Confluence Retreats

I had a few intentions in mind when coming to the retreat. I was having some breakthrough depression as well as some blank memories from childhood that I wanted to see if there was anything there. Another major reason for attending was for my own professional experience. I am a therapist interested in seeing if this could help with any of my clients; moving into the future I would like to incorporate psychedelic assisted therapy. One of the biggest things that I did find from the retreat was that I need to have other people around me; to have that human connection. I also realized how much I missed being outdoors among nature. Having the opportunity to be immersed in the forest in Oregon was an awesome experience and showed me that this is something I shouldn’t choose to live without. I also really enjoyed the structure of the retreat. Being there with others was a great experience for me. I really connected with my roommate and I feel like we will have a life long relationship. Having two psilocybin sessions was a very good experience because it allowed you to have both a smaller experience and a bigger experience. I couldn’t imagine having to do this alone, being there with the group for more than just one experience was well worth it to me.

Confluence Retreats was, for me, a wonderful and enlightening experience--and not at all what I was originally expecting, despite all of the qualifying phone calls and literature that I was sent over the Internet before embarking on my "psychedelically-based journey" (no pun intended!) to Ashland, Oregon.

Upon arriving, to say that I was pleasantly surprised would be a gross understatement. I was extremely impressed with the quality, sensitivity, knowledge and professionalism of the Director/"facilitator" as well as of the two other "facilitators" who greeted me my first day when I was picked up and driven up a beautiful lush mountain road to 4,500 feet elevation just outside of Ashland where I arrived at and stayed at a "boutique" quaint hotel in Ashland that Myles, the director/facilitator, had recommended that I stay at the day before the first day of the 5-day "psilocybin retreat."

I was quite impressed with the other six participants' seriousness and intent in signing up for a "psilocybin retreat." Actually, I expected the other participants to be more like myself--an old "hippy" who, in the mid 60s to the mid-70s, while enrolled in college, had taken copious amounts of hallucinogens, marijuana, and was a member of the era's "counterculture" who was particularly curious about "tripping" on a hallucinogen for the first time since 1973 in an environment that was both pristine and serious about using the medicinal power of psilocybin mushrooms for psychologically beneficial and insightful purposes as well as for the release and resolution of possible buried past traumatic experiences AND at the same time of serving as a catalyst for a participant's spiritual/mystical search for cosmic consciousness (as was my particular case, among other things. I was seeking a 'reboot" of my brain and consciousness after 51 years of not having done any hallucinogens).

Truthfully, although I had fond memories of my many past LSD experiences, I had never really experienced a strong dose of real psilocybin when consuming mushrooms in my college years, and I came to Confluence Retreats expecting my psilocybin experiences there to closely mimic my LSD experiences, which were almost ALL quite memorable and valuable to me, in my estimation. What I discovered was that even a supposed "mild" dose of psilocybin (consumed as powdered mushrooms that were exceptionally high in organic psilocybin, as determined by Oregon State certified chemists--and all legal at Confluence Retreats) was incredibly powerful and proved to be a more "inward" "trip" than what I had experienced many times before on LSD in my hippy "sixties" days, and much more likely to bring up buried psychologically challenging experiences from my past that were conveniently buried in my unconscious mind and still holding sway limiting my present ability to be fully realized and happy with my 76-year-old mental state--despite all of the wonderful revelations and insights that I had experienced 51 years ago through my many LSD experiences, which were of a more mystical and ethereal and ego-dissolving and transcendent nature..

My experience with Confluence Retreats from first contact clean through to writing this has been excellent. Myles was an informed, professional, thoughtful, proactive partner in the process in every single detail and along every step of the way. From our initial discussions and preparation, within the journey itself, and in follow up, because of Myles' expertise and thoughtful prompting and responses, I have been able to maximize the gain from the journey and the experience as a whole. I came to the experience to investigate what a professionally guided psilocybin session would be like and how I might benefit from it; to explore and hopefully enhance my experience with joy, love, creativity, playfulness, and meaning-making; and, as a psychological professional, explore the therapeutic benefits of the medicine.

Myles offered a digestible amount of information in advance, including background info, scientific data, meditations, and online resources, among others. I found his prompts and questions helpful in orienting me to my purpose and preparing me.

During the journey Myles was a patient, pleasant, unobtrusive, and trustworthy companion. It is obvious he has great reverence for the plants and the experience of using them and that he understands what circumstances and approaches offer the best possibility for a meaningful journey. It was never in doubt that he wanted me to have rich experience and had developed a protocol to maximally ensure this. As a clinical social worker who has studied psychological and emotional safety for nearly two decades, I can attest that Myles set the stage well for a comfortable and safe experience.

My experience of the medicine itself was more than I could have asked for. Having experimented in the past, I was aware of some of the medicine's potential. What I was unprepared for was how the curated setting, precise dosing of quality product, and guided experience would enhance my journey and allow me to surrender more and go further. Within the journey, I made vivid connections to meaningful experiences from childhood and other stages of my life. The medicine allowed me to have clarity about those experiences and see myself and others from different perspectives. I found this to be (and it remains) profoundly freeing. It has also allowed me to shift my perspective cognitively and emotionally since, leading to a similar freeing from ways of perceiving, thinking and feeling that limit and burden me. The medicines and the facilitated experience were therapeutically rich. I would even say that beyond therapeutically, the experience was maturationally rich and helped me to grow and develop.

I came to the retreat hoping to experience feelings of awe in my life and to resolve some personal relationship issues . I left feeling more emotionally connected to and inspired by other people and nature with more awareness of my body and more understanding my personal boundaries and role.

As I now try to comprehend the changed political climate, I keep going by recalling my feelings of hope and oneness that I experienced at the retreat. My fellow journeyers convinced me that men can support and respect women. We had some real dog lovers in the group. My journeys were not what I expected. I spent too much time on my first journey trying to put it into words. On my second journey I relaxed and enjoyed. I thought I would struggle with people from my past but I had only pleasant experiences and felt happy. I saw the air around me filled with sparkling shards of light and I could feel intentional and harmony watching a flock of birds circling in the sky.

The ongoing one on one support offered by the team was amazing. They were always alert to our needs and concerns. We connected before and after each journey and had plenty of time to share and think.

I came to Confluence Retreats after experiencing some incredibly difficult events in my life that unveiled a host of old traumas, destructive thought loops and unproductive patterns. I was ready for an experience that could help me advance the work I was doing in therapy, let go of some of these past experiences and patterns, and find ways to let joy and love into my life.

From the first moment I spoke to Myles until I finished the retreat (and even in the subsequent post-retreat support work), I felt safe, supported and cared for. He and the team at Confluence Retreats are exceptional facilitators and even more exceptional human beings. I learned so much from them, and their seemingly unending well of patience, support and presence for those who attend the retreats was inspiring.

The retreat experience itself was magical. The natural setting was peaceful and allowed for deep contemplation and reflection. The structure of the retreat allowed me to set clear intentions before each journey, and the support that was provided to process my experiences was invaluable. I am convinced that a single journey alone would not have yielded as deep of an experience as I had at Confluence. The entire structure was all so incredibly well thought out and intentional.

My experience with Myles and the team at Confluence Retreats has helped me show up as a more present, loving partner and father. I am experiencing joy and gratitude in a way that I never have before, and I feel a love and acceptance for who I am as a person that I have never felt.

I struggle to find the words to convey how much I valued this experience. But, I can absolutely say that the investment of money and time I made in this experience was one of the best investments of my life, and it all culminated in a truly life changing experience.