About

Stanislav Grof, M.D., Phd., is a psychiatrist with more than sixty years of experience in research of holotropic states of consciousness, a large and important subgroup of non-ordinary states that have healing, transformative, heuristic, and evolutionary potential. In the past, he was Principal Investigator in a psychedelic research program at the Psychiatric Research Institute in Prague, Czechoslovakia, Chief of Psychiatric Research at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD, and Scholar-in-Residence at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, CA.

Currently, he is Professor of Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) in San Francisco, CA, conducts professional training programs in holotropic breathwork and transpersonal psychology, and gives lectures and seminars worldwide. He is one of the founders and chief theoreticians of transpersonal psychology and the founding president of the International Transpersonal Association (ITA). In 2007, he was granted the prestigious Award >Vision 97< from the Václav and Dagmar Havel Foundation in Prague and in 2010 the Thomas R. Verny Award from the Association for Pre- and Perinatal Psychology and Health (APPPAH) for his pivotal contributions to this field. He received an honorary Ph.D. degree from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology ( ITP) and in 2018 another one for Psychedelic Therapy and Healing Arts from the Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) in San Francisco, California.
Among his publications are over 150 articles in professional journals and the books Beyond the Brain; LSD Psychotherapy; The Cosmic Game; Psychology of the Future; The Ultimate Journey; When the Impossible Happens; Healing Our Deepest Wounds; Modern Consciousness Research and the Understanding of Art; The Stormy Search for the Self; Spiritual Emergency; and Holotropic Breathwork (the last three with Christina Grof who passed away in June 2014). He was also invited as consultant for special effects in the Metro Goldwyn Meyer science fiction movie Brainstorm and 20th Century Fox science fiction movie Millenium.

Since April 2016, Stan has been happily married to Brigitte Grof. They live together in Germany and travel the inner and outer worlds in tandem, conducting seminars, trainings and holotropic breathwork workshops worldwide.

In August 2019 his life´s work encyclopedia “ The Way of the Psychonaut” got published and the documentary film about his life and work got released “ The Way of the Psychonaut- Stan Grof and the journey of consciousness” (www.thewayofthepsychonaut.com)..
In May 2020, together with his wife Brigitte Grof, they launched their new training in working with Holotropic States of Consciousness, the international Grof® Legacy Training (www.grof-legacy-training.com).

Other Works

  • The Way of the Psychonaut

    2019
  • Healing Our Deepest Wounds: The Holotropic Paradigm Shift

    2012
  • Holotropic Breathwork: A New Approach to Self-Exploration and Therapy

    2011
  • The Ultimate Journey: Consciousness and the Mistery of Death

    2006
  • When the Impossible Happens: Adventures in Non-Ordinary Realities

    2006
  • The Consciousness Revolution: A Transatlantic Dialogue

    2003
  • Call of the Jaguar

    2001
  • Psychology of the Future: Lessons from Modern Consciousness Research

    2000
  • The Transersonal Vision: The Healing Potential of Non-Ordinary States of Consciousness

    1998
  • The Cosmic Game: Explorations of the Frontiers of Human Consciousness

    1998
  • Books of the Dead: Manuals for Living and Dying

    1994
  • The Holotropic Mind: The Three Levels of Consciousness and How They Shape Our Lives

    1992
  • The Stormy Search for the Self: A Guide to Personal Growth Through Transformational Crises

    1991
  • Spiritual Emergency: When Personal Transformation Becomes a Crisis

    1989
  • Human Survival and Consciousness Evolution

    1988
  • The Adventure of Self-Discovery

    1987
  • Beyond the Brain: Birth, Death, and Transcendence in Psychotherapy

    1985
  • Ancient Wisdom and Modern Science

    1984
  • Beyond Death: Gates of Consciousness

    1980
  • LSD Psychotherapy

    1980

Awards and Recognition

  • In 1993, Grof received an Honorary Award from the Association for Transpersonal Psychology (ATP) for major contributions to and development of the field of transpersonal psychology, given at the occasion of the 25th Anniversary Convocation held in Asilomar, California.
  • On October 5th, 2007, Grof received the VISION 97 award granted by the Foundation of Dagmar and Václav Havel in Prague, Czech Republic.
  • In 2010, Grof received the Thomas R. Verny Award from the Association for Pre- and Perinatal Psychology and Health (APPPAH).