Two Canadian psychedelic and plant-based wellness retreats
Holistic approaches based on science and spirituality in a luxury natural setting are aimed not only on wellness but also to help those in high-stress professional settings
Article content
Psychedelic-assisted therapies have become increasingly popular among those seeking a higher level of self-betterment and wellness.
Research is increasingly looking at the use and benefits of cannabis and psychedelic plants, including for healing and recovery from a number of traumas and mental-health conditions.
Here, three innovative Canadians share how their retreats using legal psychedelic-assisted or plant-based and spiritual experiences can not only contribute to wellness, but also help individuals in high-expectation jobs, such as heading an entrepreneurial venture or a family enterprise.
Donald Currie, registered psychotherapist and clinical director at Dimensions Algonquin Highlands, Ontario
A luxury health and wellness retreat in a natural setting, offering plant ceremony, holistic healing and evidence-based mind and body practices. There is a nearby airport for private plane access and they offer airport valet, if needed, from Toronto’s Pearson International airport.
Tell us about Dimensions Retreats.
“We are a Canadian company offering health and wellness retreat experiences with a therapeutic focus on self-betterment and mental-health disorders affecting the central nervous system.
Dimensions focuses on restorative well-being and transformational growth by combining neuroscientific research with [psychedelic] plant ceremony, therapeutic healing modalities, and luxurious hospitality.
Dimensions Algonquin Highlands is the first in a growing collection of international retreats in spectacular, natural settings.
Dimensions’ international retreats will feature an expanded repertoire of ceremonial plant medicines (psilocybin) within our range of psychedelic-assisted therapy programs, where permitted by local authorities. Retreats in the Netherlands are set to open in the summer of 2024.
Our philosophy is ‘Retreat, reset, transform.’ This means retreating from the daily stresses of urban living into deep nature, resetting the nervous system to a ‘rest and digest’ state and transforming, using evidence-based mind and body practices to create lasting change.”
Describe your Ascend program, and how it might relate to people in high-stress professional situations?
“Our Ascend program may be interesting and beneficial to individuals in high-stress professions for several reasons.
High-stress professions take a toll on both mental and physical well-being. Our Ascend self-betterment program focuses on restoring well-being and offers individuals the opportunity to retreat from their daily stressors in a natural environment. This promotes relaxation, reduced cortisol and [lowered] stress levels and a much-needed break from the demands of their profession.
Our programs’ emphasis on resetting the central nervous system to a ‘rest and digest’ state [is aimed at helping] to restore balance and promote resilience.
Our holistic approach integrates neuroscientific research and evidence-based approaches to support the well-being of our guests and helps them to gain new tools to manage stress effectively.”
How are cannabis and other healing psychedelic plant medicines used?
“Cannabis and other psychedelics are catalysts for change. In Canada, Dimensions facilitates the legal and safe use of cannabis as the singular psychedelic plant medicine. With proper preparation and integration, cannabis can help people cultivate a deeper understanding of themselves and their place in the world.
The plant medicine can also assist in the process of reprocessing stressful or traumatic experiences and reducing depression.
A recent study published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology suggests cannabis has similar properties to psychedelics. Researchers found that cannabis can produce the same state of oceanic boundlessness [characterized by a feeling of oneness with the world].
In research studies, oceanic boundlessness was also associated with a decrease in depression.
When used in a therapeutic setting, cannabis may exhibit the same subjective effects as other plant medicines when combined with eye masks, psychological support, and music. In a harmonized setting, cannabis allows us to go inwards and become more aware of our bodies.
When it comes to plant medicines, cannabis can be a gentle introduction for those new to the field.
Healing involves processing and reprogramming traumatic and painful memories so that in the present day we can walk lighter and stronger – we are helping ourselves let go of past pain or stress and how it has been held in our bodies.
The correlation between trauma reprocessing work and the ‘letting go’ that often takes place during cannabis ceremonies and other psychedelic plant medicines is explained by modern neuroscience. Both techniques allow trapped energy to be ‘sequenced’ in the nervous system, especially when it comes to fight/flight/freeze reactions. And both help to unwind deeply held tension that is stored in the physical body.
Nature is not just the backdrop to our holistic treatment model and the healing that takes place, it is at the core of all we do for a guest’s body, mind, and soul.”
Rob Grover and Gary Logan, Founders, The Journeymen Collective, North Kelowna, B.C.
The Journeymen Collective curate intensive psychedelic journeys and spiritual retreats for entrepreneurs, executives and professionals in luxury locations in the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia and in the Great Bear Rainforest, with the aim of helping them clarify their vision for their lives and in business in order to make a greater impact.
Tell us about The Journeymen Collective, and how you came to establish it.
Rob Grover: “We have melded about 60 years of personal, spiritual and professional development work into what is now The Journeymen Collective.
I started my career in the corporate world, and I always had an affinity for the earth.
Then in 2015, I decided to start my own executive coaching practice, and I left the corporate world to start my own venture. A few years after I started my business, my partner, Gary, and I went through a deep experience of grief and depression due to the passing of Gary’s Mom.
