Lotus Vine Journeys has taken care to select the most genuine and powerful healers for our retreats. Our ceremonies are led by Spring Washam and a team of incredible musicians!

Spring Washam

My medicine journey truly began when I decided to go on a trip to Peru in 2008, after experiencing an emotional breakdown while on a long meditation retreat. Despite being a meditation teacher, community leader and spending many years doing long Vipassana retreats, I realized that the traumas I endured as a child and while growing up were still there. I experienced a debilitating sense of grief every day and had difficulty maintaining healthy relationships and emotional stability no matter how hard I tried. I pretended to be ok but there were places inside of me that felt so broken, and I couldn’t seem to uproot these painful patterns no matter how hard I tried. I didn’t know how to heal myself anymore, so I began praying for a new approach.

It was during my darkest hour in 2007 that a dear friend reached out and introduced me to Ayahuasca. She was a clinical psychologist who led private groups up in the mountains of northern California. My first ceremony changed my life forever and I immediately planned a long trip down to Peruvian Amazon.  It was deep in the jungle when I found my spirit, opened my heart, and discovered my connection to the Shipibo indigenous community. I found my home and a very powerful medicine lineage which has now become one of my root traditions.

My first trip was life changing and my trauma was finally healing at the core. I became passionate about plant medicine and its incredible effects on the mind and the body. I began working with Ayahuasca regularly and studying with Indigenous Shipibo healers over many years. In 2014, I spent a year in the jungle with my Shipibo guides, doing plant diets and apprenticing with many experienced healers. I have participated in hundreds of Ayahuasca ceremonies over the years. I have led large groups since 2015 when I founded Lotus Vine Journeys.

I have seen and personally experienced many transformations over the years, and it's been a joy to share this work with others. This organization was born out of compassion and my sincere intentions to be of service to the world. We are a unique organization that blends plant medicine, Buddhism and now Harriet Tubman! Buddhism and Shamanism are ancient wisdom traditions, and both are dedicated to helping us restore our basic sanity and goodness. At Lotus Vine Journeys, we combine them for maximum growth and insight. Within the Buddhist tradition the meditation practices that we do are designed to clear away the blockages so that we can see who we truly are. In Shamanic practices we can locate the blockages and uproot them very quickly. Time is of great importance now and we must transform our greed, hatred, and delusions sooner rather than later. When we combine these two great traditions with the help of our ancestors, we have power tools that can be skillfully used to rapidly accelerate our own awakening. This work is powerful and for those who feel called I welcome you.