The Liberation Intensive is a five-week program designed to deepen the transformation psilocybin makes possible—and help it last. It combines daily meditation practice, two psilocybin sessions, cohort support, and education grounded in neuroscience and psychology—all in one integrated container.

If you're ready for serious commitment to inner work and real transformation, this program is built for you.

The Problem With Standalone Sessions

Most psilocybin services follow a similar structure: preparation sessions, an administration day, and one or two integration sessions afterward. This model works—the research supporting it is strong.

But it has a limitation. The psilocybin experience opens a window, neurobiologically and psychologically, but that window doesn't stay open forever. Within a few weeks, the heightened neuroplasticity begins to fade. The insights that seemed so clear start to feel distant. Old patterns reassert themselves. Many people describe a curve: profound shift, gradual return toward baseline, frustration that the experience didn't "stick."

The Liberation Intensive addresses this by embedding the medicine work within a structured contemplative container that spans five weeks—capturing the neuroplasticity window and giving you daily practice to reinforce what the journey reveals.

The Approach

This program weaves together several threads that inform all my work at Mindstream Wellness.

Contemplative practice. Daily meditation isn't optional support—it's half the program. Research shows that participants who combine psilocybin with structured contemplative practice experience greater mystical experience quality, higher meditation depth, and larger sustained improvements at follow-up compared to those who receive psilocybin alone. (I've written more about this research in Compass and Vehicle: How Meditation and Psilocybin Inform Each Other.) The Liberation Intensive is designed to capture this synergy.

Neuroscience of the Default Mode Network. The DMN generates our ongoing sense of self through constant simulation—replaying the past, rehearsing the future, imagining what others think of us. Both meditation and psilocybin quiet this network, creating space for new patterns to form. Understanding this mechanism helps you work with the experience rather than just having it happen to you.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. ACT provides the psychological framework: learning to observe thoughts rather than being captured by them (defusion), clarifying what actually matters to you (values), and taking action aligned with those values even when difficult thoughts and feelings show up (committed action). These aren't just concepts—they're skills you practice throughout the five weeks.

Existential psychology. Psilocybin reliably surfaces what Irvin Yalom calls the "ultimate concerns": mortality, freedom, isolation, meaninglessness. Rather than treating these encounters as problems, the program provides a framework for understanding them as opportunities—confronting what can't be fixed is often where the deepest shifts happen.

Cohort support. You move through the entire program with 4–6 other participants. Same group for daily practice, evening sessions, and retreat. You witness each other's process. You're accountable to show up because others are expecting you. During the retreat, you share space with people who understand what you're going through because they're going through it too.

Program Structure

The intensive runs five weeks and includes three components.

Daily morning meditation runs Monday through Saturday, 7:00–8:00 AM Pacific, online via Zoom. These are live, facilitated sessions—not recordings. You practice together with your cohort, six days a week, for five weeks. Early sessions teach the core techniques: focused attention meditation (breath as anchor) and open monitoring meditation (awareness of whatever arises). Once you have the basics, the remaining sessions are practice—building the skill through repetition.

Weekly Tuesday evening sessions are 90 minutes each, also online. These cover the conceptual foundation and do the psychological work: how the DMN relates to psychological flexibility, what to expect during the psychedelic experience, how to work with difficult material, setting intention, clarifying values, and translating insight into committed action.

The four-day residential retreat happens Thursday through Sunday of Week 3. This is the heart of the program: two psilocybin administrations with a full day of meditation and integration between them. The group has been practicing together for nearly three weeks by this point. The container is established. You know each other. The retreat includes structured integration circles, time in nature, and preparation for re-entry.

After the retreat, you return to daily practice for two more weeks—now within the neuroplasticity window that opened with your first administration. This is when practice matters most, and when you have the most support.

Who This Is For

This program is for people ready to commit.

Schedule commitment. Daily sessions at 7 AM Pacific, six days a week, for five weeks. Tuesday evenings. A four-day retreat requiring travel and time away from regular life.

Practice motivation. You're genuinely interested in developing a meditation practice—not just tolerating it as a prerequisite for psilocybin. The daily sessions aren't preparation for the retreat; they're half the program.

Group readiness. You'll share your experience with others and witness theirs. The cohort model adds accountability and support, but it requires showing up for the group, not just yourself.

Psychological stability. Two psilocybin sessions in four days, embedded in intensive daily practice, requires resilience. If you have significant trauma history or need highly structured therapeutic support, working with a therapist alongside this program—or choosing individual work instead—may be more appropriate.

Realistic expectations. This is transformation through sustained practice, not a quick fix. The program provides structure and support, but the work is yours.

What This Is Not

I'm a psilocybin facilitator and life coach, not a therapist. This program uses an ACT framework for its psychological model, but it's not therapy. I don't diagnose or treat mental health conditions. If you have a diagnosed condition or significant trauma history, I encourage you to work with a therapist in parallel—and I'm happy to coordinate with your provider.

Current Status

I'm planning to run the first Liberation Intensive cohort in early 2026. Dates aren't finalized yet, but I'm currently gauging interest and beginning conversations with potential participants.

If this program resonates with you, I'd like to hear from you. Complete the intake form and select "Liberation Intensive" as your area of interest. This isn't a commitment—it begins a conversation about whether this program might be a good fit.

Complete the Intake Form

Michael Kelly is a licensed psilocybin facilitator in Oregon and founder of Mindstream Wellness. He maintains a longtime Zen practice with deepening interest in the Thai Forest tradition.