Enroll in Vital Psychedelic Training, starting September 17!
Master the art of psychedelic practice

Learn More

Category: Podcast

Posted on

Marisa Novy – Art, Psychedelics and Shambhala

Marisa Novy

Download

In this episode, Joe Moore interviews Marisa Novy, a wonderful psychedelic artist living and working in Breckenridge, Colorado who has been helping Psychedelics Today with some awesome art and more.

3 Key Points:

  1. Harm reduction was top notch at Shambhala but the festival could have done a bit more.
  2. Early psychedelic experiences added substantial depth to her yoga practice and art.
  3. Marisa has helped us at Psychedelics Today a ton and we are very excited to keep working with her.

Show Notes

  • Martian Curiosities – Instagram
  • Shambhala Festival in BC
    • An electronic music festival with different producers coordinating music and art for each stage.
    • No alcohol is allowed at the festival.
    • Almost promoted as a psychedelic-friendly festival.
    • The biggest win for the festival this year – no fentanyl found in any of the drugs tested.
    • Marisa’s favorite part about Shambhala is the people/community.
    • Shambhala provides harm reduction/drug testing services.
      • Drug testing is done by ANKORS.
      • ANKORS also provides drug safety information.
      • Drug testing helps to clean up the scene because people understand what is found in their substances.

  • Drug testing is illegal or not allowed in the United States
  • Marisa did some outreach for Psychedelics Today at Shambhala festival to promote drug safety, harm reduction, and our course Navigating Psychedelics  
  • Marisa’s favorite artists at Shambhala
  • Marisa’s introduction to psychedelics
  • What would it look like if festivals provided integration services to help process the overall festival experience?

Links

Check out this FREE online course, “Introduction to Psychedelics”Navigating Psychedelics: Introduction To Psychedelics (101)

About Marisa Novy

Marisa Novy

I am Marisa, a 24 year old explorer of consciousness and purpose of life.
I graduated UW-Milwaukee with a BBA in Marketing and International Business with an emphasis in Entrepreneurship. I grew up making art, and for the most part, I am constantly creating. I have my own small creative business for my artwork at MARtianCuriosities on Etsy, and @martiancuriosities on Instagram for more consulting projects. I became interested in Psychedelics after reading some cosmic literature, delving deeper into my yogic practice, and through my search for meaning and enlightenment. Psychedelics have helped my creativity to blossom and to be my truest self.

 

Posted on

Emanuel Sferios – Drug Positive – Developing the New Drug Narrative


Download

In this episode of Psychedelics Today we interview Emanuel Sferios, founder of DanceSafe and host of the new Drug Positive Podcast. The discussion mainly revolves around what “drug positive” means, MDMA, and harm reduction.

3 Key Points:

  1. The history of MDMA is different than we have been taught.
  2. MDMA is quite safe and the harms are very low. Risk reduction is a more appropriate term at times. 
  3. Emanuel is positive that his early drug experiences substantially helped improve his life.

Show Notes

  • There is an largely unknown history of MDMA.
  • Sasha Shulgin apparently was not the first to synthesize it in the modern era.
    • He created a new synthesis method.
  • MDMA was the first designer drug in a sense.
    • MDA became illegal and chemists decided to change the molecule
  • Manuel Noriega of Panama used MDMA at least once and gave permission to some chemists to manufacture in Panama shortly before the US invasion.
  • Harms from MDMA are quite minimal and small.
  • Parents who have lost a child can be natural allies to the drug positive movement.
  • Best practices for drug testing MDMA and Cocaine.
  • It is going to be really hard to convince the public to legalize drugs other than cannabis.
     

    About Emanuel Sferios

Emanuel Sferios is an activist, educator and harm reduction advocate. Founding DanceSafe in 1998 and starting the first laboratory pill analysis program for ecstasy users that same year (now hosted at Ecstasydata.org), Emanuel pioneered MDMA harm reduction services in the United States. His MDMA Neurochemistry Slideshow has been viewed over 30 million times and remains a primary educational resource for physicians, teachers, drug abuse prevention counselors and MDMA users alike. Emanuel resigned from DanceSafe in 2001 and went on to work in other areas of popular education and harm reduction. He has recently come back as a volunteer. Oh! And he’s making a movie.

Links

Drug Positive

Independent – Meet the Man Who Wants your to Him him Legalise MDMA

DanceSafe – Wiki

DanceSafe

MDMA The Movie

 

Posted on

Robin Kurland-West – Questions and Challenges in Providing Integration Services


Download

Introduction

During this episode of Psychedelics Today, your host Kyle Buller interviews Robin Kurland-West, a licensed marriage and family therapist based out of California. Kyle and Robin chat about challenges and other questions in regard to providing psychedelic integration services. Psychedelic integration is a new territory, and there are plenty of questions to still answer and cover.

Show Notes

About Robin Kurland-West

  • She offers integration services through her therapy practice.
  • Robin had questions about how to create an introduction practice and how to follow up.
  • She was licensed in 2010 and graduated from the California Institute of Integral Studies in 2006.
  • About a year ago she decided to do a karma cleanse and began to talk to a friend about psychedelics.
  • Her friend sent her a podcast that spoke to her.
  • She was doing some shadow work and dealing with her addiction experiences.
  • She said a prayer over the psilocybin and was open to what it would show her.
  • A spirit appeared and the forest started sending her messages.
  • It was a female spirit and used two trees to illustrate the inside of her brain.
  • It taught her that her mind was holding onto negative beliefs.
  • She taught her that she needed to let go, that it was “all so absurd.”
  • What has been the difference between experimenting in college vs. doing the work as an adult?
    • In college, it was seen as a party drug.
    • She had a hard time having conversations with people.
    • She doesn’t see it as a party drug anymore, it’s something that you honor.
    • She now views it as a medicine that heals parts that have been cut off.
    • Having had a history of addiction, some people are afraid psychedelics might be addictive.
    • Psychedelics are non-addictive because other drugs are about escaping, and psychedelics are about being fully present.
  • What is integration work for you and how do you approach it?
    • This is new territory for her after having her own experience.
    • She joined a network called the psychedelic support network.
    • Because it’s not yet legal, it’s a bit of a struggle.
    • She offers pre and post ritual services.
    • People meet with her and do a pretty thorough assessment.
    • They set the intention for the experience.
    • Afterward they look at what some of the messages were and how to incorporate it into their daily lives.
  • Do you help with dosage?
    • She focuses more on intention setting because she’s still new at this.
    • She refers people to resources to help with other things.
  • Is there a therapeutic approach you use with people?
    • She uses expressive arts therapy to tap into the unconscious and subconscious.
    • She always uses family systems, there’s usually a root to behavior.
    • She uses CBT and DBT.
    • She uses journaling and narrative therapy.
    • It’s an opportunity to rewrite your story – a new perspective to an old story.
    • She uses mandala work and drawing.
    • She has them stand up and move around.
    • Utilizing movement to integrate is huge.
    • After having her profound experience with psychedelics, she finds it to be a warm blanket she can reach for to remind you that things are different now.
  • What type of challenges have you had providing integration services to people?
    • She wants to know how soon she should see a client after they start on this journey.
    • How many times should she see a client after, and how many times?
    • It could be more individual.
    • She started to do psychotherapy to go deep and heal.
    • It’s possible to put your medical license at risk by providing certain services.
    • She can’t sit with people when they have their experience and has to be clear that it’s a decision that they’re making.
    • She has to detach herself from a lot of it.
    • She likes the idea of immediacy in following up with clients.
    • She sees a client 3-4 times beforehand to make sure they’re healthy enough and set intention.
    • Afterward she wants to see them soon so they can hold onto the gold they discovered in the journey.
  • How do you choose the right psychedelic experience for a person?
    • The idea of doing a diagnosis to find out what will work is tricky.
    • Throw it back on the person to see what they’re looking for.
    • It’s not a scary experience, but you want to make sure you’re with someone who’s trained.
    • There’s a couple that wants to come in and do integration therapy together.
    • She wants to meet with them individually and together beforehand.
    • People are in therapy to discover themselves and they might find something different than they’ve been looking for.
  • How do you approach people who think integration specialists can get them drugs or be a guide during experiences?
    • She says it isn’t about her telling them to use illicit drugs and she doesn’t do drugs with them or hook them up.
    • The difference between integration therapy and a guide:
    • A guide is someone you trust who sits with you.
    • An integration therapist is just pre and post where she’s not involved in the drug.
  • Have you had any clients reach out trying to integrate a really difficult experience?
    • Not yet, but she’s looking forward to it.
    • She would ask questions about what they saw and felt.
    • She would bring in the arts to map it out and they can look at it together.
    • You can have a psychedelic experience without having psychedelics.
  • Is there anything you’re looking forward to with clients?
    • In traditional therapy right now, she’s coming up against blockage in some of her clients.
    • She sees a lot of people being stuck, and that’s the hardest part.
    • She’s excited to see the light turn back on in people’s eyes and see them be healed.
    • She wants to see people be present with themselves and each other so they can have a fuller life.
  • How do you approach therapy and coaching?
    • She just does the psychotherapy, asking questions.
    • She appeals to a clients inner resources.
  • Do you do any online work?
    • She only does in-person work, every once in a while she does a phone session.
    • She works holistically, so people don’t just focus on the mind, also the body and the spirit.
  • Do you get people reaching out from all over the place?
    • Yes, because her name is on the psychedelic support list.
    • She filled out an application and had some correspondence with the organization.
  • What are some of your favorite podcasts and resources?
    • The Psychedelic Salon Podcast

Episode Quotes

  • I don’t see psychedelics as a party drug anymore, it’s something that you honor, a medicine.
  • I like to see my clients soon after their experience so they can hold onto the gold they discovered on their journey.
  • People are in therapy to discover themselves and they might find something different than they’ve been looking for.

Resources Mentioned

So, You Want to Find a Psychedelic Guide – Article
Psychedelics Today Episode with Katherine MacLean
Joe Rogan Experience interviewing Amber Lyon
8 Common Psychedelic Mistakes Course
Erowid Archive
The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide – Risks, Micro-Dosing, Ibogaine, and More

About Robin Kurland-West, LMFT

Robin Kurland-West received her license in 2010. Prior to becoming licensed she has worked in non profit agencies and inpatient recovery centers as clinical director, supervisor and lead therapist. Through this journey she has focused her expertise on trauma and addictions. Currently Robin has a private practice in the Sacramento area and works with individuals, families, couples and groups. Her passion to explore consciousness and the healing potential of psychedelics has been prominent through out and is committed to making a difference with those suffering from PTSD and addictions through the use of plant medicines and psychedelic integration therapy.

Posted on

Duli Wilkins – The Adventures of the Beantown G.H.E.T.T.O Shaman


Download

During this episode of Psychedelics Today, your host Kyle Buller interviews Duli Wilkins, aka the “Beantown Ghetto Shaman” about his work and future plans. In this conversation, Kyle talks to Duli about his work with sacred plant medicines, how he got involved in this type of work, and also explore the topic of people of color and diversity in the psychedelic world.

Show Notes

  • About Duli Wilkins
    • He’s from the Boston area born and raised.
    • He gives credit to his parents for getting him into what he’s into right now.
    • His dad used to play jazz music and met a bunch of famous musicians.
    • He learned that sound and frequency can be used as a tool for healing.
    • He lived between two warring projects.
      • A lot of his friends got into the gang life.
    • He got heavily into Tai Chi and Chi Kung.
    • He became a multi-dimensional healer
    • He had a friend who gave him a mushroom and that’s when the magic begins.
  • How did everything begin for Duli?
    • His empathic abilities heightened more when he used cannabis.
    • He started getting deeper into the teachings of Rastafarians.
    • In the black community, you didn’t see a lot of people using psychedelics.
      • Using a mushroom was very new to him.
    • Duli’s experience with mushrooms?
      • At first he just felt some tingling and checked on his friend looking at the painting.
      • He started to see things happen before they were happening.
      • He was seeing the fabric of reality.
      • He started having out of body experience and heard drumming from the heavens.
    • “What was it like for you to be involved in this work when the people around you aren’t?”
      • Things are changing, more people across the globe are becoming aware of the benefits of teaching plants.
      • A lot of people report seeing ancestors that have passed away.
      • There’s a resistance to psychedelics in the black community because of the history of drugs.
      • It was easy for the government to shut down everyone but their own children.
      • We have to be patient and time will bring things to the surface.
    • Discussion about the pharmaceutical system.
      • It’s great when you have a broken bone, etc.
      • The pharmaceutical establishment is a business and it runs like a business.
      • When we deal with ancestral memory or epigenetics the medical industry can’t touch it.
      • Safety in a teaching plant ceremony is key.
    • Discussion about the dark night of the soul.
      • Work in the shadow is important if you want to become whole.
      • We’re all walking around with trauma.
      • He’s had a lot of past life experiences, even one where his son died very young.
      • It takes a lot of courage to try psychedelics and you have to have a good setting.
    • “Do you see a lot of spiritual bypassing?”
      • Yes, people try to hide behind things.
      • Some people hide behind the psychedelics.
      • Psychedelics and teaching plants are tools, how are you using the tools?
      • When we deal with wealthy people, maybe it’s the lack of struggle to obtain psychedelics.
      • There’s much more to us and as time goes by we’re going to have disclosure.
    • Duli talks about some experiences with extraterrestrials during psychedelic trips.
      • We’re going through cycles and making the same mistakes every time.
    • Last words?
        • Find him on Facebook under @abdukwilkins
        • Find him on YouTube under The Beantown Ghetto Shaman

Sign up for our free online course

 

 

Episode Quotes

  • Something inside me said, I should take the mushroom and that was the gateway to shamanism.
  • Things are changing, more people across the globe are becoming aware of the benefits of teaching plants.
  • We have to have a re-education and awareness around teaching plants.

About Duli Wilkins,  a.k.a Duli Tha Beantown G.H.E.T.T.O Shaman

  

Abdul K. Wilkins a.k.a Duli Tha Beantown G.H.E.T.T.O (Gifted. Hearts. Equal. Towards. Total. Oneness) Shaman is a Boston Native…He grew up in the Inner City of Roxbury where he overcame an environment of gang street violence, neighborhood drug abuse, and police brutality! Duli was influenced at a young age by both of his parents in the interest of spirituality, mysticism, natural healing etc.

While attending College at Northeastern University he had a very mystical experience with psilocybin mushrooms and has been using mushrooms and other psychedelics as a tool for healing and conscious awareness ever since! He is a father of 2 and does massage therapy and natural healings in his community!

Posted on

Robert Forte – The Hidden History of Psychedelics

The Hidden History of Psychedelics

Download

Kyle and Joe interview Robert Forte who has been around the psychedelic world for decades as a writer, facilitator and researcher. He has known or has worked with most of the biggest names in psychedelic history including Dr. Stanislav Grof and Timothy Leary among others.

The interview covers a lot of ground and will likely ruffle some feathers.

Robert has extensively studied the history of psychedelics and has drawn some conclusions about the origins of the field.

Psychedelics as Weapons

From the early days, scientists have been working with psychedelics to weaponize them. From project artichoke to MK Ultra, the US government and many foreign governments have spent a tremendous amount of effort researching these powerful compounds and likely still are.

Robert states that various governments particularly the United States government have groups that are using drugs to derange the public to make it easier for these groups to meet their desired outcomes – less democracy, increased plutocratic power, etc. Think Brave New World and Brave New World Revisitied.

Deranged from Miriam Webster:
1: mentally unsound : crazy
2: disturbed or disordered in function, structure, or condition
  • My leg was propped up on a library chair at the time, as it was too deranged to bend.
    3: wildly odd or eccentric

He makes a compelling argument, but we want you the listener and reader to “Think for Yourself and Question Authority”. That was a Leary line that we think is valuablein situations like this. Read books on the subject, question the purpose behind them, think critically and see where you want to go with it.

After recording this interview Joe Moore read the amazing and comprehensive 2016 history The Devil’s Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America’s Secret Government. The book filled in some gaps for me (Joe) but didn’t really change my mind much on the topic of psychedelics specifically.

Please enjoy the episode and if you want to discuss it, please join us at our facebook group here.

Links & Show Notes

Timothy leary outside looking in

 About Robert Forte

Robert Forte

James Fadiman calls Robert Forte, “a major but not well known hero of the psychedelic movement.”  A scholar, editor, publisher, professor, researcher of the subject for over 3 decades, Forte has come to some disturbing realizations about the psychedelic renaissance that he helped to start.  Huston Smith called his first book, Entheogens and the Future of Religion, “the best single inquiry into the religious significance of chemically occasioned mystical experience that has yet appeared.” Forte was introduced to psychedelics in 1980 by Frank Barron, who initiated Timothy Leary and started the Harvard Psilocybin Project with him. From the University of California Forte was invited to Esalen to study with Stanislav Grof, before going to the University of Chicago to study the history and psychology of religion under Mircea Eliade. Over the years Forte has worked closely with many of the most prominent leaders of the psychedelic movement, including R. G. Wasson, Albert Hofmann, Timothy Leary, Ralph Metzner, Alexander Shulgin, Claudio Naranjo, and many others. His early MDMA research in 1981-85 turned on 100s of people to this new medicine. Though this project led to the creation of MAPS, Forte is a vocal critic of MAPS government collusion and deceptive policies. His second book is a rounded view of Timothy Leary, Outside Looking In:  Appreciations, Castigations, Reminiscences.  He first experienced ayahuasca in 1988, and conducted ayahuasca research with cancer patients in Peru, yet he is now suspicious of the globalizing of ayahuasca as an form of “spiritual colonialism.”   He is a enthusiastic supporter of conscious, independent psychedelic healing and recreation, and an equally fierce opponent of  psychedelics for mind control, profiteering, and social engineering by political and economic elites.

Posted on

Richard Grossman PhD – Exploring Ayahuasca, Acupuncture and Healing


Download

During this episode of Psychedelics Today, Kyle Buller interviews Dr. Richard Grossman, an ayahuasca ceremony facilitator and expert with a background in healing and acupuncture.

Episode Quotes

  • I find mystical poetry to be an amazing aid in ceremony work.
  • Is it the vision or the emotion that you feel and then the vision comes?
  • In my work, the psychedelic experience is about going beyond the visionary state.
  • The core of all creation is in the heart and breath.

 

Show Notes

  • About Dr. Richard Grossman
    • Has a long background in healing.
    • He used to be a macrobiotic chef.
    • Primeval meditations and licensed acupuncturist.
    • Works with ayahuasca and San Pedro.
  • How did Richard get involved in ayahuasca?
    • A friend brought some up from Peru and his life changed in one night.
    • It took him years as an acupuncturist learning more about healing.
    • He’s been doing this for about thirty years.
  • Do you integrate your acupuncture practice into ceremony?
    • Not so much with ayahuasca – that’s done traditionally.
    • He had a lot of experience with the Shipibo Tradition.
    • With the San Pedro method, the body change happens in one day.
  • Opinions on psychedelic visions.
    • Many people want them and they’re a distraction.
    • The real thing is that the source of everything is within.
    • If a person can experience that for an instant, their life changes.
    • There are a lot of things happening on subtle levels.
    • The psychonaut and healing processes are quite different.
  • What are some examples of ideas you’ve seen in the psychedelic community?
    • People trying to draw in gods and goddesses.
    • You need to see how deep a human being can go, it’s an infinite journey.
  • What is it like to go deeper and deeper?
    • If you can imagine a series of curtains parting over and over and over again.
    • You begin to see places of illusion.
    • During one of his trips, he visualized himself in a Nazi concentration camp.
      • A voice told him to trust and forgive.
      • He began to question what forgiveness and trust mean.
    • Some people are seeking spirituality and not really healing within.
      • Ayahuasca tourism is a fairly good thing, rather than people coming and ruining the jungle.
    • How would you define a healing process?
      • It’s a complex subject, he likes the idea of a series of concentric circles.
    • Do you work with a person’s energy?
      • People get very relaxed.
      • If there is someone who can’t get relax he calms them with acupuncture.
    • Do you think intoxicants affects the chi?
      • San Pedro or ayahuasca are not considered intoxicants.
      • He sees that ayahuasca is only good for the body.
      • Psilocybin has a rough effect on the liver.
      • The tannins in ayahuasca are valuable and bind toxins in the body.
    • Do you have to worry about any cardiovascular problems?
      • It is a stimulant so he screens people before doing the ceremony.
      • Beauty is a healing process, beauty heals.
    • Is there anything you’re excited about in the psychedelic world?
      • When the community comes together to heal it’s powerful.
      • We’re all going to a place of more love, peace, joy, and healing.
      • What’s the outcome of thousands of people experiencing love and joy?
    • What’s the ayahuasca ceremony structure?
      • Constant music, keeping things from going totally wonky.
      • There’s a point in the ceremony that it could go in either direction:
        • Total group insanity or total group healing.
      • Iowaska ceremonies can be dangerous.
        • It’s something to be respected with its own spirit.
      • You must hold close to the traditions of generations.
      • There’s always a point during the ceremony where he feels it’s the most important and beautiful place he’s ever been.
      • Drama’s not necessary, our culture wants the drama.
      • We need to outgrow externalizing the blame.
      • Life in our heart is meant to be enjoyed.
      • Suffering to heal just doesn’t work.
    • Culture seems to dwell on suffering, is that conditioning?
      • The worst thing a human can possibly do is feeling guilty.
        • “Guilt can’t fly and God wants you to fly.”
      • The nature of reality is joy and love.
      • You need to be willing to let go of the things that don’t work.
      • Psychedelics can be used as a guiding light.
    • Any final advice, events?
      • Find him on his website or on Facebook.
      • Heartfeather.com – Dr. Richard Grossman’s website.
      • Don’t stop, just keep going.

Sign up for our free course, “Introduction to Psychedelics”

About Richard Grossman, L.AC., O.M.D., Ph.D.

   

Richard Grossman studied Oriental Medicine at the California Acupuncture College in Los Angeles and received his post-graduate acupuncture training in Beijing, in a course sponsored by the World Health Organization and attended by physicians from around the world. He earned a Masters in Acupuncture, a Doctor of Oriental Medicine degree, a Ph.D. in Oriental Medicine, a Diplomat in Acupuncture, a Diplomat of Pain Management, and a Diplomat in Acupuncture Orthopedics.

Posted on

Exploring Race-Based Traumatic Stress and MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy – Dr. Monnica Williams and Dr. Will Siu


Download

During this episode of Psychedelics Today, your hosts Joe Moore and Kyle Buller interview Dr. Monnica Williams from the University of Connecticut and Dr. Will Siu a psychiatrist in private practice based in Manhattan,  and a therapist on MAPS’s MDMA-assisted Psychotherapy for PTSD clinical trials at the University of Connecticut. They join us to discuss race-based trauma, people of color in psychedelics, and MDMA-assisted psychotherapy.

Show Notes

About Dr. Will Siu

  • He’s a psychiatrist and therapist on the MDMA for PTSD clinical trials with the supervision of Dr. Monnica Williams.
  • Based in NYC and has a private practice.
  • Does some work in emergency psychiatry at a local hospital.

About Dr. Monnica Williams

  • Associate professor at the University of Connecticut.
  • Does graduate teaching and multicultural psychology and research in the health center.
  • Currently doing a study on MDMA assisted psychotherapy for PTSD.
  •  What is race-based trauma?
    • There had been some studies previously.
    • When people become traumatized by experiences of racism, oppression, marginalization based on their perceived identity.
    • Often because of ongoing experiences, like microaggressions
    • Eventually, people have so many of these experiences that they start to have symptoms of PTSD.
    • People get so distressed and afraid that they act in a way that might harm them.
    • You have to think about trauma in a non-single event way.
  • Exploring the topic epigenetics.
    • Trauma has been passed down from generation to generation.
    • Layer epigenetics on top of what’s currently going on and trauma is understandable.
  • How has recruiting been going for the MDMA study?
    • It’s challenging, they’re not drawing from the same population the other sites are.
    • They’re creating a culturally safe, welcoming environment for people of color.
    • There is fear and misinformation that requires them to do a lot of education on the front end.
    • Research abuses haven’t stopped, they’re still continuing today.
    • Psychedelic drugs are almost exclusively used by white people.
  • Are there any big problems you’re trying to tackle now in prepping the study?
    • Traditionally there has been no compensation for study participants, but it’s needed for this study.
    • Another layer is paying via direct deposit vs. cash and getting the university on board.
    • How do you send someone back into the trauma you’re trying to heal.
  • How do you support people in the study?
    • Support them as much as possible during the study.
    • Continue to follow-up with people after the treatment is over.
  • There is a lack of people of color in the therapy field, especially MAPS.
    • Often people of color don’t have a good experience with white therapists.
  • Why do you think there aren’t very many people of color in psychedelics?
    • People of color haven’t had the same advantages to become therapists.
      • It’s not safe to talk about substances when your license is on the line.
    • Culturally, psychedelics haven’t played as big of a role with people of color.
  • What does an ideal training model look like for you?
    • Watching the videos of people getting well was a big game changer.
    • The training needs a fuller understanding of what people from other ethnic and cultural groups need.
    • Monica is altering the training to be more relatable.
  • Talk about enrollment.
    • They have people at all different stages right now.
    • They have about 18 people total who have gone through the stages.
    • They still have to follow the guidelines of an indexed trauma to be accepted.
  • How big is your team right now?
    • Three therapist pair teams.
    • A few other people who assist in various ways.
    • Several people are doing double-duty.
  • How can the psychedelic community be more inclusive of people of color?
    • Make some close friends who are not white.
  • Do you have any fantasy projects you’d like to see play out?
    • Start a master’s program with a specialty track in minority mental health and psychedelic therapy.
    • All scholarships for people of color.
  • Any advice you’d give to a young person or professional?
    • There’s a lot of work to be done and we need enthusiastic minds.
    • Change won’t happen overnight or be easy, but it’s worth it.
    • Be involved in the community

Episode Quotes

The psychedelic community is a very, very white community – most people of color haven’t had an experience with psychedelics.

Ultimately, psychedelics and psychotherapy will be an accepted, licensed form of treatment.

About Monnica Williams

  

Monnica Williams, Ph.D. is a board-certified, licensed clinical psychologist, specializing in cognitive-behavioral therapies. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences at the University of Connecticut, and Director of the Laboratory for Culture and Mental Health Disparities. She is also the Clinical Director of the Behavioral Wellness Clinic, LLC in Mansfield, Connecticut, and she has founded clinics in Kentucky, Virginia, and Pennsylvania.

Will Siu, MD, DPhil

I grew up in southern California, where I completed college at UC Irvine and medical school at UCLA. Midway through medical school, I pursued research interests at the National Institutes of Health in Washington, DC and ultimately completed a doctoral degree at the University of Oxford. After finishing medical school I moved to Boston to complete my psychiatry residency at the Massachusetts General and McLean Hospitals, after which I continued to work for two years while faculty at Harvard Medical School. I moved to New York City in 2017 where in addition to having a private practice, I am a therapist on clinical trials using MDMA-assisted psychotherapy to treat PTSD.

