Think about the last place where you had a conversation that changed your life. You don't remember only the words. You remember the light, the temperature of the air, whether you were sitting or walking, whether there was a roof or open sky. You remember how it felt to be there. The space wasn't the backdrop of your experience. It was co-author.
Now think about the most transformative space you've ever been in. A temple, a mountain, a beach at sunrise, a forest in silence. Something about those places made possible something that wouldn't have happened in your living room or your office. It wasn't magic. It was architecture, in the broadest sense of the word: the way a space is organized directly affects the way you organize yourself within it.
The space where you heal is not neutral. Ancestral traditions have known this for millennia. Neuroscience confirms it with data. And that understanding is why the Dynamis Maloca exists as it does.
The space is not neutral: the neuroscience of where you heal
Neuroarchitecture is an emerging field studying how physical spaces affect the brain and human behavior. The Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture (ANFA) in San Diego has been researching what the builders of temples, mosques, and cathedrals knew intuitively: that a space's form shapes the experience of whoever inhabits it.
The data is clear: Meyers-Levy and Zhu (2007) demonstrated that high ceilings facilitate abstract thinking and creativity, while low ceilings favor detail processing. Natural light regulates circadian rhythms and directly affects serotonin and melatonin production. Natural materials like wood and stone activate calm responses in the autonomic nervous system that synthetic materials don't generate. Certain geometric proportions produce neurological responses of harmony and safety that can be measured in cortical activity and heart rate variability.
This means something concrete: an office with fluorescent lighting, white walls, and plastic chairs is not equivalent to a ceremonial space with a high ceiling open to the sky, living materials, and visual connection to a forest. It's not aesthetic preference. It's measurable physiological difference. Your nervous system reads the space before your conscious mind evaluates it. Stephen Porges calls this neuroception: the unconscious assessment of safety or threat that your body performs constantly. The space sends signals. Your body receives them. And those signals determine whether your nervous system opens to the process or contracts for protection.
The maloca: ancestral architecture for transformation
The maloca is a ceremonial structure with roots in Amazonian cultures. For the Tukano, Desana, and Witoto peoples, among others, the maloca was not simply a large building. It was cosmology made into architecture. The structure itself represented the universe: the roof was the celestial vault, the central pillars were the world's axes, the center was the axis mundi where sky, earth, and underworld connected. Entering the maloca was entering a physical representation of the cosmos.
In Amazonian traditions, the maloca is not "built." It is "born." The construction process is itself ceremonial. Materials are selected with intention, listening for which trees and palms offer their wood. Orientation responds to cardinal points and solar cycles. Every column, every beam, every binding has practical function and symbolic function simultaneously. The maloca is at once body shelter and cosmic map. There is no separation between the functional and the sacred.
It's important to be clear: Dynamis does not replicate a traditional Amazonian maloca. That would be neither appropriate nor honest. What we did was study the principles that these traditions understood intuitively and that neuroscience now validates: that a space's form affects the form of experience, that living materials create different conditions than dead materials, that orientation relative to the sun and elements has real consequences in the human body, and that a space designed with intention creates a different field than a space designed only with function.
The Dynamis Maloca: design with intention
The Dynamis Maloca is an open structure integrated into the 7 acres of dry tropical forest in Guanacaste. It has no walls in the conventional sense. The forest enters the ceremony and the ceremony extends into the forest. The high ceiling allows the changing daylight to mark the natural rhythm of experience: the golden dawn light filtering through trees is not the same as vertical noon light or the sunset that sets the horizon ablaze. Each luminous moment creates a different atmosphere without need for technology or intervention.
The materials are natural and from the region. Wood that your nervous system recognizes as alive. Stone that anchors. Earth that connects. Nothing synthetic, nothing fluorescent, nothing your neuroception reads as artificial or threatening.
Every design element responds to a therapeutic intention. The absence of walls reminds you that the transformation process doesn't happen isolated from the world but in relationship with it: birdsong, the sound of wind in leaves, the scent of the dry forest are part of the experience, not distractions from it. The acoustics were considered so that the human voice and ceremonial instruments resonate in a way the body recognizes as enveloping without being invasive. The orientation allows certain moments of the solar cycle to enter directly into the space, creating light marks that signal transitions in the experience.
The Path of Infinity, the trail leading to the Maloca, integrates sacred geometry into its route. Walking toward ceremony is already part of ceremony. The path is not a shortcut. It's a conscious transition between the everyday world and sacred space. Each step takes you a little further from the noise you brought and a little closer to the silence you need. By the time you reach the Maloca, something in you has already shifted. The space was preparing you.
