Throughout his teens and early twenties Alessandro combined his practice with intensive psychotherapy. This includes graduating from the Hoffman Process and the Dynamic Neural Retraining System program alongside work in Gestalt, Family Constellations, Systemic, Freudian Analysis and Rogerian modalities.
In addition to ongoing Diamond Approach retreats, he has spent longer periods of residency in Buddhist Zen and Benedictine monasteries, as well as in Mexico and Southern India studying with a teacher of the Tamil Siddhar tradition.
Fascinated by the scientific experiment which is a human life, and determined to understand it experientially rather than intellectually, Alessandro has applied his inward exploration outwardly to as broad a spectrum of living modes as possible.
This has included working in Argentina as an assistant horse trainer using natural horsemanship, employ in Southern France as a winemaker, apprenticing as a wilderness guide with Rite of Passage Journeys in the US and a stint in Canary Wharf in financial services.
When not abroad (or on retreat for a couple of months each year) Alessandro resides between London and northern Italy applying the ZENOLETHIA method with an international client base. He is currently studying the transformative power of the inquiry method taught by the Greek philosopher Plotinus.
About the Founder
Born in Switzerland in 1997 to Italian parents, Alessandro J. Genovese Cicogna was raised in London and schooled at Eton, then Westminster. He completed his BSc in Philosophy and MA in Buddhist Studies at LSE and SOAS respectively.
Fuelled since childhood by a burning desire to understand the nature of reality and human experience, aged thirteen, Alessandro entered into personal correspondence with A H Almaas, an ex-physicist and founder of the Diamond Approach.
He sought guidance on his own spiritual experiences after reading Almaas’ teachings. This deepened a meditation practice which developed into contemplative solo fasting in the wilderness for days at a time periodically during his teenage years (including with the School of Lost Borders in California). He joined an ongoing Diamond Approach retreat group aged eighteen and has been in continuous private study with his teacher ever since.