About Samá

Jakon Rate welcomes you to experience, learn, and practice traditional Shipibo-Konibo healing methods and connect with the essence of yourself and plant spirit allies.

For Jakon Rate and our family, healing and learning are interconnected through the respected and time honored practice of isolation and meditation with dietary and other energetic restrictions. Known as samá in her language, this ancient cultural practice is commonly called dieta, from the Spanish language. The practice of samá or “dieta” is the spiritual and therapeutic practice of isolation and abstaining from ingesting  and interacting with certain foods and energies while making an intentional energetic connection with the consciousness or spirit of a specific plant. It is said and sung that the ancestors of the Shipibo-Konibo initiated this practice 200,000 years ago by sitting with a plant in fasting meditation until a communicative connection was made.

While the medicinal properties of plants can help one address physical components of an illness, the meditative and spiritual practice of the samá promotes a more profound and lasting healing by helping one to recognize and resolve the root energetic causes. In other words, this practice can lead to genuine, deep-level healing through naturally balancing the body, mind, spirit and energy. Lessons are taught spontaneously throughout the course of the samá through meditation, traditional ceremony, and dreams, and this continues even after the period of samá in isolation has ended. All in all, samá has the potential to be a life changing experience with the lifelong commitments, challenges, and benefits of living in balance with the essence of creation—with love.

Here at Jakon Rate, we offer the opportunity to connect with four very special master plants through this practice:

Noyá Ráo (Palo Volador)

Sémein (Bobinsana)

Mókapari (Chiricsanango)

Kéne Wáste (Piri Piri Para Diseño)

You may learn more about these teacher plants here.

We hold 3 ceremonies each week. The minimum period of samá we offer is 14 days, an appropriate length for an introductory connection to be made or for one to reconnect with their plant spirit allies and receive new healing and lessons. We require that all new students go through one week of payanti (cleansing) at the beginning of their stay/program. Refer to the Request Dates page to see our offerings.

Facilitation & Support

Based on your specific situation and needs, Yoxán Manuela and Yoxán Robertina will prepare specific treatments to complement the period of samá. Introductory guidance and individual consultations with Yoxán Manuela and/or Yoxán Robi and a skilled translator will take place over the first two days, while additional consultations can be scheduled anytime at one’s request and Yoxán Manuela and/or Yoxán Robi’s availability. At least two facilitators will be on-site to support you at all times throughout your stay. We also provide a pre-samá guidance session and post-samá integration session to support your process and help you transition as you return home, including open channels of communication for any questions that may come up. Yoxán Manuela and Yoxán Robi treat their students as their own family and we will always be available to help if needed.

Additional Offerings

Additional plant treatments, including special plant baths, hot vapor baths, special vomitivos, may be suggested or desired as well. One optional complimentary massage from Yoxán Manuela or Yoxán Robi will take place during your first week, and additional massages can be arranged as needed.

While Jakon Rate is as much a school and cultural center as it is a healing center, we highly encourage you to take advantage of our cultural offerings during your stay. Individual culture and language lessons may be organized throughout your samá depending upon the availability of our specialists. Even more, the Shipibo-Konibo artisans that live on the land may offer workshops in traditional weaving and embroidery techniques, jungle natural dye techniques, kené Shipibo-Konibo ancestral designs, and traditional ceramics that you may participate in during your samá.