THE BEAUTY PATH
An 8 Month Mentorship of Cacao, Sacred Practice
& Embodied Freedom
with Barbara Manuela
November 2025 - May 2026
The Journey
This mentorship offers a profound journey into the spiritual and medicinal uses of cacao through the wisdom of the Andean, Amazonian, and Mayan cosmologies. It is about bridging the three worlds and stepping into your role as a vessel of medicine, a guide, and a light for others.
This path is called The Beauty Path because it’s about honoring who you are today, who you’ve been, and who you’re becoming. It’s about staying true to your essence and finding the beauty in every experience.
Whether you’re beginning your relationship with plant medicine or ready to share cacao with others, this is an invitation to deepen your service to the collective while also nurturing your own spiritual path.
By the end of this mentorship, you’ll be able to work with cacao on your own, facilitate healing spaces for others — both individually and in groups — and bring Indigenous wisdom and ceremony into your everyday life.
The journey begins with an in-person retreat in the Andes region of Ecuador, followed by nine months of virtual integration circles led by Barbara, supporting your personal healing and self-empowerment.
Throughout this process, you’ll connect with the spirit of the great Apus (mountains), experience healing and self-responsibility, and explore the physical and spiritual benefits of cacao. You’ll learn to listen to your body’s wisdom, transform your inner world, and carry that transformation into the way you live and serve.
This is for you whether or not you carry Indigenous blood — because the wisdom of the Earth belongs to all who seek it with reverence. You won’t just learn to hold ceremony — you’ll become a walking ceremony.
Through this mentorship, you’ll awaken your power, honor your gifts, and walk the beauty path — seeing beauty in who you are, in what you carry, and in the life you are creating.
The Structure
The Beauty Path Mentorship is a hybrid experience, combining an immersive in-person retreat with ongoing virtual integration.
We begin our journey together with a week-long retreat in the Andes Mountains, where you’ll deeply connect with the medicine of cacao, explore sacred practices, hike mountains and visit waterfalls, and step fully into your path of embodiment. The retreat will be held by Barbara, who will guide you through teachings, rituals, and practices designed to awaken your voice, presence, and sacred power.
After the retreat, we continue the journey virtually every two weeks via Zoom, providing space to integrate and embody the teachings, ask questions, and receive guidance. The group is intentionally limited to 15 participants, which ensures a high level of support from Barbara and the opportunity to build meaningful connections with your fellow mentees.
This mentorship is designed to provide both deep personal healing and community-based support, helping you embody your gifts while navigating your spiritual path with clarity and confidence.
Retreat: January 9–12, 2026 | Andes Mountains, Ecuador
This 4-day retreat is a sacred immersion into the spirit world and the medicine of cacao. It is both a profound journey of personal healing and a training ground for those who feel called to share cacao with others.
Guided by Barbara and held in the Andes Mountains, you will learn to open your energetic channel, connect with your ancestors, and cultivate the skills to hold cacao gatherings, protect yourself spiritually, and call upon the support of the unseen realms.
This retreat also includes teachings with Amazonian Tobacco (Jauneka) — a powerful plant ally for cleansing, protection, and grounding.
During the retreat you will learn to:
Reconnect with your ancestral roots and the wisdom that lives within you
Build and work with a sacred altar, guided by the Andean Cross (Chakana)
Lead song circles and invite spirit through music and prayer
Leave offerings for the Earth to practice sacred reciprocity
Pre and post ceremony care
Offer ritual baths for cleansing yourself and others
Hold space for deep emotional processing — grief, heartbreak, trauma, anxiety, and depression
Learn healing practices rooted in the Sapara cosmology
Deepen your personal relationship with cacao and share it as a medicine for others
Work with tobacco to support those experiencing anxiety and depression
Integrate physical, emotional, and spiritual shifts into your daily life
…and so much more!
This retreat is not only about learning, it is about becoming. You will leave not just with tools and teachings, but with a deeper embodiment of your medicine, ready to guide others with confidence, reverence, and love.
Here’s what will happen in person:
Here’s what will happen online:
Sacred Tools, Practices & Integration Circles
We’ll be meeting online twice a month, starting in November. Then in January we’ll come together in person for the retreat in the Andes, and after that we’ll keep meeting online for the rest of the mentorship.
