PSILOCYBIN MEDITATION RETREAT – THE RHYTHMS OF COMPASSION
Monday 13th - Saturday 18th April 2026
Gelderland, Netherlands
THE RETREAT
At the Psychedelic Health Professionals Network, we hold a compassionate intention at the heart of everything we do: to create spaces where people feel safe enough to open, explore and gently transform. Rooted in compassion focused principles, our approach invites you to shift from threat and drive into the soothing system, where the body can settle, the mind can soften and deeper wisdom can emerge.
Rhythms of Compassion embodies this ethos. Grounded in evidence, legality and trauma sensitivity, this retreat weaves together contemplative practice, psilocybin ceremonies, breathwork, somatic movement and nature-based grounding to support your inner safeness and the emergence of your compassionate self.
INTEGRATING THE COMPASSION FOCUSED APPROACH
Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) offers an evolutionary, neurobiological lens that beautifully complements psychedelic-facilitated self-exploration. CFT helps create the inner conditions for what often unfolds in contemplative retreats: meeting the many layers of ourselves - including the parts that may have been quieted, shamed or overlooked in everyday life. As the automatic, self-focused mental chatter softens under psilocybin, these deeper states can come into view more easily. CFT offers a way to greet them with clarity, warmth and the attitude of “it’s not my fault”, encouraging us to support whatever arises rather than judge or resist it.
Since set and setting matter so much, the CFT approach helps shape an atmosphere of care, courage and safeness - a space where the three flows of compassion can naturally emerge: compassion for ourselves, compassion for others, and allowing compassion from others. Throughout the retreat, this perspective invites you to reconnect with nature, with community and with your own inner wisdom, which often becomes more accessible when the body settles into the soothing system and the heart feels held.
Held in the quiet Dutch countryside as spring awakens, this retreat offers a gentle environment where change can unfold at your pace - supported by practices designed to cultivate warmth, courage and connection.
WHAT TO EXPECT
Whether this is your first experience or part of a longer journey, we welcome all identities, neurotypes and backgrounds. We work intentionally to create an atmosphere of affiliative connection, where everyone feels respected and free to be who they are.
Throughout the retreat, you’ll be invited to gently attune to your inner landscape, supported by practices that activate the soothing, grounding and connecting systems:
Two psilocybin ceremonies held by trained facilitators who offer presence, attunement and compassionate containment.
Breathwork to regulate the nervous system and support grounding into the body.
Somatic movement and conscious dance to help release survival tension and reconnect with vitality.
Creative expression as a way to access insight, playfulness and emotional depth.
Nature immersion to engage the affiliative system and cultivate spaciousness.
Meditation and compassion focused practices to strengthen wisdom, grounding, courage and inner safeness.
Group sizes are intentionally small with a high ratio of facilitators to maintain a personalised, attuned and supportive environment.
A careful screening process helps ensure the retreat is safe and right for you.
Please note that this is not a therapeutic group or aimed to replace one-to-one work for those who are struggling with more psychological difficulty.
WHAT IS INCLUDED
This is a full arc of compassionate support - from emergence to integration.
Preparation & Orientation
Preparation is a core part of CFT’s compassionate motivation. You’ll receive screening, group calls and one-to-one sessions to clarify your intentions, prepare your body and mind to meet the different parts of your inner landscape, and explore the three emotional systems (threat, drive, soothe) in relation to psychedelic work. We’ll also gently touch on the relational patterns and personal stories that often emerge in these settings, so you can meet them with more grounding, openness and care.
This helps you arrive resourced and ready.
There will be a 4-week preparation course, with compassion and evidence-based psychedelic practice at its heart.
The Retreat Experience
During six days of immersive practice, you’ll stay in comfortable single rooms with nourishing full-board meals. The programme blends ceremony, breathwork, meditative inquiry, mindful movement and the cultivation of all the three flows of compassion.
The pace is gentle and trauma-aware, allowing insights to emerge from inner safeness rather than striving.
Integration Support
Integration is where meaning and change take root. Group and one-to-one follow-ups support you in weaving your insights into daily life through compassionate practices, grounding techniques, and embodied wisdom.
IS THIS RETREAT FOR YOU?
This retreat may be a good fit if you:
Are navigating transition, uncertainty or emotional heaviness.
Long for a space of calm, clarity and inner grounding.
Want to reconnect with different parts of yourself in a kinder, more integrated way
Feel called to deepen your sense of connection with others and with the natural world
Are curious about psychedelics held within a trauma-aware, compassion-focused container.
