A Journey to the Heart

Cacao Retreat

Cacao Journey - Sound Healing - Kundalini

TheLifeCo Bodrum

Cacao Retreat is designed to introduce the history, unique secrets and incredible health benefits of cacao. During this retreat, you will taste and use cacao to improve your physical wellbeing, while improving your mental and emotional wellbeing with shamanic ceremonies, activities and special sessions.

Still Your Mind

Open Your Heart

Connect with Your True Nature

Reclaim Your Inner Power

Elevate Your Mood

Embrace Your Self-Discovery

Cacao Retreat at TheLifeCo Bodrum

Need some time to slow down and reset? Crave to live your truth from your heart? Want to re-balance your energies and get back into flow? Ready to step out of old patterns and begin living your purpose?

Come with us on this sacred plant journey to experience a truly deep healing, ceremonial experience to rest, reflect, connect and explore the wisdom that resides within you.

Ceremonial cacao is chocolate in its pure unrefined form, powerful yet gentle medicine to help you on your journey to well-being. She is a beautiful teacher and here to guide us find balance and harmony.

We combine Cacao Journey with Sound Healing, Kundalini and Art Therapy to access your inner wisdom and heal from a space of a well-rested body, a clear mind and an open, connected, playful heart.

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Cacao Act as a Medicine

Nourish your nervous system, open your heart and connect with your creativity as we indulge in the divine experience this heart medicine.

An Immersive, Transformational Journey with Cacao

Cacao is a sacred, powerful plant medicine that has been used for thousands of years in ancient South and Central American tribes for medicinal, spiritual and ceremonial purposes. Cacao is a true heart opener and gentle in a way that she lets YOU decide if you are ready to let go and move deeper and deeper into your divine callings in this lifetime.

A cacao ceremony is a sacred safe space to switch off the external noise in this chaotic and stressful world and take an inward journey to access stuck emotions, conditionings, patterns of behavior, and addictions that are buried deep in the unconscious mind and release them in safe and nurturing environment.

Ceremonial cacao is a true supernatural food; rich in magnesium, chromium, copper, calcium, manganese, zinc, sulfur, iron, and phosphorous, abundant in antioxidants. It boosts the immune system and lowers cholesterol and blood pressure. It increases blood flow to the brain and encourages the release of endorphins like Dopamine, and two neurotransmitters PEA(phenylethylamine) nicknamed the love molecule and Anandamide, the bliss chemical named after the Sanskrit word Ananda which means bliss and joy. All this leads to euphoria and a deeper spiritual connection. As a result, we are happier, and our creativity is reaching peak states. 

We will combine the sacred heart medicine CACAO with powerful SOUND HEALING sessions, light KUNDALINI practices, ART THERAPY WORKSHOPS for you to explore personal growth, consciousness, and transformation. 

Why You Should Attend

The spirit of Ceremonial Cacao is wise and powerful when taken with intention, she facilitates us on our inward journey, working directly on the heart chakra and increasing our creative potential. Known as the food of God’s, cacao has been used as a healing tool in ceremonies in indigenous cultures for centuries.

We will dive inside and unleash our raw inner energy while taking cacao during Sound Healing, Kundalini and Art Therapy. Together with these alternative healing methods, Cacao will awaken and balance the heart and root chakra, as it opens and yet grounds down.

A full week of rebirth, transformation, and connection with our soul, body, and one another. This retreat will be a celebration of self-love and self-exploration.

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Sound Healing Therapy

It is highly effective for improving your emotional and physical wellbeing and boosting your immune system to lowering stress levels and relaxation. Healing with sound dates back to ancient Greece when music was used to cure mental disorders. 

Kundalini Yoga & Meditation

Kundalini is an ancient technology designed to expand awareness and tap into our infinite potential. Kundalini Yoga uses movement, breathwork, and meditation to achieve and experience our highest consciousness.

SPA & Massage Options

SPA on the premise includes an infrared sauna, Turkish bath, Himalayan salt rooms and optional massages. You will also have free time to swim, explore, relax and enjoy the most glamorous hangout in the Mediterranean. 

Art Therapy Workshops

Art Therapy workshops will challenge you for expressing your open heart through drawing and painting.

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Included Services

Information Request

Our Guest Relationship Officer will get in touch with you shortly to guide you to choose the optimum options for your journey

Cacao Retreat Prices:

With accommodation

3-Day

(Oct 15-17)

7-Day

(Oct 15-22)

* The price is subject to change according to your room preference.

