The Retreats
Our psilocybin-assisted retreats offer a safe, legal and supportive environment to experience a psychedelic journey, which can help you experience greater freedom, wholeness and creative flow. The psychedelic used at the retreats is the psilocybin-containing truffle, and the retreats take place in the Netherlands, where psilocybin truffles are legal.
Potential benefits of psychedelics
Psychedelics can shift us out of our everyday perception and help open us up to a larger, mountain-top perspective from which new insights can arise. They can help us make better sense of our past, coming to terms with hardships we’ve faced and understanding how past wounds might be influencing our current life. And they can put us in touch with a deep well of inner resources with which we can begin addressing and transforming patterns we are stuck in. For many, psychedelic journeys are also a first glimpse into ‘the Great Mystery’, and the spiritual dimension of life.
Psychedelics are not enough
Our approach: Open & Deepen
While psychedelics can open us to what is important in life, and steer our course, such experiences alone cannot keep us on track. To deepen the insights gained during a psychedelic journey into a new way of life, we must address what is blocking us from experiencing our full freedom, wholeness and potential. We do so by attending to the various dimensions of our human experience: the relationship with ourselves, with others, with the natural world and the mystery of life. This is the underlying principle woven into all our work and every one of our retreats.
Set & Setting
We take great care to optimise the two key factors determining a psychedelic journey: set and setting. Our retreats are designed to prepare you to let go into a receptive, trusting state of mind (set), in an environment in which you can feel completely safe and supported (setting).
We include exercises and approaches from the Western clinical model, somatic and transpersonal psychology, as well as from ancient wisdom traditions across different cultures and times such as Buddhism and the shamanic lineages of the Americas.
You will:
- Receive 1:1 guidance and support before and after the ceremony from our expert facilitators
- Engage in preparation and integration activities before, during and after the retreat
- Share the journey together with a group of like minded individuals
- Be nurtured and nourished in a beautiful retreat venue, in nature, eating healthy, exquisite food
“Every single thing was perfectly thought out and flowed beautifully. The facilitators were the most beautiful, intelligent, loving, compassionate people. The vegan food was delightful, nourishing, beautiful, every bite tasted like the most special food ever. I could not have dreamed that this retreat would be wonderful from the moment we arrived to the moment we left. It will stay with me for a very long time. I will do all I can do to keep it alive in my body and soul forever. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.” Jennifer, 52 years
What’s included?
PREPARATION SUPPORT
Giving due energy to preparation before the psychedelic journey not only reduces the possibility of anxiety and tension blocking the flow of the experience, it also enhances the probability of an enriched, deeper experience. Ahead of each retreat, you will receive reading material and suggested exercises to support your preparation for the retreat. One week before the retreat you will also have the opportunity to meet your lead facilitator and fellow participants via video call, allowing you to get to know each other and feel safe in the group, as well as ask any burning questions you might have.
On the retreat itself, we offer one-on-one sessions with the facilitators, and individual and group activities to help you feel well prepared and supported, as well as safe and bonded with the group before stepping into the unknown.
INTEGRATION SUPPORT
In many ways, the journey only really begins when the psychedelic effect subsides. In the days after the ceremony, we incorporate solo and group integration activities, and individual one-on-one sessions with the facilitators to give you the opportunity to explore the deeper nuances of your journey. We also offer 3 weeks of support following the retreat – through group video calls as well as suggested exercises – to help you weave the insights from the retreat back into your everyday life.
“The attention to integration was amazing, extremely impactful, and probably the main reason I’d recommend these retreats.” Li, 32 years old
Retreat Types
OPEN RETREAT
Our Open retreats offer an accessible entrypoint into psychedelic and other forms of inner exploration and personal growth work. These retreats introduce you to the foundational pillars of our approach: relationship with self, relationship with others, relationship with nature, relationship with the Mystery.
They are available to all sufficiently mentally and physically healthy individuals, regardless of prior experience of psychedelic substances. We currently offer themed Open retreats for Women, Men and Leaders. We also offer a Double Ceremony Open retreat which lasts for six days and includes two psilocybin ceremonies.
DEEPEN RETREAT
Our Deepen retreats are available to all those who have already participated in one of our Open retreats. The content of the retreat is more advanced, “providing participants with an opportunity for deeper inquiry and a larger step out of their comfort zone and into their potential. At the same time there is an ease of familiarity in the group from having been on a similar journey before that creates a lightness as well as mutual companionship and support to go deeper.
Each Deepen retreat is also a deep dive into one aspect of our foundational approach. On our Body & Earth retreat the exercises focus on our relationship to matter: to our bodies and to nature. On our Authentic Relating retreat we place special emphasis on exploring being honest with ourselves and others.
