- The Assemblage is a coworking space in New York City that provides its members with yoga, meditation, sound and breath work classes, and more.
- Its founder, Rodrigo Niño, came up with the idea after taking a hallucinogenic drug called ayahuasca, which he said connected him to his "higher mind."
- Memberships at the coworking space start at $200 for individuals, and run up to $4,000 for companies that want to rent out space.
Before Rodrigo Niño founded the New York City coworking space The Assemblage, he was first a real-estate developer and economist who launched the Prodigy Network in 2003, which uses crowdfunding to purchase commercial real estate.
Originally from Colombia, Niño had been working in the US for over 20 years when he was diagnosed with stage-3 Metastatic Melanoma cancer at age 41. After two surgeries, he went on to seek answers outside of the traditional medical community.
Niño went to Peru to participate in an ayahuasca ceremony, an ancient spiritual healing practice - and the latest craze among entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley. Ayahuasca is a hallucinogenic brew that scientists have said has the ability to make users "objectively observe one's thoughts and feelings without associating them with identity."
"I was looking for answers in this physical reality, traditional medicine," Niño told Business Insider. "I'm an economist, [in] real estate, I'm very secular, very evidence and numbers driven. I couldn't find the answers that would satisfy my craving to deal with this fear," he said. "When you're confronted with the potential of dying, it's a very frightening experience."
"I saw that we had this physical reality, and we have our individual self in our physical reality which is what I call the physical mind," Niño said of his own hallucinogenic experience. "But there was the unknown - and it [felt] very familiar. I had this spark of life. I call it the higher mind."
After participating in the ceremonies for three days, Niño's connection to his "higher mind" was at its peak. His fear of death dissipated, he said, as he realized he had a "radical urge for service" to others.
With The Assemblage, Niño is aiming to help members discover their "higher mind." Complete with traditional office space, meeting rooms, and a common area for food and drink, The Assemblage resembles something like a WeWork.
But its difference lies in its offerings, providing members with Ayurvedic food, a non-alcoholic bar, and speaking events with guests such as spiritual teacher Deepak Chopra. The Assemblage will also offer studio and one-bedroom apartments for rent in their Financial District location, which is set to open in April.
Below, explore The Assemblage's NoMad location - which Niño describes as "a consciousness incubator."