Awaken Your Intuition ~ A Heart-Opening Cacao Ceremony

Loved for its healing power for millennia, the Amazonian cacao plant invites us into self-connection, heart-opening, and inner clarity. In this guided cacao ceremony, you’ll connect deeply with your intuition and inner wisdom—ideal when facing important choices, seeking direction, or returning to presence.

We’ll weave cacao’s heart medicine with a carefully curated sequence of movement, journaling, meditation, breathwork, and self-inquiry. So prepare your cacao, bring your notebook, and step into this sacred journey of intuition and heart wisdom.

A note of care: cacao is heart-opening yet stimulating. If you have heart issues, high blood pressure, are pregnant, take antidepressants, or are sensitive to stimulants, please adjust your dose—or join without cacao. Your intention is as powerful as the plant itself.

Image: Kateryna Hliznitsova
Audio: Zenetao | Light_Music | TVSAM | Rockot

Transcript

A very warm welcome to this cacao ceremony.

I want to start off here with a quote to set the mood.

And it's a quote that the Oracle said to Neo in the movie The Matrix.

And very enigmatically she said,

You're not here to make the choice.

You've already made it.

You're here to try to understand why you made it.

End quote.

Yeah,

I love that quote.

And at the same time it can seem a little bit powerless.

So for me my ego defends itself against the thought that we do not make our choices.

But at the same time I believe we truly don't.

We can choose to make a sandwich,

But we don't choose to be hungry to begin with.

But of course you can make the sandwich with your favorite topping.

But then you don't choose your favorites,

Do you?

I would say that it's more true to say our favorites choose us.

And choosing our life's path one choice at a time,

Right,

Making life choices,

I see it as more of a way to being open to your heart,

To listen to your soul.

In a way that we don't actually make the answer.

Rather the authentic answer comes to those who listen.

And with that intention I invite you to step into this ceremony with that sense of openness and willingness to listen.

To listen to a voice deeper than the mind.

Welcome to this transformative cacao ceremony.

So as we go about the sequence of practices here,

Feel free to drink the cacao at your own pace,

On your own chosen moments.

There's only one part of the practice where I'll invite us to do some alternate nostril breathing and then I would suggest you don't drink,

Because that's a practice you want to do well and without distraction and without consumption.

But otherwise really feel into the moment,

Really allow yourself to almost let your body decide when it wants to drink a next sip of cacao.

Also feel free to pause the track at any moment if you would enjoy some more time with any particular part of the ceremony.

And also know that at the same time there will be plenty of time for journaling and reflection.

And then as another invitation for this following hour or so,

Really I want you to receive everything as an invitation,

For you to take or leave it as you please.

So if the moment takes you elsewhere,

Somewhere that seems more meaningful,

Please go with your flow and don't do things you don't want.

This practice is all about connecting with your authenticity,

With your intuition.

So I really invite you to follow that.

Stay very close and very true to yourself.

And then let's go a bit more into the practice.

I actually want to invite you to begin with some movement.

And let that be anything you enjoy.

So just for a few minutes here,

Move your body in any way it likes.

Maybe it feels very silly or maybe you think it looks silly,

That's totally okay.

Just really allow yourself to again just feel what feels nice and just go with that.

Maybe you want to roll on the floor a little bit,

Maybe you want to do some yoga stretches if that's your thing.

Or maybe what I really enjoy is to make little circles.

Making circles with my wrists,

With my elbows,

With my shoulders,

With my spine,

With my neck.

So do anything you like for a few minutes to just allow yourself to loosen up the body and get a little bit less into the mind,

A little bit more into the moving flow of the body.

Go as fast and slow as you like.

Maybe for you it feels really nice to be very focused,

Zen-like in your movements,

To be really precise and really feel.

And maybe you like to really go a little bit more flowy and dancy and expressive,

Let's say.

Just do anything you like for about 30 more seconds and allow yourself to really enjoy it.

You can make some sounds,

You can make some faces.

And then slowly making the movements a little bit softer,

Smaller,

Slower.

Until you very naturally come to stillness in the body.

We're not going for being a statue or very much an organism.

But find yourself in a place of stillness.

And I want to invite you to actually also hold your cup of cacao.

