Our story,
ABOUT
Our purpose.
We are here to platform voices that are often forgotten in the entheogenic mainstream — the elders, keepers, and ceremonialists who have held these ways long before the term “psychedelic renaissance” was born.
Who We Are
We are neither a training organisation nor a retreat provider in the conventional sense. We are practitioners, ceremonialists, artists, therapists, and guides who believe that entheogenic healing must be rooted in soul, in ceremony, and in collective remembering.
In a time where plant medicines are being rapidly medicalised and commercialised, Be the Medicine was created to hold a different kind of space — one that centres prayer, reverence, and relational depth. A space where Indigenous wisdom, Earth-based traditions, and spiritual intelligence are honoured as vital components of safe and ethical entheogenic work.
Our offerings — both immersive experiential gatherings and trainings — are designed to support the emergence of a new kind of practitioner: one who walks with humility, who listens deeply, who knows healing is not a solo pursuit, but a collective return.
We are not here to lead or fix or save.
We are here to tend, to honour, to remember.
To walk together in beauty, in service, and in right relationship with the mystery.
Jeya Lorenz
Jeya Lorenz is a co-founder of Beckley Retreats, where she helped shape one of the leading legal psychedelic retreat programs in the world. After several years at the forefront of the psychedelic field, Jeya chose to step away from Beckley in search of something deeper — a model of healing not confined by corporate structures or commercial trends, but rooted in community, prayer, and service.
With over a decade of experience across the social impact, environmental, and healing sectors, Jeya has facilitated and curated transformational programs globally — from plant medicine to Ayurveda, from integration therapy to systems change.
Her journey has connected her with a vast network of elders, healers, and visionary practitioners committed to soul-based healing. Be the Medicine emerged as her response — a space to remember and reclaim sacred ways of working, beyond the individualistic lens of the psychedelic mainstream. It is a container woven with feminine principles, Indigenous respect, and Earth-based wisdom, offering both immersive gatherings and trainings for those ready to walk with reverence, integrity, and relational depth.
Kellie Berns
Kellie Berns is a student, mentor, spiritual practitioner, and community organizer devoted to cultivating spaces of peace, justice, healing, empowerment, and beauty. Her work is rooted in over 25 years of Buddhist and Yogic practice, and is deeply nourished by Indigenous teachings from both the North and the Global South.
For the past 15 years, Kellie has had the humble honor of learning from Indigenous relatives of Turtle Island. Earlier in her journey, she spent several years traveling to Peru and Brazil to sit with elders, medicine people, and wisdom keepers whose guidance continues to shape her life and work.
Kellie serves as the Program Director for Earth Guardians, a global nonprofit supporting youth leaders at the forefront of climate and environmental justice. She is also the Co-Visionary behind Earth Guardians’ Indigenous Youth Leadership Initiative, which uplifts Indigenous knowledge, sovereignty, and self-determination through intergenerational training and mentorship.
Previously, Kellie co-founded the Ahimsa House in West Philadelphia, a community center rooted in Buddhist principles, and led yoga teacher trainings alongside a private healing arts practice. A graduate of Smith College and former faculty at the Pacific Center for Awareness and Bodywork, she now stewards land and gardens of her own with deep care and reciprocity.
With over two decades of experience in community organizing, healing arts, and regenerative living, Kellie is committed to building a world in balance—where nature, culture, and spirit can thrive in harmony.
Advocates, facilitators & supporters
Nuestro Nanamoli
Meditation Teacher, Co-facilitater, Dhamma Practitioner, Artist
Nuestro Nanamoli’s journey has been one of profound transformation. He began as an Army Ranger, graduating at the top of his class and serving three tours in Iraq, before moving on to study at UC Berkeley and work in Hollywood. However, severe PTSD led him to a 10-day Vipassana meditation course, sparking a commitment to spiritual practice that saw him spend nearly eight years in meditation centers and Buddhist monasteries. In 2020, a near-death experience after breaking his neck led him to sewing as part of his healing, infusing each stitch with the mantra, "May this stitch bring peace to many people." Since then, his deepened intuition has guided him to offer psychic support to others, humbly helping them on their healing journeys.
