A path of study

Ronin is a medicine guide and musician that offers a heart-centered and grounded approach to healing. As a Peruvian American man, he has studied plant medicine throughout Central and South America since 2019. His primary training has been deeply rooted in the Shipibo tradition.

He has completed Oregon State’s Psilocybin Facilitator Training at the Leela School of Awakening, the Ayahuasca Foundation Initiation Course, Hakomi Informed Somatic Coaching Program, and the Zendo Project’s Sitting and Integration Training Program.

Ronin Rao roughly translates to Serpent Medicine in the Shipibo-Konibo language, spoken throughout the Ucayali Region of Peru.

Intentionality

So much of this work is about intention. In the abbey, we bow to the Buddha and the shrines not only to show reverence, but also to refocus on the intention of having an empty mind. When we bless ourselves with the sign of the cross, it opens our heart to God and brings our intention of entering the sacred into focus.

Setting an intention before entering an altered state of consciousness brings what matters most to the forefront of our minds. We might seek physical healing for a tight shoulder, or mental healing by praying for serenity. We might offer emotional healing, showering our inner child with love, or spiritual healing by mending our ancestral traumas. This is our chance to commune with our higher self — and to leave what no longer serves us at the feet of God. Reach out if you would like guidance in finding your intention.

The medicine of attention

Attention is everything. Time and attention are our most valuable resources, and our society is bidding on it. If we’re not careful, and succumb to distraction, we can drift into a trance. Our habits and routines reinforce the trance, as does everything that makes our decisions for us: advertisements, movies, television, radio, the endless scroll, the next notification. Anything that trades away our autonomy deepens the trance. Many of us move through life half here, our body in one place and the mind somewhere else.

But we can break the spell through mindfulness, by tuning into our breath, our body, and the present moment. Perhaps mindfulness leads us into another trance, but it is one we choose, and one worth entering for our greater good. Sacred plant allies can help us turn our attention back to ourselves. Ceremony presents an opportunity to do what our culture rarely rewards: to sit still, breathe, and follow a single thread without reaching for the next thing. We tune into the steady rhythm of the breath and let the long arc of music carry us through what we would usually avoid. And slowly we see where we have fallen asleep in our lives, and how it feels to awaken.

The capacity to sit with the hard stuff, to face our fears with non-attachment, is real medicine, and that capacity carries into ordinary life. The practice is not to flee the noise forever but to come home to the present again and again, until presence is not a destination but a way of walking.

We offer our gratitude and respect to the plants for their generosity, and to the ancestors, lineage holders, and keepers of this wisdom who have carried it forward. We direct our attention toward the greatest good: for ourselves, our families, our communities, and all our relations, and in gratitude to Mother Earth, who holds it all.