As we do a little introductory meditation.

So feeling the breath come in and out of the body.

Maybe still feeling the vibrating energy of the movement,

Pulsating.

Allow yourself to feel all of that.

Including also the warmth and the weight of the cup of cacao in your hands.

Let your body relax completely.

So whether you have your eyes open or closed,

Letting the face become very soft,

Very untensed.

And letting that relaxation cascade down over your shoulders,

Relaxing down your belly becoming softer.

As well your groins and your legs.

Until you find yourself completely relaxed.

Breathing.

Not waiting for anything but just enjoying being present here with your cacao,

With your body,

With your breath.

Just take a few breaths here.

In complete silence and presence.

If you're noticing any thinking happening,

Be very allowing of that.

We are not necessarily listening to the thoughts but we're really not resisting that either.

They're completely welcome like birds in the sky flying.

We're focusing more on the sky itself,

The spacious presence.

Of our awareness.

And in that spacious presence the thoughts that are happening are,

They're welcome,

We're just not focusing on them.

And now go towards a moment of intention.

Again make a conscious connection to the cup that is in your hands.

And i want to invite you to express in your own words gratitude for all the humans,

Animals,

Plants,

Minerals,

Elements that have been involved in bringing this very cup with this very cacao to you,

Here,

Now,

In this present moment.

And go ahead and express that in your own way for a moment.

Now i want you to bring to mind the intention you have for this ceremony.

So that might be an important choice you want to make or maybe you're stuck somewhere in your life and you want to find some perspective or resolution or maybe there's a certain situation that you want to receive some wisdom around.

And maybe you want to self-connect without any specific topic.

That is all welcome and useful here.

So an intention can be something like having this clarity about an outcome that you're longing for,

Something like this.

It could also be an intention of inner attunement to the experience of the ceremony.

So you can also have an intention of honesty or compassion or dignity.

So whatever intention means for you,

I invite you to sit with that for for a moment as you hold the and then let that all go.

And then for just a few minutes here,

A minute or two,

Become completely still.

Again holding your cup,

You can take some sips as you please.

This is not meant to be a strict meditation but just a kind of meditative drinking.

So as you're sitting in presence,

Taking sips,

Allow yourself to fully experience the drinking,

To fully witness the warmth,

The flavor,

The smell,

The weight and texture of the cup,

The body sensations of swallowing,

Maybe subtle reactions of your digestive system.

And if you can feel it,

Maybe the warmth starting to grow in your heart as you connect with the cacao plant.

And so for a few moments like this,

Watching the breath,

Perhaps taking a few sips here and there,

Allow the stillness to take you deeper into presence and self-connection.

And then we're going to shift gently to a practice of self-inquiry.

Rumi said,

There is a voice that doesn't use words,

Listen.

So with that as a guidance,

I want to invite you now to actually speak to your heart center directly.

If you want,

You can place a palm on your chest,

Maybe one on your belly,

See what feels right for you.

And then in your own words,

You can directly ask your heart,

What do I need to know?

Or,

What do you want me to know?

So take a moment and ask that and really project that question into your heart center.

Then be quiet and allow the heart to speak back.

And before you do that,

Just know that an answer might come now or later,

Even after the session.

Also the heart can speak in many ways.

So the invitation is to simply remain self-connected and receptive for any experience or answer.

So in a moment I'll invite you to ask the question and to listen.

And really be receptive without expectations and trust that guidance comes exactly from that place of wholeness that you already are.

So I'll repeat the questions and then I'll give you some silence.

So ask your heart any variation of what do I need to know or what do you want me to know.

I'll give you some silence now to practice this.

And then very gently letting that go.

It's very possible that already things are happening for you and it's also possible for some that it will come later or that something has happened but you didn't yet realize.

So whatever it may be for you.

Let's shift to some journaling.

We're going to do about eight minutes of journaling with some very mellow music as the background.

If you don't like that,

You can of course pause the track and then fast forward later.

The music is again an invitation.

And then again I want to give a quote and again it's Rumi that I really love to speak to us.

Rumi said,

Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love.

It will not lead you astray.

Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love.

It will not lead you astray.

