THE 3.0 Tribe
Here are a few of the people you’ll likely meet at Apotheosis 3.0: Jungle Paradise
Jordan Bates
Jordan Bates is the Executive Director of HighExistence and Co-Founder of Apotheosis. He loves you. After studying English literature and philosophy in university, he moved to South Korea in 2013 to teach English, embarking on a nomadic journey that would lead him to 27 countries. In the process he became a writer, entrepreneur, facilitator, autodidact, and rapper, reaching millions of people with his words and ideas. He’s passionate about orchestrating meet-ups of students of life, and he’s deeply curious about how reality works, how to live well, and how to liberate all sentient creatures in existence.
Philippa Wilkin
Born and bred in the English countryside, Philippa is a corporate escapee, life explorer and breathwork facilitator. Her existential crisis led to a path of self exploration, deciding to quit normal life and break out of the ‘small brown box’ she found herself in to discover her true purpose. Living in Brazil was the perfect antidote to her western conditioning and provided the space to explore and train in Transformational Breath®, a style of therapeutic breathwork. She is the founder of Breathworks, a coach and retreat leader, and travels the world empowering people to use conscious breathing techniques to achieve their greatest potential.
Eric Brown
Eric Brown is the Content + Operations Ninja at HighExistence and Apotheosis. Existing at the intersection of psychonautics, sovereignty, and cryptographically secure protocols — his energy is focused on maximizing individual awakening and collective wellbeing. He spent some time launching and building tech startups, but now focuses his time on adding value to people with powerful ideas. Deeply interested in fasting, neurogenesis, liquid democracy, and blockchain nations. Outside of spreading ideas, he creates sound journeys through deep bass music designed to let people process their shadow in a unique and constructive manner.
Adam Rice
Originally from Florida, USA, Adam Rice has been teaching Vinyasa flow yoga since 1999. A former Junior Olympic athlete, entrepreneur and adventurer, Adam discovered the power that yoga has to restore his balance and reconnect him with his inner strength. In addition to his teaching, Adam has dedicated his life to helping others. He is the founder of Yoga Kids Uganda, a program to integrate yoga into trauma therapy programs for the child soldiers of the Ugandan civil war, and Travel with a Purpose, which takes yoga students to places like India to volunteer in orphanages. He is a Legacy Ambassador for Lululemon Athletica, a Senior Teacher at Spirit Yoga Berlin, and offers workshops and retreats around the world.
Connor Hensel
Computer: Apple
Vehicle: Volkswagen
Cell phone: Samsung
Coffee cup: Reusable
Social media: Facebook
It’s too bad that listing our favourite brands and products doesn’t constitute a viable bio; for many of us, this would make it much simpler to describe our perceived version of self. My name is Connor Hensel, and I was born on an island in the Pacific Northwest, where I live today and pursue a degree in digital media studies. Text is my preferred medium, and much of my focus goes to issues related to communication in modern digital network society, such as connecting with self or with others, discerning best practices for using technology, weathering the whirlwind media landscape, understanding cultural identity, and everything else in the realm of media, culture, and society that captures my attention and sparks imagination. Part of my motivation to join you all at Apotheosis is to continue liberating my mind from the shackles of self-limiting beliefs, to unlearn the toxic idea I withheld for years that I was not a person of artistic value, and to gain inspiration for seeking a life and career characterized by creative endeavours that add value to this world we share.
River Greenwood
River is a nonbinary/genderqueer wannabe cowboi who just moved to East Hollywood where they live with their husband and two cats, Andy and April. They love effective altruism, animals, being outdoors, comedy, philosophy, western wear, psychedelia, eating vegan grub, art, travel, and talking to folks about how to craft a meaningful life.
Jimmy Hickey
I grew up in Nebraska, lived in NYC for 20 years, and moved to upstate NY a year ago. I see the good in life—definitely a glass-is-overflowing kinda guy. I’m playful, quirky, laugh a lot, and have a big personality. I’m passionate about yoga, mindfulness, my dog, travel, food, hairy men, the beach, personal growth, reading, dancing, family, laughter, art, music, beauty, and cake. I sometimes teach yoga and meditation, but mostly I’m a Creative Director in Advertising.
Pedro Teixeira
I am 48 and was born and raised in Lisbon, where I have lived except for 6 years in the US for my PhD. I am the (divorced) father of David (8) and Luca (6), and being present and loving with them is a major inspiration for my current path. After 15 years as a successful academic, I found himself at a crossroads last summer, after a decade or more of depressive & anxiety symptoms, a feeling of disconnection from life, a painful breakup... and my first contact with psychedelics! Life needed a change and this has started last October, after a powerful session with a plant medicine. Yes, that one! After a few more experiences, Apotheosis is the next step in the process towards a lighter, more authentic, and more creative, generative life. Music and guitars, the written word, running and swimming are some of my passions. Promoting the conscious use of psychedelics, practicing yoga and meditation, and living closer to nature are my next callings. There is still so much to be learned…
Tanner Csonka
A human male who enjoys the works of many thought provoking authors, strong teas, the art of zip-lining, long bike rides around the twilight hour and empowering audio-digital mediums for arduous physical labor to provide sustenance. He originally hail from the foothills of the misty Little Miami River valley in Ohio. Graduating from Shawnee State University with a degree in Visual Design, which he now uses as a motivational poster. Today he’s found refuge in the Mountains of North Carolina where he has taken up educational gardening, inspired by permaculture and the power of ones environment and its role in informing the self. A life style that he finds creates a sense of a true harvest, peace of mind, and a full belly. He enjoys the art of digital art. Finding the act of creation, and collaboration, fundamental to the human psyche, and seeks joy in aiding others to align themselves toward their projected goals and mental aspirations of a grander earth; composed of quality communities, strong forest, and contented youth. He truly enjoys helping. If you need help manifesting something stunning in your life for a higher purpose he could be your wizard. Lets make some Magic.