Posted on

Daniel Greig – Measuring Wisdom, Mindfulness, and More in Psychedelic Research

Daniel Greig - Toronto

Download

In this episode of Psychedelics, Kyle and Joe talk with Daniel Greig. Daniel is a student at the University of Toronto and psychedelic community organizer working with CSSDP and the Toronto Psychedelic Society.

We go all over the map but some notable things discussed in this episode include:

  • Measuring wisdom
  • Mindfulness
  • The promise of psychedelics
  • Future research opportunities
  • How friendly the University of Toronto is to psychedelic research
  • Interesting philosophical overlaps with psychedelics and occultism
  • and much more!!

Show Notes:

  • How did you get involved in researching psychedelics?
    • He never had to hide or be discreet about his research interests.
    • People are actually interested in his research work.
    • Canada just legalized marijuana countrywide.
    • He started experimenting with psychedelics when he was around 18.
    • He was able to feel positive emotions again after psychedelics.
  • Are there any recent studies that have you excited?
    • There was a publication in 2017 that looks at the role of mental imagery under the influence of LSD.
    • Daniel is interested in “what is the function of the imagination.”
    • What you get on LSD is similar to what happens during REM dreaming.
    • We’re not very in touch with our imaginative experiences.
  • How are you viewing mystical experiences?
    • Mental imagery is just reverse perception.
    • Mental imagery begins in higher processes and sends information down.
    • We share the faculty and functions of imagery with other animals.
  • How can you engage in some of this mental imagery?
    • There’s a process called active imagination.
    • Practicing active imagination helps you make the most of imagistic experiences.
    • It can be helpful to have someone else guide you through the images.
    • The most important thing is – is it effective?
  • Do you think what’s happening on the physiological level in the mind is a therapeutic part of psychedelics or imaginative?
    • It’s different for everybody.
    • For people with depression, it’s important to get the physiological tuned up.
    • For others, it’s the imagination that unlocks other things.
    • The developmental line we should all be orienting ourselves toward is wisdom.
  • The relationship between rationality in psychedelics.
    • You have to ask is psychedelics make you more rational?
    • Mindfulness can be seen as a form of rationality that makes you open to information.
    • Daniel talks about the computational mind, the algorithmic mind, and the reflective mind.
    • Authoritarianism is related to people’s fear.
  • Can psychedelics promote irrational thinking?
    • Yes, it’s one of the dark sides of the unitive experience.
    • There’s the feeling that you really know what’s true, but you can’t really articulate it.
    • Don’t try to annihilate yourself so nature can flow through you, elevate yourself.
  • How can people get involved?
    • Follow your heart and don’t disguise what you want to do.
    • Be enthusiastic and also correct.
    • Try to emphasize academic rigor.

Episode Quotes

We’re very much detached from our own traditions here in the west.

Just imagining practicing something can have just as much of an effect of your performance than actually practicing it.

You have to bring your insights back into the community to be an effective member of society.

There’s a strong relationship between wisdom and psychedelics.
Without intervention, life will tend toward suffering.

Links

Image result for ken wilber lines of development

About Daniel Greig

Daniel is a student of Cognitive Science and Philosophy at the University of Toronto. His focus is on mysticism, magic and the psychedelic experience through the lens of psychology and neuroscience. Daniel also works with the Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy (CSSDP). He has also spoken at a number of conferences and educational events in Toronto on the subject of psychedelics and philosophy.

Posted on

Kyle and Joe – Intro to Transpersonal Psychology

Psychedelic Integration Consulting with Kyle Buller and Joe Moore from Psychedelics Today


Download

In this episode of Psychedelics Today, Kyle and Joe provide a basic introduction to the field of Transpersonal Psychology and a brief overview of Stanislav Grof’s theories and work, including the Basic Perinatal Matrices.

What is Transpersonal Psychology?

The following excerpt is taken from Kyle’s undergraduate capstone project paper, “The Psychology of Extraordinary Experiences.”

The word transpersonal  can be defined as “beyond one’s self or ego.” The catalyst for the re-emergence of this field was fueled by heady days of the 1960’s which included social change, self-exploration, and a radical shift in consciousness.

What exactly is the field of transpersonal psychology and psychiatry that was developed out of the events of the late 1960s? The Textbook of Transpersonal Psychiatry and Psychology defines these terms as follows:

Transpersonal psychiatry, therefore, is psychiatry that seeks to foster development, correct developmental arrests, and heal traumas at all levels of development, including transpersonal levels. It extends the standard biopsychosocial model of psychiatry to a biopsychosocial-spiritual one in which the later stages of human development are concerned with development beyond, or transcendent of, the individual….Transpersonal psychiatry and psychology address that universal aspect of human consciousness that is transpersonal experience and do not propound the belief of any one religion. (Scotton, 1996, p. 4-5)

Ultimately, transpersonal psychology allows the ability to view different cultural perspectives about reality. This can be achieved by observing and understanding various cultural beliefs as being a valid representation of that specific culture’s known reality (Scotton, 1996).

Transpersonal psychiatry allows not only that other vantage points (other societies) construct equally valid realities, but also that reality can be constructed in more positive directions with adequate techniques and personal development. (Scotton, 1996, p. 6)

The word transpersonal was first coined and used by William James in a lecture in 1905 (Chinen, 1996). During the mid-1960s a group of humanistic psychologists got together on behalf of Anthony Sutich, a pioneer in the field of transpersonal psychology, and the founding editor of the Journal of Humanistic Psychology. The meetings were held at Sutich’s home in California and consisted of topics that were of concern and dealt with issues that were known as transhumanistic, meaning beyond humanistic psychology (Chinen, 1996). Abraham Maslow was one of the main guiding participants for these meetings, and also a pioneer at the time for his theory of peak experiences. Peak experiences dealt with experiences that an individual might have that brings a sense of clarity or awakening to the person’s life. Stanislav Grof suggested the use of the term transpersonal at one of the meetings with Sutich, Maslow and the Austrian psychiatrist, Victor Frankl, for the newly emerging field of psychology soon to be known as the fourth force, or transpersonal psychology (Chinen, 1996). The meetings at Sutich’s house finally led to the announcement of the new field of transpersonal psychology in 1968, which separated itself from the humanistic approach of psychology (Chinen, 1996). The purpose of this new branch of psychology was to explore non-ordinary states of consciousness and spirituality.

Sutich is held accountable for the following original mission statement that is in the first issue of the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology:

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology is concerned with the publication of theoretical and applied research, original contributions, empirical papers, articles and studies in meta-needs, ultimate values, unitive consciousness, peak experience, ecstasy, mystical experience, B-values, essence, bliss, awe, wonder, self-actualization, ultimate meaning, transcendence of the self, spirit, sacralization of everyday life, oneness, cosmic awareness, cosmic play, individual and species wide synergy, maximal interpersonal encounter, transcendental phenomena; maximal sensory awareness, responsiveness and expression; and related concepts, experiences and activities. As a statement of purpose, this formulation is to be understood as subject to optional individual or group interpretations, either wholly or in part, with regard to the acceptance of its content as essentially naturalistic, theistic, supernaturalistic, or any other designated classification. (Chinen, 1996, p. 10-11)

Basically, there are three points to this mission statement. The first is to have a focus on concerning issues that deal with experiences that are traditionally classified as mystical or religious. Second, there must be emphasizes on the use of empirical and scientific studies to help understand said experiences. And third, they seek to hold and suspend any beliefs regarding whether said experiences or phenomena are to be classified or dismissed as supernatural or not (Chinen, 1996).

References:

Chinen, A. B. (1996). The emergence of transpersonal psychiatry. In B. W. Scotton, A. B. Chinen, & J. R. Battista (Eds.), Textbook of transpersonal psychiatry and psychology (pp. 9-18). New York, NY, US: Basic Books.

Scotton, Bruce. (1996). Introduction and definition of transpersonal psychiatry. Scotton, Bruce W., & Chinen, Allen B., & Battista, John R. (Eds.), Textbook of transpersonal psychiatry and psychology (pp. 3-18). New York, NY: Basic Books.

Links and Resources

Books Mentioned (These links are Amazon Affiliate links. Psychedelics Today receives a small commission at no charge to you)

Other Resources

 

What is Breathwork?

Lenny Gibson – A brief history of psychedelics in the Western world

 

Posted on

Dr Ben Malcolm – Ibogaine for Opiate Addiction Research Update


Download

In this episode of Psychedelics Today, host Joe Moore interviews Dr. Benjamin Malcolm, professor of pharmacy at the Western University School of Pharmacy. The discussion revolves around ibogaine, alkaloids, and addiction therapy solutions.

3 Key Points:

  1. Opioid addiction and death related to overdose is a public health epidemic in the United States
  2. Addiction may be rooted in loneliness, boredom, lack of recreation, trauma, pain or disconnection
  3. Ibogaine is able to reduce physical symptoms and cravings of opioid withdrawal and usually provides the user with insight into why they developed an addiction.

Show Notes

  • Dr. Benjamin Malcolm discusses psychedelic alkaloids that have the potential to treat addictions.

  • When conducting research with human subjects, an Institutional Review Board (IRB) should review the project proposal to ensure the study is ethical

  • There are risks involved in taking in ibogaine that can be used to treat addiction with deaths due to cardiac arrhythmias reported

  • In the United States, opioid overdose claims over 100 lives every day

  • Ibogaine is illicit in the US and unregulated in other parts of the world

  • Psychedelics that bind to 5HT2B receptors could cause a thickening of the heart valve if taken on a chronic basis, psychedelics taken intermittently are not likely to have a significant effect

  • Many newer synthetic psychedelics have not been studied in animals or humans, leading to the potential for unknown adverse reactions

  • Internet surveys about psychedelics usually have a selection bias due to those enthusiastic about the subject to fill out the survey while those that had negative experience may not fill it out or even access websites or forums where surveys are distributed

  • Mescaline is a classic psychedelic (found in San Pedro or Peyote cactus) with much anecdotal evidence of benefit that has not been the featured in any well designed human research

  • If psychedelics become approved drugs for medical use then managing transitions between traditional pharmaceutical modalities and psychedelic-assisted psychotherapies will be required and may be an important area of pharmacist involvement in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapies

  • Dr. Benjamin Malcolm can be reached through his website spiritpharmacist.com

     

    About Benjamin Malcolm, PharmD, MPH

   

Professionally, I teach psychopharmacology and clinical psychiatric pharmacy, practice as a clinical specialist in psychiatric pharmacy, and perform research on psychoactive drugs.

On a more personal note, I’m a lover of nature, exercise, music, being, and consciousness. I’m passionate about cognitive liberty, self-realization, and psychedelic drugs.

I envision a society in which access to psychedelic drugs in a variety of safe and supported settings is available for purposes of psychospiritual well-being, personal development, ceremonial sacraments, and treatment of mental illness.

Posted on

Alyssa Gursky – Transpersonal Art and Ketamine Therapies


Download

Introduction

In this episode of Psychedelics Today, host Kyle Buller interviews Alyssa Gursky, a Masters student at Naropa University with a focus in mental health counseling and transpersonal art therapy. Their discussion dives into the intersection between art therapy, transpersonal art, and psychedelics. Ketamine, symbols, and meaning are also areas of this interview.

3 Key Points:

  1. Alyssa Gursky has been working with the MDMA research In Boulder, Colorado and now in Fort Collins for the last three years as a night attendant.
  2. Creating art is a gift from our unconscious, to be able to see what is happening within ourselves.
  3. There is art in therapy and there is art as therapy.

Show Notes

  • Alyssa Gursky has been involved with the MDMA research In Boulder, Colorado and now in Fort Collins for the last three years as a night attendant.
  • Making art is one of the most intimate ways to be with yourself.
  • Alyssa is approaching her 20th ketamine session. Each session typically is two hours long.
  • So much of art therapy is getting out of your own way.
  • Alejandro Jodorowsky practices psychotherapy in France, and doesn’t charge, and wrote a book called Psychomagic.
  • To be a licensed professional councilor LPC in Colorado touch isn’t allowed.
  • Communication and consent is import to psychedelic therapy.
  • MDMA psychotherapy can initiate healing on a deep level.
  • Race-based trauma psychotherapy is underway.
  • Art can make people feel deeply about experiences outside of their own.

Resources

About Alyssa Gursky

   

Alyssa Gursky is a master’s level candidate in Transpersonal Art Therapy. She currently is subcontracted by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) on their study using MDMA for treatment-resistant post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on their Boulder and Fort Collins sites. She’s incredibly passionate about the healing potential of the creative process and the body’s innate wisdom. She loves science fiction, anything by Alejandro Jodorowsky, and petting all of the dogs.

Posted on

Matthew Pallamary – Exploring Ayahuasca Shamanism


Download

Introduction

In this episode of Psychedelics Today, host Joe Moore and Kyle Buller interview Matt Pallamary, and have a discussion with him about his writing, research, and ayahuasca experiences. He also shares his concerns about self-proclaimed gurus and some issues that have been emerging because of the popularity of ayahuasca.

3 Key Points:

  1. Science fiction writer Ray Bradbury was a mentor of Matt Pallamary.
  2. There are pros and cons to ayahuasca shamanism in Peru.
  3. The more in touch with the natural world you are the more balanced you are.

Show Notes

  • Matt Pallamary was part of the early psychedelics podcast scene.
  • Matt grew up in Dorchester near Boston, and he began early experiences with sniffing glue, weed, and getting acid from a chemist from M.I.T..
  • He has almost 20 years experience with ayahuasca.
  • Too many people have a couple of ayahuasca experiences and claim to be a guru.
  • Famed science fiction writer Ray Bradbury was a mentor of Matt Pallamary.
  • Everything is energy—the whole universe exists between our eyes.
  • Matt labels shamans as the first storytellers, the first musicians, the first performers, psychologists, psychiatrists, and first performers.
  • Being in touch with the natural world makes a person more balanced.
  • The boundaries between your conscious and subconscious are blurred, overlapping your visions, dreams, and waking life.
  • When going through an ayahuasca experience, you have to be in a safe place where you can be vulnerable and around people you can trust.
  • For ayahuasca experiences, be sure to get references from people that have successfully worked with a group.

Resources Mentioned:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCKedqiAQ7g]

About Author

   

Author, Editor, and Shamanic Explorer Matthew J. Pallamary is an award winning writer, musician, and sound healer who has been studying shamanism all of his life. He incorporates shamanic practices into his daily life as well as into his writing and teaching. He has over a dozen books in print that cover several genres, many of which have been translated into foreign languages.

His book on writing, Phantastic Fiction: A Shamanic Approach to Story took First Place in the International Book Awards Writing and Editing Category, and his popular Phantastic Fiction Workshop has been a staple of the Santa Barbara Writers Conference and the Southern California Writer’s Conference for over twenty five years. He has also lectured about writing and shamanism at numerous venues throughout the United States.

Matt has spent extended time in the jungles, mountains, and deserts of North, Central, and South America pursuing his studies of shamanism and ancient cultures. Through his research into both the written word and the ancient beliefs of shamanism, he has uncovered the heart of what a story really is and integrated it into core dramatic concepts that also have their basis in shamanism.

Posted on

Treating Social Anxiety in Adults with Autism with MDMA and LSD – Voices in the Dark


Download

Caution!!

A few important notes. This is an episode of an individual experimenting with powerful drugs to see if he can get any sort of relief from autism. In this case, it appears to have been successful. That said, this came with a substantial amount of risks, and people need to be aware. Please read the below bullets so you understand. 

  • Autism is not what is treated. The thing being treated would be a symptom like social anxiety.
  • “The field of autism science includes a long and shameful history of quack treatments and parents taking desperate and harmful measures to “fix” their children. Autism is a spectrum of congenital and neurocognitive variants, and there are no published research data in support of any compound that can influence its course.” Alicia Danforth, PhD
  • Please do not administer these drugs to children with autism.
  • There are only two researchers investigating where MDMA and autism meet – Alicia Danforth PhD and Dr. Charlie Grob. A scientific paper will likely be available on this in the next few months. Expect to see more here. 
  • These drugs have not been shown to cure or treat autism, but in some cases, just like with neuro-typical individuals, some have seen meaningful changes. 
  • Even if changes are noticed the person is still autistic no matter how many high doses of psychedelics they take.
  • Obtaining pure drugs is very difficult if not impossible in black markets.
    • Verifying purity will require the resources of mass spectrometry from organizations offering these services like Energy Control or Ecstasy Data
    • Providing unsafe, dirty or compromised drugs to people can cause serious harm or death.
  • If you are planning to use MDMA to alleviate some suffering on your own, please wait or don’t.
  • Do substantial research and have skilled people available to help. 

Thanks to Alicia Danforth for helping us understand the nuance’s in this area.

..autism is a genetically determined cognitive variant. It’s pervasive, and it affects the whole person, not just the brain. No chemical compound has been shown to treat, cure, or alter the course of autism. However, for some people, substances like MDMA can help them manage symptoms such as anxiety, social anxiety, and trauma effects. – Alicia Danforth, Ph.D

Introduction

Joe Moore and Kyle Buller interview Jon and Dre of the Voices in the Dark podcast out of England. The discussion addresses treating symptoms of autism with MDMA and LSD, what types of doses were used, and how to in part do it safely. Note there are always risks with any kind of drug. Learn the basics over at our Navigating Psychedelics course.  

3 Key Points:

  1. A lot of autism is sensory overload. As far as emotions are concerned, “we “see potentially too many things in other people’s faces.” – Dre
  2. A good range for MDMA dosages is between 100mg and not going over  200mg.
  3. 125 micrograms per drop of liquid LSD, and not going above 250 micrograms is recommended.

Show Notes

      • Jon’s first psychedelic experience shifted his academic career path and helped him to deal with depression.
      • Dre first tried MDMA as a first step and it unlocked emotional empathy.
      • Sensory overload is a lot of autism according to Dre.
      • Jon’s experiences with MDMA made him feel like himself without the fear and the worry.
      • MDMA and LSD at the same time didn’t feel as emotional when combined to Jon.
      • 125 micrograms per drop of liquid LSD, and not going above 250 micrograms is recommended.
      • Democratising psychedelic therapy is where Joe would like to see the industry go.
      • Jon is against the fetishizing of any particular concept of belief system in its totality.
      • Jon is excited that he is starting to see more types of research on LSD/MDMA and autism.
      • Dre’s experiences have shifted his autism by feeling that he has a foot in both worlds to know how living without it feels in his mind.

Resources Mentioned:

Additional Resources

 

About Voices in the Dark

        

LEARNING HOW TO HUMAN

At Voices in the Dark, we bring you powerful, mind- and soul-expanding conversations about real life psychology, philosophy, psychedelics, spirituality, social dynamics and much more.

We’re a podcast, a blog, and a community of likeminded individuals who want to become the best versions of themselves. We’re dedicated to never stop Learning How To Human.

Our mission is to entertain, provoke, inform, and make you question everything you think you know.

DRE

A disturbingly quick study in most fields, Dre’s autism made learning people more of a challenge. The works of Robert Greene shone a light on the otherwise deeply confusing world of other people’s psyches, transforming the world around him into something which finally made sense.

JON

After spending far too many years in educational institutions, Jon got a PhD in History but is now finally learning something about the real world and the people in it. He always felt that science and scholarship needed more dick jokes and is on a mission to redress that balance. He writes, talks, travels, sings, and has a problematic relationship with cake and coffee.

Posted on

Psychedelic Professionalism: Exploring Ethics, Boundaries, Self-Care, and More


Download

In this episode of Psychedelics Today, Kyle and Joe discuss professionalism in the psychedelic field. It has been brought to our attention that there are a number of people out there doing unprofessional things. As this field continues to develop and grow, it is important to be aware of what professionalism could look like, what self care, ethics, and boundaries look like in this world that we are all actively developing.

This episode is about raising the topic of professionalism in a new growing field rather than providing answers. We all need to be self-reflective in our development and question whether or not harm is being done by certain practices.

Some concerns were brought to attention via the Psilly Rabbits blog, Exploring Psychedelics 2018: Reviewing Zealotry and Apologetics within the Field of Psychedelic. If you want to listen to the episode where Cody discusses this blog more in-depth, check out the Psychedelic Zealotry episode.

Have any thoughts, comments, or feedback? Leave them below or send us an email!

In light of festival season, we are offering a $30 off coupon for our online store with every purchase of our course,  Navigating Psychedelics: Lessons on Self-Care and Integration throughout the month of June. If you are a student, please email us with your university email address to receive a special discount!

Joe and Kyle will also be offering some special live online course options. If you want to stay up-to-date about these offerings, sign up for our email list.

If you’re interested in learning more about DMTx, you can enroll in the DMTx 4-week Psychonaut Training. Proceeds go towards the DMTx project.

Posted on

Mike Branc – Mikeadelic, Ayahuasca and Coming Back to America

Mike Branc

Download
In this 88th episode of Psychedelics Today, host Joe Moore interviews Mike Brancatelli of the Mikeadelic podcast. After returning from a three-month Amazonian ayahuasca sojourn, Mikeadelic himself shares information about this extraordinary experience, how he has gotten involved in psychedelics and his journey.

Show Notes:
● Mike Brancatelli spent his three-month trip in Peru at the Temple of the Way of Lights with their residency program in the heart of the Amazon jungle during an ayahuasca retreat.
● Mike was previously doing stand-up comedy in New York City with his friend Dave Smith called “Part of the Problem.”
● Mikeadelic the podcast began in the spring of 2016.
● Drinking ayahuasca will produce an effect on you, especially when coupled with ceremony and healing songs.
● During an intense healing ceremony, a song cut to the core of the collection of pain that Mike was experiencing, and it felt like he was being unclogged of this negative energy, and it came out in the form of a very vocal purge.
● He feels passionate about ending the war on drugs and the prison industrial complex.
● You can remain filled with passion and compassion without being emotionally attached. Sit with your feelings without letting them control how you respond.
● The information overload of media drowns your spirit.
● A morning routine with meditation is helpful to get centered and focused for the rest of the day.
● The Netflix TV series “Wild Wild Country” is a true story about a controversial cult leader claiming to enlighten people.
● “Enlightenment Now” is a book about the enlightenment philosophy “science, reason and humanism”. It is a contemporary take on that philosophy – you could call Pinker’s take a Modern Enlightenment philosophy. Steven Pinker wrote the book. Joe Moore, suggests it and found out about it from the Bill Gates’s.
● “The Internet of Money” Volume 1 and Volume 2 by Andreas M. Antonopoulos is another interesting read suggested by Joe Moore.
● Before ayahuasca use, listen to your heart to understand why you want to try it.

3 Key Points:
1. During an intense healing ceremony, a song cut to the core of the collection of pain that Mike was experiencing, and it felt like he was being unclogged of this negative energy, and it came out in the form of a very vocal purge.
2. It is incredibly brave to be willing to confront your stress and be willing to stare into your soul and slay your demons.
3. Remain passionate, compassionate, and acknowledge the problems in the world, but don’t stay emotionally attached to them. Become mindful of how you respond.

Posted on

Britta Love – Sex, Psychedelics, Privilege and Justice

Britta Love

Download
Joe Moore interviews Britta Love, a passionate writer and sex educator based in New York City. Britta shares about the overlap of sexuality and psychedelics, her field of consciousness and embodiment studies, and dealing with the psychedelic patriarchy. She shares her desires to diversity the field and make supporters he safe and supported.

Quotes

We have to be OK with the fact that as we get confronted by the internalized racism and patriarchy and privilege that our psychedelic sub-culture carries, that its going

to be a little messy for a while, and we are all going to have to feel uncomfortable at times.

Giving up your privilege is the ultimate psychedelic trip. There is something about that surrender that’s really deep.

If you are someone who does what we call holding space or facilitates in someway, to actively hand that power back as often as possible, when you realize someone is trying to give it to you it, is a really powerful meditation.”

Show Notes

● Britta Love talks about sexual abuse stories that were discussed on a
panel on psychedelic patriarchy she participated in.
● In Britta’s anti-racist work, whenever she starts to feel uncomfortable, she recognizes that that discomfort is not as bad as what it must feel like to get oppressed by systemic racism.
● Author Robert Anton Wilson’s idea of “reality tunnels” is that we all have our B.S. (Belief System). What if we could flip between belief systems and be more
flexible and be more literate with reality and open-minded.
● Britta speaks about a healer who was sexually abusive to a woman she knows.
● A woman was raped by a male nurse and she was strong-armed to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
● The psychedelic community needs more diversity, more women and people of color to balance out the equality of voices.
● We need healthy models of sexuality to express sexual energy in a positive and constructive manner to get rid of sexual aggression and power dynamics.
● We are too willing to hand over our power to healers and shamans. We can become our own healers when we are in safe environments.
● Psychedelic therapy can be demystified and taught, and doesn’t have to remain esoteric with a hierarchy of privilege structures.
● Forming collectives of up to 100 people with different skills to form a safe, supportive, and collective village of awareness and wisdom.
● How do we create containers that are encouraging of and supportive of the deep reflection that is required to undo racism and patriarchy and systems of oppression require?

3 Key Points:
1. In Britta’s anti-racist work, whenever she starts to feel uncomfortable, she recognizes that that discomfort is not as bad as what it must feel like to get oppressed by systemic racism.
2. We are too willing to hand over our power to healers and shamans—we can become our own healers when we are in safe spaces.
3. Know your value and contribution within a group. People feel better when they are a giver.

Resources Mentioned

Instagram – BrittaLoved

The Daily Transmission

Links

10 Reasons to End the War on Drugs and the War on Sex Workers

Britta LoveBritta Love

Britta Love is a writer, somatic sex educator and multi-dimensional healer based in Brooklyn, NY. A graduate of the London School of Economics and Goddard College, she wrote her thesis in Consciousness Studies on the healing and spiritual potential of altered states, specifically those induced by conscious sexual practice and the ritual use of psychoactive plant medicines. She writes for Alternet, Psymposia and Reality Sandwich, gives talks and facilitates workshops in NYC, and blogs on sex, drugs and consciousness

 

 

 

 

Posted on

Daniel McQueen – DMTx and Future Psychedelic Technologies


Download

In this episode of Psychedelics Today, host Joe Moore interviews Daniel McQueen, Co-Founder of Medicinal Mindfulness and the DMT research project called DMTx. They discuss the extended-state DMT research project that they are involved in, the personal DMT trip experiences that Daniel McQueen has had, and what this research can make possible.

3 Key Points:

  1. Daniel McQueen does private retreats, groups, conscious cannabis circles, healing meditations, and community breath work.
  2. Goals for called Extended State DMT research include healing clinical concerns and advanced creative problem-solving with experts that need assistance.
  3. We are four-dimensional beings in an 11-dimensional reality.

