About Ceremonia
A people-first nonprofit holding legal, science-informed psychedelic ceremony, built by humans who walked this path themselves.
Co-Founder & CEO, Ceremonia
Psychedelic facilitator, keynote speaker, and host of the Modern Enlightenment podcast. 600+ guided journeys held inside a regulated, legal Colorado retreat container, built on the conviction that connection to self, others, and the natural world is the foundation of an inspired life.
How it began
Ceremonia did not start as a company. It started as a question, and the question would not let us go.
Years ago, our founder Austin Mao walked into a ceremony carrying the kind of question most people learn to live around, the one underneath the career, the relationships, the achievements. He came out of that ceremony with something he could not unsee: a felt sense of connection to himself, to other people, and to the living world that the rest of his life had been quietly missing.
What he did with that experience matters more than the experience itself. He spent the next years studying, IFS with practitioners trained by Dick Schwartz, somatic work, the clinical research coming out of Johns Hopkins and Imperial College London, indigenous lineages walked with consent and reciprocity. He apprenticed. He sat with friends through their own journeys. He kept noticing the gap.
The gap was simple. People were having transformative experiences in unsafe containers, or safe containers with no integration, or clinical containers with no soul. The underground was rich with wisdom and short on screening. The clinics were rich with screening and short on wisdom. The retreats overseas were beautiful and far away, and no one was there the morning after you got home.
So we built the container we wished had existed. Legal, regulated, held in Colorado. Clinically screened, by a real intake team that says no when the answer is no. Held inside ceremony, not a hospital, not a hotel, by facilitators who have walked the path themselves. And followed by integration that lasts longer than the retreat did, because the retreat is not the work. The retreat is the doorway. The work is the year that follows.
Today, more than 600 guided journeys later, Ceremonia is a nonprofit holding small-cohort retreats, an alumni community that keeps walking, and a body of writing, podcasting, and research we're proud to share. We are not the only people doing this well. We are simply the people who have committed to doing it the way we wished it had been done for us.
Lineage & teachers
Ceremonia stands on the shoulders of indigenous wisdom traditions, modern clinical research, and the integration tools refined over half a century of careful work. We honor sources, name them, and give credit where it belongs.
We honor the Mazatec, Shipibo, and other indigenous lineages whose ancestral relationship with these medicines long predates Western interest. We draw inspiration from those traditions; we do not perform them. Reciprocity, not extraction, practiced through annual contributions, relationship-building, and refusal to commodify ceremony.
Developed by Dr. Richard Schwartz over four decades. The framework that guides how we hold parts work, pre-ceremony, in-ceremony, and through eight weeks of integration. Trauma-informed, parts-respectful, Self-led.
The peer-reviewed work coming out of Imperial College London (Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris on Default Mode Network and entropy), Johns Hopkins (Dr. Roland Griffiths on mystical experience and depression outcomes), MAPS (decades of MDMA-assisted therapy protocols), and NYU's psilocybin research center.
Peter Levine's Somatic Experiencing, Bessel van der Kolk's body-based trauma frameworks, and the Polyvagal Theory work of Stephen Porges. The body knows what the mind cannot say, our facilitators are trained to listen to both.
Aaron Beck's CBT lineage, Steven Hayes's Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and the contemplative integration practices refined by teachers like Tara Brach, Jack Kornfield, and Ram Dass. Insight is fragile; structured integration is what makes it durable.
We follow the consent, scope-of-practice, and dual-relationship guardrails formalized by the Council for the Protection of Sacred Plants, the North Star Ethics Pledge, and the Chacruna Institute's ethical guidelines for psychedelic practitioners.
Team & advisors
Ceremonia is held by a small council of facilitators, clinicians, indigenous advisors, and scientific guides. Each name below is a real person Austin has worked with, learned from, or trusts to hold the container.
MD, Psychiatry
Our medical advisor reviews intake protocols, oversees clinical screening criteria, and consults on edge cases that benefit from a psychiatrist's eye. They are board-certified and trained in psychedelic-assisted therapy.
