GROFIAN psychedelic therapy TRAINING
Dive into the depths of consciousness with the Grof Legacy Training at our Spinoza Akademia, a unique program dedicated to Grofian Transpersonal Psychology and Holotropic Therapy. By indicating your interest and signing up, you’ll receive further details as they emerge. For an initial exploration of the program, please find more information below.
GROFIAN TRANSPERSONAL psychology
The Grof Legacy training, now residing within the Spinoza Akademia, embodies the distilled wisdom and insights from Stanislav Grof’s extraordinary career. Esteemed for his contributions to transpersonal psychology and psychedelic therapy, Grof’s work represents a deep dive into the human psyche, unveiling non-ordinary states of consciousness and their transformative potential. This training program is a testament to our commitment to fostering scientific advancement and nurturing transformative experiences, all through the lens of Grof’s pioneering techniques and theories.
This body of work seamlessly integrates a plethora of psychedelic research and practical experience, crafting a guide to safely navigate the mysterious terrain of holotropic states of consciousness. This expertise offers invaluable insights into Grof® Breathwork and Psychedelic therapy, utilizing psychedelic compounds such as MDMA, Psilocybin, LSD-25, and 5-MEO-DMT.
Informed by over four decades of wisdom and experience, Stanislav Grof and Brigitte Grof have replaced blind adherence to old paradigms with a deep understanding of ethics, practicality, and setting. They have designed a safe and enlightening guide for navigating the intricate landscape of psychedelic and holotropic states of consciousness.
This all paves the way for individuals to embark on a transformative journey of self-discovery, healing, and personal growth. This alliance illuminates a path of transformation that tens of thousands have undertaken before, stepping into the expansive realm of their own psyche.
We invite you to indicate your interest in the Grof Legacy training. This unique collaboration between Grof’s pioneering work and the esteemed Spinoza Akademia stands as a beacon of knowledge, insight, and transformation. It promises a deeper understanding of the human mind and its limitless potential, and it opens the door to the profound transformation that awaits you. Following your expression of interest, our team will get in touch to discuss the potential next steps.
HOLOtropic
Delving into the realm of the psyche through holotropic states unlocks exceptional opportunities for the evolution of contemporary psychology. It not only fosters deeper comprehension but also offers experiential access to an authentic personal spirituality. The term 'holotropic' encapsulates the essence of this journey, signifying 'movement towards wholeness'. The power of these states is manifold: they hold the key to healing, transformation, and discovery, even heralding an evolutionary leap forward. Just as we've harnessed technology to bridge distances and transcend physical limitations, let's embrace holotropic states to transcend the boundaries of our inner selves, moving ever closer to a state of integrated wholeness.
TOWARDS A psychology OF THE future: AN OVERVIEW
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Five weeks each covering holotropic theory and central aspect of the method through recorded classes with Stan and GLT teachers, readings, Q&A live sessions, experiential practices and questions for deepening learning.
The online modules last 5 weeks and one day. Once a week the platform will open that week’s class, which consists of videos, reading material, review questions and optional in-depth material. You can see all this material at the time and day that best suits you.
During 6 Thursdays, at 8:00 p.m. (Amsterdam Time Zone) an online / direct meeting will be held, to discuss and deepen the material reviewed that week. The sessions will last two hours, the first hour to ask questions to the teachers, and the second to carry out experiential exercises and work on the person of the therapist.
You will have two support groups through Whatsapp, one to ask the teachers theoretical questions and the other to share and interact with the other participants.
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RESIDENTIAL: In each module you will enjoy and be part of an international holotropic community in a six days residential context. We will meet for deep experiential and theoretical learning, guided by experts and pioneers of the transpersonal and psychedelic field.
Each Module includes four holotropic sessions with Grof® Breathwork and holotropic states.
They have a duration of 6 days and 5 nights. Each module includes classes, exercises to work the person of the therapyst, two holotropic sessions in the role of sitter, and two holotropic sessions to live the experience. Sessions will be with Grof® Breathwork and “holotropic” experiences.
Accommodation, food and work materials are included in the value of the program.