So either connected to the theme that you have brought or without an agenda,

Journal.

Perhaps using one of the following prompts and I will repeat them in a minute.

So the suggested prompts are three choices.

You can say,

What is my heart trying to tell me that my mind hasn't heard yet?

That's one option.

Again I'll repeat them later.

Second option.

What truth inside me is ready to be loved,

Not fixed?

And then the third option.

If I stopped trying to improve myself and simply listened,

What would I discover?

So I will repeat the prompts in a moment and I want to just give you a few encouragements for the journaling practice.

I actually invite you to not start writing immediately but rather just take a moment,

Sit back,

Take a sip of your cacao and listen to the stillness first.

What words come when you speak from that place?

So I'll repeat the prompts one more time.

You can of course also use another prompt or no prompt at all and then I'll give you the silence.

So the first suggestion is,

What is my heart trying to tell me that my mind hasn't yet heard?

Two.

What truth inside me is ready to be loved,

Not fixed?

Three.

If I stopped trying to improve myself and simply listened,

What would I discover?

So the eight minutes of journaling are starting now.

Enjoy.

And just as a kind reminder,

As you're writing,

Take some sips along the way of your cacao and keep checking in with the body and experience again that full experience of drinking,

Of writing.

Stay very close to what you're feeling right now.

And then wherever you are,

I want to invite you to find an end.

If you're still writing,

Maybe you can of course either pause the track or just finish your sentence and put down your pen.

We will journal later some more.

And for now,

I want to invite you to just sit back again,

Put down your notebook and your pen and just take one minute of silent meditation as we transition into the next phase of the ceremony.

It can help if you want to either close your eyes and take a few deeper,

Longer,

Fuller inhalations and exhalations.

But feel into your body.

Maybe for you it's actually nice to look around a little bit where you are.

Sometimes writing can also be a bit mental.

And then looking around can give a bit more of presence.

And if you do that,

Looking around and really allow yourself and enjoy to be curious.

And then letting that go.

Next,

I want us to do a bit of alternate nostril breathing.

Just maybe five minutes.

And this is to balance the energy.

So cacao is a stimulant and it can be quite strong,

Depending of course on the dose and your sensitivity.

Alternate nostril breathing is not only a very pleasant meditation,

But it also balances the energy,

Especially when we might feel a little bit stimulated.

So I will explain how to do this and then you can do it at your own pace.

So first just listen.

If you already know how to do it,

You can already start.

So the alternate nostril breathing,

For those of you who have never done it,

It is what,

You know,

What it says on the pack.

You breathe first in through your left nostril,

Then out through your right,

Then in through your right and then out through your left.

So it's in,

Out,

In,

Out,

Left,

Right,

Right,

Left.

And you always start breathing in on your left nostril and you always end after exhaling out of your left nostril.

And the way to do this is to close the closed nostril with your thumb of the right finger and ring finger and middle finger of your right hand.

So you will first close your right nostril with your thumb,

Breathe in and then close your left nostril with your ring and middle finger,

Exhale through your right nostril,

Keeping the fingers there,

Inhale through your right nostril and then opening again the left nostril and placing the thumb on the right,

You're going to exhale through the left nostril.

Always sounds a bit complex in words but it's actually very easy to do.

If you kind of missed it,

Reverse and repeat the explanation and take your time with this and you really want to feel comfortable.

So breathe very slowly or easily at least,

Don't strain yourself,

Take a break.

If you somehow don't like this,

You can also do just some mindful breathing,

Deeper in and exhalations.

But mostly I'd invite you to do the alternate nostril breathing.

So for about four minutes at your own pace,

Go ahead and do the alternate nostril breathing.

As you're doing this it can be actually pleasant to close your eyes and tilt your head ever so slightly down,

But don't obstruct your throat.

Make sure that you're really sitting upright and keep your body completely relaxed.

And notice how it feels,

Notice the rebalancing,

Regulating effects of this wonderful practice for about two more minutes.

And of course if you're done,

You're done.

Otherwise,

Keep going.

Keeping your face completely relaxed,

A few more cycles,

Shoulders relaxed.

And then I invite you to complete your last cycle,

So ending on an exhalation through the left nostril.

