Unlikely Collaborators Hosts Contemplative Scholar and Author Dr. Andrew Holecek for a Spark Salon on Consciousness, Lucid Dreaming, and the Nature of Reality
LOS ANGELES, May 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Most of us move through life assuming we see reality clearly.
We believe we are simply observing the world as it is. But what if much of our experience is being shaped from within, by thoughts, assumptions, emotions, and unconscious patterns we rarely notice?
On Thursday, June 4 at 7pm PT, Unlikely Collaborators will host contemplative scholar and author Dr. Andrew Holecek for a Spark Salon exploring lucid dreaming, dark retreats, and the deeper nature of consciousness titled:
Dreams, Darkness, and the Nature of Reality
Drawing from decades of contemplative practice, scientific research, and Tibetan Buddhist traditions, Dr. Holecek explores how practices like lucid dreaming and dark retreat can reveal the hidden ways perception shapes our experience of reality.
At the heart of the conversation is a profound question: What if waking life is far more constructed, interpretable, and dreamlike than we realize?
In dreams, we can become completely immersed in a reality the mind has created, emotionally reacting to it as though it were unquestionably real. Lucid dreaming is the moment we wake up inside that experience and recognize the dream while it is still unfolding.
According to Dr. Holecek, something similar often happens in waking life. We move through our days caught in thoughts, emotions, identities, fears, and automatic reactions without fully realizing how much they influence the reality we experience.
Drawing from contemplative wisdom, neuroscience, and lived experience, Dr. Holecek explores what happens when distraction quiets down and we begin observing the mind more clearly. As awareness deepens, our relationship to thoughts, fear, emotion, and even our sense of self can begin to shift.
Blending ancient wisdom traditions with modern consciousness research, this conversation invites audiences to reflect on the nature of awareness itself and what becomes possible when we learn to wake up inside our own experience.
Holecek is also collaborating with Unlikely Collaborators founder and CEO Elizabeth R. Koch on Grey Retreat™, an evolving contemplative format that combines the depth of traditional dark retreat practices with a more relational, psychologically informed, and emotionally integrative approach for modern audiences. The curriculum is being shaped with an emphasis on safety, community, and meaningful long-term integration.
The evening will take place in person at Unlikely Collaborators’ Santa Monica headquarters and will also be livestreamed online.
Event Schedule
6:00 p.m. — Doors open and reception
7:00 p.m. — Program begins promptly (late entry not permitted)
8:00 p.m. — Reception
Cost: Free (registration required)
About Dr. Andrew Holecek
Andrew Holecek is an interdisciplinary scholar-practitioner whose work bridges Tibetan Buddhism, lucid dreaming, dark retreat, and modern consciousness research. He is the Resident Contemplative Scholar at the Institute for Advanced Consciousness Studies and a research consultant for the Cognitive Neuroscience Program at Northwestern University. His work involves studies on dream yoga and the practice of dark retreat.
He is the author of nine books and has spent decades studying meditation, lucid dreaming, and contemplative practices. He has completed the Tibetan Buddhist three-year retreat and is a frequent subject in scientific studies on meditation and lucid dreaming. His work explores the intersection of contemplative practice, consciousness, dreaming, and human transformation.
About Spark Salons
Spark Salons are a signature program of Unlikely Collaborators, the nonprofit founded and led by CEO Elizabeth R. Koch. These gatherings bring together grantees, researchers, artists, and collaborators for conversations that challenge perspectives and deepen connections. Past Spark Salon speakers have included illusionist Harris III, psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman, PhD, nutrition therapist Kim Shapira, MS, RD, mythologist John Bucher, Harvard Business School professor and author Michael Norton, PhD, visionary violinist Vijay Gupta, chef and entrepreneur Ellen Bennett, artist Candy Chang, digital workplace expert and author Alexandra Samuel, PhD, grief experts Brennan Wood and Dr. Donna L. Schuurman, neuroscientist and best-selling author Lisa Feldman Barrett, PhD, neuroscientist and NYU Dean Wendy Suzuki, PhD, futures designer Nick Foster, RDI, sleep psychologist Jade Wu, PhD, broadcaster and author Krista Tippett, journalist and author Eliot Stein, medical anthropologist and author Theresa MacPhail, PhD, poet, activist, and author Ian Manuel, psychologist and bestselling author Sonja Lyubomirsky, and PhD, pediatrician and bestselling author Cara Natterson, MD.
Watch the Spark Salons Trailer
About Unlikely Collaborators
Unlikely Collaborators is a nonprofit focused on helping people better understand themselves and each other. Founded and led by CEO Elizabeth R. Koch, the organization is built around the Perception Box™ framework, the idea that our beliefs, experiences, emotions, and conditioning shape how we interpret ourselves and the world around us. By becoming aware of that lens, we create more space for reflection, flexibility, and meaningful change.
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