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Through different activities and experiences such as study groups, group work, role playing and personal study, we will complement and deepen the in person and online classes and workshops, so we can maximize the group cohesion and personal learning process.
During the three years of training, between the modules, there will be study groups and online group activities to delve into different content.
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Deep and systematic experiences in inner exploration and therapy with holotropic states, through the use of different psychedelic medicines and compounds in a clinical setting is crucial in the training of experienced therapists and for the unfolding of the students inner experiences and personal growth. You will alternate in the role as co-therapist with trainers and client in different instances so you can really understand the power and complexity of psychedelic medicines. Take your own medicine first!
The experiential intensives have a duration of 5 days and 4 nights. Each participant will be assigned to a group: A, B, C. (see calendar dates).
Participants will have an individual “holotropic” psychotherapy experience, and will co-facilitate an individual session in a therapeutic context. There will also be various integration activities.
Accommodation, food and work materials are included in the value of the program.
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In this one to one meetings with the trainers you will have the possibility of accompanying, deepening and sharing your process, of reviewing theoretical and practical issues and get help and guidance in working with your music sets
During the three years, a total of 10 individual consultations should be carried out with their facilitators. These can be done in person or online. Each consultation lasts 1 hour.
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Grof® Breathwork: We will experience holotropic sessions with Grof® Breathwork. Students will alternate as participants and therapist or floaters once they have the required knowledge and skills accompanied by their trainers.
Each year participants will experience 2 sessions in a workshop context, of Grof® Breathwork or Holotropic Breathwork with certified facilitators, in the place of the world of their choice.
These sessions are not included in the price of the program.
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In these module we will put into actual practice all that has been learned. We will review important aspects of the work and you will have different opportunities for integrating and sharing the profound process experienced throughout the program.
DESCRIPTION AND THEMES BY MODULES - online
I. GROFIAN transpersonal PSYCHOLOGY & psycho
Dr. Grof’s over 60 years of research have enabled a new way of understanding the unconscious and its dynamics, psychopathologies and the origins of psychogenic symptoms, allowing new understandings about healing processes and the concrete therapeutic application of expanded states of consciousness.
Dr. Stanislav Grof has been one of the earliest and most renowned pioneers of these realms. Through his decades of legal and scientific research on the therapeutic use of psychedelics and his innovative understanding of non-ordinary states, based on experiential forms of psychotherapy and his exhaustive studies of Art, Shamanism and Myths.
From Stan’s work has emerged a new expanded “cartography” of the human psyche, which adds to the personal unconscious the relevance of the experience of gestation and birth and also introduces us to the transpersonal unconscious. This groundbreaking clinical research has led to a new practical understanding of psychopathology and psychotherapy. Stan’s research led him to co-found the discipline of Transpersonal Psychology, which builds from individual psychology to include more advanced states of consciousness – as well as exciting new areas to the deep recesses of the psyche that makes exploration and self-exploration an “Adventure of Self-Discovery.”
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You will have a unique opportunity to explore this revolutionary paradigm and its implications – in your own therapeutic process and through your work with others. We will explore the traces left by life, birth and gestation and even the collective and transpersonal unconscious. As you open yourself to the deepest dimensions of your psyche, you’ll find a new world of understanding, from seeing how your body sustains energy linked to physical trauma, to appreciating how your birth experience gives you a “mold” for how you navigate your difficulties, to opening yourself up to a deep transpersonal guide for your daily life.
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You will understand how these constellations of multidimensional memories from different moments of life and beyond function. You will learn how they stain and modify our everyday perceptions and experiences and how they are at the base of many emotional and psychosomatic symptoms.
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You will get a novel and useful understanding of emotional and psychosomatic problems and the most effective forms of therapy, which will allow you to develop a deep confidence in the self-healing intelligence of your organism, catalyzed through holotropic states.
II. THE adventure OF THE holotropic PSYCHEDELIC THERAPIST
Grofian Holotropic therapy has substantial advantages, both practical and economical. It allows for direct access to the roots of emotional and psychosomatic problems in ways that are impossible in verbal therapy.
By deepening and accelerating the access to unconscious and superconscious material, it becomes possible to process and elaborate physical and emotional traumas that underlie different emotional problems and psychosomatic symptoms. It also allows enough depth to access the transforming power of true spiritual experiences firsthand.
