We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Niccolo Rossi a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Niccolo thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Was there a defining moment in your professional career? A moment that changed the trajectory of your career?
Almost ten years ago, I had a defining moment in a ceremony that quietly re-routed my entire professional life. In the middle of that experience I saw, with a clarity that felt deeper than “ideas,” a retreat center. Not as a business plan, but as a living place with a purpose. A space built on love and respect for Mother Earth and for people from every background, without distinction. A place where healing, transformation, and empowerment could happen through community, humility, and real care.
At the time, I was building my work and my life the way many of us do: improving, creating, achieving. But that ceremony gave me a different kind of direction. It felt like a call. I could not unsee it. The vision was specific: a center that could hold different paths and “technologies” of healing, from sacred medicine to spiritual practice, from movement and breathwork to physical wellbeing. A place that honors traditions, respects our ancestors, and stays grounded in ethical service, not trends.
What changed the trajectory of my career was the decision to take that vision seriously and to build it step by step in the real world. Turning a sacred insight into an actual place required patience, discipline, and many practical skills. It also required listening, collaborating, learning from elders and facilitators, and constantly checking my ego at the door. I learned that community is not a concept, it is a practice. You build it through consistency, respect, and the way you show up on ordinary days.
The lesson I carry is simple: when a calling is true, it asks for devotion, not perfection. Values become your compass, and service becomes your strategy. When you build from love, respect, and inclusion, the work becomes more than a career. It becomes a responsibility, and a gift.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’m Nico Rossi, founder of Lunita Jungle Retreat, a sanctuary in the Riviera Maya where nature, ceremony, and community meet. Lunita was born from a clear inner calling: to create a place that helps people remember who they are beneath the noise of life. Not by forcing change, but by offering the right conditions for transformation to arise naturally. We hold the work with love, respect for Mother Earth, and deep care for the many paths people walk.
Lunita is a living home for different traditions and practices, held in a grounded and respectful way. Our spaces are designed to support both softness and strength: an open yoga shala for movement, breathwork, and workshops; circular spaces for meditation and sharing; a traditional temazcal for purification and prayer; and the jungle itself as a teacher. We also support sacred medicine retreats when guided by experienced facilitators and held with clear ethics, safety, and reverence.
What we provide is the container. We host and support retreat leaders from around the world and help them bring their visions into reality through schedule design, ceremony preparation, logistics, nourishing meals, and an atmosphere where people feel safe, seen, and truly cared for. The details matter because they create coherence. When the environment is calm and intentional, the nervous system softens. When the nervous system softens, the heart can open.
In 2025, we introduced Personal Retreats at Lunita, created for individuals, couples, and families who want something intimate, flexible, and deeply supportive. The results have been beautiful. We have hosted couples who arrived feeling disconnected and left with renewed intimacy, communication, and tenderness. We have welcomed families who came carrying stress and left with a sense of unity, presence, and shared meaning. These retreats are not about doing more. They are about returning to what is real.
People can choose from a range of options depending on their intention. Some come for rest and reconnection, with gentle practices like meditation, breathwork, yoga, and jungle time. Others want deeper purification and renewal through temazcal, cold immersion, and guided integration practices. Many add ceremonial elements, sound journeys, or visits to a nearby private cenote for quiet reflection and sacred water connection. Each personal retreat is shaped around the person or group, with care for pacing, privacy, and integration.
What sets Lunita apart is the spirit of the place. We treat the land as sacred, not as a backdrop. We honor diversity and welcome people from every culture and background, because healing belongs to all of us. We keep things warm, human, and real, rooted in community and respect for traditions and ancestors.
The main thing I want people to know is this: Lunita exists to serve life. We are here to protect what is sacred, to welcome what is true, and to offer a space where love, courage, and remembrance can grow.
Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?
For us, what matters most beyond training and knowledge is learning to lead from the heart, not only from the mind. Shifting from being the person who tries to control everything to being the person who listens, feels, and follows what is true has been a key to our success at Lunita Jungle Retreat. When we stay connected to intuition, the land, and our purpose, the right decisions become clearer.
We also succeed by practicing love in the practical ways: respecting and caring for our team, treating every guest as family, offering our best without judgment, and holding people with genuine support. In the retreat world, the energy behind what you do is as important as what you do. When the intention is pure, people feel it.
How do you keep your team’s morale high?
My advice for managing a team and keeping morale high is to build a culture of family, belonging, and shared purpose. At Lunita, we treat every team member as an essential part of the project, with the same right to share their perspective, their ideas, and their creativity. People stay motivated when they feel respected, trusted, and seen.
Every business goes through stressful seasons. When morale drops, we return to the foundation: community. We come together with honesty and love, we talk openly, and we brainstorm new paths without blaming anyone. If something goes wrong, the goal is not to punish or judge, but to learn, grow, and avoid repeating the same mistake. Finally, I believe in being open to feedback when it comes with good intention. A team becomes strong when everyone feels safe to improve together.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.lunitajungleretreat.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lunitajungle_experience
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lunitajungleexperience
- Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/company/lunita-jungle-retreat-center/
Image Credits
all credit are from Niccolo’ Rossi