Journeys
What to expect from your journey
Science-informed psychedelic ceremonies, walked with you through preparation, ceremony, and integration.
What is a journey
A journey is the whole arc, not a single afternoon
A psychedelic journey is a structured arc of preparation, ceremony, and integration, held within a science-informed container.
At Ceremonia, that arc is one month of preparation, the retreat, then one month of integration, with an optional two-month extension. The medicine is the doorway. The arc is what makes it transformative instead of merely interesting.
The clinical literature on psilocybin-assisted therapy, including the Johns Hopkins, Imperial College London, and MAPS-affiliated trials, shapes how we sequence preparation, set, and follow-through. We translate that research into a retreat container, not a lab visit.
- Why a journey, not a session?
- A clinical session ends when the medicine ends. A journey holds the weeks before and the months after, preparation that builds the nervous-system regulation you'll need, and integration that lets the insight settle into the way you live.
- What does 'integration' mean?
- Integration is the bridge between the experience and the way you live afterward. In peer-reviewed studies of psilocybin-assisted therapy (Griffiths, 2016; Carhart-Harris, 2021), the lasting changes show up in the months after ceremony, not during it. Integration is the work that turns insight into pattern.
- Is this a clinical trial?
- No. Ceremonia runs a retreat in Colorado, with trained facilitators and a structured arc of preparation, ceremony, and integration. We are not enrolling for a trial; we are holding the science as a floor, not a ceiling.
- How is this different from a meditation retreat?
- A meditation retreat builds capacity over years of practice. A psychedelic journey opens a window, measured in hours, where the brain's pattern-locking circuits are temporarily quieter. The work is still yours; the medicine just shortens the runway.
Three pathways
Find your right next step
Open the doorway
Awaken
6 days · Colorado
Our flagship in-person retreat. Three guided psilocybin ceremonies, deep preparation, expert facilitation, and an integration arc that walks with you afterward.
Explore Awaken
Tend the deeper layers
Heal
Upcoming retreats
The next cohorts.
Each cohort is small by design. The connection call is the first step.
- January 12 to 17, 2027Awaken · 6-day psilocybin retreatColoradoFrom $5,995Now accepting applications
- April 6 to 11, 2027Awaken · 6-day psilocybin retreat
Who this is for
Three rooms, all of them yours
You don't need to fit a category to belong here, but most people who walk into a Ceremonia retreat recognize themselves in one of these three rooms before they arrive.
Leaders carrying too much
Founders, partners, executives, parents at the top of a long rope. The work works, but the cost is the version of you that walks back in the door at night.
You know the productivity stack stopped paying interest a while ago.
People who already met the medicine
You did a ceremony, a clinic visit, an underground sit. Something opened. Something else didn't close. You're looking for a container that takes the integration as seriously as the experience itself.
You know the insight was real. You also know it didn't stick on its own.
Quiet seekers, finally moving
What we hold
Two medicines, one container
The medicine is the doorway. The container is what determines whether the experience integrates or evaporates. We hold two medicines, each within the same arc of preparation, ceremony, and integration.
Psilocybin
Psilocybe cubensis
- Best for
- Depression, grief, creative blocks, ego inflation
- Format
- Group ceremony · 5–6 hours · Eyeshades, music, attention
Our primary medicine. Held in Colorado with trained facilitators on-site. The clinical literature for major depression and end-of-life distress is strongest here, which is why our container is built around it.
See the Awaken retreatAyahuasca
Banisteriopsis caapi · Psychotria viridis
- Best for
The Ceremonia method
Six steps that make the work last
We didn't invent these phases, preparation, ceremony, integration is the shape of every traditional psychedelic container, and the shape every modern clinical trial echoes. We just take all six seriously, instead of compressing the arc to the chemistry.
- Prepare
Read, watch, decide
Self-paced · before booking
Two-hour onboarding library: medical screening, expectations, prep guide. You leave knowing whether this fits your life right now, or whether to come back when it does.
- Prepare
Screening with a facilitator
60 minutes · video
A trained facilitator reviews medical history, medications, and intentions. Some people are screened in. Some are screened out. Both are good outcomes.
What the research says
The numbers behind the work
We won't promise a transformation on a timeline, no honest container will. What we will share is the peer-reviewed evidence base our protocol is built on, and our own program data alongside it.
- 71%
- Of treatment-resistant depression participants in remission at four weeks post-psilocybin (Carhart-Harris et al., 2021).
- 2x
- Reduction in anxiety and depression sustained at six-month follow-up across two phase-2 trials (Griffiths et al., 2016).
- 400+
- Ceremonia alumni who have completed our preparation, ceremony, and integration arc.
Imperial College London, NEJM
Johns Hopkins, JOP
Ceremonia program data, 2026
FAQ
Common questions
Is this safe?
Medical and psychiatric screening, on-site clinical support, and a trained facilitation team are non-negotiable parts of every cohort.What modalities do you use?
Psilocybin is our primary medicine, held within a structure that draws on Internal Family Systems, somatic experiencing, breathwork, and trauma-informed care. The medicine opens the door; the modalities help you walk through it safely.How do I prepare?
Preparation begins weeks before ceremony: lifestyle changes, intention-setting, two pre-retreat calls with your facilitator, and a brief practice arc that builds the nervous-system regulation you'll need on the day. We send a detailed prep guide once you're enrolled.
Keep reading
What else to look at before you decide
You don't need every answer right now. You do need to know where the answers live.
- How we hold safety on land
Medical screening, on-site clinical support, the regulatory frame, and the conditions we screen for and out of every cohort.
- The Colorado retreat center
150 acres of forested land in the Colorado foothills. Photos, layout, what to pack, and how to get here.
- The peer-reviewed evidence base
Psilocybin in major depression, end-of-life anxiety, trauma, and addiction, full citations, methodology, and what the research does and doesn't yet show.
- Why Austin Mao founded Ceremonia
The personal story behind the container, what Austin's own journey taught him about the gap between experience and integration.
- Alumni stories, many on video
Ready to begin?
Explore your Journey Archetype, or watch the TEDx talk first.