Bio coming soonLineage advisor
Holds Ceremonia accountable to the consent-and-reciprocity framework. Reviews how we speak about lineage, where our annual contributions go, and the line between inspiration and appropriation.
Bio coming soonPhD, Neuroscience
Translates the latest peer-reviewed research into practical container design. Connects Ceremonia to ongoing studies and ensures our claims about neuroplasticity, DMN, and integration windows stay accurate as the science moves.
Bio coming soonLead facilitator
Holds primary ceremony space alongside Austin. Credentialed under Colorado state regulation, with prior apprenticeship in IFS, Somatic Experiencing, and indigenous-lineage practice walked with consent.
Bio coming soonTherapist
Designs and holds the eight-week integration arc that follows every retreat. Group calls, 1:1 sessions, and the alumni community that keeps walking with you long after the ceremony ends.
Bio coming soonRetreat Director
Runs the day-to-day of every retreat, the morning room, the meals, the moment you arrive at the gate. The reason ceremony can stay sacred is that the operational ground is rock-solid.
Bio coming soonPress & media
Selected highlights from press coverage of Austin and Ceremonia's work. Full media list and inquiries: press@ceremoniacircle.org.
TEDxBoulder
Talk · 2023
“A keynote on the future of legal psychedelic ceremony, integration, and what it asks of us as a culture growing up.”
Mindvalley
Stage · 2024
“Austin's framework for translating ceremony insight into durable behavior change, presented to Mindvalley's global community.”
MAPS Psychedelic Science
Conference · 2023
“Practitioner-track presentation on small-cohort container design and the eight-week integration arc.”
Aubrey Marcus Podcast
Long-form interview · 2024
“A wide-ranging conversation on legal psychedelic ceremony, founder catalytic experience, and the responsibility of holding space.”
Press inquiries: press@ceremoniacircle.org
Read deeper
The full arc
Article · 12 min read
Screening, preparation, ceremony, integration, alumni community, the seven phases of a Ceremonia journey, walked step by step with the people who hold each one.
Coming soonHonoring lineage
Article · 8 min read
How we honor indigenous lineages without performing them. The line between drawing inspiration and extracting tradition, and how we hold ourselves accountable to it.
Coming soonListen in
Podcast · 100+ episodes
Austin Mao's long-form interviews with scientists, facilitators, alumni, and seekers, the conversations that shape how we think about consciousness, healing, and what comes next.
Coming soonWhat alumni say
Real people who walked this path, many on video. Tap a card with a play badge to watch.
What we stand for
Four commitments that shape every screening call, every ceremony container, and every integration arc we hold.
We meet you where you are. Protocol exists to serve the human, not the other way around, and when the two collide, the human comes first.
Rigorous clinical screening and trauma-informed care, held inside the structure of ceremony. Neither side is decorative; both are the work.
Inspiration drawn from indigenous traditions, never performed without consent. Reciprocity, not extraction, and the humility to keep asking.
Insight without integration is tourism. Eight weeks of structured care after every retreat, and a lifelong community that keeps walking with you.
Specifically, this means
Values are easy to write and hard to live. These are the operational commitments we make and the standards we hold ourselves to. If we ever fall short of one, you should be able to point to it and tell us.
01
We name our teachers and traditions in writing, contribute annually to indigenous-led organizations, and consult with our indigenous advisor before adopting any practice from a tradition not our own.
02
Every facilitator is trained in IFS, somatic work, and trauma-informed care. Every container design references peer-reviewed research, not vibes. Both halves are the work.
03
If a participant needs us to slow down, change the plan, or stop entirely, we do. The retreat schedule is a default, not a contract. The human in front of us is the contract.
04
Our retreat costs are listed publicly. We do not run high-pressure sales calls or fabricated scarcity. If the price is a barrier and the fit is right, ask us about scholarships.
05
We publish our refund and rescheduling policy in writing before you pay a deposit. We honor it. If life happens, we work with you, that is the policy, not an exception to it.
06
Roughly one in three people who apply hear 'not now' or 'not us.' We say no when the answer is no. Saying yes to the wrong fit is unsafe, for the person and for the room.
