Ronald Hochstenbach

About me

My passion and mission is to facilitate as many people as possible with trauma-related symptoms using methods that really work. Driven by this heartfelt intention, I have now been able to guide more than 2,000 people. Many of them did not even realise that their symptoms were trauma-related.

In the field of trauma I am an expert by experience. Because of childhood traumas I had developed Complex PTSD. And as a result of that I had suffered from depression multiple times from a young age. When I was around 20 years old someone gave me half an MDMA pill. For me this was such a profound and healing experience. I thought: “everyone needs to experience this!” I came out of my depression immediately. That was the start of a happier, more meaningful and adventurous life

At the age of 26, I experienced a relationship crisis which triggered my attachment trauma. As a result, I went through what is also known as “the dark night of the soul”. I sought happiness outside myself in love with her. When I could do nothing else but let this go and surrender to the pain of the feeling of abandonment, a very deep religious experience arose. Carl Jung calls it the numinous experience of the archetype of the Self. Someone else calls it a spiritual awakening, in Zen it is called a Satori experience.

This experience changed me so profoundly that I began to live my life with greater depth and purpose, and to follow my intuition. I lived with the question: “What does life, or call it God, want of me? What is mine to do, what is my calling?” This question led me to the Trappist monastery. I felt very clearly: “I need to be here”. I didn't know why or for how long. But I left that open. I wanted to explore it for six months. And after having lived internally as a novice with the monks for three months, I knew: “With all my experience, I must become a therapist.” Through inner guidance and 'coincidence', I ended up at the Jungian Philosophical Therapist Training course. I started this 4-year training in 1998. This is what Jung himself calls Synchronicity (meaningful coincidence).

I am telling you this because, after a lot of scientific research, it has been shown that psychedelics can give you an authentic religious or mystical experience that can completely change your life in a positive way. I wish this for everyone and that people do not have to, and for that you do not have to, to speak in religious terms, wait for ‘the grace of God’.

The philosopher and neuroscientist Michiel van Elk, who describes himself as a sceptical and down-to-earth researcher, writes in his book ’A down-to-earth view on psychedelics’: “Give someone a high dose of psilocybin, LSD, or DMT and you can predict with near certainty that that person will experience an intense, life-changing experience.”.

During the Jungian training, alongside depth psychology, I also encountered Stanislav Grof. He is an authority in psychedelic therapy, and from this, he developed Holotropic Breathwork. In addition, I came into contact with Eastern psychology and philosophy. This sparked my interest in Buddhist psychology and mindfulness, among other things. In the years that followed, I continued to immerse myself in and train in Eastern and Western (psycho-)therapies and methods.

A female friend of mine, a conventional psychotherapist, pointed me towards Michael Pollan’s book ‘How to Change Your Mind’. This is where my interest in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy (PAT) was sparked. A little later, I started delving into Internal Family Systems (IFS), one of the fastest-growing and evidence-based psychotherapeutic methods of our time. I read about what an MDMA session can achieve viewed through the lens of the IFS model. That really resonated and brought back the memory of my own healing experience with MDMA when I was 20.

Shortly afterwards, I came across someone who expressed a wish to undergo a PAT session. I felt inside: “I can and want to do that”. To be able to guide her properly in this, I first wanted to delve even deeper into PAT and trained further. Thus it was confirmed that my background in IFS and related methods, as well as the training courses I have been giving for over 12 years in Mindfulness and Self-Compassion, among other things, fit in perfectly and are used as psychotherapeutic modalities in PAT.

This woman, who therefore approached me, appeared to have severe symptoms and deep self-hatred stemming from her childhood traumas. She had undergone psychotherapy for years, which had helped her progress, but certainly not sufficiently. And she wanted to process her traumas through a PAT session. We embarked on this within a PAT programme. And to use her words:

“Ronald, this has had an even greater positive impact than I would have dared to dream; in a single PAT session I have gone from self-hatred to self-love.”

Now I was certain, this is my new calling, this completes my life's journey as an expert by experience, Psychosocial Therapist and Mindfulness and Compassion-based trainer. And I can facilitate people with trauma-related symptoms even better, so that they can lead a happier and more fulfilling life.

Specialism

Thanks to the following training courses, I have learned a great deal to enable me, among other things, to work with people suffering from trauma-related complaints. This provides me with the necessary experience, vision, and approach to work carefully in psychedelic-assisted therapy.

Jungian Philosophical Therapist. This training in depth psychology has taught me, amongst other things, to interpret the symbols from the unconscious that may arise during a trip experience, where necessary, and to integrate them into daily life.

Psychodrama Therapist Psychodrama. On the TV programme Zomergasten, Bessel van der Kolk, an authority in trauma recovery, explains that psychodrama—and mindfulness, which I will come back to later—is one of the primary methods for working effectively on trauma recovery. To train myself even further in this, I started following the advanced TSM (Therapeutic Spiral Model) training course. This is an integration of classical psychodrama, attachment theory and recent developments in interpersonal neurobiology and trauma theory

Master's Voice Dialogue and Transformation Psychology and Internal Family System (IFS). These two psychotherapeutic training programmes offer clear and highly helpful models to work with, prior to, during and after the PAT or trip session. IFS appears to be one of the most helpful and psychotherapeutic modalities for working in psychedelic-assisted therapy.

Mindfulness and Compassion Trainer. These methods are also very helpful in strengthening the power of working with psychedelics. Both mindfulness and self-compassion skills are supportive before, during and after the trip session.

My approach

 

The Hero’s (Heroine’s) Journey

1. Call to adventure
From within you feel, or from the outside, a message comes, the call to do a trip session (to stay in this context). If you ignore this, you get an even clearer call. Perhaps by getting more physical or mental complaints. If you still do not listen, the third call may come in the form of a crisis. The question: do you dare to say yes to this call, or do you feel resistance and refuse? Once you have said yes, you enter the next phase.

