Adela Pimintel Chocano
Description
Adela’s Shipibo name is Rishin Kabi, meaning “the woman who heals.” She comes from the Shipibo community of Flor de Ucayali and is the mother of eight children and grandmother of three. Born into a lineage of highly respected Shipibo healers, she grew up surrounded by traditional knowledge and the medicine of the plants.
As a child, Adela loved joining ayahuasca ceremonies with her grandfather, a renowned healer in her region. She was deeply inspired by the way he worked with the plants, moved by his icaros, and touched by the profound healing she witnessed. From that early age, she knew she wanted to follow the same path and learn how to heal and support others.
By the age of twenty-five, Adela felt ready to commit fully to apprenticeship. Wanting to care for her children’s health and help her community, she approached her grandfather and asked him to teach her. He asked whether she was truly committed, reminding her that learning from the plants is not a game, but a sacred and demanding path that must be taken with seriousness and respect. Adela affirmed that she was ready and understood the responsibility of her choice.
A full year of dieta followed, during which she remained completely isolated in her home. At the end of that period, her grandfather told her that her path with the plants was now open and that they would support her for the rest of her life. He began serving her ayahuasca, and through ceremony she learned how to work with the energies of the plants she had dieted in order to heal people.
As her reputation grew, many people came to her for help with physical, emotional, and energetic difficulties. She worked as a respected Onanya in her community for seven years before a fellow healer recommended her to work in a center with Westerners. Since then, she has worked throughout Peru and finds great joy in sharing her medicine.
Adela especially loves witnessing the results when people are freed from pain and sadness. She considers her path with the plants to be her life’s work and remains devoted to continuing her diet and learning so she can better serve her family, support others, and deepen her own growth.