A preparation course valued at $109 is included with the retreat at no extra cost
5.0
Verified
Best retreat ever
This was everything I hoped it would be and more!
Low-dose Psilocybin and Meditation Retreat in Lake Atitlan
Top Rated
Low-dose Psilocybin and Meditation Retreat in Lake Atitlan
4.9050 reviews
Tzununa, Guatemala
Up to 2 in group
Open Dates
Retreat Highlights
- Legal
- Safe
- Personal, private, 1:1 care and attention
- Experienced and knowledgeable practitioners
- Purpose over profit: donation-based nonprofit
- Empowerment through education
About this Retreat
I am a mushroom grower, earth worker and spaceholder. I believe mushrooms are great teachers in our connection to ourselves, nature and the communities around us.
My job is to ensure a safe and compassionate container to allow you to fully immerse yourself in deep and profound experiences.
I have years of experience holding ceremony and will provide a grounding and stabilizing force that can support you in your own healing.
Parastoo grew up in Iran and later moved to Canada, where she lived for ten years before setting out as a world traveler. Along her journey she has immersed herself in different healing modalities and spiritual exploration, such as Yoga, meditation, bodywork, and the subtle practices of energy healing. She is a Yoga teacher, massage therapist, and Reiki practitioner, and trained in Ayurvedic massage at Lake Atitlán. Her path is also deeply shaped by Tantric wisdom, which honors life force energy as a gateway to presence, intimacy with the moment, and union of body, mind, and spirit.
Her own healing has been profoundly supported by psychedelic therapy, which has opened doorways of release, deep transformation, and remembrance. These experiences inspired her to step into the role of facilitator, carrying the medicine forward with reverence and a devotion to helping others discover their own inner wisdom.
Parastoo’s work weaves touch, breath, and subtle energy in a way that allows the body to soften and the heart to open. Her natural gift is creating safe and grounded spaces — people often feel at ease and held in her presence, which allows deeper processes of healing to unfold.
Siddiq, founding director of the association, grew up in Cape Town, South Africa. He has been exploring the intersections of nature connection, meditation, and psychedelic medicine for the last 15 years.
He is a scholarship winner of the Somatic Plant Medicine Integration certification and and Trauma-informed Plant Medicine Masterclass offered by Atira Tan. As signatory of the North Star ethics pledge for psychedelic practitioners, he is guided by integrity and sincerity as foundational principles in his work.
His approach to psychedelic assisted therapy is grounded in an ongoing intensive study of the latest clinical research from the leading universities in the world. Influenced by the pioneering work of Dr Gabor Mate and Dr Basel van der Kolk in uncovering the somatic dimensions of trauma, his toolkit is based in psychosomatic therapy and incorporates elements of Dr Peter Levine's Somatic Experiencing, Dr David Bercelli's Trauma Release Exercises, emotional release exercises from the Reichian tradition of body-based psychoanalysis, and breathwork-based methods of nervous-system autoregulation.
He has spent months on intensive silent retreat, focusing particularly on nature-based practices of embodied contemplation such as pilgrimage and wilderness rites of passage. He has developed relationships with many species of fungi, building bioreactors and countless compost piles to produce inoculum for feeding soil fertility, foraging for wild edible and medicinal mushrooms, fermenting food and drink with wild and cultivated aerobic and anaerobic fungi, and setting up a laboratory for cloning and growing wild and cultivated species for mycoprotien, mycogardening, and mycotherapy. He has grown intimate with the life-cycles of mushrooms, from spores to mycelium to fruit. His investigation of psychedelic fungi has led him to study the ethnomycological traditions of the world, from modern curanderos to precolonial Native Americans, Siberian shamans, ancient Greek Mysteries, all the way back to the ceremonial practices of our paleolithic ancestors.
Peyton has a deep love for mushrooms, both for their medicinal and culinary gifts. Her zeal for local, fresh, and wholesome cooking has led her to work with many species of mushrooms in the pursuit of cooking food that is nutritious for our bodies and spirit, blending vegan cuisine and herbalism. Beyond the kitchen, Peyton's political-social work is focused on regenerative food systems, research that led her into mycoforestry, foraging, and working with fungi for closed-loop systems.
Her appreciation for fungi in their culinary and ecological roles carries over and naturally flows into her reverence for fungi as medicine and teachers. As a lover of Life and a student of the Earth, she turns to plants and fungi as guides for remembering the truth of our nature. She has learned the magic of mushrooms after many years of working with them, serving them, and facilitating others' experiences.
