Psilocybin Retreats in the Netherlands

Hello, greetings to you. My name is Mark Young. I am the president and founder of Rational Games Incorporated, a small boutique consulting and training company that teaches negotiation using playful methods. I'm German-American and I live in Berlin.

I want to say at the outset, I'm not a soft, new-age type — I was at McKinsey for four years, I was a partner at Price Waterhouse Corporate Finance, and I have a PhD. So I am fairly skeptical of soft leadership seminars, and it's from that place that I want to urge you to seriously consider attending an EvoLEAD workshop — not only because of the very professional team and the excellent concept, but simply because this event reaches its participants at all levels: the head level, the heart level, the body, and the inner spirit.

For the head, there is lots of substantive material about mindsets and also lessons from neuroscience, both very hot topics in academia but also in the business world. For the body, we had a fair amount of kinesthetic exercises, some of which I had never done before, but certainly it went way beyond yoga. And for the heart, for those who will allow it, it's a chance to share with the others in the group in a deep way and build what could be lasting relationships.

But finally, for the inner spirit — Google has a course called Search Inside Yourself, which I've taken, and I can tell you that mostly stays a slogan with them. Here, it really happens in a deeply intensive way that has to be experienced to be understood. Just do it, give it a try, step forward — you will not regret it.

I'm going to be answering a few questions about the EvoSHIFT retreat that I participated in in March earlier this year.

What has your experience at the retreat been like? Well, it was a life-changing one, I have to say. I'm very thankful for all the preparation that we had done before the live retreat, so when the time came I just felt a deep sense of readiness and security — and yes, of course I was excited and filled with anticipation, but I knew I had so much to gain, despite being aware that I might need to confront myself with difficult experiences and memories. In general, I think that words cannot fully capture the psychedelic experience itself. It's not something like I saw things — it was more like I felt I was living them, in a certain way truly being there. I felt I truly connected deeply with myself. I regained losses that I thought forgotten, that I didn't even know needed a place. I revisited both joyful and painful memories, but it was all a transformative experience, helping me understand and heal in ways that I didn't think possible.

What were your initial expectations versus the reality? I did expect a different order of things — I thought it would all start with a fun trip, then go through a dark patch, then end again on a high note. It's not like that. Instead, I was on a rollercoaster of highs and lows all the way through the journey. I also expected the group dynamic to be uncomfortable, but it was the opposite — I found such a unique, special companionship and a lot of support from everyone there.

What aspects of the retreat did you appreciate the most? I appreciated very much the integration days after the ceremony — there were a lot of surprise activities, tons of attention to detail. The crew, their passion, their compassion, their professionalism, were very remarkable.

What are your key takeaways from the retreat? The retreat helped me grieve and forgive in ways I didn't know I needed to, and it allowed me to explore my inner self, discovering, among other things, creativity — I never thought I was a creative person, but I am. Now I am left with an immense feeling of love and gratitude, and a sense of infinite possibilities ahead. I can only recommend this to anyone out there looking for an extra step in their personal development. Thank you.

Hi, my name is Lars, and I joined the EvoSHIFT experience last December, December 2025, and I can honestly say this was one of the most meaningful experiences in my life so far — so far meaning I'm now 63 years old. This was my first experience with psychedelics, with psilocybin.

What makes the difference in this experience is not the psilocybin experience itself — it's the whole process. It's a learning journey, it's a development journey, that starts, of course, with a medical intake and a psychological intake, which makes me feel held and supported and safe. But it's also the preparatory sessions with all participants, then getting together in a beautiful retreat center in the Netherlands, and then finally entering into the experience. But then afterwards there's integration, and integration, and integration — and that really makes the difference.

So now, half a year down the road, the most tangible result I got was the sensation that it's not about me in life. Life is life, and it's about how I take part in life — it's about how I participate, because how I participate makes the difference. Whatever I do, it counts — a big impact, a small impact, or no impact, it does make a difference. And that stayed with me all the time, every day. That is what the retreat held for me, and also why I can really, really recommend it.

It may be a different experience for all of us, but for me it really made the difference, because I feel more present, more aware, more at peace with what I do, and more intentional in how I take part in this whole process.

So, very much thank you to Christopher, Patrick, Naomi, and Charlotte for making this all possible, and to the other participants and anyone involved. I'm deeply grateful. Thank you so much.

The EvoSHIFT experience for me was not what I expected — I'm not sure what exactly I expected, but it was more than I could have hoped for in a very short amount of time. I felt very connected to the other people in the group, and that really helped to enhance my learning.

