From Personal Healing to Shared Responsibility
Integrity. Presence. Continuity.
AMAAYAHUASCA was born from a call of the medicine
Background to the Founder
My name is Maria Ursina Balastèr, born in 1975 in Switzerland. I am a registered nurse, shaped by years of working within the healthcare system and by a deep understanding of both its strengths and its limitations.
In January 2020, I traveled to Iquitos, Peru, for the first time. What began as a search for healing became a life changing encounter. Over the course of several retreats and dietas, I experienced profound physical, emotional, and spiritual restoration. The medicine quite literally saved my life and returned to me both quality and vitality.
Precisely because of my medical background, my trust in this healing process is grounded and clear. Ayahuasca and the accompanying diets opened a path that modern medicine alone could not offer, a path of deep remembrance, reconnection, and embodied truth.
What began as an individual healing journey gradually unfolded into something that extended beyond my own life.
From Personal Healing to Shared Responsibility
Amaayahuasca arose naturally from this experience. It was not planned, but guided. Guided by the medicine, by the teachings of the Amazon, and by a growing devotion to serve this work with integrity and humility.
At Amaayahuasca, I am responsible for the organization, communication, and the personal accompaniment of participants before, during, and after the ceremonies. The ceremonial and shamanic work is held by carefully selected curanderos and curanderas rooted in the Shipibo tradition, whose knowledge and lineage are treated with the utmost respect.
Before this journey, I had never been to South America. My perception of the continent was open and unconditioned. During my first ceremony in the Swiss mountains, visions of animals appeared, beings of the earth, the waters, the air, and the light. Only later did I understand that they belonged to the Amazon rainforest, the living home of the Ayahuasca medicine itself.
Amaayahuasca exists to create a safe, grounded, and respectful space, honoring tradition, protecting the medicine, and supporting those who feel called to walk this path of inner transformation.
From this inner transformation, the need for a physical space emerged naturally.
The Center and Its Development
The center in the Peruvian Amazon is established and operational. It continues to grow through refinement, structural development and lived experience on the land. Development unfolds consciously and step by step, ensuring that safety, integrity and intention remain aligned.
Initial internal retreat cycles have already been held, allowing for learning, calibration and strengthening of the processes. These early experiences form the foundation for the next phase of development, grounded in continuity rather than expansion.
With the physical foundation established, the next step became refinement through lived practice.
Pilot Phase 2026
The year 2026 marks a conscious pilot phase. Retreats are intentionally small and carefully guided, allowing space for refinement, attentive integration and steady development. The focus lies on strengthening structure, safety and continuity rather than on growth.
This phase serves to deepen lived experience within the established center and to align practical processes with the deeper intention of the work. Each retreat cycle contributes to learning, calibration and responsible maturation.
Amaayahuasca evolves through practice, reflection and commitment. Development follows integrity and long term dedication.
This work is not carried by one person alone.
Meet the Team
Amaayahuasca is held by a small and dedicated team working in close collaboration. The ceremonial space is carried within the Shipibo tradition, while the organizational and integrative framework is guided with medical awareness and responsibility. Daily life at the center is supported by our family team, whose quiet presence forms the foundation of stability and care.
Each role is distinct, yet the work is shared. The focus lies not on individual prominence, but on coherence, humility and continuity.
Maestro Guillermo
Shaman | Master of Ceremonies | 20 years of experience
Ursina Balastér
Founder | General Lead
The Family
Kitchen | Accommodation | Daily Life