Derech: A Jewish Path for the Psychedelic Explorer

“You led them by day with a pillar of cloud, and by night with a pillar of fire,

to give them light on the derech they were walking upon.” – Nechemiah 9:12

As more Jews embrace psychedelics for healing, wholeness, and self-exploration, they often uncover a renewed interest in their own ancestral wisdom and practices. Yet, a clear path towards bridging the psychedelic and Jewish realms can seem just out of reach for many of us, regardless of our backgrounds. 

Due to this growing need, we are proud to share Derech: A Jewish Way for the Psychedelic Explorer, an in-depth experiential series which presents Shefa’s emergent approach to bridging Jewish spirituality, analytical psychology, and embodied practice as foundations for Jewish psychedelic exploration. 

This intensive in-person nine-week course in the East Bay helps guide Jewish psychedelic explorers towards embracing their ancestral wisdom and practices as supportive tools in preparing for, journeying within, and integrating individual and collective psychic material we may encounter in expanded consciousness.

Sessions will take place in-person at Chochmat Ha Lev in Berkeley, CA on Thursday evenings, from 6:30-8:30PM.

You can see an outline of each week’s session below.

What to expect:

  • Joining and co-creating a cohort of Jewish explorers in an emergent and iterative community of learning and practice

  • Large and small group discussions, sitting and movement meditation, ritual design, didactic and dyad learning, and embodied practices

  • Encountering Jewish spiritual wisdom and ritual in a radically pluralistic, non-judgemental or coercive environment 

  • Engaging with psychedelic and psychotherapeutic perspectives on healing and coming to wholeness

  • Weekly journal prompts and practices to help support the learning between sessions

  • Workshopping major aspects of the arc of the psychedelic experience (preparation, exploration, integration) including intention setting, altar building, breath and bodywork, and navigating shadow material, among other topics. 

  • A full breathwork ceremony to put our practice into action. For those who cannot participate fully in a breathwork session, we will have modifications to accommodate your needs.

Who is this for?

  • This series is for those who identify as Jewish and are seeking ways to begin exploring or deepening their connection to their identity, ancestry, and practice through encountering expanded consciousness. No prior skills or knowledge about Judaism are necessary–only a willingness to explore its spiritual traditions, one’s inner worlds, and the courage to do this in community. 

  • No prior knowledge or use of psychedelics is necessary (or required!)

  • Potential students with certain accessibility issues should contact flow@shefaflow.org to discuss how best we can accommodate your particular needs before registering for the course. 

Cost:

  • Early bird price before March 10th: $550

  • Price after March 10th: $650

  • Four scholarships are available. If you need financial assistance to be part this course, please write to flow@shefaflow.org. 

What is the process?

  • Once you’ve registered, we’ll ask for you to have a brief introductory phone call with one of our instructors to learn about your personal goals and hopes in joining the course. 

  • Before the course begins, we will send you all course materials, a list of items you will need for the first class, and a journal prompt to complete before the first class meeting. We will also ask you to review and sign a medical waiver form for the breathwork ceremony. 

  • We will send you a reminder about class dates and times as well as the class location.

About your guides:

Dr. Ido Cohen, Psy.D serves individuals, couples and groups in San Francisco. He received his Psy.D from the California Institute of integral studies and trained at the Jung Institute In San Francisco. He works with a diverse range of challenges childhood trauma, inner critic, relational issues, lack of fulfillment, psychospiritual growth as well as psychedelic integration and preparation sessions with individuals and groups. His doctoral study researched the integration process of Ayahuasca ceremonies, while applying Jungian psychology to better understand how to support individuals in their process of change and transformation. He is the founder of “The Integration Circle” and facilitates workshops on the different dimensions of integration and the intersection of mental health, spiritual health, and the entheogenic experience. Ido believes that the intersection of our psychological, emotional, somatic, and spiritual dimensions can develop our relationships with our inner and outer worlds and create the changes we want to see in our life. Ido is passionate in supporting individuals to create long term, sustainable change leading to vibrant, authentic, expressive and love filled lives.

Zac Kamenetz is a rabbi, community leader, and aspiring psychedelic-assisted chaplain based in Berkeley, CA. He holds an MA in Biblical literature and languages from UC Berkeley and the Graduate Theological Union and received rabbinic ordination from the head of the Jerusalem Rabbinical Court in 2012. As the founder and CEO of Shefa, Zac is pioneering a movement to integrate safe and supported psychedelic use into the Jewish spiritual tradition, advocate for individuals and communities to heal individual and inherited trauma and inspire a Jewish religious and creative renaissance in the 21st century.

