This journey is in the West Coast Canadian rainforest in a dual-yurt lodge, created specifically for hosting Iboga ceremonies. Surrounded by towering Douglas Fir and Cedar trees, guests feel held and nurtured by the forest. Located in Paradise Valley on a biodynamic farm bordering the Cheakamus River, there is a harmonic vibration of beauty and balance. The yurts allow for full awareness of the forest and invites absorption of the natural surroundings. When gathering in this magic place with pure intention and sincerity, there is a natural flow into healing. The large yurt is the ceremony space, the central building that joins the two is a spacious bathroom, and the small yurt is the kitchen.

The Iboga experience is very unique and personal but collectively, the ceremony guests are together as one. All are doing their part to create group healing. The circle of kindred souls is a powerful catalyst that summons the courage to venture deep with the sacred wood. An Iboga ceremony is a journey within. Descending inward past memory and experience. Deep into the body past thought, into our natural, existential state. The stillness at the core of being. Iboga is a nurturing, yet stern guide on the trek inward. Stripping away the conditioning of ‘can’t,’ revealing the ever present potential of ‘can.’

The most powerful setting for the thick-walled Western ego to meet Iboga is silence. Silence is a way to sever the connection to character. Letting go of language and surrendering to nature’s most effective cleanse. Allowing it to penetrate deep through the stillness. This penetration manifests as the cleansing and shedding of negative patterns and toxic buildup. A complete physical and energetic reset to flow with existence. An invitation back to the natural state of all beings. Iboga creates inner space to free limiting beliefs, clear emotional blockages and to drop stories and projections. With illusion stripped away, truth begins to reveal itself through unfiltered experience.

Deena’s medicine journey began in the suburbs of her native New Jersey. Iboga’s root medicine called her to move deeper into herself, away from a career in journalism, to heal the traumatic fractures that caused self-sabotage and negative thought and behavioral patterns. Her Iboga journeys have changed her life, setting her on a path to spread the healing message of Iboga to others. In 2015, she traveled to Gabon, Africa—the birthplace of Iboga and home to the Bwiti—where she completed a Full Initiation into their culture. She is also among the first nine Western women to ever complete a Bwiti Rites of Passage.