Amanda Schendel, Founder of The Buena Vida

Amanda’s goal as a Psychedelic Leader & Guide is to bring warm, loving service to humanity. She serves unique medicine not only to guests, but also to facilitators in their growth and development, education, and well-being. Her work includes showing people their true nature, where they’ve lost connections, and giving them the tools to continue their daily work outside of the retreat setting. As an advocate of the safe, responsible use of psychedelics, she strongly supports the use of medicine traditions surrounding their ancient healing.

Amanda plays many roles; retreat producer, leader, facilitator, joke maker, and shaman-in-training.

She is a highly intuitive guide and has trained, assisted, and facilitated over 600 psychedelic ceremonies using ayahuasca, San Pedro (Huachuma cactus), psilocybin, cannabis, tobacco, and rapé.

Amanda brings a seasoned, varied, and light-hearted approach to even deep medicine work.

She spent the past 5 years studying native plant medicine and ceremonial healing with over 500 guests in Ecuador, (Gaia Sagrada), Mexico, Jamaica (MycoMeditations), and around the world. She has been producing retreats, events, parties, and community-centered happenings since 2000 in San Diego, Los Angeles, Madrid, Seattle, New York, Mexico, Colombia, and Ecuador.