IFH Holotropic Training Germany / The Holotropic Paradigm

Additional info, registration link, and cost

This module is offered in cooperation with the Institute for Holotropics / GTT USA and Holotropic Poland, and is recognized as part of the Holotropic Breathwork® Training Program.

This dynamic six-day module offers an immersive exploration of the principles, philosophy, and transformative potential of Holotropic Breathwork® and non-ordinary states of consciousness within the framework of Transpersonal Psychology.

This module is part of the Holotropic Breathwork Training Program and counts toward certification as a Holotropic Breathwork facilitator.

This module is open to everyone. You do not need to be enrolled in the training program or intend to become a facilitator in order to participate. It can be taken as part of the Holotropic Breathwork® Training Program, or simply as a deep personal and educational exploration of the Holotropic approach.

For those pursuing certification as Holotropic Breathwork® facilitators, this module is one of the essential core modules of the training program. It is equally valuable for professionals in the fields of psychology, psychotherapy, personal development, bodywork, healing, and consciousness exploration who wish to deepen their understanding of the psyche and its innate capacity for transformation.

Drawing on the pioneering work of Stanislav Grof and decades of experiential research, this module offers both theoretical foundations and direct personal experience of the Holotropic approach.

What we will explore:

  1. The Origins of Holotropic Breathwork®
    Discover how Holotropic Breathwork® emerged within the field of Transpersonal Psychology, integrating ancient wisdom, modern therapeutic insights, consciousness research, and experiential approaches to healing and self-exploration.
  2. Holotropic Principles and Strategies
    Learn the core principles that guide the work: trust in the inner healing intelligence, respect for each individual’s unique process, a non-directive approach, and the facilitator’s art of “doing not doing.”
  3. Cartography of the Psyche
    Explore Stanislav Grof’s expanded map of the psyche, including the biographical, perinatal, and transpersonal dimensions of human experience. This cartography offers a powerful framework for understanding your own inner experiences and for supporting others in non-ordinary states of consciousness.
  4. Perinatal Matrices
    Grof’s Basic Perinatal Matrices reveal how birth-related experiences may imprint deep emotional, psychological, and spiritual patterns. Exploring these layers within Holotropic experiences can offer profound insight into themes of transformation, death, rebirth, struggle, surrender, and renewal.
  5. COEX Systems – Systems of Condensed Experience
    COEX systems are emotionally connected clusters of memories and experiences that shape our inner world, relationships, and patterns of perception. Exploring individual COEX systems can open pathways to deep healing, integration, and personal growth.

Immersive Practice – Theoretical learning is complemented by direct experiential practice. During the module, participants will take part in four Holotropic Breathwork® sessions: two as a breather and two as a sitter.

The module also includes lectures, group sharing, creative expression, integration time, and opportunities for reflection and dialogue. Through this combination of theory, practice, and community, participants gain both personal insight and a deeper professional understanding of how to safely navigate and support non-ordinary states of consciousness.

This module is a profound journey toward self-awareness, transformation, and a deeper understanding of the essence of the Holotropic approach.

Cyrus Bruton

Cyrus Bruton (organizer Holotropic Berlin; module facilitator) is an international Holotropic Breathwork® facilitator originally from the UK. For over 35 years, he has been based in Berlin, Germany, where he lives with his partner and friends. For more than two decades, Cyrus has been guiding and holding space for a community grounded in meditation and wholesome daily living together with others.

During the 1980s and 90s, Cyrus lived and worked in India, immersing himself in various emotional and body-centered therapies, dance, and music. He also worked extensively as a progressive psychedelic trance and ambient DJ throughout Europe — an experience that deeply informs the spirit and curation of his Holotropic Breathwork® music sets.

Since 2017, Cyrus has intensely focused on the practice of Zazen and koan study under the guidance of Jeff Shore, attending retreats across Europe and visiting Japan. He is also the author of the book Mud, Lotus, Mystic, published in 2017.

