a meeting place
with nature,
with spirituality and
with yourself
Yary is a Holistic Center that offers retreats, experiences, courses, therapies and accommodation.
On the banks of the Tijuípe River, in the middle of the Atlantic Forest, located in the village of Serra Grande, between Ilhéus and Itacaré.
Oca Yary was born through listening to the strength and spirit of the Earth on which we walk and live. We develop, between listening and action, a space to serve Mother Earth through regenerative work through ceremonial practices, with the aim of recovering the living ancestral memory that echoes from the voice of the people and traditional cultures of our land and world.
Blessed by fresh waters, we are on the banks of the Tijuípe River, which offers us a paradisiacal waterfall, surrounded by the vibrant Atlantic Forest and neighboring the Conduru mountains.
Our space arises from the valorization of the region's raw materials and the original traditional knowledge. The structure includes the temple, the central Xinguana Oca, the kitchen that serves the oca and chalets, the dressing room, individual chalets and the nature house for collective housing.
TEAM
Giovanna Jaxuka
Giovanna Jaxuka is the guardian and creator of Oca Yary, it was she who dreamed of this sacred space, to receive people who seek a integration with nature, self-knowledge and the spirituality.
His training is as a naturopath therapist and he specializes in Transpersonal Psychology.
She is a seeker of paths of self-knowledge and ancestral native traditions.
On this red path, for more than 20 years, he has been guiding the Temazcal ceremonies and other experiences in Oca Yary.
Tainara Takua
Tainara Takua is a singer, interpreter and composer of the ethnic groupMbya Guarani. Third generation of Guarani spiritual leaders, they learned traditional songs from an early age in their village. He developed a repertoire of original songs with the Guarani guitar, which has its own tuning, and some of these are in theSpotify oryoutube, in your profile. Guardian of the Guarani tradition, it brings ancestral practices weaving a bridge with the present.
Ana Helena Bezerra
Ana Helena Bezerra is 33 years old and has been working with interpersonal relationships for a few years. Passionate about motivating interactions of collective self-knowledge, she works in organizing and managing events and today joins the Oca Yary team. Its greatest pleasure is to provide experiences of personal expansion, in order to enhance the best that each person carries within themselves, aiming to improve their being. Your smile is connected to the smiles of the people who pass by Oca. Her actions are based on the joy and compassion of serving, which she performs with great skill and care.
our history
Oca Yary was born in 2016 and its first structure was a temazcal, to give birth to everything that was to come. The temazcal is an ancestral ceremony, originating in the traditions of the people of North and Central America, which carries the symbolism of the womb of our Mother Earth, the return to our origin, where we came from. Also known as the sweat lodge, it is a regenerative practice that seeks to connect us with our primordial essence.
The name Yary comes from the Pink Cedar, a sacred tree for the Guarani people, which according to mythology was one of the first trees born from Creation to support the Earth. Nowadays it is known that the Pink Cedar is in fact considered a mother tree as it supports the entire ecosystem around it through its network of roots, feeding other trees. With the intention of reviving fundamental values that connect us with Mother Earth, observing the Pink Cedar on this Earth, we feel like carrying this mission.
Oca Xinguana was built by the Amary family, belonging to the Upper Xingu, of the original Yawalapiti and Kamayurá peoples. Through the guidance of the elder, healer and traditional architect Ayupu Kamayurá, the construction survey sought to respect the spirits of the place while building in harmony with nature, thus anchoring the protection that the hollow offers us. Each member of the delegation left a special touch here, through paintings and graphics, which have been sacred and ancestral symbols of their people for more than generations.
In the tradition of the Alto Xingu ethnic groups, hollows are built with reference to the human body. Made with a wooden structure, the hollow structure refers to the bones, the roof to the ribs, the roof of the structure being made with straw and compared to hair, the ridge refers to the head, the rafters are the teeth, and at the tops external sides, the ears. Each part of the hollow has an analogy to the human being and some details even have an associated mythological story.
Oca Yary ultimately grew with the intention of being a regenerative space, in its nature, in its spirit and in its relationships; a place of joy and celebration, a bridge between peoples; and a place of encounter: with nature, with others and with oneself. Focusing on the recognition of interconnection with the whole, the cultivation of self-knowledge, as a path of consciousness, respect for nature and love as a guide.
OUR SERVICE
A space of plenitude with regenerative energy, in the abundant Atlantic forest, inviting you to be and live in harmony. Like a portal that opens to enter a sacred and protected place, making a direct bridge to the ancestral memory of this Earth. Offering experiences that seek to cultivate self-care, expansion and self-knowledge as a path to consciousness, rescuing inner peace and love for oneself and all living beings.
With a holistic vision, the practices and experiences offered bring completeness in every detail, from the concern for a very natural and delicious diet that values local cuisine and seasonality, also to the friendly reception that creates bonds so that visitors feel at ease and create healthy relationships, with natural structures that refer to ancestral knowledge, providing comfort and beauty from Mother Nature.
In this self-nature coexistence, a lot is awakened, learning to listen, preserve and respect all our relationships, from the smallest beings to future generations, with respect for the diversity of life, preserving coexistence in harmony.
We wake up more and more through the song of the birds, the color of the garden, the sky that always offers us its blue, the silence that comes from being in places of peace both outside and inside, the presence of medicinal and ancestral trees , the animals that come to visit us bringing their messages and vitality, the herbs and clay that are abundant and ready to help our cures, and the various practices that we offer nourishing our entire being, be they bodily, artistic, in addition to experiences with other realities that expand our field and the songs sung reminding us of the life we follow.
With the vision of being a bridge between peoples, we provide the dissemination of traditional knowledge through learning from indigenous knowledge. We carry out experiences with a diversity of indigenous peoples through their own narratives in a natural environment that reminds them of their home and village, but which also forms a bridge for visitors, awakening each person's ancestral memories.
“Deep ecology does not separate humans — or anything else — from the natural environment. It sees the world, not as a collection of isolated objects, but as a network of phenomena that are fundamentally interconnected and interdependent. Deep ecology recognizes the intrinsic value of all living beings and conceives of human beings only as aparticular thread in the web of life.”
KEN WILBER
