YUMI TAPIA HIGA

For over thirty years, Yumi has dedicated herself to exploring the world of plant-medicines through diets, vision quests, pilgrimages and Inipis (Unanchacha: Anden Sweat Lodges).

Yumi’s path began at the age of 14, when her father was diagnosed with a terminal illness. Finding that conventional approaches to health and spirituality provided few answers or support, Yumi opened herself to a new perspective.

She listened to the call of her ancestors, sought our spiritual teachers and, eventually, found the ancestral wisdom of sacred plants. Since the young age of 14, she’s entrusted herself to this knowledge and dedicated herself to being a steward of this ancient path.

Her curiosity also led her to dance, where she found relief from her asthma symptoms, marveling at the body’s potential as a vehicle of expression beyond words. This experience underpins her understanding of the profound connection from within, with all that dwells: people, nature, the sacred. Her movement training began in 1997 with contemporary dance, and later she incorporated Hatha Yoga and Restorative Yoga. Ashtanga Yoga accompanied her for twelve years (2001-2013), and from Zen—a tradition in which she received the Bodhisattva vows with the name Ryu Un—she retains the essence as an intimate practice.

Since adolescence, Yunmi trained with Native Bolivian teachers until she was granted permission to lead her own ceremonies over a decade later. Her knowledge was transmitted through apprenticeships and immersions with the “sticks;” the mountains, the jungle, Pachamana (Mother Nature).

In this way, she was able to assimilate and transmit this vast knowledge through ancestral ceremonies with sacred plants, a role she has fulfilled as a guide for nearly 20 years. The Circle Dances and the Dances of the Sun and Moon have also been woven into her path; she received instruction from Mother Moon and through the lineage of her “Grandmothers of the North”.

Currently, Yumi leads plant medicine ceremonies and personalized body therapy and yoga classes. She also collaborates on various projects that weave together art, ancestral wisdom, and healing. She guides and accompanies with respect and humility: recognizing the wholeness of each being and the interconnection with all the dimensions and relationships that sustain this sacred work. At the center of her life, she is the mother of an 8-year-old boy.