Grof Breathwork Facilitator Training Prerequisites

We ask that applicants to our Grof Breathwork Facilitator Training Program complete two prerequisites before beginning our program. It is not necessary to complete the prerequisites prior to application to the program. However, when applying to the program, applicants should have a plan for completing prerequisites prior to beginning one of our Level I units.  

Overview Course Prerequisite

An overview course in the work of Stanislav Grof allows those beginning our program to share basic understandings of the fundamental contributions Stan has made to psychiatry, psychology and social science, as well as the relationship of these understandings to contemporary science and worldwide spiritual traditions. This is particularly important in that Stan's work offers a significant paradigm shift and covers several interrelated areas of understanding. Because our program allows admitted applicants to join our Level I training at various junctures in our series of four units, a basic understanding of our work is important prior to the more particularized focus of the Level I units. 

The following courses satisfy the requirement:

• The Grof Legacy Fall 2021 course titled Healing our Deepest Wounds (not available for current viewing).
• The Fall 2023 Grof Studies course titled Stanislav Grof’s Research in Deep and Effective Psychedelic Therapy and Self-Exploration. This 8-week course was taught through Ubiquity University and is available for viewing through recorded lectures. Click here for additional information. 
• The winter 2024 Grof Studies course titled The Holotropic World View: Avenues for Personal and Collective Healing. This 8-week online course is offered through Ubiquity University and begins January 21, 2024. Click here for additional information and registration. 
• The summer 2024 course titled Overview of the Work of Stanislav Grof, taught through Grof Legacy Training USA. This 4-week online course begins July 8, 2024, and is designed specifically to satisfy the GLT-USA Breathwork Training prerequisite. Registration is not yet open. 

Analogous coursework through other institutions, or in rare cases self-study, may satisfy this prerequisite. Please email Jay Dufrechou at [email protected] for discussion. 

Please note that the Grof Breathwork Facilitator Certification Program offered through our organization, Grof Legacy Training USA, and the masters and doctoral degree programs offered through Grof Studies at Ubiquity University are separate programs with separate requirements. Most courses offered through the Grof Studies program will satisfy the course prerequisite in our program. Grof Breathwork experiences through Grof Legacy Training or Grof Legacy Project will typically satisfy experiential requirements in the Grof Studies program. Additional details about the relationship of the two programs are under construction. 

Grof Breathwork Prerequisite

We ask applicants to have experienced at least eight sessions of Grof Breathwork (four as "breather" and four as "sitter") prior to beginning our program. Typically our form of breathwork is offered in paired sessions, meaning experiencers have one session as breather and one session as sitter in a workshop. Four experiences in this format satisfy this prerequisite. 

This prerequisite is important to us in that breathwork in the Grof lineage represents a different experience than many other forms of breathwork. Our form of breathwork involves an invitation to experience a holotropic state of consciousness in the context of an intentional setting. Applicants should be sure that Grof Breathwork represents the right path for them personally and with respect to their professional aspirations and intentions. 

Breathwork in the Grof lineage under other names (holotropic breathwork, for instance) will ordinarily satisfy this requirement. Please note that some practitioners describe their offerings as holotropic breathwork without actual credentials in the Grof lineage. Our application provides additional specifics on this prerequisite. Please email Jay Dufrechou at [email protected] with questions. 

Experiences of Grof Breathwork in coming months around the world are listed on our Grof Breathwork Calendar page on this website.

Valuable introductions to Grof Breathwork may be experienced through the five-day, four-night residential retreats in New Mexico offered by our sister organization, Grof Legacy Project. These retreats are led by Diane Haug, an elder in the Grof community and longtime carrier of Grof work over many continents and programs. The New Mexico retreats, in a beautiful setting at Synergia Ranch, outside Santa Fe, offer four breathwork sessions, two as breather and two as sitter. Click here to visit the website of Grof Legacy Project, where you will find retreat dates and registration information. 

Weekend workshops led by our organization, Grof Legacy Training USA, are listed through the our website dropdown menu, GLT-USA Public Workshops. 

(Background photo at the Acropolis by Dafni K on Unsplash.)