Carlos Merchan
Colombia 🇨🇴
Carlos Merchan was born in Colombia under the wings of Chibcha culture. Through creating the Ritual Hunters movement, he teaches people how to cultivate health in spirit, mind, and body, working with ancestral medicines and plants, connecting with the elements of nature, and sharing knowledge about tribes and cosmogonies such as those of the Amazon and other indigenous cultures, always with respect and permission.
Carlos has practiced Jiu-Jitsu for more than 15 years and began practicing Capoeira over 20 years ago. He was introduced to Capoeira by his brother, who brought Capoeira to their region for the first time after learning directly from a Brazilian teacher. These disciplines strongly influenced Carlos’s understanding of movement, resilience, and embodied awareness.
After experiencing several near-death situations due to serious accidents, his perception of life deepened significantly. Doctors once told him that he would be lucky to walk again, yet he fully recovered his mobility. Through this process, he developed his own training method, which he has refined for more than 30 years. Today, he teaches and supports people around the world in taking care of their “armour” the body, mind, and spirit. His core teaching and philosophy can be summarized in one principle: “You are the medicine.”
Workshops
Capoeira - the art of movement and sound for freedom
Echoes of ancestry, movements of liberation.
Participants are invited to enter the Roda and experience the pulse of the drum and the flight of the soul. Rooted in resistance and ancestral wisdom, Capoeira is a living expression that weaves together movement, music, rhythm, and play. It blends martial art, dance, acrobatics, and ritual into a shared space where bodies communicate, adapt, and express freedom.
Guided by the rhythm of the berimbau and the collective energy of the circle, the practice cultivates presence, connection, and embodied awareness. Through dynamic exchange and playful interaction, participants explore balance, responsiveness, and flow while reconnecting with the body’s innate intelligence.
Capoeira is offered as a path of expression, resilience, and liberation, the art of being free.
Amazonic Animal Connection Movement
Participants are invited to embody the wildness, agility, majesty, and skill of Amazonian animals. Through sound, movement, and embodied exploration, they physically and spiritually connect with ancestral animal energies that may serve as personal totems. The practice supports the experience of mobility, strength, agility, and flexibility, awakening instinctive movement and deep bodily awareness.
This method was created by Carlos Merchan, a Colombian native with roots in the Muisca tribe. A former high-performance athlete, he was diagnosed with partial disability following multiple injuries. Rather than giving up, he developed this animal connection method within his natural environment, drawing from his studies of martial arts such as Capoeira and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, as well as deep spiritual knowledge and lived healing experiences.
At the core of this practice are teachings and rituals dedicated to restoring balance between body, mind, and spirit.
Cacao Ceremony & Singing Circle
South American Ritual with Ceremonial Cacao and Singing Circle (Carlos Merchan from Colombia and Arjana from croatia).
Join us in the celebration of life, with a special cacao ritual and singing circle. A circle where the knowledge of ancient people and sacred natural medicines used by the tribes of Central and South America . Taste the plant that is also called the food of the gods, which opens the heart and connects us with our roots.
Chanting and drinking cacao in a ritual way is a great combination that has many beautiful benefits. From the most obvious complete enjoyment of socializing while listening to music and dancing, to more subtle ones, such as cleansing the body and subconscious fears, balancing the nervous system, opening the throat and heart chakras, etc…
Feel the ancient knowledge, medicine as it is and support your body with the sounds of special songs. Travel to another continent by following your instincts and connect with your roots through deep meditation, and open your heart with a ceremonial cacao from Colombia and look at life from a different perspective. In a safe space you can explore your voice, connect with others and feel that you are never alone.