Hi, I’m Stephan Oesterreicher, founder of Meditation Retreat Peru. I’m sharing the story I have often told during our monthly silent meditation retreats on Amantani Island at Lake Titicaca.
Before my first trip to Peru in 2010, I had already spent many years in Asia, especially in India, Nepal, and Thailand, dedicating myself fully to meditation and yoga. I immersed myself deeply in practice and took part in hundreds of days of silent meditation retreats.
My path led me to teachers from different traditions. I traveled widely to learn from masters I had heard about, experimented with many methods, and continued with the ones that truly resonated. I walked barefoot through the Himalayas with wandering Hindu monks, sat at the feet of the Dalai Lama to receive Tibetan Buddhist teachings, and lived in monasteries for long periods of time. I was completely sincere in my search, with no other aim than to understand life’s deepest mysteries and experience the transcendent states of bliss described in many spiritual traditions.
When I arrived in Peru, I immediately fell in love with the Andes and the powerful energy of the highlands. At the same time, I noticed that there were no meditation retreats available, and I felt that an essential part of my life was missing. That became the inspiration for me to begin offering silent meditation retreats in Peru, starting in early 2013 with small retreats in the Sacred Valley.
Soon after, my teacher visited Peru, and I organized two retreats for him: one in the Sacred Valley and another planned for the mystical island of Isla del Sol on the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca. The Sacred Valley retreat was deeply powerful and truly unforgettable. But as we prepared for Isla del Sol, time became short, and I hoped to find a place that would require less travel, since reaching the island meant a two-day journey.
That was when I remembered Amantani, which I had visited the year before to make offerings at the island’s ancient temples. I recalled the strong experiences I had there, as well as the large room at the guest house where I had stayed, which seemed suitable for meditation. Trusting intuition, I brought the group of around 10 people to Amantani, knocked on the door of the family guest house, and asked whether we could hold the retreat there. Fortunately, they said yes.
We spent three days in silence on the island. Sitting together in a small room with a magnificent view of the lake, receiving teachings about consciousness and the mind from such a wise teacher, was one of the most profound and beautiful periods of my life.
Afterward, we returned to the Sacred Valley, and I said goodbye to my teacher at the airport. Despite all the blissful moments, I later faced a difficult time when I had to close my meditation center in the Sacred Valley because I could no longer cover the running costs. Thankfully, Vipassana meditation retreats were also available in South America, and I set out alone on a soul-searching journey, completing two 10-day silent meditation retreats within one month. That experience restored my clarity and vision.
I returned to the Sacred Valley to prepare another retreat on Amantani, and soon after I brought a new group to Lake Titicaca, this time teaching the retreat myself. The energy of the island, the lake, and the ancient temples dedicated to Pachamama and Pachatata was extraordinary. I knew I had found the perfect place for a meditation retreat.
That was when I realized something greater had emerged: it was no longer about me, but about the place and the retreats themselves. I felt honored to serve as the space holder for this creative force. A few months later, while I was in Mexico organizing meditation and yoga retreats for my teacher, I began building the foundation for Meditation Retreat Peru by connecting with other meditation teachers and developing a long-term retreat program. From then on, I scheduled the retreats around the full moon, which felt like a natural rhythm aligned with nature and the powerful energy of the lake.
From my bases in Mexico and Guatemala, I organized the retreats remotely, inviting other teachers to lead while I handled the planning and marketing. A few months later, after returning to Peru, I began teaching the retreats again and felt deeply inspired by the experience. The place was perfect, the energy was incredibly high, and it attracted beautiful people from around the world who felt called to join.
Over time, the retreat content also evolved. At first, it focused mainly on pure meditation. Today, it includes a thoughtful exploration of our inner masculine and inner feminine aspects, alongside visits to the ancient temples of Pachamama and Pachatata, which are dedicated to these principles. While the retreat remains devoted to the sacred presence of the divine within us, it now offers different approaches that support a more sustainable unfolding of our divine self. We work with healing old wounds, opening to a new vision for life, and deepening presence. We clear the mind while opening the heart, and what may sound like separate ideas is in fact a carefully woven design with a powerful heart-opening effect.
So far, the retreat has been held around 60 times on Amantani, with about 10 different teachers sharing their wisdom. I have personally led around 20 of those retreats, and it has become a deeply meaningful part of my life. I remain devoted to organizing Meditation Retreat Peru, ensuring that everything runs smoothly and continues to improve. Teaching the retreat is truly the cherry on top; most of my work happens behind the computer, and thanks to globalization and the worldwide web, I can do that from anywhere.
I’m writing this in Montreal, Canada, shortly after finishing some work on our website and feeling inspired to put this story into words. Looking ahead, I want to share a bit about the future of Meditation Retreat Peru. Over the past year, I was delighted to teach the retreats together with my beloved partner, a beautiful embodiment of the divine masculine and feminine energy reflected in the retreat theme. At the moment, we are honored to have two dear friends, Mike and Julia, leading the retreats, and we see the theme of couples as deeply connected to the interplay between the universal feminine and universal masculine principles.
From that energy, our spiritual tours for couples were born. They combine the silent meditation retreat with visits to sacred places such as Cusco and Machu Picchu before the retreat, followed by a restful stay at a luxurious hotel on the lakeshore afterward.
Although I have spoken at length about the outer journey of Meditation Retreat Peru, I want to end with its energetic essence, which has always remained the same while continuing to evolve. It is about recognizing the sacred dimension of our lives and remembering our deepest essence. It is about the divine spark in the heart and bowing to the grace that continually calls us back to our true divine-human nature. Meditation Retreat Peru exists to hold space for this dimension and to offer tools of transformation so that meditation, healing, and the recognition of our soul and beyond can become priorities in our lives.
In gratitude.
Stephan