Why Mexico Is the Best Place to Go For a Spiritual Journey

Want to go on a spiritual journey? Go to Mexico. It is the number one place for spiritual healing – partially because spirituality is deeply rooted in Mexican culture.

Before going to Mexico, I actually would have never called myself a spiritual person. But eight months in this amazing country later, I had irrevocably fallen in love with spirituality. And Mexico, of course (it’s impossible not to fall in love with Mexico).

Why? Mexico is inherently magical. Once you experience it, it will move you deeply – if you let it.

I can only recommend exploring the spiritual beauty of Mexico. Wandering between ancient sites and people full of ancient wisdom, you can feel spirituality vibrating everywhere.

After experiencing the country so deeply, I wanted to share some of my personal reasons why might love Mexico for a spiritual journey.

Mexico has a long tradition of spirituality

The first thing I noticed about the Mexicans I met is that many of them seemed to be inherently spiritual. The way they spoke about tradition, nature and their ancestor is rooted in the most sincere respect.

Mexicans are not only the most friendly and loving people on earth, they also carry a lot of indigenous history and traditions.

Rituals are still being carried out everywhere. There are many curanderos (healers), who dedicate their lives to healing the body and soul of all people. They work with the wisdom of plants.

A very common ritual you can witness is energy cleansing, often carried out in public. It is called limpia (cleansing) and with the power of herbs and incense, negative energies are expelled from the body.

Mexicans take great pride in their rituals. They have deep respect and love for their ancestry and even in modern times, these rituals continue to exist.

You really feel that Mexicans take spirituality seriously. And this sincerity, which goes way beyond Western culture hyping spirituality as a fad, is deeply moving.

You can participate in plant medicine ceremonies in Mexico

Another thing that Mexico taught me is the spiritual use of plant medicine. Psychedelic substances are not seen as party drugs, but directly connected to healing.

In Northern Mexico, you can find the homelands of the mescaline-containing cactus Peyote. The indigenous tribes of the desert, the Huichol or Wixárika, carry a long tradition of using Peyote for religious practices.

When participating in those ceremonies, the respect for nature is again deeply shown. You never take anything from nature for your healing without giving back.

That is why spiritual tradition in Mexico demands that you bring an offering to Pachamama, Mother Nature, in exchange for what you receive.

Also, curanderismo with magic mushrooms is widely common in Mexico – shamans have worked with their healing powers for ages.

To find the magical hongos, you best travel to the mountains of the Oaxaca region where they grow plentiful, especially in August. People even lovingly call it hongosto, a wordplay of hongos and agosto.

Nowadays, also other plant medicines are widely available in Mexico, e.g. Ayahuasca which originally came from the Amazon region but is now also popular in Mexico.

If you are ready to deepen your spiritual journey with the tools of psychedelics, partaking in plant medicine ceremonies in Mexico can grant you life-changing insights.

Read also: Our Peyote Ceremony in the Mexican Desert: A Spiritual Experience

and discover my psychedelic art series

Spiritual places in Mexico are plenty

Mexico has a lot of spiritual places that hold great historical and cultural significance. Visiting them lets you feel the sacred energy of ancient times.

Of course, when thinking of Mexico you first might be thinking of remnants of Aztek and Mayan culture.

There are countless spiritual sites filled with history to visit – the famous Chichen Itza, the Mayan ruins Palenque or the Aztek pyramid in the Tepoztlán mountains or the giant spiritual site of Teotihuacan near Mexico City.

When witnessing these places in personal, the sacredness is tangible. You can feel the special energy those sacred places in Mexico preseve until now.

Also smaller places attract visitors with their spiritual energy. There are churches where Chatholicism and Mayan ritual meet. There are ghost villages in the desert that capture you with their mystical atmosphere.

In Mexico, you will discover spirituality anywhere. Those sacred places allow you to directly connect with the universe, humankind and history and your very own truth.

Mexico has Temazcales – a spiritual experience like no other

How does being locked into steaming hot darkness with a bunch of strangers sound to you? Terrifying? Well yes, the Temazcal is not just about curing your body, it is just as much a challenge to your mind.

The Temazcal could be called a spiritual sauna. It is a ritual that is being carried out over the duration of sometimes many hours.

A Temazcal is a special dome-shaped construction covered with blankets – as soon as the door closes, it is pitch black dark inside.

