I just turned 50. Some news.

I haven’t written here for more than a year (I write often here).

I thought turning 50 was a good occasion to share some news.

I just spend my 50th birthday (July 14th, yes “Bastille day”) with my partner Magdalena, my mother, my three boys and Charlotte, my oldest son’s girlfriend. I also want to celebrate with my friends and miss them but after 3 months isolated in the jungle I wanted to enjoy my family and stay only with them.

My boys

My three boys are super happy and doing incredibly well and I am super proud of the men they have become.

Arthur, soon 27, works for a very successful tech company, Figma. Gauthier, 25, started his own company in August of last year, Alongside, building the S&P500 of crypto. Gregoire, 21, is going to graduate from Princeton next year and with his rowing crew won the US rowing Nationals (last time Princeton won the men's coxed four race was in 1986) and scored second at the Rowing World Championships.

Soon new dad again, with Magdalena.

I have shared my life with Magdalena Sartori for 3 years soon. She is extraordinary, smart, spiritual and fascinating (of course as we’re together, right?). She has been working on her own self-consciousness through many spiritual and self-development practices for way longer than me. Her main dharma is to raise feminine consciousness on this planet and is doing so with her Yin Institute and circles of women.

She is also an amazing architect and is mostly known for launching The Assemblage in NYC, a social club, co-working space and hotel concept that gathered those seeking to live a more conscious lifestyle, while working on themselves and the activation of their life purpose. It was a dream to have spaces for staying and working in NYC with non alcoholic bars, daily meditations, weekly spiritual and meditation speakers, artists and musicians Sadly this space, like many in Manhattan did not survive COVID and was forced to shut down.

Back to the important news, we are expecting a boy, due end of November. Magdalena’s first and it will be my 4th boy, I seem to only be able to help give life through boys, and Im still unraveling the mysteries of this guidance.

My work with plants and indigenous

I discovered the Amazon forest about 6 years ago when my previous partner Leila Janah (who sadly left us in human form since) took me to Peru for her birthday. We went to see the Machu Picchu. A friend of hers told her we should go to the Amazon forest and do a ceremony with a Shipibo “shaman”. I knew nothing about these ceremonies and never took any plants or “substances” apart from drinking lots of wine and some scotch which I used to like and now completely stopped drinking any alcohol. I refused to try the ceremonial plants (legal there) after googling what it was. When the “cup” was served to both of us in the jungle I thought “well it won’t likely kill me so I might as well try it” and I drank the plants two days in a row with Leila.

Little did I know how much it would change my life. I saw another world that I had no idea existed. I healed my mind and body. I processed many childhood traumas, my divorce and many other deep issues that were hidden inside.

I then met other tribes and shamans that also taught me a lot. I spent some time with the young Iskukua Yawanawà and participated in many “ceremonies” led by “Isku”.

I then went to the Ashaninka village “Yorenka Tasorentsi” for a week but stayed more than a month. I participated in a gathering of about 30 or so different tribes. I will dare to say it was the “Davos” of the indigenous of the Amazon with the Chiefs and “medicine masters” representing each tribe.

At Benki Pyako’s “conference” (the leader of the Ashaninka that I have huge admiration for both his mastery and his work replanting trees in deforested areas) I met Iskukua’s father, Nixiwaka (not much online about him but you can hear him sing his favorite song here) and his wife Putanny, both leaders of the Yawanawà tribe. They invited me for the first time to their village in Brazil, 8-hour boat ride away from the nearest road.

At the “sacred village” I got so interested in the indigenous practices and knowledge of nature that I decided to switch from being a “participant” in their practices into a “student”.

I have always been an entrepreneur and also a pilot so it was irresistible for me to move from the back-seat where I only could fasten my seat belt to sit in the co-pilot seat and “learn to fly”.

I was unhappy and was seeking something that would help me self assess my life and change it.

The Chief Nixiwaka offered me to start my training. They call them “dietas”, periods of isolation in the jungle from a few weeks to three months. These trainings are spiritual purifications with very little food and “dieting” with many different plants and animals. I did 7 of these dietas (different plants), spent a total of nearly one year in the jungle over the last 4 years in 1-3 months stays.

I just started their most advanced dieta, the “Muka” dieta.

I’m just back from the 3 months isolation alone in the jungle. I am so grateful that they opened this dieta for me after not offering it for about 15 years to either indigenous or white people. It’s very rare and special.

Now what?

I’m still Loïc, even though Nixiwaka gave me a new indigenous name, Yawa Mashkuru which means “the bald Yawa” as nobody there lost all his hair, I lost mine when I was 25. He said that way they would always remember my name…

I loved it in the forest even though it’s been really hard. Yet, I was born in South of France (in Perpignan) and not in the jungle. I learned entrepreneurship and started a few businesses and a conference that I ran for 12 years in a row. I have my partner Magdalena and my three boys here and soon a new boy.

It was obvious to me that my work is here in the world and not in the jungle.

When the Chief opened this last Muka dieta I was asked to pray aloud and I did. I prayed and told the Chief that I would very likely turn my teachings in the jungle into a very different result than what they use them for. The Yawanawà leaders agreed and got very curious about what will happen next. I am curious too.

What I learned in the jungle

What I got from all this work is being incredibly healthy and frankly feeling younger. I lost 25kgs, gave up alcohol and completely changed what and how I eat. I meditate on a daily basis and try to be conscious all the time about what I say and what I do. I have still much to improve on the consciousness and talking side but working on it daily.

Magdalena is so conscious that I have the best teacher always with me.

I learned to sing and many ancient language prayers from the Yawanawà. I can now sing for hours uninterrupted and enjoy it, I try to sing daily. I understood the power of songs and prayers. I learned to play guitar but I am still a beginner there. In silence isolated for months I got very sensitive to everything.

I think I see the world in a totally different way than before and try to be a better human by learning to control my emotions.

I write more often about this on my other newsletter “Yawa.news”. Here are the posts I wrote since I came back.

Meditation after 3 months in the Amazon forest
My most unbelievable healing experience in the jungle (if you have only time for one, read this one!)
Healings or healers, placebo or real?
The indigenous “Muka” dieta and how I lost 25kgs in 3 months
Teachings of the Mamos / Kogi people
A few days in Paris (and how it feels to be back in a big city)
You are not addicted, it’s just a thought
The power of our voice (and challenges adapting to the world)

Back to business, likely a new PAWA event

I also now feel ready to contribute to the world again.

Looking back at my past as an entrepreneur I feel one of my main contributions was to help people connect at LeWeb for 12 years in a row, learn about technology and for hundreds of them create their own startup.

I am thinking of a completely new event bridging new technologies and ancient technologies. Every session and topic could include new/ancient or mind/heart technologies. I miss organizing events and connecting people!

More about this soon but the event will be called PAWA. I organized the first PAWA event in San Francisco pre-covid but had to cancel it and refund everyone. Oh and I miss dressing-up on stage too :-)

I will write about the event on pawa.news.

Thanks for reading that far and please give me news about you too or reactions to this if you feel like, I real all comments and emails.