Along with her explorations in Earth Medicines, Peyton has been practising Hatha Yoga for many years. In combining meditation into her daily religious practices, she has found psilocybin mushrooms to be extremely helpful for deeping meditative experiences, better understanding of the Self, and attuning with the Divine.
Details of this retreat
We are a nonprofit association offering legal, individual 1:1 psychedelic-assisted therapy sessions with magic mushrooms (Psilocybe cubensis) to those in need. We are graduates of Somatic Plant Medicine Integration certification and have completed professional training in the Trauma-informed Plant Medicine Masterclass offered by Atira Tan. We are signatories of the North Star ethics pledge for psychedelic practitioners, guided by integrity and sincerity as foundational principles in our work.
Based on the standard protocol for clinical practice developed by Johns Hopkins University, Imperial College London, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies and others, our sessions are conducted individually, in comfortable, quiet, cosy indoor environments, close to nature, with one or more monitors present at all times to offer non-intrusive, non-directive care and support. We invite individuals to embark on a long-term, multi-stage journey with us, in which the session itself is merely one phase.
Our approach is grounded in psychosomatic therapy and incorporates elements of Dr Peter Levine´s Somatic Experiencing, Dr David Bercelli´s Trauma Release Exercises, emotional release exercises from the Reichian tradition of body-based psychoanalysis, and breathwork-based methods of nervous-system autoregulation.
For more information about us and how we work, please consult mycosomaticmagic.com
Based on the standard protocol for clinical practice developed by Johns Hopkins University, Imperial College London, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies and others, our sessions are conducted individually, in comfortable, quiet, cosy indoor environments, close to nature, with one or more monitors present at all times to offer non-intrusive, non-directive care and support. We invite individuals to embark on a long-term, multi-stage journey with us, in which the session itself is merely one phase.
Our approach is grounded in psychosomatic therapy and incorporates elements of Dr Peter Levine´s Somatic Experiencing, Dr David Bercelli´s Trauma Release Exercises, emotional release exercises from the Reichian tradition of body-based psychoanalysis, and breathwork-based methods of nervous-system autoregulation.
For more information about us and how we work, please consult mycosomaticmagic.com
Schedule
To ensure the experience of everyone is as beneficial as possible, we do not host group retreats but invite individuals to embark on a long-term, multi-stage journey with us, in which the session itself is merely one phase.
During the intake phase, we conduct a thorough medical and psychological pre-screening process to ensure the safety of the experience for all candidates. Once applications are accepted and dates arranged, the preparation phase includes the presentation of introductory educational content, and an introductory video interview to get to know each other and to discuss intentions and upcoming steps.
We meet you at the site around 10 am. The session begins with a preparatory discussion, during which we set and record intentions, work through doubts and fears, and provide "flight instructions" about how to navigate any challenging experiences that may arise. We serve the medicine with a tea ceremony and guided meditation to help you drop into the experience. After the tea ceremony, we guide you through breathing exercises to relax and calm the mind as the effects begin to take hold.
Once you start feeling the effects more strongly, we provide earphones and eyeshades in order for you to immerse yourself in the experience.
After the initial and stronger waves of effects, we will lead you through a walking meditation. This can induce greater connection with your body and your sensuous connection to Nature. After an hour of the walking meditation, we'll bring you back into a guided meditation then go into the massage therapy. With the massage, we can focus on specific areas of pain or tension and guide you into a discovery of the memories or traumas stored there.
Once the effects subside, around 4 hours later, we provide opportunities for you to record the experience in writing or through audio. We close the session around 4pm.
During the intake phase, we conduct a thorough medical and psychological pre-screening process to ensure the safety of the experience for all candidates. Once applications are accepted and dates arranged, the preparation phase includes the presentation of introductory educational content, and an introductory video interview to get to know each other and to discuss intentions and upcoming steps.
We meet you at the site around 10 am. The session begins with a preparatory discussion, during which we set and record intentions, work through doubts and fears, and provide "flight instructions" about how to navigate any challenging experiences that may arise. We serve the medicine with a tea ceremony and guided meditation to help you drop into the experience. After the tea ceremony, we guide you through breathing exercises to relax and calm the mind as the effects begin to take hold.
Once you start feeling the effects more strongly, we provide earphones and eyeshades in order for you to immerse yourself in the experience.
After the initial and stronger waves of effects, we will lead you through a walking meditation. This can induce greater connection with your body and your sensuous connection to Nature. After an hour of the walking meditation, we'll bring you back into a guided meditation then go into the massage therapy. With the massage, we can focus on specific areas of pain or tension and guide you into a discovery of the memories or traumas stored there.
