A story about a successful entrepreneur who found his happiness in creating Avalon, a holistic Ayahuasca retreats center.
Alejandro, you were a very successful entrepreneur. Why did you decide to move on to doing something so different?
Some may say that I was successful, but that didn’t mean I was happy. I did everything that helped me achieve success along my career path and gained quite a lot of traction too, but inside I felt anxiety and soon realised that nothing was enough. Yes, I moved from one big thing to the next big thing but felt like I was not making any real progress.
When you walk a path like that for long you start questioning the path itself.
Soon I realised the society we’ve created is full of noise and distractions and we are pulled from all directions and start feeling lost. Being aware of this I started the journey of my awakening and I went on to complete my master’s degree in Neuro-linguistic programming, which is a different approach to communication, personal development and psychotherapy.
After that India happened and that changed me completely. I was drawn there by Buddhism and it all started to make sense. I dived deeper and deeper, visited Bodh Gaya, Sarnath, Varanasi and also did some sightseeing at Taj Mahal and Khajuraho. India was hardcore, it was like a shock to me which helped me know myself a bit better. I had never meditated in my entire life, yet I found myself in a Lotus position meditation for 11 hours a day during a 10 day Vipassana retreat. Vipassana means you’re not talking a single word. The only thing you have are your thoughts.
Wow! How was that experience for you?
Actually it was really difficult. 10 days without speaking a word with no external distractions, you are left alone with yourself, your mind and you see some people leaving as it’s too much for them but you still stay strong and continue. This made me realise that you need to have a very good relationship with your mind as that is the only friend you have. I would recommend you to do it at least once in your lifetime.
So tell us. How did you decide to start Avalon and what’s your intention behind it?
So after I came back, I was changing my life and started living in a very simple way, focusing on things that really mattered, like health and my loved ones. I started focusing on nutrition, movement and how to improve the quality of life itself. Along this journey at a certain point my personal trainer invited me to an Ayahuasca ceremony.
Ayahuasca is a brew made from the Banisteriopsis caapi plant. Taking Ayahuasca leads to an altered level of consciousness due to psychoactive substances in the ingredients.
Till that day I have never touched any drugs, not even Cannabis. In spite of working in the nightlife industry for 11 years, I had seen so many bad things happening to intoxicated people and to be honest, I was really afraid to lose control of myself.
I didn’t have much information about Ayahuasca, I didn’t understand what it was, but I felt that I needed to do this. And yeah, that was the breakthrough. Never in my life, I had so much compassion & understanding and my life made sense and then I understood who I am and where I come from.
As I wanted to offer this experience to anyone I founded Avalon. We are here to remember what we are and why we are here on Earth. We offer safe Ayahuasca retreats in Europe with the intention to:
Wake up, Clean up, Grow up and Show up.
Wake up from the conditioning and programming of the past. Clean up old emotional wounds and harmful patterns. Grow up to the fully expressed, youthfully free and responsible human being. Show up to benefit the world with our unique purpose on Earth.
Wow. That sounds like all of us should visit one of your retreats. What can your clients expect when they join?
Everyone asks me this question, but how can I explain the flavour of a strawberry if you haven’t eaten one in your life? It will just be an idea or your imagination, the real knowledge is experience, the medicine speaks to you in different languages.
Just to give you some idea of what it could be. You may experience a very heightened sensory perception, you can travel to all your previous lifetimes, see visuals, could be a message that just comes to you. To be honest the range is very broad and plant medicine works its magic differently on everyone. There are some who have no experience at all.
Can you do this at home, alone or maybe with friends?
I would strongly recommend not to do that, as to any psychedelic experience there are two components that play a very vital role. One is the setting and the other is the mindset. If not done properly you can get paranoid and make some stupid choices. It is not a drug session but a spiritual ceremony and needs to be done in a certain way and a certain setting. Hence a spiritual guide is a mandate, they create a space where you feel comfortable and moreover they should have years of experience and knowledge which has been passed on from their ancestors, generation to generation. We are talking about thousands of years here. That’s the reason we believe in the Shamanic path and work with natives as it’s like they’re born for this they know things that cannot be learned.
How did your personal life change after you started Avalon?
Hmm… I never looked at it from that point of view. I would say when you really find your purpose in life it truly fills you and nothing else really matters as you find a purpose that is greater than you and everything else that you thought was important. This came in my life with Avalon. It’s just amazing! I would like to quote Steve Jobs here “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”
Your life changed completely after you’ve entered this new path. Do you feel a change is needed in our society in general?
Yes it is definitely needed. We need to rethink some of the decisions we have made as a species. One good thing I see is a shift already happening in the psyche of the general populace. The wellness industry for instance is really booming. You know I worked in the nightlife industry for 11 years and have seen so many people who were club dancers now are Yoga teachers and helping so many in need. Also Covid had also a positive impact on the wellness aspect of life. Still much more attention is needed to be given to things that really matter.
It’s known Ibiza has been the party capital of the world for more than 50 years or so but it is slowly shifting to be a healing place, conscious tourism, health retreats and more holistic things are taking place here. To party is also very important but how you party is even more important. There are places in Ibiza who are hosting non alcohol parties and celebrating with Cacao drinks instead.
Also people are going for a more holistic approach towards medicine too, as the pharma medicines only treat the symptoms. The plant and natural medicines heal you completely.
So when you take Ayahuasca, Psilocybin mushrooms or Peyote, you go to the subconscious, you go back to the root cause of the problem and then you understand why you are in this situation or condition and then you can fix it from the root. Only then the symptom really disappears. The medical industry will not accept this, you know why? Because plants are free, they grow in nature and they do not want people to believe in them.
Do you have any interesting stories about any of your guests during your ceremonies?
Yes there are so many magical stories but there is one particular that i would like to share. There was this guy who had a lot of addictions, he was a heavy drinker a chain smoker and a cocaine addict. This made him lose his way and he became very depressed. His wife and kids left him and everyone thought he was a lost cause as he had been to rehab several times and it did not really help. In one final attempt to claim his life back he borrowed some money from his brother and visited Avalon. We could see that there was nothing really left in him like he wasn’t even human anymore. But we started his ceremony with all the love and care and day by day we could see him come back and slowly over the 6 days of retreat he was healed. As a part of our integration program we do follow up and keep in touch with our guests to provide them with that extra love and care that is much needed. It filled my heart with so much joy when he said that “as soon as I reached home I threw away all the alcohol bottles and deleted all the numbers of dealers and the coke headed so called friends, and I have been sober since then. I am talking with my children and wife again and guess what, I am doing regular yoga too.”
So can you say it works like magic? And one retreat is all you need or do you need to come back again?
Now that’s a very good question. What plant medicine and psychedelics do to you is they open up your mind, heart and soul. But it does not mean that you’re completely fixed after one session.
It gives you the understanding to see everything clearly, it gives you tools you never knew even existed and then when you go back to your daily routine and are tempted by your friends who are doing cocaine.
You now understand why you did it and are able to stay away from it as you have treated or at least realised the root of your addiction. Now you need to stay integrated, embody it.
So I would say yes it is possible to end/cure depression and addictions completely, but you need to stay very strong and implement in your life. The wisdom, the clarity that you receive during the sacred ceremony. So yes it works like magic if you let the magic happen.
Gratitude, Light & Love …………………………………………………… Avalon