Sonia Kreitzer - Doe Paoro
Lead Ceremony Facilitator, Sound Healer, Yoga Teacher
Doe Paoro is a singer, songwriter, and musician whose ethereal voice and introspective lyrics delve into themes of transformation, healing, and self-discovery. Beyond her music, she is a shamanic practitioner, yoga and meditation teacher, and has spent years studying under her Shipibo lineage teacher, integrating profound indigenous wisdom into her life and work. Her sound, a unique blend of soul, pop, and folk influences infused with mystical textures, reflects her deep spiritual journey. Paoro’s songs invite listeners to explore their own inner landscapes, cultivating a sense of connection to themselves, each other, and the sacred.
Juani Naum
Facilitator
Juani has been walking the path of plant medicine for over 23 years. His journey began within a spiritual tradition in Brazil, where he was first introduced to the depth and discipline of ceremonial work. During his early travels, he encountered his first teacher in the lineage of Peruvian vegetalismo — a relationship that shaped his foundation in plant spirit healing through years of dedicated apprenticeship.
Since then, Juani has traveled extensively through Brazil, Peru, Colombia, and the United States, studying and working alongside Indigenous and mestizo healers. Central to Juani's work is a commitment to spiritual safety and integrity in ceremonial space. He personally gathers and prepares the plants he serves, carrying an intimate knowledge of the remedies and the relational protocols that surround them.
Zach Nasbuam
Facilitator
Zach is a long-time student of plant medicines, death, grief, and the ways in which these can connect us more deeply to the Mystery of life. His offerings weave together insights from almost two decades as an initiate in an entheogenic religious tradition, 10 years in pediatric palliative care and hospice, and his lived experience as a father, son, husband, student, teacher, brother, and spiritual seeker.
Zach completed a Masters of Divinity degree in 2014, and is currently a student in the 3-year Ecstatic Mysticism program run by AWE. At present, he works for a pediatric palliative care and hospice team based in Raleigh, NC, while also offering one-on-one counseling and ceremonial work independently. In his practice, Zach specializes in the cultivation of a conscious relationship with death as a transformative catalyst, grief, loss, and bereavement, and psychedelic preparation and integration.
Our purpose
01
We are practitioners, ceremonial, artists, therapists, and guides who believe that psychedelic healing must be rooted in soul, in ceremony, and in collective remembering.
Rooted in Ceremony
02
We center prayer, reverence, and animism. A space where Indigenous wisdom, ways of life, and spiritual intelligence are honoured as vital components of safe and ethical plant medicine work.
Honouring Ancient Wisdom
03
We are here to support the emergence of a new kind of practitioner, one who walks with humility, listens deeply, and knows that healing is not a solo pursuit, but a collective returning.
A Collective Return
Where our story began…
We started Be the Medicine because we saw plant medicines being turned into products. Fast-tracked into clinics, packaged for mass consumption. And we felt something vital was being left behind.
We saw a wave of people training to become psychedelic therapists with little to no knowledge of where these medicines come from - the cultures, the lineages, the traditions that have held them for generations. And we believe that without a deep understanding of their origins, we cannot truly be in service to others with these medicines.
We wanted to create a space where the old ways are still treated as what they are: sacred practices, rooted in prayer, relationship, and generations of Indigenous wisdom.
Our gatherings and trainings are for people who want to show up differently. Not as experts. Not as saviours. Just practitioners willing to listen, to stay humble, and to remember that healing isn't something you do alone - it's something we come back to together.
We also make space for the voices that very rarely get centred in modern psychedelic conversations. Elders. Ceremonialists. Lineage-holders. People who were holding this work long before it became an “industry”.
We're here to tend. To honour. To show up in right relationship - with each other, with the land, and with the mystery that's always been here.