Once the effects subside, around 4 hours later, we provide opportunities for you to record the experience in writing or through audio. We close the session around 4pm.
Note: Schedule is approximate and may change
Getting Here
Mycosomatic Magic, Tzununa, Guatemala
Directions
We are located in a lush and vibrant valley in the mountains surrounding Lake Atitlan. The trip begins on the journey out here! Riding from Guatemala City to Lake Atitlan, the pace of life shifts and the landscape transforms, delivering you to a verdant paradise.
If you're flying into the country, you'll want to fly into Guatemala City. There are private shuttles that go from the airport to Panajachel, the major town on the lake. There are also public buses from Guatemala City to Panajachel or San Pedro La Laguna. Once in Panajachel or San Pablo, you can take a boat to Tzununa, where we will greet you! We can also organize a shuttle from the airport directly to our location.
If you're flying into the country, you'll want to fly into Guatemala City. There are private shuttles that go from the airport to Panajachel, the major town on the lake. There are also public buses from Guatemala City to Panajachel or San Pedro La Laguna. Once in Panajachel or San Pablo, you can take a boat to Tzununa, where we will greet you! We can also organize a shuttle from the airport directly to our location.
Accommodation
A private and quiet house, known as "The Cave" due to its location and structure which promote deep reflection and inward journeying.
Reservation Fee for retreat excludes accomodation
Venue & Amenities
A/C in Rooms
Free Wifi
Spa
Sauna
Pool
Towels
Free Parking
Kitchen
Tour Assistance
Hot Tub
Coffee/Tea
Cafe
Restaurant
Fitness Center
Yoga Studio
Housekeeping
Bicycles For Rent
Our locations are in natural, private sites in Tzununa, a village on the shores of beautiful lake Atitlan. The sound of the river flowing mingles with the sounds of the birds in the gardens which surround the building, providing a calm and uplifting environment for deep transformative experiences to emerge.
What's Included
- Introductory discovery call
- Full medical and psychological prescreening to ensure safety of applicants
- Educational content to assist with preparation
- 1:1 Facilitation throughout the day
- Guided seated and walking meditation
- Facilitated somatic practices
- Educational content to assist with integration
- Access to voluntary participation in scientific research
What's Not Included
- Travel to and from site
- Meals
- Accomodation
Customer Reviews
Verified
5.0
Verified
Difficult but very valuable experience
It was my first experience with mushroom and I am overall very happy with the session. Good preparation, organization and overall profesionalism. The session was handled very well by Malwina and I would definitely recommend her. I had a challenging but valuable experience. Thank you!
5.0
Verified
One of the most amazing healing experiences of my life!
I never thought I would one day try psychedelics. I don’t even smoke or drink alcohol.
But after experiencing burnout from work and feeling deeply unfulfilled in my personal life, I couldn’t get back on my feet.
I tried everything to reclaim a meaningful life and make progress on my goals: therapy, spiritual retreats... Things started to improve somewhat after attending some family constellation workshops, but nothing truly transformational.
Until one day I thought: What if it’s something biological?
After hearing about and witnessing the changes in someone who had taken mushrooms, I was blown away by their progress. I decided to try them myself, in a safe and legal way, with someone who spoke my language.
Communication with Siddiq was excellent and professional. And I can’t find enough words to thank my facilitator, Elena. She’s a wonderful person, deeply empathetic and talented. Her love for nature and her genuine desire to help others made my experience incredibly safe and effective.
As a bonus, her adorable little dog Cosmo accompanies you during the journey.
A few days after my two sessions, I started noticing positive changes in my personality: my excessive fear in risky situations vanished , it was the first time in my life I’d ever felt that. My appetite regulated itself, and cravings disappeared. The integration process continues, in a positive direction, and I wholeheartedly recommend this to anyone who wants to reclaim their life.
Forever grateful.
But after experiencing burnout from work and feeling deeply unfulfilled in my personal life, I couldn’t get back on my feet.
I tried everything to reclaim a meaningful life and make progress on my goals: therapy, spiritual retreats... Things started to improve somewhat after attending some family constellation workshops, but nothing truly transformational.
Until one day I thought: What if it’s something biological?
After hearing about and witnessing the changes in someone who had taken mushrooms, I was blown away by their progress. I decided to try them myself, in a safe and legal way, with someone who spoke my language.
