Experiential Research
Ashta explores supervised, extended-state consciousness research. In future, and strictly in jurisdictions where it is fully legal, we intend to conduct measured before-and-after research around structured retreats.
Our Vision
Ashta's retreats are envisioned as structured environments where participants can engage in self-development while contributing to our open research programme. By comparing biometric and psychological baselines before and after the retreat, we seek to gather clean, anonymised data on whether these intensive experiences yield lasting shifts in stress regulation, heart rate variability, and acoustic voice biomarkers.
Where legally permissible, these retreats may explore supervised, extended-state consciousness protocols. We do not encourage illegal substance use, nor do we offer medical treatment. Our role is strictly to measure and document outcomes under supervised, legally compliant frameworks.
A retreat of exactly this kind — in the field now
Not every retreat worth measuring involves an extended state or a medicine. Mindsight Bali, a MINDHALA Institute retreat, is a nine-day, drug-free immersion in extraordinary human perception — telepathy, blindfold ("second-sight") perception, and the trained intuition. It runs in Ubud, Bali from 1–10 September 2026, and is the first retreat of its kind on the island.
We point to it because it is almost exactly the style of retreat Ashta is built around: structured, supervised, drug-free, and organised entirely around abilities that can be tested rather than taken on faith. The subject even overlaps our own bench — the telephone-telepathy protocol we run as a blinded modality is precisely the kind of perception Mindsight trains. To be clear, Ashta makes no claim that blindfold sight or telepathy are real; they are contested abilities we would put under pre-registered, blinded test, and a structured retreat like this is exactly the setting where honest before-and-after measurement could one day be done. We feature it as an example of the kind of retreat we mean, not as an endorsement of any claim it explores.
Public Research Grounding
Our interest in extended-state consciousness is grounded in published, peer-reviewed clinical studies. We monitor two primary avenues of research in this field:
Mainstream psychedelic research has moved from short-acting experiences to sustained infusions. In 2024, researchers at Imperial College London published a controlled study on the psychological and physiological effects of extended DMT infusions (DOI: 10.1177/02698811231196877; full text on PubMed Central: PMC10851633). By utilising target-controlled intravenous infusions, scientists maintained the DMT experience for an extended period, allowing detailed mapping of the state. This builds on earlier Imperial research mapping the neural correlates of DMT using EEG (PMC: PMC6864083). Recent trials also indicate that these compounds can have significant and lasting effects on depression (see Imperial College 2026 News).
Ashta is interested in how these extended-state protocols might be studied in legal, non-clinical retreats, focusing on before-and-after wellness tracking rather than diagnostic therapy.
Ibogaine has gained significant research attention for its potential in treating traumatic brain injury (TBI) and trauma. A 2024 observational study published in Nature Medicine (DOI: 10.1038/s41591-023-02705-w; full text on PMC: PMC10878970) reported that magnesium-ibogaine therapy in veterans led to substantial reductions in disability and PTSD symptoms. Mainstream scientific reviews, such as a highlight in Nature Neuroscience (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-024-01582-x), caution that this study was observational, lacked a randomised control group, and must be treated with appropriate scientific reserve.
This clinical interest is reflected in public policy momentum. For example, Texas Senate Bill 2308 was signed into law, creating matching funds for ibogaine treatment research in the state (see the Texas Governor's Office Post and the Texas Legislature Bill Analysis).
Collaborators & Lineage
Ashta's extended-state retreat research builds on a specific, public body of work. We present these researchers' published work as a reference; we feature no one as a named advisor without their written consent.
"Subject Zero" of Imperial College London's extended-state DMTx research and the first to sustain its five-dose pilot; originator of Context Engineering and Hyperhumanism. His work on set, setting and functional sound is how a retreat becomes measurable rather than chaotic. His work →
A director of the Global Ibogaine Therapy Alliance (GITA), the body behind ibogaine's clinical safety guidelines. Ibogaine carries a real cardiac risk; his world is where the screening, monitoring and honest evidence live. His work →
A working model for a legal, physician-supervised DMTx retreat already exists: the Eleusis programme (Bequia, St Vincent & the Grenadines), whose expert panel pairs the researchers who developed the DMTx protocol with Carl Hayden Smith. Ashta's contribution is not the retreat — it is the measurement wrapped around it.
Metrics & Progress-Tracking
The point of a retreat, to us, is not how profound the session felt. A powerful experience is not evidence of anything until pre-registered, validated, longitudinal measures actually move. So we measure durable change against each participant's own baseline, and we present "benefits" as tracked categories, never as promises.
The timeline: a baseline in the 7–14 days before arrival, structured observations during, then follow-ups at day 1, week 1, month 1, month 3 and month 6 — with months 3 and 6 carrying the most weight (day 1 is mostly afterglow).
The benefit categories, each with established instruments:
Every metric carries an evidence-strength label — Established, Relevant-but-indirect, Exploratory, or Safety-critical. For ibogaine, the safety-critical tier (ECG/QTc, electrolytes, continuous cardiac monitoring) always comes first; see Tobias Erny & ibogaine safety. We pre-register the hypotheses, publish the nulls, and never report a transformation story without its base rate.
Legal & Safety Disclaimer: The Ashta Project does not supply, distribute, or facilitate the use of illegal substances. Any future retreats involving plant medicine will take place strictly within jurisdictions where such activities are fully legal and regulated. All sessions will be conducted under the supervision of qualified facilitators and medical staff where required. Ashta does not provide medical, diagnostic, or psychotherapeutic services, and our measurements are strictly for research and self-development tracking.