Show Notes

  • What is DMTx?
  • Who originated the concept?
    • Dr. Rick Strassman and Dr. Andrew Gallimore.
  • Daniel’s story of a very intense and meaningful DMT experience
  • Depth Psychology is trying to bring things from the subconscious to the surface.
  • Humanist Psychology is based on what it means to be human and the human experience.
  • William James is one of the fathers of Transpersonal Psychology, which integrates the spiritual and transcendent aspects of the human experience with psychology.
  • Psychedelics Today has partnered with Daniel McQueen of Medicinal Mindfulness on a project called DMTx (Extended-State DMT research) which involves using an IV pump to keep a steady stream of DMT in the bloodstream for a long period of time.
  • Daniel McQueen does private retreats, groups, conscious cannabis circles, healing meditations, and community breath work.
  • DMT is “the most profound hallucinogen that we have access to.” It doesn’t lose its effect the more you use it.
  • Once you hit the peak of the DMT trip during Extended State DMT you stabilize.
  • People have been overwhelmed when smoking DMT because the dosages may have been too high with a lack of a sense of meaning—an overdose of stimulation.
  • A peak experience that Daniel had was slug beings showing the soul of his unborn child.
  • After his second child was born, Daniel had another trip where an authoritative being searched for the soul of his child that had now been born.
  • The risk is low but bad events not handled properly could involve: a cardiac arrest, situation even though there are no known cases and psychological crisis and mania.
  • Daniel is working towards a DMT travel exhibition with four experiences included.
  • Spiritual traditions will be integrated into the research to acknowledge the spiritual possibilities.
  • Goals for the project include healing clinical concerns and advanced creative problem-solving with experts that need assistance.
  • Daniel believes psychedelic medicines give us the potential to see things beyond three dimensions.
  • What happens when our culture is literate to the psychedelic space?
  • There is a moral case to make to prevent people using altered states to create more advanced dangerous weapons.
  • We are four-dimensional beings in an 11-dimensional reality.
  • Why can’t we use a more scientific approach to move towards spiritual awakenings?


Resources Mentioned

Daniel McQueen, MA

      

Daniel discovered meditation and spiritual practices at twelve and has been interested in exploring inner states ever since.  He apprenticed under a number of shamanic teachers and has been a practicing intentional journeyer for over 16 years.  For Daniel, working in the professional field of Cannabis and Psychedelics isn’t a career interest, but represents a core identity and life calling.  Finding a place to honor such a life calling within a world that has until recently prohibited it has been an interesting challenge.

After graduating from the University of Arkansas with a degree in Communication, Daniel traveled down a many forked and unmarked road through the wild terrain of political activism, corporate accountability research and campaign finance reform for many years in Washington, DC.  Disillusioned by the city, he moved to Florida and opened a small meditation center to explore grassroots community organizing before moving to Boulder, CO and returning to school at Naropa University.

Daniel earned a Masters Degree in Transpersonal Counseling Psychology from Naropa and received advanced training in MDMA-assisted psychotherapy through a year internship with the MAPS Boulder MDMA for PTSD Study.  It was his experience with MAPS that inspired Daniel to explore alternative visions in cannabis and psychedelic activism and entrepreneurship.

Daniel bridges transpersonal paradigms with the grounded clinical and organizational skills necessary to begin addressing the significant ecological and mental health crises facing our society today.  Although Daniel no longer practices as a clinical psychotherapist, he supports his clients as a teacher, coach, ally and event facilitator, providing individual and group transformational experiences and deeply held intentional conversations.  In his practice, Daniel quickly realized that the most important intervention he could provide to his clients, who were isolated and longed for meaningful contact with others, was a sense of community.  Medicinal Mindfulness is, in a very real way, a cultural intervention that provides a safe and transformational community container for healing and awakening… a program based on skill development and not dogma.  Since 2012, Daniel has been teaching a psychedelic harm prevention and intentional psychedelic use course called Psychedelic Sitters School.  Since the legalization of recreational cannabis in Colorado, he has been facilitating group journey experiences called Conscious Cannabis Events and guiding individual cannabis journeys.

In addition to his work with Medicinal Mindfulness, Daniel has a successful spirituality and life coaching practice with his wife, Alison, through their company, Aspenroots Counseling LLC.  Highly skilled in identifying and cultivating giftedness in young people and supporting significant life transitions, Daniel is inspired to support passionate and talented individuals striving to live into their calling.  A primary focus of his practice involves assessing and addressing the benefits and difficulties related to psychedelic and cannabis use and misuse.

Daniel co-founded the Naropa Alliance for Psychedelic Studies and helped organize the first annual Psychedelic Symposium at Naropa University in 2012.

About Medicinal Mindfulness

Medicinal Mindfulness® LLC and Medicinal Mindfulness Events LLC

Medicinal Mindfulness is a grassroots consciousness community/membership organization and education program that supports individuals and groups who choose to use cannabis and psychedelics with intention.  Founded by Daniel McQueen, MA, and his wife, Alison McQueen, MA, our community has come together to provide an enjoyable, safe, open and affirming space to share transformational cannabis and breathwork experiences.

We use clinically informed, mindfulness-based approaches within a somatically oriented, transpersonal and community paradigm to create an holistic (mind, body, spirit) process that initiates powerful transformations in healing and personal development.

Services are available for individuals, couples, families and groups.

Given the common misunderstandings and concerns that accompany the field of psychedelics and cannabis harm prevention and advocacy, we are committed to making ourselves available to public service and safety professionals to answer questions regarding psychedelic and cannabis harm reduction programs.

Posted on

Brian Normand – CryptoPsychedelic


Download

During this episode of Psychedelics Today, your host Joe Moore interviews Brian Normand of Psymposia and coordinator of the Cryptopsychedelic Conference.

Episode Quotes

  • Banks are devaluing currency by charging high fees.
  • With blockchain, you’ve got to think in the long-term.
  • There’s so much going on with crypto, you can’t keep up.
  • What blockchain developer wants to go work for Facebook?

Show Notes

  • Joe and Brian discuss the CryptoPsychedelic Conference the took place in Tulum, Mexico.
  • What is blockchain?
    • A next-gen decentralized ledger.
    • A peer-to-peer border-less, institution-less payment system.
    • Money will be one of the first users of blockchain.
    • Banks are devaluing currency by charging high fees.
    • The whole concept of money will transform, it will be a border-less thing.
  • When Napster came out, peer to peer transfer became a very popular technology.
    • When the record companies worried about being irrelevant, they sued.
    • There could be something like Spotify that pays artists more fairly than Spotify currently does.
    • Social media could be rebuilt.
      • We could no longer be the product being sold, but get paid for our contributions.
  • Could crypto be used to trace the history and purity of substances?
    • Yes, that’s a definite use case.
    • The first voting on a blockchain happened in Sierra Leone.
    • You’ve got to think in the long term.
  • What were some of the more interesting things that came out of the CryptoPsychedelic conference?
    • Some of the new relationships and seeing the potential collaboration between the two communities.
    • Projects in this space need to be taken on.
    • It was a time to question, not really a time for answers.
    • Watch the movie 2001 a Space Odyssey in one sitting.
      • Every time you watch it you come away with a new experience.
    • Cryptocurrencies are border-less, some have minimal fees, and it’s instant.
  • Decentralized systems
    • Information is easier to access, it doesn’t have to climb up a ladder.
    • The DAO is the Decentralized Autonomous Organization – there is no hierarchy.
    • Government could eventually be run via blockchain.
  • How could we use the internet to further the message of psychedelics?
    • Before the internet, the only way you were exposed to information was top down.
      • Networks, authority institutions.
    • Because of the internet, information is moving more horizontally.
    • How do you change incentive structures in the drug war? Could it be these new technologies?
  • The rate of innovation now is way faster than it was when the internet was first coming out.
    • You cannot keep up with what’s going on, there’s too much going on.
    • Look at money as a tool or form of energy.
  • Crypto will change everyone’s concept of paying taxes.
    • Air BnB cut the cities completely out of the picture.
    • Taxes and healthcare or both extremely important and impossible for people to understand.
    • Internet privacy is a big deal in crypto and psychedelics alike.
    • Brian doesn’t think that Facebook will ultimately make it.
  • Developers want to build new tools to take down the giants like Facebook.
    • Recently, Facebook announced a decline in users.
    • What can you do to reverse becoming “uncool”?
    • Reddit’s price per impression is much lower.
    • Steemit has a fascinating model.
    • It would be cool if you could be compensated for putting helpful content online.
  • We assume that the way the internet is now is how it’s always going to be.
    • How can we use the tool to help the people whose lives aren’t privileged like ours?
    • In a lot of refugee camps, you can’t have cash, so crypto is huge for them.
    • What happens when people who are impoverished around the world can now crowdfund?

Resources Mentioned

Brian Normand Viveros
  

Brian Normand is CoFounder of Psymposia, entrepreneur, and advocate of psychedelic science, therapy, and drug reform. He attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst and holds a B.S. in Plant, Soil, and Insect Science, Magna Cum Laude.

 

 

 

 

Posted on

Stefanie Jones – Safer Partying and Harm Reduction

Download

During this episode of Psychedelics Today, your host Kyle Buller interviews Stefanie Jones, the Director of Audience Development at the Drug Policy Alliance.

  • There are risks and benefits to all drug use.
  • Ultimately, you don’t want your teenager to use drugs, but if they do, you want to keep them safe and give them the right information.
  • The festival community needs to be so much more aware of opioid overdose and drug checking.

Show Notes

  • About Stefanie Jones
    • In her role, she oversees communication and outreach to specific communities on drug use and drug policy topics.
    • Personally runs the DPA music fan program.
    • She works on the Safer Partying program which has four goals:
      • Ending stigma against people who use drugs at festivals, concerts, and clubs.
      • Amending the illicit drug anti-proliferation act – aka The Rave Act.
      • Making drug checking happen in as many places and forms as possible.
      • Stopping the criminalization of party-goers.
      • The DPA is launching a pilot study at a school in Brooklyn with more honest and accurate information about drugs.
    • She’s been working for the Drug Policy Alliance for almost 13 years.
      • Stefanie Jones develops materials that bring us closer to drug policy reform.
    • She works with two different audiences:
      • Parents and educators
      • Drug users at events and concerts.
  • Drug education for teenagers and parents goes back a long way at DPA.
    • Marsha Rosenbaum wrote a very famous letter to her son who was about to go into school.
      • She wrote a booklet called “Safety First.” A reality-based approach to teens and drugs.
    • Stefanie Jones put together a harm reduction-based curriculum to be taught in schools.

  • How does Safety First differ from DARE?
    • DARE is more of an abstinence-only policy and doesn’t talk about what happens if you do use drugs.
    • Safety First gives abstinence as an option but also gives options to reduce risk if you do choose to use drugs.
      • The program is designed for 14-year-olds, but it makes things like dose information tricky
      • The class introduces the concept of dose and dosage.
    • It talks about drug classes with a lesson specifically devoted to psychedelics.
      • They talk about reagent drug checking.
        • How this works and how it can help you reduce harm.
    • They’re about to do a pilot of Safety First in a school in New York.
      • The program is in multiple sessions- 14 sessions long.
  • How was pitching Safety First to the school?
    • They were open to it and looking for something different.
  • DPA wanted to put something together that’s not dependent on them, it will be taught by the health teacher.
    • She hopes it replaces DARE.
  • How do you think parents will take it?
    • The parents at Bard high school were very into it.
    • There was one parent who didn’t speak up in the meeting but came up to us afterwards.
    • Their curriculum wants to measure critical thinking skills, concrete strategies, etc.
  • Some drugs tend to have a lot of positive feelings around them.
    • For example, marijuana and psychedelics.
    • In the psychedelics lesson, they had to talk about the different kinds of mushrooms and what you need to know.
  • Which drug classes do you go over?
    • Depressants
    • Stimulants
    • Opioids
    • Psychedelics
    • Marijuana
  • There’s material that she uses at festivals that are great.
    • The tripsit chart
    • She started doing safer partying work first.
    • This community doesn’t get a lot of outreach, a lot of what they do isn’t problematic.
    • Stefanie Jones partners with Insomniac (EDC and other similar events)
      • The idea is to have a place where someone can get drug information and sexual information.
    • There are young people who are trained to walk the space and identify medical issues.
  • What’s one main concern you’ve been seeing in the festival scene?
    • With Project #OpenTalk, the kids are so young going to their first festival.
      • They’ve had little or crappy drug education.
    • The festival community needs to be so much more aware of opioid overdose and drug checking.
    • One of the goals is addressing the stigma around drug use.
    • Another goal is providing accurate, honest information regarding harm reduction.
    • The third goal is having drug checking available and accessible.
    • The fourth goal is around policy reform.
    • De-criminalizing drugs will fix a lot of problems.
  • DPA wants to create supervised consumption spaces along with drug checking.
  • How do you talk to parents about harm reduction?
    • The founder goes first to the issue of safety.
    • Ultimately, you don’t want your teenager to use drugs, but if they do, you want to keep them safe and give them the right information.
  • Is there anything exciting coming up with DPA?
    • Make revisions of the Safety-First program based on data.
    • Will be testing it in the fall with a school in the Bay area.
    • Hoping to expand information about psychedelics into the party arena.
    • Doing a week-long trip to Portugal to see what decriminalization works.
  • Any last thoughts to throw out?

Follow @musicfandpa on Twitter.

Resources Mentioned

Stefanie Jones

Stefanie Jones is director of audience development at the Drug Policy Alliance, based in New York. In this role she oversees communication and outreach to specific communities on drug use and drug policy topics, including on novel psychoactive substances (NPS) and DPA’s youth drug education work.  She personally runs the Music Fan program, which introduces harm reduction principles and drug policy alternatives to partygoers, public health officials and city nightlife regulators across the U.S.

In her prior role within the organization as an event manager, she produced four progressively larger editions of the biennial International Drug Policy Reform Conference, as well as numerous local policy conferences, fundraisers and coalition-building meetings.

Posted on

Zach Leary – Trans-humanism, psychedelic use, over-use and taking a break


Download

Introduction

During this episode of Psychedelics Today, your hosts Kyle Buller and Joe Moore talk to Zach Leary host of the MAPS podcast and It’s All Happening. We have an incredible time talking to Zach and his worldview, experiences, opinions and much more. It was a very fun time recording with Zach and we hope it can happen again in the near future. 

Show Notes

  • Joe and Kyle discuss Zach’s connections with Ram Dass
  • Zach Leary calls himself a futurist and we discuss what a futurist is.
    • A natural way to continue the narrative of our physical evolution and our spiritual development.
    • Cyberspace is an invention as a result of our human condition.
      • The way and the reason we invented it is that we found a need to create another dimension.
    • Futurism and transhumanism and embracing the way technology is augmenting the human experience is a great place to be.
  • Do you see any major problems in psychedelia?
    • Overall, it’s a great time to be into psychedelics.
      • There’s so much research and data available to the end-user and the discussion is improving.
      • Many people are starting to be more open about their beneficial relationship with psychedelics.
      • It’s important to get people in the mainstream aware of their beneficial properties.
      • The Ayahuasca fad going on in the U.S. has many people calling themselves shamans, which raised a red flag to Zach.
      • It used to be that going to the medicine man was a common occurrence in any culture.
      • Mysticism didn’t go away, it just got turned into a more doctrinal practice.
  • The part of the church that bothers Zach is the authoritarian aspect, that there is only one god.
    • There’s an element of fanaticism when someone says there’s only one drug that’s worth taking.
    • April 19 is the 75th anniversary of the first intentional use of LSD (Bicycle Day).
    • We have to start re-thinking about what “natural” means.
      • The human imagination and what it creates is a by-product of nature.
  • There’s no stopping the technological march, the train has left the station.
    • A return to nature can include biodiverse rooftop gardens in New York.
    • It’s very hard to get off the grid.
  • What do we have that’s readily available and sustainable?
    • Mushrooms
    • LSD
    • Other synthetic compounds that don’t bother the rainforest, etc.
  • Drugs that may not be sustainable:
    • Ayahuasca, Peyote, 5-MeO (Sonoran Desert Toad – Bufo Alvarius toad venom)
    • Some people are playing fast and loose with 5-MeO
      • There are people who give do things to “patients” that are non-consensual while they are under the effect of the drug.
  • Psychedelics are often highly individualistic.
    • It’s nice to be able to jump in with a shaman, but to what extent?
  • There is some cultural appropriation here when you take ancient practices and move them into new environments.
    • It’s best not to ignore the roots and traditions of these practices but honor them as best as you can.
  • How do we not make mistakes in psychedelics?
    • There’s so much data, examples and role models now.
    • There are best practices based on data now.
  • Zach would like to see less consumption of MDMA.
    • People over-consume MDMA.
    • More of a concern about bodily harm.
    • 2-3 times a year is probably enough.
  • There are parallel paths going on and if the parallel path of computers and humanity are going on, what does that look like eventually?
  • What are some of your major influences in the psychedelic world?
    • Terence McKenna, Jim Fadiman, Timothy Leary, Aldous Huxley, Dennis McKenna
  • How would you like to see the future of psychedelics evolve?
    • We’re seeing the rumblings of what’s to come.
    • There’s going to be a firmly legitimate place in the psychiatric world for the psychedelic therapy.
    • Hopefully, it carries over into recreational use and cognitive therapy.

Links

About Zach Leary

     

Zach is the host of both the “It’s All Happening with Zach Leary” podcast and “The MAPS Podcast.” They have helped to cement him as one of the most thought provoking podcasters in the cultural philosophy genre of podcasting. He’s also a blogger/writer, a futurist, spiritualist, a technology consultant and socio-cultural theorist.

In all of Zach’s work he blends his roles as a spiritual aspirant and a futurist into a unique identity all his own. His spiritual background has it’s roots in being a practitioner of bhakti yoga as taught through many of the vedantic systems of Northern India, in particular Neem Karoli Baba as taught by Ram Dass. Through the practice of bhakti yoga he has found keys that unlock doorways that allow the soul to experience it’s true nature of being eternal, full of knowledge and full of bliss. In addition to bhakti yoga, Zach is influenced by many different methods and traditions of consciousness exploration ranging from trans-humanism to buddhism and clinical psychology. Zach is also a frequent pundit on the political systems that are fueling todays economic and cultural structures. At the core of all of Zach’s work is the belief that we have been fused together by the collective practice of using technology to expand our species imagination with spirituality and mysticism to define the very nature of who we are.

Check out our online store

 

Posted on

Matthew Segall, Ph.D. – Whitehead, Process Philosophy, and Ecology


Download

During this episode of Psychedelics Today, your hosts Kyle and Joe Moore talk to Dr. Matt Segall, a philosopher with a Ph.D. working at CIIS as an administrator and adjunct lecturer. In this episode, we explore psychedelics through the lens of philosophy and Alfred North Whitehead.

Show Notes:

  • Philosophy is really important when talking about psychedelics.
    • This movement is working on a lot of different levels.
    • Looking to get accepted into academia therefore it’s important to be precise.
  • About Dr. Matt Segall
    • Strong interest in Alfred North Whitehead
    • 12 levels of abstraction away from Plato.
    • Ropes in all of western philosophy and science into a cohesive system that seems to reenchant the world a bit.
  • Extended state DMT research
    • Use an IV pump to keep a steady stream of DMT in the bloodstream for an undetermined amount of time.
    • The initial phase of the study is 10-20 minutes.
    • Not just for medical research, it’s for the community.
    • Join the class at psychedelicstoday.teachable.com.
  • How did Matt Segall stumble his way into the Whitehead world?
    • Philosophy came first, but not by much.
    • He had a teacher who introduced him to some psychedelic teachers.
    • His first experience with psychedelics was when he was 19 years old with mushrooms.
      • He realized that there were many other worlds running in parallel with this one.
    • These substances open up our perceptions of other worlds and other facets of the same world.
    • We need to incorporate the experience induces by these substances.
    • Western philosophy is rooted in the psychedelic experience.
    • Plato’s encounter with the ideal forms that led him out of the cave proves that the origins of philosophy include psychedelics.
    • There is chemical evidence that the rituals in Athens were psychedelic in nature.
    • When ancient Greeks refer to wine, they’re talking about something that was way more mind altering.
  • What drew you into Whitehead?
    • In college, he listened to a McKenna lecture and he mentioned Whitehead a lot.
      • McKenna introduced him to Whitehead.
      • He waited until he started graduate school, so he could take a course on him and study him alongside other graduate students.
      • Whitehead incorporated 20th century physics and a version of Darwin’s understanding of evolution expanded to a cosmological level.
      • Combining advanced science with an enchanted view of the universe.
    • The modern era has alienated human beings from the rest of the natural world.
      • The industrial revolution made this alienation even more profound.
      • There has been a gradual isolation of the human being from the rest of life and the universe.
      • Human beings have come to think of the rest of life and just robots seeking to reproduce.
        • Value has to be assigned to anything non-human by humans.
        • This thinking is highly destructive.
        • Our idea has not fit the reality and it’s destroying the reality.
      • Whitehead helps us re-inhabit the planet as one of the many species.
      • When human beings come to recognize that value is not just made up in our human society but it’s an intrinsic cosmic value, they can act accordingly.
    • Whitehead’s process is called a process-relational process.
      • We’ve traditionally been thought to have a soul or mind that’s independent of others.
      • Whitehead proposes that our soul or mind is in relation to others.
        • So that what it means to be me is that I’m not unique, but my uniqueness comes from my unique perspective and works with the other souls in the environment.
        • This attempts to move us away from thinking of ourselves as isolated minds.
        • The biggest challenge is to get people to not shut down when they see Whitehead’s terminology.
      • Philosophy can serve to help us develop a language that actually serves to represent our experience.
        • It’s well worth it to learn the dictionary that Whitehead provides.
      • Whitehead’s understanding of perception is welcoming more indigenous ways of knowing back into the realm of philosophy.
        • Whitehead helps us make sense of indigenous experience.
        • All of human culture stems from these shamanistic practices.
        • We don’t yet have the words to explain yet what these psychedelic journeys are doing to us.
        • A downside to being in the west is that we don’t have relationship with psychedelic substances.
        • The plants that are a part of the ayahuasca brew told the indigenous people how to brew them.
        • People talk about nature deficit disorder, kids being raised indoors being told the outdoors is dirty.
        • The problem is not one of trying to reinvent the wheel, we have to stop beating this capacity out of children.
      • When we talk about the human nervous system in the context of symbiotic relationships with our ecosystem:
        • It doesn’t make sense to consider the human brain and nervous system as enclosed within the skull.
        • The human nervous system is actually a lot more ecological in its extent than most physiologists would let on.
        • The chemical metabolism of our brain extends out into the environment.
      • Richard Doyle wrote a book called Darwin’s Pharmacy where he coins the term “ecodelic” which challenges the idea of an autonomous individual.
        • The idea is we’re actually permeated by the chemicals flowing through our environment.
        • Our consciousness is shaped any time we eat anything.
        • Some drugs are not thought of as drugs: sugar, caffeine, tobacco.
          • These are accepted psychedelic substances.
        • The fact that cannabis and other psychedelics are becoming more mainstream again shows that we in late-stage capitalism.
      • Is there anything in particular you’ve been excited about in psychedelics lately?
        • The research on MDMA for PTSD in veterans coming back from Iraq and the success rate they’re achieving.
        • The FDA may be forced by the sheer weight of the evidence to approve MDMA.
        • The hope is that we can use MDMA to treat “pre-traumatic stress disorder.”
          • Enhance the empathic capacity of those who handle a great deal of conflict.
        • Within a year or two the FDA is going to be approving MDMA, which is unbelievable.
      • Joe and Matt talk about how credentials are often forced as a barrier to entry into certain fields.
        • Matt is all for a standardized approach to mainstream these things.
        • He wants to go in all directions to get the therapy out.
        • The plants used in psychedelics are so much safer than any drug that’s on the market right now.
        • Some lawmakers are trying to pass a law to allow the death penalty for drug dealers, including those who sell cannabis.
      • Do you have any places you’d like to send people to re-engage with philosophy?
        • Study the history of philosophy.
        • Passion of the Western Mind by Richard Tarnas.
        • Story of Philosophy by Will Durant
      • Matt teaches an online course on Whitehead, the next one begins in January 2019.
        • Philosophy is not an abstract linguistic analysis.
        • He approaches philosophy as a spiritual practice.
        • Philosophy is learning to die.
          • We’re embodied creatures and philosophy is a way to come to terms with that.
        • Psychedelics help you experience ego death, but we’re still conscious.

Tweetable Quotes

  • Psychedelics are not just theoretically interesting, they have profound practical implications for how we organize our lives.
  • Whitehead’s terminology is an attempt to return us to our concrete experience.
  • Philosophy is learning to die.

Resources Mentioned

About Matthew Segall, Ph.D.

    

Matthew T. Segall, PhD, received his doctoral degree in 2016 from the Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness program at CIIS. His dissertation was titled Cosmotheanthropic Imagination in the Post-Kantian Process Philosophy of Schelling and Whitehead. It grapples with the limits to knowledge of reality imposed by Kant’s transcendental form of philosophy and argues that Schelling and Whitehead’s process-oriented approach (described in his dissertation as a “descendental” form of philosophy) shows the way across the Kantian threshold to renewed experiential contact with reality. He teaches courses on German Idealism and process philosophy for the Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness program at CIIS. He blogs regularly at footnotes2plato.com.

Posted on

Dennis McKenna and Mark Plotkin – Richard Evans Schultes, Conservation in the Amazon and the ESPD 50


Download

In this episode of Psychedelics Today, Kyle and Joe speak to Dennis McKenna (of Dennis McKenna fame) and Mark Plotkin founder of the Amazon Conservation Team. We discuss a broad range of subjects. One of the most interesting was a project that Dennis and many others have been working on for over a year at the time of recording this, titled Ethnopharmacologic Search for Psychoactive Drugs, which was a conference in the UK in 2017. It was a 50-year follow up to the initial event (and later seminal book) that Richard Evan Schultes, Ph.D. helped coordinate and host.

This link will take you to a page where you can see all of the talks that were given at ESPD50. https://vimeo.com/album/4766647

We really think you’ll enjoy the show. Please let us know what you think and if you can, pre-order the ESPD 50 to save some money on the post-release price.

About ESPD 50

From ESPD50.com

“In 1967, a landmark symposium entitled Ethnopharmacologic Search for Psychoactive Drugs was held in San Francisco, California. It was the first international, interdisciplinary group of specialists – from ethnobotanists to neuroscientists – who gathered in one place to share their findings on the use of psychoactive plants in indigenous societies. Follow-up meetings were intended to be held every ten years, but the War on Drugs intervened.  The findings of the convention were printed in a book entitled with the same name as the gathering.

On the 50th anniversary during the month of June 2017 an international group of specialists gathered again to share their perspectives on past, present, and future research in ethnopharmacology.  The symposium was held at the spectacular Tyringham Hall in Britain.

ESPD50 was organized by a team led by Dennis McKenna, Founder of Symbio Life Sciences, PBC.  Synergetic Press published a collector’s box set including the first edition of 1967 plus a brand new book with the 50th-anniversary symposium’s findings.”

Show Notes & Links

About Mark Plotkin, Ph.D

Dr. Plotkin has led ACT and guided its vision since 1996, when he co-founded the organization with his fellow conservationist, Liliana Madrigal. He is a renowned ethnobotanist who has spent almost three decades studying traditional plant use with traditional healers of tropical America.

