Way in, one
Human Practices
The technologies we were born with.
Breath. Attention. Body. Imagination. Movement. Music. Silence. Ritual. Meaning.
Explore Human Practices
Boulder and Denver, Colorado
There is more than one way in.
Other Way In creates guided, substance-free experiences for exploring consciousness beyond the ordinary, using human practices, experience technologies, and carefully designed combinations of both.
No psychedelic substances are used or provided.
Not a disclaimer. Part of the proposition.
The oldest curiosity
Human beings have always found ways to change the conditions of consciousness.
Meditation. Breath. Music. Movement. Prayer. Silence. Ritual. Imagination. Darkness. Light. Vibration. Nature. Focused attention. Long before anyone had a word for consciousness, people were experimenting with it.
Today we also have technologies capable of creating extraordinary sensory environments: precisely controlled light, sound, vibration, biofeedback and immersive media. These are new tools pointed at an old question.
Other Way In brings these worlds together. Not to imitate a drug experience without the drug, but to ask something more interesting: how much territory is already available within human consciousness when we deliberately change the conditions around attention, perception, sensation and meaning?
The methods change. The curiosity is ancient.
Two families of methods
Two ways in
These are not competing approaches, and neither is more authentic than the other. Some experiences use only human practices. Some use technology. Some deliberately combine both.
Way in, two
Experience Technologies
New ways of changing the sensory environment around consciousness.
Light. Sound. Vibration. Immersion. Feedback.
Explore Experience TechnologiesWhere the two meet
Designed experiences
Other Way In composes practices and technologies into guided experiences with intentional pacing, preparation and reflection. The point is not to stack modalities. Every element has a reason to be there.
A good experience should feel composed rather than assembled, closer to music or architecture than to a menu.
- meditation + light
- breath + sound
- music + vibroacoustic vibration
- guided imagery + immersive audio
- somatic awareness + vibration
- contemplative inquiry + sensory immersion
- ritual + light + music
- biofeedback + breath + attention
Experiences
Composed, guided, substance-free
These are the experiences currently in development. Pricing, duration and locations are being confirmed and will be published here rather than estimated.
Hybrid
In development
A First Way In
An introductory guided experience
A first, unhurried encounter with substance-free inner experience, designed for people who have never done anything like this.
- Format
- Individual
- Duration
- To be confirmed
- Location
- To be confirmed
- Price
- To be confirmed
Read the experience
Hybrid
In development
Deep Listening
Music, attention and the body
An extended listening experience where sound is the primary environment rather than the accompaniment.
- Format
- Individual or group
- Duration
- To be confirmed
- Location
- To be confirmed
- Price
- To be confirmed
Read the experience
Experience Technologies
In development
Light and Sound
Technology-assisted inner exploration
An experience built around light perceived with the eyes closed, coordinated with sound.
- Format
- Individual
- Duration
- To be confirmed
- Location
- To be confirmed
- Price
- To be confirmed
Read the experience
Honest expectations
What could happen?
Experiences vary, considerably. Other Way In creates conditions for exploration, not promised outcomes.
Across a period of guided attention, sound, light or stillness, people have described:
- unusual stillness
- vivid internally perceived imagery
- emotional movement
- an altered sense of time
- heightened awareness of sound or sensation
- memories and associations
- a shift in perspective
- a feeling of spaciousness or connection
- something that feels like insight
- deep relaxation
- curiosity
- wonder
- or very little that feels unusual
No particular experience is required, and a quiet session is not a failed one. Nothing here treats, cures or prevents any condition, and no specific psychological outcome is promised.
Who comes here
A fairly wide range of people
- People curious about consciousness itself.
- People interested in altered states who do not want to use drugs.
- People who are sober or abstinent and want genuinely substance-free experiences.
- Meditators who want to explore other modalities.
- People with previous psychedelic experience, curious whether comparable depth is available without substances.
- People navigating a question of meaning, direction or transition.
- People who are spiritually curious without necessarily being religious.
- People who simply want to experience something unusual, beautiful or inward.
Founder and guide
Jeremy Nickel
Much of Jeremy's working life has been spent sitting with people at thresholds.
Jeremy Nickel is an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister. His background includes more than a decade of congregational ministry, hospital chaplaincy at Massachusetts General Hospital, decades of contemplative practice, and long experience accompanying people through questions of meaning, transition, spirituality, mortality and identity.
His role here is not to tell participants what an experience means. It is to help create thoughtful conditions for exploration, and to accompany whatever emerges with curiosity.
Meet Jeremy
What is your other way in?
There is no need to arrive with a clear question or any experience of this kind of thing. Curiosity is enough to begin with.
Questions about participation and safety are welcome. Read about safety.