07
Every facilitator has personally walked this path, completed formal clinical training under credentialed supervisors, and been observed in apprentice rooms before holding primary space.
08
We hold small cohorts on purpose. The math of attention does not lie: the more people in a room, the less of any individual person there is for any one of them.
09
Group calls, 1:1 sessions, and the alumni community begin the day after the retreat ends and continue for two months. Insight without integration is tourism.
10
Every retreat is held in a regulated, legal Colorado container. Every facilitator carries the credentials required to hold ceremony space. Every claim we make about legality is in writing, available on request.
11
A portion of every retreat fee is contributed to indigenous-led conservation and lineage-keeping organizations. Not as marketing, as the cost of doing this work well.
12
Every retreat ends with structured participant feedback. Every quarter, we review what to keep, what to change, and what to retire. We name our mistakes publicly when we make them.
What makes Ceremonia different
Most people exploring this work end up weighing three real options. Here is how we differ, and where each option might be the right fit for someone other than us.
Ceremonia
Fully legal inside a regulated Colorado retreat container. Credentialed facilitators. Registered with state oversight.
Underground retreat
Legally gray to illegal depending on jurisdiction and substance. Quality varies wildly.
Ketamine clinic
Legal as off-label medical care. Prescribed by a clinician within a medical model.
Fully legal inside a regulated Colorado retreat container. Credentialed facilitators. Registered with state oversight.
Legally gray to illegal depending on jurisdiction and substance. Quality varies wildly.
Legal as off-label medical care. Prescribed by a clinician within a medical model.
Ceremonia
Real intake team. Cardiac, psychiatric, and medication review. We say no when the answer is no.
Underground retreat
Often minimal or none. Risk falls almost entirely on the participant.
Ketamine clinic
Yes, within a medical scope. Strong on contraindications; sometimes thinner on context.
Real intake team. Cardiac, psychiatric, and medication review. We say no when the answer is no.
Often minimal or none. Risk falls almost entirely on the participant.
Yes, within a medical scope. Strong on contraindications; sometimes thinner on context.
Ceremonia
Held in ceremony, not a clinic. Music, ritual, group container, inside a clinically-trained team.
Underground retreat
Often the strongest container, when the lineage is real. Quality is the lottery.
Ketamine clinic
Clinical setting. Many people prefer this; many people miss the soul.
Held in ceremony, not a clinic. Music, ritual, group container, inside a clinically-trained team.
Often the strongest container, when the lineage is real. Quality is the lottery.
Clinical setting. Many people prefer this; many people miss the soul.
Ceremonia
Eight weeks of structured group + 1:1 integration. Lifetime alumni community.
Underground retreat
Usually you are on your own the morning after.
Ketamine clinic
Highly variable, some clinics integrate well; many do not.
Eight weeks of structured group + 1:1 integration. Lifetime alumni community.
Usually you are on your own the morning after.
Highly variable, some clinics integrate well; many do not.
Ceremonia
Posted publicly. No high-pressure sales. Scholarships for the right fit.
Underground retreat
Word-of-mouth pricing. Sometimes generous, sometimes opaque.
Ketamine clinic
Insurance-adjacent. Often partially covered; rarely fully.
Posted publicly. No high-pressure sales. Scholarships for the right fit.
Word-of-mouth pricing. Sometimes generous, sometimes opaque.
Insurance-adjacent. Often partially covered; rarely fully.
None of this means underground retreats or ketamine clinics are wrong, they are right for some people. We just built the option we wished had existed for ourselves.
On the air
Selected long-form conversations where Austin walks through the founding story, the framework, and the ethics of holding this work.
TEDxBoulder · Talk · 18 min
Aubrey Marcus Podcast · Episode · 90 min
Hosted by Austin Mao · Series
The people who walked this path
Every face here is a real person who completed a Ceremonia retreat and chose to share their experience publicly. There are hundreds more whose privacy we keep.
Frequently asked
Begin
Take the readiness quiz, or talk to a real human about whether this is the right fit for you. Either way, we'll be honest about the answer.