Mati Esther Engel, MDIV is a Spiritual Care strategist, chaplain and performance artist. She has extensive training in clinical hospital-based chaplaincy, specializing in treating palliative care patients and serving on transplant and addiction units. She is practiced in accompanying patients and families through important life transitions specifically, end-of-life care, goals of care decision-making, and trauma intervention. Most recently, she has been working with psychedelic-assisted therapy to help her clients face mortality and work through grief cycles. Mati uses her training in performance art to develop spiritual care techniques in the service of bringing spiritual care, grief counseling, and theological artistry to a public audience. Her research bridges the worlds of existentialist and humanist thought; utilizing poetics and ritual as mediums for facilitating conversations for our times. She received her Master's degree from The University of Chicago and is currently training as a performer at Arthaus Berlin.

Preparation

Week 1: What does it mean to be on a path, even if we don’t know where it’s headed?

Here you will receive an overview of the course and establish the learning and relational context for the rest of your experience. We will introduce and catalyze the group by creating a physical representation shared hopes for this course, and learn about the nature of healing from both Jewish and psychedelic perspectives.

Thursday, April 4

Week 2: How do we prepare for the journey?

Though we never really know until we get there, setting intentions before the journey can help with both navigating the experience, as well as making meaning and positive changes in our lives once they are concluded. You will learn to create intentions for your work, as well how to work with prayer on our own terms as means to navigate the internal landscape.

Thursday, April 11

Week 3: In what ways can we connect what’s happening between “out there” and “in here”?

In this session, we will attend to the critical aspects of “set” and “setting,” how we can come to greater awareness and appreciation of our internal states as well as the physical spaces in which our journeys will unfold. Specific attention will be given to such interventions as music, fellow travelers, special objects, and other items and techniques which can both heighten and deepen our experiences.

Thursday, April 18

Exploration

Week 4: What might we encounter along the way?

Through our work ,we may encounter visions, vistas, dreams, images of our ancestors, as well as aspects of our souls and psyches which are hidden, even from our own conscious minds. We will explore “shadow work” from both the Jungian and Jewish traditions, and create expressive and artistic works as a somatic practice to express and adapt those parts of us which have not yet had the space to emerge.

Thursday, May 2

Week 5: How can we bring our fullest selves into the experience?

As the midpoint of the class, we will begin to bring together the foundational work of preparation and exploration to plan for our facilitated breathwork ceremony in the week to come. We will also review and practice different breathing embodiment techniques to support ourselves for any journey we may embark upon.

Thursday, May 9

Week 6: What is it like to explore consciousness in this way?

This three-hour session will include reviewing the breathwork technique we will be utilizing for our ceremony, as well as any safety precautions relevant to the group. Our journey will combine ritual, music, shifts in consciousness and body sensations, supported by our facilitation team. We will end our evening by drawing representations of our experiences, sharing a light meal, and beginning the integration process.

Thursday, May 16

Integration

Week 7: What do we do upon our return?

Integration is a process in which a person revisits and actively engages in making sense of, working through, translating, and processing the content of their experience with expanding consciousness. Through intentional effort and supportive practices, this process allows one to gradually capture and incorporate the emergent lessons and insights into their lives, thus moving toward greater balance and wholeness. Having written about our experiences on our own during the intervening week, we will begin this collective process by sharing and externalizing our journeys in a supportive and encouraging environment.

Thursday, May 23

Week 8: How do we connect Heaven and Earth?

With our breathwork ceremony now two weeks in the past, we may begin to feel that any insight or wisdom gained through the direct experience or integration process may be slowly drifting away. In this second to last session, we will share practices across many modalities to connect the windows into our own consciousness open while living in the constrictions of daily life.

Thursday, May 30

Week 9: If not now, when?

In the final week of the course, you will have a complete review of everything you've learned along the way , with an emphasis on carrying the momentum you've built forward into the coming months and years. You'll learn about resources available to you to pursue your practice in new directions as your life and practice evolve, as well as the support systems that exist to help you continue to integrate, learn, and grow. The final lesson creates a satisfying closure by honoring both the end of this program and the beginning of the rest of your life.

Thursday, June 6

FAQ

  • This series is for those who identify as Jewish and are seeking ways to begin exploring or deepening their connection to their identity, ancestry, and practice through encountering expanded consciousness. No prior skills or knowledge about Judaism are necessary–only a willingness to explore its spiritual traditions, one’s inner worlds, and the courage to do this in community. 

    No prior knowledge or use of psychedelics is necessary (or required!)

  • When we talk about a “psychedelic framework,” this includes many types of expanded consciousness. Breathwork, dance, chant, and meditation are all examples of ways to access expanded conciosuness without substances. This course will prepare you for expanded consciousness in a Jewish context, regardless of how you get there.

  • Please reach out! We have a few discounted spots available. Email us at flow@shefaflow.org.