Dr. Plotkin has previously served as Research Associate in Ethnobotanical Conservation at the Botanical Museum of Harvard University; Director of Plant Conservation at the World Wildlife Fund; Vice President of Conservation International; and Research Associate at the Department of Botany of the Smithsonian Institution.

Among his many influential writings, Dr. Plotkin may be best known for his popular work Tales of a Shaman’s Apprentice (1994), which has been printed continuously and has been published in multiple languages. Other works include the critically acclaimed children’s book The Shaman’s Apprentice – A Tale of the Amazon Rainforest, illustrated by Lynne Cherry, and Medicine Quest: In Search of Nature’s Healing Secrets. His most recent book, The Killers Within: The Deadly Rise of Drug-Resistant Bacteria, coauthored with Michael Shnayerson, was selected as a Discover Magazine book of the year.

In 1998, he played a leading role in the Academy Award-nominated IMAX film Amazon. Dr. Plotkin’s work also has been featured in a PBS Nova documentary, in an Emmy-winning Fox TV documentary, on the NBC Nightly News and Today Show, CBS’ 48 Hours and in Life, Newsweek, Smithsonian, Elle, People, The New York Times, along with appearances on National Public Radio. Time magazine called him an “Environmental Hero for the Planet” (2001) and Smithsonian magazine hailed him as one of “35 Who Made a Difference” (2005), along with Bill Gates, Steven Spielberg, and fellow New Orleanian Wynton Marsalis.

Dr. Plotkin has received the San Diego Zoo Gold Medal for Conservation; the Roy Chapman Andrews Distinguished Explorer Award; an International Conservation Leadership Award from the Jane Goodall Institute; and, with Liliana Madrigal, the Skoll Foundation’s Award for Social Entrepreneurship. In 2010, he received the honorary degree of “Doctor of Humane Letters” from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon. Dr. Plotkin was educated at Harvard, Yale and Tufts University.

About the Amazon Conservation Team

The Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving South American rainforests. This small but robust outfit occupies a unique niche among other environmental non-profits working in the tropics: ACT works hand in hand with local indigenous communities to devise and implement its conservation strategies.

About Dennis McKenna

Dennis Jon McKenna is an American ethnopharmacologist, research pharmacognosist, lecturer, and author. He is a founding board member and the director of ethnopharmacology at the Heffter Research Institute, a non-profit organization concerned with the investigation of the potential therapeutic uses of psychedelic medicines. 

McKenna received his Master’s degree in botany at the University of Hawaii in 1979. He received his doctorate in botanical sciences in 1984 from the University of British Columbia,[2] where he wrote a dissertation entitled Monoamine oxidase inhibitors in Amazonian hallucinogenic plants: ethnobotanical, phytochemical, and pharmacological investigations. McKenna then received post-doctoral research fellowships in the Laboratory of Clinical Pharmacology, National Institute of Mental Health, and in the Department of Neurology, Stanford University School of Medicine.

 

Dennis McKenna Links

Posted on

Tarif Ahmed – America, Opportunity, and Open Source Experimentation


Download

Joe recently had the opportunity to interview an old friend, Tarif Ahmed while visiting Long Island, New York. They had the opportunity to record about all sorts of things from diversity, privilege, open source experimentation with different psychedelic regimens, bringing psychedelics safely into Islam and much more.

If you enjoy the episode, please let us know what you think by leaving an iTunes review!

Topics in the show

  • Meeting at Evolver Boston events years ago.
  • Race and privilege
  • Growing up in a Muslim community
  • Bringing in psychedelics into Muslim communities quietly
  • How status could be helpful in the Muslim world
  • Possible psychedelic origins of some aspects of Islam
    • Psychedelic art
    • Sufism
    • Some teachings
  • Open source testing of ideas on places like reddit
  • Tracking experiences and tests in a journal is very important
  • Working with mentors long term to have consistent support over time

Nicholas Powers Ph.D. – Psychedelics, Race, Where They Intersect, and Where They Don’t

Stefanie Jones – Safer Partying and Harm Reduction

Posted on

Malin Vedøy Uthaug – Exploring Ayahuasca Ceremonies and 5-MeO-DMT

Malin Uthaug - Psychedelics Today


Download

Malin Vedøy Uthaug is a Ph.D. candidate at Maastricht University and based out of Prague. Malin joins Psychedelics Today to talk about her interest and research with ayahuasca and 5-MeO-DMT. Malin shares her experience how she got involved studying psychedelics and shares a little bit about her personal experiences with ayahuasca. Malin is currently working on an interesting research study examining the potential influence that the ritual and ceremony may have on the overall ayahuasca experience.

Leave us a comment below and let us know what you think about this episode!

Show Notes & Links

Seminar with Malin Uthaug on the effects of ayahuasca and 5-MeO-DMT

About Malin Vedøy Uthaug

Malin Uthaug received a B.A degree in Psychology from University of New York in Prague and Empire State College June 2016. She then pursued her master in Health and Social Psychology at Maastricht University in The Netherlands 2016/2017 and graduated August 2017. During her last semester of her Masters, Malin was on a research internship in Colombia whereby she did field research on Ayahuasca under the supervision of Dr. Jan Ramaekers from Maastricht University, and Dr. Jordi Riba from Sant Pau hospital in Barcelona. The research internship was part of her master thesis titled “The Long-term Effects of Ayahuasca on Affect and Creative Thinking”. Now, on the side of being a PhD candidate researching the effects of Ayahuasca and 5-MeO-DMT, she is a life coach and public speaker. She started her coaching project titled Love & Gratitude in September 2016 which serves as a platform to spread information related to positive psychology and transpersonal psychology. Love & Gratitude has also become a way to bring about information about psychedelics, and help destigmatizing them. She has since September 2016 delivered talks and workshops in Belgium, The Netherlands, Czech Republic, Norway, and Colombia.

Posted on

James Norwood – Madness, Spiritual Emergence, and the Gnosis Retreat Center


Download

James Norwood, MA, joins Kyle and Michelle Hobart for a talk about spiritual emergence, madness, entheogens, and the Gnosis Retreat Center.

Learn more about Gnosis: http://www.gnosisretreatcenter.org/

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4-lJWwwRc8]

A brief introduction to Gnosis

Suppose you come to the end of your tether, can no longer cope, have a break-down, fall apart, go to pieces. To whom would you turn? Where would you go?
What alternatives do you have when you desperately need help, but have little, if any, say in the kind of help available?

When a person’s suffering becomes insupportable, to him or herself and to others, and yet persists, that person is in a state of distress. Once you find yourself in distress you come to realize that you are at the mercy of other people. Which of those people are you willing to be at their mercy, for better or worse? To whom are you willing to entrust your life? If you don’t happen to know anyone who comes to mind, then how will you go about finding someone you can trust? Do such persons exist?

Gnosis Retreat Center aspires to be such a place, by providing a safe place to be, when you are alone and afraid, confused, bereft, and not sure whom to turn to for help. Gnosis is a household that is populated by others like yourself, a refuge for those who are lost, afraid, bewildered, or simply seeking a fresh start, who may, if they choose, get over their ordeal and see it through, without jeopardy.

If you want to learn more about spiritual emergence(y) check out this online webinar: Spiritual Emergence or Psychosis?

Links

Additional video link of interest to the viewers:

This is the video of the talk on Why Radical Community is Vital

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOI_qT0mDKs&t=15s

About James Norwood, MA

James Norwood, MA, is a doctoral student in the Clinical Psychology program at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, California. Norwood is presently working as a clinical intern, researching MDMA-assisted psychotherapy in concert with the Multi-Disciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies, and is on the board of directors of Free Association Inc., a nonprofit organization that provides alternatives to treatment for people with altered experiences of reality in the Bay Area.

About Michelle Anne Hobart, MA

Michelle Anne Hobart, MA: is a practitioner of energy medicine and holistic health educator. She holds a BS in Biology, and an MA in Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness. Currently, she is doing coursework in Integral Counseling Psychology at California Institute of Integral Studies. Michelle is an advocate for the Neurodiversity movement and a certified Spiritual Emergence Coach. She supports sensitive, empathic people whose gifts and experiences have been judged or oppressed and who are in the process of reclaiming and recovering their self-care, power, and personal truth. Michelle offers workshops, retreats, support groups, and one-on-one sessions.

Posted on

Matt Kay – Floating with East Coast Float Spa


Matt Kay, Co-Founder of the East Coast Float Spa, joins Kyle on this episode of Psychedelics Today. This is another experiential episode where Kyle gets to float and report on his experience. Kyle and Matt also talk about the benefits of floating, the history, and how Matt got involved in the float business. We hope you enjoy this episode! Let us know what you think below in the comment section.

Mission of East Coast Float Spa

Nothing too complicated: At East Coast Float Spa, our mission is to help as many people as possible by providing Floatation Therapy in a modern, comfortable setting, and being welcoming to everyone! We maintain a strong commitment to our passion for health through our core values and having the distinction of being an all organic and natural Spa; which includes buying local and sustainable products whenever possible. This includes all of our soaps, shampoos, health products, cleaning supplies, food, drink, and anything else we can think of!

Show Notes/Links

 

Posted on

Leonie Joubert – Psychedelic Policy in South Africa


Download

Leonie Joubert, a science writer, author, trainer and public speaker, joins Kyle Buller and Joe Moore to discuss psychedelic policy in South Africa. We discuss the promising avenues of improving policy around mushrooms, iboga and more. We also learn about South Africa wanting to be more involved in the psychedelic movement including research and medicalization.

About Leonie Joubert

Leonie uses different storytelling approaches to wander through the often unmapped terrain faced by all of us as we find ways to live together on an ever more tightly packed planet: climate, energy, environmental change, and hunger and malnutrition in the world of Big Food. Mostly, her stories try to give voice to a silenced environment, and the social injustices of a society where the divide between rich and poor has never been greater.

She has spent the better part of 15 years exploring these topics through books, journalism, communication’s support to academics and civil society organisations, and non-fiction creative writing.

Bibliography

  • Scorched: South Africa’s Changing Climate
  • Boiling Point: People in a Changing Climate
  • Invaded: the Biological Invasion of South Africa
  • The Hungry Season: Feeding Southern Africa’s Cities
  • Oranjezicht City Farm: Food, Community, Connection
She has also contributed a few book chapters, including:

Opinion Pieces by South African Thought Leaders, edited by Max du Preez (Penguin, 2011)

Bending the Curve, edited by Robert Zipplies (Africa Geographic, 2008)

Climate Governance in Africa – A Handbook for Journalists (IPS Africa and HBF, 2014), contributed an article.

Links – South Africa Psychedelic Policy

Enter to win a bunch of product from Bluebird Botanicals!!

 

Posted on

Dr. Ben Sessa – MDMA in the UK


Download

Dr. Ben Sessa is a writer, psychiatrist, and researcher working in the UK to start the first ever MDMA for alcohol addiction study. We have a very exciting discussion and even get Dr. Sessa’s first reaction to the idea of DMTx. We also explore Ben’s background and his experiences with psychedelics legally – Ben is one of the few people who has ever received MDMA, LSD, DMT, ketamine, and psilocybin in a legal research setting.

We hope you enjoy this episode! Leave a comment below and let us know what you think.

Links

Books

The Psychedelic Renaissance

 

 

 

 

 

To Fathom Hell or Soar Angelic

FHSA Front Cover Only

The Psychedelic Renaissance

PR book

Psychedelic Drug Treatments

Screen Shot 2014-07-03 at 19.05.00

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Ben Sessa – Videos

About Ben Sessa

ben bwDr. Ben Sessa, M.B.B.S., M.D., B.Sc., M.R.C.Psych., is a consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist working in adult addiction services and with custodial detained young people in a secure adolescent setting. He trained at UCL medical school, graduating in 1997. He is interested in the developmental trajectory from child maltreatment to adult mental health disorders. Dr Sessa is currently a senior research fellow at Bristol, Cardiff and Imperial College London Universities, where he is conducting the UK’s first clinical studies with MDMA-assisted therapy for the treatment of PTSD and alcohol dependence syndrome. In the last ten years he has worked on several UK-based human pharmacology trials as study doctor or as a healthy subject administering and receiving test doses of LSD, psilocybin, MDMA, DMT, and ketamine. He is the author of several dozen peer-reviewed articles in the mainstream medical press and has written two books exploring psychedelic medicine; The Psychedelic Renaissance (2012 and 2017) and To Fathom Hell or Soar Angelic (2015). In speaking publicly at universities and medical conferences, Dr Sessa is outspoken on lobbying for change in the current system by which drugs are classified in the UK, believing a more progressive policy of regulation would reduce the harms of recreational drug use and provide increased opportunities for clinical psychedelic research. He is a co-founder and director of the UK’s Breaking Convention conference.

 

Enter to win a bunch of product from Bluebird Botanicals!!

Posted on

James Casey – MDMA Therapy, Psychedelics, Neuroscience and More


Download

James Casey, a student at Colorado University Boulder, joins us on Psychedelics Today to share his experience with MDMA-assisted psychotherapy, forming the Psychedelic Club Boulder, and his interest in neuroscience. James had the unique opportunity to be a research participant in the MAPS phase-2 MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD trials and shares part of his experience with us. The MDMA-assisted psychotherapy has been a life saver for James, and now he advocates for the therapeutic use of MDMA for treatment of PTSD and other mental health issues.

Source: MAPS (https://www.pinterest.com/pin/155866837087764496/)

Episode Quote

I think it is criminal that we are really keeping this (MDMA-assisted psychotherapy) from people….. Veterans aren’t the only people suffering that need this (MDMA-assisted psychotherapy), people who have experienced childhood trauma, law enforcement, firefighters, people that are victims of rape, or gang violence. This really has the potential to heal so many people. To speak for the veteran community, I know so many people that I’ve deployed with or know that have been deployed, that I am afraid I am going to get a call tomorrow, next week, or next month because they killed themselves. To know that if they try to do the same treatment that I did outside of the MAPS study, that they risk getting thrown in a cage for years on end is criminal to me.

Show Notes

  • Researching the effects of LSA on cockroaches
  • Psychedelic Club Boulder
  • Tips on starting a psychedelic club/group
  • Drug testing on campus at CU Boulder
    • Results of testing – 88% of the MDMA samples tested positive for meth. About 40% of the LSD samples tested positive for a research chemical
  • Drug reform and war on drugs
  • Veterans, PTSD, and MDMA-assisted psychotherapy
  • Changing the psychedelic narrative among law enforcement
  • DMTx

About James Casey

U.S. Army veteran, participated in a study of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in 2014. After three sessions of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy, James no longer qualifies for PTSD.

Enter to win a bunch of product from Bluebird Botanicals!!

Posted on

Kyle and Joe talk CBD, Navigating Psychedelics, Floating, Ketamine and More!


Download

In this episode, Kyle and Joe talk CBD, ketamine, terpenes, floating, psychedelic education and much more! This conversation is a little different than our normal episodes, but we wanted to share some things that are going on here at Psychedelics Today, such as exploring our recent sponsorships for the show. Please let us know your thoughts about this! Our goal is to keep this podcast sustainable, as well as help promote those who are doing great work directly or indirectly with the psychedelic community.

If you enjoy the show and want to support in another way, donating to our Patreon is a great option!

Thanks for listening!

The Pharmacology of Cannabis Cannabinoids and Terpenes by Dr. Ethan Russo

Wheel of Terpenes

Via Leafly 

Source: Leafly: https://www.leafly.com/news/cannabis-101/infographic-what-are-cannabis-terpenes-and-how-do-they-affect-you

 

Thanks to our sponsors EntheoZen and BlueBird Botanicals!

Sponsor: Bluebird Botanicals
  • The only hemp extract company that offers full purity and potency tests on our website for every batch of our products.
  • All of the hemp extracted is grown using organic methods in CO using only sun, soil, and water
  • Legal to ship to everywhere in the US aside from SD
Sponsor: EntheoZen

About TransZen

TransZen is an all natural mood enhancement and stress support supplement designed to:
  • -fill in nutritional gaps that may be causing low mood
  • -promote neurotransmitter production such as serotonin and dopamine
  • -maintain a healthy inflammatory response in the brain
  • -promote the repair and regeneration of brain cells.
-It consists of 17 scientifically-studied ingredients including vitamins, minerals, amino acids and potent plant extracts.
-Works by providing your body with the raw materials it needs to balance the nervous system.
-It is made in a USA facility that is certified by the FDA as having Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and third-party tested.
**Can not ship outside of the U.S.

Navigating Psychedelics: Lessons on Self-Care & Integration

Posted on

Alyssa Gursky – Ketamine and Transpersonal Art Therapies


Download
Naropa graduate student, Alyssa Gursky, joins us on Psychedelics Today to talk about her experience with ketamine therapy, breathwork, transpersonal art therapy, and being a night attended for the MAPS MDMA-assisted psychotherapy studies in Boulder and Fort Collins, Colorado. Alyssa has been already played multiple roles in the psychedelic community, such as volunteering for MAPS, Psymposia, and Psychedelics Today. Her passion and energy for this work are motivating. We are really excited to see how her career in the psychedelic field unfolds as an inspiring transpersonal art and psychedelic therapist.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqsvJedwUyg]

Show Notes & Links

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdXGhsAynGI]

About Alyssa Gursky

Alyssa Gursky is a master’s level candidate in Transpersonal Art Therapy. She currently is subcontracted by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) on their study using MDMA for treatment-resistant post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on their Boulder and Fort Collins sites. She’s incredibly passionate about the healing potential of the creative process and the body’s innate wisdom. She loves science fiction, anything by Alejandro Jodorowsky, and petting all of the dogs.

Posted on

Don Lattin – Changing Our Minds


Download

New York Times bestselling author, Don Lattin, joins us on Psychedelics Today to talk about his new book, Changing Our Minds: Psychedelic Sacraments and the New Psychotherapy. Lattin’s new book covers the current psychedelic renaissance by exploring the scientific and academic research examining these powerful substances for an array of mental health issues, spirituality, and more.

In this episode, we explored psychedelic history, Don’s new book, some personal experiences, and more.

Changing Our Minds

From Synergetic Press

Changing Our Minds is an essential read for those interested in the expanding field of psychedelic research for therapeutic and spiritual uses.

CHANGING OUR MINDS is an experiential tour through the social, spiritual and scientific revolution that is redefining our relationship with mind-expanding substances. It tells the inspiring and very human stories of pioneering neuroscientists, psychotherapists, shamans and ordinary people seeking to live more aware and compassionate lives by combining the miracles of modern chemistry, therapeutic techniques and the wise use of ancient plant medicines.

A new era of research into psychedelic-assisted therapy has begun. Party drugs like Ecstasy (MDMA) are used to help U.S. veterans struggling with the psychological aftermath of war. Psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, is employed as a medicine to help alcoholics get sober and cancer patients struggling with the existential distress of a life-threatening illness. Meanwhile, the use of the ayahuasca, a shamanic brew from the Amazon jungle, has grown into an international movement for those seeking greater spiritual and psychological insight.

Changing Our Minds is the essential primer for understanding and navigating this new consciousness-raising territory.

Links and Notes

About Don Lattin

Don Lattin is an award-winning journalist and the author of six books.

His most recent work, CHANGING OUR MINDS – Psychedelic Sacraments and the New Psychotherapy, was published in the spring of 2017. It chronicles a quiet revolution underway in our understanding of how psychedelic drugs work and how they can be used to treat depression, addiction and other disease. The stories behind this cutting-edge medical research and religious exploration reveal the human side of a psychedelic renaissance.

Changing Our Minds is the latest installment in a trio of books about the recent history and future prospects for finding beneficial uses for drugs and plant medicines like LSD, psilocybin, MDMA, and ayahuasca.

Don’s previously published work is titled DISTILLED SPIRITS — Getting High, then Sober, with a Famous Writer, a Forgotten Philosopher, and a Hopeless Drunk. It’s a memoir/group biography that looks at how writer Aldous Huxley, philosopher Gerald Heard, and Bill Wilson, the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, opened new doors in Western religious thought

Distilled Spirits is a prequel to THE HARVARD PSYCHEDELIC CLUB — How Timothy Leary, Andrew Weil, Ram Dass, and Huston Smith Killed the Fifties and Ushered in a New Age for America. It was a national bestseller and won the 2010 California Book Award, Silver Medal, for non-fiction.

Lattin’s journalistic work has appeared in dozens of U.S. magazines and newspapers, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and the San Francisco Chronicle, where Don worked as a staff writer for nearly two decades.

His other books are JESUS FREAKS – A True Story of Murder and Madness on the Evangelical Edge and FOLLOWING OUR BLISS – How the Spiritual Ideals of the Sixties Shape Our Lives Today. He is also the co-author of SHOPPING FOR FAITH – American Religion in the New Mil-lennium

Don has taught as an adjunct faculty member at the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California at Berkeley, where he holds a degree in sociology. He is a contributing writer for the Encyclopedia of Love in World Religions and the Encyclopedia of Religion in America.

Posted on

What is Breathwork?


Download

What is breathwork and Transpersonal Breathwork? Kyle and Joe talk about the components and mechanics of breathwork and share some personal experiences. Breathwork is a topic that is brought up often on Psychedelics Today, so here is a more in-depth discussion about what it is. The form of breathwork that Joe and Kyle are trained in is Transpersonal Breathwork. More about this practice below.

About Dreamshadow Transpersonal Breathwork

From dreamshadow.com

Dreamshadow Transpersonal Breathwork is an applied, practice-linked philosophy that uses the method of Stanislav Grof’s Holotropic Breathwork as a modern shamanic practice for self-discovery through cathartic re-experience of events from a person’s biographic history and the process of birth, as well as the potential apprehension of archetypes and events in the cosmos.

The experiential aspect of Dreamshadow Transpersonal Breathwork uses a combination of group process, intense breathing, evocative music, body work, and expressive drawing.

The term “transpersonal” refers to those experiences where our sense of self-identity expands beyond our personal biography and ego boundaries and transcends the usual limitations of time and space. These experiences facilitate deeper understanding of ourselves, our relation to others and our place in the universe. They help us gain increased comfort in daily life and a spiritual intelligence that fosters calm and optimism amidst the difficulties of the world.

Dreamshadow Transpersonal Breathwork draws on the work of William James, Carl Jung, Abraham Maslow, Stanislav Grof and others. Grof is a pioneering psychedelic researcher, investigator of exceptional human experiences and cofounder of the transpersonal psychology movement. Together with his wife Christina Grof, he developed Holotropic Breathwork, an inspiration of Dreamshadow Transpersonal Breathwork, Integrative Breathwork and other methods. In his book The Holotropic Mind, Grof describes Holotropic Breathwork as a seemingly simple process with “extraordinary potential for opening the way for exploring the entire spectrum of the inner world.”

5 Components of Breathwork

  1. Intense Breathing  – Deep circular breathing with a minimal pause in between the in and out breaths. There is no “right” technique, but to intensify and deepen one’s breathing.
  2. Evocative Music– A music setlist is created to help drive the breathing session. The music is typically all instrumental with no distinguishable language. There are often times when music with foreign languages will be used because of the lack of context. The music setlist is around two to three hours long.
  3. Focused Bodywork – Emotional energy can become stuck in the body. To help assist with stuck emotional or physical energy, bodywork is performed to help release the energy. Bodywork can also be in the form of support by offering a hand to hold.
  4. Expressive Drawing – After the breathwork session, participants are asked to create a mandala or drawing. This helps to process the experience without language or words and can be very symbolic. This process helps to integrate the experience.
  5. Group Process– We are social creatures. As Lenny Gibson states, “we are the descendants of successful tribes.” We need one another to survive in the world. The group helps to form a safe container for participants to dive deep into their psyche and being. The group holds the space for a healing process to occur.

Links & Notes

Posted on

Caitlin Thompson – Ayahuasca, Kambo and Psychedelic Nutrition


Download

Caitlin Thompson, the founder of EntheoZen, joins us on Psychedelics Today to share her healing story, her interests in psychedelics, and the supplement company that she started. Caitlin is also involved in the psychedelic community – she hosts events for the Aware Project San Diego and is a Kambo practitioner.

After struggling with her own depression and anxiety, Caitlin founded EntheoZen. She applied her background in neuroscience, diving deep into the scientific literature and discovered the importance of nutrition in brain and mood health. She created a scientifically-supported line of products that nourish, resource and balance the nervous system to promote a happy, healthy mind.

Caitlin uses EntheoZen as a platform to provide informative resources and tools to empower people to take their mental wellness into their own hands in a natural and sustainable way. EntheoZen provides educational media on cutting-edge wellness modalities including nutrition, herbs, meditation, psychedelics, neurofeedback training, kambo, and float tanks. Caitlin is a researcher and advocate in the psychedelic medicine movement, using EntheoZen to support research and promote awareness of psychedelic therapies as effective psychiatric interventions.

EntheoZen

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57PZK74BK00]

EntheoZen is a nutritional supplement company based in San Diego, CA. It was launched in 2014 by Caitlin Thompson. At EntheoZen, our goal is to contribute to the practice of using safe and natural ways to balance brain chemistry and promote brain health and a happy mood. Blending neuroscience and holistic nutrition, we believe that the mind, body, and soul need the proper resources to stay balanced and lively. Our products are based on proven scientific principles and target specific mechanisms & issues related to mood disorders based on scientific literature. When the brain has access to the raw materials it needs to repair and function optimally, it can often heal and regulate itself.

About TransZen

TransZen is an all natural mood enhancement and stress support supplement designed to:
  • -fill in nutritional gaps that may be causing low mood
  • -promote neurotransmitter production such as serotonin and dopamine
  • -maintain a healthy inflammatory response in the brain
  • -promote the repair and regeneration of brain cells.
-It consists of 17 scientifically-studied ingredients including vitamins, minerals, amino acids and potent plant extracts.
-Works by providing your body with the raw materials it needs to balance the nervous system.
-It is made in a USA facility that is certified by the FDA as having Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and third-party tested.
**Can not ship outside of the U.S.

Links & Notes

About Caitlin Thompson

After struggling with her own battle with depression and anxiety, Caitlin Thompson applied her background in neurobiology and dove into the cutting edge scientific literature on mood disorders and mental illnesses. This led her down a health rabbit hole, realizing that Lyme disease, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, microbiome dysbiosis and emotional trauma were at the root of her and many others’ depression. After successfully improving her own health, Caitlin founded her nutritional supplement company, EntheoZen in 2014.  Caitlin now uses EntheoZen as a platform to spread information about modalities and tools to empower others to heal and achieve optimal mental wellness. Caitlin also works in the psychedelic field advocating for psychedelic research and education around their implications in mental wellness and autoimmune conditions. Caitlin is also a certified Kambo frog medicine practitioner based in San Diego CA.

Posted on

Tim Cools – The Yelp of Psychedelic Organizations & Retreats


Download

Tim Cools joins us on Psychedelics Today to talk about his project, Psychedelic Experience, a web platform that allows individuals to post reviews about different psychedelic retreat centers and organizations. There is a psychedelic journal feature that is currently in beta-testing that allows users to write about their experiences, in hopes to further phenomenological and qualitative research in the future. As described on the site, this is a “one-stop-shop” for resources surrounding psychedelics.

