Return to the Sacred. Reconnect with the Earth. Remember Your Heart.
A 7-day immersive pilgrimage in the sacred lands of Guatemala — weaving Mayan ancient wisdom, sacred cacao, nature, and spirit.
Sacred Roots Retreat
This is more than a retreat — it’s a pilgrimage of remembrance.
Step into the sacred lands of Guatemala, guided by the spirit of cacao and the ancestral wisdom of the Maya.
From the volcanic depths of Lake Atitlán to the crystalline waters of Semuc Champey, you are invited to reconnect to the earth, awaken your inner guidance, and commune with spirit, anchored in the ancient wisdom of the land and her biocultural heritage.
You will be held in:
• Ceremonial cacao journeys guided by ancestral tradition
• The ethnobotany of cacao — plant as teacher, medicine, and ally
• Wisdom teachings from Indigenous Maya elders
• Sacred Maya Fire Ceremony — ancestral offering and prayer
• River and lake immersions for cleansing, grounding, and connection
• Teachings on the Maya worldview for deepening your bond with Earth
• Integration circles, storytelling, and stillness — space for weaving it all within
The Pilgrimage
This journey will lead us to two sacred sites revered by the Maya people for generations as spaces of healing, connection, and transformation. These sacred lands are not just beautiful landscapes; they are living entities that hold the stories, rituals, and wisdom of our ancestors. We will tap into the wisdom of the spirit of the land, and learn from the elemental forces of nature, interwoven into the fabric of the rich culture and history of the Mayas.
A unique journey into the heart of nature where Earth wisdom, Ix Cacao, and ancient Mayan spiritual teachings converge.
Lake Atitlan
Lake Atitlán, often called the Belly Button of the Earth, lies cradled within the Guatemayan highlands. Surrounded by majestic volcanoes —San Pedro, Atitlán, and Tolimán— and vibrant traditional Mayan villages, it sits atop an immense bed ofobsidian, the sacred volcanic glass. This unique landscape forms a potent energetic portal, inviting healing, deep transformation, introspection, and a profound connection toancestral wisdom.
Semuc Champey
A hidden gem tucked deep in the Guatemayan jungle — where turquoise waters cascade gracefully over ancient limestone bridges, forming a natural stairway of crystalline pools. This sacred river is a site of deep purification and spiritual communion with the water spirits. For the Q’eqchi’ Maya people, it holds profound spiritual significance. Countless ceremonies and ancestral rituals have been performed in these sacred waters, honouring both the spirits of the land and those who walked it before.
The Spirit of Cacao
Cacao is far more than a drink or a passing trend in the wellness world — it is a revered plant teacher, a sacred bridge to the heart, and a potent ancestral medicine.
On this journey, you will be guided through deep cacao ceremonies and teachings rooted in Maya cosmology. Together, we’ll explore the ethnobotany and origin story of cacao, connecting with it not merely as a substance, but as a living spirit — one that has walked with humanity for generations.
You’ll learn to work with cacao as a powerful ally for emotional healing, heart awakening, and spiritual connection, honoring the ancient wisdom she carries through time.
Held with integrity and reciprocity, this experience is deeply woven into the worldview of the Indigenous peoples of this land, whose sacred relationship with cacao is both ancestral and alive today.
From seed to cup, you will have the opportunity to connect with cacao’s full expression — from her fruit and leaves to her ancient ceremonial drink — a vessel of myth, memory, and medicine. This is a journey into the mystical origins of her spirit, and the shamanic practices that reveal her enduring significance for humanity.
What’s Included
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7 days / 6 nights accommodation in two sacred sites
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All meals (local, organic, vegetarian)
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Guided ceremonies and rituals with local and international facilitators
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Transportation between retreat locations
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Entry to Semuc Champey
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Cacao for ceremonies and personal use
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Study book
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Optional one-on-one guidance or extra activities
As part of our commitment to aligning words with actions, we travel with intention and responsibility. This journey is designed not only for personal transformation but also to support the land and communities that welcome us.
As such, a portion of your contribution goes directly toward impact tourism initiatives — supporting local regenerative projects, Indigenous-led efforts, and environmental restoration, ensuring that our presence nurtures rather than extracts.