Without accommodation

Daily

(Aug 7-9)

Daily Flow of Cacao Retreat

The following schedule might slightly change daily.

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100% Pure KURI Ceremonial Cacao

KURI Ceremonial grade fine cacao is designated as Fine-flavor, Heirloom, 100% Ancient Arriba Nacional Ceremonial grade.

You will experience the authentic taste of the purest form of ceremonial cacao, the vibrant and smooth texture, strong floral aroma with jasmine tones, fruity aroma with a hint of orange, and hazelnut touch in our ceremonial grade 100% pure cacao.

Benefits You will Experience are:

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Güliz Hızıroğlu (Facilitator)

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Founder of the International Ingredient Sourcing Company “Connect Naturals” and recently launched Cacao brand “Kuri Fine Cacao”, Güliz has rested her heart and soul in immense love for cacao, plant medicine, nature and holistic healing. Her approach is rooted in a deep passion for cacao and her strong connection with the spirit of mother cacao medicine. Her intention is to bring cacao’s sacred Indigenous wisdom and healing properties to the modern world while also fostering a holistic and regenerative lifestyle.

Her personal journey with mother Cacao medicine and Yoga draws upon 15 years of traveling around the world, living with indigenous communities of the Amazonian jungles of the Andes, practicing permaculture and sustainable living and studying plant medicine from indigenous shamans. She has been working on balance the mind, heart and the gut to create a deeper connection to oneself, others and all existence around us through the sacred teachings she has received from mother cacao. 

Eylül Dizdar (Sound Healer)

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Eylul is a Sound Healer and an Ecstatic Dance facilitator. Although her journey started with breathwork and yoga, her profound life-changing experience with Ecstatic dance has led her on a path of sound healing and Ecstatic dance. 

She became a certified Sound Healer in India and Ecstatic Dance Facilitator in Bali. Having returned back to her home country, she is sharing the multidimensional healing powers of both movement medicine and sound healing.

Supporting Team
Fazil Alasahin Photo

Fazıl Alaşahin

Raw Vegan Chef

Behnam Photo

Sash Behnam

Yoga Instructor

Hande Anadolu Photo

Hande Anadolu

Psychologist

Mirey Yuhay

Mirey Yuhay

Program Coordinator

Bedreddin Ulusoy Photo

Bedreddin Ulusoy

MD

Gonca Yarımer Photo

Gonca Yarımer

Program Manager

Information Request

Our Guest Relationship Officer will get in touch with you shortly to guide you to choose the optimum options for your journey

Cacao Retreat Prices:

With accommodation

3-Day

(Oct 15-17)

7-Day

(Oct 15-22)

* The price is subject to change according to your room preference.

Without accommodation

Daily

(Aug 7-9)

CACAO RETREAT FAQ

  • Comfortable, light colour clothes
  • Your Journal, pen
  • Something sacred to you that has a special meaning to you to offer at the beginning of the ceremony.
  • An open heart and mind
  • Anything else you need, you can find at our holistic healing centers

The earliest evidence of cacao used by humans dates back to 3300 BC in the land now called Ecuador. Indigenous people from the Amazon first cultivated, carried, and traded until reaching the hands of the Mayans and Aztecs. In the 20th Century, Cacao is roughly divided into three generic groups; Criollo, Forestero and Trinitario. However, the genetic lineage of these groups traces back to the fourth branch of the cacao tree, which is found only in Ecuador and Peru – the Nacional tree. This rare, legendary variety called “Arriba Nacional”, the first known cacao tree domesticated by humanity.

The term Nacional refers to ancient cacao genetics that has been cultivated in Ecuador for thousands of years by indigenous people in the Amazonian jungles of the Andes. Arriba Nacional is the most ancient and rarified tree and is considered among the world’s most delicate flavour aromatic strains of cacao. It has a vibrant and smooth flavour due to its superior, solid and unique floral and fruity aroma.

Our cacao, KURI FINE CACAO, comes from the Ecuadorian Amazon, home of the rarest, highest-quality beans in the world cultivated by Kichwa indigenous. It is produced from Native Ecuadorian Cacao Strain, “Arriba Nacional”. Native meaning it’s found growing naturally, in the wild, without human interaction/cultivation. This variety is native to Ecuador and is generally regarded as the most notable and desired cacao variety globally. This strain is also the most concentrated in the compounds necessary for ceremonial use.