About Psychedelic Experience

We aim to reduce harm and stigma associated with psychedelics by helping to best inform users, offer tools to help with integration of their experiences, and a space for communal support.

One-stop-shop web resource surrounding psychedelics

  • Online community by and for beginning and experienced psychonauts.
  • Promote safe use of psychedelics by providing scientific, responsible information.
  • Privacy is a top-priority. Users have full control over what is public and what isn’t.

Psychedelic experiences journal

  • Keep a private journal of your psychedelic experiences.
  • Share your experiences with your friends or the community. Reports are peer-reviewed by community to ensure quality.
  • Integrate your experiences by discussing them with fellow psychonauts and professional therapists.
  • Advanced search functionality by substance and keywords. Anonymous statistics can beused for scientific research.

Global organisations directory

  • A community managed global directory of organisations related to psychedelic experiences.
  • Connect people with honest organisations to stay updated on meetings, events and retreats.
  • Collect reviews by the community to create an unbiased image of the organisations.
  • Promote sustainable projects to help indigenous communities.
  • Issue warnings for organisations linked to abuse or dishonesty.

Support Psychedelics Today by becoming a Patron

Show Notes/Links

About Tim Cools

Tim lives in Belgium as a professional software developer/social entrepreneur. With his latest project, PsychedelicExperience.net, he aims to reduce harm and stigma associated with the use of psychedelics, and to support psychedelic research. Driven by some profound experiences, he hopes to make psychedelics more accessible in a safe way.

 

Posted on

Nicholas Powers Ph.D. – Psychedelics, Race, Where They Intersect, and Where They Don’t


Download

Download

Nicholas Powers Ph.D. is a poet, journalist, and Associate Professor of English, SUNY Old Westbury. Nick joins us to talk about psychedelics, race, cultural diversity, and the future of psychedelics. Race and diversity within the psychedelic community has been a hot topic lately, and it is an important topic to continue discussing and examining. Unfortunately, the community is exclusive to people of privilege and power, which shows some concern when it comes to the future direction of this field, as it leaves out diverse ideas and beliefs from people from other cultural backgrounds and communities.

What are your thoughts on this topic? Leave us a comment below!

Show Topics

  • Diversity in research
  • Monica Williams – Diversity in the psychedelic research
  • The trust between diverse populations and institutional research
  • History of forced sterilizations and the Tuskegee syphilis study
  • The importance of storytelling and authentically listening to stories of people from other cultural backgrounds
  • Start your own psychedelic community
  • Psychedelics and intergenerational trauma
  • Including minority groups into the psychedelic community

Nick’s Book

The Ground Below Zero: 9/11 to Burning Man, New Orleans to Darfur, Haiti to Occupy Wall Street

Links/Show Notes

About Nicholas Powers, Ph.D.

Nicholas Powers

Nicholas Powers is a poet, journalist and professor. His books, The Ground Below Zero and Theater of War, was published by Upset Press. He has written for The Indypendent, Alternet and The Village Voice. He has spoken and read all over the country. He teaches literature at SUNY Old Westbury and co-hosts the long running New York City College Poetry Slam at the Nuyorican Cafe. If you would like to work with Nick, please contact tara@upsetpress.org.

Posted on

Dr. Matt Brown – Chicago Psychedelic Club

Dr. Matt Brown


Download
Dr. Matt Brown of the Chicago Psychedelic Club and the Psychedelics and the Future of Psychiatry Meetup joins us to talk about his interests and involvement with psychedelics.  We talk about how Dr. Brown got interested in psychedelic research and how he got involved in forming two psychedelic meet up groups in Chicago.

Leave us a comment below and let us know what you think!

Show Notes

  • Perspectives on psychedelics
  • Creating a psychedelic meetup
  • Building community
  • Introducing more voices into the conversation besides medical professionals and students – artists and other creative people can help to provide various insights into the psychedelic conversation.

Show Links

If you enjoy the show, please consider donating to our Patreon!

About Dr. Matt Brown D.O., M.B.A.

Dr. Brown Specializes in whole health psychiatry. This approach differs from many other practitioners who more and more practice symptomatic management when it comes to mental health. Dr. Brown takes the perspective that the body has the ability to heal itself, but from time to time may need assistance through balancing the things that are important for physical health that are also important from mental health. These include, sleep, diet, exercise, meditative/spiritual practice and cultivating positive social relationships. Dr. Brown also has a strong command of how to balance vital nutrients in our body with the aid of supplementation to augment traditional psychopharmacological therapies. Dr. Brown’s method is aimed primarily at the treatment of Depression and Anxiety as well as other mood disorders and ADHD. Dr. Brown is a specialist in the treatment of OCD specifically and is board certified by the ABPN in both adult as well as child and adolescent psychiatry.
​

Posted on

Dr. Scott Shannon – Ketamine Therapies

Dr. Scott Shannon


Download

Dr. Scott Shannon joins Psychedelics Today to share his experience and insights about ketamine therapy used in conjunction with integrative psychiatry. Dr. Shannon has been working with ketamine for the past year within his psychiatry practice and has found tremendous benefit in using this medicine for particular disorders. Dr. Shannon is also part of the Fort Collins MAPS MDMA-assisted psychotherapy Phase 3 study, which is just starting up.

Show Topics/Notes

  • What is ketamine?
  • Mechanisms of action of ketamine.
  • What is the ketamine experience like?
  • Three types of administration methods – IV, IM, and oral
  • MDMA-assisted psychotherapy and the MAPS Phase 3 trials
  • Transpersonal experiences fostering change and transformation
  • Critiques of traditional psychiatry.
  • Patient with 40 years of depression became a new person no longer suffering from depression.
    • Electro Convulsive Therapy was almost an option, thankfully avoided.
  • The importance of music with ketamine therapy and other psychedelics

Scott Shannon: Cannabidiol in the Treatment of Anxiety

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1TvU6Hqf2U]

Show Links

About Scott Shannon, MD

Dr Scott Shannon’s Bio from Wholeness Center

I decided to become a psychiatrist in high school after my first psychology class. The amazing capacity of the human mind simply astounded me. I wanted to help people by using this power of the mind. What intrigued me the most then (and now) is that our human potential remains only partially understood. I am still on that journey of discovery about our true potential. To this end, I resonate with the theme of empowerment: my greatest day is the day that you have the skills to thrive without my services.

I feel blessed with all that I have been given in my life. I have been married for almost thirty years to Suze with two wonderful children, Noah and Sarah. I love to travel the world teaching or just exploring. My nature is relentlessly creative and curious. I love to cycle, snowboard, golf, run, climb, backpack and listen to music. Seamus, my big black Lab, may accidentally show up to work with me occasionally just because he likes people so much. My spiritual life is very important to me and I have meditated for over thirty years. Helping people makes my heart sing.

As a child and adolescent psychiatrist, my current focus involves supporting young people to find wholeness and recover their full health in body, mind and spirit. Although I use prescription medication at times, I much prefer to employ natural methods like nutrition, supplements, mind-body skills, acupuncture and a shift in awareness to support the healing process. This approach represents the new field of Integrative Psychiatry. Most importantly, I employ a holistic philosophy to understand people and their struggles. The single most important thing that I have learned in my professional life is to listen well: deeply and intuitively. After this listening, much of my work involves teaching you what I have heard. I founded Wholeness Center to work in collaboration with a team of gifted healers to help you better understand your story.

College: University of Arizona
Medical School: University of Arizona
Internship: Columbia Program, Cooperstown, NY
Psychiatric Residency: Columbia Program, Cooperstown, NY
Child/Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship: University of New Mexico

If you liked this episode you may also like these episodes

Shane LeMaster – Ketamine

Lex Pelger – Psymposia, Ibogaine, Ketamine, Research and Knowing Your Dose

Posted on

Emanuel Sferios – Dance Safe and MDMA The Movie

Emanuel Sferios - MDMA The Movie


Download
Emanuel Sferios joins us to talk about his upcoming film “MDMA The Movie” along with the founding story of Dance Safe.

Emanuel has a fascinating story that includes.

  • Humble beginnings
  • Lots of media attention
  • Huge amounts of fundraising for harm reduction
  • A film that is going to be incredible. Check out the trailers below!

MDMA was one of the last drugs that the old guard anti drug US government worked to smear with disinformation and outright lies,  using outlets like Oprah and more to stain MDMA’s reputation. While Ophra’s media empire has now come around a bit, MDMA continues to hold parts of the social stigma that Oprah helped to give it. Emanuel tells the story here with on the ground details in ways that Kyle and Joe haven’t heard before.

We hope you love it!

If you enjoyed this episode you may love these other podcasts.

Confessions of an Underground MDMA Therapist
Thomas Roberts Ph.D. – The Broad Future of Psychedelic Research

Show Notes/Links

Want to learn more about psychedelic harm reduction, safety, and integration? Sign up for our online course!

Find MDMA The Movie On Social Media

Facebook
Twitter
Youtube
Instagram
Google Plus

About Emanuel Sferios

Emanuel Sferios is an activist, educator, public speaker and harm reduction advocate. Founding DanceSafe in 1998, Emanuel was an early pioneer of MDMA harm reduction. DanceSafe has volunteer chapters in over two dozen cities across the United States and provides non-judgmental, peer-based drug education and drug checking (a.k.a., “pill testing”) services in the electronic dance music community. Emanuel also started the first public laboratory pill analysis program in 1999 which allowed ecstasy users for the first time to anonymously send tablets to a DEA-licensed laboratory for chromatography analysis. Originally publishing the results on the DanceSafe website, the program still exists today and is hosted at Ecstasydata.org.
Today Emanuel speaks at colleges and universities about MDMA, harm reduction, and drug policy. He lives in Grass Valley, California with his wife and two stepchildren.

Posted on

Rafael Lancelotta – Exploring 5-MeO-DMT


Download
Rafael Lancelotta, the administrator of the site, 5meodmt.org (5 Hive), joins us to talk about the powerful psychedelic compound, 5-MeO-DMT. Some of you may have heard of this medicine, but if you have not, chances are you will begin hearing about it more and more. 5-MeO-DMT is a powerful psychedelic medicine that comes from venom secretion of the Bufo Alvarius toad. This compound is also found in various plants as well.

Correction – 5-MeO-DMT has an oxygen and a methyl group attached to it, not just an oxygen.

Show Topics

  • What is 5-MeO-DMT
  • How does it differ from N.N-DMT?
  • Near-death experiences and DMT
  • Dr. David Nichols talking about DMT at Breaking Conventions
  • Experiences of 5-MeO-DMT
  • The pros and cons of online forums
  • Risks and concerns

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeeqHUiC8Io]

Show Links

About Rafael Lancelotta

Rafael Lancelotta is a graduate student at the University of Wyoming studying Mental Health Counseling. He is interested in the use of psychedelics towards greater levels of resiliency, mental health, and openness. He is also interested in the investigation of techniques used in the counseling relationship that may deepen and enhance the benefits of psychedelic-assisted therapy integration. He is passionate about opening the doors to psychedelic research to all students that are interested as well as helping to raise awareness as to the responsible clinical applications of psychedelics/entheogens and serves as the administrative assistant for the Source Research Foundation. He hopes to continue on to a PhD to help develop evidence-based practices for psychedelic-assisted therapy integration to empower individuals to make lasting positive change in their lives and in their communities. He is also the administrator of 5meodmt.org, which is a forum dedicated to forming community discussions on harm reduction, integration, and safe practices around 5-MeO-DMT.

If you liked this episode, you may enjoy these.

Brian Normand – Microdosing, Amazonia, Psymposia and Horizons Afterparty

Ashley Booth, M.S. – Ayahuasca, DMT, Integration, and Los Angeles

Kyle and Joe – Life, Death, and DMTx

 

 

 

Posted on

Daniel McQueen – Extended-State DMT Research (DMTx)

Daniel McQueen - Extended State DMT - DMTx


Download
Daniel McQueen of Medicinal Mindfulness joins us to talk about extended-state DMT research, also known as DMTx. Daniel has been presenting this idea at local events in the Colorado area to help raise awareness and money to help bring this research idea to life. To learn more about this project, upcoming events, or to donate to help fund the research check out DMTx.org

Here is a quick message from Daniel:

A few years ago we started a community gathering and speaker series called Psychedelic Shine, and it was through this project that I met Dr. Rick Strassman, Dr. Dennis McKenna, and Dr. Andrew Gallimore, to name a few. The process of creating psychedelic inspired programs, meeting innovative leaders in the field, and also the inner exploration this work requires, were all factors that initiated this journey into exploring Extended-State DMT research. It has been a wild and wonderful ride ever since, and we’re excited to step into the next stage of this work.

It is our intention to create a sustainable, multi-generation DMT research program that is both congruent with scientific inquiry, as well as with the creative and spiritual interests and values of the psychedelic community. We believe Extended-State DMT research is as much an expedition as it is a scientific experiment. We believe it is both deeply inspiring and practically feasible.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_rrjBD16_0]

Show Notes/Links

About Daniel McQueen

Daniel earned a Masters Degree in Transpersonal Counseling Psychology from Naropa and received advanced training in MDMA-assisted psychotherapy through a year internship with the MAPS Boulder MDMA for PTSD Study.  It was his experience with MAPS that inspired Daniel to explore alternative visions in psychedelic activism and entrepreneurship.

Daniel bridges transpersonal paradigms with the grounded clinical and organizational skills necessary to begin addressing the significant ecological and mental health crises facing our society today.  Although Daniel no longer practices as a clinical psychotherapist, he supports his clients as a teacher, coach, ally and event facilitator, providing individual and group transformational experiences and deeply held intentional conversations.  In his practice, Daniel quickly realized that the most important intervention he could provide to his clients, who were isolated and longed for meaningful contact with others, was a sense of community.  Medicinal Mindfulness is, in a very real way, a cultural intervention that provides a safe and transformational community container for healing and awakening… a program based on skill development and not dogma.  Since 2012, Daniel has been teaching a psychedelic harm prevention and intentional psychedelic use course called Mindful Journeywork.  Since the legalization of recreational cannabis in Colorado, he has been facilitating Conscious Cannabis Circles and individual cannabis journeys.

In addition to his work with Medicinal Mindfulness, Daniel has a successful spirituality and life coaching practice with his wife, Alison, through their company, Aspenroots Counseling LLC.  Highly skilled in identifying and cultivating giftedness in young people and supporting significant life transitions, Daniel is inspired to support passionate and talented individuals striving to live into their calling.  A primary focus of his practice involves assessing and addressing the benefits and difficulties related to psychedelic and cannabis use and misuse.

Daniel co-founded the Naropa Alliance for Psychedelic Studies and helped organize the first annual Psychedelic Symposium at Naropa University in 2012.  He is currently working with Grounding Solutions, Inc. to develop a natural rescue medicinal for users of psychedelics and cannabis.

Our online course, ‘Navigating Psychedelics: Lessons on Self-Care & Integration” will keep you and your friends safer. Just say KNOW to drugs.

 

Posted on

Kwasi Adusei – Psychedelic Month of Service

Psychedelic Month of Service


Download
Kwasi Adusei of the Psychedelic Society of Western New York joins us to talk about the Global Psychedelic Month of Service campaign. This is a wonderful campaign to help encourage members of the psychedelic community to become more involved in their communities.

About The Global Psychedelic Month of Service

kwasi adusei - psychedelic month of service

Still hiding in the psychedelic closet? Looking for an opportunity to join the movement? This November, find a need in your community, gather your friends, and participate in the Global Psychedelic Month of Service.
In the month of November, the global psychedelic community invites you to take on a need in your community in the name of psychedelics. Psychedelic groups all over the world are joining the cause by giving back.
At the core of the psychedelic movement is a mission of social activism. So take part in seeing this mission through by volunteering at your local soup kitchen, food pantry, or doing a community clean up.
The integration of a psychedelic experience is as important as the experience itself. Transform the feelings of connectedness induced by the psychedelic experience, into actions of connectedness.
How to get involved
 
1. Find a local service organization
2. Reach out to find volunteer opportunities in the month of November
3. Find psychedelic friends to volunteer with
4. Volunteer and send in pictures and number of hours completed
What to join the cause? Email buffalopsychedelic@yahoo.com with your name and location so we can add you to the list of participating individuals.

Kwasi Adusei Show Topics

  • Building community
  • Breaking down stigma
  • Doing psychedelic things
    • Spending time helping
    • Doing compassionate things
  • Psychedelic values and morals
  • Access to expensive MDMA therapies
  • How to bring more diversity into the psychedelic movement
  • Nick Power’s talk at Horizons NYC

[vimeo 237699822 w=640 h=360]

Show Links

About Kwasi Adusei

Kwasi dedicates his work in the psychedelic movement to altering the stigma in mainstream channels by promoting the science, the healing potential of psychedelics, and civic engagement.
Kwasi is a nurse and a doctoral student at the University at Buffalo, studying to be a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner. He is the founder of the Psychedelic Society of Western New York and project manager for Psychonauts of the World, an initiative to share meaningful psychedelic stories, with the ultimate goal of publishing them in a book as an avenue to raise money for psychedelic research. He is also one of the administrators for the Global Psychedelic Network, a conglomerate of psychedelic groups and individuals from around the world.
He hopes to use his training and education to become a psychedelic therapist. Born in Ghana and raised in the Bronx, New York, Kwasi hopes to bring psychedelic therapy to communities of color.

 

Posted on

Horizons NYC – 2017 – recap

Horizons NYC


Download

Kyle and Joe report from the scene of the amazing Horizons: Perspectives on Psychedelics conference. We had the chance to interview attendees of Horizons NYC 2017 outside the venue on the closing day.

Horizons NYC

Horizons is a fantastic event at an amazing venue in the heart of Manhattan at the historic venue – “The Cooper Union.” The same podium on stage was shared by Abraham Lincoln, Susan B Anthony, and along with many other important historical figures.

It was an amazing event and we hope that this episode helps share some of the excitement. We talked to past guests, future guests, and also some new friends. You may recognize some of the voices 🙂 Let us know what you think of this episode and if you want to hear similar episodes to this in the future.

Horizons 2017: NICHOLAS BYRON POWERS, Ph.D “Black Masks, Rainbow Bodies: Race and Psychedelics” from Horizons on Vimeo.

In the show, we speak about a lot of things from Horizons NYC including

  • The most interesting thing learned
  • The sense of community inside a conference like this
  • Some problems the movement has that we need to stay aware of
  • Issues with communicating the science of psychedelics with a wider audience
  • Volunteering for events for free tickets

Do you want to listen to Joe and Kyle recap their highlights of the conference and the Psymposia Microdosing event? Support us on Patreon to get exclusive access! Check out the video introduction to this episode – Here

Check out our book giveaway! Books by Grof, Shulgins, Hoffman, and many more!

About Horizons NYC

Horizons NYC

Horizons: Perspectives on Psychedelics is an annual forum that examines the role of psychedelic drugs in science, medicine, culture, and spirituality.

In recent years, a growing community of scientists, doctors, artists, activists, seekers, and scholars have orchestrated a renaissance in psychedelic thought and practice.

Horizons brings together the brightest minds and the boldest voices of this movement to share their research, insights, and dreams for the future.

Horizons was founded in 2007 by Kevin Balktick, with Neal M. Goldsmith, Ph.D., joining as speaker curator and MC in 2008.

Horizons Media, Inc., a 501c(3) not-for-profit educational charity, is currently led by board members Kevin Balktick, Neal M. Goldsmith, Ph.D., James Vasile, Esq., and Ingmar Gorman, M.A.

Having outgrown Judson Memorial Church, its original location, Horizons is now hosted at The Cooper Union Great Hall, which has been a center for public dialogue since its founding in 1858, having hosted such illustrious speakers as Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony, and more recently, Barack Obama.

Horizons Media, Inc. conducts no other business besides the annual conference and is funded in solely by registration and concession sales. All profits go towards producing and improving the following year’s event. Its board members are not compensated.

Horizons Media, Inc. is not a political advocacy or scientific research organization, nor does it have any financial relationships with other organizations and businesses that participate as presenters or informational presences.

 

 

Sign up for our online course, “Navigating Psychedelics: Lessons on Self-Care & Integration”

Posted on

Shane LeMaster – Ketamine

Shane LeMaster - Ketamine


Download

Kyle and Joe talk with Shane LeMaster about ketamine as a therapeutic tool and also a tool for self-discovery and personal development. Shane shares some amazing stories, and we get to peel off some of the layers around ketamine. There are some amazing uses, and perhaps some therapeutic falling short of the mark in the ketamine world that we discuss. Hope you enjoy!

Source: https://www.rehabs.com/pro-talk-articles/is-ketamine-really-a-miracle-drug-for-depression/

Shane is a past guest on the show and one of our favorites. You will really like his past episodes where we talked about peyote, treating veterans, Jiujitsu for PTSD and microdosing for athletic performance. (first – second)

Sign up for our course!

Show Topics/Discussion

  • Chemical effects
  • Lego world of the Ketamine experience
  • Hallucinogenic properties of Ketamine for Shane
  • Astral Projection
  • Therapeutic method. Music, Temp, Comfort, Safe setting, etc.
  • Not trauma work – getting to see all of reality as the machine as it is and his role in it.
  • 1 gram – half a gram per nostril.
  • 360-degree waterfall
  • Mindfulness practice can helps his practice.

Show Links

Check out our book giveaway! Books by Grof, Shulgins, Hoffman, and many more!

About Shane LeMaster, B.A., M.A.,  LAC, CC-AASP

Bio from Mind-OPS

Shane earned his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology from the University of Colorado in Boulder, CO, completed extensive coursework towards a Master of Arts Degree in Sport & Performance Psychology at the University of Denver, and earned his Master of Arts Degree in Sport & Exercise Psychology from Argosy University.

Shane is nationally certified as a Sport Psychology Consultant and a licensed mental health clinician in the state of Colorado.  Having worked in community non-profit mental health since 2008, Shane has gained experience working with the entire spectrum of mental disorders and with all populations and age groups.  Shane plans on attending a Ph.D program in Counseling Psychology where his interest in Resiliency, Mental Toughness, and Mindfulness Training Program Development can be explored and further developed.

He is a life-long athlete having competed at various levels in more than a dozen different sports.  Because of his passion for warrior cultures of past and present, Shane has been ardently developing his own “Warriorship,” training in various forms of Martial Arts for 25 years.  Shane feels that the self-discipline, the philosophy of non-violence, the innumerable mental and physical benefits, and the enjoyment that he gains from the Martial Arts is what helped drive his passion in the field of Psychology.

His personal interest in Eastern Philosophy stems from his adoption of a Buddhist lifestyle and blends well with his training in Western Psychological Science.  Clients describe Shane as an out-of-the-box clinician that is easy to get along with, knowledgeable on a variety of topics, credible with lived experience, and as having the ability to make therapy fun and interesting.

Posted on

Aaron & Andras – Cute Animals Doing Drugs

Cute Animals Doing Drugs Banner


Download
Animals are known to indulge in psychoactive compounds. Humans are not the only species who like to become intoxicated. From bees drinking to fermented nectars to reindeer of the Siberian tundra eating Amanita muscaria mushrooms, Aaron and Andras find a creative way to start a conversation about drug policy, harm reduction, and psychedelics. Aaron and Andras have started a company that produces tshirts depicting cute animals doing drugs. While this may seem like a way to promote drug use using cute animals, Aaron and Andras have a deeper meaning, which is about starting a conversation and trying to shift the cultural narrative about drug use.

If you want to get one of your own t-shirts, use the coupon code: PSYCHEDELICSTODAY25 to receive 25% off your purchase!

                              

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVqObIauPJA]

Enroll Today!

Show Notes/Links

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkCS9ePWuLU]

About Cute Animals Doing Drugs

Cute Animals Doing Drugs was created by two friends to raise awareness around these issues, support drug policy reform, and encourage honest conversations about drugs in everyday life.

We believe individuals have the right to sovereignty over their own consciousness and that there is no reason to deny any adult the safe and beneficial use of psychoactive substances.

We believe social and political change can start from the bottom-up. Our apparel serves as a conversation-starter and a fun, unique way to show your support for an increasingly important social issue.

Cute Animals Doing Drugs is here to call attention to these issues, support psychedelic research, encourage drug policy reform, and promote cognitive liberty for all.

We also donate 10% of our pre-tax profits to MAPS, the Drug Policy Alliance, and other drug-related non-profit organizations.

Check out our current line of apparel here.

Andras L

Andras L is a cofounder of Cute Animals Doing Drugs Apparel, an initiative intended to help shift societal perceptions around drug use. Cute Animals builds on his previous work as a director on the board of Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy, where he advocated for the advancement of harm reduction and evidence-based drug policy reform. He is especially focused on reversing harmful policies and combating stigma. Andras graduated with an M.Sc. in Primary Care Research from McGill University and now researches infectious disease.

Aaron

Aaron co-founded Cute Animals Doing Drugs Apparel with Andras in the summer of 2017. He finished his BA at McGill University in 2014 and has since been traveling the world and working online. Aaron has a longstanding fascination with psychedelics, and is particularly interested in the subjective elements of psychedelics experience as well as the potential broad social impact of mainstreaming psychedelic use, especially in spiritual contexts. He writes about personal development, spirituality, and psychedelic experience at freedomandfulfilment.com.

Posted on

Brian Normand – Microdosing, Amazonia, and Horizons Afterparty

Brian Normand - Microdosing


Download
What is microdosing? Is this a growing trend in the psychedelic community? What do some people in the psychedelic community think about it? Can it really help boost creativity and productivity? While the idea that microdosing can help with depression, creativity, and productivity, these claims are usually backed by self-reported experiences. There is currently no hard science/research that highlights the risks, safety, or benefits of this concept despite the growing trend and loads of anecdotal evidence. If you want to learn more about this current trend, be sure to get your ticket to the upcoming Psymposia Microdosing event. We are sure all of these questions will be laid out on the table, and it will sure be a great night and discussion!

Brian Normand, Co-Founder of Psymposia, joins us again to talk about the Psymposia Microdosing event/Horizons afterparty. The event will be hosted by the one and only, Duncan Trussell. If you have plans to attend the Horizons: Perspectives on Psychedelics conference in NYC, be sure to check out the afterparty. It is always a great time and also a great place to “find the others.”

Save 5 dollars on your ticket with the coupon code psychedelicstoday

We also cover topics revolving around drug policy and Brian’s experience in the Amazon.

Microdosing event

About the Microdosing Event

You’re invited to Psymposia’s 4th annual celebration following day 1 of the Horizons Perspectives on Psychedelics forum in New York City that examines the role of psychedelic drugs in science, healing, culture and spirituality.

This year, Comedian Duncan Trussell joins Hamilton Morris (VICELAND’s Hamilton’s Pharmacopeia), Katherine MacLean, Sophia Korb, and Paul Austin to talk about everything you wanted to know about microdosing and more, surrounded by a live audience in Brooklyn.