And then when you're done,

Just take a moment again.

We'll just do a one minute very brief silent meditation for transition,

Kind of cleansing the palate of our practice here again.

And notice the effect that this practice has on your body,

On your mind,

On your energy,

On your heart.

Allowing full relaxation to come.

And of course maybe there's a less than full relaxation and whenever you find that there's maybe some stuckness or even some pain or discomfort,

Then I invite you to accept what you cannot change.

All right,

And then I want to invite you for the second part of journaling here.

Again,

Either connected to your ceremony theme or without an agenda.

And again I want to give you a few prompt suggestions,

So I'll repeat them of course at the end again after the instruction.

The first one is,

What am I being invited to trust that I have been doubting?

Second suggestion,

What choice if made from my deepest knowing would bring peace to my whole being?

And a third suggestion,

If my soul were guiding my next step,

What would it whisper now?

So I'll repeat them in a second.

Again,

I want to invite you with some suggestions for how to journal.

So,

You know,

Take some sips of your cacao as you write along the way.

Keep checking in with the body,

Staying very present as you journal,

Experiencing the full experience of drinking and writing.

And again,

I want you to consider starting with stillness and allowing the words to come not from your mind,

But again from that slow silent place.

And I'll just repeat the prompt for you if you choose to use one.

One,

What am I being invited to trust that I have been doubting?

Two,

What choice if made from my deepest knowing would bring peace to my whole being?

Three,

If my soul were guiding my next step,

What would it whisper now?

So eight minutes of journaling.

Enjoy.

And then again,

I invite you to find an end to your journaling.

And let's take again,

As you finish your sentence,

Let's take again one more minute of just a silent,

Silent sitting.

So really allow yourself to sit back,

Maybe take a deep breath.

Perhaps you want to move a little bit,

Perhaps you want to close your eyes or look around again.

And whatever your choice is,

Just allow yourself to come fully into presence again with your whole body.

And notice what is your state right now.

After this second journaling session,

What is the weather like for you right now in your body,

In your mind?

And just without analyzing,

Just notice what is it to be you right now.

And I want to invite you to take that moment of reflection into a bit of a reflection on the session as a whole.

Is there any maybe mantra or takeaway message that you really want to take from the ceremony into your life,

Into your next step,

Into your day?

You can either write anything down or just sit in receptivity with that question for a few moments.

Maybe distilling one clear message.

What would that be?

And then don't ask and then try to make the answer with your mind,

But rather again drop that question into your heart like a coin in a well and listen for the splash of an answer.

And rather than demanding an answer,

You know,

When we hold this question or when we're stuck there can be this desperation for an outcome or a resolution.

And yet,

Can you stay vulnerable?

Can you stay open and receptive for that answer?

That will actually only come when you are open and receptive and that does ask us to be vulnerable.

So can you keep open that quality of listening?

From what that well of your heart will whisper to the surface of your awareness.

So finally I want to invite you to express any gratitude for the cacao,

For the practice,

For yourself,

For your heart.

So I invite you to connect with that sense of thankfulness for a moment.

And then a few invitations for after the ceremony.

It can be meaningful to notice any synchronicities or significances or anything meaningful really.

So without necessarily interpreting any events post ceremony.

If you notice anything meaningful as such,

Just take that as guidance to and from your own heart,

Your own path.

Seeing maybe the world as a mirror of your soul.

That is a very powerful way to get guidance.

Of course do any additional journaling if more inspiration comes.

And I also invite you to take a few moments during the rest of your day,

Or maybe in the morning if this is an evening practice for you.

But to do maybe a brief meditative check-in.

So in this ceremony now you have opened the door to your intuition.

And you're likely to have a bit more or better access to your heart in the coming hours.

Also if you notice the cacao has maybe stimulated you a bit too much,

Drink some water.

That's a general recommendation anyway.

And you can always repeat the alternate nostril breathing.

It really helps to calm your nervous system and to rebalance your energy.

And of course generally invite you to take it slow after a session like this.

I want to leave you with one last quote from Dr.

Wayne Dyer.

And then I wish you a beautiful rest of your day.

If prayer is you talking to God,

Then intuition is God talking to you.

Thank you.