Communication with Siddiq was excellent and professional. And I can’t find enough words to thank my facilitator, Elena. She’s a wonderful person, deeply empathetic and talented. Her love for nature and her genuine desire to help others made my experience incredibly safe and effective.
As a bonus, her adorable little dog Cosmo accompanies you during the journey.
A few days after my two sessions, I started noticing positive changes in my personality: my excessive fear in risky situations vanished , it was the first time in my life I’d ever felt that. My appetite regulated itself, and cravings disappeared. The integration process continues, in a positive direction, and I wholeheartedly recommend this to anyone who wants to reclaim their life.
Forever grateful.
3.0
Verified
Disorganized and terrible communication
Original Review: July 6, 2025
We didn’t hear from this organization after payment was done. We got an email saying “we would receive an intake call” and 9 days later nothing. I booked a one and one session for my 60 yr old mother. It was her first experience ever with mushrooms. I trusted that she would be in safe hands. The day of the session my mother didn’t know where to go, what time the session was, where or what diet she should have. She was unclear about what she was going to experience. It took several phone calls to get an answer. The day of! Not what I would have put my mother through. I don’t recommend Siddiq. The communication day of the therapy was non existent.
Retreat Response: July 29, 2025
While we are sorry that the reviewer experienced such dissatisfaction with the service we offered to her mother, it is important to make clear that this entire review is based on hearsay, as the reviewer never participated in any retreat with us, nor did she have any direct interaction with us. She also made a number of factually incorrect and damaging statements that it is important to clarify. Firstly, the claim that "there was no intake call as advertised" is incorrect. Her mother called me at 10:30 pm at night 3 days before the retreat to enquire about the preparation call. I responded immediately to arrange for a call the next day at an appropriate time. The next morning we had the preparation call, during which I explained to her all the information she needed to know, including the time and place of the retreat, what clothing to wear, what and when to eat before the retreat. I communicated everything she needed to know very clearly during this intake call. The claim that "it took several calls to get an answer" to these questions is therefore incorrect. On the morning of the retreat, her mother messaged me in a state of anxiety, asking about the same questions we had already discussed during the preparation call. It seemed she had forgotten, or was confused -- both of which are common and understandable occurrences for an elderly woman to experience, especially when traveling alone to a foreign place to undergo an unknown and emotionally intense experience for the first time. I called her and patiently explained again what I had said the first time. I then went to her hotel before the retreat and again addressed her questions regarding preparation, before arranging transport for her to get to the site of the retreat. The claim that "communication on the day of the therapy was non existent" is thus incorrect.
We put a lot of care into her mother´s retreat, and this clearly felt by her. In fact, the last message her mother sent me on the day of the retreat, after she had returned to her hotel for the evening, was "Thank you for your care. Blessings for everything".
We didn’t hear from this organization after payment was done. We got an email saying “we would receive an intake call” and 9 days later nothing. I booked a one and one session for my 60 yr old mother. It was her first experience ever with mushrooms. I trusted that she would be in safe hands. The day of the session my mother didn’t know where to go, what time the session was, where or what diet she should have. She was unclear about what she was going to experience. It took several phone calls to get an answer. The day of! Not what I would have put my mother through. I don’t recommend Siddiq. The communication day of the therapy was non existent.
Retreat Response: July 29, 2025
While we are sorry that the reviewer experienced such dissatisfaction with the service we offered to her mother, it is important to make clear that this entire review is based on hearsay, as the reviewer never participated in any retreat with us, nor did she have any direct interaction with us. She also made a number of factually incorrect and damaging statements that it is important to clarify. Firstly, the claim that "there was no intake call as advertised" is incorrect. Her mother called me at 10:30 pm at night 3 days before the retreat to enquire about the preparation call. I responded immediately to arrange for a call the next day at an appropriate time. The next morning we had the preparation call, during which I explained to her all the information she needed to know, including the time and place of the retreat, what clothing to wear, what and when to eat before the retreat. I communicated everything she needed to know very clearly during this intake call. The claim that "it took several calls to get an answer" to these questions is therefore incorrect. On the morning of the retreat, her mother messaged me in a state of anxiety, asking about the same questions we had already discussed during the preparation call. It seemed she had forgotten, or was confused -- both of which are common and understandable occurrences for an elderly woman to experience, especially when traveling alone to a foreign place to undergo an unknown and emotionally intense experience for the first time. I called her and patiently explained again what I had said the first time. I then went to her hotel before the retreat and again addressed her questions regarding preparation, before arranging transport for her to get to the site of the retreat. The claim that "communication on the day of the therapy was non existent" is thus incorrect.