The ceremony is lead by a temazcalero. It is usually carried out in four parts, one for each element. With each round, more and more hot stones get introduced into the sweat lodge.

The door only opens in between the rounds, but you are encouraged to stay all for rounds. It is not only taxing on the body, it can be very hard to stay calm as well.

But the atmosphere is magical. In the darkness, the only thing you see is a faint glimmer of the hot stones which have been heated in fire before. They call them abuelitas, little grandmothers. Wise spiritual teachers to guide you.

Ritualistic healing songs are sung together all the way throughout the ceremony – a spiritual experience that will challenge you but move you deeply.

Subscribe here for more art, wonder, travel inspiration and spiritual goodies ❤️

The international spiritual community gathers in Mexico

A lot of international spiritual seekers tend to gather in Mexico. Some places are already quite overtaken by white-people spirituality, such as Mazunte, and have transformed the original character of the place.

It can be strange to see how tourists construct their own little parallel reality in a country so rich in spiritual tradition.

But in many places, you can connect deeply with other travelers who are on a similar spiritual journey as you.

There are certain towns – like Mazunte, San Cristobal de las Casas, Tepoztlán – that tend to gather more of a spiritual crowd than others.

Yet, traveling in Mexico, it seems a lot easier to find your spiritual tribe than elsewhere.

It is simply a country that attracts spiritually-minded people and a lot of travelers specifically come there to deepen their relationship with themselves.

I’ve traveled to many countries where it was hard to find people who share the same passion for profound conversations as I do, but in Mexico, it was never the case.

I think spirituality in Mexico is so tangible that it draws in a certain kind of people. And even if you are not that kind of people (yet, like I was), there is quite some potential for Mexico getting you hooked on spirituality.

Mexico offers ALL the spiritual retreats

If you want to go to Mexico specifically to join a retreat, you have picked the right place.

Mexico offers literally any spiritual retreat you can think of – in the most gorgeous settings.

Perfect to relax your mind and deepen the relationship with yourself.

There are yoga retreats, ayahuasca retreats, silence retreats, tantra retreats, … The list is practically endless.

This page here can give you a first impression of what you can find there, but I highly recommend traveling to Mexico first and then finding a more local retreat.

Sometimes the spiritual retreats that you can’t find on the internet are the real gems. It also always helps to speak (at least some) Spanish to get a more authentic experience.

Personally, I joined a very small, personal yoga & silent meditation retreat and it was such a beautiful, profound experience. And I simply stumbled across it because I was volunteering in a place next door.

As you can see, I have some suspicion when spirituality is sold for a whole lot of money to wealthy foreigners. But it is all for a reason – because I don’t think you can buy spirituality, you can only experience it.

New-age spiritual ceremonies in Mexico

You can also quite frequently find more new-age approaches to spirituality in Mexico, such as cacao ceremonies.

Locals and travelers alike long to go deeper within themselves. They form beautiful communities and practice rituals that open your heart and allow connecting with others profoundly.

In many places you will be surrounded by yoga, meditation, shamanism, ecstatic dance, ancient wisdom – it all comes together in Mexico.

The modern and the ancient. Eastern, Western, Indigenous Spirituality.

So share a cup of cacao and be open to experiencing all kinds of spirituality.

To me, spirituality is incredibly personal and I think it is wonderful having the possibility to experience different traditions to unlock that special part within yourself.

Find what works for you. You do you.

What you should know before going on a spiritual journey to Mexico

Since spirituality has become so much of a trend lately, I want to share some more thoughts before you book a ticket to Mexico eager to have a spiritual experience.

Don’t force anything. Don’t chase spirituality. Let it come to you.

When you visit those places and choose to enter ceremonial spaces in Mexico, please have the same respect for the ancient rituals as Mexicans themselves do.

Educate yourself, learn about the cultures involved and allow yourself to dive deeply.

If you can, learn the language. It will open so many doors for you.

Spirituality will never give you what you’re looking for if you only pursue it superficially. It won’t satisfy your soul if you only travel there to get something off your bucket list.

The plant medicine won’t talk to you if you’re not ready.

Allow things to unfold naturally and the magic will follow.

Are you ready for it?

Let me know below I’ve you’ve already been to Mexico and what you experienced there. And if you haven’t been, what is it that calls you there most?