Deepening his commitment to therapeutic and mindful practices, he is entering the Mindfulness-Based Core Process Psychotherapy training at the Karuna Institute in the UK for the 2026/27 academic year.

Cyrus first connected with Holotropic Breathwork® in 2011, participating in international modules and workshops before earning his certification as a facilitator in Spain in 2016. He is the founder of Holotropic Berlin, where he regularly facilitates and co-organizes workshops.

Cyrus brings a grounded, embodied presence to the work, honoring a lifelong fascination with the human journey.

Lydia Schamschula

Lydia Schamschula (organizer Holotropic Berlin; module facilitator) is a certified Holotropic Breathwork® facilitator, a German-licensed psychotherapy practitioner under the Heilpraktiker law, and co-founder of Holotropic Berlin. Before dedicating herself more fully to consciousness work, she worked as an actress and filmmaker, approaching film as a way to explore the mystery and depth of human experience.

Her inner work has been shaped by many years of meditation practice, especially Zazen, as well as Qi Gong and other approaches to self-exploration. She began her training in Holotropic Breathwork® in 2015 and became certified through Grof Transpersonal Training in the United States in 2017.

Since then, Lydia has been organizing and facilitating Holotropic Breathwork® workshops with the Holotropic Berlin team and has facilitated internationally in Spain, Ireland, the Czech Republic, Poland, Austria, and Georgia. A central focus of her work is preparation and integration, supporting people before and after deep experiential processes and non-ordinary states of consciousness. She has completed the ICEERS Academy Integration Training and brings a grounded, compassionate, and trauma-informed approach to her work.

Lydia lives in Berlin with her partner and their two wonderful dogs, who regularly remind her of the importance of presence, play, and long walks.

GTT U.S. (Minneapolis-St Paul) Holotropic Breathwork® – The Holotropic Shift & the Power Within

$390 early rate through September 18
$440 after September 18

Includes Saturday lunch and snack

Your fee includes lunch and a coffee, tea, and snack break on Saturday. Other meals are on your own.

Overnight hotel accommodations are not included and are optional.  You may choose to book a room at the Hilton, stay elsewhere, or commute from home.

Booking link for Hilton Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport

About Holotropic Breathwork®

Holotropic Breathwork is a facilitated practice that enables participants, in a safe, highly supportive environment, to access intense psychological states without the use of substances.

Holotropic means moving towards wholeness. Originated by Stanislav Grof, Holotropic Breathwork® provides a safe and caring container for deep exploration in expanded states of consciousness. Participants use their breath to access these expanded states and, in doing so, allow the process to unfold at its own pace. This healing becomes a collaboration of mind, body, and spirit

What a Holotropic Breathwork® session looks like:

  • You lie on a mat and – after a guided relaxation – begin breathing in a specified way. You can stop or slow down as you wish.
  • Music supports the process over several hours.
  • You may experience strong emotions, memories, or physical sensations.
  • Facilitators are present throughout, and you can ask for support at any time.
  • The session is followed by integration in the form of discussion, art, reflection.
  • Further integration after the session is available by appointment.

This powerful modality is greatly recommended if you:

  • seek meaning and context to support you in your life
  • want or need to process unresolved emotional experiences
  • want to access and expand your creativity
  • would like to gain insight into patterns in your life or feel a sense of release or clarity
  • seek a direct experience of the spiritual
  • are looking for a non-substance way to access states similar to those reported in psychedelic experiences.

Throughout human history, men and women have discovered or invented ways to access a deeper level of consciousness – through meditation, the use of plant medicines, chemical hallucinogens, breathing, dancing, fasting, etc. Experiencing this ‘non-ordinary’ or ‘expanded’ or ‘Holotropic’ state enables us to know (in many different ways) that which is usually unknown or mysterious. Long time participants report great positive changes in their lives and, often, a sense of deep fulfillment.

“In over ten years as director of programs at Esalen, I saw virtually every conceivable form of therapy and personal transformation, great and small…In terms of therapeutic effectiveness, Grof’s Holotropic Breathwork was by far the most powerful; there was no comparison.” ~Richard Tarnas, author of The Passion of the Western Mind

Holotropic Breathwork® is contraindicated for pregnant women or anyone with epilepsy, severe cardiovascular problems or severe schizophrenia.

