humans.) Staying calm, vigilant, and aware—especially after dark—and keeping a flashlight with you greatly reduces any risk.

This is not a luxury retreat, nor a space centered on constant guidance or reassurance. Participants may reach out to Reshin Nika for guidance as experiences arise, and he makes himself available for consultation a few times each week. At the same time, this is not a setting for constant reassurance or daily contact. We ask that all participants approach this work with maturity, personal responsibility, and respect for healthy boundaries, honoring Reshin Nika’s time, energy, and role as a Maestro. The center is traditionally Shipibo-run and centers its work around Master Plant Dietas, a profound and disciplined healing practice that goes far beyond participating in ayahuasca ceremonies alone. We operate according to cultural and ceremonial practices passed down through many generations. Guests live alongside the Shipibo family, moving within their rhythms, values, and way of life—an experience that may feel very different from modern Western-style retreats.

Our structure follows traditional dieta practices, which center on solitude with the plants, creating the conditions for profound, lasting healing that works at the root level—imparting forms of understanding and resilience that go beyond language.

Participants are expected to approach this experience with humility, respect, and personal responsibility. Entitlement, excessive demands, or disrespect toward the family, the medicine, or the process is deeply disruptive to the integrity of the work and the culture that holds it. This path asks for maturity, adaptability, and reverence for traditions that are not here to conform, but to be honored.

The more time you spend in quiet reflection and intentional isolation, the stronger your bond with the plants becomes—often amplifying healing and insight in ways that unfold naturally, powerfully, and beyond expectation.

Being alone with your prescribed master plant(s) creates the space for deep internal work.

As you maintain this sacred silence, the plant’s energy begins to blossom within you, often bringing subconscious material, strong moods—which shift, emotional patterns, and long-held wounds to the surface. This process can sometimes feel uncomfortable or challenging. It is recommended to journal these experiences and meditate on the root causes, visualizing the release of what no longer serves you.

The dieta can be surprisingly simple if you just surrender and allow the plants to do all the work—like floating on water, letting them cleanse and wash away what no longer serves you. It is common to experience moments of projection, where your own issues appear reflected in others or the environment. This is a natural part of working with these plants, as they act as mirrors to your subconscious mind and the emotional wounds rising to heal.

For this reason, it is most helpful to spend time alone; including unnecessary texting or talking on the phone to friends or family back home. This time requires deep committed work for yourself and the plants to go within. Problems can arise easily with anyone you speak with during this fragile time in your healing process as projections happen out of nowhere. writing down your experiences, turning inward, and focusing on the version of yourself you wish to become or the life you hope to create after the dieta. Resistance may arise—such as wanting to leave early, feeling overwhelmed, or projecting inner pain outward. These moments are not signs that something is wrong; rather, they are often indicators that meaningful healing is actively unfolding. By remaining mindful, taking responsibility for your inner experience, and choosing to stay with the process, the work has the opportunity to deepen and integrate. The longer you are able to commit to your dieta with presence and self-honesty, the more profound and lasting the healing can become.

Also, avoid making any major life decisions—such as leaving a partner or quitting your job—for at least a month after leaving the center. Take time for integration and thoughtful reflection, as your feelings and perspective are likely to continue shifting during this period.

Ayahuasca Is Optional—Not Essential

In traditional Shipibo Amazonian healing, it was often only the shaman who consumed ayahuasca, channeling its power to heal others. Similarly, at our center, drinking ayahuasca is not required to experience deep transformation.

You can receive just as much benefit by working only with the master plants through personalized dietas—special herbal preparations tailored by Maestro Reshin Nika to your specific healing path. These dietas cleanse and balance the body, mind, and spirit, opening the way for profound growth and transformation.

Your Journey Is Unique

Working with master plants is a deeply personal and inward journey. The plants act as both healers and teachers, guiding participants through challenges, dreams, emotional surfacing, and subtle internal shifts. Respecting the medicine—and the silence that accompanies this work—is essential, as both serve as powerful teachers in the healing process.

Your intention to heal, along with the sincerity of your commitment, will help guide you through any difficulties that arise. For this reason, we strongly advise refraining from unnecessary conversation with other participants or communication with people back home during your dieta. In this sensitive state, everything and everyone can become a mirror, reflecting unresolved patterns or shadow aspects that are being brought to awareness.


Along with dietary restrictions, this process can at times feel uncomfortable or even unpleasant. Taking responsibility for your thoughts, emotions, words, and actions is crucial during this time. By cultivating a personal spiritual practice—such as meditation, self-inquiry, and conscious reflection—you allow the teachings of the plants to integrate more fully. When approached with humility, discipline, and respect, participants often emerge from the dieta with greater clarity, strength, healing, and embodied wisdom.

You are held within a safe container

Reshin Nika guides each ceremony primarily through his icaros—sacred healing songs channeled through the master plants he has personally dieted and formed deep relationships with over many years of his own dieta journeys. While your healing path is ultimately your own, you will not walk it alone.

Participants may reach out to Reshin Nika for guidance as experiences arise, and he makes himself available for consultation a few times each week. At the same time, this is not a setting for constant reassurance or daily contact. We ask that all participants approach this work with maturity, personal responsibility, and respect for healthy boundaries, honoring Reshin Nika’s time, energy, and role as a Maestro.

Transform Through Ego Challenges

Those who are accustomed to external structure, constant stimulation, or a strong sense of control may initially find the simplicity of a dieta challenging. Likewise, individuals who rely heavily on ego, identity, or external validation may experience discomfort, as this work gently dismantles familiar roles and self-images. The primary structure of a dieta is the direct relationship with the plants and the willingness to meet oneself honestly, without distraction or performance.

