The UFO Paradox: The Celestial and Symbolic World of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (signed)

First two copies signed by the author!

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• Examines both the physical and the spiritual sides of the UFO debate

• Looks at witnesses’ reports as well as the theories of skeptics, revealing how UFOs represent a call from the cosmos to expand our understanding of reality

• Explores UFO encounters against the backdrop of visionary experience—angelic visitations, near-death experiences, shamanic journeys, and religious miracles

• Shares the author’s UFO discussions with late Harvard psychiatrist John Mack, philanthropist Laurance S. Rockefeller, and astronaut Edgar Mitchell

In case after case related to UFO encounters and other unknown aerial phenomena (UAP), the same impasse is reached: testimony from witnesses on one side, dismissive responses from the authorities on the other. In the fertile void of this deadlock, however, lie extraordinary possibilities about the nature of mind and matter, spirit and soul, transforming the UFO into a celestial, metaphysical event.

Focusing on the possibilities found by exploring both sides of the UFO debate, veteran UFO observer and reporter Keith Thompson shares profound insights and experiences from his several decades of research, revealing that the UFO phenomenon is decidedly real yet perhaps not what either side of the debate expects. He looks at UFOs as a genuine unknown, from outer space or manifesting from hidden dimensions, as well as the theories of skeptics and debunkers who insist that UFOs can be explained as hoaxes, hallucinations, or misidentified phenomena. He explores the modern flying saucer era against the backdrop of visionary experience—angelic visitations, near-death experiences, shamanic journeys, religious miracles, and fairy tales—and shows how UFOs are simultaneously physical and spiritual, presenting a form of intelligence capable of altering the perceptions of witnesses.

Chronicling his own investigations into the UFO mystery, the author details how he introduced the late Harvard psychiatrist John Mack to accounts of alien abduction and how he was invited by philanthropist Laurance S. Rockefeller to lobby then-president Bill Clinton to disclose government-held UFO information. Sharing stories from his friendship with astronaut Edgar D. Mitchell, among others, the author recounts discussions on how best to interpret UFOs and non-ordinary phenomena of various kinds.

Thompson reveals how the UFO phenomenon ultimately represents a call from the cosmos for humanity to open to greater dimensions of reality and recognize that our understanding of the universe is still far from complete.

GTT Online / Trauma and Transformation: A Holotropic Perspective (U.S. & Europe friendly times)

REGISTRATION FORM

COST: $428
Discount for certified HB practitioners

To enhance the group experience for everyone, please note that everyone 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.

Trauma can be a doorway, a portal, a teacher. While walking through the fire of suffering and despair, we can also find moments of individual and collective awakening, healing, and transformation. When traumatic events happen, our internal and external lives are thrown into chaos, often forcing us to examine our very identities and ask new questions like, ‘who am I now?’

We are living in a time when so many around the world are gripped by war, personal devastation, political violence, and other catastrophes. To varying degrees, the recent pandemic has created shared experiences of increased loss and isolation. At the same time, there are stories of incredible strength, endurance, and hope coming from those who have walked through the fire and emerged with new insights.

This workshop offers an opportunity to come together as a community to talk about trauma and its impacts, as well as ways to facilitate /hold space for healing to occur through Holotropic Breathwork®. The principles of the Holotropic paradigm parallels many of the principles of trauma-informed practice, providing a unique and important framework for people to reclaim their lives. Through this Virtual Module we will explore ways to deepen our own personal awareness and examine assumptions in order to increase our ability to be truly present for the process of transformation. The format will include didactic overview, group discussions and experiential exercises to deepen and integrate the material. Together we will build a community offering opportunities for growth, increased connection and developing new narratives beyond the trauma identity. In this module we will explore:

Defining of trauma from a Holotropic perspective and its impact;
Stories / narratives we develop in order to survive;
Examining our own assumptions about illness, wellness, recovery, trauma“symptoms,” and distress;
What “safety” means from a Holotropic perspective;
How to support people expressing their distress (ex: with histories of self-harm, hearing voices, having visions);
Ways to increase our own tolerance for distress (in order to remain present);
Secondary trauma – the importance of self-awareness and self-care;
Post traumatic growth and the opportunity to develop new narratives.

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.

US Pacific Dates and Times*:

Thursday 11/7: one session 11:30 to 2:30 p.m.

Friday 11/8: two sessions 7:00 – 10:00 a.m. and 11:30 to 2:30 p.m.

Saturday 11/9: two sessions 7:00 – 10:00 a.m. and 11:30 to 2:30 p.m.

Sunday 11/10: two sessions 7:00 – 10:00 a.m. and 11:30 to 2:30 p.m.

*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/

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.

GTT International Poland / In the Heart of Breathwork: A Facilitator Journey

This module offers a focused exploration of Holotropic Breathwork facilitation, which is also relevant for accompanying and supporting journeys in other modalities of Expanded States of Consciousness.