Co-sponsored by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies // MAPS

Buy tickets here: https://www.psymposia.com/events/microdosing-duncan-trussell/

Remeber to use coupon code: psychedelicstoday

[vimeo 233615239 w=640 h=360]

Show Notes/Links

About Brian Normand

Brian Normand

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brian Normand is CoFounder, lead designer, and webmaster of Psymposia. He’s a greenthumb, social entrepreneur & occasional trouble maker, focused on changing minds and creating spaces to teach people about plants and drugs. He graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a BS in Plant, Soil, Insect Science, & Sustainable Horticulture, Magna Cum Laude.

Navigating Psychedelics

Posted on

Becca Segall Tarnas – Jung, Tolkien and Human Imagination

Becca Segall Tarnas


Download

Joe speaks with Becca Segall Tarnas about her work with Carl Jung’s Red Book and J.R.R. Tolkien. There is a substantial amount of overlap between the two. Why these two in a show about psychedelics? Transpersonal Jungian psychology is the bridge. There appears to be objects or entities beyond the veil of our perception and understanding (so far). We have a collective imagination collective unconscious that these things interact in. Psychedelics and other methods can give us access to these. Becca will be presenting her work to this point at the Prague ITC 2017. This discussion goes all over the world, so feel free to reach out if you have any questions. We really enjoy Becca’s work and hope to have her on again in the near future!

About Becca Segall Tarnas

Becca Segall Tarnas

Becca Segall Tarnas is a doctoral candidate in the Philosophy and Religion department at the California Institute of Integral Studies. Her dissertation research is focused on the theoretical implications of the synchronicity between the Red Books of C.G. Jung and J.R.R. Tolkien. Becca received her M.A. from CIIS, and her B.A. from Mount Holyoke College. Her research interests include ecology, imagination, philosophy, and depth psychology, and she is also co-editor of Archai: The Journal of Archetypal Cosmology.

All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost; the old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost. J. R. R. Tolkien

“The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can.” Tolkien – The Fellowship of the Ring

“I indignantly answered, “Do you call light what we men call the worst darkness? Do you call day night?”
To this my soul spoke a word that roused my anger, “My light is not of this world.”
I cried, “I know of no other world!”
The soul answered, “Should it not exist because you know nothing of it?”
― C.G. Jung, The Red Book: Liber Novus

Links – Becca Segall Tarnas

James Hillman

Jorge Ferrer

Navigating Psychedelics

Posted on

Lenny Gibson – A brief history of psychedelics in the Western world

Lenny Gibson


Download
This talk was recorded live in Bolton, Vermont during a MAPS Psychedelic Dinner fundraising event in May 2016.

Lenny Gibson presented a lecture during the event about the brief history of psychedelics in the Western world — surveying the ancient Greek mysteries to the current contemporary psychedelic culture.

“Blessed is he who, having seen these rites,
undertakes the way beneath the Earth.
He knows the end of life,
as well as its divinely granted beginning.”
Pindar

Creatures for a day! What is a man?What is he not? A dream of a shadow Is our mortal being. But when there comes to menA gleam of splendour given of heaven,Then rests on them a light of glory And blessed are their days.
Pindar

I suddenly became strangely inebriated. The external world became changed as in a dream. Objects appeared to gain in relief; they assumed unusual dimensions; and colours became more glowing. Even self-perception and the sense of time were changed. When the eyes were closed, coloured pictures flashed past in a quickly changing kaleidoscope. After a few hours, the not unpleasant inebriation, which had been experienced whilst I was fully conscious, disappeared. What had caused this condition?
Dr. Albert Hofmann – Laboratory Notes (1943)

To fathom hell or soar angelic, just take a pinch of psychedelic.
Dr Humphry Osmond

Show Notes & Links

  • Greek Mysteries
  • Pindar
  • Albert Hofmann
  • Humphrey Osmond
  • Aldous Huxley

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckzfckwiyQ0]

About Lenny Gibson

Lenny Gibson

Leonard Gibson, Ph.D., graduated from Williams College and earned doctorates from Claremont Graduate School in philosophy and The University of Texas at Austin in psychology. Lenny has 50 years of experience working with non–ordinary states of consciousness. He has taught at The University of Tulsa and Lesley College and served his clinical psychology internship at the Boston, MA V.A. Hospital. He also taught transpersonal psychology for 20 years at Burlington College. Lenny serves on the board of the Community Health Centers of the Rutland Region in Vermont. A survivor of throat cancer, he facilitates the head and neck cancer support group at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. He is a past president of the Association of Holotropic Breathwork International.

You can find out more about Lenny at these two links.

Holotropic Breathwork – http://dreamshadow.com

Papers and Discussions – http://www.lennygibson.com/

Posted on

Kyle and Joe – Contexts of Psychedelic Use

Contexts of Psychedelic Use


Download

In this episode, Joe and Kyle discuss the difference contexts of psychedelic use:

  • Therapeutic
  • Recreational
  • Psychospiritual & Self-Discovery
  • Ceremonial & Shamanic

While these categories can be flexible and sometimes merge into one another, we thought that it would be important to give context to the variety of experiences. As MAPS has just received “Breakthrough Therapy” status on the MDMA-assisted psychotherapy research, this is an exciting time for research and therapeutic use of a powerful medicine. However, there may be some confusion about how the therapeutic approach is different from some of these other contexts and ways of using psychedelics. While we believe that all contexts are valid or legitimate and each carry their own risk/benefit, we thought that it would be helpful and fun to talk about our views about this subject.

Become a Patron!

If you want to learn more about navigating the psychedelic experience or learn more about safety guidelines for these different contexts, check out our new online course, “Navigating Psychedelics: Lessons on Self-Care & Integration.”

Navigating Psychedelics

Useful Texts & Resources

Posted on

Zoe Helene – Psychedelic Feminism: Women’s Work in The Medicine Space

Psychedelic Feminism

Zoe Helene of Cosmic Sister and Medicine Hunter joins us to discuss feminism, psychedelic feminism and eco feminism, and her organization, Cosmic Sister. During this conversation, we explore ayahuasca safety in general as well as ayahuasca safety for women — from understanding the risks of Toé as an admixture to ayahuasca to traveling in a group to stay safe.

Other Show Topics

  • Synthetic vs Natural compounds
  • Masculine energy in the psychedelic space
  • Ayahuasca Dieta
  • Sex and ayahuasca
    • Working with sexual energy pre and post ceremony
  • Sexual abuse in the medicine space
  • Finding one’s voice and power

What is Psychedelic Feminism?

Psychedelic Feminism is a sub-genre of feminism that embraces the power of the frontier field of psychedelic healing, transformation, inspiration, and mind/body/spirit exploration into altered states of consciousness. Safe, intentional journeying with psychedelics can help women look deeply inside themselves, in part to face core feminist issues in fresh and exciting ways. – Cosmic Sister

About Cosmic Sister

Cosmic Sister® is a network that connects kindred-spirit women in mutually supportive ways, working collectively toward shared goals while enhancing the personal journey of each individual. Cosmic Sister promotes love, higher consciousness, abundance and creativity, and members pledge to hold each other’s best interests at heart as allies and affiliates. We want to see women shine.

We envision a healthy, life-affirming balance of power between genders, worldwide. We envision a well world where women are fully respected globally, where their voices are heard and respected, and where a natural, healthy, life-affirming gender balance is restored. We believe that many of the world’s most critical problems are a result of a gross gender imbalance that has been sustained for thousands of years. We do not want our species to evolve in the direction we see the majority of human beings choosing, and we wish to be part of a global cultural shift that helps us evolve more rationally and with functioning minds, hearts and spirits with respect and love for other life-forms and the planet we all depend on to survive. We are passionate about helping to protect wilderness spaces and wildlife species that are currently in crisis or threatened.

Links

About Zoe Helene

Zoe Helene, MFA, an artist, environmental and cultural activist, and psychedelic feminist, founded Cosmic Sister, an “underground collective” for women who understand that balance of power between genders is the only way to true sustainability—a system in which all parties (human and non-human) thrive. Educational advocacy projects championing women’s frontline voices are a core concept in Cosmic Sister’s approach to creating positive change. Through these projects, Zoe emphasizes our responsibility—as Earth’s apex predator—to evolve ethically. Cosmic Sister’s educational advocacy projects include a trio of psychedelic feminism grants—Women of the Psychedelic Renaissance, Cosmic Sisters of Cannabis and the merit-based immersive Plant Spirit Grant—promote sacred plants (and fungi) such as ayahuasca, cannabis, peyote, and psilocybin mushrooms and our fundamental human right to journey with them. Zoe’s work in the field is focused on how exploring the wilderness of our own psyches with these natural allies can be a profoundly self-liberating experience for females in male-dominated cultures. She also speaks out for cannabis as a sacred plant for journeying and an “ambassador” for promoting the greater plant medicine conversation.

Zoe’s work has been featured in Bust, Vice, Forbes, Outside Magazine, Boston Magazine, Wisdom Daily, Utne Reader, AlterNet, Newsday and others, and her articles and interviews have been published in LA Yoga, Boston Yoga, Utne Reader, Huffington Post, Organic Spa Magazine, Eco Salon, Organic Authority and more. She has presented to audiences ranging from top-tier corporate executives to nonprofit organizations and women’s empowerment gatherings. Most recently, she led a psychedelic feminism talking circle at Bastyr University, and taught about Psychedelic Feminism: Core Concepts and Key Stages for Plant Spirit Journeying and Global Sustainable Medicinal Plant Trade at the 30th Anniversary of Rosemary Gladstar’s Women’s Herbal Conference. For the past decade, Zoe has traveled to remote regions of the globe with her husband, ethnobotanist and Medicine Hunter Chris Kilham, to promote medicinal plants (including sacred plants), environmental protection and cultural preservation and bear witness to the state of women, wilderness and wildlife. She also supports media professionals in communicating messages around global sustainable plant medicine and has worked with NBC Nightly News, The New York Times, The Dr. Oz Show and many others.

For the past decade, Zoe Helene has traveled to remote regions of the globe with her husband and partner Medicine Hunter Chris Kilham, to promote medicinal plants, environmental protection and cultural preservation.

For more information, see www.cosmicsister.com. (@CosmicSister)

#women #psychedelics #psychedelicfeminism #cosmicsister

Be sure to check out our new online course, “Navigating Psychedelics: Lessons on Self-Care & Integration”

Navigating Psychedelics

Posted on

Kyle and Joe – Life, Death, and DMTx

Life Death and DMTx - Joe Moore and Kyle Buller

DMTx


Download

The summer has been busy for us at Psychedelics Today. We have been working hard on launching our new online course, “Navigating Psychedelics: Lessons on Self-Care & Integration.” Beside lining interviews up for the podcast, we have been recording video interviews/master classes for the course. Since we just launched the course this week, we figured that would check in and just talk about what’s been going on.

This conversation takes off with Joe and Kyle discussing the recent DMTx event that took place last month in Boulder, Colorado. During this talk, we both speculate the risks and concerns of this research as well as the potential benefit. With the conversation revolving around DMT and extended-state DMT research, the discussion heads down the rabbit hole for a bit and we explore the global crisis, climate change, future uses of DMT, alien worlds and alternative dimensions, and more!

We also highlight the recent death of Baylee Ybarra Gatlin, who passed away at the Lightening in a Bottle festival during Memorial Day Weekend. The autopsy report suggests that Gatlin passed due to “Acute LSD Toxicity.” Many condolences to the Ms. Gatlin’s family and friends.

It is very unlikely that Gatlin died from “Acute LSD Toxicity,” but rather most likely from ingesting another substance like 25i-NBOMe. Tragic situations, like these, really stress the importance of substance testing. It seems that with the rise of research chemicals, adulterations in substances, and drugs laced with fentanyl one can never be 100% certain of what they are actually ingesting. If you have the time to ingest, you have the time to test. Get a test kit today.

Leave us a comment and let us know what you think of the show!

Become a Patron!

Navigating Psychedelics

Show Notes/Links – DMTx

Psychedelic Shine with Andrew Galimore – Cyber DMT

Posted on

Vilmarie Narloch PsyD – Harm Reduction and Policy

Vilmarie Narloch, PsyD - Students for Sensible Drug Policy


Download

We have an awesome time speaking with SSDP’s Drug Education Manager, Dr. Vilmarie Narloch. Vilmarie is making a big difference with drug safety in the US and internationally with SSDP’s education program ‘Just Say Know.’

During the show we discuss Vilmarie’s work with policy around the Good Samaritan laws and other impressive and impactful harm reduction projects. We also discuss some of the pressure from various elements in the government regressing rules, like some law enforcement offices refusing to use Narcannaloxone to help save the lives of people overdosing.

This episode is a dose of compassion and gives perspective about the different impacts from the drug war and prohibition.

If you are a student who wishes to get involved in drug policy work, please check out the work that SSDP is doing. If you do not have a chapter at your school or university, start one today!

Vilmarie also joins us in our course Navigating Psychedelics for a master class featuring harm reduction strategies and more. Be sure to sign up today to learn more from Vilmarie and many others!Navigating Psychedelics

About Students For Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP)

Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) is the only international network of students dedicated to ending the war on drugs. At its heart, SSDP is a grassroots organization, led by a student-run Board of Directors. We create change by bringing young people together and creating safe spaces for students of all political and ideological stripes to have honest conversations about drugs and drug policy. Founded in 1998, SSDP is comprised of thousands of members at hundreds of campuses in countries around the globe.

About Just Say Know

Just Say Know is a series of drug education modules aimed at promoting open and honest dialogue around commonly used substances. The program aims to equip young people with harm reduction tools and skills as it relates to the specific substance, but can be applied to substance use generally.

Students for Sensible Drug Policy believes that students should be an overall part of any campus and community prevention and intervention strategy. Our SSDP Peer Education program seeks to empower students in our network to analyze the relationship between drug policy and drug use by providing evidence-based drug information, teaching students to recognize and address dangerous behaviors and unhealthy attitudes, and promoting prosocial and harm reduction oriented behaviors and attitudes.

Show Notes/Links

Vilmarie Narloch PsyD. – Bio

Vilmarie Narloch, PsyD., is the Drug Education Manager at Students for Sensible Drug Policy. In this role, Vilmarie oversees the development and implementation of the SSDP Peer Education program, which is a training program for SSDP Members to become certified to deliver our drug education program, Just Say Know, to their peers. Vilmarie is passionate about reforming drug education in the U.S. and abroad, and has dedicated years of study on the topic for her dissertation. Vilmarie has taken on this position because as an organization driven by students with exceptional knowledge on drug policy and other drug use related issues, SSDP is uniquely positioned and qualified to be developing a drug education program. Additionally, Vilmarie educates staff and the network on the current state of research and treatment issues with regard to substance use disorders and mental health. Vilmarie aims to aid in the connection of policy and practice by helping our network understand the impact of policy on access to treatment and care while utilizing the latest research.

Vilmarie earned her M.A. in Counseling and Psychological Services from Saint. Mary’s University of Minnesota, and a Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology. During her time at Roosevelt, she was a graduate research assistant with Roosevelt University’s Illinois Consortium on Drug Policy. Her work at ICDP included research support, report co-authorship and event planning and coordination. Vilmarie’s interests in drug education, access to treatment, and harm reduction policy and practice have led her to numerous projects, including the provision of counseling and harm reduction services to students at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and DePaul University, serving as a member of the Chicago Consortium on College Alcohol Harm Reduction, a predoctoral internship in the Adult Behavioral Services department in a local public health department, and a postdoctoral fellowship in a small prviate agency, where she provided therapy for individuals, couples, families, and groups in addition to supervising interns. Additionally, Vilmarie has been an adjunct instructor teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in psychology and substance use disorder treatment. She has dedicated her studies and clinical work to advance Harm Reduction as the standard of practice for substance use disorders. In doing so, she has sought opportunities to educate others in her field about harm reduction, including her students. Vilmarie’s dissertation, titled, “What Youth Want: Developing a Drug Education Curriculum Based on Youth Guidance and Evidence-Based Principles,” inspired her to continue to advocate for effective drug education on a professional level, which led to her current position at SSDP. Additionally, Vilmarie’s next personal career goal is to become trained to deliver psychedelic psychotherapy, which she considers to be the future of psychological practice.

Posted on

Ashley Booth, M.S. – Ayahuasca, DMT, Integration, and Los Angeles

Ashley Booth


Download

Ashley Booth

This week we talk with Ashley Booth, co-founder of InnerSpace Integration and founder of the Aware Project: Rethinking Psychedelics. Ashley shares with us how she went from being an oceanographer to starting a psychedelic community in the Los Angeles area and also pursuing psychedelic research. We talk about how the formation and history of both the Aware Project and InnerSpace Integration, and the importance of building a psychedelic community.

We also talk about Ashley’s background in somatic practices such as Hakomi and how Hakomi can be used for integration as well as in the psychedelic space. Body psychotherapy seems to be a tool of the future for many psychotherapists who are interested in psychedelics and psychedelic research as normal talk therapy does not always address some of the underlying issues that are stored within the body.

Other Show Topics

  • Non-visual experiences with Aya
  • Not getting caught up in the story.
  • Burning Man
  • Integration groups/networks
  • Tips on getting involved in the field

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsTxzEB-XA0]

Ashley Booth Show Notes/Links

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aq_cOMsyik]

About Ashley Booth, M.S.

Ashley Booth, M.S. is a scientist, philosopher, and psychedelic ambassador. After years of working in environmental science, she experienced a radical paradigm shift through the use of psychedelics which ignited a passion for the awakening of human consciousness. Ashley uses her scientific background to break through the “war-on-drugs” rhetoric and have an intelligent and scientifically-based conversation about the safety and use of psychedelic substances. Ashley is the founder of the Aware Project: Rethinking Psychedelics (awareproject.org), which hosts educational and community-building events in Los Angeles and San Diego, California. She is also a co-founder of the InnerSpace Integration (innerspaceintegration.com), a psychedelic integration support service and harm reduction organization in Southern California. For a year and a half, she worked as a psycho-spiritual coach at Crossroads Treatment Center, supporting people through ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT experiences. She is a certified Kundalini yoga teacher and is currently training in a somatic psychotherapy approach known as the Hakomi Method. www.AshleyBooth.net

Header Photo: https://www.instagram.com/scarlet.barnett/

Check out our upcoming course, “Navigating Psychedelics: Lessons on Self-Care & Integration.” Sign up Today!

Navigating Psychedelics

Posted on

Daniel Pinchbeck – How Soon is Now?


Download
Daniel Pinchbeck, author of the new book, How Soon is Now? joins us this week to talk about the global ecological crisis, climate change, and how psychedelics may play a role in transforming human culture.

If you do believe that we are in a time of great ecological crisis, what are you doing about it? Taking action is the most important step to creating change, but are we willing to take the sacrifices and action to create change?

Daniel shares his insights about how to take action to implement change. While some of these changes may be challenging, i.e., stop traveling as much, it may be necessary to help cut carbon emissions and to slow down the global warming cycle. Or is it too late to even take action?

A recent journal article, “Lifetime experience with (classic) psychedelics predicts pro-environmental behavior through an increase in nature relatedness” states:

Our model controlled for experiences with other classes of psychoactive substances (cannabis, dissociatives, empathogens, popular legal drugs) as well as common personality traits that usually predict drug consumption and/or nature relatedness (openness to experience, conscientiousness, conservatism). Although correlational in nature, results suggest that lifetime experience with psychedelics in particular may indeed contribute to people’s pro-environmental behavior by changing their self-construal in terms of an incorporation of the natural world, regardless of core personality traits or general propensity to consume mind-altering substances. Thereby, the present research adds to the contemporary literature on the beneficial effects of psychedelic substance use on mental wellbeing, hinting at a novel area for future research investigating their potentially positive effects on a societal level.

About How Soon is Now? 


Description of his book from Amazon.com

We are on the brink of an ecological mega-crisis, threatening the future of life on earth, and our actions over the next few years may well determine the destiny of our descendants. Between a manifesto and a tactical plan of action, How Soon is Now? by radical futurist and philosopher Daniel Pinchbeck, outlines a vision for a mass social movement that will address this crisis.

Drawing on extensive research, Daniel Pinchbeck presents a compelling argument for the need for change on a global basis. The central thesis is that humanity has unconsciously self-willed ecological catastrophe to bring about a transcendence of our current condition. We are facing an initiatory ordeal on a planetary scale. We can understand that this initiation is necessary for us to evolve from one state of being – our current level of consciousness – to the next. Overcoming outmoded ideologies, we will realize ourselves as one unified being, a planetary super-organism in a symbiotic relationship with the Earth’s ecology and the entire web of life.

Covering everything from energy and agriculture, to culture, politics, media and ideology, How Soon Is Now? is ultimately about the nature of the human soul and the future of our current world. Pinchbeck calls for an intentional redesign of our current systems, transforming unjust and elitist structures into participatory, democratic, and inclusive ones. His viewpoint integrates indigenous design principles and Eastern metaphysics with social ecology and radical political thought in a new synthesis.

Show Notes/Links

Daniel’s Books

How Soon is Now?
Breaking Open The Head
2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl

Check out more of Daniel’s writing: Here

About Daniel Pinchbeck

    

From Daniel Pinchbeck’s Website

I am the author of Breaking Open the Head (Broadway Books, 2002), 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl (Tarcher/Penguin, 2006), Notes from the Edge Times(Tarcher/Penguin, 2010), and How Soon Is Now (Watkins, 2017). I co-founded the web magazine, Reality Sandwich, and Evolver.net, and edited the publishing imprint, Evolver Editions, with North Atlantic Books. I was featured in the 2010 documentary, 2012: Time for Change, directed by Joao Amorim and produced by Mangusta Films. I founded the think tank, Center for Planetary Culture, which produced the Regenerative Society Wiki. I hosted the talk show Mindshift on GaiamTV. My essays and articles have been featured in The New York Times Magazine, Esquire, Rolling Stone, ArtForum, The New York Times Book Review, The Village Voice, Dazed & Confused, and many other publications.

Check out our upcoming course, Navigating Psychedelics

Learn about harm reduction practices, self-care, and ways to integration your experience

Posted on

Sara Gael, M.A., Director of Harm Reduction, Zendo Project, Psychotherapist


Download
Sara Gael joins us on this week’s episode. Sara is the Director of Harm Reduction at the Zendo Project. We get into some great stuff including some of Zendo’s biggest wins, how Zendo works, how to discuss harm reduction with festival organizers, and how to manage difficult experiences that arise in the Zendo.  Something interesting that we learned during this talk was how law enforcement at Burning Man has really been interested in learning more about Zendo and their services, and requested Zendo to help train their staff.

Sara also shares her experience and insights working on the MAPS Phase 2 MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD trials and how she got involved in psychedelic research. We also explore how transpersonal psychology can serve as an important framework for working with psychedelic experiences.

We hope you enjoy this episode. Be sure to leave us a comment below and share this episode!

The Zendo Project

The Zendo Project is sponsored by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). Zendo provides harm reduction services to the community and to festivals. Zendo strives to:
  • Reduce the number of psychiatric hospitalizations and arrests.
  • Create an environment where volunteers can work alongside one another to improve their harm reduction skills and receive training and feedback.
  • Demonstrates that safe, productive psychedelic experiences are possible without the need for law enforcement-based prohibitionist policies.

Psychedelic Harm Reduction

Show Notes/Link

Sara Gael, M.A., Director of Harm Reduction, Zendo Project

Sara Gael
Sara received her Master’s degree in Transpersonal Counseling Psychology at Naropa University. She began working with MAPS in 2012, coordinating psychedelic harm reduction services at festivals and events worldwide with the Zendo Project. Sara was an Intern Therapist for the recently completed MAPS Phase 2 clinical trial of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD in Boulder, CO. She maintains a private practice as a psychotherapist specializing in trauma and non-ordinary states of consciousness. Sara believes that developing a comprehensive understanding of psychedelic medicines through research and education is essential for the health and well being of individuals, communities, and the planet.

Community is an important part of integration. One of the most difficult aspects of integration is returning to a society that doesn’t understand or support psychedelic exploration. In fact, re-entering society can feel like a stark contrast between the interconnected, transpersonal state of the psychedelic experience. Therefore, one of most important tools for successful integration is a supportive, understanding community. We encourage our Guests to connect with and build supportive communities around themselves when they return home from the event. We support them in seeking professional help if necessary.

-Sara Gael, Zendo Project Coordinator
source

Sara Gael – Links

Sara’s Professional Practice site – Re-membering

Sara’s Profile on Psychology Today

Mikedelic Podcast – October 5, 2016 

Understanding and Working with Difficult Psychedelic Experiences – MAPS Bulletin

Entheogen Show – Psychedelic First Aid 

Be sure to check out our upcoming course: Navigating Psychedelics

Posted on

Cognitive Liberty, The War on Drugs, & Personal Freedom

Psychedelics Today - Cognitive Liberty, The War on Drugs, and Personal Freedom


Download

It is the week of the 4th of July. That means the United States is celebrating the signing of the Declaration of Independence, breaking free from the British Empire, and becoming an independent nation.  With the holiday underway, it seems like a great time to reflect on the concept of freedom (including cognitive liberty) and what it means to each and every one of us.

In honor of Independence Day and the Declaration of Independence, here is a quote by Terence McKenna:

Terrence McKenna - Cognitive Liberty
Photo from: http://www.cannalawblog.com/they-said-it-on-marijuana-quotable-saturday-part-cxxvi/

In this episode, Joe and Kyle reflect on the concept of personal freedom, cognitive liberty, and the impact that the War on Drugs has on the American people. It seems to be the consensus that the War on Drugs is failing. The policy has huge negative consequences on people across the globe, and significantly marginalizes minority groups and people of color.

Cognitive Liberty

As psychedelic research continues to progress in the academic and scientific realm, many people are still subjected to arrest and imprisonment because of this failed policy. Kyle and Joe share their thoughts about the pursuit for cognitive liberty and personal freedom.

The unexamined life is not worth living – Socrates

Do you think that exploring one’s own consciousness, whether through plants or other drugs, be illegal? Why should a person have to “ask permission” to have an experience with their own body, mind, and spirit?

Let us know your thoughts about this topic.

Joe and Kyle also talk about their new upcoming course, Navigating Psychedelics: Lessons on Self-Care & Integration. Be sure to check out this course and sign up TODAY!

We are giving away a SPECIAL offer just for the 4th of July! Receive 10% off our Earl-Bird special with the coupon code “freedom” when you check out. You do not want to miss this offer!

 

Show Links

Geoffery Schwartz presents: Cognitive Liberty and Entheogenic Freedom for ERIE

Posted on

Shane LeMaster, B.A., M.A., LAC, CC-AASP – Part 2

Shane LeMaster


Download
Shane LeMaster joins us again to talk about his work with veterans, enhancing human performance and traditional use of peyote. If you haven’t listened to part one, check that out first here.

Show Topics

  • Warriorship and Shambhala
  • Micro-dosing as it would apply to sports performance research
  • Flow states
  • Eckhart Tolle
  • Microdosing at JuJitsu competitions
  • High or standard dose psychedelic use at NASA
  • The difference between microdosing and normal dosages
  • Shane’s own practice
  • JuJitsu for healing trauma
  • Vets only JuJitsu class
  • Where is trauma stored
  • Insights on Peyote Integration

Show Links

About Shane LeMaster, B.A., M.A.,  LAC, CC-AASP

Bio from Mind-OPS

Shane earned his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology from the University of Colorado in Boulder, CO, completed extensive coursework towards a Master of Arts Degree in Sport & Performance Psychology at the University of Denver, and earned his Master of Arts Degree in Sport & Exercise Psychology from Argosy University.

