How Psychedelics Work: A Journey Into Mind, Meaning, and Healing

What happens when we look beyond the familiar boundaries of the mind and begin to explore what psychedelics can teach us about consciousness, mental health, and healing? 

Through science, dialogue, embodiment, music, and direct human experience, this educational journey will explore a groundbreaking new paradigm for mental healthcare: one that sees psychological suffering not simply as a chemical imbalance, but as a state of excessive mental rigidity. We’ll examine how these substances can disrupt entrenched patterns of thought and perception, opening new possibilities for understanding and treating some of the most difficult mental illnesses.

At the heart of the workshop is an exploration of the hidden mind. We’ll look at how psychedelics can illuminate aspects of our inner world that are ordinarily difficult to see, including the beliefs, narratives, and habitual patterns through which we construct our experience of ourselves and reality.

Neuroscientist Robin Carhart-Harris will lead us through his groundbreaking exploration of how psychedelics may unlock long-held mysteries of the mind and how these revelations can help treat some of the most crippling mental illnesses. 

Alongside Carhart-Harris’s teachings on the neuroscience of the psychedelic state, this weekend includes live musical performances by East Forest, whose sound work has long been intertwined with psychedelic ceremony and contemplative practice. Radha will lead embodiment practices of meditation, self-awakening yoga, and breathwork to create accessible doorways to inner insight. 

The weekend includes:

• Teachings and dialogue with Robin Carhart-Harris on the neuroscience of psychedelics and mental rigidity
• Intimate live musical performances by East Forest
• Group co-creative musical process with East Forest
• Yoga, meditation, and breathwork practices with Radha
• Awe-inspiring time in nature
• Deep rest
• Journaling for personal integration
• Dance party for collective celebration

This is an invitation to hold science and ceremony, intellect and embodiment, together. To investigate how rigidity might give way to openness, how new perspectives can illuminate what was previously hidden, and how a deeper understanding of the mind may point toward new possibilities for mental health and human flourishing.

Workshop Disclaimer: While some of our workshops explore the history and potential of psychedelic tools and altered states, Esalen workshops do not involve the use, provision, or facilitation of any psychoactive substances.

Recommended Reading: How Psychedelics Work by Robin Carhart-Harris

This workshop includes an additional $350 in faculty tuition. East Forest and Radha would like to offer a certain amount of scholarship to those in need. Please apply with this form. If further assistance would be helpful, you may also apply for an Esalen scholarship.