4 DAYS, 5 DAYS & 6 DAYS
Whether for our 4-day, 5-day or 6-day retreat, we always begin the first full day with a late afternoon ceremony, meaning you will have had nearly 24 hours to properly land and feel safe, settled and connected to the place and the group. It also gives you space to prepare internally, to come into deeper contact with what is blocking you in your lives, and distill your intention for the ceremony. On our 4-day retreat, you also have an entire day after the psychedelic ceremony dedicated to integration. All our retreats have at least one full integration day, honouring the precious window of time when one is still open and bathing in the ‘afterglow’ of the experience. This is a crucial time to harvest the insights and start weaving them into our way of being.
I was dubious about needing the day after, but it is 100% the right thing to have, almost as important as the ceremony itself. Guy, 42 years
On our 5 day retreats, we dedicate two full days to integration, because we believe that integration is really one of the most important keys and we want to support you to make the most of the window of opportunity in the ‘afterglow’ time. This format allows more space for the stillness and quiet that is actually so necessary for integration but that is often lacking in the hectic pace of modern life. It also gives you more time to further unpack and deepen any insights gained from the ceremony, through facilitator support and the various integration exercises on offer, the design of which is informed by the very best of personal and spiritual growth modalities.
I can’t imagine a more beautiful and supported entry into the world of psychedelics than this magical retreat. The days before the ceremony really helped me unwind and open fully into the experience. By the second day I already felt like I’d been on the most amazing retreat and the ceremony hadn’t even happened yet. Lauren, 35 years
The 6 day double-ceremony retreat offers the opportunity to dive deeper into the psychedelic space through participation in two ceremonies. Participants arrive, and participate in the first ceremony the following day. The day after is followed by integration activities, deepening into the psychic material that has come to light, and preparing for the second ceremony. On the 4th day, the group goes into another psychedelic journey, followed by another entire day dedicated to integration.
Prices
Sample Schedule for a 5 Day Retreat
Day 1: Arrival – Landing
Day 2: Ceremony – Opening
Day 3: Integration 1 – Unpacking
Day 4: Integration 2 – Deepening
Day 5: Leaving – Emerging
The Alalaho Journey
Apply
Exploration Call
Book your retreat
Begin the preparation process
Attend the retreat
Embark on integration journey
Apply
Exploration Call
Book your retreat
Begin the preparation process
Attend the retreat
Embark on integration journey
Our Retreats
Disclaimer
- Our retreats are for people in good mental and physical health. We do not offer therapeutic or medical treatment.
- Even though the vast majority of our participants have very meaningful and beneficial experiences, there is no guaranteed outcome from participating on a retreat.
- The majority of research indicating the positive effects of psilocybin was done in a clinical setting, which is very different to that of a retreat environment. More research is needed to explore the benefits offered by the psilocybin experience.
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JOIN A RETREAT
Submit an application
To join a retreat, first submit an application to the Alalaho retreat programme. This information is essential in helping us support your safety and well-being.
Schedule a complimentary exploration call
After submitting your application, you will be invited to schedule an exploration call.
Book your preferred retreat type and date
If we both decide that a psychedelic journey is the right decision for you at this point in your life, you can then book your preferred retreat type and date.
Receive preparation (and integration) support
Leading up to the retreat, you will receive several emails from us with suggestions for how to prepare. You’ll also receive the dates for the preparation group video call ahead of the retreat and the three integration calls following your experience.
SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION
Our application form is designed to help both you and us explore whether a psychedelic journey with us is the right decision for you at this point in your life.
If you do attend a retreat with us, it will also provide us with information that will help us support your individual process in the best possible way, by understanding where you are coming from and what your needs might be before, during, and after a retreat.
Psychedelics can be powerful tools for inner exploration but they also come with risks. It is therefore in your interest to answer the following questions truthfully and thoroughly. By doing this, you help to build the foundation of trust, responsibility, and understanding that makes the retreats successful and safe.
CONTRAINDICATIONS
While there are preliminary studies on psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy showing promising results, there are also cases of symptoms worsening after a psychedelic experience. Alalaho does not provide therapeutic or clinical support and can only safely hold space for participants in good mental and physical health.
Reasons for not being able to participate in our retreats include serious cardiovascular (e.g. recent stroke or heart attack) or neurological issues (e.g. epilepsy or brain trauma), use of antidepressant (e.g. SSRI/TCA), mood stabilising (e.g. lithium) or antipsychotic (e.g. Abilify) medications or severe mental health problems (e.g. psychosis, bipolar disorder, personality disorder).
These conditions and medications pose additional risks, do not combine well with psilocybin-containing truffles and may produce potentially dangerous situations that are beyond the scope of what can be safely managed in a group retreat setting.