Here’s how it flows:
First call of the month: Barbara or a guest teacher will guide you through a new teaching or practice with cacao.
Second call of the month: An integration circle where you’ll have space to share how your practice is going, ask questions, and receive support.
The calls build on each other, so by the end of the program you’ll feel clear and confident in your ability to work with cacao both for yourself and to share with others.
What’s included:
2-hour live calls twice a month (on Saturdays)
Notes and practices to try in between calls
Recordings of everything (video in our private portal) so you can revisit anytime
📅 Calls will happen on Saturdays from 11am–1pm EST. Exact dates will be shared once the group is finalized.
Mentorship Curriculum Outline
This 9-month journey is designed to guide you through teachings, practices, and integration — weaving together Amazonian, Andean, and ancestral wisdom with your own embodied leadership. Each month offers both structure and space for Spirit to guide us, meeting the needs of the group as we move together.
Month 1: Opening Circle
Ground into community, set intentions, and open the container with cacao.Month 2: Cosmic & Ancestral Guidance
Work with Gene Keys + Human Design to discover your unique blueprint.Month 3: Vocal Activation & Expression
With guest teacher Sare del Pozo — awaken your voice as medicine.Cacao Immersive Retreat (Andes Mountains, Ecuador)
A deep dive into cacao, the elements, and the Andean cosmovision.Month 4: Andean Teachings
Altar building, sacred offerings, and the wisdom of La Chakana Andina.Month 5: Amazonian Teachings
Work with pajos, tobacco limpias, and Amazonian cosmology.Month 6: Holding Ceremony & Healing Circles
Learn to hold cacao circles, private healing sessions, and group ceremonies with integrity.Month 7: Sacred Strategy
Integrate spiritual practice with grounded tools to carry your medicine forward.Month 8: Closing Circle
Celebrate your path, share your medicine, and honor the journey.
Throughout this mentorship, you will build a sustainable spiritual practice with cacao and tobacco, deepen into Amazonian + Andean traditions with integrity, awaken your voice and your capacity to hold space, and step into leadership, embodying your role as a vessel of medicine.
*we will do our best to stick to this curriculum while also letting Spirit lead the way and based on what the group needs
THE RETREAT INCLUDES:
You will be taken care of from the moment you land in Quito to your departure. It’s our mission for you to arrive and immediately feel held throughout this magical experience. You relax, let me deal with all the logistics.
☑️ 4 nights of accommodations: 1 arrival night in Quito, 2 nights in el Paramo in Alausi, 1 final night in Quito before flying home.
*All of lodging will be shared accommodations with another member of the group, but if it’s important for you to have your own room, please email me at hello@barbieenruta.com and I will do my best to accommodate you.
☑️ Meals: Three vegetarian meals a day will be provided throughout the journey
☑️ Cacao to use for your own practice for 3 months post retreat
☑️ Integration Support: Before the Andes, during the Andes, and post-Andes
☑️ All transportation throughout the journey
☑️ Pick up and drop off at the Airport in Quito
THE RETREAT DOES NOT INCLUDE:
❌ Flights to and from Ecuador
❌ Alcoholic Beverages
❌ Souvenir money
Who this is for…
The Beauty Path Mentorship is a spiritual initiation designed to reawaken you to your own power, voice, and leadership.
This intimate training is for those who are ready to:
Use their voice and speak with authenticity
Heal the silence they’ve carried for too long
Step fully into their roles as healers, medicine carriers, facilitators, and ceremony leaders
Take full responsibility for their lives and gifts
Create lasting change in their communities and in the world
Through this journey, you’ll deepen your relationship with the world of spirit and the healing medicine of cacao learning to work with it both for your own transformation and in service to others. Even if you already work with cacao, this mentorship will expand and elevate your practice to a new level.
Because of the depth and intimacy of this work, the group is limited to 15 participants. An application is required to ensure alignment for everyone in the circle.
If you’re curious but unsure if this is the right path for you, please reach out to hello@barbieenruta.com and Barbara will personally support you in finding clarity.
INVESTMENT
The Beauty Path Mentorship is a deep dive into ancestral Andean, Mayan, and Sapara cacao and tobacco practices. This is a time, spiritual, and financial commitment (low four figures), with payment plans available upon application approval.
