This interview marks a symbolic full-circle moment. Maíra Irigaray, was Lizzie's former professor at the University of Florida, and now her co-facilitator on a retreat in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon. Maíra Irigaray has walked many career paths, notably as an environmental lawyer, teaching and completing her PhD in geography of indigenous resistance, Amazon activist, a mother, shamanic healer, and one of the most extraordinary humans you will ever encounter. This conversation will ask you to consider what is possible when you finally lay down the titles you collected to prove your worth, your "good enough" — and remember who you were before the world told you who to be. From lawyer to activist to healer: how nearly a decade of hardcore environmental law and indigenous rights activism led to burnout, and then to a completely different kind of awakening. "Loss can protect forests, but only love creates protectors." How Maíra stopped trying to save the Amazon through outrage and started bringing people to fall in love with it instead.The indigenous wisdom that reshaped how Maíra livesWhy nature is not somewhere you go — it's something you belong to. And why the Amazon doesn't change who you are, it simply removes everything you're not. Reciprocity as the foundation: how Maíra's work with indigenous communities on the Tapajós is built on years of relationship, consent, and direct financial support — not tourism, not extraction, but true partnership. Intuition as a practice: how Maíra moved from a woman with a plan for every plan, to someone led entirely by inner knowing.Growing up in an ayahuasca church, being introduced to plant medicine at seven years old.The witch archetype reclaimed: not woo-woo, not a costume — the most intuitive, embodied, wildly wise part of you that the patriarchy tried to domesticate. If this episode lit something up in you share it with a woman in your life who has everything on paper and still feels like something is missing. She knows who she is, she just needs to remember. Connect with Maíra Irigaray PhD Instagram: @maira.irigaray_ @insamauma Website: www.insamauma.org/aboutus The Retreat — UNTAMED October 29 – November 2, 2026 · Tapajós River, Brazil · Five days. Eight women. One of the most breathtaking rivers on earth. This is not a wellness retreat. This is a reclamation. UNTAMED was born from a vision to bring women into the Amazon not to be improved, but to be remembered. To strip away the conditioning, the performance, the version of you that everyone else "needs" — and meet the woman beneath all of it. What you'll experience: Sacred ceremonies with a Tupinambá Shaman around real fires, with prayers in languages older than nations Deep rainforest immersion — hands on ancient trees, pink dolphins in transparent water, white sand beaches as far as you can see Amazonian plant baths prepared with intention Circle, storytelling, and sisterhood — the kind built around a fire, not small talk Movement, embodiment, and wild feminine practices Living and dining aboard a high-end vessel on the Tapajós with private cabins and local Amazonian chefs A portion of every retreat goes directly to the indigenous communities of the Tapajós — supporting their sovereignty, their projects, and their culture on their own terms. Apply here: www.insamauma.org/untamed "The Amazon doesn't change who you are. It simply removes everything you're not." — Maíra Irigaray
