Psychedelics Today

In this episode, Joe interviews Joost Breeksema from the Netherlands to talk about the Interdisciplinary Conference on Psychedelic Research. In the show they cover topics on ICPR 2020, and the importance of accessibility.

1. The Interdisciplinary Conference on Psychedelic Research takes place April 24-26, 2020 in the Netherlands.
2. It's important to acknowledge the indigenous, ethical, and political dimensions to psychedelic use at conferences.
3. Although this conference will be catered toward mainstream science and research, personal experiences and stories are important too.

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• Joost is a part of the OPEN Foundation
• ICPR is a huge conference
  • Nobody before was doing research on psychedelics in the Netherlands
• William James work sparked Joost's interest in psychedelics

• Starting with the OPEN Foundation, the conference has been very scientific
  • It is interdisciplinary, but also taken very seriously
  • This field is so broad, you could really never get bored
• Wade Davis, Alicia Danforth, Matt Johnson and more will be speaking at the conference
• There will be over 80 speakers
• Joost expects it to be a pretty international conference, half local, and half from abroad
• Psychiatrists are usually short on time, and they like things compressed more
• It's really easy and cheap to grow psilocybin as mushrooms or truffles
  • Even in Mexico, they need to use GMP Psilocybin

• "If this is going to be the treatment, how are we going to help people afford it?" - Joe
• There is some tricky stuff happening, companies trying to patent different parts of psilocybin to use it for therapeutic use
• Ketamine has been off patent for years, but you can develop a new route of administration, patent that, and make a ton of money
• Spravato is making it to the UK

• Joost is both excited and scared that they are bringing indigenous practitioners to the conference
  • It's important to acknowledge the indigenous, ethical, and political dimensions to psychedelic use
  • Talking about concepts and approaches to healing is going to be an important aspect
  • The goal would be to do research with the indigenous communities to be able to address the needs of psychedelic use
• There are also a few neuroimaging people coming
• For mainstream scientists, the conference has to be as close to a scientific conference as possible, they may be turned off to the cultural aspects of psychedelics
  • It's the conservative nature of psychedelia
• Joost also says that although the scientific research is important, it is really cool to hear the personal experiences
  • Joe brings up a previous episode of a therapist and patient from the MDMA trials
  • Stories are much more convincing than just data
• People's experience with psychedelics may be completely different from each other
  • It's important to share the bad stories with the good stories
  • If we don't share the stories and data and research, then we can never learn
• Joe hopes that there will be a growth of citizen science in the near future

ICPR

Joost Breeksema is a part of the OPEN Foundation, which from it came the Interdisciplinary Conference on Psychedelic Research. His current research focuses on the experiences of patients that are undergoing therapy assisted by psychedelic substances. His aim is to better understand psychological mechanisms of action/change, to tease out salient themes, and finally to learn about what works and what does not work in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy.

In this episode, Kyle invites a guest interviewer, Hallie Rose of the Thought Room Podcast, to interview him on his recent experience at Soltara. In the show, they talk about Soltara, Kyle's experience with the plant medicine, and important topics like privilege.

1. Eastern attendees have a different integration need than Western attendees. In the West, attendees come back to more hustle and bustle, more time is needed for integration. Soltara does a really good job at providing that time for integration.
2. With Psilocybin and other psychedelics, there is this one big door, you eat the mushrooms and open the door and get to experience it heavily. With Ayahuasca, there is a smaller doorway to penetrate through, you have to create a relationship with the medicine first.

3. If the people that really need the help can't even afford it, then how do we have mass healing? Peer support movements are a way forward in this issue.

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• Hallie interviewed Kyle after his first 4 experiences with Ayahuasca
• Kyle's episode on The Thought Room Podcast about his Near Death Experience
• The Thought Room Podcast was inspired by Hallie's first Ayahuasca experience
• She had typically pushed away anything psychedelic in nature, even alcohol before coming to Soltara as a guest
  • "A lot of the paradigms I had been working with were flipped upside down on their head" - Hallie
• The message that really spoke to her was to create a podcast
  • 2 ceremonies later she had some things come up about family and career, and again, the message 'podcast' came up again
  • When she went over her integration notes from her experience at Soltara, she kept coming back to the podcast thing
  • She describes her journal entry message as a black hole, a void
  • She felt like she was in rooms, some were bright and rainbow-y, and others were dark and lonely
  • The rooms were rooms for thoughts, thought rooms
• She owns the start up company Lunar Wild

• Hallie mentions that she was blown away by the amount of effort that it takes to uphold a medicine center like Soltara
• Kyle says right from the start from arrival to the location, he was greeted with such warmth and it reminded him of his breathwork background
  • The ground rules that they laid down right at the start made him feel so safe
  • She said it's amazing to see the amount of healing that happens in that space
  • "When it comes to your own medicine work, your own journey work, only you know what's right for you" - Hallie
• Hallie is part of a mastermind group through Aubrey Marcus, the CEO of Onnit
  • She is connected to a bunch of people as a part of this group
  • She was introduced to Dan Cleland, a co-founder of Soltara, who invited her to come down
• Yes they had the traditional Shipibo aspects, but they also did a fantastic job of adding in the Western concepts to cater to the western needs
  • Hallie mentions that coming from the West, we have the need to integrate the experience in a different way than those coming from the East, and Soltara does a really good job with that kind of integration

• Kyle said the tea was actually tasty
  • You drink a lot of it where you override the system to where the body wants to purge
• Kyle drank 5 cups of the tea over all the nights
• The purging is to clear the system out of toxins and clean it out energetically
• Soltara built in pre-ceremony sessions like yoga or meditation to help ease into the actual sessions
• Kyle said that the Ayahuasca experience was familiar
  • Everything felt very green behind his eyes
  • There was a serpent weaving in and out of his DNA
  • The experience felt so healing
  • Kyle didn't purge (vomit) but did do a little crying
  • He said he did not experience much anxiety
  • The serpent was healing him and stitching parts of himself back together
  • "There is something intelligent here working on very subtle levels" - Kyle
• The next two ceremonies were very gentle, some crying, going through family dynamics, but always in the background, there was that same serpent
• Kyle said the first 3 sessions felt really easy, compared to previous experiences with psychedelics
  • The spirit said to him "oh you think this was going to be easy, that you would just drink this and that I would show you all this stuff. Well we have to get to know each other first"
  • With Psilocybin, there is this one big door, you eat the mushrooms and open the door and get to experience it heavily, with Ayahuasca, there is a smaller doorway to penetrate through, you have to create a relationship with the medicine first

• It was during the full moon in Cancer and lunar eclipse, the energy was already intense
• For the 4th ceremony, Kyle was already feeling high energy, and did not want to go too strong, so he started with ¾ of a cup
  • Kyle felt like he was sober, the medicine told him to ask for a second dose
  • The facilitator gave Kyle ¼ of a cup more
  • That ¼ of a cup really blasted him off
• After the singing, he laid down and that's when things took off
  • All of a sudden, he saw himself back in the CAT scan machine (referring back to his NDE as a teen)
  • He always tells the story as blissful and beautiful, but this time was so different
  • He saw himself back in the CAT scan machine as a child, and was terrified, and he began shaking
  • He felt this pain in his pelvic area as he felt during his NDE
  • He was shivering and so cold, it brought him right back into that state
  • He was re-experiencing the fear in a new way during the ceremony
  • He went into his body and felt the scar tissue and felt that shake and stretch and kind of brought in some healing there
  • After his actual surgery/NDE, as he was healing he was always really afraid to move in certain ways in the fear that movement would re-open some of the healing wounds
• He got a clear way of looking at how the body holds trauma, especially after surgery
  • That trauma is tied to the way we hold ourselves, the way we walk and talk and in so many ways
  • This ceremony helped Kyle view somatic body work in such a new light
• The ceremony was not scary, he allowed his body to process the fear, but not attach to the fear and become fearful
• Yoga can also bring that out, stillness and vulnerability can bring up some body trauma and put you into that fight or flight response
• Even when you think you're done processing something, there are always more layers to dig into and see something differently to bring more clarity

• Hallie said what she is learning with this medicine, is that she doesn't need to make anything happen, she needs to just let it happen
  • That feeling of relaxing things is scary because it means giving up control
  • It's a practice and its a lot easier said than done
• The most important part is the set (mindset), because the set is you
  • "Having your set figured out, when the going gets tough, you're safe still" - Hallie
• Kyle said that Aya always told him to wait, he didn't need to jump into trying it right away, he waited over 10 years to process his NDE trauma
  • Hallie says it's just like marriage, you can get married easily, but it's not always going to work out if you don't have the tools and the skill sets to maintain it
  • Ayahuasca is similar in needing the right tools and time to do it right
• The dieta and the prep itself is so hard
• People are turned off by the idea of doing something disciplined
  • These experiences can be so much different when we go through the process of giving something up
  • It's not to punish ourselves, it's to heal ourselves
  • "There is a whole other side of us, that opens up when we cut out some of the things that numb us" - Hallie
  • The dieta strips away the illusions, the plant medicines help us remember who we are

• The great creator said "I have a gift for the human beings, but I need to hide it somewhere until they are ready to find it"
  • It is "the gift of the knowing that they can create anything, they can create their own reality"
• The creator asked the earth where he should hide it
  • The eagle said he will bring it to the moon
  • The fish said he will bring it to the bottom of the sea
  • The buffalo said he will bring it to the edge of the plains
  • The creator said no to all of them, they will find it there
• So the great grandmother who lives in the breast of the earth said, put it inside of them
  • And the creator said "it is done"
• It brought Kyle back to his fourth ceremony, the Ayahuasca was a reminder that everything he needed was already inside of him

• It's hard to tell people of their only legal options for healing, which most of them are leaving the country, which is not an option for some people
  • We are all worthy of finding relief of our suffering through psychedelics
• Is therapy only going to be for the rich and elite? There are so many people who really need it
• Yes, you can grow mushrooms, but then you're at risk of the law
• The system is so complex and we need a more humane way of moving forward in this field and offer experiences like this to the people that need it
• Therapy is a privilege
  • Most people that need therapy are in survival mode that don't have the privilege of access to therapy
• Peer support movements are a way forward in this issue
  • If the people that really need the help can't even afford it, then how do we have mass healing?
  • There are great healers out there that never became healers because they didn't have the privilege to
• Kyle says he escaped a lot of suicidal ideation after his near death experience, it took a lot of time to call earth his home
• "Just to wake up and be a part of this, even that is magical in itself" - Kyle
• "The stars come out every night, and we watch television" - Hallie

• Hallie has recently had her 12th Ayahuasca experience
  • "I am no longer breathing, I am being breathed" - Hallie
• "Hatred does not exist, it is only a resistance to love" - Hallie
• Even being hard on ourselves is only a resistance to loving ourselves
  • Its love with nowhere to go
• People that have a lot of self hatred toward their bodies or themselves, the medicine always comes back to the self, it teaches people to love and take care of themselves
  • "You really can't love anything outside of yourself until you love yourself" - Hallie
  • Kyle says that the people who he looks up to (ex, Stan Grof), what if they never showed up for themselfves? What if they never stood up for what they believe in?

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Hallie's Instagram

Thought Room Podcast

Hallie Rose is an author, speaker, educator, and relationship coach from New York City. She is the host of The Thought Room Podcast and also the founder & CEO of the company Lunar Wild which aims to reclaim the sacred feminine and address a modern need for a Rite of Passage into womanhood. The Thought Room is a combination of edge-of-your-seat storytelling and groundbreaking interviews with celebrated thought-leaders from around the world. The show covers a breadth of topics including psychology, spirituality, sex & relationships, psychedelic science & plant medicine, bio-hacking, fitness, nutrition, alternative health, business & entrepreneurship, mindfulness, yoga, and meditation.

In this episode, Kyle and Joe interview previous guest of the show, Daniel Greig. In the show, he goes in depth into the meaning of enlightenment and previews the new book he is writing with Dr. John Vervaeke, The Cognitive Continuum.

1. Insight, flow and mystical experiences are all facets of working toward enlightenment.
2. Enlightenment is really a fundamental grip on reality. It's about maintaining a relationship with the transcendent, it's not about just constantly escaping this body life.
3. The mystical experience is a glimpse at consciousness. The most important part of having a mystical (psychedelic) experience is coming back into our bodies and developing better relationships with ourselves, others and the world.

