Extra Program
Film Descending The Mountain
What happens when you administer psilocybin to experienced Zen meditators? A neuroscientist and a Zen master carry out a double-blind experiment on a sphinx-like mountain in Switzerland. Their goal: to examine the nature of consciousness.
"These substances are not only for the sick, they belong in the hands of meditation"
Albert Hofmann
Exactly fifty years after the ban on psychedelics a group of Zen meditators – who have never used any psychedelic substances before – are given psilocybin on the last day of a 5-day retreat. Half the group receives a placebo.
Mystical experiences are induced through a combination of deep meditation and psilocybin, a psychoactive compound found in magic mushrooms. This scientific experiment, which was published in Nature magazine in 2020, may lift the controversy that has clouded the realm of psychedelics for far too long.
Scientist Franz Vollenweider and Zen master Vanja Palmers descend from the mountain of bliss to teach us how we can integrate mysticism into our day-to-day life.
‘Descending the Mountain’ is a mesmerising testimony of inner climate change that shows us how psilocybin could create a revolution in improving mental health and strengthen our connection with our environment.
In the presence of Vanja Palmers followed by a talk.
He often forgets this and clings to the historical Vanja, to the stories that he himself and others tell about him.
For example, that he was born in Vienna in 1948 and grew up in Switzerland. That he was a hippie and yogi, then a Zen monk who has been practising non-practice for 50 years.
Lifelong animal welfare activist, Dharma successor of Kobun Chino Roshi. Initiator of a study with long-term meditators and psilocybin at the Felsentor Zen Temple, which he founded. Lives in a small farmhouse on the Rigi.
"The Forbidden Path - Experiences with Psycholysis" - Documentary film 2013, 60 minutes - by Christoph Kahse, Basia Rang and Ursula Bub-Hielscher
The film "The Forbidden Path" is an impassioned plea for the ritual use of consciousness-expanding substances such as LSD, MDMA or mescaline.
The authors have spoken to people who know psycholysis and who report on the ways in which they have benefited from it.
They describe the way psycholytic therapy works based on their own experience and thus place on record a courageous commitment to a path that is forbidden almost everywhere in the world.
This film deals with the therapeutic underground, which is denied and suppressed by the official side, and shows the possibilities of a sensible, beneficial, and responsible application of psychotropic substances within a framework of self-discovery and psychotherapy.
In the presence of Basia Rang followed by a talk.
Architect, book author and filmmaker
SKAN body therapist, psycholytic therapist
Lives in Frankfurt and since 2005 is a leading figure at
DIE HALLE - Centre for Art and Meditation
Concert - 7 steps – A vibrant journey
Shamans use music to wake the slumbering consciousness and give expression to the great unknown.
We invite you to an evening full of sound, rhythm and song, in which music leads us into the heart of things, so that - with a spark of luck - we can melt into the expanse of the immeasurable and celebrate life.
Podium discussion with lecturers and audience.
Expanding consciousness, shamanism, and healing the world – Where are we and in which direction are we heading?