Shane is nationally certified as a Sport Psychology Consultant and a licensed mental health clinician in the state of Colorado.  Having worked in community non-profit mental health since 2008, Shane has gained experience working with the entire spectrum of mental disorders and with all populations and age groups.  Shane plans on attending a Ph.D program in Counseling Psychology where his interest in Resiliency, Mental Toughness, and Mindfulness Training Program Development can be explored and further developed.

He is a life-long athlete having competed at various levels in more than a dozen different sports.  Because of his passion for warrior cultures of past and present, Shane has been ardently developing his own “Warriorship,” training in various forms of Martial Arts for 25 years.  Shane feels that the self-discipline, the philosophy of non-violence, the innumerable mental and physical benefits, and the enjoyment that he gains from the Martial Arts is what helped drive his passion in the field of Psychology.

His personal interest in Eastern Philosophy stems from his adoption of a Buddhist lifestyle and blends well with his training in Western Psychological Science.  Clients describe Shane as an out-of-the-box clinician that is easy to get along with, knowledgeable on a variety of topics, credible with lived experience, and as having the ability to make therapy fun and interesting.

Interested in learning more about psychedelic self-care and integration? Check out and sign up for our new online course!

Posted on

Shane LeMaster, B.A., M.A., LAC, CC-AASP – Peyote, Veterans and Flow States


Download

Shane LeMaster joins us to talk about his work with veterans, enhancing human performance and traditional use of peyote.

Show Topics
  • Psychedelics and martial arts.
  • Martial arts / JuJitsu for Veterans.
    • Exposure therapy
  • Flow states and psychedelics.
  • Psychedelic Integration and groups.
  • Opinions on MDMA being a psychedelic drug or not.
  • Doing work with veterans and gaining their trust for therapeutic relationships.
  • Traditional approaches to ayahuasca.
  • First hand accounts of what the Peyote world is like.
  • Shifting away from the predominant Newtonian Cartesian paradigm after psychedelic use and understanding that we know very little about what is really happening here in the world.
  • Sustainability in the Peyote habitat.
Show Links

About Shane LeMaster, B.A., M.A.,  LAC, CC-AASP

Bio from Mind-OPS

Shane earned his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology from the University of Colorado in Boulder, CO, completed extensive coursework towards a Master of Arts Degree in Sport & Performance Psychology at the University of Denver, and earned his Master of Arts Degree in Sport & Exercise Psychology from Argosy University.

Shane is nationally certified as a Sport Psychology Consultant and a licensed mental health clinician in the state of Colorado.  Having worked in community non-profit mental health since 2008, Shane has gained experience working with the entire spectrum of mental disorders and with all populations and age groups.  Shane plans on attending a Ph.D program in Counseling Psychology where his interest in Resiliency, Mental Toughness, and Mindfulness Training Program Development can be explored and further developed.

He is a life-long athlete having competed at various levels in more than a dozen different sports.  Because of his passion for warrior cultures of past and present, Shane has been ardently developing his own “Warriorship,” training in various forms of Martial Arts for 25 years.  Shane feels that the self-discipline, the philosophy of non-violence, the innumerable mental and physical benefits, and the enjoyment that he gains from the Martial Arts is what helped drive his passion in the field of Psychology.

His personal interest in Eastern Philosophy stems from his adoption of a Buddhist lifestyle and blends well with his training in Western Psychological Science.  Clients describe Shane as an out-of-the-box clinician that is easy to get along with, knowledgeable on a variety of topics, credible with lived experience, and as having the ability to make therapy fun and interesting.

Interested in learning more about psychedelic self-care and integration? Check out and sign up for our new online course!

 

Posted on

Leia Friedman – The Boston Entheogenic Network and Tips on Creating a Psychedelic Group

Leia Friedman


Download
In this episode, Kyle talks with Leia Friedman, co-founder of the Boston Entheogenic Network (BEN) and also known as “The Psychedologist.” Kyle recently was invited to facilitate an “Introduction to Transpersonal Breathwork” workshop for BEN. Joe also was in town for the weekend and presented a talk about “Breathwork, Psychedelics, and Ecological Collapse.” It was a great psychedelic weekend in Massachusetts.

After the workshop, Kyle had the opportunity to sit down and talk with Leia about her interests in the psychedelic field, feminism and eco-feminism, and how she got involved with starting a psychedelic group in Boston. She provides some helpful tips and advice for creating/starting your own local group.

Tips for starting your own psychedelic group:

  • First, what is the point of the group?
  • What is the purpose or mission?
  • Learn about your local laws and the legal risks
  • Do not condone or facilitate illegal activity
  • Go slow
  • Find the others to help you out
  • Check in with yourself and the other members of the group
  • Protect your members
  • Start online to gain awareness and then start an in-person meet up

Sign up below to get your FREE download “How to Create Your Own Psychedelic Group”

We hope you enjoy this episode and let us know what you think!

Leia Friedman
Kyle and Leia holding space for the breathwork circle
Leia Friedman
Breathwork on the river.
Leia Friedman
Joe and Kyle presenting, “Breathwork, Psychedelics, and Ecological Collapse” in Lowell, MA, USA

Show Notes/Links

About Leia Friedman

Leia Friedman is a professor, clinician, writer and the cofounder of Boston Entheogenic Network. Her present focus is an amalgamation of psychology, ecology, and experiences of altered consciousness as tools for deeper self-understanding. She is also involved in local social and climate justice activism, alphabet soup, and body positivity.

Posted on

Allison Pelissier – Lucia N°03 Light Experience


Download
In this episode, Kyle talks with Allison Pelissier, of The Traveling Light Machine, about the Lucia N°03 Hypnagogic Light Machine. It turns out it is very powerful and induces powerful visions in some.

During Kyle’s recent trip to Vermont, he met a fellow fan of the podcast, Grant, at the recent Dreamshadow Holotropic Breathwork retreat. While meeting Grant felt like a synchronicity, it led Kyle to experience the Lucia N°03 with Allison. Kyle shares his experience with the hypnagogic light machine in this episode while Allison discusses the background and development of this this fascinating piece of technology. Be sure to continue below to learn more about the Lucia N°03, get show notes/links, and to find out more about Allison’s work.

Consider leaving us a comment to let us know what you think about the episode.

About The Lucia N°03 Hypnagogic Light Machine

The Lucia N°03 was developed in Austria by clinical psychologist Dr. EngelbertWinkler and medical neurologist Dr. Dirk Proeckl.

It is important to note that the Lucia N°03 is not a medical device. Rather it is a therapeutic light meditation. That is, it helps light travelers achieve a state of effortless meditation. It is not in competition with, nor a replacement for pharmaceutical drugs, clinical therapy, or any other medical intervention. It is a journey into consciousness.

The Lucia N°03 gently entrains the brain, stimulates the pineal gland and opens up a beautiful space for visionary exploration.

The Lucia N°03 helps clear the mind and allow even beginning meditators to reach a space of peace quickly. It is not a replacement for a meditation practice but quite the opposite – it encourages people to meditate by realizing how powerful the practice can be and gives them the confidence (and roadmap) to get there on their own. As the Lucia is both a stimulation (through light), and a relaxation (through brain entrainment), it helps the individual learn to let go in stressful situations, rather than resist and make things even more difficult. The Lucia N°03 also uses a wide spectrum of light which has been reported to have a great impact for people with both seasonal affective disorder and other types of depression.

Source: The Traveling Light Machine Facebook 

The Lucia light experience is different for each person, as it works with each person’s individual system and has a balancing effect. Everyone feels more clear and centered after an experience, while some people feel more energized or deeply relaxed.

Source: iReVibe

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAjhrhsAsmA]

 

Links

Source: The Traveling Light Machine Facebook 

About Allison Pelissier

    

Dedicated to assisting in the expansion of consciousness of humanity, Allison is a lightworker that is both a clairvoyant and ambassador for the Lucia N°03 light experience. Allison has a MA in International Education and Development and a BA in Political Economics. She also holds a 200 hr Yoga Teaching Certification, a Children’s Yoga Teaching Certification and has worked across the world in many different capacities as an academic teacher, textbook author, meditation and yoga teacher, project manager and developer and light ambassador.
The Lucia N°03 light experience peaked Allison’s interest after her first experience at Light Eye Mind Gallery in London, UK. She traveled deeply into her own mind and memories and emerged from the experience feeling like she had come back to herself in a way she would never have suspected could be possible. Her experience helped her shift from a state of depression and PTSD to an ability to sleep through the night and wake up with a sense of joy again.
Feeling a strong calling to work with the Lucia N°03, Allison purchased her own lamp and started touring around the US with Traveling Light Machine project, aiming to bring the experience to wherever the light was called. The most moving part of the experience for Allison is that as a light ambassador she holds space for people to have their own experiences. She strongly believes that we cannot help anyone, but rather hold space for them to see and love themselves.
Currently Allison travels around the US and the world with her partner in business and love, Zachary Noel, sharing the Lucia N°03 light experience.
Posted on

Jag Davies – Drug Policy Alliance


Download

The MAPS Psychedelic Science 2017 conference was the largest psychedelic conference in history to date. It is an exciting time to be part of the movement and to get involved in the field. There is a push to legalize psychedelics for therapy and to recognize these substances as medicine. While the field needs the science and research to legitimize psychedelics as medicines to treat various disorders, but the change in status does not mean access for everyone. This is not to discourage the research or science, we acknowledge that it is important, but rather it is to help educate the public that the change in status does not mean psychedelics will be legal for recreational use.

There may be a misconception floating around that once MDMA or psilocybin becomes medicine there will be greater access. This is not entirely true according to Jag Davies. The criminalization of psychedelic substances will continue despite the health and clinical applications. Jag and the DPA strive to help move drug policy away from a criminalization approach and help to move it towards a more health-based approach.

In this episode, we talk with Jag Davies, Communication Strategy Director of the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA). Jag provides us with his insights about the current state of psychedelics, psychedelic research, and other drug laws. Jag also talks about his work with the DPA and what the DPA’s mission is. We discuss drug policy, advocacy, harm reduction, scheduling vs penalty, racism, and so much more.

One of the best things to do to get involved is to help spread the word about the healing potential of psychedelic medicines and substances. The policy around these substances are constantly changing and new issues are always arising. We talk a lot about privilege in this episode, and how being in a privileged position makes it easier to speak about experiences with psychedelics or other substances.

Another great way to get involved is connecting with the Drug Policy Alliance. There is a wonderful drug reform conference coming up and that is also a great way to get your foot in the door with this work.  The Reform Conference is happening in Atlanta, Georgia, from October 11th-14th. If you do not think you can attend, try applying for the scholarship, which ends June 9th.

About the Drug Policy Alliance

 

The Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) is the nation’s leading organization promoting drug policies that are grounded in science, compassion, health and human rights.
Our supporters are individuals who believe the war on drugs is doing more harm than good. Together we advance policies that reduce the harms of both drug use and drug prohibition, and seek solutions that promote safety while upholding the sovereignty of individuals over their own minds and bodies. We work to ensure that our nation’s drug policies no longer arrest, incarcerate, disenfranchise and otherwise harm millions – particularly young people and people of color who are disproportionately affected by the war on drugs.
Mission and Vision of the Drug Policy Alliance

The Drug Policy Alliance envisions a just society in which the use and regulation of drugs are grounded in science, compassion, health and human rights, in which people are no longer punished for what they put into their own bodies but only for crimes committed against others, and in which the fears, prejudices and punitive prohibitions of today are no more.

Our mission is to advance those policies and attitudes that best reduce the harms of both drug use and drug prohibition, and to promote the sovereignty of individuals over their minds and bodies.

  

Show Notes/Links

About Jag Davies

From Drug Policy Alliance:

As director of communications strategy, Jag Davies works with communications, program, development and senior management staff to oversee production of all DPA publications and to facilitate best practices in the implementation of the organization’s messaging and brand identity.  Davies manages a team that includes DPA’s research coordinator and communications coordinator, as well as external consultant relationships with writers, designers, and multimedia content producers.

Davies also plays a key role in DPA’s media work.  He is regularly quoted in a wide range of media outlets and his writings have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, BBC.com, CNN.com, and dozens of regional and online publications.

Davies has more than a decade of professional experience working to establish drug policies grounded in science, compassion, health and human rights.  Before joining the organization, he served as director of communications for MAPS, a nonprofit pharmaceutical company conducting clinical trials aimed at developing marijuana and certain psychedelic drugs into federally-approved prescription medicines.  Davies also previously served as policy researcher for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Drug Law Reform Project (now known as the Criminal Law Reform Project), where he coordinated local, state, federal, and international efforts to end punitive drug policies that cause the widespread violation of constitutional and human rights.

Posted on

Julie Megler MSN, NP-BC – ERIE, Mental Health, and Integration


Download

In this episode, Kyle and Joe talk with Julie Megler from Entheogenic Research, Integration, and Education (ERIE) about psychedelics and integration. We learn about the work and mission of ERIE, and how Julie got involved/interested in psychedelics. Integration is a growing concern in the psychedelic world.  We continue the conversation by having Julie on the show to learn more about her work.  Leave us a comment below and let us know what you think!

About Erie

ERIE is a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to the sharing of entheogenic and transpersonal knowledge in a non-hierarchical, community based format, located in the San Francisco Bay Area.
We offer a platform for entheogenic research, integration and education. ERIE is not only a hub of integration information for entheogenic and transpersonal experiences, we also host peer integration circles to facilitate meaning-making and community building. We host monthly educational events including symposiums, forums, and conferences on varied topics surrounding entheogenic research and activism.
We are dedicated to supporting cognitive liberty by offering a learning environment to support grassroots education and outreach on the topics of integration and entheogenic potentials.

Mission

The Entheogenic Research, Integration, and Education (ERIE) mission:
1) Review and conduct research on the use of traditional plant medicines, and their modern analogs, for creativity, healing, personal growth, and spiritual exploration

2) Develop integration methods that combine new research with existing, tested practices to help people incorporate extraordinary experiences into their lives

3) Articulate a new educational paradigm that honors and draws upon the vast Indigenous knowledge of plant and fungi kingdoms, then envisions new applications of it within contemporary Western contexts

4) Create a forum for the responsible discussion of these topics.

Links

Julie Megler, MSN, NP-BC

*Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner * Trained in Somatic Experiencing * Shipibo/Vegetalista Dieta Experience*

Julie is a board certified nurse practitioner in psychiatry and family medicine. She received her Master’s of Science in Nursing from the University of Miami, Florida and post master’s certificate in psychiatry at the University of California-San Francisco. Julie maintains licenses in family medicine and psychiatry in an effort to close the gap between medical and psychiatric care, incorporating the mind/body connection for most effective treatment. She currently is in private practice in the San Francisco/Bay Area.

Her practice focuses on integrative mental health services for emotional and physical well being, as well as integration of non-ordinary states of consciousness. In addition to her clinical work, Julie is on the board of directors of ERIE (Entheogenic Research, Integration, and Education). She has presented on the topics of psychedelic risk reduction, integration, and therapeutic applications of ayahuasca at the Psychedelic Science Conference 2013 & 2017, The Women’s Visionary Congress, Detroit’s First Entheogenic Conference, and the Visionary Convergence 2015.

She has also co-authored chapters in the books Manifesting Minds and The Therapeutic Uses of Ayahuasca. As an experienced clinician, and activist for the psychedelic movement, Julie is dedicated to educating the community about safety and the therapeutic benefits of entheogens. Her particular emphasis on integration assists individuals to develop practices that bring insights from entheogenic work to daily life. You can learn more about Julie’s work at erievision.org & mindfulnp.com.

Julie has done many ayahuasca sessions and other plant work as well. This along with her medical provider practice as a nurse practitioner in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is able to speak about psychedelic integration from a unique perspective with her background. We think you will really enjoy this episode and please let us know what you think.

 

Posted on

Sherree Malcolm Godasi – The Psychedelic Integration Coach

Sherree Malcolm Godasi

As psychedelics and plant medicines continue to gain mainstream attention, more and more people are becoming interested in having their own experience. While many people travel outside their home country to experience ayahuasca legally in a retreat setting, many people are participating in ceremonies in the “underground” all over the world. Attending a festival, large or small, is also a very common place for people to experiment with psychedelic substances. This new wave of psychedelic use is almost like a new rites of passage for many. Two parts of any rites of passage is the preparation and integration of the experience. Sherree Malcolm Godasi can and does help.

Download

Sherree Malcolm Godasi - The Psychedelic Integration Coach

We talk with Sherree Malcolm Godasi about her work with psychedelic preparation and integration. As she mentions on her site, Psychedelic Integration Coach:

Preparation for ceremony and ongoing, post-ceremony integration of the lessons shown by Ayahuasca are all about developing the physiological and psychological flexibility that would enable the drinker to surrender to her awesome, wise spirit. It is also about harnessing the time, effort and resources put into ceremony work to ensure that the healing is anchored and cultivated in the default life. The diligent preparation stage aims to cleanse the mind, body and energetic field and opens the drinker to receive, and is most beneficial when started a month in advance.

Following the ceremony, as the lessons from La Medicina – THE Medicine – will keep unfolding for weeks, months and even years later, a mindful integration stage of minimum 3 months is recommended. This intentional awareness surrounding the experience allows you to successfully retain the positively life-changing connection with Mother Ayahuasca long after you exit the jungle and return to your home environment – this is how miracles turn into your reality.

Ayahuasca

What type of services does Sherree Offer?
  • Information addressing your concerns about the use of psychedelic substances/entheogens based on contemporary scientific research, ancient medicine teachings, my academic studies, professional training and personal experience
  • Support and guidance to those who are experiencing challenging and adverse effects related to psychedelic substances
  • Support and guidance to those who are undergoing a spiritual emergence or spiritual emergency, due to the use of psychedelic substances or otherwise
  • Educational tools to individuals who wish to learn how to support others who have experienced/are experiencing altered states.
What type of services does Sherree NOT offer?
  • Plant medicines or psychedelic substances of any kind, or advice on where/how to acquire them
  • Psychedelic therapy sessions, guided medicine journeys, or ceremonies involving plant medicines or psychedelic substances
  • References to facilitators or centers who provide psychedelics/medicine sessions
  • Recommendations for using any plant medicines/psychedelic substances
  • Psychotherapy or other clinical mental health services, medical services, evaluations or diagnosis, or legal services.

Work with Sherree: The Psychedelic Integration Coach

Ayahuasca
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jairinflas/11949706744/

Sign up for our online school on Teachable

Currently offering our “Psychedelic Integration & Self-Care” Course!

 

Show Notes/Links

About Sherree Malcolm Godasi

Sherree Malcolm Godasi

Sherree Malcolm Godasi, “The Psychedelic Integration Coach”, lends a passionate philosophy about mindful integration of the psychedelic experience as an enriching self-care practice and a harm reduction technique. She holds a Master’s in psychology specializing in Psychedelic Integration Therapy with a focus on spiritual/depth theories, is a certified senior Psychedelic Integration and Addiction Recovery Coach at Being True To You and is trained in Spiritual Emergence. She also co-leads ayahuasca healing retreats to Peru, incorporating a preparation and post-retreat integration program. Her approach draws from transpersonal, mindfulness and shamanic healing modalities to fuse ancient wisdom with modern & practical practices. At this psychedelic renaissance she hopes to educate towards a responsible engagement with entheogens to cultivate a connection with our inner healer and live that psychedelic feeling.
Social Media Links
     

 

Posted on

Ibogaine Therapy – David Stetson – Oka Center Iboga

Oka Ibogaine Therapy - David Stetson


Download

David Stetson – Oka Center Ibogaine – Ibogaine Therapy

IBOGAINE and  AYAHUASCA in the MAYAN YUCATÁN

Kyle and Joe discuss iboga and ibogaine with David Stetson who runs Oka Ibogaine Center in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. David was a wonderful guest on the show and we had a lovely talk that was very broad. We discussed the ecological issues surrounding iboga and ibogaine therapy, as well as the differences between the more traditional model and the clinical model of administering these medicines. Oka has recently started offering ayahuasca retreats as well.Iboga.jpg

We also get to talk about the idea of psychedelic aftercare facilities and they are substantial importance for people requiring serious psychedelic work to heal. When healing, going back to your old life is often not the best decision. The inpatient rehab model is something that we should really look at. The Holistic House in the Las Vegas area is one successful model and we are very excited about it.

We hope you enjoy the episode and reach out if you have any questions or comments.

Our place is a marriage of two different worlds: While we respect and utilize western clinical protocols for safety and detox success, we love and live by our numerous and ongoing experiences with the traditional use of these master plants in Africa and Peru.

Links from the show

 

About David Stetson

David’s passion has been Bwiti since his Iboga initiation in 2007. It’s his privilege to be sharing this medicine with people in need.   

David is extensively well-traveled in Gabon, Africa where he is known as Okukwe.  During his time in Gabon he learned Bwiti traditions, music, and ceremonial practices and is proficient on both the moungongo (musical bow) and ngombi (harp) instruments.      

David views Bwiti and Ibogaine as a lifeway that champions communion with others while also empowering the individual.  His approach to working and healing with others starts with the awareness of alienation and isolation as common and appropriate responses to our western culture, and is based in nonjudgement.     

Posted on

Psychedelic Science 17 Recap

Psychedelic Science 17


Download

Psychedelic Science 17 in Review

We discuss our recent trip to MAPS‘s Psychedelic Science 2017. It was incredibly fun and we loved being able to connect with so many with this shared interest. Many attendees are actively working to progress the case of psychedelic substances.

This was the largest psychedelic conference ever in recorded history attended by over 3000 people from 42 countries. There were discussions around ayahuasca, peyote, DMT, salvia, MDMA and many other substances. Some of the most interesting discussions were around ibogaine treating people with addiction. Turns out there are far more things that can be treated with ibogaine than simply opiate addiction.

I was very excited to discuss drug testing and harm reduction with the people from DanceSafe. We were also able to check out some really interesting technology – lights and music – that triggered some of the most intense visuals of my life.  Illuminated SF put that demonstration together. It is highly recommend.

The experience of Psychedelic Science 17 was so incredible and encouraging that I cannot wait to go to the next one. Being around the movement was truly humbling and gratifying. Connecting with people from as far as Brussels, Poland and Hong Kong gave extra context to how far and wide this movement is spreading and that there is real depth in the movement.

We hope you enjoy the episode. If you want to connect with us please feel free to reach out using the contact page. If you want to stay in touch with us please join our mailing list and we will send some interesting links to you on a semi regular basis.

Links

https://www.solarwolfenergy.com/

https://maps.org

MAPS made available a tremendous amount of the talks for free on youtube. You should spend some time digging through the talks for things you may find very interesting.

Posted on

Psychedelics, Philosophy, Transhumanism and Peter Sjöstedt-H

Psychedelic Philosophy and Peter Sjöstedt-H


Download
Peter is a psychedelic philosopher focusing on panpsychism, psychedelics, Whitehead, Nietzsche and some other heavy weights. We discuss Peter’s psychedelic philosophy and influences from psychedelic liberty cap mushrooms found in a field in England, his influence on the famous comic author Warren Ellis, his essay Neo-Nihilism, transhumanism and much more. We really look forward to having Peter on the show again in the future!

Show Notes/links

Whitehead Quotes

‘The terms morality, logic, religion, art, have each of them been claimed as exhausting the whole meaning of importance. Each of them denotes a subordinate species. But the genus stretches beyond any finite group of species.’ (MT)

‘Philosophy is an attempt to express the infinity of the universe in terms of the limitations of language.’ (Autobiog.)

‘The doctrines which best repay critical examination are those which for the longest period have remained unquestioned.’ (MT)

‘[I]n the development of intelligence there is a great principle which is often forgotten. In order to acquire learning, we must first shake ourselves free of it. We must grasp the topic in the rough, before we smooth it out and shape it.’ (MT)

More on Peter’s site here 

Peter’s Social Media

Instagram
Twitter
Facebook

Warren Ellis

The Brink

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMyMbQAgiVc

About Peter

Peter Sjöstedt-H is an Anglo-Scandinavian philosopher who specialises in the thought of Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and Whitehead within the fields of Philosophy of Mind and Metaphysics – especially with regard to panpsychism and altered states of sentience. Peter received a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy and a Master’s degree in Continental Philosophy from the University of Warwick, where he was awarded a first-class distinction for his dissertation on Kant and Schelling in relation to ‘intellectual intuition’. He subsequently became a Philosophy Lecturer in London for six years but is now engaged in his PhD at Exeter University where he also teaches philosophy modules and writing skills. Peter is the author of Noumenautics and an inspiration behind the new inhuman philosopher Marvel Superhero, Karnak.

In the words of futurist, philosopher and pop star Alexander Bard: ‘One of our favourite contemporary philosophers, Peter Sjöstedt-H…think a psychedelic Nietzsche’.

Posted on

MDMA – The Underground Continued – More Confessions of an Underground Therapist


Download

Kyle and Joe recently chatted with a second therapist who works underground. Trained as a traditional therapist, this therapist integrates MDMA work into her practice with selective clients. She has been mentored by a teacher who has done this work for a very long period of time. She has a community of therapists around her providing support.

MDMA is not a typical psychedelic drug but it is the focus of most of MAPS’s efforts in the Psychedelic Psychotherapy world. Psychedelic therapy is THE frontier of psychology. Therapists like Selina are on the vanguard of these therapies. By working underground they have great risks (legal) and advantages (huge amounts of healing for their patients).

Why are we waiting? We are in a mental health crisis, far too many people are suffering and committing suicide. If one compares this to any recent “outbreak” the numbers certainly make sense to fast track MDMA as a viable therapy for PTSD and other disorders.

We want to keep interviewing people doing underground work, so please send them our way for interviews. We are going to be able to provide anonymity for those that want it, so feel free to ask about this if you want it.

Enjoy!!

MDMA Therapist – Show Notes

We will not provide any information about this therapist. Please do not email/contact us about therapy sessions or gaining information about the therapist. These interviews are anonymous and private. We can provide general advice. We will not provide any information about this or other anonymous guests of the show. Thanks for understanding! 

Become a Patron!

Posted on

Kevin Franciotti – Psychedelic Therapy, Iboga and Journalism

Iboga researcher and advocate - Kevin Franciotti


Download
Kevin is a science writer, graduate student researcher and aspiring clinician, harm reduction educator and substance use recovery advocate. Kyle and Joe talk to him about loads of topics including early Iboga therapies, an early Boston Ibogaine Conference, his approach to journalism and his future aspirations to do future clinical work and research.

