The Way
of the Heart
45 HR Cacao, Music Medicine
& Sacred Space Facilitator Training
May 4th - 8th 2026
Ubud, Bali
Connect with ancestral wisdom
We welcome you to a nourishing and transformational retreat where the sacred meets the practical - an invitation to remember and strenghten your role as a wisdom & earth keeper. Discover the ways to bring the sacred into your daily life as well as share it with those around you.
This will be a gathering of like-hearted spirits, where we will explore the ancient and universal tools of ritual, chants, and prayer. The medicines of cacao, sacred fire and music will be our close allies during these days. Through hands-on experiences, teachings, and guided practices, you will learn how to create beautiful and potent ceremonies for various occassions - for yourself, your community, or those you serve.
Let us walk the path of ceremony together!
Sacred gatherings are not a luxury.
They are a necessity.
For eons, our ancestors have gathered in sacred spaces. In front of the altar, around the fire, at times accompanied by chants and songs.
Sacred spaces remind us who we are beneath the noise of the modern world. We come to the circle to remember of the power of community, of prayer, and of music.
We gather not to escape the world, but to remind each other that we were never meant to carry it alone.
If you’ve been longing for a place to reconnect,
join us in this reclamation of ancestral ways.
This training is for you if you:
âž³ Long to connect more deeply with your voice, your presence, and your inner guidance
âž³ Feel the call to learn how to hold sacred space with integrity for others or simply for yourself
âž³ Are interested in earth-based spiritual traditions and want to approach them with respect and humility
âž³ Crave time in community with like-hearted souls, remembering what it means to walk with reverence
âž³ Are a space holder or aspiring guide wanting to enrich your offerings with music, ceremony, ritual, Cacao and/or other Earth wisdom inspired work.
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You could be a yoga & meditation teacher, musician, sound healer, women's or men's circle facilitator, mental health specialist, working with families & children, and feeling the call to bring the medicine of cacao, chants, or sacred spaces for those you serve.
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Or you might simply be curious and feeling a desire to learn more about these ancient ways & practices.
Whether you're an experienced facilitator, just beginning your journey, or simply want to to enrich your daily life, this space is designed to meet you where you are. ✨
What you will learn & experience
The Medicine of Cacao
Learn in depth how to work with the heart-opening medicine cacao. You’ll be guided through the preparation, ceremonial use, and energetic understanding of this sacred medicine, including practical recipes and ceremonial techniques. Indigenous wisdom from where the healing plant comes from is highlighted through Juan's path of direct learning from elders in Peru & Guatemala.
Sacred Fire Keeping Arts
Explore the basics of fire keeping - the tools that are needed, offerings to be made, and the difference between sacred fire and campfires. Drawn from Juan's experience from the past decades, and Native American wisdom from indigenous elders.
Sacred Space & Altar Creation
Discover how to create altars and ceremonial spaces with depth and integrity. Learn the foundational principles of space holding: presence, intention, reciprocity, devotion, reverence and personal practice. Explore cultural perspectives and practical tools for designing sacred space, both physically and energetically.
Wisdom Transmissions & Hands-On Practices
An array of practices will accompany us to embody the teachings and feel it in our physical beings. Ancient wisdom from different cultures will be highlighted and transmitted, as well as embodiment sessions to not only understand with our minds, but also embody the tools.
Music as a Tool for Healing & Connection
Explore sacred chants as ways of healing and connection. You’ll be gently guided through practices to free your natural expression - through vocal activation, intuitive singing and diverse chants, medicine music & mantras alongside instruments like shamanic drums, shruti box, rattles, singing bowls and guitar. Suitable for all musical levels!
Community & Integration
We believe that sacred spaces don’t end when the altar is closed. It is there where the actual work and journey begins, as we bring it into our everyday lives. That’s why we include time for integration, reflection, and community support through a Whatsapp group to connect before and after the training.
Daily Schedule
Here is an example of what our days together will look like
(subject to change):​
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Mornings
9-10 am: Morning Practice
(Meditation, Qi Gong, Embodiment, Voice Activation ...)
10-11am: Morning Circle & Check-In
11-12pm: Morning Wisdom Transmission
~ 1 hour organic lunch buffet break ~
Afternoons
1-3pm: Afternoon Wisdom Transmission
3-3:30pm: Tea Break
3:30-5:30pm: Evening Ceremony
(Fire, Tea, Cacao, or Balinese Ceremony)
5:30-6:30pm: Closing Circle & Integration
Your Guides
Juan and Purnama are dedicated to create soulful spaces where music & ceremony beautifully intertwine.
Together, they bring a unique fusion Eastern and Western wisdom, Asia and South America, feminine and masculine.
They have facilitated hundreds of ceremonies in Europe, Asia and the Americas, in public spaces for festivals, venues or high-end retreats, and in private spaces for families & rites of passages, together and on their own.
Juan
... is a medicine musician, fire keeper, ceremonialist, Cacao carrier and community weaver from Argentina.
With over 14 years of experience in holding sacred space, his path is deeply rooted in the Andean and Mayan traditions, community rituals, and ancestral wisdom. He has learned with revered indigenous elders from Guatemala about cacao and sacred fire, among them Nana Marina Cruz and her family, and Peruvian Q'eros. His lineage includes his grandmother in Northern Argentina, who passed down Quechua values and ceremonial ways since his childhood.
He has curated Ceremony spaces for diverse occasions and collaborated with other ceremonialists, musicians and healers from different traditions, and he is also a certified yoga teacher, permaculture designer, and trauma-informed plant medicine facilitator.