*Not included: Flights to/from Guatemala, personal travel insurance, tips
Please Note:
We are not including the shuttle from the airport to Lake Atitlán, as participants will be arriving from different locations at different times.
However, if you’d like assistance arranging your transport from the airport, feel free to contact us directly — we’re happy to help coordinate it for you!
Sacred Roots Retreat
This retreat is for you if you feel the call to:
- Reconnect with the Earth and your own heart
- Sit with Indigenous elders and sacred traditions
- Work deeply with cacao and ceremonial plant wisdom
- Activate your intuition and inner vision
- Take a break from digital life and listen to nature’s rhythm
Charlotte Nieuwenhuis
Charlotte is an Earth guardian, regenerative systems designer, and biocultural philanthropist, as well as the founder of Heart to Earth.
She has dedicated her life to bridging the ancient with the emerging, cultivating a deeper bond with the Earth, and reestablishing the sacredness of life through reciprocity, integrity, and responsibility.
Over the past decade, Charlotte has journeyed across four continents, living among Indigenous communities whose wisdom and ways of life have profoundly shaped her. These experiences have led her to embrace a worldview rooted in animism — where all of life is seen as sentient, interconnected, and worthy of reverence.
She holds a deep reverence for plant spirits, and through Heart to Earth, she upholds a vision where the biocultural heritage of cacao is preserved and its ancestral seeds honored and celebrated.
She brings this pilgrimage to light as a way to share the deep heritage of cacao, in the hope of inspiring greater respect for this plantcestor and honoring the cultures and peoples who have shaped her path.
Shayne Zal-Arora
Shayne Zal-Arora is of Indian descent and connected with the spirit of cacao 5 years ago when he decided to give up alcohol, reclaiming a sovereign life free from addiction and intoxication. Working with cacao has changed his life in precious ways, bringing a greater sense of communion and relationality into his lifestyle, mindset and community engagement practices. With this novel sense, he embarked on a mission of shifting the paradigm in the ways we consume by integrating devotional, intentional and alchemical practices into everyday life. He does so through services called Conscious Consumption.
Shayne has curated and co-created events in Canada and other places in the world and is a specialist in community relations. He has been invited to facilitate impactful large group processes of up to 700 people. Over the years, thousands of cups of cacao have been served through Conscious Consumption, acting as a vessel for the people of the North-East to access ancestral cacao.
Conscious Consumption is a proud partner of Heart to Earth and will be supporting the retreat with mindful nourishment, mediation, and integrative practices for participant well-being.
Nana Izabel and Tata Izaias
Nana Izabel Pérez and Tata Izaias Sajvin Mendoza are esteemed Maya wisdom keepers and fire shamans from San Marcos La Laguna, Guatemala, daykeepers of the Tzolkin Calendar.
Together, they have walked the spiritual path for over twenty years, weaving their complementary gifts into ceremonies that blend fire ritual, cacao medicine, and Mayan cosmology. Their mission is to rescue, preserve, and share the wisdom of the Mayas, ceremonial practice, and the ancient heart medicine of cacao, ensuring it remains rooted in community, responsibility, and respect.
At the retreat, their presence will offer an immersive heart-opening journey through cacao ceremony attuned to the Tz’olk’in calendar and an ancestral fire ritual. This is a rare opportunity to receive ancestral wisdom directly from two keepers deeply grounded in Maya tradition, and to engage with cacao as a portal to healing, remembrance, and reawakening of sacred bonds.
Doña Elsa y Don Hector
Doña Elsa and Don Hector are stewards of an ancestral lineage rooted in the sacred relationship between cacao, Earth, and community. As Maya wisdom keepers and dedicated cacao growers, their life’s work is a living expression of cultural revival — tending to the seeds of tradition while guiding others back into connection with the land and the heart.
During this Sacred Roots pilgrimage, they offer teachings that awaken our awareness of the web of life we are part of — deepening our sense of interconnectivity with nature and inviting us to remember our sacred role within it. Through their grounded presence and ancestral wisdom, they remind us what it means to walk this Earth in right relationship — in reverence, humility, and reciprocity.
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