Heart & Brain, Breath & Truffle Retreat
Led by trauma psychologist / systemic psychotherapist Anouk Bindels and Alexander Hop
Return to who you are at your core
A journey of healing and remembering who you are
During this 4.5-day retreat, you step into a field of deep calm, safety, and transformation. You work with proven methods for trauma healing, somatic work, emotional release, and awareness. An invitation to heal, open, and remember who you truly are.
The retreat is grounded in the wisdom of modern neuroscience and ancient traditions such as the medicine wheel. Through a combination of breathwork, heart–brain coherence, TRE, meditation, bodywork, and one guided psilocybin session, a powerful process unfolds—supporting the release of old patterns, calming the nervous system, and reconnecting you with your essence.
No quick fix. No tricks.
But real inner movement.
Return to who you are at your core
What can you expect?
Psilocybine session
In a loving and carefully guided setting, you embark on an inner journey with psilocybin. This natural plant medicine opens the way to deeper layers of your consciousness, where old wounds and beliefs can come into view. You are given the opportunity to meet them with compassion, soften them, and transform them.
TRE (Tension and Trauma Releasing Exercises)
TRE helps activate the body’s natural tremors, allowing stored trauma, tension, and stress to be released. This method supports the regulation of your nervous system and helps you return to a state of relaxation, safety, and grounding.
Meditation, bodywork, and compassionate inquiry
Daily practices guide you into a deep state of presence. Through subtle bodywork and the gentle, exploratory approach of Compassionate Inquiry, you uncover patterns, release old stories, and open space for calm, insight, and authenticity.
Bodywork
Through intuitive movement and gentle forms of dance, the body is opened in a natural way. By moving without goal, expectation, or judgment, stored tension becomes visible and can begin to release. Movement brings you out of the mind and back into the body, helping you reconnect with your sensations, your breath, and your inner rhythm.
This bodywork supports the flow of held energy, allows emotions to be felt rather than suppressed, and creates more space within the body. It invites you to release old patterns, increase your vitality, and feel at home again in your own body.
The New Breathwork®
A deeply transformative breathing method that opens the body, calms the nervous system, and brings you back to your natural state of clarity and strength. By learning to breathe consciously and combining this with intuitive bodywork, energy work, and process guidance, you access layers that cannot be reached through thinking alone.
You breathe through old emotions, soften protective mechanisms, and create space in the body, allowing your life energy to flow freely again. This brings not only clarity and calm, but also a tangible reset from within. The breath supports you in feeling who you are at your core.
Heart–Brain Healing Process
Through heart coherence practices and neurological integration, you learn to live from alignment, clarity, and inner direction. You strengthen your resilience and develop an inner compass that continues to guide you long after the retreat.
Met hartcoherentieoefeningen en neurologische integratie leer je leven vanuit afstemming, helderheid en innerlijke richting. Je vergroot je veerkracht en ontwikkelt een innerlijk kompas dat je ook na de retraite blijft dragen.
Wisdom of the Medicine Wheel
You move through the four directions of the Medicine Wheel: releasing, healing, empowering, and remembering. This ancient tradition supports you in finding your place, embodying your strength, and sensing your soul’s purpose.
Integration
What sets us apart is that, after the truffle ceremony, we dedicate two full days to integration. This part of the process is often underestimated, while it has a profound impact on how deeply the healing settles and how sustainable the change truly is.
During these two days, you are given the space to understand, anchor, and connect your experiences to your everyday life. We support you with guided practices, moments of reflection, bodywork, and deepening conversations. This creates safety, clarity, and direction, ensuring that insights do not fade but become a genuine part of your new way of living.
Who is this retreat for?
This retreat is for you if you:
You don’t need any prior experience with breathwork, bodywork, or psilocybin. What does matter is a willingness to turn inward with presence and care.
What others say
On my journey of healing (childhood trauma) and recovery (stage 4 cancer), I booked this truffle retreat. It feels so incredibly powerful that I can hardly put it into words—it is a very special experience, both internally and in the deep connection with the group. The program is so well designed. There is an extensive intake beforehand, and a psychiatrist is consulted about possible interactions with other medications or supplements. You also receive guidance on nutrition. Once there, everything feels very safe. Anouk, Alexander, and Saskia don’t just facilitate this retreat—they truly are it. And that is so valuable and essential. Even during the truffle journey, you are guided with great care. It felt deeply safe. And the program after the truffle journey—everything is so perfectly aligned. Once you return home, you are still intensively supported via the group app. Wow, this is truly wonderful, because when you’re back home and continuing the inner work, you inevitably encounter challenges. The warm, loving guidance through this is beautifully organized. On top of that, the food during the retreat was absolutely amazing—delicious, very healthy, and fully attuned to what your body needs during these days. It is the most beautiful gift I have ever given myself. And the more I continue to unpack it, the more beautiful it becomes.