We put a lot of care into her mother´s retreat, and this clearly felt by her. In fact, the last message her mother sent me on the day of the retreat, after she had returned to her hotel for the evening, was "Thank you for your care. Blessings for everything".
2.0
Verified
Terrible Communication
Original Review: July 6, 2025
I booked a one and one session for my 60 yr old mother. It was her first experience ever with mushrooms. I trusted that she would be in safe hands. There was no intake call as advertised, the day of the session my mother didn’t know where to go, what time the session was or what diet she should have. She was unclear about what she was going to experience. It took several phone calls to get an answer. Not what I would have put my mother through. I don’t recommend Siddiq. The communication day of the therapy was non existent. This caused so much anxiety and frustration after she had traveled several hours, booked a hotel, organized her schedule to have this experience.
Retreat's Response: July 29, 2025
While we are sorry that the reviewer experienced such dissatisfaction with the service we offered to her mother, it is important to make clear that this entire review is based on hearsay, as the reviewer never participated in any retreat with us, nor did she have any direct interaction with us. She also made a number of factually incorrect and damaging statements that it is important to clarify. Firstly, the claim that "there was no intake call as advertised" is incorrect. Her mother called me at 10:30 pm at night 3 days before the retreat to enquire about the preparation call. I responded immediately to arrange for a call the next day at an appropriate time. The next morning we had the preparation call, during which I explained to her all the information she needed to know, including the time and place of the retreat, what clothing to wear, what and when to eat before the retreat. I communicated everything she needed to know very clearly during this intake call. The claim that "it took several calls to get an answer" to these questions is therefore incorrect. On the morning of the retreat, her mother messaged me in a state of anxiety, asking about the same questions we had already discussed during the preparation call. It seemed she had forgotten, or was confused -- both of which are common and understandable occurrences for an elderly woman to experience, especially when traveling alone to a foreign place to undergo an unknown and emotionally intense experience for the first time. I called her and patiently explained again what I had said the first time. I then went to her hotel before the retreat and again addressed her questions regarding preparation, before arranging transport for her to get to the site of the retreat. The claim that "communication on the day of the therapy was non existent" is thus incorrect.
We put a lot of care into her mother´s retreat, and this clearly felt by her. In fact, the last message her mother sent me on the day of the retreat, after she had returned to her hotel for the evening, was "Thank you for your care. Blessings for everything".
I booked a one and one session for my 60 yr old mother. It was her first experience ever with mushrooms. I trusted that she would be in safe hands. There was no intake call as advertised, the day of the session my mother didn’t know where to go, what time the session was or what diet she should have. She was unclear about what she was going to experience. It took several phone calls to get an answer. Not what I would have put my mother through. I don’t recommend Siddiq. The communication day of the therapy was non existent. This caused so much anxiety and frustration after she had traveled several hours, booked a hotel, organized her schedule to have this experience.
Retreat's Response: July 29, 2025
While we are sorry that the reviewer experienced such dissatisfaction with the service we offered to her mother, it is important to make clear that this entire review is based on hearsay, as the reviewer never participated in any retreat with us, nor did she have any direct interaction with us. She also made a number of factually incorrect and damaging statements that it is important to clarify. Firstly, the claim that "there was no intake call as advertised" is incorrect. Her mother called me at 10:30 pm at night 3 days before the retreat to enquire about the preparation call. I responded immediately to arrange for a call the next day at an appropriate time. The next morning we had the preparation call, during which I explained to her all the information she needed to know, including the time and place of the retreat, what clothing to wear, what and when to eat before the retreat. I communicated everything she needed to know very clearly during this intake call. The claim that "it took several calls to get an answer" to these questions is therefore incorrect. On the morning of the retreat, her mother messaged me in a state of anxiety, asking about the same questions we had already discussed during the preparation call. It seemed she had forgotten, or was confused -- both of which are common and understandable occurrences for an elderly woman to experience, especially when traveling alone to a foreign place to undergo an unknown and emotionally intense experience for the first time. I called her and patiently explained again what I had said the first time. I then went to her hotel before the retreat and again addressed her questions regarding preparation, before arranging transport for her to get to the site of the retreat. The claim that "communication on the day of the therapy was non existent" is thus incorrect.
We put a lot of care into her mother´s retreat, and this clearly felt by her. In fact, the last message her mother sent me on the day of the retreat, after she had returned to her hotel for the evening, was "Thank you for your care. Blessings for everything".
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