Beyond Experience

Beyond Experience is a 4-day-intensive workshop. It offers a safe and inclusive space for deep self-exploration in the form of an intense closed-group process. The focus is on the integration of experiences acquired in expanded states of consciousness, both substance and non-substance induced.
Beyond Experience is not intended to merely provide information: theoretical input on harm reduction and the like will be provided, but be ready to move, paint, and interact a lot too!

Altered states of consciousness can be achieved through very different means: Breathwork, yoga, trance dance, tantra, meditation or sensory deprivation – just to name a few.
While most participants in Beyond Experience will have some experience with psychoactive substances, our work does not stop at integrating experiences with psychedelics. On the contrary, our methodology is equally suitable for participants who have had intense experiences in other contexts.

The Beyond Experience team consists of a diverse group of people from different backgrounds and professional disciplines. Ranging from coaches, psychotherapists, medical doctors and body workers to prevention experts and psychedelic support providers, they have contributed to its design with many different methods and theoretical frameworks.
The two concepts that have proven most useful in the creation of Beyond Experience are Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Transpersonal Psychology.

The workshops consist of many different methods and tools that vary in distribution and intensity over the course of the Integration Process. Among other methods, we use creative expression through artwork and automated writing, dancing, bodywork, meditation and entrancing techniques like hypno dream quests and selected yoga asanas as options to go deeper into the exploration.
We will also provide short lectures on relevant topics such as drug related harm reduction and information on scientific integration concepts.

At Beyond Experience we do not facilitate sessions with psychoactive substances. We help you to integrate the experiences you have gathered already – and support your preparation for further experiences yet to come.

Beyond Experience is growing. Initially offered in the urban centers of Berlin (Friedrichshain) and Amsterdam, and retreats in Mallorca, we are now expanding into Romania and Portugal. We intend to continue adding locations across Europe. You will receive more detailed information upon confirmation of your placement.

Each Beyond Experience is facilitated by two facilitators with extended experience in conducting workshops. The teams are generally gender-mixed and consist of people with different training backgrounds in order to cover as many relevant facets as possible.

Participants may connect via social media groups with restricted access, that only participants can join. However, if you don’t feel like connecting further, that is totally alright. You can also connect with a network of BEYOND EXPERIENCE alumni via our MIND Community platform.

Updates regarding new facilitator trainings will be announced on the MIND newsletter and website.

All participants and facilitators must agree on confidentiality at the beginning of the workshop.

Even though we would surely like some pictures and testimonials for our website, we will always seek permission before publishing any written or photographic material.

During the workshop, we are intending to go into a deep self-experience process that includes re-evoking content from experiences acquired during expanded states of consciousness. While this should be unproblematic for most participants, we strive to ensure that no one will be put in an overwhelmingly difficult situation as a result of the intense techniques we use. The medical form helps us screen for possible difficulties and exclusion criteria.

Even though Beyond Experieince is in part based on therapeutic principles, it is definitely not a surrogate for therapy; it is a self-experience format. We do not assume therapeutic responsibility, but will mirror the possible need for therapeutic aid to participants during the workshops.

Because of the set-up of the workshops, we reserve the right to exclude or discourage people from participation that we consider physically or mentally unable to safely follow through with the Beyond Experience. This includes recent cardiac problems or bone fractures, as well as recent psychotic episodes or suicidality. If we are in doubt on a possible participation, we contact the person individually in order to establish a mutual agreement on their suitability.

Members of the OVID Clinic or EPIsoDE study teams are involved in the Beyond Experience program as facilitators. If you are currently a patient of either of these treatment teams or if you have been a patient of the OVID clinic or the EPIsoDE study in the past, you may be able to participate in the Beyond Experience program. However, you must inform the Integration Program Committee during the application process that you have been a patient of one of these teams in the past. This is the only way to examine whether problematic role conflicts may still arise and, if so, how they can be avoided. If you have any questions or doubts in this regard, please contact the Integration Programs Committee ([email protected]).

The current cost for Beyond Experience is 790€ regular price for the 4-day-intensive format. Reductions are available for Early Bird booking and low income participants. Through our Access tickets, we offer discounts of 50 to 100 percent of the ticket costs and these tickets are application based. Simply choose Access ticket and follow the instructions for applying.
For those who want to further contribute to the project, there is the option to pay more and sponsor a low-income participant this way.

We have decided to define low income as less than 1200€ net income per month, in coherence with the German welfare budget assigned per person.

MIND is a members-based volunteer organization. We do assign free spots on our workshops for people who have intensely contributed to our volunteering projects, but we do not trade workshops for volunteering on a 1:1 basis.

You can pay via Paypal, direct bank transfer or credit card.