Maria Gorska
Happiness Engineer at Automattic, science & tech columnist at Kosmos dla Dziewczynek, coding teacher at Girls.js, wonderer, stargazer, intergalactic interpreter. Making complex stuff simple and building bridges between people from different backgrounds or cultures. I believe in open source, lifelong learning, and the healing power of nature, art, and community. You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and my blog - Made in Cosmos.
Kevin Van Horn
I'm a 55-year-old divorced father of four who's gone through a lot of ups and downs in his life. I grew up a devout Mormon, went on a mission for my church, married in the Mormon temple... and then at 28, in my first month of graduate studies at the church-owned Brigham Young University, I realized that I no longer believed in God. I thought my father would literally die of grief when he found out. Aside from losing my cultural moorings, it has been hard to come to terms with the finality of death -- that my grandparents, my brother, my father, my son, they're just gone, they're never coming back, and one day I too will cease to exist.
Over the last few years I kept on reading about scientific studies showing the therapeutic effectiveness of psilocybin. Last June I read Pollan's book _How to Change Your Mind_, and decided to see if psychedelics could help me resolve some problems with which I have struggled for years. The results so far, with psilocybin, have been very encouraging. Among other things it has helped me forgive myself for my failures, calmed the panic I always felt when I considered my own death, and started me on the path of accepting the impermanence of all things.
I still have a lot of work to do. This retreat is the next step in the journey.
Fabiola Ansotegui
I am a 43 years old lawyer, born and raised in Puerto Rico. I adore to travel and find myself in every country, in every religion and in every person that I met. Looking forward to meet my tribe in Costa Rica. In the meantime, you could find me in Facebook and Instagram “fansotegui”.
Talia Imbrescia
I'm 40 years old and am married with a 3-year-old son. I grew up in rural Arizona, moved to the Boston area for college, lived in Brooklyn for 11 years, then moved back to the Boston area. I currently work as a software engineer, however I've previously worked as an editorial assistant, a functional analyst, and -- before total burnout at a soul-sucking digital/advertising agency -- a user experience design director. Now, working as a coder for a wonderful company with wonderful people is decidedly not soul-sucking. However, I've spent most of my life denying my creative abilities and avoiding exploring them. I'd like to finally shed the reasons I carry around with me for playing it safe (I should only have a technical job because I'm a woman who's good at math and science, I shouldn't try to write because it won't pay the bills, I'm not thin or beautiful enough to be a performer). Fuck that noise, right?
I'm finally honoring what truly fuels me and in the past year I've started taking music classes, made significant lifestyle changes, and started meditating. I've built a life full of family love, financial stability, good health, and physical safety; it looks very different from my youth. But the fears I internalized back then still stymie me. I'm want to evolve my life to one that feels more fluent, kinetic, cosmic, nourished and loving. I'm on the cusp of my next significant evolution.
Paul Nand
Minimalist one world stoic idealist, mind traveller and pacifist anarchist trying to be happy exactly where I am...although the weather could be better! I'm from the North West of England and life has rewarded me with a loving wife and two beautiful children and a thriving small family business with terrific employees. I want my children to grow up free without pressure to conform, to be intelligent and creative beyond what a regular upbringing would give them. I want my employees to find purpose at work by creating a giving culture where they feel they are directly helping the local community and/or environment. Growing a business in a capitalist culture creates eternal conflict with my personal values. However, as I'm not particularly artistic, I rationalise it by defining work as my creative release.
A life-changing retreat a couple of years ago helped me become a more self-aware compassionate human adult. I want to re-energise that part of me and meet some interesting new friends along the way. Reading the bios, I already feel I'm going to take so much away from this trip! I'm looking forward to meeting you all x
Danielle Roesmann
Born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, I now reside in Chicago. I am an idealist, always striving and seeking out new experiences and growth. I am quiet, reflective, curious, and always the philosopher. Some of my passions include traveling, long-distance running, reading, and music. I am quick to laugh and see humor in most things. I really enjoy connecting with new people and figuring out how they think and see the world. I am most relaxed when I am lost in my imagination, being creative, making connections, and playing out new ideas. I look forward to continuing this journey of self-discovery and seeing where life takes me.
Janna Gesell
Growing up in Bavaria - south Germany - gave me a solid grounding for everything that followed. Spirituality has never been a word for me as it just existed without consciously knowing it. When I realized that my surrounding does not see things I see and feel I started to mute this inner voice to fit in. A few years ago - when everything was upside down - spirituality came back into my focus. I started to deep dive into the world of self exploration and spirituality. Since then I am on a big journey taking all the pieces for my big puzzle that come to me. I am more than happy that Apotheosis 3.0 is one stop within this wonderful experience called life.