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• There will be a crowdfunding campaign launched for the book
• The book will be a combination of art and science
• He is writing it with Dr. John Vervaeke
  • Youtube - Awakening for the Meaning Crisis
• The core of cognitive continuum is insight
• There is also the flow state
• There are also mystical states
• Insight, flow and mystical experiences all have something to do with enlightenment
  • If we can train people on how to access this cognitive continuum, they can become enlightened

• It is important to see the truth
  • "How can we take our natural ability to attach to things, and learn to step back and care about the greater good?" - Daniel
• Cognitive flexibility is important to understand the needs of the greater collective
  • "Enlightenment means to apprehend truth and act in relation to truth" - Daniel
• Mind does not equal brain

• EGG - electro gastro grams
• There is a singular resting state network between the brain and the stomach
  • You're never really able to access this network, but when we have 'gut feelings' it's typically coming from neurons in your stomach
• Being grounded in those sensations of the stomach is a huge part of problem solving and guidance in truths
• We need to get back to 'feeling' something as actually meaning something

• Enlightenment is really a fundamental grip on reality
• It's about maintaining a relationship with the transcendent, it's not about just constantly escaping this body life
• Daniel uses a lot of Roberto Unger's theories in his new book
• There is the absolute reality and illusory reality
• The mystical experience is a glimpse at consciousness
  • The most important part of having a mystical experience is the coming back into our bodies, having better relationships with ourselves and others
• Psychedelics don't do anything by just sitting there, they take a perceiver to matter and make a difference
  • It's the person, the body, that really holds the power to embodiment

• People say that psychedelics are a shortcut to enlightenment
  • Daniel says that psychedelics can help take people out of depression style states
  • A mystical experience can help you, but you're going to hit a plateau if you don't integrate and interpret these experiences
• For those practicing a lot of psychedelic work, they should balance with body work like yoga
  • There needs to be a balance in all practices in order to keep escalating toward enlightenment

Website

Daniel is an educator, organizer and artist living in Toronto. He studied Cognitive Science and Philosophy at the University of Toronto, specializing in wisdom, consciousness, and spiritual belief and experience. In 2015, he founded the Mapping the Mind conference that occurs annually in Toronto, which raises much needed funds for psychedelic research. Daniel regularly host lectures and workshops, on topics in cognitive science. He is currently writing a book with Dr. John Vervaeke on the science of enlightenment, which will be published in 2020. When not contemplating the realm of the intellect, Daniel delves in the sonic perturbations of music, writing and producing progressive metal.

In this episode, Kyle and Joe interview Chris Bache, author of LSD and the Mind of the Universe. Chris went through 73 high dose LSD sessions and talks about his experience in the show.

1. Chris went through 73 high dose LSD sessions, but he says that pushing the edge of high dose and high frequency use brought on increasingly intense difficulties. He does not recommend high dose sessions like he did.
2. The mind of the universe is where someone goes when one completely dissolves.
3. In the show, they discuss psychedelic therapy and the debate on whether or not therapists should have to have psychedelic experience to do the therapy. Chris believes that the level of experience a therapist has had will impact the type of support they will be able to give.

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• It was at the time Chris had just finished grad school and was looking where to take his research as a university professor
• He was introduced to the work of Stan Grof, and his book Realms of the Human Unconscious: Observations from LSD Research (Condor Books)
• He was the professor of Religious Studies, sticking to his traditional life
• He knew there would come a time for him to share his experiences with a larger audience
• Chris says he's always been locked into his body and his physical experience
  • He had no background in psychedelic states of consciousness

• He said you're always working with a sitter and same context/setting
• As the dosage increased, he began creating a more intense music playlist
  • Chris thinks music is very important for psychedelic sessions
• Chris does not recommend working with high doses
• "When you're working with opening consciousness that radically, music has a tremendous effect, it has an amplifying effect by 5 or 10x than doing it without music" - Chris
• Chris said he has experienced all the common layers of the psychedelic unconscious that's talked about

• Chris experienced 4 different death/rebirths
• Chris differentiated 5 levels of the universe
  • The first is at the personal mind, where an ego death happens
  • The second takes places at the collective mind, about species
  • The third level is an archetypal mind, the high subtle mind, moving beyond the species existence
  • The fourth level is causal mind, causal oneness, profound states of non-dual reality
  • The last is Diamond Luminosity, its absolute clarity, pureness

• Chris says that there is a certain level of support that one needs to truly let go of themselves and let go to the experience
• He says that he thinks the level of experience will impact the type of support a therapist will be able to give

• The mind of the universe is where someone goes when one completely dissolves
• Pushing the edge of high dose, high frequency use brought on increasingly intense difficulties
• Chris says he was very secret about his psychedelic use, his students didn't know about it
  • But he said after he had gone deep and touched these different levels of consciousness, his students became alive
  • The deeper he went in his own work, the more it touched the students at a deeper level

• Chris thinks that LSD is a little cleaner than other psychedelics
  • His basic sense is that psilocybin tends to be less evocative, disruptive
  • Ayahuasca is more disruptive in opening up to deeper levels
  • LSD is the most disruptive in opening people up to really deep levels of consciousness
  • With LSD is was less about his personal experience, and more about the collective unconscious experience

• With one of his experiences, he had seen everything in his whole life all at once
• He then entered into archetypal experiences, the platonic domain beyond the time-space reality
• The beings he 'met' were as large as universes, responsible for creating time and space
• He went into 'deep time', different magnitudes of time experiences in a broader frame of reference (where we are in the history of time, what our future looks like)
• He reached that diamond luminosity level only 4 times out of all of his LSD sessions
• "If we keep this up, sooner or later, the totality of this consciousness is going to wake up" - Chris
• "We are moving toward a collective wake up, it's not a personal experience, it's a collective experience. An evolution of our species." -Chris
• If Chris has one tip, is to let go of our fear of death, when we die, we go back home
• After so many sessions, and not taking the time to stop to integrate, after years, his body was screaming for community, and he felt this deep existential sadness and felt as if he was just waiting to die
  • It took 10 years to integrate his deep exploration, and to finally feel okay and comfortable again in his body suit and in this life
• The universe is an infinite ocean of possibilities, we will never reach the end
• "The collective psyche is being cosmically stimulated by the trauma that we are entering into" -Chris

Articles

LSD and the Mind of the Universe: Diamonds from Heaven

Chrisbache.com - future website

Christopher M. Bache is professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Youngstown State University where he taught for 33 years. He is also adjunct faculty at the California Institute of Integral Studies and a Fellow at the Institute of Noetic Sciences. An award-winning teacher, Chris' work explores the philosophical implications of non-ordinary states of consciousness, especially psychedelic states. Chris has written three books translated into six languages: Lifecycles - a study of reincarnation in light of contemporary consciousness research; Dark Night, Early Dawn - a pioneering work in psychedelic philosophy and collective consciousness; and The Living Classroom, an exploration of teaching and collective fields of consciousness. His new book is Diamonds from Heaven ~ LSD and the Mind of the Universe (2019).

In this episode, Joe interviews Dr. Peter Addy, Licensed Mental Health Counselor out of Washington. In the show, they talk about the research and therapeutic use of Salvia.

1. Salvinorin A is the active molecule that causes the psychedelic experiential reports, although there are at least a dozen unique compounds in the Salvia plant.
2. In a recreational setting, Salvia is usually smoked, but in the Mazatec culture, they do not smoke it, they use a sublingual method.
3. The clinical applications of Salvia are tricky right now. It's not easy to get funding for psychedelic research.

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• Peter helped found the Yale Psychedelic Speaker Series
  • The main goal was to normalize talking about psychedelic research as research
• Peter joined the pharmacology lab for his post doctoral research on Salvia
  • The team was mainly studying THC but were also studying Ketamine
  • He wanted to bring in MDMA and Psilocybin research
• Peter attended The Institute of Transpersonal Psychology
  • As a psychologist, Peter focused heavily on feedback and experience

• It all started when Peter stumbled across a dusty book in the library as a Freshman, States of Consciousness by Charles Tart The book talked a lot about meditation
• Joe says he has been practicing non-drug transpersonal states (breathwork) for years
• You can have a psychedelic experience without drugs, and you can also take psychedelics and not have the psychedelic experience at all, it's not about the drug
  • "Everyone has an innate desire towards transcending who they are, moving towards wholeness, and personal and societal transformation" - Peter
• "If I'm kind, then people around me are more likely to be kind, it's about the transformation of groups and societies than about having a cool trick" - Peter

• "Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy is proven to do a lot of really good things, but it's not the only way and it's not necessarily the right way. There are wrong ways to do it, but not one culture owns this experience." - Peter
• "Having a healthy critique of science in the modern world is helpful because its a series of provisional truths, it's a good tool to get closer to objective reality, but its not perfect, it's all we have so far" - Joe
• Peter says that art is an amazing tool as well
  • Verbal language is limiting, he has seen images that can convey an experience way better than words can
• Salvinorin A is the active molecule that causes the psychedelic experiential reports
  • There are at least a dozen unique compounds in the Salvia plant
• There was going to be a bill to make Salvia illegal in 2008 or 2009
  • Now it's just illegal for minors

• Peter recruited 30 people who had all used psychedelics
• He used a controlled set, setting and intention
• He used either a Salvia extract or just the unadulterated leaf
  • No one in the real world is using Salvinorin A, they are smoking the leaf or using extracts of the leaf
• The participants smoked it when they desired, Peter was not enforcing the smoking
  • It was a very relaxed setting
• Once the participants smoked, they then had an experience for 10 minutes, and then he came together with them and just listened to their experience
  • 2 people got up and moved, the rest just sat there in the experience
• Interoception (the inner feelings of your body) is the internal form of proprioception (the feeling of your body in space)
• Every time you smoke something it is going to hit you quickly and be over quickly
  • By the time you realize what's going on in a Salvia experience, you're already on your way out
  • In the Mazatec culture, they do not smoke it, they use a sublingual method

• The clinical applications of Salvia are tricky right now
• It's not easy to get funding for psychedelic research
  • Peter says if you do get funding, attach it to something else
  • MDMA research didn't just begin to 'see what it could help', PTSD sucks, and there isn't a whole lot that works to treat it, but MDMA does and it just happens to be a type of psychedelic

Website

Peter is both a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in Washington and a Licensed Professional Counselor in Oregon. He earned a PhD in Clinical Psychology from Sofia University in 2011, including certification in biofeedback and Process Oriented Psychodrama. There, he studied non-ordinary states of consciousness, holistic and all-encompassing views of a person, and ways that these experiences can transform a person and society. Peter then engaged in post-degree specialty training at Danville State Hospital, Yale University School of Medicine, and the Connecticut Mental Health Center. As faculty at Yale University he engaged in research and training. Some of his clinical training is in mindfulness-based therapies, Motivational Interviewing, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. He also discovered a passion for data management and security which he brings with him to his online therapy practice.

In today's episode, Joe visits Naropa in Boulder, CO to sit down with Rafael Lancelotta and Alan Kooi Davis. Alan is a Clinical Psychology Professor at Ohio State and Rafael is a legal Psychedelic Therapist operating out of Innate Path in Colorado.

1. Facilitation is a huge problem in the 5-MEO-DMT space. Some people take it without the intention of working on it afterward, they are commonly given too much, and also in a poor context. This recipe of poor facilitation and guidance leads to a lot of challenging experiences and a lot of integration work.
2. The feeling of oneness typically arises when taking 5-MEO-DMT. It can be great for some, but for others, it can be extremely overwhelming and harmful when not provided the correct intention, context and tools to work through it.
3. Privilege is a huge issue in the psychedelic space. The goal in this space is to make everyone's voice heard, not just those of privilege.

