
Há¹›daya: a Sacred Journey into
the heart of the Heart
1-7 August 2026, Sacred Valley, Peru
Are you ready to meet yourself where the heart speaks first? Join me and my dear friend and incredible teacher Chrissie Chung for Hṛidaya: A Sacred Journey into the heart of the Heart. Seven days of ceremonial communion with the plant teacher Cacao, Bhakti mantra chanting, somatic sequences and heart-centered practices, embodiment-oriented movement, breathwork, learning from the Andean indigenous wisdom keepers from the Q'ero Nation, and deep psychospiritual inquiry and integration. All held within the expansive and majestic presence of the high Andes. Together we will explore devotion, vulnerability and openness - in circle, in mantra, in stillness, and in the sacred landscape that holds us.​​
This retreat is a sacred and safe space for personal growth and transformation, trauma integration, emotional healing and spiritual awakening. For seven days you will be held and supported by Cacao and integrative practices that, for the past decade of my and Chrissie's lives, have hugely contributed to our growth, healing and ongoing dynamic transformation.​
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Chrissie and I met and fell in love in India 11 years ago while immersed in our Yogic studies. Since then, we each have devoted our paths to an ever-deepening exploration of the many pathways to God, and to honoring of the tender, transformative nature of the human experience.
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the venue
This retreat will take place at the stunning El Verde in Huaran, Sacred Valley of the Incas. Our venue is a beautifully designed and intentionally led boutique retreat center, with a lush garden, spacious shala and a cosy common area with a fireplace.
All rooms have en-suite bathrooms, comfortable beds, high quality towels and linens and are decorated with local art. They are available as private or double-share accommodation.
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During the retreat we will be nourished by a deliciously vibrant and mostly plant based diet, full of local produce, organic whenever possible. Vegan and GF options available. Unlimited access to purified drinking water, herbal teas, fruits and snacks.
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The nearest airport, Cusco, is 90mins drive away.
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about Cacao
Cacao is a plant medicine that draws us inward - into the heart, the body, into relationship. It works gently yet profoundly on all of the facets of our being. Rich in magnesium, iron, flavonoids and theobromine, Cacao supports the nervous system, enhances circulation, and opens the heart physically and emotionally. Compounds such as anandamide, often called the ‘bliss molecule’ support a rediscovery of connection and presence. Cacao’s spirit is traditionally understood to foster truth-telling, compassion and embodied prayer. While not psychoactive as some of the other plant medicines, Cacao's healing power is by no means lesser.
Peru is not only one of the world’s most important producing countries today, it is also one of Cacao’s oldest homelands. Long before Cacao traveled north to Mesoamerica, it was cultivated, revered and ceremonially consumed in the upper Amazon basin. A spiral-shaped ceremonial temple in northern Peru (Huaca Montegrande) reveals that Cacao was used here more than 5000 years ago.
When prepared with reverence and intention, Cacao invites us into the same ancient remembering practiced in the temples of early Amazonian cultures: a remembering that healing happens in community, that the heart is a place of wisdom, and that plants are our wise teachers.
To sit with Cacao in Peru is to sit at the source: where ancestry, Earth and Spirit still speak through each cup. To sit with Cacao daily is to step into an ongoing healing portal, a living frequency that continues to work inside of us long after the cup is empty. Gently re-attuning the heart to our highest Truth, to coherence and remembrance.
your investment
Double shared room: $2222
Private room: $3777
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Only eight spaces are available. A deposit of $750 is required to reserve your spot with the balance due by June 1.
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Your investment includes transport from a designated location in Pisac to the venue, and back on the last day, all meals and snacks, unlimited access to teas and purified water, a lovingly-curated welcome gift and a one-hour massage (to be redeemed during the retreat).
Because of the intimate nature of this retreat and the plant medicine involved, there is a gentle application process involved. This is to ensure the integrity of the space, a mutual alignment and a nourishing experience for the whole group. Please contact me by email if you would like to apply or if you have any questions.
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Chrissie and I look forward to sharing this sacred space with you.


your spaceholders
​Chrissie is an experienced teacher, facilitator, and life-long student dedicated to exploring the practices that serve the inward journey back to the state of Being that reminds you, you are already made whole.
She weaves the philosophies of Yoga, Ayurveda and Tantra to bring a holistic approach to practice, looking at these pathways as a spiritual science that orient you towards self-realisation and truth. Her hope is to offer spaces that allow the mind to meet with heart and to step towards the promise of an experience of life where you come to know lasting fulfillment, freedom and joy.
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Marta is an experienced teacher and facilitator, and a lifelong spiritual explorer dedicated to the integration of heart, mind, body and spirit. She began her journey with Yoga at 14 and later lived, studied and taught in India, where she also met her dear spiritual teacher. For the past 12 years, Marta has immersed herself in the shamanic healing traditions of the Americas, studying with the wisdom keepers from various indigenous communities. Marta's unique facilitation weaves together ancestral teachings and plant medicine wisdom, trauma integration, psychospiritual inquiry, embodiment practices, breathwork and the modern mind-body science. ​
about Bhakti
Bhakti is a path that invites us to experience ourselves and the world around us through the lens of the heart. It is a courageous call for us to remember and reclaim innate qualities of the soul that will in time reveal our inherent nature as love.
Chanting mantra is one of the ways that we can begin to access this source of heart and bliss, where sacred sound serves as the bridge to carry us home to our ultimate truth. The practice of chanting is a practice of cleansing the mirror of the heart from the debris of misconception so that it can reflect more clearly, the effulgent light of the soul.
It doesn’t ask for you to have experience in playing music or singing, and only that you open your heart to be moved and drop into the sweet space of call and response where you make room for the possibility that all you’ve been carrying thus far, needn’t be carried alone.


what to expect
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Intentional communion with Cacao
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Bhakti mantra chanting
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Sound Healing
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Meditation rooted in the embodied wisdom of the Himalayan Masters
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Andean offering ceremony with the wisdom keepers from the Q’ero Nation
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Trauma-sensitive psychospiritual inquiry
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Embodiment-oriented movement
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Movement to support pranic sensitivity and alignment
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Yoga Nidra
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Somatic sequences
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Breathwork
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Intentional group sharings
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Gentle space for rest and silence
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Bodywork treatments



