Curandera Podcast · Episode 1 · 10 September 2026
Our New Retreat Center in Brazil
The rainforest is calling you. Tatiana Aya Tupinambá and Charles Johnston on the place they have made in the Atlantic rainforest, what a stay looks like, and who it is for.
17 min·Watch on YouTube
“I wanted to create a space in the forest that is my home, that I feel home, that I feel nurtured. And then in that home, in that nature, I wanted to also expand and have space for people to come and be with us.”
What they talked about
- 0:00
The first Curandera Podcast
Charles opens from Brazil. Many people have met Tatiana through the film, and now that there is a home here the podcast is a way to hear from her regularly.
- 1:14
A home between the jungle and the city
Years of retreats in cities and trips into the Amazon taught her what she wanted: a place in the forest that is her own home, with comfort, where she feels solid enough to receive people. Not for a weekend. Fifteen days, a month, three months.
- 3:49
Dietas with Maestro Juan Flores
How she studied in Peru: isolation in the tambo, medicine every other night, a school you keep going back to.
- 4:37
Living as example
Gardens, food from the garden, work in it if you want to. People come and see how she and Charles live day to day, and go home to be examples themselves.
- 7:28
Safety and the team
Charles on what is different this time: meditation teachers, Ayurvedic doctors, physicians and psychologists on hand, and other students already living a wellness program here, with its classes, hikes and beach days.
- 9:38
Retreats, long stays and how to visit
Scheduled ten-day retreats with more frequent drinking, and an open invitation to come at any other time to study, diet and train.
- 10:25
Dietas in the Atlantic rainforest
The casitas sit far enough into the forest to isolate. Many of the same plants grow here, and the old Amazon trees she will bring. A bed, good food, and someone to walk you to the plant you are dieting.
- 12:42
The Jequitibá tree
A medicinal tree around 150 feet tall, a twenty-minute walk from the main house. You can go and sit with it every day.
- 13:29
Indigenous elders
A Yawanawá teacher has already come to diet with the first guests. Being in Brazil means elders who could never travel to the United States can come here.
- 15:04
What comes next
Individual stays are opening now. A group over New Year's. Dates soon.
- 15:26
The floor shakes, but we are steady
"We are the water clan, trained to swim." Charles closes with a word about Nekawa, the parallel program for people working with ibogaine.
A note on care
This conversation is shared for educational and cultural purposes. Nothing in it is medical advice, and it is not a recommendation that anyone use ayahuasca. It can interact dangerously with many medications, and it is not right for everyone. Never stop or change a prescribed medication without your doctor. Our medical disclaimer says more.