All of the mindsets, interrelationship skills and spiritual and mindfulness tools that we had to create within ourselves and with our own businesses still didn’t seem to be lifting that grief and depression that we had when Gary’s mom passed away.
A medicine man was introduced to us, and from that experience I deepened my own understanding of the science of the mind, and how I could better serve my clients … in my coaching business.
The grief had shifted, the depression had lifted, and I found a new level of joy within myself and a deeper commitment to serve my clients at a higher level.
Gary Logan: I would say, my personal development started probably at the age of 17. In 1979, I went to theater school, and if you know anything about theater and becoming an actor, they basically break you down to build you up to be who you truly are.
I ended up moving to England and going to theater school there for a couple of years and was introduced to a program called The Alexander Technique, which is a mind-body conscious awareness training.
When I came back to Vancouver, I went on a three-year teaching program to be certified as a teacher in the Alexander Technique.
I’ve been teaching since 2005, and in that journey there was development of my spiritual being. I was introduced to a metaphysical spiritual centre, and that really developed my inner gifts that I was able to develop and share with others. I also did a two-year healing touch program through Vancouver General hospital, and that led me on the path deeper into healing and spirituality. That brings us to ‘Rob and Gary.’
We’ve been together for about 16 years, and, as Robert said, my mom did live with us, and I had not experienced grief of that magnitude before. There was an emptiness in the house, and there was an emptiness inside. So, when we were introduced to the medicine man, I sent Rob on his way first, as the guinea pig, […] I was quite amazed by his transformation and decided that it may be useful for myself to embark on my own journey of inner discovery.
[I also] met the medicine man on my birthday and [experienced] a vision about working with the medicine and providing an offering to the world through this practice.
As Gary mentioned, we started training with a medicine man who trained in many different modalities, traditions and lineages.
He granted us that gift to create what we want to create with a foundation based in tradition, so a lot of our work has many different threads from many different traditions.”
What do people who may be in high-stress business situations get from your services?
RG: “We interweave a lot of science into the metaphysical spiritual mindfulness.
We started working with a number of different people and executive coaches and people who are really curious to know more about themselves and any deeper calling.
Deeper connection to self allows people both in life and business to connect more deeply with others, and that will foster great relationships, which will then foster great business.
If the individual understands themselves to a greater extent, their business can also expand in a way that’s going to honor someone’s passion and purpose, and also allow the individual to create greater profits.
We like to suggest to people that you balance the human being with the ‘human doing’ so. One of the brilliant things that comes from an experience that we guide people through is that you slow down so that you can actually speed up. So, with that, when an individual may not be hitting those targets, it’s typically because they don’t have clarity.
I would even say a consequence of coming through the journey is … they can still function at an optimal rate without being highly stressed, even if they are in a high-demand scenario of operating a multibillion-dollar empire, or multimillion-dollar empire. It’s a deep reset that takes place for the individual.”
How are cannabis and psychedelic medicines used in self-betterment and wellness or healing?
RG: “Cannabis and psychedelics are all medicines that have been put on earth for healing and for optimization of the individual.
Whatever, mental, emotional, physical, suffering individuals are carrying, those sufferings can be liberated so that the individual has a great capacity to think, feel, see, sense, and hear life in a different way.[… This] allows a deep clearing of the old ways of thinking, feeling and acting and an expanded perception of reality in their life, and businesses so that they can actually make an impact. And that’s where a guided journey with The Journeymen Collective comes in.”
Describe your process and how you approach Indigenous medicinal teachings.
RG: “What we do is unique. It’s personalized and curated for the individuals that we’re working with. Everything that we do has a foundation based in many different spiritual traditions, and one of them is the First Nations Shamanic rituals or ceremonies. We’re honoring those traditions deeply and bringing them into our current world.
One of the biggest things that we offer is a guided journey with a high level of preparation and applied integration.
[A master guides] people through this vulnerable experience in a deeply respectful and honourable way.
We get to know all of our clients and they work with us for a minimum of four months. They’re not with us in person for four months; we’re working virtually for at least one month – preparation. That support includes online video calls and access to our portal that creates an educational context for the discovery process that the individual is coming through. Then, when you’re here with us at the center, it’s for four full days of intensive support.
We guide you through two medicine ceremonies and then there are two full days of integration [where] we’re working with you at the spiritual, mental, emotional, and the physical [levels].
We don’t call it a retreat centre because there’s nothing to retreat from, and most of our people do not want to retreat away from anything, they want to go head-first into what may be stopping them or blocking them or limiting them.”
Responses have been edited for clarity and length.
More from Canadian Family Offices
- Peter Jaskiewicz saw his family’s business fail. Now he’s helping others
- How to find roles for family in the business
- Private investment in portfolios: opportunities and challenges
- ‘Please fix my kid’: Parents regret being too easy on their children
Please visit here to see information about our standards of journalistic excellence.