The format of this workshop offers participants extra time for preparation and integration, including Q&A on Sunday, which many report gives them a clearer understanding and even more appreciation of this work.

There are two sessions of Holotropic Breathwork. Each person has one session as a “breather” and one as a “sitter.” Friday evening is preparation and Sunday offers integration plus Q&A.

This event is led by Sharanya Naik, who has conducted Holotropic Breathwork workshops for 25 years and is a member of the Institute for Holotropics training staff.  She will be joined by a team of experienced HB facilitators.

“The workshop was profoundly transformative for me, I am forever grateful for the experiences and for the new found knowledge, strength, and wisdom. Thank you.” – Simona

“I want you know that the (weekend) event was the best and the whole group that does the work is more than outstanding. The love and effort is beyond excellent. Thank you.” – David

Approximate Schedule

Friday
5:30 to 6:30 pm – registration
6:30 – 10:00 pm – opening and preparation for experiential sessions

Saturday
8:30 am – 12:30 pm – Holotropic Breathwork® session 1
12:30 – 1:15 pm – lunch is included
1:30 – 5 pm – Holotropic Breathwork® session 2
5 – 6 pm – snack break is included
6 – 8 pm – break into small groups
Dinner is on your own

Sunday
9:30 – 10:30 am small groups
10:45 am – 1 pm large group integration and Q&A
1 pm closing – lunch is on your own

An IFH Module in Ireland / Lughnasadh: A Kernel of Hope – Gifts of the First Harvest – with Cáit Branigan

REGISTRATION is closed – see below for waiting list info

Lughnasadh, named for the God Lugh, son of Eithne, foster-son of the Providing Mother, Tailltiú, is a festival said to be instituted by Lugh in honour of Tailltiú’s sacrifice for all of Her children. The festival, coming after ‘the Hungry month’ (July) was a significant and important time of harvesting, legal agreements and marriage.

The Harvest brings to bear the fruits of our labours. Cut by the scythe, the act of harvesting reminds us of the intimacy that exists between beginnings and endings, between life and death; the kernel being the promise of renewed life and sustenance.

In this workshop, we will explore the season of Lughnasadh, The Great Mother and our wounded relationship with Earth. Through stories of the Harvest Goddesses (Taillitiú, Áine, Demeter…) and the Gods associated with them, alongside journeys and practical exercises and Holotropic Breathwork sessions, we will also explore our relationships with our own bodies and mortality, the seed of life and the great mysteries of the Harvest.

Participants will experience two Holotropic Breathwork® sessions as a breather and two as a partner, or “sitter.” This event may be counted as an optional module toward Holotropic Breathwork® certification with the Institute for Holotropics.

GTT Online / Return to the Center: Sacred Geometry, Mandala, and the Inner Healer (U.S. & Europe friendly times)

REGISTRATION     April2026ReturnToCenter_QR.png

COST:  $428
Discount for certified HB practitioners

This immersive mandala-based module offers a transformational journey through the archetypal movements of consciousness.

Through a sequence of experiential sessions, you’ll explore the timeless relationship between the centre point and the circumference, between the particle self and your wave-like nature, between the patterns of your life and the light of your essential being.

This module will be a weaving of mandala drawing, guided visualisations, sacred geometry contemplations, meditative states, journaling, and authentic group sharing.

Course Content::

1. Creation: The Harmonic Blueprint
We begin with sacred pattern—mandalas as carriers of archetypal truth, symmetry, beauty, and balance. You’ll be introduced to the universal language of form that speaks directly to the psyche.