KURI Fine Cacao is sourced exclusively from heirloom Nacional Cacao by Kichwa people devoted to cultivating the highest quality fine cacao. The connection of KURI FINE CACAO to its origin transcends the final product itself in its Ceremonial grade and Fine chocolate that makes our products unique and special.

Amazonian Kichwa were the only indigenous group in the province to survive the Spanish conquest and have retained their customs and way of life. Inhabiting the Ecuadorian Amazon, Amazonian Kichwas have a strong connection with the forest and the animals that live among them. They believe humans, plants, and animals all have spirits and are almost regarded as equals. The spirits of plants are essential because the well-being of a community depends on a healthy relationship with nature.

Kichwa people still continue to cultivate their cacao in the rainforest and other plants such as wild vanilla, guayusa, banana, yucca, sacha inchi, and many other tropical fruits and plants associated within their local farms called “chakras”. Then they gather their cacao in their “centro de acopio” to ferment, dry and process.

After spending a vast amount of time each year for almost a decade with Kichwa people on their land, we’ve built strong relationships with these indigenous communities who organically grow and harvest cacao on small farms. KURI Fine Cacao is sourced exclusively from heirloom Nacional Cacao by Kichwa people devoted to cultivating the highest quality fine cacao. We make sure our beans are organically grown in harmony with the earth, fairly and direct traded and promote sustainability, using regenerative agriculture practices in the Amazon region of Ecuador. This offers a symbiotic solution with the rainforest and its people.

We are committed to bringing a more holistic level of prosperity to this community and the region without destroying their complex ecosystem. We deliver a message of shared global responsibility and concern for preserving one of the most biologically diverse regions on the planet. The connection of KURI FINE CACAO to its origin transcends the final product itself in its Ceremonial grade and Fine chocolate that makes our products unique and special.

KURI Ceremonial grade fine cacao is designated as Fine-flavor, Heirloom, 100% Ancient Arriba Nacional Ceremonial grade. The unique chemical composition of this variety accounts for its famously floral fragrant aroma and even sometimes its fruity, nutty and even earthy notes. This remarkable degree of complexity can all be found in our ceremonial cacao and fine dark chocolate thanks to the traditional and ceremonial way of making our cacao.

You will experience the authentic taste of the purest form of ceremonial cacao, the vibrant and smooth texture, strong floral aroma with jasmine tones, fruity aroma with a hint of orange, and hazelnut touch in our ceremonial grade 100% pure cacao.

The experience of our KURI ceremonial cacao also assists in energetic healing and receiving clarity in the areas of love, purpose, intuitive abilities, career and personal growth. It is dense in the uplifting & mood-enhancing compounds naturally found in cacao due to the high polyphenol and tannin content.

By looking to Indigenous wisdom of how the medicine has been worked with, we can learn about a healing approach and relationship with mother cacao as plant medicine that has been passed down through generations. Using our ceremonial cacao is a way to reconnect with this ancient wisdom becoming more and more part of our urban jungle. The spirit of mother cacao is alive, intelligent, and a healer in her light. She is a powerful tool to dive deeper into your inner soul—a warm sensation in your chest. You feel softer, more present and loving.

Our Ceremonial cacao is made from selected whole organic cacao beans. Our beans are cultivated and harvested with love and fermented under the equatorial sun, then washed and dried warmly. After getting permission from the spirit of mother cacao, the beans are then cracked, peeled (usually by hand) and stone ground by traditional means by Kichwa women. This process is performed to transform into her new form, to create a paste that is set into a block; nothing is added or removed. The whole process is ceremonial and it’s the thoughtfulness and tradition in growing and processing and the intention in drinking ceremonial cacao that differentiates it from any other commercially produced cacao paste.

From tree to cup, KURI CEREMONIAL CACAO, in its absolute purest traditional form, utilized by ancient civilizations for thousands of years in ceremony and celebration. It is cultivated with intention and in alignment with the mother Cacao Spirit. The sacred land our cacao is grown, our farmers, our process, and our finished cacao are treated with compassion, love, respect, and reverence.

Our Ceremonial cacao is NEVER tempered, and the bean’s fat remains intact, helping to balance its stimulating properties and facilitate absorption over a longer period of time. We make sure to maintain its intrinsic flavour and highest antioxidant properties.