For over 15 years, I’ve been exploring one question in many different forms:
What actually creates lasting transformation?
My search has taken me around the world, and eventually much deeper into myself. Along the way, plant medicine became one of the most powerful parts of that journey and this is why I want to introduce other people to this magic in Mexico through a Retreat called RECLAIM.
Here's my story
I grew up in Germany, well cared for and protected, but in an environment that was a little strict and a little over-focused on logic, structure and the mind.
The emotional relationship with my father was quite difficult. I often felt like I wasn’t good enough - constantly criticised, not really seen for who I am, and not fully understood.
Since I was a little girl, I started asking deeper questions quite early in life:
- Why are we here? What is my purpose? What does it mean to be truly happy?
- What actually creates lasting transformation?
- What makes some people grow, succeed and expand while others stay stuck?
Already after high school, I knew there had to be “more”. I wanted to “find myself” and discover my “purpose”.
My seeking first started through external journeys: traveling.
I traveled the world and exposed myself to uncertainty, different people, cultures and ways of living. Those experiences made me grow immensely.
At 20, I spent a year doing Work and Travel in Australia. This was probably the first time I truly realized that so many of the limitations in our minds are only conditioning: from our parents, society and simply what we have been exposed to. I understood that there are many ways to live happily and many ways to earn a living. And that we are the creator of our reality.
When you grow up seeing only one way of living, it is easy to believe that this is simply how life works.
But when we open ourselves to different experiences, people and possibilities, we begin to see that life can look completely different. And it is all about your inner attitude towards other ways of thinking and experiencing.
A few years later, I spent two semesters abroad in Canada, where I was in a relationship with someone I thought was my forever soulmate, only to later experience my first big betrayal. The reason why I am mentioning this is because the heartbreak of the aftermath of it was so deep that nothing helped me as much as plant medicine to overcome it and find internal peace and hope.
By 26, after finishing my studies in Business Psychology with a major in Training & Coaching, my gut feeling told me to take another leap of faith. I started a digital nomad life with almost no money in my bank account and a lot of uncertainty. I was hungry for freedom, sovereignty and inspiration. At that time, not nearly as many people were living this way as there are today.
The common thread throughout all of these experiences was learning to trust my heart and intuition vs. my limited mind, basically embracing uncertainty and going after my dreams. Life rewarded me for my bold moves and it did not take long until I earned a remote income and had amazing experiences with inspiring people.
When the external journey became an internal one
Over the following years, I had a deep calling to start my business as a coach.
And while building my business, I came face-to-face with my own fears and self-sabotaging patterns: fear of visibility, low self-worth, fear of rejection and limiting beliefs around money.
I knew many of the strategies I “should” be implementing in my business, yet for some reason, I wasn’t always doing them.
That fascinated me.
Why can we consciously know what we need to do and still not do it?
Why can we understand a pattern and still repeat it?
Those questions led me deeply into the teachings of the subconscious mind. I became certified in NLP, hypnosis, subconscious reprogramming, somatic trauma work, nervous system regulation and other approaches to personal transformation. I also invested heavily in my own healing and growth through coaching programs, trainings and retreats.
And the deeper I went, the more I got confirmation that we cannot expect transformation when only working with the conscious mind.
Talking, understanding and analyzing are absolutely part of the process. But I don’t believe they are the whole process.
Working with the subconscious mind added another powerful layer and I believe it is a very powerful tool, but even that isn’t everything. The human psyche is incredibly complex.
For me, true transformation has meant including the mind, the subconscious, the body, the nervous system, the energetic and spiritual aspects of ourselves, and also looking at the patterns and traumas we inherit through our families, upbringing and environment.
We carry so much more than the stories we consciously remember.
And this was also one of the things plant medicine helped me see and transform.
Plant medicine changed my understanding of transformation
My plant medicine journey started in 2017: I experienced ceremonies with a powerful shaman in Switzerland, initiated in Peru, who worked with the mushroom medicine and also included drumming in his ceremonies. Over the span of a few years, I took a conscious approach of integrating the experiences by leaving a few months between ceremonies. Additionally, I was always in some sort of coaching container.
The first years were what felt like releasing years of unprocessed emotions: I cried a lot during the ceremonies but those tears felt liberating. I still remember one day after a powerful ceremony, someone at my work (I made some extra money on weekends in a hotel) told me I look and feel different, much more radiant and happy. This is exactly how I felt - the word that comes to mind is REBORN.
