Six Live Calls · Live Online · Legal Guided Microdosing
How to Feel A structured protocol for a nervous system that resets.
Guided microdosing, somatic practice, and live group support for burnout, chronic stress, and disconnection. Built for parents, professionals, and anyone ready to stop just managing.
Deep Work Sessions
Saturdays in October
October 3, 10, 17, 24 · Plus prep and integration calls
Investment
From $1,100
Group Experience · The Deep Dive $1,500
Cohort Size
15 People Maximum
Replays available through 2027
As seen in
NY Times
Condé Nast
Vice
The Cut
Thrillist
Playboy
Why This Works
You were never taught
how your nervous
system actually works.
Under chronic stress, your body defaults to survival mode. Shallow focus, reactivity, poor sleep, and a baseline of tension that never fully resolves. Willpower does not fix this. Neither does another productivity system or another supplement.
How to Feel is a structured, evidence informed protocol for rebuilding your baseline. Through guided microdosing, somatic practice, and a small private cohort, you build a repeatable system for working with stress at the root rather than managing the symptoms.
1,500+
People guided
8 yrs
Holding space since 2018
Cohorts stay small on purpose.
Fifteen people maximum. Deep Work begins Saturday, October 3.
Why Microdosing
A precision tool.
Not an escape.
Used with real structure and guidance, low dose psilocybin supports focus, regulation, and stress recovery without impairing your ability to work, parent, or lead your life.
Brain
- Promotes neuroplasticity, helping your brain build new patterns
- Reduces rumination and obsessive thinking
- Improves focus, mental clarity, and creative thinking
Body
- Helps regulate your nervous system
- Reduces physical tension and chronic stress
- Increases your capacity to feel calm and grounded
Emotional
- Supports processing without overwhelm
- Creates space between reaction and response
- Brings buried stress to the surface for release
Our Approach
Structure
Guidance
Discretion
This is not therapy. It is not a retreat. It is training for your nervous system, held by people who do this work every week of the year.
The Focus Areas
Six focus areas.
One clear arc.
One hour before each live session you take your dose at home and begin the work. Each week builds on the one before it.
Week 01
Processing and Release
We begin with what has not been fully processed. The loss, the weight, the parts of you that have not had space. This is not weakness. It is the first step toward regulation.
Week 02
Boundaries and Capacity
Suppressed stress and unspoken limits do not disappear. They show up as exhaustion or shutdown. This week is about reclaiming capacity and building boundaries you can actually hold.
Week 03
Recovery and Expansion
As the heavier weight begins to move, we make room for real recovery. Not performative positivity, but a genuine return of energy and range.
Week 04
Stress Response Reset
We work with the patterns that keep your system on high alert. Through breathwork and somatic practice, your body relearns what safety feels like.
Week 05
Internal Standards
We address the inner critic and the standards that keep you running past your limits. This is not about fixing yourself. It is learning to support yourself properly.
Week 06
Integration
We close by building a sustainable rhythm you carry forward, rooted in connection to yourself, to others, and to a steadier way of living.
Six weeks. Two months of support.
Preparation, live sessions, and integration included.
Who This Is For
You are not broken. You are depleted.
People come to this work from very different lives. Parents running on empty, professionals carrying pressure they cannot set down, people who look fine on the outside and know something underneath needs to shift.
Depleted
Running on empty and calling it normal
You have been operating past your capacity for so long it feels like baseline. You are managing it, not solving it.
Tried Everything
You have optimized all of it except this
Therapy, supplements, routines, discipline. All useful and none of it fully resolving the tension your body is still holding.
Private
You want structure, not a public journey
You are not interested in performative healing. You want a discreet, well guided process with real evidence behind it.
Ready
Open to the tool, unwilling to do it alone
You have heard what microdosing can offer, but you want expert guidance and a clear protocol rather than a solo experiment.
What Is Included
Before.
During.
Long after.
Two full months of structure, not four calls and a good intention. Preparation, live work, and integration you keep using once it ends.
Preparation
A live prep call roughly one week before we begin
Intake and screening before your first dose
A full month of medicine delivered to your home, legally, as a member of our church
A structured four day per week protocol, not a guess at dosing
Four Deep Work Sessions
Four consecutive Saturdays: October 3, 10, 17, and 24, live with Amanda
90 minutes each, in a small private cohort capped at fifteen
Somatic practice, breathwork, and guided processing
Replays available each week through 2027
Integration and Ongoing Support
A closing integration call to consolidate the work
Weekly integration prompts between sessions
Private group container for the full two months
Option to continue with an ongoing church membership for medicine
Meet Your Guide
Amanda Schendel
Amanda has guided over 1,500 people through psilocybin and somatic work. She founded The Buena Vida Retreats and Sanctuary church, and her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Cut, Condé Nast Traveler, and Thrillist.
