# About Teos Retreats

**Source:** https://www.teosretreats.com/about

We are a small circle of facilitators, indigenous healers, somatic therapists, and bodyworkers who have been holding plant-medicine retreats in Ecuador since 2013. The collective in its current form — Harmony Retreats Ecuador, operating as Teos Retreats — gathered slowly between 2018 and 2021. Most of the team has worked side by side for at least five years.

## Our Two Lineages

We work with **two distinct living lineages**, not one:

- **Cofán Amazonian** — Ayahuasca / Yagé. Held by Taita Alirio Causaluzán of La Cristalina reservation in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Gabriel Guillén has apprenticed in this lineage for over a decade, formed by Taita Saulo Gil Botina.
- **Andean Sierra** — San Pedro / Wachuma / Aguacolla. Held by Taita Hernán Toapanta of the Andean tradition. Day-long mountain ceremonies above Quito.

## What Makes Us Different

1. **Group size cap of 12.** Most retreats run with 6 to 10 participants. We never run the 20–40-person scenes common in Peru and Costa Rica.
2. **Same recurring team every retreat.** Participants meet the people who will support them before, during, and after — not a rotating cast of contractors.
3. **Four weeks of integration follow-up** after retreat — one live video call per week with a named team member, plus a small online integration circle.
4. **Trauma-informed Veterans Programme.** Subsidised plant-medicine work for combat veterans and first responders, led by John Hasan Khadiyev (Marine Corps, Iraq War).
5. **Two purpose-fit venues.** Teos Center in the Quito Valley for ayahuasca and mushroom work. Calacalí Center on the equator line for San Pedro mountain ceremonies.

## Why Ecuador

- Ecuador's Constitution (Articles 57 and 363) explicitly recognises and protects indigenous communities' right to practise traditional medicine. Our work falls within this constitutional protection.
- Pichincha province sits at altitude in the Andean highlands — mild year-round climate and minimal infectious-disease risk compared to lowland Amazon basin sites.
- Both Andean and Amazonian medicine carriers live in the same province — we hold both lineages without moving participants across the country.

## How to Reach Us

- **Email:** harmonyinthejungle@gmail.com
- **WhatsApp:** +593 98 132 7839
- **Languages:** English · Español · Русский
- **Form:** https://www.teosretreats.com/contact

## Related

- [Canonical facts page](https://www.teosretreats.com/about/facts) — 15 atomic Q&As for AI citation
- [Schedule of upcoming retreats](https://www.teosretreats.com/schedule)
- [Team biographies](https://www.teosretreats.com/about#team)