When the Impossible Happens: Adventures in Non-Ordinary Realities

Feelings of oneness with other people, nature, and the universe. Encounters with extraterrestrials, deities, and demons. Out-of-body experiences and past-life memories. Science casts a skeptical eye. But Dr. Stanislav Grof—the psychiatric researcher who cofounded transpersonal psychology—believes otherwise.

When the Impossible Happens presents Dr. Grof 's mesmerizing firsthand account of over 50 years of inquiry into waters uncharted by classical psychology, one that will leave readers questioning the very fabric of our existence.

From his first LSD session that gave him a glimpse of cosmic consciousness to his latest work with Holotropic Breathwork, When the Impossible Happens will amaze readers with vivid explorations of topics such as: Temptations of a Non-Local Universe—experiments in astral projection
• Praying Mantis in Manhattan and other tales of synchronicity
• Trailing Clouds of Glory—remembering birth and prenatal life
• Dying and Beyond—survival of consciousness after death
When the Impossible Happens is an incredible opportunity to journey beyond ordinary consciousness, guaranteed to shake the foundations of what we assume to be reality, and sure to offer a new vision of our human potential.

Stanislav Grof
Stanislav Grof, MD, is a psychiatrist with more than 60 years of experience in research of non-ordinary states of consciousness and is one of the founders and chief theoreticians of transpersonal psychology.

He has published more than 160 articles in professional journals and many books, including LSD: Doorway to the Numinous; Beyond the Brain; LSD Psychotherapy; The Cosmic Game; Psychology of the Future; The Ultimate Journey; When the Impossible Happens; Books of the Dead; Healing Our Deepest Wounds; Modern Consciousness Research and the Understanding of Art; Beyond Death; The Stormy Search for the Self; Spiritual Emergency; and Holotropic Breathwork (the last four with Christina Grof).

In 1969, Dr. Grof 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, he was invited as scholar-in-residence 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 being used worldwide.

Dr. Grof is the founder of the International Transpersonal Association (ITA) and for several decades served as its president. Currently, Dr. Grof is professor of psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) in San Francisco, California.

In August 2019, Dr. Grof released an encyclopedia of his life’s work, The Way of the Psychonaut, and in October 2020 the companion documentary film, The Way of the Psychonaut: Stanislav Grof’s Journey of Consciousness. (thewayofthepsychonaut.com)

In May 2020, with his wife Brigitte Grof, he launched the international Grof® Legacy Training, their new program for working with holotropic states of consciousness, transpersonal psychology, Holotropic Breathwork, and spiritual emergence. (grof-legacy-training.com)

Since April 2016, he has been happily married to Brigitte Grof. They live together in Germany and California and conduct seminars and workshops worldwide. Learn more at stangrof.com.

Stanislav Grof
Stanislav Grof, MD, received his doctorate in medicine from the Charles University School of Medicine in Prague and his doctorate in the philosophy of medicine from the Czechoslovakian Academy of Sciences. Dr. Grof has served as a research fellow at John Hopkins University and chief of psychiatric research at the Maryland Psychiatric Center. He currently teaches psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies. Stanislav Grof is the founding president of the International Transpersonal Association. He is the author of 11 books, including Realms of the Human Unconscious; Beyond the Brain; The Holographic Mind; and The Stormy Search for the Self (with Christina Grof).