Travel to Peru for Sacred Learning, Spiritual Initiation & the Journey of a Lifetime!
Week 1 — Working With the Medicine Bundle
Week 2 — Herbal Medicines for Healing
Week 3 — Mastering Energy as a Healer
“I feel that the extended time spent learning and interacting with Puma and his team was an absolute life changer for me! It was as if this internship was created to save my life.”
— 2024 Sacred Apprentice
Have questions? Our team is here to guide you every step of the way. Click here to book a free consultation and let us help you gain a deeper understanding of this month-long in-person program.
This apprenticeship is for those who feel called by their soul to engage in this work. It is not a journey primarily for entertainment or tourism but an opportunity to engage in a deep wisdom transmission and spiritual apprenticeship. We believe that those who are called to participate are responding to a specific sacred purpose — which may or may not be known in advance — so that the medicine of this beautiful culture can be shared.
All you need is a courageous heart and engaged mind, as well as a willingness to dive into the core of your being in a community of fellow explorers. We invite participants to be vulnerable, real, and committed to dropping deeper into your heart each day.
This opportunity is only open to those who will have completed the online 12-month immersion with Puma by the beginning of the program (or special exceptions for people who have already been apprenticing in-person with Puma) so that he only has to review the foundational teachings and can focus on expanding into more advanced levels that can only be passed on in person.
While it’s helpful if you have previous experience working with sacred plants in a ceremonial context, it’s not a requirement. You can choose to connect with the plant spirits of Huachuma and Ayuhuasca and not imbibe the plant medicine.
The minimum age of participation is 18 years old and the program is inclusive and affirming of all identities. This apprenticeship is not for you, however, if you have psychological or medical contraindications that would make the experience unsafe, or if you’re not prepared to enter with a spirit of respect, reverence, and willingness to do the real work that’s often required for lasting change. We are requiring any applicants over the age of 70 to have a special medical clearance to ensure that this is an appropriate next step for them since the altitude and climate adjustments can be challenging, and working with sacred plant medicines can be contraindicated. If you have questions about your medical clearance, please click here to schedule a meeting with Program Manager Lola Young.
Dear Fellow Seeker,
Since ancient times, humanity’s deepest wisdom has been passed on through in-person apprenticeships. As a seeker becomes ready, a gradual transmission of knowledge, healing wisdom, and capacity enables them to become a carrier for a tradition.
As a student of Puma’s immersion program, you’re already acquainted with the immense power embodied in the awakened heart and the vast cosmology of his tradition. Through the wires of the internet and the subtle energy that binds us, you’ve personally connected with this extraordinary wisdom. Deep within, you understand that Peru holds invaluable medicine for the world — and that Puma is a profound carrier of that sacred knowledge.
Now you’re likely hungry for something more… an intimate, in-person opportunity to learn the healing arts of Peru in a hands-on way in which you can be fully embraced by Puma and his family, receive the wisdom of the elders of Peru, experience the magic of sacred sites, and truly begin the next chapter of your life.
That’s why we’ve created the Sacred Apprenticeship in Peru with Puma. It gives you time in an intimate circle of allies to receive the full power of this sacred lineage to heal yourself more deeply, claim your medicine bundle, expand your healing skills with others, and advance your life mission — all while building a community of conscious peers for support and collaboration.
You might become someone who is an emissary for Peruvian shamanism or even a full-time practitioner someday. Or, you might simply emerge more grounded, open-hearted, and fully aligned with a sacred vision for your life.
What is clear is that Peru is a birthing ground for a new humanity and that it can be a blessed birthing ground for a new You.
I believe that the Sacred Apprenticeship in Peru may be the best investment you can make in advancing your spiritual awakening and your service in 2025, as you receive full-body wisdom transmissions, unique cultural experiences, and profound spiritual openings — and are graced with new gifts to serve the world.
We invite you to read through this page, listen to Puma share about this unique opportunity, and apply for one of the limited spots in this program.
In sacred friendship,
Stephen Dinan
This hands-on, in-person apprenticeship gave me bright lights of clarification, insights, and provided continuous growth in my purpose as a powerful medicine woman.
