Zach  was first exposed to Shamanism as a young boy living on the Rosebud Indian Reservation.  While living on the Rosebud  he was exposed to many Lakota ceremonies as his family was quite involved with the local medicine community.  It was during these ceremonies as a young boy that Zach had his first direct experiences with spirits.  Then at the age of 14, he moved to the west coast of the USA and lost interest spirituality until his late 30's.  He was fully consumed by the material lifestyle during that time.

 

Zach broke out of his secular funk by drinking Ayahuasca in 2009 .  At that time he was working in Finance.  While he was successful, he found himself very dissatisfied with life and depressed.  He knew that something was "off".   After some searching for a solution via other modalities, he finally decided to take a trip to Peru and attend a 9 day Ayahuasca & shamanic dieta retreat.  

That Ayahuasca experience was so impactful, Zach quit his job and moved to Jenaro Hererra, Peru in 2010.  He stayed in Peru until mid 2014. Upon his arrival to Jenaro Hererra, Zach began drinking Ayahuasca and doing shamanic plant dietas with the Galindo family. Zach’s main teachers were Maestro Gumercindo Galindo and Maestro Don Roldan Galindo (Gumercindo’s father). 

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In 2011 the Galindo family and Zach opened an Ayahuasca retreat center, La Familia Medicina. La Familia Medicina conducted Ayahuasca and shamanic plant dieta retreats from 2011 to mid 2014.  Late 2013,  Maestro Gumercindo Galindo gave Zach the title of "Maestro". 

 

Mid 2014 Zach left La Familia Medicina and began his "solo career" in the medicine.  This took him on many travels and finally in 2018, he and Jess were able to settle in Guatemala on the shores of Lake Atitlan to form La Familia Ayahuasca.

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La Familia Ayahuasca paused during COVID.  It was during this pause that Zach studied with The Four Winds Society and graduated from their Energy Medicine Course.

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While taking the Four Winds course, Zach travelled through the medicine wheel, working on his own healing, beyond the training he received in the Amazon.  Zach was shocked at how transformative the Medicine Wheel process was for himself and for those he worked on during the course. 

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He was also absolutely floored that this Energy Medicine work could be equally as effective at a distance as in person.  At the same time it should not have surprised him given his already established background in shamanism.  Zach now works 90%+ via Zoom sessions.  

 

It was during this course that he realized that his teachers in Peru may not have travelled through the entire medicine wheel, sticking to the South (Serpent) and the West (Jaguar) as specialties.  In fact, his teachers would introduce themselves as "medico" (doctor) or "curandero"(healer), they did not use the word "shaman". 

 

Alberto Villoldo talks about a "shaman" as being one who has travelled through the entire medicine wheel.  This is not to discount the amazing work that the curanderos do in the South (Serpent) and the West (Jaguar), these are their specialties and they are extremely skilled at it.

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Zach has completely fallen in love with the Energy Medicine work and the Alberto Villoldo lineage that he is now a part of.  He was and is continually blown away by the results of this amazing work.

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