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• Rafael studied Mental Health Counseling at the University of Wyoming
• He is currently at Innate Path in Lakewood, CO doing Ketamine and Cannabis assisted Psychotherapy

• Alan is on the Faculty at John's Hopkins
• He is a Clinical Psychologist
• He is currently doing clinical research on psychoactive substances

• It is a psychoactive substance that comes from the Sonoran Desert Toad
• It's a fast acting and powerful psychedelic substance that is challenging to predict
  • Some have amazing, beautiful and transcendent experiences, but it also has the ability to bring up challenging and dark things to deal with
• It isn't as visual as other psychedelics, it has to deal a lot more with consciousness itself
• "It may feel like being shot right into the center of love, or the center of the universe" - Alan
• DMT can be more visual, while 5-MEO-DMT can be more spiritual, not that they can't dip into each other

• Alan did a talk on 5-MEO-DMT at Horizons
• There are a lot of harms when using 5-MEO-DMT
• Both Alan and Rafael have been contacted numerous times about looking for facilitators or about trying to integrate massive and difficult experiences
• An ego death, in the right context, can be transformative, but in the wrong context, can be extremely harmful.
• The facilitators are the problem
  • If the facilitators are delivering the medicine in a shamanic practice, and the people using it are coming from a Western mindset, then with goals misaligned, there can be some major issues
  • People have these grand, god-like experiences when using psychedelics, then feel like they need to become shamans and facilitate these experiences for others and have literally no clue or education on how to properly care for these people using the Toad
• Joe says facilitators commonly overdose their users because the toad venom is hard to predict potency
• Alan says that the fear response needs to be initiated when extracting the venom from the toad
  • He thinks it can come up as a huge problem when using 5-MEO-DMT from a fear-stricken animal
  • Alan says there is a lot of reports of feeling abducted by aliens, and it could be related to the fear response from the toad being hunted for its venom
  • It's a similar concept to the traumatization of any other animal by the way it is killed and then eating the meat of that traumatized animal
• On average, there is roughly 10-20% of 5-MEO-DMT in the venom

• When someone becomes 'one' with everything, it takes a lot of detailed integration
  • When someone becomes 'one' with everything, that would also mean that they experience the suffering of everything around them
• When the rational mind comes back online, if the person does not decide to take action, it can be seriously overwhelming to feel that oneness
  • Integration has part to do with the experience but then the other part is everything before it, our family, relationships, job, our personality, etc.
  • "Yeah its cool that we are one with the universe, but so is everything else" - Rafael

• Privilege means having a voice, but it also means position in society, gender, race etc
• In psychedelics, for so long, it has been so hard to find a voice
  • But with this psychedelic renaissance, it has become so much easier to speak up about psychedelic use, research, etc
• The people within the scientific community get put on a pedestal to speak about psychedelic research
• Alan says his goal as someone in the middle of the research role, is to create community, to bring every voice to be heard
• Being connected to psychedelics in anyway, used to mean prosecution
  • There are still imbalances that need to be looked at
• The psychedelic renaissance is a chance to look at systemic issues
• We need to determine what our personal values are, and values of the whole community, and whether or not they are aligned

• Alan says his goal is to continue having a voice and allowing others' voices to be heard in this space
• Rafael says his goal is to make this therapy more available to those who can benefit from it and not just for the privileged

Source Research Foundation

5 MEO DMT Forum

Rafael is a graduate from the University of Wyoming in Mental Health Counseling. He has worked as a wilderness therapy guide with adolescents and young adults experiencing a wide range of emotional and psychological challenges. He has also worked as a counselor at the Behavioral Health Services unit of a psychiatric hospital treating severe and persistent mental illness and medically supervised drug and alcohol detox. He has worked on several research projects studying the epidemiology of 5-MeO-DMT use in the global population and is also the administrator of 5meodmt.org, an online forum dedicated to hosting community discussions on harm reduction, integration, and safe practices around 5-MeO-DMT use. He is interested in the use of psychedelics paired with therapy for increased resiliency, mental health, and openness. He believes that the counseling relationship is essential to deepen, enhance, and actualize the benefits of psychedelic-assisted therapy. He is passionate about finding ways to make psychedelic-assisted therapies available to all those who may benefit from it as well as helping to raise awareness as to responsible clinical applications of psychedelics/entheogens.

Dr. Alan K Davis is an Assistant Professor of Social Work at The Ohio State University and an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Psychedelic Research Unit at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Davis's clinical experience includes working with people diagnosed with trauma-based psychological problems such as addiction, PTSD, depression, and anxiety. His clinical expertise includes providing evidenced-based treatments such as motivational interviewing, cognitive behavioral therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, and psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy. Consistent with his clinical interests, his research interests and expertise focus on contributing to the knowledge of and ability to help those suffering with substance use and mental health problems, understanding how to improve clinical outcomes through examining new treatments, and developing ways to conceptualize substance use and mental health problems through a strengths-based approach.

In today's episode, Joe interviews Mike Jay, Author of the book, Mescaline: A Global History of the First Psychedelic. In the show they discuss Mescaline's origins and the history of Peyote use.

1. Mike Jay is a Cultural Historian and Author whose topics include science, medicine, drugs, madness, literature and radical politics.

2. Mike's recent book, Mescaline, is a definitive history of mescaline that explores its mind-altering effects across cultures, from ancient America to western modernity.

3. Over time, Peyote has been used by spiritual seekers, by psychologists investigating the secrets of consciousness, artists exploring the creative process, and by psychiatrists.

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• Mike Jay is a freelance writer, an author and cultural historian
• Mike has been interested in Mescaline for a really long time

• James Mooney is a crucial figure in the transition from indigenous use of peyote to the more current applications
• The New Deal made religions respected, protected under the First Amendment for freedom of worship

• There is a ton of literature before the 60's on psychedelic use
• It was obvious that if people were interested in psychoactive drugs, they would take it themselves
• Back then, science was much more proactive than it is today, but it is becoming more popular again

• It's hard to find an ethical source of Peyote
• Mike says its unpleasant but warm and tingly and euphoric
• By 1970, Mescaline was this legendary substance, but it was hard to find on the streets unless you knew an underground chemist
• On the Erowid site, they have a bulletin that the DEA created about all of the street drug seizures He wrote a book 20 years ago called Emperors of Dreams
• 2CB is not as intense as Mescaline
• Mescaline is a phenethylamine
• It does not cross the blood brain barrier as easily. So you need to take more of it
  • It is a body and mind drug

• The Comanches were in a reservation in the Wichita mountains
• He was notified by the Comanches on some history
  • He went to meet with them, and they told him stories on the history
  • Peyote use originated inside of a Tipi
  • "The way that we see psychedelics in modern Western culture, is not the only way of thinking about it:" - Mike

• There is an interesting thing that happened between Mexican/South American Shamanic practice and Native American Church
  • In the ceremony, the facilitator is made to not ask like a priest, everyone is their own priest
  • It is a healing modality for everybody
• The very first peyote experiences in the west encouraged artists to make art
• Salvador Dali was apparently anti-drug use
  • The surrealist movement had a number of rules
• Huichol art is a very psychedelic inspired art

• Peyote is so fast growing, in some places it is growing naturally
• San Pedro is way more sustainable than Peyote
• There is a lot of demand for Peyote currently
• Joe says he thinks that Peyote is not scheduled in Canada

• The western story is full of first-person experiencesIts based on the personal
  • experiences and visions
• In the indigenous accounts, there are very little stories on experience or personal matters, its more recording on the collective experience

Website

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Mike Jay is a leading specialist in the study of drugs across history and cultures. The author of Artificial Paradises, Emperors of Dreams, and The Atmosphere of Heaven, his critical writing on drugs has appeared in many publications, including The Guardian, The Telegraph, and The International Journal of Drug Policy. He sits on the editorial board of the addiction journal Drugs and Alcohol Today and on the board of the Transform Drug Policy Foundation. He lives in England.

In this episode, Joe interviews Dena Justice from the Ecstatic Collective. Dena and Joe talk about Neuro Linguistic Programming and how it is beneficial to use with non-ordinary states of consciousness.

1. NLP is Neuro Linguistic Programming. Dena Justice is a Lifestyle Design Strategist that uses NLP to help people create their dream, ecstatic life.
2. 93% of communication happens at the subconscious level. NLP training focuses on how we use communication tools to help people in non-ordinary states of consciousness.
3. Perception is Projection. Our belief of someone else, is a projection of ourselves onto them.

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• Dena grew up with NLP in her life
• NLP is Neuro Linguistic Programming
• "You get to create your reality, what are you choosing consciously?" - Dena
• She became impacted by Tony Robbin's events, and decided to teach NLP
• NLP is about language and communication and things that are happening subconsciously
  • 93% of communication happens at the unconscious level

• Perception is projection
  • "If I have a belief about someone else, that is my projection of myself onto them" - Dena
• The big no-no in NLP is to say things like don't or not
  • Say it the way you intend it
  • What messages do you want to enforce when in an altered state? You want it to be positive
  • "What is someone creating in their reality based on their unconscious communication?" - Dena
• It's important to take NLP and combine it with non-ordinary states because they are more powerful together than the sum of them separately
  • The 'aha' moment happens because we have neural networks in every single cell in our body
  • Resistance is always a sign of a breakthrough
• Virginia Satir is known for translating people's representational systems
  • In the Hierarchy of Ideas, Virginia was all about 'chunking down'
  • When someone says "I'm upset" then you ask "how specifically?"
• On the opposing side, Milton Erickson focuses on abstraction, chunking higher to get to trance
  • Dena uses the Milton model of hypnosis to bring people into trance states

• Dena offers NLP training that focuses on how we use communication tools to help people in non-ordinary states of consciousness
  • It's so important to understand the 93% of communication that is happening at an unconscious level
• Timeline therapy is a process that utilizes the unconscious mind to get rid of negative emotions such as anger, sadness and guilt
• Every part of her training concludes with NLP coaching
• The Milton model and hypnosis is really beneficial when focusing on its delivery specifically
  • Hypnosis is important because its using everyday words but with intention and volition to put people into a trance state
  • We reduce resistance in communication when we move up in abstraction

Website

As a master manifester, Dena has created a beautiful life for herself. She been financially responsible since age 15 including putting herself through college, two masters degrees and purchasing her own home in the San Francisco Bay Area. She has made over $1M in her life through a fulfilling career as a facilitator, educator, trainer, mentor and coach working with thousands of people across the country. She loved her career, yet hit a point where she felt empty. Near the top of her career ladder, she was a classic case of a high performer and leader hitting burnout. She chose a powerful pivot out of her J-O-B and into her own business. Now, she helps other high performers who have hit burnout and are scared to admit they've hit a plateau or a wall. She helps them get the eff out of their own way and move to the next level to increase their impact so they feel fulfilled and inspired again, as well as helping them create more wealth and the relationships they want in their lives. She helps people experience new levels of success, increase/improve focus and performance, abolish FOMO, evolve communication skills, develop transformational leadership skills, create amazing relationships, increase financial abundance and live life on their own terms.

In this episode, Kyle sits down with Raquel Bennett to recap on the KRIYA Conference. Kyle attended the conference, which is to bring people together with dedication to understanding the better use of Ketamine.

1. The more recent KRIYA Conference was the last of its kind. The goal is to make information on ketamine more accessible to more people in the future.
2. At KRIYA Institute, they believe that there is not one right way to use ketamine, different patients are best served by different treatment strategies.
3. Intramuscular ketamine is usually 93% bioavailable, while nasal and lozenge based ketamine is usually only 40% bioavailable. The less variability the better when working with a powerful medicine for therapy.

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• KRIYA is an international conference focused on ketamine and its therapeutic potential
  • The goal of KRIYA is to get people of all different ketamine backgrounds in the same room
  • Different people benefit from different things, and different doses and methods matter
• There is a symbiotic relationship between therapeutic and spiritual practice of ketamine
• She wanted to create a place where researchers and clinicians could come together
  • This last conference was the last one
  • The conference is CME accredited, which means physicians can get units for their education
  • Raquel picks people from different backgrounds, therapists who use low dose ketamine for therapy, to those who do full blown spiritual work with ketamine
• Ketamine is a relational medicine - which is about having a relationship with the substance

• Ketamine Therapy Lessons
  • Wisdom Teaching
  • A Loving Relationship
  • The Medicine
• The medicine is adjunct to the entire process, it's not just about the ketamine, it's about the relationships, the wisdom teaching, etc. And each are powerful on their own, and even more powerful when all combined
  • When people are using ketamine in absence from the other components, people are not getting the full effect that they could
• "Ketamine when done correctly, when administered in the right setting, with the correct support, enhances resilience." - Raquel
• Therapy is an important mechanism to teach coping skills needed in psychotherapy

• When Raquel first started running this conference in 2015, the clinicians were afraid to even come, they were afraid to talk about Ketamine
  • This past year, there were hundreds of applicants and so much excitement around talking about ketamine
• In 2014, a whole bunch of psychiatrists stood up and said they have been using ketamine for their patients and it worked
• A doctor talked about combining meditation with ketamine to heal substance use disorder
  • When ketamine is offered in a structured context, its highly beneficial
• Another doctor talked about using ketamine to treat those who are acutely suicidal
  • People who are severely psychiatrically distressed benefit from ketamine treatment
• Another doctor talked about combining ketamine with EMDR to treat patients with PTSD

• Raquel says she prefers intramuscular ketamine over lozenges
  • It's the cheapest way of doing it
  • Its super precise, you have a great control of the bioavailability of the ketamine to the patient
• With IM, 93% is bioavailable
• With nasal and lozenge ketamine, usually 40% makes it to the patient's brain, which is a huge range of variability when working with a powerful medicine

• Clinicians are on the fence for prescribing for at home use
• A doctor talked about 4 different tiers of ketamine experiences related to dosage
• Other doctors talked about measurement tools of pre and post experience ways to take data when administering ketamine to patients
• There is a lot of ketamine use outside of the medical context
  • The field is stuck in the question "Should ketamine be allowed to be used by people who aren't psychiatrically fragile?"
• Everything good that is going to come out of ketamine usage and assisted therapy, will come
  • It's a slow process, but it is all moving forward

• Raquel encourages people to are interested with using ketamine in therapy to get together regionally and learn from each other
• She is thinking about creating a video series, as well as a retreat for ketamine providers
• The KRIYA Conference is over, but the KRIYA Institute isn't going anywhere
  • She is looking at ways to get the information out faster and to more people, than to limit it just to conference attendees

Website

Dr. Bennett is a Post-Doctoral Fellow in Clinical Psychology (PSB 94022544), working under the supervision of Dr. Bravo. Dr. Bennett primarily works with people who are experiencing severe depression, who are on the bipolar spectrum, or who are contemplating suicide. She has been studying the therapeutic properties of ketamine since she first encountered it in 2002. In addition to her clinical work, Dr. Bennett's practice has evolved to include consultation services for medical professionals who wish to add ketamine services to their offices. She also lectures frequently about therapeutic ketamine. Dr. Bennett is the Founder of KRIYA Institute and the Organizer of the KRIYA Conferences.