— 2024 Sacred Apprentice
I had a powerful experience with Apu Ausangate. As soon as I arrived, even though the altitude was higher, it was significantly easier for me to breathe. As we were looking for stones, I was serenaded by the Apu with a healing love song, which continued throughout my duration there… and occasionally still does. The masters there came in strongly and continue to do so. I also received many transmissions from the sacred sights while in the apprenticeship.
— 2024 Sacred Apprentice
The experience with both medicines expanded my views on how you can perceive and move energy. I experienced the unique energy of the landscape and Pachamama and I feel the abundant resources, power, and conscious parts of my being now.
— 2024 Sacred Apprentice
— Sarah: “It Was So Very Different to Be So Treasured, Supported, and Loved”
— Kelly: “We Got to Actually Practice, Not Just Listen”
As you’ve already experienced, Puma is guided in each moment in a way that serves the group, so any curriculum or itinerary is only an approximation of what will happen (which will actually be even more magical!). The following roadmap gives you a sense of how this apprenticeship will unfold.
Each week — Monday through Friday — will include:
To ease your acclimation to the high altitude of Chinchero, you’ll arrive to Cusco airport the afternoon of Saturday, August 30, and be transported to the beautiful town of Urubamba in the Sacred Valley, a lower-elevation site that is not only a traditional ceremonial center with an important archeological site, but a place where spiritual seekers from around the world come to grow, explore, and heal. There are various healing spas, amazing markets, and beautiful hikes here.
We’ll convene for an initial gathering and celebratory dinner, and also have spacious time to acclimate from jetlag and altitude.
On the morning of September 1, you’ll receive an introduction and overview of the program and then be part of a Despacho ceremony to bless your apprenticeship. The focus of the first week will be learning to work in a traditional (and multidimensional) way with your personal medicine bundle. Each shamanic apprentice and healer possesses distinct healing gifts, contributing to how they aid others. A crucial aspect of this healing work is gaining a true understanding of one’s own unique medicine bundle and its exceptional attributes. This awareness allows for discerning when to offer assistance and when to seek the aid of fellow healers.
In Peru, each mountain is considered to have its own specific “apu” or “mountain spirit” that provides particular guidance. One of the highest peaks in this area, which is particularly significant for receiving visions and guidance, is Apu Ausangate.
During this week, you’ll:
(Note: Due to various ticket, train, and tourism costs, plus an overnight stay in Aguas Calientes, this trip will cost an additional estimated $500 and will need to be booked about three months ahead of the actual date.)
For the second week, you’ll be transported to Chinchero to continue your apprenticeship. The focus of this week will be learning to work in a traditional (and multidimensional) way with herbal medicines.
During this week, you’ll:
When we are accessing portals, we receive precise guidance and activate a powerful healing pathway, and knowledge that we can use in our healing work. This will enhance your existing knowledge of working with a mesa, enabling you to engage energy in a focused and impactful manner. You’ll be instructed in the art of transmutation, elevating denser energy into higher frequencies... and how to open your third eye to perceive energy at a heightened level, enhancing your ability to identify and address challenges to produce sacred alchemy and profound realizations.
During this week, you’ll:
We’ll celebrate the closing night of the program with nourishing Peruvian music, food, and blessing. Get ready to party with Puma! We’ll follow up the next morning with a heartfelt appreciation, blessing, and closing ritual.
Have questions? Our team is here to guide you every step of the way. Click here to book a free consultation and let us help you gain a deeper understanding of this month-long in-person program.
Registration is now open for 1-week and 2-week options for this retreat. You can attend one week or any combination of two out of the three weeks. Puma asks that anyone arriving after Week 1 should plan to spend a minimum of three nights in the Sacred Valley to adjust to the higher altitude prior to arriving in Chinchero for the retreat.
The cost of each week is $4,500. Discounts are not available for 1-week and 2-week options.
The following description was developed by Puma and his team, who see these plant medicines primarily through a traditional healing lens. Note that it’s not required to work with this plant medicine during the trip. You’ll always have the choice, and you can opt to commune directly with the healing spirits, as you have learned from Puma’s online program.
