Vision Quest and Sundance - What is it?

Vision Quest is a long meditation in nature near Cancùn Mexico, 24h to 4 days by yourself in silence with no food and water. You can try and if you can only do say 12 hours the first time it’s totally fine (everyone did 4 days last year!). No rituals, no substances of any kind in your body, it cannot be simpler and more bare bones. It’s a time for you and only with you to look inside and hear and connect with nature and animals. It will happen February 21 to 24 in the jungle near Bacalar, a few hours drive from Cancùn. Here is the recording of a video call we did with many participants from last year.

The vision quest is an Indigenous North American tradition that I was fortunate to discover about 3 years ago and practiced many times. It helped me a lot manage my thoughts and emotions and connect to nature. It is also called “vision quest” for a reason as the sensitivity and power of the experience can lead to a dream state that some call “visions”. It is also excellent to access peace of mind, let go of stress and acquire strength.

During the vision quest you stay the entire time in a small space delimited with flags, you can see one of mine below.

Fasting is the most pure way to practice accessing the spiritual world, especially for those who do not want to use any plants or substances.

The team taking care of everyone organizes it with love and care and pays attention to everyone going through the experience so that safety is maintained at all times.

If most of you have likely tried some kind of fasting and saw the benefits, some might be scared by “no water”. It is a great exercise of “will” to keep ourselves away from the most basic “medicine” of all, water. We will talk about it in the call but trust in this thousands of year old “container” is essential. For your first time it’s okay if you complete only 12-24 hours and stop after or trust that your body will be fine and do it all. There is no failure or judgement from anyone, it is all about showing-up and trying. Mexico is warm at this period of the year but not too warm so it’s perfect.

For my first vision quest I only lasted 12 hours as I was left alone in a freezing hill in South Dakota, it hailed and snowed all night with a very cold wind and thunderstorms. I did 48h for my second one in the same place with the Lakota people (I wanted to continue but in their tradition that was the maximum for the second one) and did 4 days and 4 nights on my third one which happened in Bacalar. The weather will be nice in Bacalar so nothing to fear about temperatures especially at night.

Those who complete the vision quest can choose to leave or see the Sundance or even dance with us. The Sundance is a very secret process that isn’t documented much and it would be very special to just see it but you can also just do the Vision Quest.

Bacalar has a nearby airport or is at 3h drive from Cancùn that has cheap flights from everywhere. It is a very nice and safe little mexican city near the Ocean and a laguna where we can all swim before and after. There are many Maya spiritual sites to visit nearby including Chichen Itza which was one of the largest Maya cities and one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It is a very powerful place.

If you are interested in joining from February 20-25 the Vision Quest drop me an email at loicdirect at gmail dot com