12/03/2026
For five weeks I lived in a small Huni Kuin village in the Amazon doing dieta.
Simply living in an indigenous village, has a way of changing your rhythm.
Not through dramatic experiences, but through small daily shifts.
Dieta is often imagined as something mysterious or dramatic, but much of it is actually very simple.
Life becomes quiet.
Days begin with the morning chorus of the forest waking up, birds, insects, the endless movement of life around you. You start to notice how much the body follows the rhythm of its environment. Without the constant stimulation of modern life, your nervous system slowly settles into something much steadier.
The food is simple. Very simple.
A small number of ingredients, prepared plainly. At first it feels restrictive, but after some days you begin to understand the purpose of it. The body becomes quieter, the senses sharper. You start to notice subtleties in the plants, in the environment, and in yourself.
Some of the most meaningful learning doesn’t come from formal teachings at all. It comes from observing the people who have lived in relationship with these plants for generations; how they move through the day, how they prepare medicines, how naturally this knowledge lives within daily life.
Spending time close to where these medicines come from changes the way you understand the work.
It reminds you that holding ceremony is not something that simply happens on the night of a retreat. It begins much earlier in preparation, in listening, and in continuing to learn.
Now I return from the forest to begin the retreat season from that place.
work