In today's episode, Joe sits down with Andy Frasco, a touring rock musician with the band, Andy Frasco and the UN. In the show, they cover what is it like to be a touring rock musician with drugs so available and how to live more healthfully in the space.

1. Andy Frasco is a talented, touring music artist a part of the band, Andy Frasco and the UN, as well as a podcast show host. Andy uses psychedelics to help cope with the anxiety that the rock star lifestyle brings.
2. Psychedelics open us up to the possibility that everything we know is wrong. Finding truth and clarity for some people is hard, and people resort to alcohol and other harmful behaviors to suppress the painful reality we live in.
3. Cocaine and uppers only keep a rock star up for so long. It keeps you awake for the partying, but it suppresses all the stresses of the lifestyle. Psychedelics and meditation can help with the balance needed in a stressful, lifestyle of traveling and fame.

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• Joe attended a bunch of his live shows and was able to catch up with Andy in his hotel room while he was in town
• Life is tough for a traveling entertainer, so the healthier they are, the better they are to perform for their audience
• Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast

• Microdosing is typically 6 weeks on, two weeks off, dosing every 3 days
• 1/10-3/10ths of a gram (of mushrooms) is the typical microdose
  • Once you feel it, it's more of a macro-dose
• Paul Stamets has made mushrooms popular

• Mushrooms did not leave a mark on bone structure, so it's hard to tell if they actually made a difference in human evolution
  • Drugs have been around for a long time, and people in the past have definitely used them
• There are studies of mushrooms helping to grow nerve cells and brain neurons back
• We are only 50-100 years in on science "(Psychedelics) open you up to the possibility that everything you know is wrong." -Terence McKenna
• Joe says he's been to a therapist a bunch of times, and he says he has enjoyed it
  • Joe's main form of therapy has been Breathwork
  • His most intense experiences have been just as powerful as his Ayahuasca experience

• Andy says he is open about taking psychedelics, he takes mushrooms, he doesn't really use cocaine
  • He says he feels more anxious when he isn't taking them than when he is
  • He says he gets really anxious on weed now as he gets older
• Psychedelics show us a lot of truths
• "We are all trying to figure out life, it's hard. Psychedelics help us create a better relationship with our mind." - Andy
• Andy says he has been anxious his whole life
  • He has had very scary panic attacks
  • He became addicted to sex as a crutch for his anxiety
  • He woke up one day, and sex didn't give him the thrill anymore
  • Andy started in the music industry because rock stars get the chicks
• Teen years are just about being super insecure about everything
  • Shame is a huge influence on our relationships with other people
• "The majority of effects from drug use for people are good." - a quote from Carl Hart, a Psychology Professor who studies drug use
• Andy's first psychedelic experience was an 8th of mushrooms at 18 years old

• Andy says he used to be really into coke because he just had to stay up for the shows
  • But he says he doesn't take anything anymore that feels like speed
  • He was coping his exhaustion with drugs and alcohol
• "When you're in a band you're the party for one day of the year in that city." - Andy
  • Life for a rock star can't just be the 2 hour show, the trick is figuring out how to be mindful for the other 14 hours of the day after the party
  • The lifestyle is really hard, its very common to use drugs, sex and alcohol to suppress it
  • Humans were not designed for this
• Andy has begun using transcendental meditation to help with this lifestyle
• He also mentions having his first DMT experience recently

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Andy Frasco, a Los Angeles, CA native singer, songwriter, band maestro, entrepreneur, party starter and everyday hustler, tours with his band, "The U.N." The music has elements of Soul, Funk, Rock and Roots and the shows have been described as orchestrated chaos, an overall great time. Frasco average 200+ dates a year, touring the country dozens of times, creating a loyal following everywhere he goes.

In this episode, Kyle and Joe sit down to cover questions from listeners of the show. They discuss topics that include psychedelic use for exorcisms, cluster headaches, athletic performance, processing grief and more.

1. There are a few examples where psychedelics are used to increase athletic performance. Psychedelics can also be used to help realign those who are using sports as a form of distraction from internalized issues.
2. When eliminating variables for psilocybin consistency in mushrooms for therapeutic use, freeze drying helps. But there are so many variables in mushrooms versus synthesized psilocybin.
3. When addressing the sustainability of the Toad, according to the data, there isn't a real difference between 5-MEO-DMT from a toad and synthesized 5-MEO-DMT

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• Joe brings up an issue that was brought up to him by a physician from the Wholeness Center, Dr. Craig Heacock, out of Fort Collins, CO
• Dr. Heacock warns about Kratom
  • It is safer than opioids, but it can be physically addictive and getting off of it can be horrible
  • Kratom withdrawal closely imitates opioid withdrawal
  • The receptor site activity is the same as opioid pills

• Kyle thinks of shamanic uses for plant medicines, and with the idea of purging and spiritual emergence, working in non-ordinary states can exacerbate these states and maybe help with this kind of work
• Joe and Kyle go into writings from Stan Grof, explaining the physical appearance of those going through LSD psychotherapy or breathwork, and how it assimilates to an 'exorcism' of releasing the bad
• The purging during a psychedelic experience may feel evil, or alien
• Joe and Kyle say, do not perform an exorcism, leave it to the trained people

• Cluster Busters is an organization for the research on cluster headaches
• LSD works for some as well as oxygen treatments work for others
• We know a lot more about migraines than cluster headaches
  • The migraine is where neurons in the brain start misfiring and create a firing storm

• Joe says the practical solution is to have a really large amount of psilocybe cubensis, all blended up, and then split in even doses
• There are potency differences between species, strains, etc
• There are so many variances with mushrooms versus synthetic psilocybin
• Freeze drying also promotes close to 0% loss of psilocybin when drying mushrooms

• There may be psychological blocks that are getting in the way of a person reaching the peak performance of their genome
  • It could be trauma, or psychological blocks
• Athletic performance could be a distraction from what you're really here to do
  • Athletes have a lot of dysfunctional behavior
  • Psychedelics may show us our bad behavior and help us align
• Kyle says he had this passion to snowboard and dedicate his life to snowboarding, and then he received a message in journeywork that told him snowboarding is simply a hobby and he needs to focus his life on other things
• "Sports are a great way to cover up our emotions" - Joe
• Kyle mentions tow other episodes that cover similar topics Ben Eddy Shane Lemaster

• Start a club
  • Joe says he's been incubating a Psychedelic Club in Phoenix
• Clubs are great for harm reduction

• Joe says yes, roadkill, pick them up off the road
• If you touch a living one, there is a chance you'll be doing harm
  • Even touching the toad can transmit harmful fungus to them
• According to the data, there isn't a real difference between 5-MEO-DMT from a toad and synthesized 5-MEO-DMT

• Kyle says when he thinks about grief, he thinks about trauma
  • Psychedelics may be really beneficial when treating trauma
• Kyle says he loves breathwork, because it creates the container to process things and even just simply cry
• Kyle recommends a really great book on grieving, The Smell of Rain on Dust: Grief and Praise by Martin Prechtel
• Our culture does not contain grief very well
• A lot of people internalize it instead of breaking down and letting it go

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Kyle's interest in exploring non-ordinary states of consciousness began when he was 16-years-old when he suffered a traumatic snowboarding accident. Waking up after having a near-death experience changed Kyle's life. Since then, Kyle has earned his B.A. in Transpersonal Psychology, where he studied the healing potential of non-ordinary states of consciousness by exploring shamanism, plant medicine, Holotropic Breathwork, and the roots/benefits of psychedelic psychotherapy. Kyle has co-taught two college-level courses. One of the courses Kyle created as a capstone project, "Stanislav Grof's Psychology of Extraordinary Experiences," and the other one which he co-created, "The History of Psychedelics."

Kyle completed his M.S. in clinical mental health counseling with an emphasis in somatic psychology. Kyle's clinical background in mental health consists of working with at-risk teenagers in crisis and with individuals experiencing an early-episode of psychosis. Kyle also facilitates Transpersonal Breathwork workshops.

Joe studied philosophy in New Hampshire, where he earned his B.A.. After stumbling upon the work of Stanislav Grof during his undergraduate years, Joe began participating in Holotropic Breathwork workshops in Vermont in 2003. Joe helped facilitate Holotropic and Transpersonal Breathwork workshops while he spent his time in New England. He is now working in the software industry as well as hosting a few podcasts. Joe now coordinates Dreamshadow Transpersonal Breathwork workshops, in Breckenridge, Colorado.

In this episode, Kyle sits down with Jac Harrison, a grammy nominated music producer. Kyle and Jac talk about music as therapy, how DMT mimics the near death experience, and how Jac produces music based on frequencies of mystical experiences.

1. Jac shares his story about his near death experience, and how DMT has been a therapeutic option for him to cope with his crippling anxiety and PTSD.
2. Jac is a music producer, who uses frequencies from mystical experiences to produce music. His music helps people with addiction, sleep issues, anxiety, and more.
3. Music is not an FDA approved medicine, but if there is music that tricks your mind into thinking you have taken a medicine, then it should be an option for those suffering.