We will focus on all relevant aspects of the preparation and the integration of the psychedelic and holotropic experience.
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These two elements are most important for the outcome of Holotropic therapy sessions, and when not covered are directly related to most problems that may be faced during the session. Learn in detail how to create the ideal inner and outer context for Grofian® Psychedelic Therapy in such a way that your practice may expand over the years in an effective and safe way, offering a loving, informed and secure container for what is probably the most powerful therapy in the world.
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Learn how crucial is the implementation of the medical forms and the utter importance of screening all contraindications in a skillful and informed manner. This will avoid many potential physical and emotional problems, keeping you and your client out of trouble and making your work safe, useful and rewarding.
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We will review in detail all the ethical considerations that are a distinguishable unmistakable seal of the Grofian approach to working with clients in holotropic states. We will review and sign the ethical compromises we assume and cherish as students and certified holotropic therapist and why this is so important to protect the client, the method and the therapist.
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You will learn all that should be covered and why the previous informative talk is so relevant to inform and prepare the client sufficiently well for the powerful and extraordinary experience they will live. A well prepared session will have direct positive implications for the outcome of the experiential session, at the same time lack of adequate preparation can be a great hindrance and even dangerous for clients and therapists.
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Learn how to work with mandala drawings for integration and several other practical tools that have proven over time to be most useful for integration and grounding. You will learn how to lead individual and groupal integration sessions for holotropic therapy and for individual psychedelic sessions in a loving, respectful and skillful manner.
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With the help of guides and protocols you will learn and practice how to conduct the first clinical interview, preparatory sessions and all the agreements and information you and your client will need to have clear before going into Grofian Psychedelic Therapy.
III. SPIRITUAL emergence & EMERGENCY: understanding AND TREATMENT OF psychospiritual CRISIS
Western science has been dominated by monistic materialism, which has no room for any spirituality. Modern psychiatry does not have a category that refers to “spiritual experience” or “mystical experience”; all these experiences are seen as manifestations of serious mental illness or “psychosis.” This is an unfortunate mistake caused by a superficial and inadequate model of the psyche used by academic psychiatry. This model does not recognize perinatal and transpersonal domains as legitimate dimensions of the human psyche and sees experiences with its origin there as products of an unknown pathological process.
Modern research of consciousness has shown that, correctly understood and supported, spontaneous episodes of holotropic states can be healing, transformative and even evolutionary, and they may serve as an invaluable source of information. This understanding challenges the current paradigm about consciousness, the human psyche, and even the nature of reality.
Stan and Christina Grof in the 80´s coined the term “Spiritual Emergency” which refers to episodes of holotropic states of consciousness that are so intense that they interfere with the ability to function properly in everyday life. They describe the triggers of these episodes; characteristics that set them apart from psychotic episodes; the most important types and very practical ways to support them that amplify their therapeutic and transformative potential.
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You will explore a broad and lucid vision about the essence of the spiritual awakening process and its direction in the light of modern clinical research.
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You will understand how the proper treatment of these crises can have very positive individual and collective implications.
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You will learn the most important types of spiritual emergencies, and their characteristic phenomenology, their triggering experiences and the characteristics that differentiate them from psychosis
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Understanding the relevant topic of psycho spiritual crises will give you a new look at problems as complex and recurrent as alcoholism and drug addiction, allowing a deeper understanding and a novel practical approach, in order to support the people who suffer from it. We will examine the different types of spiritual emergencies, their differential diagnosis from psychosis, initial interactions and what to do specifically to support someone in this situation appropriately, thus favoring a positive resolution
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You will discover that an important sub-category of non-ordinary states that are currently misdiagnosed as psychosis are actually valuable crises of spiritual opening, which have great transformative and therapeutic potential.
DESCRIPTION AND THEMES BY MODULES - residential
I. psychedelic THERAPY: state OF THE art
In this module we will deepen into how to establish the ideal Set and Setting for Holotropic psychedelic psychotherapy, based on extensive clinical research, transpersonal psychology and psychotherapy and its exquisite understanding of holotropic and psychedelic psychodynamics.