Wish to strengthen emotional resilience through the wisdom-strength-commitment of the compassionate self.
Feel ready to release old patterns and explore new possibilities.
Are experiencing fatigue or burnout, relating to caring for others or life in general.
THE TEAM
Our facilitation team comprises health professionals, experienced psychedelic facilitators and compassionate guides. With deep expertise and lived experience, we provide a safe, intentional space for your journey. We offer a high ratio of facilitators to participants to ensure that you feel fully held, heard and supported at every stage of your experience
RETREAT FAQs
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Anyone applying for one of the PHP retreats will be sent a detailed Application Form which will cover important information necessary for our team to determine if psilocybin is safe for each individual and if our retreats are suitable for you. You will then be contacted by one of our screening team and, if appropriate, a screening video call will be set up. It is of the utmost importance that you are completely honest and that you provide us with full and correct information during this process so that we can ensure your safety and the safety of others.
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Preparation and integration are key aspects of the psychedelic experience, and we have developed our approach to this informed by our experiences facilitating group therapeutic processes, aiming to create a sense of group cohesion.
Prior to arrival, everyone will be assigned to a small ‘pod’ of about 4 participants, with each pod having 1 facilitator (typically a 1:4 ratio) who will be working with them on the retreat. As part of their preparation, participants will have a 1:1 video call and, usually, a small group video call with their pod facilitator before the retreat. During the call, they will have the opportunity to get to know each other, talk through personal intentions and receive more practical details about the retreat.
Following the retreat, there is an additional 1:1 and pod video call with their facilitator. An online meet-up for the whole group is also provided. For those who wish to keep in contact, the option of continuing to meet thereafter in a peer support format is available. The group will also be able to connect via WhatsApp and will have access to PHP’s network-wide monthly integration group.
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£2,450 for a six-day retreat (two psilocybin ceremonies). This price covers facilitation, accommodation, food & return bus travel between Amsterdam & the retreat centre and six preparation/integration video calls
£50 for the psilocybin truffles/mushrooms. (In order to sell truffles in The Netherlands you have to be a registered ‘smart shop’, so for licensing reasons, we cannot give you the truffles directly and you have to purchase them yourself. We will set aside time in Amsterdam prior to the bus journey for you to buy the truffles you’ll be using.
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Closest airport: Amsterdam
We offer a group coach with pick-up near Amsterdam Centraal train station and return drop-off at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport.
We will be gathering in central Amsterdam at a Smart Shop (café) on Monday 7th April afternoon (a 10 min walk from Centraal Station). The exact location will be provided after confirmation of your booking.
If you can, please arrive there by 3pm at the latest. If you want to get there early and drop bags, please feel free - we have a good relationship with the people in the shop and they have a safe area for this.At least one of the Facilitators will be there from 1 pm. We will all leave the shop together at about 4pm to catch our coach at 4.30pm which will take us to the retreat centre.
Arrival Day
Meeting point: Monday April 7, 2025, by 3:00pm CET (at a Smart Shop, 10 min from Centraal Train Station, Amsterdam)
Coach departure time: Monday April 7, 2025, 4:30pm CET (near Amsterdam Centraal station)
Departure Day
Coach drop-off time: April 12, 2025, 1:30-2:00pm CET depending on traffic (at Amsterdam Schiphol airport)
For those travelling by train, direct trains from Schiphol airport to Centraal station run every 15 minutes and take around 15 minutes.
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Our retreat centre is set on a traditional farm with 8,000m² of beautiful grounds. The farmhouse, built in the traditional Dutch style, houses some of the bedrooms, while others are located in two adjacent buildings. Additionally, the centre features charming ‘tiny houses,’ which guests love for their peaceful, cozy atmosphere - offering a unique and restful experience. Toilets and showers are conveniently located near all rooms.
Each retreat participant will have their own private room, and we will take all accommodation needs into consideration.
The ceremony space is a traditional Finnish Kota, designed for comfort and transformation. It features soft lighting, underfloor heating and an inviting atmosphere. Set amidst mature trees and overlooking a serene pond, it provides a truly special setting for deep inner work.
Nature is at the heart of this retreat centre’s appeal, with a ley line running through the site, adding to its unique energy.
Lovingly developed over the past 40 years, this retreat space has a distinctive atmosphere that participants consistently find supportive and enriching.
JOIN US FOR OUR PSILOCYBIN MEDITATION RETREAT
Deepen your meditation ability. Step into a space of renewal, creativity and transformation - where new beginnings await.
Spaces are limited. Reserve your spot today to embark on this sacred journey of connection, clarity, and growth.