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• In 2008, Jac was newly married with a baby on the way
• He needed a new job, and accepted one with Whole Foods Magazine
• Around 2011, the owner of the company became ill, and gave his company to his daughter, who was awful
• Jac said that he knew something had to change
• He started his music career, went under a lot of stress, and went through a divorce
  • Everything started to go okay with his music career, money was pouring in
  • His first album was Musicians Collection Project
• He had a ton of anxiety after the divorce, and had high blood pressure
  • He took some cold medicine, on top of his blood pressure medicine, totally forgot about it, then decided to have a glass of wine with a friend
  • The next thing he knew, he was in an ambulance getting his chest pounded on
  • They told him he was in and out all night, and practically died
• After this near death experience, he felt amazing!
  • But the feeling of greatness only lasted about 3 weeks, and then his anxiety came back, and it was crippling

• Jac says he doesn't believe in magic or witchcraft or any woo woo
• For his 39th birthday, he was working a trade show
• He ran around his hotel in Las Vegas, screaming that he felt he was going to die
  • He didn't know how, but he could feel it
  • Everyone thought he was crazy
• Moments later, was the shooting right outside of his hotel
  • It was the Las Vegas shooting
• He does believe in coincidence
  • He had this overwhelming feeling that something bad was going to happen, it was his intuition

• After trying to figure out what this all meant, he took a 2000mg bar of chocolate to blast off, trying to relive his near death experience
  • He said, there was a lot of frequency, and as a musician, he felt like he could mimic it
  • His first album, and first song on the album, Relief, was about his experience when he died
  • His music is found at MindToyBox
  • Each song he did after that, catalogs the DMT experience he had
• "An old projector TV, I had one for a while, it was great. The light came on and told me I needed to change the bulb. I changed the bulb and saw in a new and clear way forever. That's what DMT is like." - Jac
• Kyle says that when he attended COSM for the DMT Spirit Molecule release party, Rick Strassman was there and said that the idea that DMT comes out of the pineal gland is just a hypothesis, and people took it and ran with it as truth

• After he smoked DMT, he heard this humming, and so he started humming and recording it as a frequency for the album
• He took opium, and then figured out the frequency that substance performs at
  • He wrote music, based on the mathematical equation on how opium works and releases
  • He says it has helped others detox off of opium
• Jac cant take mushrooms because he is allergic, so he takes DMT
• Jac worked with a man who had gone through a ton of trauma, he had gone through combat
  • He kept reliving his combat trauma when he would try to go asleep
  • He smoked DMT, and really relived the experience, and was able to let go of it after that
  • "Your mind is a bitch." - Jac
  • "If you can lock onto a memory, and dissociate it with something, and re-associate it with something else, Every time you can go back to that memory,you can relive it in a way that it's tolerable, and get over it." - Jac
• Jac says without this, he would not be able to function, and he would be institutionalized
• Jac's music is Alex Grey's form of art creation
• It is made to go with journeywork experiences
  • It is supposed to mimic taking a pill, so you don't need to take the actual pill
  • It is supposed to guide people when taking different psychedelics
  • His tracks match the frequency of specific psychedelics

• The Malta Hypogeum, the oracle chamber, is a cave with naturally occurring frequencies
• Raymond Reif is an underestimated person in history
  • He beat cancer using frequencies in the 30's and 40's
• "If we're not going to someone to get drugs for something that we need drugs for, and solving our problems using plant based medicines, music therapy, and frequencies, we are much better off." - Jac
• Jac came across psychedelics when trying to treat crippling anxiety
  • Kyle is the first person he has told this NDE story to
• Alzheimers is not a neurological problem, it's a perception problem
  • Psychedelic medicine should be used for research to treat cognitive health problems, PTSD, alzheimers, etc
• "If the earth gives us something for our body, we should be able to take that at the same time we are able to take modern medicine." - Jac
• Jac says that he started doing this type of work as more of an Atheist, and after the psychedelic experiences, he says he has become more spiritual

• Jac says that his intuition and discernment came after his near death experience
  • Kyle says that this happens after mystical experiences, we become more in tune with what is going on around us
  • "I believe that we have something in us, that is triggered, when we have a fear of death." - Jac

• Jac recommends Relief as the first track for listeners
• He extends himself to people who are heavily anxious, have severe PTSD, or depressed, to come to him, and he will make music for them
• He said that this is not medicine, but if there is music that tricks your mind into thinking you have taken a medicine, then it should be an option for those suffering

Website

Having spent most of his adolescent life medicated to treat ADD/ADHD, Jac developed a dependency on the medications and could not function without them. When he stopped using them, his anxiety was so bad that he was diagnosed with PTSD in 2009; so he took his love for music with his understanding of mathematics and developed music to help himself get off all the medication. Mind Toy Box is the result of his work.

In this episode, Kyle and Joe sit down to explore psychedelic integration. They cover different frameworks, resources and benefits of integration and coaching services.

1. Integration is commonly confused as post-session only, but it includes pre-session, self care, and really begins at the point you decide to engage in self-work.
2. It is important to remember the GPA framework when determining where you are at in the integration process, G - grounding, P - processing, A - action.
3. Psychedelics Today offers many resources to assist with the integration process; Navigating Psychedelics Online Course (and Live Course), Coaching and Integration Calls, and books, Trip Journal and Integration Workbook.

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• Kyle will be attending the ACISTE Conference this November
  • He is speaking and doing a breakout session with Michelle Hobart
  • Kyle is going to present on using technology for support with spiritual emergence
• Kyle and Joe will not be offering any major workshops until spring.
• They will be attending a conference in Exeter UK - Psychedelics and Philosophy

• Kyle says his near death experience shows up in his life everyday
• Integration is not only post session, it is also pre-session
• Integration, at its root means bringing parts together into wholeness
• Joe says you don't need support to do integration, although it is helpful
• Kyle's analogy of a psychedelic experience as a big hallway with a lot of doors, and a ton of magical stuff, even scary monsters, are coming through the doors and wandering through the halls
  • The goal is to realize and say "this is a part of me" and learn to be okay with all of the stuff in the hall
• Self care works until it doesn't, and that is when integration comes in

• Kyle uses a framework and asks, what is your GPA?
  • G - grounding, post session, how are we getting re-connected to ourselves?
  • P - processing, once energy feels stable and centered, how can we process the material? It could mean journaling, therapy, body or somatic work, breathwork, yoga, etc.
  • A - action, moving it forward, breaking the leanings down into goals of things to work on
  • Kyle says that these things do not need to be done in order necessarily, but its a good framework to check in after an experience and see where you're at
• Joe reminds listeners of 'pre-hab', that preparation can make a world of a difference and weigh a lot more than post work in a lot of cases
• "Life is integration, call your mom, pay your rent." - Joe
• Joe mentions the quote that "the opposite of addiction is connection"
• Climate change can bring up a lot of existential dread, the connection piece, and other topics can be addressed with psychedelic integration

• The Psychedelics Today, Navigating Psychedelics Course is a great way to learn more about integration
• We offer two books, the Trip Journal and the Integration Workbook
• We also offer Psychedelic Integration coaching calls and services
• You don't need an integration coach all the time, but for someone to just be there helps
• If you have a retreat planned, integration and coaching can really help mitigate the risks
• Integration within the psychedelic community is somewhat understood
  • Kyle says he gets tons of emails asking for medicine sessions
  • Psychedelic Integration and coaching services do not include medicine or guiding or providing of medicine, its simply pre and post session guidance
  • Psychedelics Today does not suggest underground or illegal psychedelic sessions/therapy and makes a significant effort to be ignorant of underground work, there are legal options to choose from

Psychedelics Today

Kyle's interest in exploring non-ordinary states of consciousness began when he was 16-years-old when he suffered a traumatic snowboarding accident. Waking up after having a near-death experience changed Kyle's life. Since then, Kyle has earned his B.A. in Transpersonal Psychology, where he studied the healing potential of non-ordinary states of consciousness by exploring shamanism, plant medicine, Holotropic Breathwork, and the roots/benefits of psychedelic psychotherapy. Kyle has co-taught two college-level courses. One of the courses Kyle created as a capstone project, "Stanislav Grof's Psychology of Extraordinary Experiences," and the other one which he co-created, "The History of Psychedelics."

Kyle completed his M.S. in clinical mental health counseling with an emphasis in somatic psychology. Kyle's clinical background in mental health consists of working with at-risk teenagers in crisis and with individuals experiencing an early-episode of psychosis. Kyle also facilitates Transpersonal Breathwork workshops.

Joe studied philosophy in New Hampshire, where he earned his B.A.. After stumbling upon the work of Stanislav Grof during his undergraduate years, Joe began participating in Holotropic Breathwork workshops in Vermont in 2003. Joe helped facilitate Holotropic and Transpersonal Breathwork workshops while he spent his time in New England. He is now working in the software industry as well as hosting a few podcasts. Joe now coordinates Dreamshadow Transpersonal Breathwork workshops, in Breckenridge, Colorado.

In this episode, Joe and Kyle sit down to cover highlights from the Horizons Conference. In the show, they discuss the presentations and topics they heard at the conference.

1. Joe and Kyle attended Horizons: Perspectives on Psychedelics Conference in NYC, it is a forum that examines the role of psychedelic drugs and plant medicines in science, medicine, culture and spirituality.
2. Carl Hart gave a compelling talk; Dispelling the Lies that the Psychedelic Community believes about Drugs. Greater than 80% of the effects of drugs used are positive.
3. Another popular topic was on the economics around psychedelics, and discussion on companies trying to monopolize on psychedelics.

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• Kyle mentions he loves to attend because it's a great social event to connect with others interested or involved in the psychedelic field
• Kyle says the videos of the talks from the conference will be released soon
• They presented neuro-imaging data

• Dr. Alan Davis did a talk on 5-MEO-DMT and its challenges
  • People have a hard time letting go into the experience because its so fast and overwhelming
• He talked about a term, reactivation, similar to flashbacks that happen between 1-2 weeks after the experience
  • People were reporting it as positive experiences, 80% of people enjoyed the reactivations
• He did say that there were some bad players in the 5-MEO-DMT space
  • There is no control in the dosing in underground facilitation
  • A lot of people eyeball their dosage in 5-MEO-DMT
  • Joe suggests to buy a milligram scale

• Carl Hart did a talk; Dispelling the Lies that the Psychedelic Community believes about drugs
  • Greater than 80% of the effects of drugs used are positive
• PCP is a psychedelic drug, but the psychedelic community chooses not to own it
• Ketamine was derived from PCP
• Hamilton Morris said that no drug is bad, it comes down to the dose and how its being used
  • Poison can be a medicine, and medicine can be a poison, it all depends on dose
• No drug should be illegal, drug scheduling should just go away
• Some states are starting to ban private prisons
• Joe says the drug war is the war on race, the war on class, etc
  • Joe suggests looking up the Portugal drug law; less overdoses, less HIV, less incarceration, etc
• Kyle mentions that in some cultures they would drink alcohol to get into a trance state and dance around all night and then chill for 3 days afterward because they would all be recovering from the hangover

• Shelby and Madison, co founders from Doubleblind Magazine did a talk
• Fiona Misham did a talk on the use of psychedelics for festivals and fun
  • She talked about having on-site drug testing facilities and how they heighten safety
  • In 2018 in Europe the MDMA contents were tested at 168milligrams
  • 1 in 5 substances are mis-sold
  • 1 in 20 MDMA samples were long lasting N-ethylpentylone, a drug that keeps you up for 3 days straight
• There was also an Economics panel
  • Kyle says it was a heavy and hot debate
  • There was a lot of conversation on companies making money on psychedelics
  • There was worry from some on Compass Pathways monopolizing on psychedelics
  • Kyle says big and fast growth can be dangerous for mental health
  • It's possible that these companies will just push for results to pay off the investment than to really take the time to have slow meaningful sessions and include the therapeutic model
  • When therapists have more congruence with their client, they get better results

Website

Kyle's interest in exploring non-ordinary states of consciousness began when he was 16-years-old when he suffered a traumatic snowboarding accident. Waking up after having a near-death experience changed Kyle's life. Since then, Kyle has earned his B.A. in Transpersonal Psychology, where he studied the healing potential of non-ordinary states of consciousness by exploring shamanism, plant medicine, Holotropic Breathwork, and the roots/benefits of psychedelic psychotherapy. Kyle has co-taught two college-level courses. One of the courses Kyle created as a capstone project, "Stanislav Grof's Psychology of Extraordinary Experiences," and the other one which he co-created, "The History of Psychedelics."

Kyle completed his M.S. in clinical mental health counseling with an emphasis in somatic psychology. Kyle's clinical background in mental health consists of working with at-risk teenagers in crisis and with individuals experiencing an early-episode of psychosis. Kyle also facilitates Transpersonal Breathwork workshops.

Joe studied philosophy in New Hampshire, where he earned his B.A.. After stumbling upon the work of Stanislav Grof during his undergraduate years, Joe began participating in Holotropic Breathwork workshops in Vermont in 2003. Joe helped facilitate Holotropic and Transpersonal Breathwork workshops while he spent his time in New England. He is now working in the software industry as well as hosting a few podcasts. Joe now coordinates Dreamshadow Transpersonal Breathwork workshops, in Breckenridge, Colorado.

In this episode, Joe interviews Cody Swift from the Riverstyx Foundation. In the show, they talk about Peyote and the troubles for Native Americans and their church not having access and preservation of Peyote.

1. RiverStyx is a small family foundation that funds projects that demonstrate the potential for healing and beauty. RiverStyx has funded the preservation of land to protect the sacred Peyote plant.
2. The Portugal Model shows that decriminalization works. Portugal faced unprecedented overdoses and drug abuse, typically with heroine, and when they turned to decriminalization and treatment, overdoses and incarceration dropped significantly to almost none.
3. The Native American churches have held onto their ceremonial practices very tightly, and they struggle to find legal and sustainable access to Peyote, their sacred plant medicine.