2. Fragmentation & the Outer Ring
Exploring the movement toward the circumference—how we lose center, how conditioning fragments the self, and how sacred maps like the Wheel of Life and the Yoga of the Cross can guide us inward again.
3. The Inner Healer: Remembering the Intelligence Within
An invitation into trust. We’ll explore the varieties of the inner healer, and how breath, attention, and surrender awaken this luminous intelligence already operating within.
4. The Embodied Mandala: Sensing the Axis Within
We will explore the Applications and the Gifts of Mandala Work. Preparing and embarking upon the MandalaNature Process which will form the Apex of our Journey.
5. The Reflexive Mandala: Intuition, Synchronicity & Discernment
Tuning to the feedback loop of being. How awareness sharpens through symbolic reflection. The sword of discernment, the flash of synchronicity, and the intuitive pulse of the inner compass.
6. Being Essence: Dissolution into the Light That Remains
We complete the journey by dissolving the outer forms. Letting go of thought, effort, time, and persona. Returning to the space before identity. The still, bright centre that was there all along.

Although you may attend this Virtual Module as a stand-alone event, there is also an option for those who wish to get full module credit by attending a GTT-approved double breathwork workshop.  Up to two Virtual Module+Double Breathwork combinations may be counted toward the requirements for certification.

This event consists of seven 3-hour sessions. To enhance the group experience for everyone, please note that you will be expected to attend all 7 sessions of the module just as you would if it were being held live, at a retreat center.

US Pacific Dates and Times*:
Thursday 5/7:  one session, 11:30 am-2:30 pm
Friday 5/8: two sessions, 7:00 am-10:00 am and 11:30 am-2:30 pm
Saturday 5/9: two sessions, 7:00 am-10:00 am and 11:30 am-2:30 pm
Sunday 5/10: two sessions, 7:00 am-10:00 am and 11:30 am-2:30 pm

*Please use the above U.S. Pacific times and this time zone converter to find the correct times for your zone:

https://www.worldtimebuddy.com/

Holotropic Training Poland / Within the Labyrinth: Exploring COEX Systems

MORE INFORMATION AND PRICING

WITHIN THE LABYRINTH: EXPLORING COEX SYSTEMS – Hidden Patterns that Shape Your Path
While conducting LSD-assisted psychotherapy, Stanislav Grof quickly noticed that his patients’ experiences spontaneously formed certain common threads that were crucial to their individual problems. These included similar biographical experiences from throughout their lives, as well as certain transpersonal themes that touched on the same subject. Sometimes these included abandonment, a sense of being wronged, emotional dissatisfaction, or a sense of personal inadequacy. Grof called these COEXs (from the words “Condensed Experiences”) and based many of his guidelines for working in expanded states of consciousness on this. The same, of course, appears in Holotropic Breathwork.
Systems of Condensed Experience (COEX) are dynamic constellations of memories, emotions, and sensations that cluster around a common theme, shaping how we feel, remember, and relate.
These hidden patterns connect personal history, birth experiences, and even transpersonal dimensions.
Exploring them within the labyrinth of the psyche opens powerful pathways for self-understanding, healing, and transformation.
This module offers an exciting and highly experiential exploration of our own COEX systems. Through presentations, exercises, and examples, participants will embark on a process of recognizing and integrating their personal COEX patterns — inviting acknowledgment, release, and the dissolution of rigid emotional structures.
We will explore together:
– The structure and dynamics of COEX systems within Grof’s cartography of the psyche – biographical, perinatal and transpersonal components.
– Emotionally “charged clusters of experience” in other psychological frameworks – like schemes or complexes.
– The dynamic nature of a COEX — how it shapes our perception of reality, our emotional reactions, and our relationships with others, and how reality confirms the COEX
– Why do some experiences become part of a COEX.
– The most frequent COEX systems.
– Recognizing the unfolding of a COEX in oneself and others.
– Discovering your own COEX(s).
– The role of positive COEX(s) in our life and the way to include them into healing process
– Differences between transmodulating the COEX and fully integrating it
– Tools for working with and healing COEX systems in expanded states of consciousness, traditional therapy and in daily life.
– The role of the Holotropic setting in healing specific COEXs
– Integrating COEX material — translating insight into embodied transformation and daily life.
Immersive Practice:
Alongside the conceptual and experiential exploration of Coex, participants will engage in four Holotropic Breathwork sessions (two as breather, two as sitter), complemented by creative practices and integration time.
You will gain both personal insight and professional understanding of how these patterns manifest in our lives — and how to support others in recognizing and transforming them, opening pathways to profound healing, restored flow, and personal growth.

