A couple from BC has created a unique experience for people looking to expand their minds through a high-end magic mushroom retreat.
You probably hear about experiences like this all the time, but Robert Grover and Gary Logan have created a journey like no other. It’s a luxury retreat in BC’s interior involving magic mushrooms.
But it’s not just a trip.
Daily Hive spoke with the couple in an exclusive interview, and they explained the origins of this spiritual experience and what they’ve learned from it.
Tragedy in the form of death was a piece of the foundation for the path that Grover and Logan took to create The Journeyman Collective. Grover was doing corporate work in oil, gas, and mining technology companies. Logan was a theatre student in London with aspirations of being an actor. During his schooling, they introduced the Alexander Technique, a mind-body consciousness training “in a nutshell,” according to Logan.
Three years into that, Logan’s mom, who lived with the couple for three and a half years, passed away.
“When she passed away, it shook our world.”
Grover added that it was a rude awakening for him and Logan.
To varying degrees, the couple went into dark mental states; depression for Grover, and Logan experienced anxiety for the first time in his life.
“We always knew we were supposed to do something together. We had made a few attempts at other things, but it just never worked out.”
Soon after, the dots connected perfectly.
Grover and Logan deeply understand the mind, body, and soul, which allowed them to form The Journeyman Collective. But before we expand on the actual retreat, here is the fateful story of how the two met.
“To tea, or not to tea?”
Joni Hanebutt/Shutterstock
When Logan returned to Vancouver after his stint in London, he met Grover, who worked at Whole Foods in Kitsilano. “He was a customer, and I was providing good customer service.”
Grover interrupted Logan during the interview to tell us that it was not just good but excellent customer service. “We connected eye to eye,” Logan said.
Grover was a frequent shopper there, visiting mostly while Logan was working. Logan said, “One day, we met in the tea aisle, and I asked him, ‘To tea or not to tea?’”
He added that the quip came from his theatre background.
“I replied with a raised eyebrow and said, ‘To tea.’”
A psychedelic journey
Psychedelics: The Experiential Exhibition
Grover’s experience with psychedelics began in post-secondary in the late 90s and early 2000s. He experimented with psychedelics that he called trips and not journeys, which is an essential distinction for what The Journeymen Collective is offering the public.
“It did prepare me. I even remember one of those trips tipped over into an actual journey.”
While that journey was unpleasant, Grover said he learned much from it.
“For many years, I didn’t touch anything.”
When Logan’s mom passed away in 2017, someone who came into the couple’s life said that they might benefit from a medicine man that she had worked with. She suggested going on a mushroom journey, which Grover scoffed at.
“This is totally different,” she told him.
Following that, Grover went on his first journey, which was a transformative experience. It allowed him to find his joy again. Grover never told Logan.
“When Robert came home, I was like, ‘whoa, you’ve shifted.’ He was happier and pleasant and wasn’t depressed.”
Logan said if it could accomplish this for Grover, maybe he should try it out. He just wanted to clear his grief, depression, and anxiety. So he embarked on his journey on his birthday.
“The best gift I ever gave myself.”
After three days, Logan completed his journey with the medicine man and felt he was back in alignment. Logan and Grover had visions of working with the medicine, which were only mutually revealed when Logan returned from his journey.
What the journey offers clients
The Journeyman Collective
The journey takes place in the Okanagan Valley on a beautiful, luxurious estate. The couple say the medicine is sourced in BC.
“We work with high performers, high achievers, executives, entrepreneurs, creatives, actors, athletes, and movers and shakers. People who are in a great place in their life but just know that there’s more available to them,” Grover said.
The couple usually has two or three calls with the client before they’re invited in for the experience. The couple will only work with one to four people at a time, and much preparation is involved. Clients are there for four full days, which includes two ceremonies and two full days of integration.
“It’s basically like a boutique resort, and when people reluctantly return home, we’ll be with them for another three months of aftercare.”
It’s a guided journey, so Logan and Grover are with the people who are experiencing it the entire time.
“We’re on the journey with you, and we’re helping you move through the different chapters of what’s being shown to you so you can learn from it and apply it to your life.”
They’ve also just started doing annual gatherings for everyone who has come through.
“I think a lot of people out there are lonely, they’re disconnected. They don’t know why they’re here,” Grover said. He added that the journey has helped some people find themselves and understand themselves deeper, meeting their true, authentic selves.
Logan said that while he expected to see shifts in people, he didn’t expect them to be as big as they were. One more critical part of this experience and the work that the couple is doing is to eliminate some of the taboo and stigma, as well as fear, around the consumption of psychedelics.
“It’s a medicine and will help you, and these are the ways it can assist you moving forward,” Logan said.
“When we started our company, we didn’t think we’d be having conversations like this,” Grover added.
The Journeyman Collective
The luxury experience costs around $15,000 over five days and can also be claimed as a business expense. For more information and how to apply, click here. However, not everyone’s application is accepted.
Also, it should be noted that psychedelic mushrooms aren’t technically legal in Canada.
Grover hopes that experiences like this can help address the lack of emotional and mental wellbeing in the world.
“We’re here to create safe, trusting environments for people at a very high level,” Grover said. He added that experiences like this have taken place throughout history and aren’t new; they’ve been happening for tens of thousands of years.
“It has been ripped out of our culture,” he said.