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• RiverStyx is a small family foundation
  • Cody's grandfather was the CEO of UPS, and before his grandmother passed, she put a large share of the stock into a small family foundation
  • Cody and his father took their quarter of the Foundation and created RiverStyx
  • "How do you use a million and a half dollars a year for remarkable good?" - Cody
• He fell into philanthropy along with the burden/blessing of making decisions to change the world with a lot of money
• He started LEAD (Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion)
  • It is a program that aims to help those struggling with addiction rather than punishing them with prison time

• In the early 2000's, Eric Schlosser's book, Reefer Madness Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market eluded to Portugal having decriminalized all drugs
• Portugal faced unprecedented overdoses and drug abuse, typically with heroine
  • They realized that they couldn't arrest their country out of the drug addiction problem, so they turned to decriminalization and treatment
  • They de-stigmatized treatment and drug users didn't have to feel ashamed and use drugs in the shadows
  • This lowered HIV rates to almost nothing
  • It was highly successful
• "Not everyone needs drugs, but not everyone should be at risk to go to jail if they get caught with them." - Joe
  • Joe encourages psychedelically inclined folks to look deeper into harm reduction and drug decriminalization
  • "Let's provide these people safe access to a clean supply where they can stabilize again" - Cody
• Joe mentions a book by Jeremy Narby, Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge, Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge
• The drug war is causing danger to the plants
  • Cody says, if cane syrup was made illegal because it is killing people, we wouldn't ban the growth of corn, because it is sacred and used for so many other things
• "Jail is one of the biggest problems for mushroom users" - Joe
  • Joe mentions that he was a little frustrated that Michael Pollan was able to take mushrooms and not go to jail, but the average person could go to jail
  • Cody says that he highly respects Michael Pollan and what he has done for the psychedelic revolution, and that he thinks that Pollan wouldn't want anyone to go to jail for this
  • People like Michael Pollan and Tim Ferriss have done a tremendous job securing funding for Psychedelic Research

• Native American people had always been close to Cody's heart
• As a philanthropist, he didn't know where to begin
• There is a myriad of problems facing Native American communities
  • About 5 years ago, it just came into consciousness
  • He got connected to Sandor of the Native American church
  • He learned about ceremony and it became absolutely clear that he had to be a part of it
  • It was an unclear path on how to support the community in the beginning, there was no 501C-3, there were no other philanthropists, the community is so large
• "How to support them in the continuance and empowerment of their using of a highly potent and healing substance to treat communities that have suffered so much, that was the key question" - Cody
  • Looking at the threat and endangerment of the Peyote plant was the most important part of securing the preservation of this sacred plant
  • Synthetic Mescaline is difficult to access and expensive

• It's hard to track the ancient original threats to the traditions
• The Native American churches have held onto the ceremonial practices very tightly
• It's important that white people don't just come in and tweak the ceremony
• The average life expectancy for Native Americans is only in their 50s
• They have gone through so much suffering, and they are very awake, sensitive people that are holding this culture and practice close to them
• Alcoholism is one of the largest problems in Native American communities, and Peyote has shown to be a highly tangible benefit and cure for alcoholism

• It has taken over 4 years to begin building these alliances
• Riverstyx and Bronners have been the only sources of funding, they need more
• Through this, they purchased 605 acres of land for peyote preservation in Texas
  • 600 acres may not solve the Peyote crisis, but it is a start and has opened the doors to connect with other farmers that has now led to 12,000 acres dedicated to peyote preservation
  • This is to return sovereignty and control to the Native
  • After the land was purchased, they had a pilgrimage with the Navajo
• Peyote is God to them, it's their connection to the spiritual realm
• Native Americans have resisted acculturation and stuck to their ways, that is their strength

Email: cody@riverstyxfoundation.org

Website

RiverStyx Foundation attempts to lessen human suffering caused by misguided social policy and stigma, while advocating enhanced opportunities for healing, growth, and transformation in such areas as drug policy, criminal justice, and end-of-life care. The Riverstyx Foundation believes in the human potential for healing, growth, and transformation. The Riverstyx Foundation works to provide a bridge to the relinquished parts of ourselves, our society, and our ecology, to ease those fears and prejudices by funding projects that demonstrate the potential for healing and beauty, when life is embraced in its fullest expression.

In this episode, Joe sits down with Jordan and Lou from Mycology Now, a company that makes and sells spore syringes for microscopy use. In the show, they talk about the start of Mycology Now, the culture change caused by psychedelics, and personal stories on how psychedelics changed their lives.

1. Mycology Now is a company that produces premium spores for microscopy use. The goal is to spread knowledge about mycology, one spore at a time.
2. We are living in an age of information that has never been experienced before, people have the tools to break the stigma on their own just by educating themselves.
3. Psychedelics are becoming a culture change agent, more and more people are becoming accepting of psychedelics, and psychedelics are helping people come together to create positive change.

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• Jordan and Lou are co-owners and creators of Mycology Now
  • The company runs out of Florida
• Mycology Now is a company that sells spores for microscopy
• They have two locations in Denver
• The mission of the company is to spread spores and knowledge
• Lou shares how his interest in mycology began
  • He says it began with his struggle with depression and suicidal tendencies
  • Psilocybin had ended up being the only thing that helped with the struggle, the depression was completely erased
• Jordan shares his story
  • His mother was in a relationship when he was about 10 years old with an abusive man
  • This man abused narcotics, opioids
  • He was abusive mentally, physically and emotionally
  • He grew up being convinced that he wasn't worthy of love, and he blamed himself
  • About 2 years ago, he discovered mushrooms, and was able to go into the painful parts of his childhood and forgive himself and heal from his trauma
  • "Although negative things did happen to me, and to my family, I was not the cause of it, and I should not have to carry that around with me." - Jordan
  • He wants to do everything in his power to bring that to the rest of the world

• One thing that they have noticed about the younger generation is that they are way more open and have way more acceptance of psychedelics and an interest in self care and mental health
• "We are living in an age of information that has never been experienced before, people have the tools to break the stigma on their own just by educating themselves." - Jordan
• Joe mentions that in Colorado, psychedelics are a bit normalized to have conversation about
  • In Florida, the median age is 55, so there is more of a challenge because people that age grew up in the taboo time of psychedelics

• It organically grew into a website
  • Lou says it was an entity that grew on its own
• Joe predicts that in 2020, we are about to see the Psilocybin movement really take off
• Joe brings up the Paul Stamets Stack, which is Cubensis, Lions Mane and Niacin
  • There are testimonials about auditory changes that you can measure, you can increase your ability to hear frequencies
  • They bring up an example of a deaf man being able to hear the waves of the ocean for the first time after practicing the Stamet's stack

• Some people say its the worst time in history, and other people say this is the best time in history
• There is a hunger of more digestible ways of receiving information
• Psychedelics can help us understand the impermanence of things
• Lou brings up that Paul Staments and Dennis McKenna were the catalysts to his understanding of mycology
• Jordan says that his inspiration and influence came from people at music festivals
  • People are very open and authentic when on psychedelics
  • Meeting real people with real lives who had profound change in their lives because of psychedelics are his major sources of inspiration

• Lou's sister was diagnosed with Metastatic breast cancer with a double mastectomy and was diagnosed with depression afterward
• After talking about the health benefits, she took psilocybin, and laid down and disconnected with her body
  • Afterward, she was able to come out of it and talk about her ease with death
  • The experience felt like death itself, and having felt what death might feel like, she no longer experiences depression about her cancer

• Johns Hopkins psilocybin study on smoking cessation
  • 80% of people were abstinent from smoking cigarettes on a 6 month followup
  • Those people smoked an average of 19 cigarettes per day for an average of 31 years of their life

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Mycology Now is a humble small business dedicated to spreading awareness. They are a company that makes and sells spore syringes for microscopy use. Their Mushroom Spore prints and syringes speak for themselves; always having a heavy spore count.

In this episode, Kyle joins in conversation with Dr. Daniela Peluso, Cultural Anthropologist and Associate Director at Chacruna. In the show, they discuss guidelines for the awareness of against sexual abuse in Ayahuasca ceremony.

1. Ayahuasca settings bring together shamans and participants, and with the increasing occurrence of such encounters, there is an alarming rate of incidences where shamans make sexual advances toward participants during or following ceremonies.
2. Ayahuasca is a commonly used substance for seducing participants looking for healing, whom then return from their retreats needing additional healing from sexual abuse.
3. This guideline reviews some of the key behaviors to look out for and ways to prepare before attending an Ayahuasca retreat to avoid and protect oneself against sexual abuse.

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• Daniela has a PhD in Anthropology
• She was living with Indinenous people in Amazonia
  • She conducted field work in the Amazonian regions of Peru over the last two decades, particularly Ese Eja
• She is on the board of Directors at Chacruna's Institute for sexual abuse
  • She wrote an article on Ayahuasca and was noticed

1. There was an initiative that made a guideline for doing Ayahuasca but it was held back because there are so many different ways ceremony can be performed and it wasn't accurate
2. Drinking with friends is wise
3. Drinking with experienced women or a couple is another wise move Abuse mainly happens to women but it does happen to men as well There is a higher chance for a person to speak up when they have someone they know and trust there with them Ayahuasca tourism is why sexual abuse is such a problem When someone doesn't know that touch is out of the norm in ceremony, they might accept it because they were never informed that it's wrong They may think that being touched sexually is just a part of the ceremony, and it's not AyaAdvisors and Tripadvisor are both decent resources for reviews on Ayahuasca centers/ceremonial retreats Unless something goes terribly wrong, you will usually get good reviews Places also change over time
4. It's not necessary for healers to touch intimate parts of your body or any area to which you do not consent There are forms of healing where the body is touched, so it's important for the person to make known what is okay and not okay from the start
5. Curaciones, Sopladas and Limpiezas do not require you to remove your clothes If a shaman removes clothing, that may be a warning sign because that is not a part of tradition
6. Look out for warning signs that a healers intentions with you might be sexual When healers start to talk about how they aren't married or that they can give you 'special treatment' or that sexual or 'love magic' is necessary for healing, that is a warning sign Use common sense and draw the line immediately if anything sexual comes up
7. Sexual Intercourse between healer and patient during ceremonies or directly after the ceremony is not acceptable in Ayahuasca tradition
8. Sexual intercourse with a healer does not give you special power or energy
9. Consider cultural differences and local behavioral norms when interacting with native healers, letting go of ethnocentrism Having an understanding of what is culturally normal is important
10. Consider cultural differences and local clothing customs
11. Protect your personal space, physically and spiritually Each person has a right to know their body and know what feels right and wrong to them No means no
12. Be wary if healers offer psychoactive substances other than those used during ceremonies
13. He is a Shaman, not a Saint! There is a lot more "I am a Shaman" these days, where it used to be more of "I am not a Shaman" Ayahuasca tourism definitely romanticized what being a Shaman really is
14. If violation occurs, get support People should speak up as quickly as they are able to, vocally or physically "There is no need to suffer in silence" - Daniela
15. Beware of what might appear to be consensual sex It has a lot to do with having the same form of communication, trust, and power dynamics
16. Beware of getting romantically involved
17. If you are aware of or witness sexual abuse, speak up

"Individuals have to accept that Ayahuasca has become a business and an industry as much as it is a spiritual practice, and that it includes the trappings of capitalism like exploitation and inequality." - Daniela

Website

Chacruna.net

Email: d.peluso@kent.ac.uk

Daniela Peluso is a cultural anthropologist whose current research focuses on indigenous Amazonian communities. She has worked over the last two decades in Lowland South America, mostly with communities in in the Peruvian and Bolivian Amazon. She is actively involved in various local efforts on issues relating to health, gender, indigenous urbanization and land-rights and works in close collaboration with indigenous and local organizations as reflected in her publications. She also specializes on the anthropology of finance. She received her PhD in 2003 from Columbia University and is a senior lecturer in social anthropology at the University of Kent. She is an Associate Director of the Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines and on the board of the Society of Lowland South America (SALSA) and People and Plants International (PPI).

In this episode, Kyle interviews Laura Northrup, Marriage and Relationship Somatic Psychotherapist and creator of the podcast, Inside Eyes; an audio series about people using psychedelics to heal from sexual trauma.

www.psychedelicstoday.com

In this episode, Kyle and Joe interview Ben Sessa, a Consultant Psychiatrist. Ben comes on the show to talk about preliminary results from the first ever, MDMA assisted therapy for alcohol use disorder (AUD).

1. Ben Sessa plays a role in leading the current MDMA assisted therapy study for alcohol use disorder, and shares preliminary results.
2. In the current stage, out of the first 12 patients, 2 have turned back to drinking, 5 have stayed completely dry and another 5 who have had a drink or two but have not relapsed back to their typical levels of consumption.
3. Most people with a long term substance addiction have a history of trauma. MDMA can help people feel safe, in order to work through and heal trauma.