My participation in this retreat was an experience in itself. From the moment of arrival, Anouk’s team immediately created a safe and warm environment. Anouk is an open-hearted person who quickly brought the group together into a close, open, and honest space. Everyone received the attention they needed; you were truly seen and heard. This greatly supported the preparation for the day of the ceremony.
In the days leading up to the ceremony, we were guided in dance, meditation, and breathwork by team members Alexander and Saskia. Anouk spent a lot of time in conversation with us, showing genuine interest in everyone’s story. With over 40 years of experience, she was able to quickly sense what each person needed. Everyone felt free to share personal stories; both laughter and tears were held by the group, which grew closer with every passing hour.
The ceremony itself was a beautiful and valuable experience for me, offering many new insights for the period ahead. I also experienced the days after the ceremony—the integration phase—as incredibly important. Aftercare is inseparable from good preparation.
Anouk and team, thank you once again for this profound experience, your deep involvement, and your warm hearts.
About the facilitators
Anouk Bindels
MSc Psychologist, systemic psychotherapist, and specialist in trauma healing. Anouk works with psilocybin, TRE, energetic bodywork, and the heart–brain healing process. She integrates insights from neuroscience, various psychological approaches, and shamanic traditions.
Alexander Hop
Breathwork specialist and body-oriented therapist. Alexander creates a safe and supportive container in which deep healing can unfold. With his knowledge of breath, body awareness, and nervous system regulation, he lovingly guides you through every phase of your process.
Practical information
Everything takes place at a quiet, natural location where simplicity, silence, and spaciousness support your process. The retreat includes clear preparation, a safe setting, and guided integration. You stay in a serene environment with healthy, nourishing meals.
Dates and location
Retraitecentrum De Maanhoeve
Exloërveen 18A
9574 PB Exloërveen
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Both Heart & Brain Healing Camps are rooted in the same foundation: the Heart & Brain healing process — a trauma-sensitive approach in which the restoration of self-regulation, emotional integration, and inner coherence is central. At the same time, the 4.5-day and 7-day retreats differ substantially in intensity, pace, and depth.
The 4.5-day Heart & Brain Healing Camp with Truffle Medicine offers a carefully paced introduction to this work. This retreat is suitable if you feel it is time to approach old wounds, while doing so within a shorter and more contained timeframe. With one guided truffle ceremony and a strong emphasis on preparation and integration, this option creates space for softening, insight, and an initial shift in how you experience yourself and your emotions.
Many participants experience greater calm in the nervous system, increased clarity, and renewed contact with their body and inner compass after the retreat. This option is particularly fitting if you have already engaged in therapy or guidance, or if you wish to take a first deeper step without overburdening yourself.
The 7-day Heart & Brain Healing Camp with Truffle Medicine is a more intensive and deepening trajectory. This week offers more time to carefully open, feel into, and integrate layers of trauma. With two guided truffle ceremonies and a longer group dynamic, there is greater space for depth, repetition, and anchoring. This option is suitable if you feel ready for a more intensive process, if themes have been repeating for a longer time, or if you notice that previous forms of guidance did not provide sufficient space to truly settle. The additional days make it possible not only to open, but also to stabilise and integrate within the same supportive container.
Both retreats are not quick fixes and do not promise healing. They are intended as a turning point: a moment in which the relationship with yourself begins to change, and in which the wound can be approached in a safe and supported way. The difference is not one of better or worse, but of timing, capacity, and the need for depth.
If you are unsure which option suits you best, it is always possible to discuss this in advance. Together, we will explore which setting is most supportive for your process at this moment.
Feel free to get in touch via info@anoukbindels.nl or +31 6 51811198.
All meals are vegetarian/vegan. If you have specific dietary requirements, you can contact us in advance.
An eye mask, a blanket or shawl, a cushion, warm socks or slippers, and comfortable clothing. After registration, you will receive a comprehensive and carefully prepared document to support you in preparing for the retreat.
The day begins with meditation and body-oriented practices and ends in the early evening. In the morning, there is space for explanation, reflection, and integration. In the afternoon, we work with emotional and body-based practices and, on one day, the truffle ceremony. Throughout the retreat, there is space for individual support.
The 4.5-day retreat typically starts in the afternoon and ends in the late afternoon on the final day.