San Pedro (often called Huachuma), a cactus native to the Andes, is known to have been used by pre-Inca civilizations for up to 4,000 years. The active component found in this medicine is mescaline, and the nature or personality of this plant is perceived by many as the masculine grandfather spirit. It’s often depicted as having the spirit of the hummingbird.
Used to help perceive our self-created barriers and limitations, this medicine greatly aids in opening and connecting with our hearts. Each ceremony is a meeting with ourselves, Mother Earth, and the Divine, serving as a medicinal mirror to help us see where we hold on to self-limiting beliefs and patterns in our lives, gently guiding us to release what no longer serves us. San Pedro ceremonies are performed with psychological preparation and physical cleansing.
Ceremonies for deep physical and energetic cleansing precede ceremonies that can bring healing with deep vision and light. The journey is often difficult to understand in the moment. However, with the benefit of hindsight and integration, the deep wisdom of the plants reveals itself in time. It’s commonly understood that the medicine will give you what you need and what you want.
Ayahuasca is an ancient visionary curative medicine that comes from the Amazon. It’s traditionally used in Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, and Brazil. Ayahuasca has two main components — the Ayahuasca vine (Banisteriopsis caapi) and the chacruna leaves (Psychotria viridis). The spirit and character of Ayahuasca is divinely feminine, perceived as a woman or snake. This visionary plant medicine is often called “the purge,” as it helps us cleanse our physical, emotional, energetic, and spiritual bodies through a powerful releasing process. This medicine moves through the body, activating and awakening our sleeping energies. When these energies are activated, they’re expressed in different ways and are ultimately removed from the body. The purge process can take innumerable forms, commonly through tremors, vomiting, diarrhea, strong emotions, tears, yawns, laughter, breath, and more.
Ceremonies that involve deep physical and energetic cleaning and cleansing often precede ceremonies with deep vision and light. The journey is often difficult to understand in the moment. However, with the benefit of hindsight and integration, the deep wisdom of the plants reveals itself in time. It’s commonly understood that the medicine will give you what you need and what you want.
Ayahuasca heals the spirit deeply and also teaches us what’s necessary for us to know, guiding us where it needs to guide us and helping us understand our spiritual world. Prior to the Ayahuasca sessions, it’s extremely important to participate in preparation and stimulation sessions that help us discern what we should learn and what we should ignore.
Psychoactive Masters of the Plant Spirit Kingdom
Have questions? Our team is here to guide you every step of the way. Click here to book a free consultation and let us help you gain a deeper understanding of this month-long in-person program.
Saqsaywaman, the “Temple of the Enlightened,” is also known as “satisfied hawk” or “great head of the puma.” This temple was for the head of administration for top military, government, and religious leaders. The enlightened head of the puma is a terrace in the shape of lightning with lithic pieces and stones brought from a quarry 25 kilometers southeast of Cusco, weighing approximately 120 tons. At this temple, you can connect with the power of leadership, the enlightened mind, and enlightened consciousness. Here, the Andean people give homage to Father Sun and Mother Earth and keep ancestral ceremonies, rituals, and offerings of gratitude alive.
Chinchero, the “Land of the Rainbow,” was derived from the word Sincheraq — referencing the people of highly evolved souls who discovered and offered their gifts from an early age to the family and community through the Tawantinsuyu (the four regions of the sun). In ancient times, this was a university where young people were trained in the arts of weaving, architecture, engineering, astronomy, and military. Today, Chinchero is an amazing altar for the sunset. It’s believed that these altars facing the west are meant to honor the ancestors, leaders, and high priests and priestesses, who have set with the sun and, with their light, are still guarding us to be in service — for our evolution and self-realization. Chinchero is also known as the land of the rainbow and is the temple of the seven rays, which are the most important lineages and traditions of the world.
