The Spirit Vine Center was founded by Silvia Polivoy with the intention to help people, nature, and animals. This intention was ignited in her first ayahuasca experience where Silvia had a vision of the jungle speaking to her and asking for help.
After overcoming the initial overwhelm from the request of the jungle asking for help and protection, she started coming up with different ways in which she could help and resolved to answer this call. She decided to use her resources to start by protecting a piece of the jungle and that lead to her procuring the UNESCO protected piece of the Atlantic Rainforest where the Spirit Vine Center is located. She, along with collaborators, then proceeded to restore and protect this piece of the rainforest that had been largely destroyed by the previous owners, and she also started building the center to host spiritual development retreats for people.
Through these retreats she created a space to help people raise their level of consciousness by becoming more connected to themselves and also developing a deep connection with nature. The hundreds of retreat participants who have been participated in the retreats over the last 15 years have learned to see that plants and trees are not just things that support our existence, they are fully conscious beings that co-create our world. With this as the backdrop, we will now share about our efforts to create a sustainability-focused retreat center.
Building Sustainably
As outlined above, from the outset there was a strong intention to build a place that was in harmony with the Rainforest. By hiring advisors who specialized in ecological practices, the accommodations were designed and built in a way that minimized the environmental impact and enhanced the benefits of being in the middle of one of the richest, most diverse ecosystems in the world.
The location for each bungalow was chosen carefully to ensure an experience where people feel fully connected to the jungle, while feeling a high degree of comfort. The structures were constructed strategically using materials and designs that maintain a moderate temperature to dispense the need for air-conditioners, although this option is available in select bungalows for visitors who are habituated to cold climates.
The wood primarily used in the construction of the structures is Eucalyptus, which is a highly sustainable material. This is because cutting a Eucalyptus tree does not kill it, the tree simply continues to grow, making it an ideal material for construction. We also use special concrete preparations with light colors that help maintain a cool temperature in the tropical summers.
While we have fresh river water for general use such as showers and cleaning, we also created a stone reservoir that collects ground water and rain water and has a capacity of over 120,000 liters or 30,000 gallons.
Regenerative and Sustainable Practices at Spirit Vine
Along with constructing sustainable structures, we also have regular practices for sustainable and regenerative living. Our organic farm provides us with a large portion of vegetables, fruits, and teas. We also curate our own organic compost to maintain a closed loop of clean high-quality organic produce.
We have a well that provides us with pure drinking water free of any additives.
We also grow our own organic ayahuasca plants. We have large quantities of B. Caapi Ayahuasca vine and P. Viridis Chacruna plant which are used in the in-house preparation of the ayahuasca tea served during the retreat. These plants, just like all other plants in our Center, are treated with utmost care and harvested sustainably to ensure we only take what we need, without wasteful excess.
Upcoming Sustainability Projects at Spirit Vine
We are always working on ways to become self-sustainable, and make daily efforts to restore and protect the Atlantic Rainforest.
We are currently working on a solar-power project to make a complete shift to clean renewable energy.
We are also raising funds to expand the area of Rainforest that we are protecting and restoring. The Center resides in a 16 hectacre (40 acres or 160,000 sq. meters) piece of Rainforest. We have recently added a 11 hectacre neighboring land and will continue the efforts to protect more areas of the jungle that are severely endangered. If you would like to contribute to these efforts in any way, please reach out to us.