We will look at what would be the ideal ways of preventing and handling different problems and impasses when they occur. In this way you will be as prepared as possible to face the mystery of inner transformation in holotropic states.
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Train in the facilitation of psychedelic therapy from an Holotropic informed perspective based on decades of clinical work with thousands of psychedelic and holotropic sessions.
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Learn the specific ways of facilitating the session as well as how to establish the ideal Set and Setting, previous, during and after the psychedelic experience as well as different possibilities for the deepening and grounding of the process in between sessions.
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Understand how to prevent serious problems and how to work in managing them in the most effective and practical way when they occur. Learn to structure the ideal treatment room and surroundings, closing of the sessions and the sensible period right afterwards.
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We will consider factors such as the personality of the therapist and particularly of the client, so you can have an idea of potential problems before they even occur. From realizing the client attitudes previous to the session to the main psychological defense mechanisms and the different personality structures and emotional problems can help enormously in preventing and managing particular difficulties during treatment.
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Study the history, different uses, effect of the drugs and the latest therapeutic research of the most promising therapeutic compounds up to date. We will have classes or videos with experts in different compounds such as Psilocybin, LSD-25, 5-MEO-DMT, DMT, MDMA and Ayahuasca.
II. HOLOTROPIC body WORK
The process of intensifying tensions and consequent relaxation tends to move from one part of the body to another in a way that varies from person to person in holotropic states. The number of muscle tensions and intense emotions associated with them decreases with the number of sessions.
Psychedelics and Grof® Breathwork changes the body’s chemistry in such a way that blocked physical and emotional energies associated with different traumatic memories are released and put at our disposal to be processed and discharged peripherally. This allows the previously repressed content of such memories to emerge into consciousness and thus can be integrated. It is a healing process that we want to encourage and support, and not a pathological process that must be suppressed, as it is normally done in conventional medicine.
In holotropic states the process usually takes us from the psyche to the body. It may facilitate the resolution of unresolved somatic and emotionals problems. By working effectively with them, in a brief time, we may reach a fuller and more grounded integration.
This module includes the practice of body work in transpersonal therapy with expanded states of consciousness, the psychodynamic understandings that guides it and the precise way it is used in Holotropic Therapy applying different techniques, when indicated.
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In an entertaining and lively process you will learn the various specific interventions and techniques that have proven over time to be very effective. This will allow you to acquire practical and useful tools to help clients achieve a better closing if necessary.
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You will learn how Grofian Transpersonal Psychology and modern consciousness research inform and guide the use of specific body work.
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You will understand why to use body work and will be able to recognize when and how to use it appropriately.
III. MUSIC & integration
In Holotropic Breathwork and in psychedelic therapy, the expanding effect of consciousness is enhanced by the use of evocative music.
Instrumental music and other forms of sound technology – monotonous percussion, vibrations and singing – have been used over the centuries, or even millennia, as primary tools in shamanic practice, healing rituals and rites of passage in many parts of the world. Independently, many pre-industrial cultures have developed percussion rhythms that in experiments conducted in Western laboratories have demonstrative effects on the electrical activity of the brain.
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You will understand the transcultural use of music and the various sound technologies to induce and sustain holotropic states used over time.
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You will know the technical requirements necessary to assemble a sound equipment with the optimal power and high fidelity for this work.
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You will explore different ways of integrating the experiences that are lived in Holotropic therapy to expand your therapeutic tools.
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You will know and understand how to apply the structure of the music sets in its various phases, which facilitates and characterizes in such a special way Grofian psychedelic therapy. You will have the possibility to start making your own music sets for your future holotropic sessions.
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You will learn the theory that underpins the application of music in holotropic therapy, with detailed explanations and examples about the structure of each of the sections, so that you can improve your listening and musical sensitivity.
certification MODULE
In this module we will review, practice and integrate the learning achieved during the training.
This module is for those who have completed our training program in Transpersonal Psychology, and Grofian Psychedelic Therapy, and allows them to obtain International Certification as Psychedelic Therapist by the GROF® LEGACY TRAINING.
Note: The use and practice of psychedelic Therapy will always be regulated by the particular laws in different countries.