Hello, my name is Karol Liver and this is Pangean Path, my educational hub dedicated to the art of personal development in alignment with nature.
I am a human being dedicated to being human. I am an educator and passionate cognitive researcher with over fifteen years of successful experience in teaching, curating, lecturing and personal development-oriented work. I base my work and personal development on four pillars of progressive and humanistic disciplines: Art, Science, Adventuring, and as a result of all of the above, Bio-Spirituality.
Art has been my main personal therapeutic field for my entire life. Having degree in Photography, I have been actively involved in numerous artistic activities for the past 20 years, from studio work to art directing (event management, festivals) to curatorial work (numerous photography festivals in Europe and North America). In 2011 I have launched prism Photography Magazine that has been successfully promoting emerging and established contemporary photographers for almost a decade. I truly find art and any form of artistic expression one of the greatest therapeutic tools available out there.
Science and Education have been the loves of my life. I studied Mathematics & Physics, only to pursue MSc in Social Science (Sociology, Philosophy and Psychology), to turn into Arts in my late 20s and currently planning on expanding my education in the fields of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Applied Psychology. Cognitive science is certainly my big crush. I have always been thrilled by the subliminal mechanisms in our life patterns and and driven by the need to understand the observable alongside the unseen. A part of my personal development, I have also studied Astrobiology (Harvard online diploma) and Astronomy.
Adventures might just be my biggest and healthiest addictions and they always serve as the most powerful teachers. The main purpose of my expeditions in to reconnect with the wild and to explore the cultural aspects of native environments and their inhabitants to understand how a healthy symbiosis between a man and nature is formed and maintained. I deeply honour and respect the intergenerational indigenous wisdom and corresponding traditions, so I hardly ever follow touristic routes. Instead I seek permission to be invited and guided into the authentic land of the mystical where people, spirits, plant medicines and art conjure.
Bio-Spirituality is seen by me as a form of deeper connection with human core and manifests in a variety of forms, from personal developing work, mental and physical exercising, to plant medicine work with various entheogens. I propagate a holistic, bio-spiritual model for personal health – where spiritual exploration is accompanied by mental and physical self-care, bodywork and emotional awareness. I see bio-spirituality as a path of returning to the full awareness of body and understanding its biophysical needs in order to support mental and spiritual development. I am a devotee of movement and dance medicine (embodiment, 5 rhythms and ecstatic) and a practitioner of Tsa Lung, a Tibetan breathing and movement practice.
Q&A about my person and work
What is Pangean Path?
Pangean Path was launched in 2015 as a research hub that aims to provoke mature education on the health and safety aspects of plant-based therapeutic work and promote personal and spiritual development in alignment with nature. My research is based on traditional use of plant entheogens, psychology and studies of consciousness.
What is Pangean aim and mission?
Much like my personal development, my research mainly focuses on the indigenous medicinal practices and healing traditions using plant entheogens for a better understanding of their therapeutic, practical and universal application. Pangean mission is to provide its audience with a credible educational content, provoke mature education as the main pillar for personal and spiritual expansion and invite to an open, constructive discussion on the health and safety aspects of the above-mentioned work. It also serves as a central hub linking my artistic, spiritual and intellectual connections around the globe.
What is my experience with plant medicine?
I have been actively working with plant medicines and learning from various indigenous tribes in the Peru and Ecuador since 2012. In 2016-2017 I moved to the Ucayali region of the Amazon Basin and studied from Maestra Curandera Juana Silvano Teco of Shipibo lineage. During my extended stay with Juana, I underwent numerous plant samás, a few months long integration processes with medicinal plants such as Ayahuasca, Noya Rao, Huachuma and Mapacho. I also expanded my understanding of the Shipibo’s profound connection to nature, alongside their cultural, artistic and linguistic heritage. I have assisted and facilitated numerous ceremonies at the source and studied the art of brewing the Ayahuasca tea and the art of curing the sacred tobacco in Peru. I am continuously studying this field of ancient pharmacology.