Why space matters for your process
The space for a verbal therapy session matters. But the space for a transformative experience matters exponentially more. In expanded states of consciousness, whether through ceremony, deep breathwork, intensive meditation, or moments of extreme emotional vulnerability, sensitivity to environment multiplies. What you normally process in the background becomes foreground. Sounds, light, temperature, the texture of what you touch, everything amplifies.
The science of setting: Research in psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy at Johns Hopkins and Imperial College has consistently demonstrated that setting (the physical and relational space) is as important as the substance in determining experience quality. Carhart-Harris and Friston (2019) describe in their REBUS model how in states of high brain entropy, the brain becomes extraordinarily sensitive to context. A space of trust and beauty facilitates openness, insight, and deep processing. A hostile, clinical, or neglected space can facilitate anxiety, confusion, and defensive closure. Space is not process decoration. It's a therapeutic variable.
This principle applies even if you never work with substances. If you've done deep breathwork, hours-long meditation, or simply had a moment of intense emotional vulnerability, you know that some spaces facilitate opening and others hinder it. A Maloca open to the forest, with natural light and living materials, sends radically different signals to your nervous system than a conference room with carpet and air conditioning. Your body knows the difference. Your process does too.
More than a building: the space as teacher
The Maloca is, in many ways, the physical synthesis of everything Dynamis offers. In its design converge transpersonal psychology and neuroarchitecture. The wisdom of Amazonian traditions and contemporary neuroscience data. The relationship with the dry tropical forest that is co-therapist and living ecosystem. The Enneagram as map of inner territory and logotherapy as meaning compass. The somatic work that needs a space where the body feels safe enough to release. The ceremony that needs a container to hold what emerges.
Everything we've explored in this article series, from transpersonal psychology to logotherapy, from the neuroscience of ceremony to ecotherapy in the dry forest, all of it is embodied in a concrete, walkable, inhabitable space. The Maloca is not theory. It's experience.
Ultimately, the question Dynamis answers with every detail, from the Maloca's orientation to the trail among the ceibas, is not "how do we heal you?" but "what conditions does your transformation need?" Because transformation is not administered from outside. It happens from within when conditions are right. The right space, the right accompaniment, the right moment. And the honesty of the one who enters.
There are things words can convey and things only direct experience reaches. We've shared in these articles the science, the tradition, the philosophy, and the approach that sustains what we do at Dynamis. But the space among the ceibas has its own way of speaking. The Maloca has its own way of receiving you. And your process has its own intelligence that activates when conditions are right. What we invite you to is not to believe what we've written. It's to come and verify it yourself.
Come meet the Maloca. Come meet yourself →
Frequently asked questions
Is the Maloca only for plant medicine ceremonies?
No. The Maloca is a multifunctional space designed for any experience requiring an intentional container. It's used for ceremonies, but also for group breathwork, meditation, Enneagram sessions, somatic work, integration circles, and moments of contemplative silence. It's a space designed for depth, regardless of the tool being used.
What activities take place in the Maloca?
The Maloca hosts ceremonies, breathwork sessions, guided and silent meditation, Enneagram workshops, post-ceremony integration circles, conscious movement practices, and group processing sessions. It's also used for individual contemplation. Activities vary according to the specific program and retreat.
Can I visit Dynamis and the Maloca without participating in a full retreat?
Dynamis offers different levels of experience. Beyond complete retreats, there are options for visiting to know the space, individual sessions, and specific events. We recommend contacting us directly to explore which format best fits your moment and your search.
Is the Maloca outdoors? What happens if it rains?
The Maloca has a roof but its sides are open to the forest. This means protection from direct rain while maintaining connection with the ecosystem. During rainy season, tropical rain becomes part of the experience: its sound on the roof is deeply regulating for the nervous system. Guanacaste has a tropical dry climate with generally brief and predictable rains that don't interrupt activities.
What makes the Dynamis Maloca different from other ceremonial spaces?
Three fundamental things. First, it's designed with understanding of both ancestral traditions and spatial neuroscience: every element has grounded therapeutic intention. Second, it's integrated into 7 acres of dry tropical forest that functions as an active co-therapist, not decorative garden. Third, the team facilitating in it are clinical psychologists trained in transpersonal approach, not only ceremonial facilitators. The space, the ecosystem, and the professional accompaniment form an integrated system.
References:
Carhart-Harris, R. L., & Friston, K. J. (2019). REBUS and the anarchic brain: Toward a unified model of the brain action of psychedelics. Pharmacological Reviews, 71(3), 316-344.
Meyers-Levy, J., & Zhu, R. (2007). The influence of ceiling height: The effect of priming on the type of processing that people use. Journal of Consumer Research, 34(2), 174-186.
