The Truth About Holding Space For Others

As I lay in my bed, in my Tambu (cabin) in the jungle in Peru, I reflected on the last few days. So many pinch-me moments.

My clients were going through plant medicine journeys and plant dieta in the retreat centre in the Amazon, two hours away from Iquitos. And I was learning to facilitate from the maestra, her daughter, Sara, and her son, Wilson.

Their wisdom! It takes my breath away. Being able to apprentice under them and learn from them means the world to me. I am so grateful they picked me.

One of the participants asked me, “Why do you do it? What do you get from it?”

I drink the medicine for my clients, and not for me, when I facilitate. I ask Mother Aya to help me remain present for them during the ceremony and guide me on what they need. 

The night before, I was awake all night, going to the washroom back and forth with clients who could not walk from how strong the medicine was, making sure they had someone to lean on physically. I was going around and checking with the shamans on each person to see who needed individual support and healing. Sitting with clients and holding their hands or rubbing their backs when they needed it. My role was to be there for whatever they needed from me.

And that’s after I ran all day waking them up when needed, making sure they were where they need to be based on the schedule, ensuring that if they felt they could not get to the common eating area, food came to them, translating to and from Spanish, making sure they got extra healing from the family if they needed it, helping with their integration, and more… 

Imagine a premium service in the rough jungle, not what you’d expect, right?! 

I doubt you will find this kind of service anywhere in the Amazon. It’s what I wished I had as support when I came here first for my own healing. 

It’s hard work facilitating. Both physically and emotionally. Holding space for others to transform. 

On the outside, I get how it might look. I get the question, “What are you getting from it?”

The truth is - so much!

Mother Aya and the Plant Master Guides teach me so much. This time around, I came back with new capabilities of healing others that surprised me. Almost like my body is remembering something it always knew. 

As Wilson said to me, “You’d be able to help so many more people.”

That’s so humbling. 

Seeing my clients’ transformation through the plant medicine journeys is like witnessing miracles happening. I am so moved to my core by their shifts.  I feel so blessed to hold space for them so they can arrive one way and leave feeling completely different.

I have three pages of deep insights I gained from just the last trip, that are life-changing for me. 

I am learning wisdom that is so rare to know. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. 

My life has shifted in ways I can’t even describe:

• I found the love of my life due to the plant medicine journeys. And that in itself was worth it all. 

• I’ve been working on the abundance of the business over the last 4 trips, and something profound is shifting in my body’s frequency. It’s exciting to feel it in such an embodied way. 

• My ability as a coach and healer has amplified beyond anything I have ever thought was possible. And I am just a baby at facilitating. 

  
  

I am learning little by little what it means to be selfless when I hold space for others (it’s an ongoing process of shedding layers).

So if you wish to get answers to your deepest questions, if you wish to tap into deep inner knowing, if you wish to heal like nothing else heals in a short time - this is the place! 

As I lay in my Tambu and reflected on the last days, my heart felt full of love and gratitude. 

I’d love for you to experience the depth and impact of this work. 

So if you feel called to be supported in every possible way…

Check out the Aya & Somatic Healing Retreat in Peru. 

And book a complimentary exploratory call with me. 

With love,

Chen