THE FAMILY
The people who hold the fire
Kanahri is a family before it is anything else. These are the people who carry the ceremonies, and who will meet you when you arrive.
MEDICINE MAN
Shizho Kuychirumi
He is the one holding the fire at every gathering, the Temezcal, the Ayawoka, and Ayahuasca ceremonies, and the offering at the lagoon.
Jhonny Ordoñez is a descendant of the Kañari Nation and the founder of Kanahri, the ancestral cultural project born from his family's land in the Andes of southern Ecuador. He is guardian of the sacred mountain Kuychi Rumi, keeper of its ceremonies and its silence. An Amauta “a wise teacher” Jhonny was initiated into the mysteries of nature and the ceremonial world by the elders who came before him, and today he carries that same wisdom forward, speaking on Kañari cosmic culture and worldview and opening spaces for cultural and artistic expression to thrive. Through Kanahri, he welcomes the family who comes searching, offering not a lesson in history, but a living seat at the fire.
- Jhonny Ordoñez
- Guardian of the Sacred Mountain
FACILITATORS
Those who walk beside him
The ceremonies are held by a family, not one person.
Camila facilitator
Camila is a somatic therapist, yoga teacher, and devoted student of the path of healing. Since 2017, she has accompanied others on the journey inward—toward the body, the heart, and the truth beneath the stories we carry. Her path with ancestral medicine began in Ecuador in 2023. Walking the Red Road, she has found in San Pedro, the fire, and ceremony powerful teachers of presence, humility, love, and connection with all that is alive.
Through her relationship with Jhonny and his family, Camila walks alongside the Kañari tradition, supporting the ceremonial spaces at Kanahri through cedar prayers, song, and prayer.
Her work with the body and her path with ancestral medicine meet in the same place: the journey home. A return to the body, the heart, and the inner truth that guides us toward a life lived with purpose and in service of love.
Samael Nharay
Samael is a descendant of the Kañari Nation, raised in a family devoted to medicine and culture. He carries ancestral and cultural practices as a legacy he carries forward. Drawn to explore that inheritance in depth, giving continuity to this cultural and spiritual expression. He is one of the original founders of the Kañari project 8 years ago, and he walks in charge of the sacred fire and the water drum throughout the ceremonial process. He is a Medicine Man.
Claudia Milena
Descendant of the Muisca culture of Chía, Cundinamarca territory, in Colombia, and a graduate of the National Pedagogic University in Physical Education. She founded the Kañari School, dedicated to ancestral education and education for life in the rural countryside. Throughout her journey in education and movement, she has developed new techniques of body expression to nurture physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being.
Sarasuati
Sarasuati is a specialist in gastronomy and nutrition, with a long journey through cultural and ceremonial spaces. Along that path, she has deepened her knowledge of medicine, ceremonial process, and vegan Andean cuisine.
Inti Amaru
Inti Amaru is a tourism organizer and manager specializing in Andean settings, ceremonial and cultural sites. A practitioner of traditional and ancestral Kañari knowledge, he serves as a guide for healing processes involving medicinal and power plants.
Laura Coones
Laura's path to Kañari began in 2022, when she first visited Ecuador, meeting one of Kañari's founders through medicine, and was later invited to partner with the community and experience their way of life firsthand. Her medicine path has included ceremony with respected Taitas, Curanderos, and Huachumeros across Ecuador's Shuar, Amazonian, and Andean communities, as well as Peru's Shipibo and Quechua traditions.
Laura grew up on lands shared with First Nations people in Canada, and that early relationship to Indigenous culture shaped a deep and lasting respect she carries in her heart and work today. She considers it an honor to share Kañari's message and way of life with others searching for the same connection she found. This path led her to become a Certified Functional Nutrition & Holistic Health Practitioner and brings 25 years of media, sales, and marketing experience to help raise awareness of the Kañari family's vision.
WHO WE ARE
The continuation of the wise grandparents
We are the living continuation of the wise grandparents of the Andes, the people of Kanahri. We carry the blood of the serpent and the macaw, the two spirits that weave together the wisdom of the Earth and the wisdom of the sky.
We are the fruit of that sacred union, a living, breathing thread back to where we began, and an open door for those who wish to know it.
WHERE WE ARE
Cañar, in the southern Andes
The community sits in the San Rafael sector of Kuychi Rumi, in Cañar — the land of Ingapirca, the best-preserved archaeological complex in Ecuador. The ceremonies are held on the mountain, at the lagoon, and around the fire at the heart of the property.
You don't need to know our language or our ways before you arrive. You only need to come with an open heart — the rest, our family will teach you.