What makes this mentorship unique is its trauma-informed approach: you’ll learn to hold space while honoring the body’s wisdom, cultivating the ability to feel fully in your body so plant medicine can reach the heart and support true transformation.
Spots are limited to keep the journey intimate and intentional.
If you feel called but want clarity before committing, email us at hello@barbieenruta.com. We’ll be so happy to support you in making your decision.
MEET YOUR GUIDE
Barbara Manuela is an entrepreneur, women’s mentor, and artist who guides people back to their heart and spirit through cacao, tobacco, and sound.
Raised between New York and Ecuador, she bridges cultures and draws wisdom from both ancient traditions and modern practices. Rooted in her Indigenous lineage from the Ecuadorian Andes, she trained with elders of the Sapara Nation in the Amazon and with cacao teachers including Brenden Durell and Florencia Fridman.
She has led cacao and tobacco ceremonies for people of all ages, in Ecuador and the U.S., creating spaces for healing, self-discovery, and remembrance.
After helping build two six-figure spiritual businesses, Barbara founded her own work blending ceremony, embodiment, and creativity with entrepreneurship.
Today, she leads retreats and mentorships that empower people to reconnect with themselves, their culture, and their inner power.
INVESTMENT
The Beauty Path Mentorship is a deep dive into ancestral Andean, Mayan, and Sapara cacao and tobacco practices. This is a time, spiritual, and financial commitment (low four figures), with payment plans available upon application approval.
What makes this mentorship unique is its trauma-informed approach: you’ll learn to hold space while honoring the body’s wisdom, cultivating the ability to feel fully in your body so plant medicine can reach the heart and support true transformation.
Spots are limited to keep the journey intimate and intentional.
If you feel called but want clarity before committing, email us at hello@barbieenruta.com. We’ll be so happy to support you in making your decision.
A Note on Mentorship & Integrity
This apprenticeship is both a mentorship and initiation. It is not a certification, so it does not hand you a title or certification. Instead, this mentorship teaches you how to hold space, lead cacao sessions, and facilitate healing experiences whether this is your first tool in the journey or an addition to the work you already do. These 9 months provide the foundation and the path continues as you integrate, practice, and grow in your service. This is a commitment to learning, exploration, and embodiment.
Throughout the mentorship, you’ll be guided by Barbara and guest teachers across different modalities from energy healers to color theory stylists weaving body, spirit, and earth-based practices together. Healing and wisdom happen in the whole being, not just in energy.
This path is deeply rooted in Indigenous traditions, which are earth-based, lineage-based, and community-based. Most of these traditions cannot be “certified,” and to try would risk stripping them of their sacredness and replicating colonial patterns. Instead, you’ll receive teachings directly from the lineage and guest teachers, always honoring the cultures, medicines, and practices from which they come.
You’ll commune with cacao and other plant medicines, walk through the four elements, and remember your place as part of the Earth. This mentorship is a doorway — the beginning of a lifelong journey of learning, service, and sacred practice.
WHAT FOLKS ARE SAYING…
“Barbara created a space during our time with the Sapara that felt sacred, real, and deeply respectful. Her relationships within the community aren’t performative — they’re built on years of trust, reciprocity, and presence.
I was able to soften into the experience because she had already done the work to ensure we were entering in a good way.
With Barbara, I didn’t just attend a retreat — I experienced a reclamation.
return to the Earth, to spirit, and to my own knowing. If you’re being called to this retreat, trust the call. You’ll be held.”
MISHA, RETREAT PARTICIPANT & PSYCHOLOGIST
A note from Barbara
What it means to be a bridge between two worlds…
For many of us, there’s a hesitation when it comes to working with plant medicine. We tell ourselves stories: “I’m not Indigenous enough.” “This isn’t for me because of the color of my skin.” “Do I even belong here?”
I know this feeling well. Growing up between New York City and Ecuador, I often felt like I didn’t belong — not from here, not from there, ni de aqui ni de alla. I carried the weight of feeling “not Indigenous enough.”
But over time, I began to see these doubts for what they are: stories. Stories that keep us small, that separate us from our roots, and that disconnect us from the sacred medicines our ancestors once knew and shared.
The truth is: many of us are in a journey of remembering. Of reclaiming our roots. Of healing not just ourselves, but the collective. And part of that healing happens when we allow these stories to be heard and still choose to honor our truth and our calling.
