Stanislav Grof, LSD Pioneer

Dedication

Birthday Greetings
Paul Grof • Jack Kornfield • Richard Tarnas • Rick Doblin • Sandra Harner • Roger Walsh • Cathy Coleman • Brother David Steindl-Rast • Michael Murphy • Ervin Laszlo • Fritjof Capra • Rupert Sheldrake • Annie & Michael Mithoefer • Cyril Höschl

Foreword to Albert Hofmann’s LSD: My Problem Child by Stanislav Grof Gallery

My Explorations of LSD: From Pharmacology to Archetypes
Stan Grof about his life’s work. Interview by Brigitte Grof

Birthday Greetings
Chris Bache • Robin Carhart-Harris • Dennis McKenna • Jim Garrison • John Buchanan • Diane Haug • Jay Dufrechou • William Keepin • Marianne Murray • Pamela Stockton • Patty Nagle • Elizabeth and Lenny Gibson • Renn Butler • Neil Hanon • Carolyn Green • Sean O’Sullivan and Donna Rosenthal • Susan Hess Logeais • Becca Tarnas • Jonas di Gregorio and Kristina Soriano

Acknowledgments

About the Authors

Grof® Legacy Training

Works by Stanislav Grof

Brigitte Grof, MA, is a psychologist, psychotherapist, artist, and the wife of Stanislav Grof. She first met Grof in 1986 in Germany and then in a Grof month-long holotropic breathwork seminar at the Esalen Institute, which led her to participate in a three-year training with him in Switzerland. Since 1989 she has facilitated holotropic breathwork workshops and trainings. She lives with her husband, Stan, in Wiesbaden, Germany.

“If I am the father of LSD, Stan Grof is the godfather. Nobody has contributed as much as Stan for the development of my problem child.” Dr. Albert Hofmann, research chemist and author of LSD: My Problem Child

"This beautiful book is one of the most heartfelt and comprehensive explorations ever written about the life work of Dr. Stanislav Grof. Readers will find it to be a cornucopia of information and celebration of one of the great explorers and researchers of our age—a must-read for anyone interested in psychotherapy and depth psychology, psychedelics, breathwork, shamanism, comparative religion, and the emerging new paradigm in science." Renn Butler, PhD, director of Grof Studies Graduate Programs and author of Pathways to Wholeness

“If I am the father of LSD, Stan Grof is the godfather. Nobody has contributed as much as Stan for the development of my problem child.” Albert Hofmann, Ph.D., research chemist and author of LSD: My Problem Child

“A rich and exciting history, offering inspiring insight and multiple dimensions of one of the greatest pioneers of modern consciousness.” Jack Kornfield, Ph.D., author of The Wise Heart

“Stan Grof may have contributed as much to our understanding of the human mind, its potentials, pathologies, and possibilities, as Freud or Jung or Maslow. We will be exploring the far-reaching implications of his many discoveries—so beautifully described and acknowledged in this book—for decades.” Roger Walsh, M.D., Ph.D., professor at the University of California, Irvine

“Stan is the primary catalyst of the psychedelic renaissance. He kept the psychedelic flame alive in the dark decades of the global suppression of psychedelic research. This book is a gift of love from Brigitte to Stan and from Brigitte to the world.” Rick Doblin, Ph.D., founder and president of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS)

“Stan, you are a light and inspiration to me and many others. Your far-sighted and prophetic work is helping to transform our culture for the better.” Rupert Sheldrake, Ph.D., author of Ways to Go Beyond and Why They Work

“Brigitte’s creative homage to Stan is a book of treasures for all those who have been influenced and inspired by this extraordinary thinker, visionary, and healer: the wonderful personal photos, the history and memories, the loving tributes from friends and colleagues, and the long interview, in which he shares his newly clarified understanding of the human psyche, revising his cartography to reflect his recognition of the superordinate role of the archetypes as they inform the perinatal matrices, the COEX systems, and the transpersonal.” Richard Tarnas, professor of philosophy, cosmology, and consciousness at the California Institute of Integral Studies

“There are few people in the world today who have made a truly fundamental discovery not only about the world but also about us and our real selves. Stan Grof is one of these people. His thoughts and work will live many times more than him to benefit our understanding of life, mind, and that deep layer that we call psyche.” Ervin Laszlo, Ph.D., philosopher of science and systems theorist

“Stan changed the course of psychedelic history and touched the lives of a generation. The pictures included alone are a treasure, and the tributes give glimpses into the psychedelic community that has surrounded him.” Christopher M. Bache, Ph.D., author of LSD and the Mind of the Universe

BIOGRAPHY/ENTHEOGENS

“If I am the father of LSD, Stan Grof is the godfather. Nobody has contributed as much as Stan for the development of my problem child.”
-ALBERT HOFMANN, Ph.D., research chemist and author of LSD: My Problem Child

“A rich and exciting history, offering inspiring insight and multiple dimensions of one of the greatest pioneers of modern consciousness.” –JACK KORNFIELD, Ph.D., author of The Wise Heart

Created in honor of his 90th birthday, this book celebrates the profound life’s work of Stanislav Grof, M.D., pioneer in psychedelic research and transpersonal psychology.

Featuring an extended interview between Stan and his wife, Brigitte, the book explores in depth the full arc of his research in his own words as well as the history of LSD. He discusses his early experiments with LSD in Czechoslovakia and the United States during the 1950s and ’60s and the cartography of the psyche that resulted. He describes his clients’ and his own experiences and the psychedelic approach he pioneered. He explains the four perinatal matrices, illustrated with the impressive paintings he made during high-dose LSD sessions. He discusses the creation of holotropic breathwork as a way to reach expanded states of consciousness without the use of drugs. He describes how he started work with LSD believing it was simply pharmacology and then went on to discover the perinatal, transpersonal, and archetypal levels of the psyche through his lifelong research. The book also features testimonies from a number of luminaries in the psychedelic, psychological, scientific, and spiritual communities, including Jack Kornfield, Rupert Sheldrake, Ervin Laszlo, Richard Tarnas, Rick Doblin, Roger Walsh, David Steindl-Rast, Fritjof Capra, and Cathy Coleman.

Complete with captivating photos of Stan Grof with Albert Hofmann, Swiss painter H. R. Giger, Fritz Perls, Sasha Shulgin, and all of the book’s contributors, this special book presents an impressive overview of Stan Grof’s groundbreaking work and honors his importance as a psychedelic elder.

BRIGITTE GROF, M.A., is a psychologist, psychotherapist, artist, and the wife of Stanislav Grof. She first met Grof in 1986 in Germany and then in a Grof month-long holotropic breathwork seminar at the Esalen Institute, which led her to participate in a three-year training with him in Switzerland. Since 1989 she has facilitated holotropic breathwork workshops and trainings. She lives with her husband, Stan, in Wiesbaden, Germany.