The Primal Page's

Holotropic Breathwork Links




An early researcher in the use of the psychedelic, LSD, Czech/American psychiatrist Stanislav Grof developed holotropic breathwork after the use of LSD was declared illegal in the 1960s. This non-drug psychotherapy combines controlled breathing techniques with loud feelingful music to trigger the release of repressed early childhood, infantile, pre and peri-natal material, along with transpersonal and spiritual experiences.

Holotropic breathwork, Grof claims, can release the same repressed material as LSD. An interesting account of how LSD was used in therapy is recounted in Dr. Grof's book LSD Psychotherapy. The material in this book would be meaningful to anyone interested in any form of regressive abreactive therapy.

* * * *


The material below is linked to the Psychedelics and Psychotherapy Section of The Psychedelic Library:

Material From Dr. Stanislav Grof's books:

  • Preface to Dr. Stanislav Grof's, LSD Psychotherapy, (1994 edition)

  • Appendix I from Dr. Stanislav Grof's LSD Psychotherapy (1994 edition) Crisis Intervention in Situations Related to Unsupervised Use of Psychedelics

  • Appendix II from Dr. Stanislav Grof's LSD Psychotherapy (1994 edition) The Effects of LSD on Chromosomes, Genetic Mutation, Fetal Development and Malignancy ©1980, 1994 by Stanislav Grof.

  • Chapter 8 of LSD Psychotherapy by Stanislav Grof, M.D. - Non-Therapeutic Uses of LSD ©1980, 1994 by Stanislav Grof.

  • Epilogue from Dr. Grof's LSD Psychotherapy, (1994) entitled The Future of LSD Psychotherapy

  • Chapter 1 of LSD Psychotherapy History of LSD Therapy by Stanislav Grof, M.D. , ©1980, 1994 by Stanislav Grof.

  • LSD Psychotherapy and Addictions Chapter from: The Human Encounter With Death, by Dr Stanislav Grof and Joan Halifax (1977).

  • Chapter 5 of Dr. Stanislav Grof's Beyond the Brain: Birth, Death and Transcendence in Psychotherapy,Dilemmas and Controversies of Traditional Psychiatry .

  • Preface from Realms of the Human Unconscious by Stanislav Grof, M.D. in which he describes his arrival in the United States in the mid-1960s to join the research activities of the Research Unit of Spring Grove State Hospital in Maryland.

  • An excerpt from Chapter 1 of Realms of the Human Unconscious -- Heuristic Value of LSD Research by Stanislav Grof, M.D. ©1975 Stanislav and Joan Halifax Grof.

  • Chapter 2 from The Human Encounter With Death, The History of Psychedelic Therapy with the Dying, By Dr. Stanislav Grof & Joan Halifax, 1977.

  • Become a member of the holotropic breathwork community.
    Lots of information, articles, etc.



Return to The Primal Psychotherapy Page