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Trip Journal Integration Workbook

• They had 13 people in the study, and they took data on 4 people
• The first caveat in these results is that there was no blinding and no placebo in this study
  • There is no way to tell that it was solely the drug that resulted in the effects
• In terms of tolerability, everyone preferred it to other treatment, there were no bad reactions to the MDMA, there were no negative reactions, it was a total success in terms of tolerability
• In the current stage, out of the first 12 patients, 2 have turned back to drinking, 5 have stayed completely dry and another 5 who have had a drink or two but have not relapsed back to their typical levels of consumption
  • They did a similar study previous to this one except without the MDMA and they had 11 patients, 9 of them went back to their full level of consumption
• They chose alcohol use disorder because it's so difficult to treat
• All patients are recruits from local drug and alcohol services
  • Ben picks them up after they have detoxed, after they have been cured of the physical dependence, but when they have yet to be cured of the psychological dependence
• They receive 2 dosing days within their 8 week therapy (usually weeks 3 and 6)
  • They do 125mg and then half that size dose 2 hours later, which sustains the high
• Ben mentions that recruitment is difficult, a lot of people have a drinking problem, but they can't have patients that are depressed, suicidal, pregnant, epileptic, etc.

• Up until next March, they are continuing to take in new patients for the study to have more data
• The next step is to have a randomized control study
• This current study is sponsored by Imperial College of London
  • It's not a MAPS sponsored study, it's the first non MAPS, MDMA study
• The main papers, with all the data are over a year and a half away from publishing

• "MDMA addiction is as rare as a hen with teeth." - Ben
• "Most people with a long term substance addiction have a history of trauma." - Ben
• Trauma and PTSD is highly treatment resistant
• There are certain drugs that inhibit fear response, such as alcohol, heroin, etc
  • They make you forget the pain but you can't work with them and do therapy with them, with MDMA you can
• MDMA can help people feel safe, in order to work through and heal trauma
• "We are all the products of our attachment relationships." - Ben

• This past year was the 5th one
• There were 1300 attendees from all over the world
• What's wonderful about Breaking Convention is how multidisciplinary it is
  • There's the guy in the gray suit in one room talking about high level neuroscience and a hippie with dreads in the other room talking about the spirits that live in the Salvia leaves
  • Ben says they work really hard to make that balance work
• There's a lot of debate and conflict in the psychedelic movement right now,
  • Breaking Convention is very important for creating space for this debate

• Ben is looking into opening a clinic
• He mentions academia is not his area of study, he is a clinician, but this research is an excuse to treat patients

Breaking Convention

Ben Sessa is a consultant psychiatrist in adult addictions, working part-time at Addaction in Weston-Super-Mare and is senior research fellow at Bristol, Cardiff and Imperial College London Universities, where he is currently taking time off clinical medical practice to study towards a PhD in MDMA Psychotherapy. He has specialist training as a child and adolescent psychiatrist and is interested in the developmental trajectory from child maltreatment to adult mental health disorders. Dr Sessa's joint interests in psychotherapy, pharmacology and trauma have lead him towards researching the subject of drug-assisted psychotherapy using psychedelic adjuncts. He is the author of two books exploring psychedelic medicine; The Psychedelic Renaissance (2012) and To Fathom Hell or Soar Angelic (2015) and is currently conducting research with Imperial College London and Cardiff universities studying the potential role for MDMA-assisted therapy for the treatment of PTSD and alcohol dependence syndrome. 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. He is a co-founder and director of the UK's Breaking Convention conference.

In this episode, Joe and Kyle interview Rachel Anderson and James Franzo, founders of the EDELIC Center for Ethnobotanicals. In the show, they talk about the benefits of creating a healing practice using botanicals such as Kratom and the need to decriminalize all plants.

1. EDELIC is a non-profit in Eugene, Oregon that began as a public lending library that has grown to a community of information, events, and conservatory of psychoactive botanicals.
2. Kratom can sometimes get a bad rep, commonly thought of as an opioid. But Kratom is not an opioid, it just affects the opioid receptors in the brain, respiration never changes, and it's actually in the same category as the coffee family, so it gives a boost of energy.
3. There is not an economic incentive that puts the botanical research on the same level as synthetic research. At EDELIC, the goal is to create scientific evidence that validates citizen-led research, authentic scientific information, and create a scientifically valid, open science and praxis oriented, non-commodified access pathway, to and from the direct human & botanicals/fungi relationship while protecting the bounty emerging from therein.

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• EDELIC is a non-profit in Eugene Oregon that has been operating for 4 years
  • They started as a public lending library
  • They put on a weekly discussion group and host events
  • What started as a library, grew to a conservatory to protect plants, and now includes research

• They have 15-16 psychoactive species, such as Salvia, Kratom, San-Pedro, etc.
  • Volunteers are able to help out in the garden
• They are interested in growing the conservatory to have different climates that cater to each individual plant

• They have done both a CBD event and Kratom event, and have brought the plants from the conservatory
• The events that they have been holding are based on community desire for more information on those plants

• Kratom has the potential to prevent deaths in the opioid crisis with less initial stigma than ibogaine, psilocybin, etc
• The symptoms of withdrawal from Kratom are similar to withdrawal from coffee
• Kratom is a plant and the benefits can be harnessed along with a practice
  • when habits are formed, a person doesn't need to have a dependency on the Kratom
  • Kyle mentions that creating a practice is a foreign concept to some people, they think their healing comes solely from the substance and not the practice
• The best way to take it is in tea form, and let all the intelligence centers of the body take the medicine in
  • James says he hears news and TED Talks on Kratom tinctures and extracts, and he thinks that leans Kratom toward that abusive behavior again
  • Using it continuously and re-upping on the go makes it less of a practice
  • "In all cases, were encouraging folks to focus on the whole botanical, letting the intelligence of the body to form the relationship with the plant will keep you safer than going in the other direction" - James
• The goal is to use the Kratom to take away the pain to a point where the individual has more energy and to say, "what can I do to improve my health in this moment?"
  • That may look less like taking 100% of the pain away and taking it away just enough to have the energy to create a practice of healing without the reliance on another substance
• Its generally safe, it has a predictable response in individuals, and it is legal
• Kratom is not an opioid, it just effects the opioid receptors in the brain, respiration never changes, and its in the same category as the coffee family, so it gives a boost of energy
• "Botanicals, integration practice, and realizing our internal intelligence centers can really influence and inform our decision making process" - James
• Kratom can be tested, and there are industry standards similar to how cannabis is tested
  • Kratom is highly unregulated and you are taking a risk when not testing it for quality

• In 1994, the World Trade Organization introduced this piece of legislation that says in US Patent Law, minor scientific alterations to natural botanical plants can be patented
• Patent law protects scientific adaptations to botanicals, and therefore, the US claimed that third world countries owe us royalties for agricultural products
  • In Canada, they said to patent an indigenous plant is to steal from the third world country, and i n that case, the US owes other countries over 300 million and in pharmaceuticals, billions
  • That is why in the US, there is an urge to make money on synthetic versions of these plants
  • There is not an economic incentive that puts the botanical research on the same level as the synthetic research
• The WTO does not recognize technology or innovations by farmers, artisans or grassroots innovators that happen in a grassroots setup
• There are churches that are recognized at the federal level, they cant conduct research, but they have access to provide these plants
• "We are hoping to create scientific evidence that validates citizen-led research, authentic scientific information, and create a scientifically valid, open science and praxis oriented, non-commodified access pathway, to and from the direct human & botanicals/fungi relationship while protecting the bounty emerging from therein. – James
• Rachel notes that all funding so far has been from volunteers and donors
• "I am strongly for decriminalizing nature, it protects the indigenous, it protects nature, there is no reason someone should be criminalized for using plants" - Rachel
• There is a unique interplay between the laws at the local, state and federal level

• There is a need for people to come together, a need to not feel alone, a need to share
• If anyone is interested in starting a non-profit, Rachel and James are willing to help

Website

Email: team@ecfes.org

Rachel's focus is on somatic therapies and the healthy integration of plant practices. She has successfully fund-raised, planned and organized public events, hosted intentional integration practices with ethnobotanicals, created artwork, designed integration journals, met with the 4J school board to discuss drug awareness education in classrooms. Rachel brings power, stability, and genuine strength and determination to ECfES and acts as an original steward for the original ECfES vision.

A 20-year journey of self-education (using what has now become a large part of the lending library we operate) inspired James to launch ECFES. Additionally, gaining experience working in the field of chemical dependency treatment and social services contributed further to his disenfranchisement with current policy and treatment modalities, and attracted him further to evidence-based approaches to drug policy reform and the mental health field in general. Specifically, potent ethnobotanical plants and mind/body methodologies for integrating them. James is also an honorably discharged military veteran, who served for six years. James has been the website content developer @ ECFES, library archivist, team builder, and steward of the original vision for ECFES, an ethnobotanical/psychedelic/entheogenic healing center under one roof.

In this episode, Joe interviews Tep, a chemical engineer and educated, psychedelic enthusiast. They dive into rich conversation regarding drug use education and creating a cohesive meaning among recreational, medical and therapeutic substance use.

1. There is a disconnect between drug education and drug use. There are a lot of people who use drugs, but not a lot of people who are educated on how to use them.
2. There is a huge advantage of isolating the property of the drug when using them for therapy. For example, using isolated psilocybin vs mushrooms.
3. Learning on site at festivals and music events may not be super successful, drug education and harm reduction may look more like preparation.

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• Tep listens to all sorts of music, whether that's rave style with lights, or jam bands, or a music festival with camping, or even rap and jazz
  • There is a whole spectrum of drug use in the music environment
• She points out that some people are very mindful of what and how much they are taking, and other people are just taking anything they can find, and sometimes a lot or too much
  • She started to talk to people at festivals and realized that people really didn't know about the benefits and power of psychedelics
  • There definitely is a place for harm reduction education at festivals

• Joe brings up the Zendo project and other initiatives that help people who are having a difficult drug experience to walk them out of it
• Some festival 'families' go around and have missions to hydrate people or make sure people are having a good time
  • They aren't staff or paid to do it or anything but they do it for the good of the whole

• Learning on site may not be super successful, most festival goers have an agenda for adventure and music and not for learning at a booth or speaker
  • Drug education and harm reduction may look more like preparation
• Tep mentions Diplo doesn't allow any drug use at his shows, alcohol is the only allowed substance
  • Tep thinks that he probably doesn't know that alcohol is far worse than psychedelics and other drugs

• When someone goes and has a vacation, they have certain chemicals released in their mind, it is still therapeutic, even if it's not a psychedelic experience
• "Not only can psychedelics be fun, they can also be therapeutic." - Tep
• Tep started going to camping style festivals and started hanging out with a crowd of people 10 years older than her, where their drug use was mature and mindful and safe
  • Then when she would hang around her younger friend group again, she realized how unsafe and unmindful their drug use was
  • It led her to be more active in wanting to educate everyone on how to use drugs properly

• Shulgin's magical half dozen includes 2CB, 2CT2, and others
• Tep mentions preference of truffles over mushrooms
• Her and Joe bring up the decrease in potency of most drugs with exposure to moisture and time and other variables

• There is a huge advantage of isolating the property of the drug when using them for therapy
  • For example, using isolated psilocybin vs mushrooms
• The therapy is just as important as the substance
• There is a way to find information in this community without getting a degree in it

Tep is a chemical engineer who had an interest in modern psychedelic research. She is passionate about the EDM and music culture and finding new ways to educate drug users on harm reduction and drug use education.

In this unique episode, Dr. Peter Sjöstedt-H joins together in conversation with Dr. Andrew Gallimore, Author of Alien Information Theory: Psychedelic Drug Technologies and the Cosmic Game. In the show, these two Englishmen discuss Peter's critique of Dr. Gallimore's recent book.

1. Dr. Andrew Gallimore's recent book, Alien Information Theory: Psychedelic Drug Technologies and the Cosmic Game, explains how DMT provides the secret to the very structure of our reality.
2. Based on a recently published review of Andrew's book, Dr. Peter Sjöstedt-H sifts through and confronts Andrew's idea that DMT allows one access to, and existence in a hyperspatial world.
3. They discuss Peter's critique, covering topics on information, consciousness, dimensions, dreams and theory.

