Stanislav Grof

Stanislav Grof, MD, is a psychiatrist with over sixty years of research experience in non-ordinary states of consciousness and one of the founders and chief theoreticians of transpersonal psychology. He was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, where he also received his scientific training: an MD degree from the Charles University School of Medicine and a PhD degree (Doctor of Philosophy in Medicine) from the Czechoslovakian Academy of Sciences. Dr. Grof's early research in the clinical uses of psychedelic substances was conducted at the Psychiatric Research Institute in Prague, where he was principal investigator of a program that systematically explored the heuristic and therapeutic potential of LSD and other psychedelic substances. In 1967 he was invited as Clinical and Research Fellow to the Johns Hopkins University and the Research Unit of Spring Grove Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. In 1969, he became assistant professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University and continued his research as chief of psychiatric research at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center in Catonsville, Maryland. In 1973 Dr. Grof was invited to the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California, where he developed, with his late wife Christina Grof, Holotropic Breathwork, an innovative form of experiential psychotherapy that is now used worldwide.

Dr. Grof is the founder of the International Transpersonal Association (ITA) and for several decades served as its president. In 1993 he received an honorary award from the Association for Transpersonal Psychology (ATP) for major contributions to and development of the field of transpersonal psychology, given at the occasion of the 25th Anniversary Convocation held in Asilomar, California. In 2007, he received the prestigious VISION 97 lifetime achievement award from the Foundation of Dagmar and Václav Havel in Prague, Czechoslovakia. In 2010, he also received the Thomas R. Verny Award from the Association for Pre- and Perinatal Psychology and Health (APPPAH) for his pivotal contributions to this field.