2. Overcoming old power
If you say yes to the call to follow your heart, to do what is yours to do now, you enter this second phase. And here it is all about seeing through and letting go of your old beliefs and conditioning and saying a radical yes. The old power can also manifest itself from the outside, with others holding you back through their prejudices, for example. But mostly and above all, it is an inner process.

3. Allies and mentors
Have you said a resounding yes? Then you will encounter allies and mentors along your path. For instance, you have found this website. Or possibly a book that helps you further. Or someone who has already undergone a tripping session themselves. But this also refers to your inner resources.

In the preparation phase. Before you start the next phase, preparation for the trip session is very important. Therefore, we will create an action plan based on the outcome of the digital intake, in which you have filled in your (medical) details. Based on this, it will be assessed whether you are lacking certain substances and, if necessary, you will receive advice regarding lifestyle factors (diet, sleep and biorhythm, stress and relaxation, exercise, mindfulness, behaviour and habits) and additional supplements.

A preparatory conversation will take place with me via Zoom or phone. This is to make your intention clear. And to ensure the right mindset:

1. Choose to let go and take a deep dive and descent
2. Accept that it can be a very beautiful and beneficial, but also a challenging experience
3. But know that it is safe to dive deep inside (the body)

As extra support, I will give you audio files for this to develop mindfulness and self-compassion to get you well on your Hero's journey to prepare.

4. Descent into the underworld
This is the trip session itself. Many metaphors apply here. Here you may encounter your inner dragons and demons, what Carl Jung calls ‘the shadow’. And by remaining ‘in the eye of the storm’, as it were, at such a moment, by observing mindfully and compassionatively, these will transform. In India this is also known as ‘Embracing the tiger’. In a very powerful and loving way, the psychedelics help you into and through this process. One of my Buddhist teachers, Lama Tsultim Allione, speaks of ‘Feeding your Demons’. Through this process, which you go through during the trip session, your inner demons transform into true allies. Trust that the unconscious and the body, into which you are taking a deep dive, are infinitely intelligent and will give you what you need right now. Remember the ABC of mindset from the third phase, and dive up your pearls!

5. Discovery of the Grail
Following the fourth phase, at the end or within the trip, you may experience the feeling of Wholeness, radical self-acceptance and love. A glimpse of your true nature, Buddha nature or Self. To use the famous words of the Hopi Indians: “You Are the One You’ve Been Waiting For.

Joseph Campbell writes the following about this phase:
“When someone dies to their petty ego and begins to live from spirit, they move beyond the opposites into a state of divine knowledge, love, compassion and transcendental bliss. All previous steps in the adventure are aimed at purifying the hero or heroine and preparing them for this step, because the treasure in myths is almost invariably something transcendent. It is in the deep darkness that we discover the treasure of life.

Gabor Maté, an authority in trauma healing and former addiction physician, identifies reconnecting with your true Self as the most essential element in trauma healing.

During the sobering-up phase. We are carefully getting back into conversation and looking together at what your psychedelic experience can mean for you. As it were, we are looking at which pearls you have surfaced from the depths of the ocean.

6. Stab in the back and betrayal
This is the phase after the trip session. Here it is important to stay true to that which you have learned and discovered in your Hero's Journey. Can you stay true to yourself? By not denying yourself and the lessons? How are you going to integrate what you have learned and what you need to do now? I am happy to help you with this using the 4 steps of the ACE model:

1. Identify and name the pearls in your experience
2. Look and investigate how the pearls are connected to the various aspects of your life
3. Set short, medium and long-term goals linked to the pearls
4. Embody the beauty of experience in your life. See it as the dance between the Mystic and the Pragmatist within you!

And to live a more mindful and compassionate life, and to live more Self-led (instead of from inner patterns and defence), you gain access to meditations in the form of audio files.

7. Return to the light
And here is the challenge to step into your power and pick up ordinary everyday life again with the question: “Have you become the embodiment of the lessons you experienced during your hero's journey? Are you beginning to recognise your own greatness and are you ready to return to the light?”

8. Master of 2 worlds
Here the challenge is that you can be Whole, remain connected to your true Self in relation to what you have to offer the world. To live a Self-led life. What does life, or call it the Source, God, Spirit, want of me? Can I give myself permission to be Whole, Self-directed? Do I dare to live from freedom and wholeness, instead of making myself small through the ‘act normal’ conditioning?

Do you use the love and wisdom of the Source in your daily life?

My own experience with psychedelics

Working with psychedelics is for me a powerful and beneficial addition and deepening to the methods that I have been using for years. They reinforce and complement each other. It is an enrichment for myself and for the person I have the privilege of guiding, and offers the opportunity to transform your life into a meaningful and happier one. As already described in ‘About me’, research has shown that a high dose of psychedelics can and very likely will provide an authentic mystical experience, which totally changed my life in a positive way.

Alongside my experience with MDMA since 1990, I have done several Ayahuasca weekends. I strongly experienced how important it is to set a clear intention, and what a huge advantage I had thanks to my mindfulness practice in letting go and surrendering to the process. Because of my insights from Jungian psychology, I was able to go deeper and gain more insights. I truly descended into the underworld then, and my deepest intention came true.

My experiences with psilocybine have been in the form of truffle ceremonies guided by Marcel, the founder of triptherapie. And to be honest, I wouldn't know what to write about this because the experience was so intense and all-encompassing. I had expected it to be less deep and beneficial than Ayahuasca, but the opposite is true (for me at least). After the ceremony, I also noticed that stubborn patterns, which I still suffered from in certain situations despite a lot of inner work, have greatly diminished or disappeared entirely.