Ausangate, is a place of profound spiritual significance nestled in the Peruvian Andes. Towering at an impressive height, the snow-capped peak of Ausangate commands respect and admiration, drawing pilgrims and travelers from far and wide. Revered by the indigenous Quechua people, Ausangate holds a central role in their cosmology and belief system. It is considered an Apu, a sacred mountain, believed to be a guardian spirit protecting the surrounding lands and its inhabitants. The glacier that graces its slopes is seen as a life-giving source, providing vital water for the local communities and their livestock. For generations, rituals and ceremonies have been performed to honor Ausangate and seek blessings for a bountiful harvest and prosperity. The site exudes an aura of ancient wisdom and spiritual connection, inviting those who visit to contemplate the harmony between nature and humanity. As travelers venture into the rugged landscapes and interact with the Indigenous people, they are immersed in a profound cultural experience that leaves an indelible mark on their souls. The sacred site of Ausangate is not only a physical destination but a portal to a realm where reverence for nature and spirituality intertwine, leaving all who visit with a sense of wonder and awe.
Machu Picchu is a citadel built on top of the mountains right above the Willka Mayu or Willka Nota River, where the altar of Apu Salkantay, the most important mountain spirit god of the Inca people, resides. Built with white granite in the shape of the condor, and known as the crystal condor, the myth and legend is that the crystal condor carries the soul of the people of this Earth to the sun of divine origins. In Machu Picchu, you can connect with your original soul purpose and learn what you need to manifest in this lifetime, to leave as an offering and a legacy for generations to come. Machu Picchu is the temple of liberation, self-realization, and enlightenment, and honors the most important constellation of the Inca people — the southern cross constellation — also known as the heart of the Milky Way.
Ollantaytambo is the “Tree of Life.” In the middle of three valleys, the pre-Incan people built terraces, temples, pyramids, and astronomical observatories on mountainsides, showcasing their ancient technologies and highly advanced knowledge of architecture, engineering, and astronomy. Ollantaytambo means “observatory from above,” from the Pukina language — a language now disappeared from the communities of the Andes. Myths and traditions say that the first civilization, descendants of the Atlanteans, settled here before moving into Cusco. Famous for its powerful temples to the sun, the sacred four elements, and the Pleiades, Ollantaytambo is the portal of entrance into Machu Picchu.
In order to optimize your integration and spiritual journey, Puma requested that all participants stay in single rooms in the town of Chinchero or in his own ceremonial center. We will be in the following hotels, which are rated as a 3-star level of accommodation:
Pisonay Pueblo - Urubamba
Guest Suites within the Family Community Centers - Chinchero
Local Immersion & Accommodations
Puma Fredy Quispe Singona Paqo, Andean Medicine Carrier
Puma Fredy Quispe Singona began training with his grandfather, the late Don Maximo, after being struck by lightning at the age of six — learning and mastering the Andean traditions and rituals of the Rainbow Lineage from the Inca people of Chinchero. He has studied the direct lineages of the Huachuma plant from the coast of Peru and with Ayahuasca, the sacred plant of the Amazonian Shipibo people. Puma conveys a profound respect for Pachamama (Mother Earth) and ancestral plant medicine. He facilitates ceremonies to support our global consciousness awakening and has been featured in books and films about the Andean medicine path. Read full bio...
Mama Irene Powerful Healer & Warrior for the Divine Feminine
Wiñaypaq Takin Ceremonial Music
Ñutu Runas Celebratory, Fusion Folkloric Music
Lola Young Retreat Manager & Facilitator
United Kingdom
U.S.
U.S.
Germany
San Diego, California
We have a hard limit of 20 spaces in this program. All spaces include single bedrooms for the full 21 days in order to optimize your integration process.
NOTE: If you would like to register for two separate weeks, you’ll need to purchase one week at a time. There is a payment plan available for each weekly option, which you’ll see when you click on the Apply Now button.
Price is per person; airfare not included.
Have questions? Our team is here to guide you every step of the way. Click here to book a free consultation and let us help you gain a deeper understanding of this month-long in-person program.
*Please note that this refund policy pertains to the registration fees you have paid to The Shift Network for the event as described above, and does not apply to your airfare and any miscellaneous costs, which are not covered by Shift.
Still have questions? We invite you to visit our extended FAQ page.