Holotropic Training Poland / The Spiritual Quest, Attachment and Addiction

MORE INFORMATION AND PRICING
New ways to look at psychology and spirituality are offering exciting possibilities in the recovery movement, both for individual seekers and for those who work in the treatment field. This module explores a whole continuum, from the idea of addiction as an extreme form of attachment, which affects everyone and which is crucial to spiritual seekers of all practices, to the more articulate forms of addiction: substance, process, relationship, and more.
Through theory, discussion and experiential exercises, we’ll look at:
– The disease paradigm of recovery;
– The wellness paradigm and Transpersonal Psychology
– Implications of perinatal and transpersonal dimensions for recovery;
– The 12 steps as a world yoga;
– Addiction as spiritual emergency;
– Addiction as shamanic crisis;
– Psychedelics and recovery;
– Recovery and the feminine;
– Addiction from the homeopathic perspective;
– Recovery as death/rebirth;
– Addiction – Global impacts and implications.
Participants will have the opportunity to experience Holotropic Breathwork, a powerful approach to self-exploration, transformation, and healing that combines breathing, evocative music, and release work to explore the deeper dimensions of the psyche. This workshop will be useful to both laypersons and professionals seeking a more authentic and fulfilling lifestyle.
Through four breathwork sessions (two as breather, two as sitter), creative practices, and integration time, you’ll gain both personal insight and professional understanding of how to safely navigate and support expanded states of consciousness.
This will be a very experiential workshop. Besides the breathwork itself, all of the teaching is geared to participants having a direct experience of their own journey. We will work with artwork, film, and other integration practices to engage the holotropic principles in a very personal, embodied way.

Holotropic Training Poland / The Holotropic Paradigm

THE HOLOTROPIC PARADIGM – where ancient wisdom meets modern psychology:
This dynamic six-day module offers an immersive exploration of the principles, philosophy, and transformative potential of Holotropic Breathwork, and Expanded States of Consciousness within the frame of Transpersonal Psychology
This module is a cornerstone and one of the four essential modules for those pursuing certification as Holotropic Breathwork facilitators. It is equally valuable for professionals in the fields of psychology, personal development, and healing who wish to expand their understanding of the psyche and its innate capacity for deep transformation.
Together, we’ll explore the key principles that guide the work:
1. The Origins of Holotropic Breathwork – Discover how Holotropic Breathwork emerged in the field of Transpersonal Psychology, blending ancient wisdom with modern therapeutic insights.
2. Holotropic Principles and Strategies – Learn the core principles—trust in the inner healing intelligence, respect for each individual unique process, a non-directive approach, and the art of “doing not doing” as a facilitator.
3. Cartography of the Psyche – Explore Stanislav Grof’s expanded map of the psyche—biographical, perinatal, and transpersonal dimensions—as a guide to understanding your own inner experiences and supporting those of others in expanded states of consciousness.
4. Perinatal Matrices – Grof’s Perinatal Matrices reveal how the experiences of our birth imprint deep patterns on our emotional, psychological, and even spiritual experience of life. Exploring these layers within Holotropic experiences offers profound insight into themes of transformation and rebirth.
5. COEX Systems (Systems of Condensed Experience) – These are deeply rooted clusters of emotionally connected memories formed throughout our life experiences—including the perinatal period—that shape our inner world. Exploring our individual COEX systems opens pathways to profound healing and personal growth.
Inmersive Practice:  Through four breathwork sessions (two as breather, two as sitter), creative practices, and integration time, you’ll gain both personal insight and professional understanding of how to safely navigate and support expanded states of consciousness.
A profound journey toward self-awareness, transformation, and the essence of the Holotropic approach.