Shamanic Breathwork: Accessing Cosmic Consciousness

Break through old patterns and ego-bound perception in order to experience direct communion with Cosmic Consciousness. 

This workshop offers a unique opportunity to experience a deep shamanic journey inspired by Holotropic Breathwork. Through conscious breathwork, ritual space, and trance work — a shamanic technology rooted in ancient initiatory traditions — participants are guided into transpersonal states of awareness, inviting them to move beyond habitual patterns of perception.

Guided by Jacques Theron, a São Paulo–based teacher, author, and guide in Western esoteric and shamanic traditions, the evening creates space to reconnect with deeper dimensions of self, nature, and the living world. It opens pathways towards emotional release, spiritual connection, and experiences of Cosmic Consciousness.

A Journey into European Mystery Traditions

This spring and summer, Jacques Theron guides the online programme The Path of Initiation, together with two live workshops in Amsterdam. Developed in close collaboration with the Embassy of the Free Mind, this programme explores Europe’s hidden wisdom traditions through myth, ritual, and conscious breathwork.
Together, these gatherings form part of an ongoing exploration into Europe’s sacred geography, spiritual heritage, and living wisdom traditions. Rooted in a mythological interpretation of Europe’s landscape, these workshops connects to a larger pilgrimage across the continent in the summer of 2026.

During this pilgrimage, Jacques will travel from the alchemical centre of Amsterdam, across the Alpine Massif, towards the Holy City of Rome. Long regarded as a sacred realm of the gods and the source of Europe’s great rivers, the Alps represent both a geographical and symbolic heart of Europe: a journey towards growing light, deeper consciousness, and spiritual renewal.

You can watch the first online session of The Path of Initiation, and an introduction to this journey, here.

What to Expect

This 3-hour shamanic breathwork session, akin to Holotropic Breathwork, utilizes deep trance states to move beyond the conditioned mind. From there, it carries you into profound states of healing and connection.

While doing conscious breathwork, old habits of thought soften, and the veils between habitual perception and the divine grow thinner, revealing the luminous reality that exists beyond personal identity. Trust the wisdom of the breath to guide you through the barriers that have kept you separate from your cosmic nature– whether from trauma, conditioning, or the illusion of being separate. Emerge with the visceral knowing of the divine consciousness that moves through all things, and bring it back into your daily life for profound and practical transformation.

In a safe, supportive, and ritual space, participants are guided through a journey of self-discovery, energy releases, and spiritual connection. Our striving for “Cosmic Consciousness” comes through an altered state of awareness, in which personal identity expands beyond the ego into a divine whole.

Nature Spirituality & Shamanism

Shamanism is a universal expression of human connection to Otherworlds. It is rooted in the cycles of Nature. Through ritual, it simulates the processes of ego death and spiritual rebirth for personal renewal and the soul's evolution. Trance work, as a shamanic technology, is a bridge between worlds. It transforms limitations and allows us to attain higher states of consciousness.

Primal religious expression emerged from shamanic relationships with Nature, since early humans were in constant and direct contact with animals and plants, with trees, rivers, mountains, and oceans. These elements of Nature were experienced as alive, having their own consciousness.

Shamanism represents the most fundamental human quest to create harmony within our deepest self and with our natural environment. It calls on the magic, miracles, and Mystery of the Divine to heal and enrich our journey of life.

Event Format

Storytelling | Ritual | Breathwork | Integration

The breathwork session is conducted while seated and is open to everyone, from curious beginners to experienced practitioners.

For more information, feel free to contact us at: jeroenberndsen@proton.me or academy@efm.amsterdam.

18:00 | Doors open. Welcome tea in our café.
18:30 – 19:15 | Workshop introduction & talk by Jacques
19:15 – 22:15 | Holotropic Breathwork session
22:15 – 23:00 | Integration (drawing mandalas) & sharing*

*We will serve a light snack after the breathwork session.

Date & Time

Wednesday, June 26, 2026, from 6.30 to 11.00 pm

Language

The workshop will be conducted in English, with Dutch translation available if necessary.

Price & Admission

€110,-

About Jacques Theron

Jacques (Australia, 1971) is a breathwork practitioner, teacher, and artist based in São Paulo, Brazil. He leads regular pilgrimages and retreats worldwide. For over 25 years, he has guided individuals and groups through processes of transformation using mythology, ritual, and conscious breathwork.

His work integrates shamanic traditions and lived spiritual practice. His quest for authentic spiritual connection has led him to train extensively with Peruvian and Brazilian shamans, practice rituals in the temples of Nepal, Bali, and Japan, as well as walk the pilgrim paths of Italy’s Via Francigena and Spain’s Camino de Santiago several times.

Jacques is the creator of the Classical Mythology Deck and author of Living Mythology and The Building Blocks of Tarot. His work bridges ancient wisdom and contemporary practice, inviting seekers to explore the divine forces that continue to shape our inner and outer worlds.

More info about Jacques’ work: Jacques Theron (website) and Jacques Theron - YouTube