When I spent a lot of time in Mexico between 2022 and 2026, I dove deeper with powerful Shamans from indigenous lineages such as the Huni Kuin Tribe from Brazil who work with Ayahuasca and the Huichol who work with a cactus (Peyote) from Mexico. Additionally, I did a 10-day Master Plant Dieta in Peru where there was a combination of a Master Plant (for me Bobinsana) and Ayahuasca.
I always had the same approach that I fully still stand for:
- Leaving space and time between the ceremonies for integration (at least a few months)
- Having additional support for transformation (e.g. coaching, yoga, community etc)
- Being discerning with the ceremonial space and Shaman I choose
- Following the preparation protocol (diet, mindfulness, celibacy, intention)
For me personally, plant medicine became one of the most powerful ways to access deeper layers of myself, let go of past hurts and step into my potential.
Especially as someone who used to live very much in her mind, it helped me reconnect with my heart in a way that few other things had, trust life even more and feel at peace.
It also connected me to what I can only describe as a higher intelligence: something that is difficult to put into words if you haven’t experienced it yourself.
Through these experiences, I not only accessed buried emotions, I also became aware of patterns that were keeping me from stepping into my full potential and was able to alchemize them. I felt deep compassion for my ex-boyfriend and Dad - I could literally feel their own inner world, that they did the best they could to their capacity and I was able to forgive them. There was also some profound ancestral healing which is too complex to go into with this article.
Plant Medicine helps you to look at your own upbringing and past differently.
It does not mean to ignore that difficult things happened, but understanding them from a wider perspective, and realizing that the patterns we inherit or develop do not have to define the rest of our lives.
One of the biggest realisations for me has been this:
Changing deeply rooted patterns and healing the heart often requires more than a therapy session. It is a profound, alchemical process of meeting what lies beneath the surface, releasing what no longer serves us, and creating space for something new.
Plant medicine, when approached intentionally within a safe and supportive container, can be a powerful catalyst for this process. And the journey doesn’t end with the ceremony.
With thoughtful integration and the support of trusted professionals who hold space for your transformation, the insights that emerge can be integrated into meaningful, lasting changes in your life.
My biggest areas of transformation were my business, self-worth and my romantic relationships
In business, I often knew exactly what strategies to follow, yet I didn’t always take action. Beneath the surface were deeper fears: fear of rejection, fear of being seen, and the lingering belief that I wasn’t good enough or deserving of success.
Working with plant medicine, alongside my own inner work and coaching, helped me meet those fears at a deeper level. It supported me in expanding beyond old limitations, becoming more comfortable with visibility, strengthening my self-worth, and stepping more fully into my role as a leader who creates meaningful impact.
In relationships, I still found myself drawn to and pouring into men who couldn’t meet me emotionally. At times, I noticed similar patterns in business partnerships, where the exchange of energy, effort, and support wasn’t truly balanced.
Doing the inner work, alongside my experiences with plant medicine, helped me recognize and shift these patterns. I learned to create healthier boundaries, raise my standards, communicate my needs more openly, and stop overgiving in order to feel loved or valued. Instead, I began choosing relationships and partnerships rooted in reciprocity, respect, and mutual care. I also let go of the fear of losing connection/people which was a big one. I knew I can always rely on me and God and letting go of unaligned connections will create space for aligned ones.
Today I show up fully for my business and purpose, and I've overcome my fear of visibility. I know my worth and am not afraid to show up in my power. I am living a life full of joy, love, freedom, abundance and purpose and I am excited to be in service to others. I love being able to hold space in the form of workshops, coachings and retreats.
Additionally, I am having a much better relationship with my Dad and could see how my inner work and how I felt towards him also transformed something in him and that is beautiful to witness. An example, that when you embark on this journey, everyone around you benefits as well.
Meeting Karina
Karina and I met at a Women’s Circle in Puerto Morelos, and we clicked instantly. I felt her warmth right away, and how deeply she cares about people.
Like me, Karina has walked her own deep healing journey with Ayahuasca. What drew me to her is that she’s one of the real ones. She doesn’t bypass the hard inner work. She has faced her deepest wounds and come out the other side transformed, while staying grounded in everyday life. She lives with high integrity.