Drawing from over two decades of personal experience as a facilitator, Sitara invites participants to explore facilitation skills enriched by practical examples, reflective questions, firsthand anecdotes, and interactive discussions, embodying a journey of continuous learning.

In this module, you will deepen your insight into essential aspects and dynamics of facilitation, such as meaningful interactions, presence, self-awareness, personal growth, and ethics, to improve your facilitation skills.

The module aims to boost facilitation skills for anyone keen on assisting others through transformative experiences, providing a grounded and insightful approach to facilitation.

Topics included:

1. The Journey of Growth: Becoming a facilitator, overcoming challenges, acknowledging mistakes, and using feedback and self-reflection.

2. Insights about the Practice: The importance of presence, support, transference, countertransference, and self-disclosure in HB

3. Integrity and Ethical Considerations.

4. Navigating the Inner Landscape: Strategies for managing difficult situations and triggers as opportunities for growth.

5. The Shared Journey: being a fellow traveler, a connection with the breather that allows mutual growth.

6. Teamwork: The inescapable significance of teamwork in creating safe and effective facilitation.

During the six-day workshop, each participant will experience two sessions of HB as an experiencer, or “breather,” and two sessions as a partner, or “sitter.”

In addition to the breathwork experiences and the topics covered (described above), the workshop will include art, music, dancing, film, and integration.

You do not need previous Holotropic Breathwork experience to participate in the module. A brief confidential questionnaire is required.

GTT U.S. (CO) Module / The Power Within: The Practice of Holotropic Breathwork®

REGISTRATION

Cost: Early registration through May 2, 2025: $1150.00.
After May 2, full registration fee is $1350

Open to anyone interested. Previous experience with Holotropic Breathwork® is not necessary.

Each participant will have two sessions of HB as an experiencer, or “breather,” and two sessions as a partner, or “sitter”. Besides the breathwork sessions and the topics covered (described below), there will be art, music, dancing, film, and integration during the module.

In addition to Holotropic Breathwork® breathing and sitting, topics explored in these modules are especially relevant for anyone working with others in expanded states of any sort for transformation and personal healing.

In this module, Holotropic theory comes alive. It’s where we experience the essence of the practice firsthand. We discuss the principles that support and inform the practice of Holotropic Breathwork® focused release work. We explain the fundamentals of HB and why it is such a special method for personal exploration and healing. We will also get to practice holotropic focused energy release work.

Topics include:

1) The power of the inner healing intelligence
2) Facilitator presence and skills
3) Focused energy release work – principles and ethics
4) Focused energy release demonstration and practice (hands-on work by participants)
5) Moving toward closure, and closure
6) Special challenging situations when facilitating

The six-day module format is a wonderful opportunity to deepen your process of self-exploration, and to directly experience the healing potential of non-ordinary states using Holotropic Breathwork®. You will meet like-minded people from around the world, and explore together in a safe and supportive environment. You will also learn tools and techniques for living a more creative and fulfilling life, and will have extensive personal contact with some of the best Holotropic facilitators in the country.

These modules are open events and suitable for both participants in the training program as well for those attending primarily for their personal journey of transformation.

GTT U.S. (CO) Holotropic Breathwork® Double-Breathwork Retreat

REGISTRATION

Cost: Early registration through April 28th, 2025: $775.00.
After April 28, full registration fee is $975

Join us for an extended weekend of Holotropic Breathwork® in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in summer.

This event is open to all. You do not need prior experience with Holotropic Breathwork® and there are no pre-requisites to attend.

NOTE: For those who complete (or have already completed) a GTT Virtual Module, this double-breathwork will fulfill the requirement toward certification.

With Holotropic Breathwork® each participant gains direct access to their own inner healing wisdom. In your HB session, this wisdom brings you a unique and ideal combination of experiences that can include aspects of your personal history and birth, as well as psychological death/rebirth, and an infinite array of transpersonal experiences.

Through deep, effective breathing; a specially designed musical journey; and a safe and supportive setting with a trained staff of facilitators, you experience a true expanded state of awareness, allowing deep self-exploration and personal transformation. Mandala drawing and group processing of the experiences are important integrative elements of the Holotropic process.

GTT U.S. (CT) Module / Spiritual Emergency: Embracing Unexpected Transformation

REGISTRATION AND COST

Open to anyone interested. Previous experience with Holotropic Breathwork® is not necessary.

Understanding spiritual emergency is one of the major contributions of the holotropic perspective. Whether you are a professional or a layperson, someone interested in working with or supporting people in transformational crises, or primarily in your own growth, the module offers a rich experience and valuable information. In addition to differentiating between psychosis and spiritual emergency, we’ll also explore the intensely practical aspects of who, in these kinds of crises, can benefit from Holotropic Breathwork® and how best to work with them in their emergencies. This workshop includes a discussion of the concept of spiritual emergency, its manifestations and forms, historical and anthropological perspectives, treatment strategies and work with family and friends.

