Blue Mountains Shamanic Medicine Retreat March 2027

This four-day shamanic medicine retreat in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales is an ancestral healing immersion for people who already understand their family patterns and want to meet them beyond analysis. Led by shaman, author and breathwork teacher Johnson Chong, it weaves shamanic breathwork, journeying, ceremony, energy medicine, somatic practice and time in nature at the Blue Mountains Retreat Centre. Entry is through a mindful application process, so the group is chosen with care.

What to Expect

The retreat rests on the idea that many patterns were inherited rather than begun with you: ways of surviving, loving, withholding or keeping the peace that passed down through a family line. The work is not about rejecting where you come from. It is about meeting your lineage with enough awareness to honour what gave you life without repeating everything that came with it.

Johnson guides the group through his SAGE Journey, a four-stage path that moves through the body, emotions, mind and spirit, each stage named for an Andean animal. Serpent releases what the body has been holding. Puma reclaims emotional authority. Hummingbird reorients identity toward purpose. Condor anchors a deeper sense of self that exists beneath the conditioning.

The days build on one another:

- Friday, Arrive: an opening circle to meet the group and set intention, followed by a shamanic breathwork journey using breath, music and expanded awareness.
- Saturday, Open: the first shamanic medicine journey, then an afternoon healing workshop to work with the patterns and emotions that have surfaced.
- Sunday, Deepen: a full-day shamanic medicine journey, with time to stay with what unfolds and no need to rush back into ordinary life.
- Monday, Integrate: morning yoga and a closing integration circle to reflect on what has shifted and what you choose to carry forward.

A fire ceremony for release and conscious intention is also part of the retreat, along with two shamanic medicine ceremonies in total.

About Johnson Chong

Johnson Chong is a shaman, yogi, breathwork and meditation teacher, TEDx speaker and coach. He is the bestselling author of Sage Sapien: From Karma to Dharma, creator of the SAGE Oracle deck, and founder of SAGE Journey, through which he leads workshops, trainings and international retreats. He is initiated as a paqo shaman of the Andean Q'ero priests of Peru and is a Four Winds Energy Medicine Health Coach. He is also a certified E-RYT yoga teacher with over 1000 hours of continuing education. For over a decade he has guided breathwork, coaching and shamanic healing, including within organizations such as Unilever, Facebook and Nike. His work brings yogic and Buddhist wisdom together with shamanic energy medicine, beginning with the energy body so the mind can reorganise around a new baseline.

The Setting

The retreat takes place at the Blue Mountains Retreat Centre, with access to 100 acres of private bushland. Between sessions there is a hot tub. Rooms are in the retreat house, each with an ensuite: a dorm share for four, a twin share, or a private room with a king bed. A more accessible option is to camp on the property or bring a blow up bed and stay in the living room, using shared bathrooms. All meals are vegetarian and gluten-free. Travel is not included, though participants coordinate carpooling through a WhatsApp group.

Before You Go

The group is deliberately small, 12 to 14 participants, for depth and individual attention. The retreat is held in English and suits those with some experience of inner work. Included are:

- Both medicine ceremonies and the breathwork journey
- The healing workshop, fire ceremony and yoga
- An eight-module online preparatory course with lifetime access
- A pre-retreat group Zoom
- A post-retreat integration call with the group
- All meals and accommodation