I find the mystical territory of the Amazon rain forest and its ancient healing traditions a source of never-ending inspiration. In my research I also actively explore the broader aspects of this ancient therapeutic work, studying the neuroscience and psychology of plant-based therapies in the current age of the psychedelic renaissance.
In 2020 I started to work as a guest facilitator at InwardBound, a legal psychedelic retreat programme based in the Netherlands, that combine best practice in psychedelic guidance with the support of facilitation and a range of integration methods. The methodology is mostly based on the pioneering work of Dr. Stan Grof.
Who do I learn from?
I study by the side of humble, dedicated and extremely experienced practitioners in Europe and South America. My teacher from the Amazon and a person who I completed my longer plant samas with is Maestra Shipiba Curandera Juana Silvano Teco. She is a well known and respected plant medicine healer associated with Mahua family, who has been working also as a skilled bonesetter for the local community in the Ucayali region for her entire life. She works with various plant medicines such as Ayahuasca, Noya Rao, Sananga and Mapacho.
What is the spectrum of my public work?
I provide my audiences with inspirational TALKS on the indigenous Shipibo culture and traditions and discuss and promote health and safety of plant-based medicinal work. This aims to help participants to prepare to ceremonies using various entheogens and to understand the broader frames of the above-mentioned work. In the recent years I have been present with my talks and workshops on numerous festivals and public spaces including: TEDx Wroclaw (Poland, 2013), NewEarth Festival (Bali, 2017), Conscious Concert Ireland, Body & Soul (Ireland, 2018), Masters of Calm (UK, 2019), GoaDupa (Poland, 2017), Lost Theory (Spain, 2018) and O.Z.O.R.A. (Hungary, 2019). I also facilitate Mapacho (Sacred Tobacco) lectures and integrative meetings for people who use organic entheogens.
One of my popular talk, The Voice of Nimea Kaya, approaches work with Ayahuasca from many angles – from the scientific aspects of the medicine to native stories and beliefs to cultural aspects and the nature of icaros. You can check out the themes and subjects of my lectures and workshops in the Talks section.
I am currently actively involved in facilitating and co-hosting personal development-oriented retreats in nature in Europe and around the World.
How do I travel?
My main quest during my expeditions is to find the access to the source of the local culture and its hidden wisdom. I love mystical places of power. I have travelled to over 50 countries in the last 10 years and hardly ever followed touristic schedules. I also see travelling as a great collaboration opportunity and a way to expand horizons. In this sense, Pangean also serves as a hub for any sort of artistic, scientific and spiritual collaborations around the World and a generator of inspirational connections, from inspirational talks and workshops on psytrance festivals, to science conferences, to nature-fuelled retreats.
How can I join you?
You are heartily welcome to join my expeditions, retreats and workshops or just get in touch for any form of mutual co-creation. I currently organise group expeditions to Iceland and Peru in collaboration with my great friend and a medicine woman Mary Sky from Dancing The Worlds. I am also involved in a few nature-oriented retreats and projects in Ireland and around Europe. You can read more about the expeditions in the drop down menu above.
Other things I love doing
I am also available as a speaker for conferences and discussion panels about art and photography, I work as photography curator for over 15 years and have supported multiple photographic and artistic initiatives. I have coordinated and curated numerous talks, exhibitions and portfolio reviews in between 2010 and 2019 during numerous art festivals in Ireland, Poland, UK, Italy and Canada and was present in a jury panel for URBAN International Photographic Award in Italy in 2017-2018. I run prism, a successful photographic curatorial collective operating worldwide. In 2011 I started to work as a personal intuitive life-coach and progressive trainer for groups and companies.
Thank you for visiting my space and I hope to see you in person soon. You can read more about the Expeditions here and check the upcoming ones. If you want to check for any upcoming events please also stay tuned to Pangean event page on facebook.
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