Purnama
... is a Balinese-Swiss singer-songwriter, ceremonialist and voice liberation guide, as well as a certified yoga teacher & sound healer.
Descended from a Balinese family of priest and temple keepers, her spaces are infused with the ancient wisdom of her ancestors. Together with her family, she hosts regular Balinese culture immersions.
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Her passion is to awaken the voice and reconnect people to their natural, intuitive expression and their inner wisdom.
For the past 7 years, Purnama has been teaching Balinese as well as Vedic & Yoga philosophy in trainings & retreats around the world, leads regular women's circles , and has supported many different ceremonies of other native traditions with revered teachers, as well as kirtans and other sacred spaces with international musicians.
Our ceremonies have been featured at:
Testimonials
Nhi Nhi Le​
Mediation Teacher & Retreat Facilitator
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joined Altar Alchemy at Alchemy Yoga Center Ubud in 2024
Elvina Ensh
Zouk Dance Teacher & Retreat Facilitator
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joined Altar Alchemy at Alchemy Yoga Center Ubud in 2024
Juan's magical cacao medicine workshop is like going back to learning cacao medicine alchemy in the way our ancient ancestors use to create it.
One of my intentions I set at the beginning was to remember, learn how to make cacao in the way that honors mother earth and its sacred medicine. I received my intentions plus more.
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Through Juan's teachings, my soul remembered the way the ancients use to cook, sing, heal one another through song, plants as medicine particularly with the sacred cacao. The workshop is absolutely beautiful, eye opening and heartwarming.
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Juan is the real deal in the way he honors cacao and mother earth with such beautiful intentions, prayers through song whilst preparing the scared cacao with pure love, respect and appreciation for it, as a beautiful ceremony before, during and after making the cacao.
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I feel so blessed and honored to have Juan share his life's knowledge, love and dedication to this amazing cacao medicine. His cacao is the best I've ever had and I'm incredibly blessed and honored to learn from the master. I'm so grateful that now I can make it too in the proper way, and I'm excited to explore my journey with cacao, and create my own recipes with my own love, gratitude, heart and soul essence added to it.
Thank you so much Juan for receiving the call to share your gifts, and for your time and beautiful energy making the most beautiful fire, altar and cacao ceremony that honors mother earth I've ever seen. I'm deeply humbled and grateful to be one of your many students around the world, spreading the love of cacao to experience it in the real, sacred way.
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Thank you for the most beautiful Cacao medicine workshop in the world.
Jane Inury-Stri
joined a Cacao workshop in Ubud
The Venue
In the heart of the island of Gods
Our journey will unfold at Swasti Eco Cottages, a quiet sanctuary nestled in the heart of Ubud, within the walkable village of Nyuh Kuning.
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The word Swasti in Sanskrit means healing, abundance, and prosperity - a perfect reflection of the energy this land holds. Spread across a sprawling garden of palms and flowers, the property invites you to slow down, breathe deeply, and return to the rhythm of the Earth.
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Each day, we’ll share a nourishing organic buffet lunch, prepared with love from Swasti’s own garden and local farms - vibrant, high-vibe, and full of life force to support our journey with cacao, sacred sound, and the Way of the Heart.​​
Why we choose & love Swasti:
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↠Tucked into a lush 7,000 m² tropical garden, with stone pathways under flowering trees, Balinese architecture and a salt-water pool - creating an immersive natural sanctuary.
↠The property has been designed with sustainability in mind: their organic garden supplies much of the food, and the restaurant is farm-to-table: The food that they lovingly prepare is mostly grown on-site.
↠The intimate & cocoon-like shala with 360° garden view provide the ideal space for our daily practices and ceremonies.
↠It’s a quiet oasis yet a short stroll from the vibrant centre of Ubud - close enough to all the comfort, shopping and luxuries of the town, yet removed enough to step into stillness.​​
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You are welcome to stay directly on-site, immersed in the serene atmosphere of the retreat center, or at one of the many nearby accommodations within walking distance.​
Investment
Super Early Bird
555€
Regular investment 788€ - save 288€ if you are one of the first 4 sign ups
âž³ 5 days of guidance
âž³ Daily organic buffet lunch
âž³ Tea breaks
âž³ Sacred Fire, Cacao & Water Purification Ceremonies
âž³ Printed songbook and guides
âž³ WhatsApp group for pre- and post-immersion support and to stay connected with the community
âž³ Welcome gift
Not included in the rates are:
• Flights & airport transfers
• Accommodation, Breakfast & Dinner
Scholarship Option
322€
Regular investment 788€ - save 466€ Only 2 spots at this price
We offer 2 scholarship spots for those who have financial difficulties but would love to participate in this training and retreat.
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Please fill out the form below and why you think it should be you to receive this space!
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We will get back to you as soon as possible
Not included in the rates are:
• Flights & airport transfers
• Accommodation, Breakfast & Dinner
Pay in Installments
200€
Pay 200€ now to secure your spot and the rest before the training starts
We offer the possibility to pay in installments.
Not included in the rates are:
• Flights & airport transfers
• Accommodation, Breakfast & Dinner
Get in Touch
If you have any burning questions or are unsure whether this is the right fit, please send a message to us, and we will get back to you as soon as possible!
“Ritual affirms the common patterns, the values, the shared joys, risks, sorrows, and changes that bind a community together. Ritual links together our ancestors and descendants, those who went before with those will come after us.”
Starhawk