Healing and transformation can sometimes imply challenging moments in which we feel destabilized, particularly when following a path that involves experiences in Non-Ordinary States of Consciousness.

These moments of crises have been understood as psychosis or psychological regression by some and as opportunities and major breakthroughs by others. Stan and Christina Grof coined the term “Spiritual Emergency” to refer to such states. What is the difference between psychosis and a Spiritual Emergency? How should we support people going through them?

In this module, we will explore the different challenging manifestations that people sometimes go through in their journeys of transformation. We aim to understand the reasons that lead to such difficulties and identify the best approaches to support these intense processes from a non-judgmental and caring perspective.

In this module, we will cover the following topics:

1) The concept of Spiritual Emergence and Spiritual Emergency.
2) The various types of Spiritual Emergencies as described by Stan and Christina Grof.
3) Contemporary perspectives on Spiritual Emergencies, as encountered in current forms of psychedelic therapy, shamanic experiences, and experiential work.
4) Diverse challenges that individuals may face after difficult experiences in Non-Ordinary States
5) Distinguishing between pathological and transformational states.
6) Approaches to addressing different scenarios in Spiritual Emergencies and integration

These modules are open events and suitable both for participants in the Holotropic Breathwork® training program, as well for those attending primarily for their personal journey of transformation.

GTT U.S. (Southern CA) Module / The Holotropic Paradigm: The Psyche, the Inner Healer and Moving Towards Wholeness

REGISTRATION AND COST

This module offers an exciting exploration of the philosophy, principles, and strategies underlying the experience and practice of Holotropic Breathwork®.

Topics covered include:

the power of the inner healing intelligence and moving towards wholeness;
presence: the disciplines required to become an effective Holotropic Breathwork® practitioner;
COEX’s: how the inner healer orchestrates transformation through our experiences of the psyche;
exploration of the frontiers of the psyche through Movie Yoga®;
session stories: valuable teachings from practitioners through their work with breathers;
open forums focusing on every facet of the Holotropic experience;
dance, meditation, and more

In addition to experiencing Holotropic Breathwork®, topics explored in this module is especially relevant for anyone working with others in non-ordinary states of any sort for transformation and personal healing.

This module is an open event suitable for participants in the training program as well as for those interested in personal transformation.

GTT U.S. (Southern CA) Holotropic Breathwork® Double-Breathwork Retreat

REGISTRATION AND COST

Join us for an extended weekend of Holotropic Breathwork® in the warmth of the high desert at the beautiful Royal Way Retreat Center.

This event is open to all. You do not need prior experience with Holotropic Breathwork® and there are no pre-requisites to attend.

NOTE: For those who complete (or have already completed) a GTT Virtual Module, this double-breathwork will fulfill the requirement toward certification.

GTT U.S. (San Rafael, CA) Holotropic Breathwork® – The Holotropic Shift and the Power Within

REGISTRATION FORM

Cost of $465 includes Saturday lunch and snack

This is a non-residential workshop, however for those who would like to stay overnight at the venue, hotel rooms are available.

Booking link for Embassy Suites, San Rafael

Holotropic Breathwork® provides a safe and caring container for deep exploration in an “expanded” or “holotropic” state of consciousness. A combination of breath and music enables a participant to surrender to a natural process of spiritual and psychological healing. This healing takes many, often mysterious, forms and becomes a collaboration of mind, body, and spirit.

Holotropic Breathwork® is greatly recommended for people seeking meaning and context, people who want to heal from trauma, people who want to access and expand their creativity, and people who are looking for a non-denominational, non-religious, substance-free spiritual path. Long time participants report great positive changes in their lives and a sense of deep spiritual fulfillment.

Holotropic Breathwork® uses deep, effective breathing; a specially designed musical journey; and a safe and supportive setting with a trained staff of facilitators to enable an expanded state of awareness, allowing deep self-exploration and personal transformation. Mandala drawing and group processing of the journey are important integrative elements of the Holotropic process.

The workshop includes preparation, sessions, and integration. There are two sessions of Holotropic Breathwork, so that each person has one session as a “breather” and one as a “sitter” or partner. Friday evening will present the theory underlying the work, and Sunday will include time for Q & A.

“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 San Fran event was the best and the whole group that does the work is more than outstanding. The love and effort is beyond excellant. Thank you.” – David

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 Embassy Suites, stay elsewhere, or commute from home.

The workshop will be led by Sharanya Naik, who has conducted numerous Holotropic Breathwork workshops in the U.S. and in India for 20 years, and is a part of the Grof Transpersonal Training (GTT) staff. She will be joined by a team of experienced HB facilitators. Cary Sparks, director of GTT, will also be part of Sunday’s Q&A.

Approximate Schedule

Friday
5:30 to 6:30 pm Friday registration
6:30 – 10:00 pm Friday meeting

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

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