Kevin’s website

Kevin’s writing

Staff Writer (Fall 2012–Spring 2013) – NuScience Magazine, Northeastern University

Links

Autism
20-25 mg Psilocybin
200 mcg – LSD

A Conversation Between Gary Fisher and Myron Stolaroff (2004) – Psychedelic Salon

2009 Ibogaine Conference Northeastern University, Boston, Mass.

Alicia Danforth Ph.D -Dissertation

National Geographic – Breakthrough season 2

About Kevin:

Kevin graduated from Northeastern University in 2013 with a degree in neuroscience. As an undergraduate he completed an internship as a research assistant at Harvard Medical School working on the Phase 2 dose-response study investigating the therapeutic potential of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for treatment of cancer related anxiety. Kevin was also one of the founders of the Northeastern chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, and in 2009 the group hosted and co-sponsored the Boston Ibogaine Forum. He now lives in New York City where he is enrolled in a clinical psychology graduate program at The New School for Social Research and is pursuing a doctoral degree. Kevin has worked part-time for the Drug Policy Alliance, and also works as a writer covering topics related to psychedelic therapy, addiction, and mental health advocacy. His recent contributions include: New Scientist, Reason.com, Reset.me, Reality Sandwich, and VICE.com.

Posted on

Lex Pelger – Endocannabinoids and the Blue Dot Tour

Lex Pelger - Psychedelic writer and thinker


Download
Psymposia’s MC and Host, Lex Pelger, joins us again on Psychedelics Today to talk about Psymposia’s upcoming Blue Dot Tour. Lex also talks about his graphic novel about cannabis, the endocannabinoid system, and the War on Weed.

What is the Blue Dot Tour?

(From Psymposia.com)

The Blue-Dot Tour is our two-month open-mic Psychedelic Stories road trip across the continent starting on the way to the Psymposia Stage Psychedelic Science 2017 in Oakland.

Our goal is to hit blue cities in red states that serve as such pressure cookers of activism, education, and art. But also blue cities in blue states, red towns in red states, purple villages in green states, and anywhere we can find a host from Mexico to Canada.

We’ll also be screening Robert Barnhart’s excellent film ‘A New Understanding – the Science of Psilocybin.’

Blue Dot Tour Dates (Subject to Change)

For the most up-to-date schedule check out the schedule at Psymposia.com 

4/21-23 Psychedelic Science
4/26 Los Angeles, CA
4/27 San Diego, CA

Don’t see your city on the tour schedule? Reach out to Psymposia to host them in your town/city for an event: hi@psymposia.com

Show Notes/Links
About Lex Pelger:

Lex is Host of Psymposia. He’s also a drug writer and scientist based in Brooklyn.

His current project, Anandamide or: the Cannabinoid a graphic novel about cannabis (based on Moby Dick), illustrates the beauties of the endocannabinoid system (the Whale), the brutalities of the racist War on Weed (Ahab), and the staggering benefits of medical marijuana to ease the aging of our grandparents

He graduated from Boston University with a BS in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Posted on

Ed of Psychedelic Milk- Drugs, Hong Kong, Trump, & Trickster Medicine


Download
In this episode, Joe and Kyle chat with Ed Liu of the podcast, Psychedelic Milk. It has been great to connect with other folks that host podcasts, and are doing whatever they can to spread the message about psychedelics and the psychedelic movement. We really enjoyed talking with Ed and appreciated his honesty as well as the conversations he is bringing to the field.

Show Notes

PsychedelicMilk.com is an independent media collective that takes a deeper look into the world of psychedelics through interviews and discussions. Our mission is to bring more awareness and understanding to alternative medicine and different ways of thinking to our our audiences through young and exciting ways. Psychedelic Milk also aims to investigate old and new consciousness opening technologies to see what roles they can play in our modern world. We believe psychedelic technologies are not just limited to plant medicines, but can be accessed through meditation, movement, knowledge, and many more. If you like the podcast, leave us a review on iTunes! (will help us tremendously)

          

About Ed Liu

Ed Liu is a podcast host and a music producer – previously charted on the Beatport Top 100. He is currently the host of the Psychedelic Milk podcast, a long form conversational interview with interesting and influential guests from all over the world to discuss topics of consciousness, psychedelics, and new emerging technologies.

 

Posted on

Paul Austin – Psychedelia and The Third Wave – Psychedelic Media

Psychedelia Podcast - The Third Wave - Psychedelic

Download

Download

Kyle and Joe speak with, Paul Austin, psychedelic educator, founder of The Third Wave and Psychedelia. Paul is a super fun guy to talk to. He tours both in the US and internationally to speak about microdosing. Microdosing is becoming incredibly popular and seems to be making psychedelics more popular in the mainstream. Microdosing can help with creativity, therapy and many other things without any of the burden of a “full” dose.

What is the psychedelic Third Wave? Paul describes it as:Psychedelia Podcast - The Third Wave - Psychedelic

A new era of psychedelic use. It is an era of psychedelic use defined by practical, measured use for specific purposes. It is an era, not for ‘dropping-out’ of society, but for integrating psychedelics into the mainstream. It is an era, not to fear psychedelics for their possible negative repercussions, but to embrace psychedelics for their tremendous upside.

Some insight from DR. JAMES FADIMAN
“For some people, it is helpful to identify your goals. Your goals may be spiritual: to have direct experience with aspects of your tradition or another tradition, to transcend prior beliefs, even to transcend belief itself. You may hope to have what is called a “unity experience,” in which there is no separation between your identity and all else. Your goals may be social: to improve relationships with your spouse, children, siblings, parents, colleagues, friends, and spiritual and secular institutions. Your goals may be psychological: to find insight into neurotic patterns, phobias, or unresolved anger or grief.”

We get into some great psychedelic topics such as:

About Paul Austin:

As an entrepreneur and avid psychedelic explorer, Paul believes in the power of rational dialogue and community engagement in stripping Paul Austin - Psychedelic Educator away the stigma around psychedelic use.

He understands the power of responsible psychedelic use in aiding psycho-spiritual development, and believes in sharing this message with others.

When not ruminating on his next psychedelic project, Paul enjoys traveling, reading, and spending time outside.

Posted on

Psychedelic Shine – Boulder Theater Featuring Dennis McKenna


Download

Joe talks about his recent experience at the Psychedelic Shine event in Boulder CO that featured Dennis McKenna.

Super fun time and was very thankful to connect with the Colorado Psychedelic community.

 

Here are some links to some folks I ran into at the event.

Dennis’s book

Links

Antlife

Psychedelic Club

The Rooster – Reilly Caps

Trichome Institute  (Max)

Kimba Arem

Knew Revolution

 

Posted on

Kyle and Joe review a new documentary – The Sunshine Makers

The Sunshine Makers - Review by Psychedelics Today


Download
Joe and Kyle talk at length about the recently produced documentary titled “The Sunshine Makers” created by Cosmo Feilding-Mellen and starring both Nick Sand and Tim Scully.

Let us know what you think about this and if it was interesting to you at all. Please rent or purchase the documentary through our amazon link here to support Psychedelics Today.

The Movie
Amazon – rent or buy

IMDB

Links 

Tim Scully

Nick Sand

Orange Sunshine

Brotherhood of Eternal Love

 

Video of Kyle and Joe recording this discussion

 

 

Posted on

Confessions of an Underground MDMA Therapist


Download

Kyle and Joe talk to an anonymous MDMA therapist and relationship coach. He has been working with people while they use MDMA beginning in the early days while it was still legal and continues to facilitate work with people while it is prohibited.

For his safety, his identity is kept anonymous. The insights here are wonderful and worth learning. Hopefully you will learn something here and it can be applied to future therapies once we hit the 2021 MAPS target date.

Some interesting thoughts from the interview:

  • Transcending the parent-child relationship.
  • We are human beings that can be in good relationship with one another.
  • Do I feel safe? What does it mean to feel safe?
  • Appropriate dosages.
  • Intuitive approaches for engaging with the client patient.
  • Possible applications for group therapy.

Enjoy!!

Posted on

Thomas Roberts Ph.D. – The Broad Future of Psychedelic Research


Download

The future of psychedelic research is endless. There seems to be thousands of ways to get involved, and thousands of ways to approach the topic. In this talk, Kyle and Joe talk with Thomas Roberts Ph.D. — author of the book, The Psychedelic Future of the Mind: How Entheogens Are Enhancing Cognition, Boosting Intelligence, and Raising Values. Tom shares his story with us about how he got involved in the field of psychedelic research and education. Starting in 1981, Dr. Roberts taught one of the world’s first university-cataloged psychedelic course, “Foundations of Psychedelics Studies.”
We get into a great conversation with Tom about his early days at Esalen to talking about mindapps, mindbody states, and different ways to approach psychedelic research.

Topics of Discussion:

  • Esalen Institute — Stanislav Grof, Holotropic Breathwork, and Maslow
  • Psychedelics in humanities and religion
  • Joseph Campbell
    • How the, The Hero with a Thousand Faces relates to the new archetype of the conscious explorer
  • The Good Friday Experiment
  • Huston Smith
  • Tips and advice about starting a psychedelic course/independent study
  • A Really Good Day book review by the New York Times.
  • Mindapps & Mindbody states
    • How different “spiritual technologies” can produce various mindbody states
  • Hints on Looking for Graduate Programs
  • Tips and advice about getting started with psychedelic research in various departments — for example, in the humanities or religious department.
  • Using Grof’s cartography of the psyche and Basic Perinatal Matrices to analyze art and literature

About:

 Thomas B. Roberts promotes the legal adaptation of psychedelics for multidisciplinary  cultural uses, primarily their academic and spiritual implications. He formulated Multistate Theory (2013) coined Singlestate Fallacy, mindapps, neurosingularity, metaintelligence, and ideagen, and he named and characterized the Entheogen Reformation (2016). He is a founding member of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, a cofounder of the Council on Spiritual Practices and the International Transpersonal Association, originated the Rising Researcher conference sessions, and launched the celebration of Bicycle Day to commemorate the day that Albert Hofmann first intentionally took LSD.

AB Hamilton College, MA University of Connecticut, PhD Stanford, Roberts is an emeritus professor of educational psychology at Northern Illinois University, where he taught Foundations of Psychedelic Studies as an Honors Program Seminar. Started in 1981 and taught through 2013, it is the world’s first university-cataloged psychedelic course.

In the fall of 2006, he was a Visiting Scientist at the Johns Hopkins Medical Schools’ Behavioral Pharmacology Research Unit (Griffiths psilocybin team).  His website is: www.niu.academia.edu/ThomasRoberts

Writing & Articles:

How LSD Saved One Woman’s Marriage – New York Times
Review: ‘A Really Good Day,’ Ayelet Waldman’s Better Living Through LSD – New York Times

Posted on

Psychedelics Today – Kyle and Joe – Year End Recap


Download

It is the start of a New Year. People are saying 2016 has been pretty horrible, but 2016 has been pretty decent in regards to psychedelic science and research. We are hoping that 2017 will be a fruitful year as well.

In this episode Kyle and Joe run through the year in review — thoughts about the podcast and project as well as recap just a few of the psychedelic highlights of 2016. Continue reading “Psychedelics Today – Kyle and Joe – Year End Recap”

Posted on

Gabby Agin-Liebes – Can Psilocybin Help Ease Anxiety & Depression for Those Who Are Facing Death?


Download

It has been a big week for psychedelic research. Psilocybin and MDMA have made national headlines. The New York Times article, “F.D.A. Agrees to New Trials for Ecstasy as Relief for PTSD Patients,” highlights the recent win for MAPS in regards to their MDMA-assisted psychotherapy research. The FDA has given MAPS the green light to pursue phase 3 research for MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for post-traumatic stress disorder. Continue reading “Gabby Agin-Liebes – Can Psilocybin Help Ease Anxiety & Depression for Those Who Are Facing Death?”

Posted on

Shannon Clare Petitt – MAPS, Zendo and an update on MDMA’s status

 

15310426_10207900312889025_1816221621_n


Download
Joe and Kyle talk to Shannon Clare Petitt about the current state of MDMA research and what MAPS needs to do in the next number of months with the FDA as the phase three trials become approved. A few days after the interview the New York Times reported that the phase three research was approved. Shannon’s story is great and optimistic. If you are interested in how to get a job in the psychedelic field, this is certainly an episode you’ll want to listen to. We also discuss some possible tweaks to the studies that could be done that may yield interesting results, and also why MAPS is taking the approach that they are (its the most straightforward way to push the research through the FDA). Continue reading “Shannon Clare Petitt – MAPS, Zendo and an update on MDMA’s status”

Posted on

Faan Rossouw – Indeeva Biomedical


Download

Faan was a great guest. He is currently working on a cannabis startup in Montréal, Québec, Canada named Indeeva Biomedical. Joe previously interviewed Faan for his permaulture podcast Permaculture Salad to talk about how shamanism, ayahuasca and permaculture go together in a complementary way (link). At the time of that interview Faan was living on a permaculture/ayahuasca retreat center in Peru named the Paititi Institute. Continue reading “Faan Rossouw – Indeeva Biomedical”

Posted on

Kyle and Joe Talking About The Interview with Dimitri Muganis and the Field


Download
Kyle Buller - Psychedelics Today

In this episode Kyle and Joe speak about the recent interview they recorded with Dimitri Muganis. There were some relatively important points in the interview that needed further discussion and expansion and in this podcast we unravel some of the material. There is plenty more to unpack there.

Some of what is discussed in this episode includes.

  • Race
  • Class
  • Research and Treatment
    • When should one take priority
  • Democratization of the medicines
  • Privilege
  • Paying for people to participate in research
  • The white upper middle class bias in the research
  • The bias in research towards veterans

Overall there are loads of things that we discussed, and in short the real message here is that we all need to keep moving forward. There is plenty of room for growth in the field for all of us to move our agendas forward.

With endless amounts of research left to be run, we can still treat people. I’m not sure we are going to see Psychedelic medicines be used in the next 1-2 years in major hospitals outside of research, but we are going to see it in the next decade for sure.

Lets keep moving and taking care of each other.

-Joe

Sign up for our mailing list here.

Posted on

Neal M. Goldsmith, Ph.D. – Psychedelic Healing


Download

Neal M. Goldsmith, Ph.D. is a psychotherapist specializing in psychospiritual development. He is a popular speaker on drug policy reform, spiritual maturation, and the emergence of an integral society (a six-minute clip of his talk on the “Fusion of Spirit and Science” may be found at: http://vimeo.com/7517009) and an author, most recently of Psychedelic Healing: The Promise of Entheogens for Psychotherapy and Spiritual Development.

Dr. Goldsmith has curated dozens of successful conferences and cross-disciplinary “meetings of minds” for corporations as well as the psychedelic community, including the Horizons and MAPS Psychedelic Science conferences. He is a founder of several discussion salons on integral philosophy, governance, media, postmodern science, healing, and the future of society.

Trained in humanistic, transpersonal, and eastern traditions, Dr. Goldsmith maintains a (non-psychedelic) psychotherapy practice in New York and Sag Harbor, NY, and may be reached via his Web site: http://www.nealgoldsmith.com/psychedelics. Continue reading “Neal M. Goldsmith, Ph.D. – Psychedelic Healing”

Posted on

Tom Shroder – Acid Test: LSD, Ecstasy, and the Power to Heal


Download


Tom Shroder Joe and Kyle talk about Tom’s great book titled “Acid Test: LSD, Ecstasy, and the Power to Heal”. Tom is an editor, and author of a number of books as well as the former editor of the Washington Post.
Interviewing Tom was real fun and we appreciate him joining us for the show.

We get into some great topics including

  • Tom’s interesting connection to Rick Doblin
  • The history of Rick’s rise to influence
  • The story of the Mithoefers transitioning from emergency medicine and sailing to Holotropic Breathwork and MDMA research
  • The book and this interview also follow the story of a US Marine who came home with treatment resistant PTSD and was then treated by the Mithoefers with MDMA as part of their research.

The book is amazing and well worth your time if you want to get familiarized with the hopes and history of psychedelic research.

Links

Tom giving a talk in Berkley covered by CSAPN

Tom Shroder

Wiki

Acid Test on Amazon

Posted on

Dimitri Mugianis- Iboga, Psychedelic gas-lighting, and Structural Criticism


Download
In this episode we speak with Dimitri about a ton of interesting subjects including:

  • Iboga
  • Addiction
  • Bwiti
  • Dana Beal
  • Structural Criticism
  • Problems with giving psychedelics to the current medical system
  • Psychedelic Anarchy
  • Non-hierarchical organizing – making the group the parent instead of making a person the parent
  • Peer programs
  • Alexandre Tannous
  • Century of Self documentary

“Be hurt, forgive and organize”

Blessings of the Forest – Give back to Gabon

Links

Dimitri’s site
Instagram
Facebook

Posted on

Brian Normand – Events And How To Get Involved


Download
Featuring Brian Normand, Co-Founder of Psymposia.
Bio from Psymposia’s site. 

Brian Normand is Co-Founder of Psymposia, greenthumb, and occasional
trouble maker, focused on creating spaces and projects to teach people about plants and drugs.

He graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a BS in Plant, Soil, Insect Science, & Sustainable Horticulture, Magna Cum Laude. He lives in Baltimore.

In this interview, we discuss a lot, but here are some highlights.

  • Brian’s introduction to psychedelic art.
    • Music and plants informing Brian’s interest.
  • The genesis of Psymposia at a more academic conference.
  • The stuffiness of the academic world and it not being suitable for everyone.
    • Yet how important the academic work in top schools is.
      • Rick Doblin, David Nichols, Mithoffers and Grifiths and Dennis McKenna are individuals who prove how important it is to have top academic credentials.
  • The Psymposia Afterparty at this years Horizons: Perspective on Psychedelics Conference
    • This year’s after party includes guest speakers such as Duncan Trussell and Rick Doblin.
  • The legal status of psychedelics in the USA and internationally.
    • Some loose discussion about Portugal.
  • Leveraging the globe for legal research on Psychedelics.
  • John C. Lily’s LSD, Ketamine and float tank research.
  • How to get involved in Psychedelic work of different kinds.
  • Speculation on how to take advantage of different legal systems globally to move research forward.
  • Singing to the plants – Steve Beyer

Brian Normand

Posted on

Katherine MacLean – Imagining Interesting Futures


Download
In this episode we talk about the following:

  • Katherine’s path to becoming involved in psychedelic research
  • Bias in Research
  • Mental state required to be a researcher
  • Impact to worldview after
  • Privilege
  • Harm reduction
  • Paying participants involved with psychedelic research
  • Future best uses of psychedelics
  • Medicalization of birth and death
  • Taking away human life from humans and giving that power to institutions
  • Katherine’s work with Ingmar Gorman at the Center for Optimal Living
  • Integration circles
  • Happyacres.farm

Bio via Psymposia – Katherine MacLean is an academically trained research scientist and meditation practitioner with a long-standing interest in the brain, consciousness and the science of well-being. As a graduate student at the University of California, Davis, Katherine was supported by a prestigious National Science Foundation research fellowship to study the effects of intensive meditation training on concentration, emotional well-being and brain function.

As a postdoctoral fellow and faculty member at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, she was one of the only scientists in the world studying psilocybin — a psychedelic chemical found naturally in certain types of mushrooms. Her groundbreaking research on psilocybin and personality change suggests that psychedelic medicines may be the key to enhancing mental health and promoting openness and creativity throughout the lifespan.

Posted on

Ingmar Gorman – MDMA Psychotherapy and how to get Involved with Psychedelic research


Download
In this episode we talk to Ingmar about some great topics that included.

  • Harm Reduction
  • Psychedelic Science 2017
  • Upcoming Zendo Training in NYC
  • Czech Psychedelic Medical History
  • MAPS MDMA Psychotherapy Video Archive
  • Group work to help support Processing

Ingmar Gorman, M.A. is a currently unlicensed doctoral student in Clinical Psychology at the New School for Social Research. His clinical work is supervised by licensed clinical psychologists at his training sites.  After receiving his B.A. in Psychology from the New College of Florida. Ingmar completed a pre-doctoral externship at Bellevue’s Chemical Dependency Outpatient Program and Dual Diagnosis Inpatient Unit, where he obtained specialized training in treating people living with substance use disorders. He has also gained extensive experience treating severe mental illness at South Beach Psychiatric Hospital’s Heights Hill Outpatient Clinic. Ingmar has trained in individual and group psychotherapy at Beth Israel Medical Center’s Psychiatric Inpatient Services, as well as the Brief Psychotherapy Research Program. Ingmar uses an integrative approach to treatment utilizing Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Psychodynamic principles. When treating substance misuse, Ingmar draws on his extensive training with Dr. Andrew Tatarsky and Dr. Jen Talley, in Harm Reduction Psychotherapy and Mindfulness based approaches.

Links

Ingmar’s site

Center for Optimal Living – Psychedelic Program

Upcoming Zendo Training in NYC (Training for harm reduction at festivals)

Posted on

Joe – Holotropic States, Philosophy and Healing


Download
This episode features Joe Moore, co-host of Psychedelics today. Joe was a student at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire and is now working in the software industry as well as hosting a few podcasts and coordinating Transpersonal Breathwork workshops mostly in Breckenridge, Colorado.

LINKS

Dreamshadow – Holotropic Breathwork in Vermont
CAPS PTSD scoring system
VICE article on Tony Macie – MDMAPTSDmt. silverheels with aspenglow (colorado)

Posted on

Djinn Thompson – Psychedelic Parenting


Download

Kyle and Joe speak with Djinn Thompson about their podcast Psychedelic Parenting and the future of the Psychedelic Parenting organization.  Other topics that were covered include:

Djinn has over 20 years’ experience with psychedelic plants and has been trip sitting in a professional capacity for over a decade, having served as a facilitator for legal psilocybin retreats in Jamaica and other venues. Djinn specializes in working with victims of childhood trauma, those with treatment-resistant depression, and issues related to LGBTQ identities. Djinn came out as a nonbinary trans person in 2017. They are currently pursuing a Masters Degree in Social Work. Djinn was previously the host of the Psychedelic Parenting Podcast under their birth name, and has been a speaker on psychedelics and family life at multiple conferences, both in the USA and abroad.

Psychedelic Parenting: http://www.psychedelicparenting.org/

Contact: psychedelicparenting@gmail.com

Here’s the link to Psychedelic Parenting MAPS donation page: https://store.maps.org/np/clients/maps/donation.jsp?campaign=59

Hope everyone enjoys this episode. We really enjoyed talking to Djinn and feel blessed by their wealth of knowledge and wisdom. Let us know what you think!

Links and articles mentioned: 
Posted on

Raven Renee Ray – The Aftercare Project


Download
Kyle and Joe speak with Raven Renee Ray about the Aftercare project. Here is a short description of the project from it’s facebook site.

The Aftercare Project is dedicated to the psychological and spiritual well-being of people reintegrating after challenging psychedelic experiences.

The conversation is fun and wide ranging. We hope it is helpful and informative to academics, therapists, counselors and psychiatrists who are interacting with people coming back from difficult experiences.

Here is a slightly longer description of the ACP.

Given the fact that ayahuasca has shown promise in research studies, we feel we not only have the humane duty to help those in need, but also the responsibility to ensure the reputation of ayahuasca and her traditional stewards among decision-makers in our own culture. This will allow us to continue holding space for research to continue, while protecting traditional practices. Because of the colossal challenges inherent in navigating multicultural spaces and the lack of understanding outside of the anthropological community regarding conflicting paradigms of urban capitalism and jungle reciprocity, we must do our best as North Americans to prepare those in our own communities who are called to this experience prior to their trip. This preparation will include full, informed consent, education on safety, cultural expectations and differences, and what to do in the case that further care is required upon return.

Raven is also fundraising for the Aftercare Project. You can find a page for the fundraising effort here.

Main site for Aftercare Project – Facebook

Posted on

Lex Pelger – Ibogaine, Ketamine, Research and Knowing Your Dose


Download
Lex, Kyle and Joe discuss MAPS, Psymposia, Ibogaine, Mushrooms, Ketamine, LSD, Cannabis, and loads more. Lex is working on a book related to the supremely complex neurochemistry of cannabis.

“Whales, Cannabis and Neurochemistry”

Lex — http://www.lexpelger.com/

Aunt Zelda’s

Tea Farie Iboga Story https://www.erowid.org/columns/teafaerie/2014/12/18/hard-reset/

Dimitri — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvEv5trIdrg

Nese — http://www.psymposia.com/magazine/preview/nese-devenot-coming-out-of-the-psychedelic-closet

Ketamine — https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00088699

Bluebird Botanticals — https://www.bluebird-botanicals.com/

 

Posted on

Kyle’s Story

Kyle Buller - Psychedelic Podcaster


Download

In this episode of Psychedelics Today, Joe interviews the co-host of the show, Kyle Buller.  As hosts of the show, we thought that it would be fun to dig a little deeper into our own personal narratives to give our listeners an idea of who we are.  This episode offers the opportunity for Kyle to share his story about how he became interested in psychedelics and other non-ordinary states of consciousness.

From Kyle of Psychedelics Today

I became interested in non-ordinary states of consciousness at an young age.  One event that sparked my interest in these topics stems from suffering a near-death experience when I was teenager.  This experience changed the trajectory of my life and also left me with asking myself many questions about life and death.

Tune into this episode as Joe asks me about my history with non-ordinary states of consciousness, the development of a psychedelic course at Burlington College, my interest in Holotropic Breathwork, and much more.

Thanks for listening!

Posted on

Elizabeth Gibson – Dreamshadow Holotropic Breathwork


Download
Kyle and Joe get to talk with Elizabeth regarding her experience with MDMA assisted psychotherapy, Holotropic Breathwork, and her work with Stan and Christina Grof in the Grof Transpersonal Training program. Elizabeth also discusses the importance of bodywork such as working with people who “aren’t back” from their experience, doing breathwork/bodywork with other experienced facilitators, observation of bodywork, and the lack of bodywork in psychedelic psychotherapy. Elizabeth will be facilitating some Dream Work at her next Holotropic Breathwork workshop.

Mentions
Petra and Ken Sloan | Sandra Phocas | Jack Kornfield

Insight and Opening Retreats (for historical reference)

Michael Mithoefer & Annie Mithoefer (2013) – YouTube

Posted on

Lenny Gibson – Whitehead and Holotropic Breathwork


Download
Philosophy and psychedelics brought Lenny to Holotropic Breathwork. Since then he has co-facilitated countless sessions with even more people mainly in Vermont, but also in Massachusetts and Maine. Lenny and Elizabeth (his wife) have helped foster Kyle and Joe’s interest in Holotropic states and facilitating breathwork sessions. We are thankful and happy to share this two part interview with Lenny Gibson.

From his website

Lenny Gibson is a philosopher and clinical psychologist concerned with issues that bridge both disciplines:

  • Practices that foster experiential understanding of philosophy, historically and contemporarily.
  • Transpersonal psychology, particularly Holotropic Breathwork.
Posted on

Brett Greene

Psymposia


Download
Brett Greene is the co founder of Psymposia. Kyle and I talk to him about how Psymposia is different from events currently being put on and important for the psychedelic world. Story telling of people in the psychedelic world is just as important as doctors and academics giving presentations. Psymposia is having their busiest year yet. Check them out here to keep track of their upcoming events.

https://vimeo.com/143491234