Oscar Ichazo was born in Bolivia in 1931. At the age of six, Oscar started to have mystical, out–of–body experiences which he found no explanation through a rigorous study of western religion, physiology and medicine. He discussed the States he was experiencing with indigenous Shamans, but he was resolute to find a further explanation and understanding, so his search led him to in–depth studies of Tantra and the Kabbalah.

Oscar went on to study Martial Arts, Zen and Bushido. He studied at the University of La Paz and at 19, by a chance meeting, he was recognized as a ‘spiritual prodigy’ by an international group of elders who met in Buenos Aires. Oscar imparted his knowledge of esoteric consciousness–developing teachings with the members of this group. After this, he travelled and met masters in Tibet, Japan, Hong Kong, and India where he shared his knowledge of the Kabbalah, Vedanta, Buddhism, Sufism, and the wisdom of the I Ching, confirming his knowledge base.

Returning to La Paz, Oscar spent three years practicing tantras, including “Highest Yoga Tantra,” and other rituals extensively, after which he experienced a seven-day “divine coma.” When he came out of it, he knew that he was destined to teach the knowledge he had embodied and the States he had realized. Over the next decade, Oscar disclosed his insightful mystical knowledge across the major cities of South America and later founded the small Arica School in 1968 in Arica, Chile.

In 1969, he presented to the public, at the Institute of Applied Psychology in Santiago, his ‘doctrine of the Ego–Fixations,’ the nine patterns of dysfunctional behavior arrayed around a nine-pointed circular diagram – an enneagram, as well as a complete map of the human psyche, from the lowest levels of human behavior to the highest States of Enlightenment.

In 1970, Oscar was discovered by a group of American seekers at Esalen Institute (a New Age Center of learning), in California, who heard about his teachings and traveled to Arica, Chile to study with him for ten months. Following that, he moved to New York City, where the educational non–profit, Arica Institute, was established in 1971.

Over this decade, Ichazo’s work reached tens of thousands of people, making a profound impact on the culture’s thirst for self–discovery and spiritual knowledge. In the early 1980s Oscar moved with his wife, Sarah, to Maui, Hawaii where he started the many decades’ long project of publishing his teachings, as well as developing the higher Teachings into trainings for the School. A number of large reunions were organized where he lectured on the higher States and presented the meditational practices to enter and realize these States as well. In 1991, the United Nations Society of Writers presented him with their Award of Excellence, inviting him to lecture on his theory to the United Nations.

For over 55 years, Ichazo lectured extensively, taught meditational practices, gave interviews, produced over 100 training manuals, and wrote many journals and books on his original teachings.

In 2020, he died at his home on Maui, Hawai’i at the age of 88. He is survived by Sarah Ichazo, his wife and workmate of 40 years, who is the Executive Director of The Oscar Ichazo Foundation, and is the publisher and editor of his teachings. The Foundation has produced over 60 books of his teachings since 2020. She and the Arica School practitioners offer his teachings for the benefit of all humanity.

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