She also has a rare gift: she holds people with so much love and compassion, and at the same time she’ll gently call you out on what needs to be looked at. That combination of softness and honesty is exactly what helps people grow.
Our friendship grew over long afternoons on the beach. The more we talked, the more we realized how much we share: the same values, and the same wish to bring this profound medicine to others in a safe, grounded, and integrated way. That’s how RECLAIM was born. And I am so grateful to share this together with her.
She did a 15 months profound training as an Ayahuasca Integration Therapist and she is also a certified Breathwork Facilitator and a Yoga Teacher. At RECLAIM she will host a Breathwork Session and give yoga lessons alongside integration support.
Why integration matters so much after a ceremony
One of the biggest lessons from my own experiences with plant medicine is that the ceremony itself is only one part of the journey.
A ceremony can be incredibly profound. It can help you see a relationship differently, understand where a pattern comes from, access emotions you haven’t felt in years, or give you clarity about something you already knew somewhere deep down.
But then you go home.
And you still have your relationships, your business, your family, your triggers and your everyday life.
For me, this is where integration becomes so important.
- What do I actually do with what I saw?
- What needs to change in my life? A habit I need to break?
- Is there a boundary I need to set? A conversation I have been avoiding? Something I need to stop tolerating?
- Or maybe something I finally need to allow myself to receive?
I don’t see plant medicine as something that does the work for us. I see it as something that can help us access and see things that may have been difficult to reach through the conscious mind alone.
But what we do afterwards matters just as much.
This became one of the foundations for RECLAIM.
Karina and I didn’t want to create a retreat where people simply come to Mexico, have a powerful ceremony and then go back home.
We wanted to create a container around the experience.
That is why RECLAIM includes preparation, intention setting, breathwork & yoga before the ceremony, as well as coaching and integration afterwards.
Because ultimately, the goal isn’t to (only) have the most profound ceremony.
The goal is to create meaningful change in your actual life.
Why we called our Plant Medicine Retreat RECLAIM
For many years, personal development to me felt like constantly finding the next thing I needed to work on.
What belief do I need to change? What pattern do I need to heal? What do I need to improve?
Today, I see it a little differently.
Sometimes we don’t need to become a completely different person. Sometimes we need to come back to parts of ourselves that got buried underneath fear, conditioning, painful experiences or simply years of adapting to what other people expected from us.
Maybe for you that is your joy.
Maybe it is trusting yourself again.
Your voice. Your courage. Your softness. Your sense of purpose. Your ability to receive love. Your connection to your body, your partner, God or something greater than yourself.
Or simply the feeling that your life really belongs to you.
That is what the word RECLAIM means to me.
I don’t believe one retreat or one ceremony magically solves someone’s entire life. My own journey certainly didn’t happen that way. It has been many years of learning, traveling, making mistakes, repeating patterns, healing, growing, falling down and getting back up. But every experience shaped me, especially these kind of experiences.
And sometimes, one experience can shift our perspective so deeply that we begin to see ourselves, our patterns, and our choices differently. It may not change everything overnight, but it can reset our inner compass and point us in a new direction.
When we know that we don’t want to keep repeating the same story.
And sometimes stepping away from everyday life, being surrounded by nature and supportive people, and intentionally going inward can create the space we need to see things differently.
This is what Karina and I want to offer through RECLAIM.
We are bringing together many of the things that have supported us in our own journeys: plant medicine, coaching, breathwork, yoga, nervous system work, nature, community, spirituality and - very importantly - integration.
Not because you need to be fixed.
But because sometimes we need the right space and support to hear ourselves again, let go of what no longer fits, and consciously decide how we want to live from here.
After all these years of searching, one of the biggest things I have learned is that the answers aren’t always somewhere outside of us.
Sometimes the journey is about finding our way back to what was already there.
And then having the courage to live accordingly.
You are not coming to RECLAIM to become someone else.
You are coming to remember who you are, and consciously choose who you want to become from here: All while being lovingly supported from people who get it.
Karina and I would love to welcome you to RECLAIM in January 2027 in beautiful Puerto Morelos, Mexico.
Puerto Morelos is a peaceful beach town in the Riviera Maya, close to Cancun.
You can find all RECLAIM retreat details and dates at reclaimexperience.com.
Much love,
Alexandra