I think the experience has shifted my relationship to my life in ways I'm still discovering, so I'm still trying to figure out how to integrate what I learned into my day-to-day life, but I definitely feel there has been a huge positive impact on me as a result of participating in the program — and I think that's largely down to the facilitators and the team that created the experience.

I felt very safe and very supported by the team, and it just allowed me to be as open as possible to the experience, which made it very meaningful and very positive. So I can't recommend the program enough — I think it's a great opportunity for people to change their relationship to their life, or understand more about who they are.

Hello, my name is Wladimir Huber and I'm an entrepreneur from Germany. I had the chance to participate in the EvoLEAD program at the end of 2022, and what I can say is that I can highly recommend it. It was a very exciting experience for me, being an entrepreneur and always striving for self-development and ways to improve my character and my leadership skills.

In terms of the most important takeaways for me personally, I'd say especially the whole setting — the facilitators, the group work, the preparation before the retreat, and the program after the retreat — helped me a lot to understand the whole concept around leadership, and how to actually become a better human being.

The people, the group organizing it, are highly professional. Everyone knows exactly what they're talking about and what they're doing — so in that regard, I give it five stars. We always had a feeling that we were not alone, that we were part of the group, and that we could raise all the questions we had and get all the support we needed.

So here too, I can highly recommend participating in this program. And last but not least, a great thanks to the facilitators again, and to the whole group, for making this such an experience — not just for me as an individual, but I think for everyone.

Hi, I'm JJ. I grew up in South Africa, spent seven years in the UK, and I'm currently based in Washington, DC. I'm a chartered accountant, completed my MBA at the University of Oxford, and have worked as a financial auditor, a management consultant, and increasingly as a change facilitator, systems thinker, and organizational adviser.

I was introduced to Evolute in 2025 and attended their EvoSHIFT psilocybin program in December that year. It was clear from the very first session that Evolute's offering was put together with great care. Our group came together for three preparation sessions, and the facilitators immediately put us all at ease. I appreciated that the program included a medical and psychological screening to establish both our individual and collective safety, as well as individual guidance and coaching.

The retreat itself, in the Netherlands, was a stream of complementary modalities including information sessions, group sharing, readings, reflection spaces, personal guidance and coaching, drawing, movement practices, and ritual. It was clear that every facilitator has come to this work to pour love, care, and integrity into the offering.

I was really surprised how important the integration sessions after the retreat were for our group. The retreat experience shows you what is possible for you, and then the work is in making new choices that bring those lessons of love into your everyday world.

The EvoSHIFT program came at a really important time for me — I was moving countries, changing jobs, and preparing to get married, so a lot of my world was in flux. The experience has helped me to follow my own path with more confidence, to open myself more fully to love again after losing my father, and to embrace my relationships as a source of stability.

Who is this for? I'd say anyone who has woken up to the potential to bring change into the world through transforming themselves. If you feel the plant's calling, then I absolutely believe Evolute is a good place for you. Thank you to the team for all the beautiful work you're doing.

Hello everyone, this is Stefana. I come from Germany and I work in internal communications, and I wanted to share with you a few thoughts about my psychedelic experience with the Evolute Institute. I took my journey at somewhat of a turning point in my life, so the setting — a retreat with a professional team — seemed like a good decision for me, and I really wasn't deceived.

The psychedelic journey itself is, of course, a beautiful and very deep experience, but the meaning for me goes far beyond that. I really had the opportunity to dive deep into my own consciousness, and to better understand certain aspects of my life. It was like several doors opened, and let me glance into what's possible for me as a human being.

We had a very good preparation, and really numerous opportunities and methods to integrate, so I'm really grateful for that to the Evolute team. The approach is really holistic — it takes care of mind, body, and soul. I really felt safe all the way, at every point of the journey — this was very important to me.

If you've ever thought about trying a psychedelic journey, this is a really good choice, and with the Evolute team, you are really in very good hands.

Hey, my name is Giancarlo, from Luxembourg. My background is mathematics — I'm currently doing a PhD in Montreal, in artificial intelligence, at a world-leading research institute. I originally signed up for this Evolute retreat, this five-week program, in order to find more alignment in my career and my purpose. And I have to say, after many years of personal development, that this is probably the best experience, the best program I've taken so far — and I've taken many programs.

So what did I learn from the retreat? I basically learned that one of the most important things is to connect to a higher level of consciousness, and to realign with your heart, kind of bypassing the mind. It's very difficult to reach this kind of state just by talking to someone, or reading books, or even meditation — so I believe it's really been transformative to get a glimpse of what's possible.

The facilitators really pour their heart into what they're doing — it's really been an outstanding retreat, as well as an outstanding program. There's a lot of mindset work, a lot of meditation, some breathwork, to integrate the learnings and the epiphanies from the ceremony into real life and make it actionable.

