Stanislav Grof, born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, is best known for his work in the field of consciousness studies. He was trained as a Freudian Psychoanalyst at Charles University (M.D.) and the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences (Ph.D.). He explored the clinical and therapeutic uses of LSD at the Psychiatric Research Institute in Prague until the mid-1960s, then at Johns Hopkins University as a research scientist and professor of psychiatry 1967-1973 and as Chief of Psychiatric Research at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center (1969-1973) where he worked with Walter Pahnke and Bill Richards among others. During the 60s, he worked closely with LSD and conducted more than 4,000 sessions of psychedelic therapy.

In 1973 Grof was invited to Esalen Institute where he lived as Scholar-in-Residence until 1987, writing, lecturing, and developing (with his wife Christina) Holotropic Breathwork. He also served on the board of trustees of Esalen. He was the founding president of the International Transpersonal Association (ITA), which has organized major conferences on transpersonal psychology. Over the years he has written a number of books, first about LSD and its use in psychotherapy and later about other methods of conducting deep psycho-spiritual work.