Hands + Heart: A Sacred Healing + Art Retreat
November 14-23, 2025
Women's Andean Healing + Art Retreat in Otavalo + Mindo, Ecuador
Join us in the majestic mountains of Otavalo + tropics of Mindo, Ecuador for this fun, healing + creative experience. This deeply nourishing retreat is a sacred space for women to reconnect with their inner wisdom, release what no longer serves, and awaken their divine feminine power.
Through traditional healing practices, ancestral rituals, earth-based medicines, bodywork, and visits to sacred lagoons and waterfalls, we gather in sisterhood to heal, remember, and rise. Guided by experienced facilitators and the revered Andean healer Mama Mercedes, this journey invites you to restore harmony in body, mind, and spirit — supported by the Earth, the ancestors, and the loving power of the feminine.
Come home to yourself. You are held here.
Apply Now!Healing in sisterhood, honoring tradition
Hands + Heart: Healing + Art
Step into the sacred lands of the Ecuadorian Andes and cloud forest for a 10-day women’s retreat woven with ceremony, art, healing, and deep connection to nature. Guided by three powerful women — Michelle Reyna (Florida-based artist & healer with Ecuadorian roots), Katie of Allpa Mama Healing (shamanic guide & healer), and Mama Mercedes (beloved Otavalo curandera, midwife, and keeper of Andean healing traditions) — this retreat is a journey of remembrance through your hands and opening through your heart.
What You’ll Experience:
Traditional Andean Healing Practices
Receive limpias (energetic cleansings), herbal medicines, womb healing, and sacred rituals passed down through generations. Mama Mercedes will guide us in connecting with the powerful energies of the Apus (mountains) and sacred waters.
Nature Immersions
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Cuicocha Crater Lagoon – Hike & pray along her sacred shores.
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Peguche Waterfall – Visit this beautiful waterfall and the nearby caves where we can leave offerings.
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Mojanda Lagoon – Powerful healing ritual for purification and renewal.
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Mindo Cloud Forest – Explore lush waterfalls, cacao farms, and world-renowned birdwatching.
Art & Creativity
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Ceramic Workshop – Create your own ocarina instrument and copalera (ceramic pot for smuding) with master ceramicist Jorge Farinango.
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Beadwork with Katie & Michelle – Learn the art of beaded earrings, a meditative ancestral practice.
Healing & Bodywork
Enjoy self-massage workshops, traditional massage with Michelle & Mercedes, and practices to restore your nervous system and bring you back into balance.
Sacred Cacao Ceremony
In the cloud forest of Mindo, experience cacao in its purest form — from bean to cup — followed by a heart-opening cacao ceremony.
Locations
Otavalo > Mindo, Ecuador
We will be in a gorgeous house nestled in the Andes of Otavalo, surrounded by several powerful, sacred volcanoes. The house has a gorgeous view of the Taita Imbabura Volcano and Lake San Pablo.
Accommodations are comfortable with hot water, wifi, and shared rooms.
We offer fresh, local, organic meals and can cater to your dietary needs. We mainly serve vegetarian foods but also offer fish and chicken, and always have an assortment of fruits to snack on, as well as herbal teas + cacao.
In Mindo, we will be in another lovely home in the tropical forest near town.
There will be private + shared rooms, depending on the number of guests.
Sample Itinerary:
Day 1: Welcome! Arrive in the afternoon, around 12-2pm. We will enjoy a snack and get to know each other and the reteat house, lighting a fire to start our retreat. We will begin with a ceremony for Pachamama, a limpia (energetic cleansing), and plant bath ritual to begin the retreat honoring the sacred elements, the land, and begin the process of cleansing. Then, we will enjoy a home cooked meal.
Day 2: We will have a morning meditation and yoga session, enjoy breakfast, and then go to visit the famous artisan market in Otavalo. This is a fun place to explore different handicrafts from clothes, to jewelry, to instruments, and more. After this we will have lunch and go to Ibarra for a ceramic workshop, where we will make clay ocarinas, or small traditional whistle instruments, and copaleras, pots for smudging with herbs or palo santo. We will come back and enjoy a restful evening.
Day 3: We will start the morning with meditation, enjoy breakfast and then take a trip to Cotacachi to walk around the beautiful Cuicocha Lagoon. We can have lunch in town and then come back for bodywork sessions with Michelle and an herbal medicine workshop with Mama Mercedes and Katie, and a nice meal later on.
Day 4: Today we will start the day with meditation and yoga, enjoy breakfast, and take a trip to Otavalo to see the beautiful Peguche waterfall. We can also explore some the caves at this park and place offerings in a sacred cave. We will return to the house, have lunch and have a workshop about mind/body/spirit healing with Katie. Dinner at night.
Day 5: Again we will start the day with yoga and meditation, enjoy breakfast, and go to visit Peguche waterfall and sacred caves. We will walk around this area, get a tour of the caves and bring offerings for the energies of these places. We will then return to the house, have lunch, and enjoy a workshop with Mama Mercedes about the Andean cosmovision.