Real experience, not theory
1,500+ people safely guided, and thousands of hours holding structured group work.
Structure and skill
Deep training in somatic practice and trauma informed care, combined with therapeutic structure.
Held without pressure
No rushing, no performance. Room to work at your own pace without having to explain everything first.
Research informed
Buena Vida collaborates with researchers at Imperial College London and University College London.
Ready to stop just managing?
The next cohort begins Saturday, October 3.
What People Say
Not how it felt.
What stayed.
Most people who find us have already tried multiple paths.
"In a matter of minutes I experienced a level of emotional clarity that years of traditional work couldn't access."
Kristen C.
"I struggled with depression and anxiety from a young age and tried many treatments. I felt completely safe and supported."
Carlos
"I had done years of therapy and still felt stuck. This was the first time something actually shifted."
TJ
"Our guides lead with humor, power, wisdom and an extraordinary presence that reaches you on a level words can't describe."
Katja von Tiesenhausen
"It is impossible to leave not in a better place mentally, physically, spiritually."
Megan C.
A Note From Amanda
Why I built this
I created this program for people who are holding more than they let on and have no real space to let it move. Parents running on empty. Professionals carrying pressure they cannot set down. Anyone who looks fine on the outside but knows something underneath needs to shift.
This exact process changed my life. It helped me get out of my head and back into my body, where the real work happens. It gave me access to old patterns that had been running the show without me realizing it.
This is also the safest way to explore microdosing. With guidance, with structure, with someone holding space for the parts of you that are unsure. You do not have to do this work alone. It is more effective, more sustainable, and more lasting when you have real support.
Amanda Schendel
Investment
Two ways to join
Both include a full month of medicine, six live calls with Amanda, and two months of structured support. Fifteen spots per cohort, and once they are gone the next opening is the following season.
The Group Experience
$1,100
The full protocol, held in a small private cohort of fifteen.
- A live prep call before the program begins
- Four 90 minute Saturday Deep Work Sessions with Amanda, not a recorded course
- A closing integration call to consolidate the work
- A full month of medicine delivered to your home, four days per week
- Legal access as a member of our church
- Weekly focus areas, somatic practice, and breathwork
- Integration prompts between every session
- Private group container for the full two months
- Replays available through 2027
- Option to continue your membership for ongoing medicine
The Deep Dive
$1,500
Everything above, plus private time with Amanda directly.
- Everything in The Group Experience
- A private two hour session with Amanda, one on one
- A protocol calibrated to your history and your goals
- Direct guidance between sessions, not just inside the group
- Dedicated space for the work you would rather not do in a group
- Priority consideration for future Buena Vida Retreats
Questions,
answered.
How to Feel is a live group program combining guided microdosing, somatic practice, stress processing, and weekly support. It runs across six live calls: a prep call, four Deep Work Sessions, and a closing integration call. It is structured and guided so you never feel lost or alone, whatever brought you here.
Yes. Many people in this program are entirely new to this work. You do not need previous experience. We walk you through everything and hold a safe, well guided space throughout.
Yes. The microdosing protocol is gentle and sub perceptual. You remain clear headed and functional throughout your day. You will be supported every step of the way and can always adjust based on how your body responds.
A full month of medicine is delivered directly to your home, legally, as a member of our church. Full details are provided during intake.
Yes. While the program is built around a microdosing protocol, you are welcome to participate without taking the medicine and still receive the full benefit of the live sessions, somatic practice, and group support.
The cohort is capped at fifteen people so everyone feels seen and supported. This is not a large webinar audience.
Every session is recorded and available to rewatch each week through 2027. The live container is where the depth happens, but life happens too and the replays are there.
Your month of medicine is included. If you want to continue afterward, members can subscribe for ongoing access through the church. Many people carry the practice forward once they have a protocol that works for them.
You are getting six live calls with the founder in a group of fifteen, a full month of medicine, and two months of structured support. A single therapy session in most cities runs $200 or more, without the medicine, the protocol, or the group. This is priced so the cohort stays small enough to actually hold well.
This is not a fit for someone in active crisis or managing untreated mental illness without outside support. It is for people ready to do real work, with structure and support, toward something lasting.
Most people come to this work feeling stuck, burnt out, overwhelmed, or disconnected. Through the program you can expect greater regulation, clarity, and a steadier baseline, along with practical tools you keep using long after it ends.
You do not have to
carry this alone.
You can come back.
You can regulate. You can recover. Cohorts are intentionally small and they fill quickly at this time of year.
Deep Work Saturdays October 3, 10, 17, 24 · Prep and integration calls included
