Open a path towards self exploration, healing, personal growth & creative vision...

Holotropic States of Consciousness
and Inner Vision at Torri Superiore

with Stefano Vanzetto (and Eleonora Folegnani) 

     Through your own breathing, you can experience expanded states of awareness, allowing for deep inner exploration and personal transformation.

     In a safe and supportive environment provided by trained facilitators, and with the aid of a specially-designed musical journey, you can open a path towards personal growth and self-healing.

     In Grof Legacy Holotropic Breathwork, the participant utilizes their own breathing as a means to access their inner healing wisdom. Typically, this healing wisdom manifests itself in a variety of images, ideas or visions which arise in relation to your personal history (as far back as the birth process) or our shared history (including 'transpersonal' experiences such as death and rebirth).

     The word Holotropic comes from ancient Greece, where Holos means ‘totality’ and tropic is a process of ‘moving towards’ that totality. It is a powerful technique created by the Czech psychiatrist Dr Stanislav Grof (co-founder of Transpersonal Psychology) which explores the healing and transformative power of expanded states of consciousness (also called Holotropic States)

     These states are comparable to non-ordinary or expanded states of consciousness, such as those reached through meditation, ritual fasting, shamanic trance, etc. Over the centuries, humanity has discovered numerous “Technologies of the Sacred” to open the inner eye and reveal the unseen workings of the unconscious. In the case of psychedelics, the duration and intensity of the inner journey depends on the body’s metabolization of the substance. In the case of Holotropic Breathwork, the participant can vary the intensity of the experience through their own rate of respiration. 

     This workshop will introduce you to the Grof Legacy Holotropic Breathwork, which opens a path towards self exploration, healing, personal growth and creative vision. With skillful support and guidance, you will be able to connect to your inner healing wisdom. No previous experience is needed.

     After the session, sufficient time will be given for integration work through Mandala drawing, creative expression and voluntary group sharing.

~ The Workshop ~

THE PROGRAMME

- Participants may choose to arrive the day before (on May 7th, see registration conditions) or on the first day of the workshop, which is an opening session.

Day 1 (Thursday May 8th) : OPENING

- From 9 am to 2 pm - Arrival of participants

- From 4 pm until dinner: Opening Circle with Presentations and an Introductory Talk about the Workshop 
- ⁠8 pm - Dinner
- ⁠9.30 pm - Preparation for the sessions

Day 2 (Friday May 9th) : SESSIONS

-Every member of the group will participate in two sessions - once as a Breather and once as a Sitter, always accompanied by the facilitators.

- In the morning session, the space will open at 8:30 am and the first Breathwork session will last three hours, from 9 am to 12 noon.

- A light lunch from 1 - 2 pm.

- The space will open again at 2:30 pm and the second session will last three hours, from 3 pm to 6 pm.⁠

- After each session, there will be time for Mandala Drawing

- 8 pm - Dinner

- After dinner there will be a voluntary Sharing Circle to relate your experience and begin integration.

Day 3 (Saturday May 10th) : INTEGRATION

- 9 am to 12 pm - The group will continue integration with Artistic and Bodywork activities.

- After lunch participants are free to continue their integration activities.

PLEASE NOTE

- This workshop is limited to 12 participants

- With up to 6 participants, the group will be led by Stefano Vanzetto

- With up to 12 participants, the group will be co-led by Stefano Vanzetto and Eleonora Folegnani

- Potential participants can indicate their interest in the workshop during the Spring Seminar’s registration process. 

- Before registering for the Holotropic Breathing workshop, each participant will meet with Stefano Vanzetto and Eleonora Folegnani for a video conference to decide on the suitability of Holotropic Breathwork for them. 

Holotropic Breathing is an extraordinary tool for freedom and deep inner exploration that allows access to expanded states of consciousness through the use of breath, sound and body work focused on energetic and emotional release. It allows one to explore, heal and integrate experiences of one’s life, the primal and perinatal period and to access transpersonal states described by the sapiential and shamanic traditions of Humanity.

~ Claudia Panìco

~ GO TO THE REGISTRATION PAGE FOR THE SEMINAR / WORKSHOP ~

~ Biographies ~

STEFANO VANZETTO

     Ciao, my name is Stefano and I’ve been a resident of Torri Superiore for the last 24 years. I grew up in a town close to Venice, and lived in Holland for most of my twenties. After travelling through Europe in the year 2000, I made the decision to return to Italy so I could actively participate in the reconstruction of Torri Superiore and engage in its community life. I’ve contributed a variety of skills to the life of our eco-village, from building and permacultural farming to cooking and consensus decision-making. I've also completed the four-year program in Emotional and Bodywork with Willi Maurer.

     I had my first Holotropic Breathwork session in 2012 and have since participated in over 40 sessions. In 2018, I began my training with a group of facilitators led by Claudia Panìco (Respirazione Olotropica Italia) and extended my training under Viktoria Lucchetti. I completed The Grof Legacy Training in 2023 to become a certified Holotropic Breathwork facilitator. Since then, I’ve facilitated or co-facilitated group sessions across Italy and, in particular, at Torri Superiore.

     Since The Academy of Visionary Art began holding seminars here in 2008, I’ve always felt that Holotropic Breathwork would be a perfect match for the seminar students, since the archetypal visions I see in the students’ works are also mirrorred in Breathwork sessions. Now, I feel very excited to be able to offer a Holotropic Breathwork workshop before the Seminar, and finally combine these two pusuits for inner visions and healing.

     If you feel called to this type of experience, I would love to have a video conference with you. Together with my colleague Eleonora, we’ll share information and answer any questions you may have about the suitability of a Holotropic journey for you.

A joyful hug,

Stefano

https://respirazioneolotropicaitalia.it/

https://respirazioneolotropicaitalia.it/soci-fondatori/

ELEONORA FOLEGNANI

     Hi, I’m Eleonora, and my goal is to give artists the tools they need to face inner limitations and dissolve them, thus allowing for a freer, more authentic, and vibrant artistic expression. This may be achieved by bridging the artist’s creative process with sensory, biographical and transpersonal experiences.

     On my own path, I’ve combined my experience in the performing arts with methods for personal growth and a deep exploration of mind, body and spirit integration. After earning a degree in Teaching Classical Ballet in Budapest (The National Academy of Dance) and in Performance Techniques in Venice (Ca' Foscari University), I pursued a career in Contemporary Dance as a dancer, choreographer, and teacher. At the same time, I pursued personal growth trainings in Tibetan Kunye massage, Massage Therapy, and Permaculture. I've also completed the four-year program in Emotional and Bodywork (with Willi Maurer) and The Grof Legacy Training (under Claudia Panìco and Viktoria Lucchetti) to become a certified Holotropic Breathwork facilitator.
 

     All of these experiences have allowed me to explore the profound inner-connection between emotion, memory and the body, with a particular focus on body memories as related to the perinatal period and early childhood, emphasizing how these influence trauma, behavior, and adult life.
 

     Today, I practice in both individual and group settings, offering Kunye massage, Permaculture workshops, and Holotropic Breathwork sessions. My researches explore the impact of perinatal experiences on the creative process of artists, such as dancers, painters, actors and musicians. I am working to transpose Grof's theories on perinatal matrices into the artistic context by helping artists overcome emotional blocks, release blocked creative energy, and reclaim their full expressive vitality.

I'm really looking forward to working with Stefano,
and facilitating a Breathwork session with you.

Eleonara

The Academy of Visionary Art is run by The Visionary Guild,

a non-profit Association registered in France under the number RNA W751191486

Academyofvisionaryart.com

Office@academyofvisionaryart.com