Day 6: Today we will have meditation in the morning, enjoy breakfast, and then have a self-massage workshop with Michelle. We will enjoy lunch and then go to the sacred Lagoon Mojanda for a special healing ritual with Mama Mercedes. Dinner later.
Day 7: Today we will travel a few hours to the lush, tropical valley of Mindo. We will take a tour at a Cacao farm and see how this sacred medicine is produced. Later, we will have a Cacao ceremony for healing.
Day 8: We will have morning meditation, breakfast and then Katie and Michelle will lead a beading workshop. We will make a pair of our own beaded earrings. Then, we can have a free day to hike and see waterfalls in Mindo, and enjoy a meal in the town.
Day 9: Today we will have an early start to join for a birdwatching tour, exploring nature and getting to see gorgeous, tropical birds. Later, we will relax and integrate at the house, share meals and have a small ritual to close the retreat.
Day 10: We will have breakfast, and depart around 10am.
ALTHOUGH THIS IS THE BASIC PLAN, WHEN WORKING WITH MAMA MERCEDES, THINGS USUALLY POP UP WHICH MAKE THE EXPERIENCE EVEN MORE SPONTANEOUS AND FUN. BE OPEN TO SOME POSSIBLE CHANGES.
Apply Now!Guest Testimonials:
"I decided to come to Ecuador to work with Katie- not really sure what to expect but trusting it would bring me help for a variety of things I was interested in improving in my life. I was part of a women’s retreat with 3 other women and Katie, who was there for mentorship and by the end of the retreat, friendship! The bonds we made that 9 days as a group were wonderful and unlike anything I’ve experienced in my life- nature, food, and outings were a part of it as well. Come with an open heart and expect to be changed. Katie is a wonderful soul who organizes and also does much of the healing work along with visits from an intuitive Ecuadorian healer, Mercedes. They also brought in a wonderful curandero, Germán, one night from the Amazon who was wonderful as well. Lastly, Ecuador is an incredible place to visit. The people and the natural landscape are something else to spend time with!"
- Lauren, 2023
The connection with the plants, the rituals, the nature, and the community opened something inside me that I had long forgotten. I left feeling clearer, lighter, and more connected to myself, my purpose, and the world around me. I’m beyond grateful for this experience and can’t recommend it enough to anyone feeling called to reconnect with their spirit and the natural world. Thank you thank you thank you!"
Mama Mercedes
Mama Mercedes is an indigenous ancestral medicine healer from Imbabura Province, near Otavalo. Since she was a young girl, she began working with her special gifts, learning from her grandmother how to work with herbal medicines, traditional midwifery, and energy healing. She has the unique ability to be able to see the problems and illnesses of others, and cures these issues with plants, massage, and energy cleansings and ritual baths. She was elected president of the traditional midwifery organization of Otavalo and is a leader in the indigenous community. She is a woman of wisdom with a big heart and a great laugh.
Michelle Reyna
Michelle is a licensed massage therapist with six years of experience, specializing in Shiatsu, somatic therapy, and myofascial release. Her practice has recently deepened through the integration of Vedic Thai massage and Sarga. Her approach is rooted in conscious touch- a practice that invites stillness, vulnerability, and deep reconnection. In addition to bodywork, she is the artist behind Wild Mar, a devotional beadwork practice rooted in earth connection and ancestral memory. Her pieces are handcrafted slowly, with care and intention. Beadwork for Michelle, is not just a craft- it's a meditative act of embodiment, a way of listening with the hands, and a prayerful return to what is sacred.
Katie
Founder of this center, a spiritual medicine guide, and ceremonialist of Wachuma, San Pedro. Born in the US, she has been walking the spiritual path with plant medicines for 8 years and holding space in ceremonies and retreats for 6 years. She has studied under the guidance of her partner Miguel, a mestizo shaman in Andean + Shuar lineage, as well working with Mama Mercedes, an indigenous Kichwa Andean healer and midwife. Her role at the healing center is to lead, guide, and empower people to reconnect with themselves, Spirit and Mother Earth.
With a loving and compassionate nature, her wish is for everyone to experience the magic of love and self-healing through different elements, including sacred plants.
In addition to healing work she also is a bead artist, making beaded jewelry inspired by spirituality and her love for the earth, under the shop name Earth Weavings.
How do we get there?
What is the weather like?
What should I bring?
How big are the groups?
What is the cancellation policy?
How to sign up:
1. Fill out the application
2. We will respond within a day or two via email. If you don't hear back within a day or two, email: [email protected] or contact Katie in WhatsApp: +593 96-754-8223.
3. From there, we will see if you are a good fit and you can pay the deposit to reserve your spot!
4. There are payment plans available.
Retreat Price
$2444 USD
Early bird until September 14th (then $2666)
Includes:
- All healing work
- Transportation during retreat
- All meals + accomodations
Does not include:
- Airfare + insurance
- Transportation to/from retreat + the airport (this will be arranged, but is an extra $20-$40 or so each way).
- Any items you'd like to buy at the market