Grof® Breathwork is a new approach to psychotherapy and self-exploration. In this 9-day module the holotropic paradigm will come alive and participants will experience first-hand the essential elements of Grof® Breathwork and what makes it a unique approach for personal and collective development and healing – a way to access deeper levels of your own psyche as a prerequisite for working safely with others. Grof® Breathwork also offers the best possible foundation for working with psychedelics.
Through your own personal experience, you will understand the importance of the combination of deep breathing, powerful music and unique bodywork as it unfolds in a safe, supportive environment.
You will find out how Grof® Breathwork belongs to “the technology of the sacred” as it touches all levels of existence, personal, perinatal and transpersonal. The ethical aspects of the work will be discussed.
In this module we will investigate this cycle from both an experiential and a theoretical point of view. The imprint of the birth process and the formative consequence for our later life is described in detail by Stanislav Grof in the Four Basic Perinatal Matrices (perinatal: around birth). This gives meaning in holotropic states of consciousness, and the re-living may free us from disturbing patterns.
Paradoxically birth is also an encounter with death, one of the greatest existential fears. Coming to terms with death may be a major achievement for living a good life. We will look at death and dying from both western and eastern perspectives, including the transformative nature of near-death-experiences, and how to understand bardo states and re-birth.
How to assist someone safely through a holotropic process in the role as “sitter” will be highlighted. This involves the importance of presence and the wisdom of doing-by-not doing.
This is a 7-day module and will be held in the Netherlands.
It is the first of three modules with a focus on psychedelics. These modules will offer practical wisdom for guiding others through psychedelic experiences.
The word “psychedelics” refers to drugs and substances whose primary effect is to catalyse non-ordinary states of consciousness (known as psychedelic or holotropic experiences). Grof Breathwork® is another way of accessing these states that are known to have powerful healing potential. The use of psychedelic substances goes as far back as humanity.
There is an increasing interest all over the world known as the ´psychedelic renaissance´. This renaissance is generally welcomed within the transpersonal field. From our point of view, the therapeutic use of psychedelics began in modern times in the 1950s with the work of Stanislav Grof. His ground-breaking findings and the development of transpersonal psychology are the foundation for our program.
The new excitement for psychedelic therapy calls for an urgent need for properly trained therapists and a renewed focus on the significance of “set and setting”. The ambition of this program is to set a standard for fulfilling this need.
During the three modules the following issues will be highlighted:
- The history of psychedelics from ancient to modern times
- Types of psychedelics; pharmacology, dosing, microdosing
- Updates on research within the field
- The psychedelic experience and the healing potential
- Principles of psychedelic therapy
- Critical variables – The importance of set and setting:
- The mindset of the experiencer, the sitter and the facilitator
- Preparation for the session
- The session – how to navigate as the experiencer, the sitter and the facilitator
- Integration
- The importance of music and sound technology
- Bodywork and interventions
- Complications
- Prevention
- Contraindications
- Dealing with critical situations
- Spiritual emergence/emergency
- Archetypal astrology as a predictor for the outcome of psychedelic therapy
- The future of psychedelic therapy
Each psychedelic module will offer two experiential sessions with psilocybin. As soon as the field is opened for the use of other psychedelic substances, these are expected to be included.
The work will be conducted in smaller groups in pairs, one person being the experiencer, one the sitter, and with experienced facilitators available.
It is possible to participate in the program without taking psilocybin and still certify as a Grof Breathwork facilitator.
In the first part of this 9-day module, we will investigate the field of what is traditionally called mental disorders. Looking at it from a transpersonal, holotropic perspective will give us a whole new view. It includes the understanding of addiction, trauma and spiritual emergence/emergency. These are conditions that cannot adequately be explained in the context of biochemical or biographical models but have to include significant perinatal and transpersonal dimensions to be fully understood.
This will lead to new treatment strategies, including how and when to apply Grof® Breathwork and psychedelic therapy.
A specific focus will be on working with stress and trauma release from the perspective of newer neuroscience. This includes learning a simple, but very efficient bodywork technique.
The second part of the module is an exciting and transformative journey through the world of music. Sound and rhythm have always been vital creative and spiritual tools for transformation and healing. Music has even been called the language of the soul.
This is a special opportunity to learn first-hand the music structure that makes Grof® Breathwork and psychedelic therapy such a powerful tool.
Participants will learn how to create their own music sets for journeying.
We will explore how the perinatal and transpersonal perspective offers a whole new understanding of art in general, including visual art and movies.
This includes identifying archetypal images as governing, primordial principles in the psyche and the cosmos.
This is a 7-day module and will be held in the Netherlands.
It is the second of three modules with a focus on psychedelics offering practical wisdom for guiding others through psychedelic experiences.
For a detailed description, see Module 3.
This is a 5-day module and will be held in the Netherlands.
It is the third of three modules with a focus on psychedelics offering practical wisdom for guiding others through psychedelic experiences.
For a detailed description, see Module 3.
This final, 9-day module is where everything falls into place and becomes truly integrated. Integration comes about when we move from a state of undifferentiation to differentiation and then to integration.
The outcome of a breathwork or psychedelic session depends not just on what traumatic material has surfaced, but how the experience is completed and integrated. It is not just “going to the movies”, it is about integration. As facilitators we need to fully understand this to be able to skilfully and safely support the experiencer towards completion. The module will focus on this.
From the perspective of Joseph Cambell’s The Hero’s Journey, completion is the time when the hero/heroine prepares to return to home with the gifts received after a long, adventurous odyssey. We will recapitulate the stages of the journey and examine how to ease the return.
We will look at some of the pitfalls that can appear in the integration process. Like the Pre/Trans Fallacy, when the prepersonal and the transpersonal become confused. Or when differentiation goes too far and becomes fragmentation and disconnection.
This module will also consider the wider perspective of the Cosmic Game: the Explorations of Frontiers of Human Consciousness.
Our final focus point will be on the importance of celebration.