My upbringing 

I was born in May 1967 around the same time as the hippie movement was born. My father was a well-educated man working with supercomputers and helping leading scientists. He was an atheist and I was raised with a materialistic world view. He told me that the philosophers have declared that “God was dead”.

 

On my 11th birthday, I got an electric guitar and a tape with Jimi Hendrix Smash Hits. From that day I knew that music would become a major part of my life, and I started to practice the art of playing the guitar with great discipline.

 

As a teenager, a deep inner call awakened in me, which led me to explore the mysteries of the universe and seek answers to the great questions of life: Who am I? What's the meaning of life? Where are we coming from? Where are we going?

 

At high school, I was introduced to smoking cannabis. This resulted in some profound personal experiences. When my classmates went to parties on the weekends, I went to the beach and forest for meditation or to listen to Hendrix. I never touched alcohol. At one point, a companion of mine handed me the key to my longing soul - Stanislav Grof’s book: Realms of the Unconscious.

I was immediately turned on. 

 

I started experimenting with the psychedelic substance, LSD, which opened my eyes to a deeper understanding of the Universe, which fueled my stormy search for my authentic and deeper self.

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Shamanic Initiatory Crisis

My introduction to the fantastic and magical properties of LSD led to the most important and life-shattering experience in my entire life. At the age of 17, in 1984, I suffered from a very intense experience. I refer to it as a shamanic initiatory crisis, which triggered my deep and powerful inner journey, an adventure of self-discovery. I knew there were only two possible outcomes: either I suffered a psychological breakdown or a psychological breakthrough.


The Call for Adventure

I interpreted this as a call from higher powers - my call for adventure. I knew that I had to undertake this inner journey and dare to go beyond my own fear and really explore the awe-inspiring inner space of the psyche. And to find success in this quest, I had to find qualified trainers and teachers.

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My education

My education consisted of a comprehensive exploration of various fields related to psychology, therapy, and consciousness. My own intense inner journey and education culminated from 1984 to 1995. All my time was dedicated to exploring consciousness, in an intense search for answers to my questions and liberation from the inner blocks and negative patterns I experienced. I proceeded extremely systematically, always writing detailed session reports, keeping a dream diary, practicing yoga and meditation daily, fulfilling my duties as a family man, and pursuing my dream as a musician and composer.

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From 1985 to 1996, I completed the entire psychotherapist Klaus Gormen's training in Mutual Therapy. Here, I acquired knowledge and practical experience with a wide range of effective psychotherapeutic techniques and methods, including active listening, body therapy, dream therapy, astrotherapy, visualization, and positive affirmations.

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I took a year-long course with three hours of daily yoga practice with Torben Blond. Torben Blond was a pioneer who had spent many years in India with Osho.

 

I have been in the rainforest for a course with Terence McKenna and Jonathan Ott. Here, I learned about classical South American shamanism and was introduced to sacred plant medicines such as ayahuasca. The Native American Art Reade should also be mentioned. I have also participated in Native American Church peyote ceremonies. I have also participated in South American shamans' ayahuasca ceremonies when they have occasionally been held in Denmark. I have attended several of Stanislav Grof's Holotropic Breathwork workshops and had individual sessions with experienced psychotherapists.

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Especially cand. psych Jørgen Lumbye was a very significant friend, guide, and mentor for me in my younger years. Jørgen has translated all of Stanislav Grof's books, taught for many years at the folk university in religious history, psychology, and philosophy. He has participated in several of Stanislav Grof's month-long courses at the Esalen Institute and has been one of Denmark's pioneers in psychedelic therapy. For many years, we exchanged psychedelic sessions and hyperventilation sessions and enjoyed each other's "company" on our journeys. With his encyclopedic knowledge, Jørgen has been a great provider of the right books and given me insight into the entire transpersonal movement. He served one "gold book" after another, and I devoured them and absorbed them.

 

Altogether, I took over 300 supervised high-dose sessions with either LSD, psilocybin, mescaline, or ayahuasca. Additionally, hundreds of experiential psychotherapy sessions without the use of psychedelic substances. I have written down and processed over 800 dreams, painted pictures, played music, created The Magic Garden, written a book, produced an audiobook, and more. I have in every way done everything I could to integrate the abundant richness of experiences I have had in the inner realms, in a targeted attempt to crystallize what one might call my inner personal mythological landscape. This is a constant and ongoing process.

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Since 1987, I have supervised psychedelic sessions. For many years, I primarily sat for friends and acquaintances. In Mutual Therapy, I was in a basic group for many years where we exchanged sessions with each other. Including private sessions, I have given at least 400 substance-free sessions, over 300 psychedelic sessions, and been a "spaceholder" and led about 80 group ceremonies.

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Overall, my education was characterized by a deep commitment to personal growth, exploration of consciousness, and integration of diverse experiences into a cohesive understanding of myself and the world around me.

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Stanislav Grof

Stanislav Grof is the person who has meant the most to my life journey. He is my primary source of inspiration. My approach to sessions, therapy, and ceremonies is based on his research, techniques, and methods. Therefore, it is appropriate to say a few words about him.

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Stanislav Grof was born in 1931 and is considered by many to be the world's foremost consciousness researcher of our time. Under the Czech and American states, he led thousands of psychedelic sessions in the 1950s, 1960s, and early 1970s. With his own courage, he experienced some LSD sessions with profound transformative experiences. These experiences enabled him to provide support and encouragement to help a wide range of clients, artists, researchers, and others through their own inner experiences with LSD and other psychedelic substances. With an enormous amount of clinical data, he systematically mapped consciousness. In his book "LSD Psychotherapy: Theory and Practice," he conveys the optimal techniques and methods for conducting psychedelic therapy as safely and effectively as possible.

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In the 1970s, he co-founded the Transpersonal Association with, among others, Abraham Maslow. An organization that encompasses psychology, religion, philosophy, natural science, deep ecology, astrology, mythology, and much more. Here, he gathered the planet's leading researchers, philosophers, psychologists, with names such as Richard Tarnas, Christopher Bache, Michael Harner, Joan Halifax, Rick Doblin, Joseph Campbell, Muktananda, and many more.

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In my view, these eminent pioneers represent the forefront of the growing holistic and entirely new worldview that is contributing to the birth of "the new age" in these years. And it is this entire transpersonal worldview, combined with a deep personal reservoir of experiences, that we use here in The Magic Garden in our life's work and in our work with people.