The group itself was also very dedicated to personal growth, which was very nice — I made a lot of really nice connections, we're still in touch. I'd like to thank the team for all the hard work — they massively over-delivered on what I was expecting initially.

Hi everybody, my name's Maël, I'm French. I'd like to share with you the amazing experience I had through this EvoLEAD program that I attended at the end of 2022. It was amazing — I would say transformative for me, at least, and it gave me the opportunity to really see how I could change my relationship to others, in particular in my management style and the way I would interact.

What was instrumental for me was the group of people who were with me along these three or four months — the power of the group as an entity was really important for us to grow together and to get through this amazing experience. And that couldn't happen without the amazing work of the Evolute Institute team, who were, all the time, very available, really supportive, very inspired, and always very present.

So thank you, thank you very much to the group, thank you to the team, and I really recommend that you try this amazing experience.

Originally spoken in Italian, translated to English.

My name is Serena and I had my experience at the Evolute Center at the end of April. Almost two months have passed, and I can say it was a truly intense, deep and important experience. It allowed me to get in touch with parts of myself that I had buried. It allowed me to move through traumas in a gentle way. I was able to embrace them, and I was guided by wonderful people. I absolutely could not have asked for better. I couldn't even have imagined such a perfect situation, with people so prepared and so suited to this kind of work. It is, without doubt, an experience that I recommend, and one that I am very happy to have had the chance to do.

It is transformational, unbelievably deep and absolutely worth it! It is truly an immersive and life changing experience. Through this experience I tapped into my inner source, intuition, and trust and connected with the universal intelligence. EvoLEAD helps me operate and lead from love, abundance, compassion and connection and not from ego and a feeling of scarcity and lack.

I appreciated the preparation and integration calls before and after the retreat. I enjoyed the dedication, knowledge, professionalism, warmth and kindness of all facilitators, which made me feel welcomed, understood and held.

It is the best leadership retreat and deep learning experience I have ever had in such format!

The time with the participants and the highly professional facilitators was so much more than an experiment with altered states of consciousness. It was a deep immersion into levels that I could otherwise think through with my head but not feel with my heart and body.

I witnessed how in a group of strangers, deep connections, trust & acceptance developed, and attitudes and perceptions noticeably changed within short time.

Even after the retreat, the facilitators help you to integrate the experience into your daily life. I can definitely say that EVOLEAD was one of the greatest gifts I could have given to myself and my environment.

The clarity I was able to gain for myself through the program has sharpened my vision of life. I didn't think it was possible for me to experience it this way through the retreat experience. It's just very hard to imagine something that is beyond your imagination.

All of this was only possible because of the warm and caring environment of the entire EvoLEAD team. The care and attention of the many coaches was extraordinary and helped a lot to put my experiences into perspective and to integrate them into my life.

Actually, I don't have the right words to describe what I experienced. Everyone who seriously deals with himself/herself will find true treasures in this retreat. I am extremely grateful for this experience and wish everyone to have had this experience once in their life.

Connection, exchange, and transformation was made possible in a safe space of openness. I could start a deep transformational process in which I connected to my sources of inner strength to work on my personal and professional perspectives, leadership skills, and mindsets.

This journey is not only intellectually stimulating, but also connecting your mind with your emotions and bodily feelings - and your environment. In our current world, we need leaders that act from a deeper sense of connection in order to tackle problems that are caused by a profound disconnection.

If you want to change yourself to change the world, you should participate in this program. Truly mind-blowing!

Speaking with and sharing each other's hopes, fears, thoughts, and insights with the other participants was one of the best aspects and definitely made the programme all the more enriching.

The EvoLEAD team provided a safe, structured environment that made me feel at ease. The team's preparation and follow up were extremely valuable to setting an intention for the experience, processing what came up, and carrying that forth into life going forward.

Getting in touch with oneself and having a clear understanding of one's values is key to being a leader who seeks to empower their team. EvoLEAD provides a great structure to ask oneself the hard questions.

During my journey, I tackled deep questions about my life and came away with newfound clarity and direction for my professional path and my personal journey. The program's stellar facilitators ensured that we were always in a safe and guided environment. Their tireless effort and dedication played a significant role in making this journey productive and fulfilling. The organization was impeccable, ensuring a seamless experience that let me focus solely on my self-discovery and growth.

One of the aspects that truly enriched the journey was the camaraderie and mutual support among the participants. It fostered a deep sense of connectivity.

Overall, my time at EvoLEAD was invaluable. I highly recommend it to anyone seeking to deepen their understanding of themselves and their leadership potential. Be prepared for a journey that will not only transform you but also your view of the world.