I now understand that being a bridge between worlds is my medicine. It is the gift I carry. And I trust that the people who are meant to walk this path with me will find me, just as I know those meant to walk with you will find you.
So I invite you: quiet the voices of doubt and walk in integrity. People may always have opinions, but this journey isn’t about them. If you feel called to work with cacao, to receive Andean teachings, and to weave them with your own roots and gifts then this space is for you.
Have any questions? Schedule a FREE 30 minute call with Barbara.
FAQ’s
-
If you cancel your reservation:
61 days or more prior to the start of the retreat, you receive 50% of the money you have paid (minus a non-refundable $500 administrative fee).
31-60 days prior to the start of the retreat, you receive: 20% of the money you have paid (minus a non-refundable $500 administrative fee).
0-30 days prior to the start of the retreat, no refunds are given.
To cancel, you must send an email stating that you wish to do so to hello@barbieenruta.com
There will be no refunds or discounts for arriving late, leaving early, flight cancellations, travel delays or illness.
-
We recommend booking your itinerary all the way through to the Mariscal Sucre Airport in Quito to make your journey seamless.
-
Most of lodging will be shared accommodations with another member of the group, but if it’s important for you to have your own room, please email me at hello@barbieenruta.com and I will do my best to accommodate you.
note: In Casa Ilayaku all lodging will be shared.
-
Your passport must be valid for at least six months past your date of entry in order to enter Ecuador. You will not be allowed to enter the country with a passport that expires within six months of your date of entry. Be sure to check your passport now to see if you meet this requirement so you can secure a timely renewal if necessary. No visa is required for entry with a Canadian or US passport.
-
We require that you purchase travel insurance (medical & flight cancellation) for your time away from home. This kind of travel can be unpredictable.
-
You’ll fly into Mariscal Sucre International Airport (Quito, Ecuador.
-
WiFi is accesible in every location we will visit.
-
In January, the Ecuadorian Andes experience cool temperatures and relatively dry conditions, as it falls within the region's dry season (June–September).
Quito experiences cool temperatures with frequent rainfall. Quito sees average highs of 16°C (61°F) and lows around 6°C (43°F), with rain over 16 days, moderate sunshine, and a high UV index. Given the weather conditions, you should pack layered clothing, including sweaters, long-sleeve shirts, and a warm jacket for cooler evenings. Waterproof jackets, sturdy footwear, and sunscreen, sunglasses, and hats are necessary due to the strong UV exposure despite the cooler climate. By preparing for fluctuating conditions, attendees will stay comfortable throughout the retreat.
-
You'll have an opportunity to purchase local handmade crafts like jewelry and ceramics. We suggest $250 in personal spending cash.
-
Once you register, you will receive our suggested packing list. We do encourage you to pack lightly and pack only what you will need.
-
In countries like Ecuador, diseases such as malaria, yellow fever and hepatitis can be contracted. However, if the necessary preventative steps are taken, these illnesses can be successfully avoided. This information is provided to keep you safe and healthy during the trip.
Immunizations: No immunizations are required for entry into Ecuador unless you are entering from an endemic area. Yellow fever immunization is required if you are passing through any other South American country on your way to Ecuador (even when you are only in an airport) or if you are entering Ecuador from an endemic area. The Center for Disease Control has an extensive website with travel related information at http://www.cdc.gov/travel/index.htm. Your Ecuadorian consulate can also advise you on current requirements.
Please consult your healthcare professional or local travel clinic for more information on these topics and to meet your specific needs. It is generally recommended to have an updated Hep A, Hep B, and Tetanus vaccination. If you choose to get a typhoid vaccination we recommend taking it orally for less side effects.
-
Ecuador’s economy is based on the US dollar so there is no need to make an exchange. Be sure to bring your money in loose change and dollars in smaller denominations (mostly $1’s, $5’s, $10’s and just a few $20’s). Most vendors and local businesses will not have the appropriate change and $1 and $5 bills will be very handy and even necessary.
Credit cards may be accepted at larger establishments but often with a surcharge.
ATMs are available only in Ecuador’s larger cities and pin numbers must not be longer than 4 digits. You will have access to an ATM in Cuenca upon arrival and then in Alausi.