There is little external direction or reassurance—only the ongoing invitation to listen deeply, practice humility, and surrender to the intelligence of the process. Through this attentive inner work, patterns, behaviors, and ways of being that no longer serve your growth can begin to soften and fall away, making room for greater clarity, resilience, and inner strength. This gradual shedding and awakening is the true magic of the dieta path.

Dietas often surface unexpected challenges not only internally but also through daily moments, perceptions, and interactions. This is part of how the medicine teaches. To support this unfolding, participants are asked to remain off their phones and limit contact with others as much as possible, allowing the work to deepen without outside influence, stimulation, or emotional entanglement.

Daily meditation in your casita is strongly encouraged, as it creates the space to observe what is arising with awareness rather than avoidance or projection. What may initially feel difficult often becomes a doorway to insight. As you stay present with the experience, understanding naturally emerges, and the hidden gifts within each challenge reveal themselves. Any outside integration work with coaches or others is best done after you leave the center and return home.

The Power of Master Plants & Ayahuasca

While ayahuasca on its own works powerfully on the emotional, mental, spiritual, and energetic levels, combining it with a master plant takes the healing even deeper. Ayahuasca is often considered the doorway—it opens the energetic space for your dieta plants to enter and do their work. This can be done individually or in tandem with the shaman. Together, they reach into the depths of the physical and energetic roots of chronic illness and imbalance. In ceremony, the energy of your master plant supports and amplifies the healing process, allowing profound transformation to unfold.

The Role of Dieta in Training an Ayahuasca Shaman

Traditionally, no one becomes an ayahuasca shaman without many years of Master Plant Dietas. Ayahuasca itself is not considered the primary teacher—it is the plants dieted over time that give a shaman:

• Healing power

• Vision and perception

• Protection against spiritual harm

• The ability to remove illness, sorcery, and energetic blockages

• The icaros (sacred healing songs)

Each Master Plant Dieta deepens the shaman’s relationship with the plant world and refines their capacity to work with ayahuasca safely, responsibly, and with true mastery. Within traditional lineages, completing multiple dietas with master plants is considered essential preparation for serving ayahuasca in ceremony.

Facilitators who serve ayahuasca around the world without having undergone years of dietas, lack the necessary training, protection, and guidance from the plants themselves—making their role incomplete and the ceremonies they lead potentially very unsafe for those who attend.

The Lineage of Reshin Nika

Reshin Nika was trained traditionally in the Shipibo lineage through many years of Master Plant Dietas in the jungle. His ability to work with ayahuasca, sing icaros, and provide protection comes directly from this long-term relationship with the plants—not from shortcuts or modern adaptations.

When you dieta under his guidance, you are not simply “doing a plant retreat”. You are entering a traditional Shipibo learning relationship with the plant world, supported by a shaman who understands how to hold and protect that process.

A Path of Respect

In the Shipibo tradition, the plants are approached with reverence, patience, and responsibility. A Master Plant Dieta is a commitment—to the plant, to oneself, and to the path of healing.

The Right Mindset for Dieta

In today’s world, the word diet often brings to mind trends like Keto, Vegan, or Paleo—typically focused on physical health and nutrition. But when it comes to traditional Amazonian plant dietas, approaching this work with a purely Western mindset can create mental and emotional roadblocks. That’s why the guidelines for your dieta are intentionally kept clear and simple.

The Shipibo people do not speak of dieting in the same way as Westerners. Their understanding comes from a lineage of teachings passed down through generations, shaped by their teachers, mentors, and the direct guidance of the plant spirits of the Amazon. Maestro Reshin Nika offers specific instructions based on this lineage, and they are uniquely tailored to the master plant you will be working with.

Each plant has its own requirements—including the specific dietary restrictions that must be followed during your dieta. The food will be extremely simple: clean, bland, and minimal. This is not to deprive you, but rather to open your energetic body, making you more receptive to the plant’s teachings and healing.

Leading with Spirit

Your preparation for this retreat should be viewed through a spiritual lens. This is not just a physical cleanse—it’s a sacred quest for healing and transformation. The adjustments you’ll make to your diet and lifestyle are part of the sacrifice that this spiritual path requires.

In the Shipibo tradition, as in many indigenous cultures, the depth of your commitment—your willingness to sacrifice—directly influences the depth of your healing. The more you give to the process, the more you will receive in return, both during the retreat and throughout your integration afterward.

Maestro Reshin Nika will also provide you with post-retreat dieta instructions. These are a vital part of your integration and may continue for two weeks to a month after you return home. Disregarding these guidelines can disrupt your healing process and potentially make you ill. For this reason, it is essential to take the entire dieta—before, during, and after—seriously and with full commitment.

Spiritual Connection with the Plants

When you choose to enter the world of plant spirit medicine, you are entering into relationship with conscious, intelligent beings. Each plant and tree worked with in ceremony is considered a living spirit by the Shipibo. This worldview may feel unfamiliar at first, but many who walk this path come to understand and embrace it through direct experience.

Even if this belief system is new to you, let it serve as inspiration for honoring the dieta instructions. You are not just drinking tea—you are entering into a sacred partnership with the plant. This work is about listening, receiving, and being open to guidance beyond the rational mind.

Call on your inner strength, your spirit, ancestors, angels, higher self, God, the Universe—whatever you resonate with—to support you in honoring this commitment. The moment you choose this path, your connection with the Amazon and its healing energies begins. Let that connection guide you.

Those who enter sincerely are often changed for life

To dieta a master plant is to form a sacred bond with its spirit—The process is like planting a seed within you—one that is nurtured through care, silence, and clear intention. Over time, the plant becomes your healer, teacher, protector, and guide, offering insight and healing in ways that often unfold unexpectedly.

We offer both weekly and monthly dietas. If you're unsure where to begin, feel free to contact us. We’re here to guide you in choosing the path that best supports your healing and growth.