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• Peter mentions 3 'problems'
  • The first problem is a critique on what information is
  • The second point regards consciousness
  • The third point talks about dimensions and theories

• The first problem Peter states says that the originality of the work pushes the ideas further toward art and further away from truth
  • Andrew says he is a fan of making things a work of art, and he says at the start of the book that it isn't something scientific
  • In philosophy it's called speculative metaphysics
  • "It's cliche isn't it, that science fiction eventually becomes science fact." - Peter
• Minkowski Space Time, the theory that Einstein supports, HG Wells wrote about a half a century before Minkowski wrote about it
• Peter says that a person could be defined by a set of numbers, weight, height, age, etc.
  • Andrew says that the information is the electron, and how it interacts with other information
• How do we know that there is not more to anything than that which we can know about it?
• How matter creates/is mind is a mystery

• Peter asks, 'does information at a high level produce subjectivity?'
  • Andrew says consciousness is fundamental
• Panpsychism holds a distinction between an aggregate and a hold-on
• Andrew says that integrated information is consciousness
  • Information doesn't emerge from consciousness, information actually is consciousness
• Andrew says that he is an idealist, he thinks that the world is structured
• Peter says that information always has to be about something
  • Andrew disagrees and says that information is substantiated
  • You could say, the fundamental digits of our reality are ran by an 'alien computer', the physics completely different than our understanding of reality
• Andrew says that the absolute self is not only aware of itself, its aware that it is aware of itself
• He also says that these ideas are all musings, all things he has thought about as possibilities
• Peter asks Andrew if he thinks brains are required for consciousness
  • Andrew says, consciousness is not a property of matter, it is an organization of things

• Andrew says we don't need senses to experience other worlds
  • The DMT experience is not mind dependent, it shows another reality
  • When you're dreaming, it's independent of the sensory experience, but its not entirely independent of the waking world
  • "The dream state is informed by the waking state." - Andrew
• Peter asks, 'If the brain creates dreams, why does the brain not create the DMT world?'
  • "We know how the brain learns to construct worlds, but we don't know how the brain learns to construct DMT worlds." - Andrew
• When looking at a machine elf, is he equally as able to deny his consciousness as we are able to?

• Peter concludes that Andrew is a Realist/Panthiest
• Peter and Andrew think that they don't disagree with each other, but Peter believes Andrew would have to go into extremely deep detail on all of his points in his book, and the book is thick enough as it is
• Peter agrees Andrew's book is a great narrative for mapping the DMT space
  • Andrew likes to think of it as computational idealism

Alien Information Theory: Psychedelic Drug Technologies and the Cosmic Game

Peter's Review

Dr. Andrew Gallimore is a computational neurobiologist, pharmacologist, chemist, and writer who has been interested in the neural basis of psychedelic drug action for many years and is the author of a number of articles and research papers on the powerful psychedelic drug, N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), as well as the book Alien Information Theory: Psychedelic Drug Technologies and the Cosmic Game (April 2019). He recently collaborated with DMT pioneer Dr. Rick Strassman, author of DMT: The Spirit Molecule, to develop a pharmacokinetic model of DMT as the basis of a target-controlled intravenous infusion protocol for extended journeys in DMT space. His current interests focus on DMT as a tool for gating access to extradimensional realities and how this can be understood in terms of the neuroscience of information. He currently lives and works in Japan.

Dr Peter Sjöstedt-H is an Anglo-Scandinavian philosopher of mind and a metaphysician who specializes in the thought of Whitehead and Nietzsche, and in fields pertaining to panpsychism and altered states of sentience. Following his degree in Continental Philosophy at the University of Warwick, he became a Philosophy lecturer in London for six years and has now passed his PhD (on 'Pansentient Monism', examined by Galen Strawson and Joel Krueger) at the University of Exeter, where he also teaches philosophy modules and writing skills. He is now to become a postdoc fellow of the university. Peter is the author of Noumenautics , the TEDx Talker on 'psychedelics and consciousness', and he is inspiration to the inhuman philosopher Marvel Superhero, Karnak.

In this episode, Joe and Kyle sit down to have a conversation about the 39th Annual Telluride Mushroom Festival, Healing the Mind, Healing the Planet. Joe attended the conference and heard from many amazing speakers.

1. Joe attended The 39th Annual Telluride Mushroom Festival last weekend, a festival and conference that celebrates all things fungal and brings together a cohort of enthusiasts, experts, and scientists.
2. There was a lot of talk on the topic of microdosing. Opinions ranged from the feeling that there isn't enough valid data to prove that microdosing is effective, to some testimony on how microdosing has helped relieve cluster headaches or help with traumatic brain injuries.
3. There was some exciting news on innovative ways that mushrooms can be used medically to help fight disease or agriculturally to fight insects without using pesticides.

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• The Telluride Mushroom Festival took place August 14th - 18th
• This festival is is a placeholder Psychedelic conference
  • In the mycology world, the psychedelic topic isn't typically included in events

• Brick Bunyard, who runs psychedelic magazine
• Tradd Cotter of Mushroom Mountain, an excitable mycologist
• Larry Evans of Blue Portal
• Teresa Egbert of Herbal Visionz, a Psychedelic enthusiast
• Peter Hendrix and Sara Lappan spoke on a study for using psychedelics to curb cocaine use
• David Nichols, chemist, was pretty optimistic about where the psychedelic movement is heading
  • He gave a super scientific talk around receptor sites and LSD

• Joe says that there is a long history of music and psychedelics
• Kyle mentions a podcast he listened to about someone bringing in their own music for a Ketamine therapy session

• There was someone at the conference that said psychedelic therapists should have psychedelic experiences and should be open about it
  • It was an interesting conversation at the conference
  • Joe says, "you don't need PTSD to treat someone with PTSD, it's not the most important factor. The most important factor is safety."

• Joe mentions a conference coming up in the fall in New Orleans that is a Scientist only conference
  • If a scientist has published serious, quantitative data they are invited
  • It'll be the first gathering of its kind where there is finally enough data

• David Nichols shared his opinion on microdosing, that there isn't real data on it and that importance should be put toward medical uses
• Folks in the audience were making claims about microdosing for migraines and traumatic brain injuries, etc
  • Are people taking sub-perceptual doses or a threshold dose?
• Joe says a macro dose is a dose you can see (maybe the size of an ant), micro dose is something you need a microscope to see
  • The majority of people microdosing aren't educating themselves on dose size

• Joe was surprised was how charismatic Tradd Cotter was
  • Tradd has plans to do mushroom retreats in Jamaica
• The most exciting news is a new method of pulling out the antibiotic resistant 'stuff' in a person, culturing it out and introducing it to sterilized/colonized grain bag and then reintroducing it to the person so they aren't antibiotic resistant anymore
  • This would be a mushroom bi-product that fights disease in humans in less than 24 hours
  • This same model could be used in cancer treatments or even agricultural applications, using mushrooms to fight disease or bugs that kill plants, etc
• There were mushroom foraging walks and mushroom identification tables at the festival
• Vendors included mushroom kombucha, mushroom jerky, festival clothing, etc
  • There was a guy from outside of Arizona who casts real psilocybin mushrooms and makes detailed metal jewelry out of them
• The town is small and surrounded by super tall mountains, and the festival is dispersed around the town
  • It's a small festival and a great way to make connections
• "This is where you quit your job and dedicate your life to mushrooms" - Tradd Cotter
  • Mushroom farming is one of the few businesses you can start with under $5,000

Website

Kyle's interest in exploring non-ordinary states of consciousness began when he was 16-years-old when he suffered a traumatic snowboarding accident. Waking up after having a near-death experience changed Kyle's life. Since then, Kyle has earned his B.A. in Transpersonal Psychology, where he studied the healing potential of non-ordinary states of consciousness by exploring shamanism, plant medicine, Holotropic Breathwork, and the roots/benefits of psychedelic psychotherapy. Kyle has co-taught two college-level courses. One of the courses Kyle created as a capstone project, "Stanislav Grof's Psychology of Extraordinary Experiences," and the other one which he co-created, "The History of Psychedelics."

Kyle completed his M.S. in clinical mental health counseling with an emphasis in somatic psychology. Kyle's clinical background in mental health consists of working with at-risk teenagers in crisis and with individuals experiencing an early-episode of psychosis. Kyle also facilitates Transpersonal Breathwork workshops.

Joe studied philosophy in New Hampshire, where he earned his B.A.. After stumbling upon the work of Stanislav Grof during his undergraduate years, Joe began participating in Holotropic Breathwork workshops in Vermont in 2003. Joe helped facilitate Holotropic and Transpersonal Breathwork workshops while he spent his time in New England. He is now working in the software industry as well as hosting a few podcasts. Joe now coordinates Dreamshadow Transpersonal Breathwork workshops, in Breckenridge, Colorado.

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In this episode, Kyle interviews Daniel Shankin, Founder of Tam Integration. They cover topics including the Psilocybin Summit, child rearing, and integration practice.

1. The Psilocybin Summit is an online conference on the myth, magic and science of psychedelic mushrooms.
2. Psychedelic Integration is really a form of reparenting ourselves. We need to learn to ask ourselves how we can connect deeply without becoming codependent.
3. Child rearing is an important topic. Nurturing a child with care and love is similar to the way we use psychedelics, meditation and yoga for healing.

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• Daniel came up in the psychedelic space in the 90's
  • Recreational use turned into therapeutic use
  • He explains that as enlightenment called to him, it also called him to do shadow work
  • He said the transformational work began in his 20's
• He said there was no community so he used Ram Dass books to help with integration
• Daniel says that psychedelics made him feel a deeper sense of life, more responsibility in his role on earth, feel more connected, etc.
  • His calling from these feelings led him to practice yoga, open a studio, provide trainings and more
  • "People gain so much by being heard" - Daniel

• Daniel mentions talking to his wife about conscious child raising
• The conversation is about how to heal, not just talking about how to raise ourselves so we need less healing
  • "How do I raise a baby with as little trauma as possible?" - Daniel
• Grof talks about the birth process in his books but kind of stops talking about trauma after the baby is out
• The baby is designed to be held by the mother, and to put that child in a box with other children in boxes without parents, in a cold and sterile environment is a horrible idea
• We project our own anti-social tendencies onto babies
  • A baby is meant to have constant connection and attention, and when we give a baby neglect, we wonder why they have addiction, depression, etc.
• Psychedelic Integration is really a form of reparenting ourselves
• "How much deep connection can you offer and can you stand? How can I connect deeply without becoming codependent?" - Daniel

• As a yoga teacher for 20 years, he has found that there is a type of reparenting, that it is helping people to learn to help themselves
• "Caring for people is a good thing to practice, one of our greatest problems is self-centeredness" - Daniel
• Money isn't the problem, "my money" is the problem
• Samskara is a subtle tendency of the mind (like an eroded river)
  • The tendency to prove that we exist, or to prove that we are right, is something that the ego promotes
  • It takes energy to tame the ego and recondition ourselves
  • "Am I trying to prove that I exist in order to feel loved?" If our needs are met and we feel safe and loved, we don't need to prove ourselves
• We tend to look for the quickest and easiest way possible for the least amount of suffering, we look for the quick fix, but there is a lot of work to be done typically
• It's important to introduce a meditation practice into a psychedelic practice
• Babies will cry into an endless void because they don't understand time, just like in breathwork or psychedelic sessions, where time is distorted

• Enthusiastic consent is where you can press someone into giving you consent
• Are they enthusiastic about engaging with you? If not, then don't
  • Learn how to gauge enthusiasm

• September 19-22, 2019
• The 920 Coalition is doing for psilocybin what 420 is doing for cannabis
• There has never been a conference that is just psilocybin, and never fully online and live
  • It allows people to attend a conference from home
  • There is no venue to pay for, no tickets for travel, making it more accessible
  • The goal is to get as much traditional information as possible
• Daniel says he's not advocating psychedelics, he is advocating meditation for those who use psychedelics
  • Daniel hopes that with this conference, that he didn't choose the speakers to just spit facts, hopefully this is heart and mind education that helps people feel like there is something possible in their lives that makes them feel greater, and that may or may not include psilocybin

• Some people do not need therapy, they need coaching and accountability
• We live in a world where our context does not always work to serve us
  • How do we change our context to better serve us?

Website

Tam Integration

The Psilocybin Summit

After a profound and intense awakening experience in 1998, Daniel dove deep into his yoga and meditation practice to stabilize his realization in his body and the world. He began teaching in 2002, and took over leadership of his neighborhood yoga studio in 2004. He's directed several teacher training programs and taught on the faculty of even more. Daniel 'Sitaram Das' Shankin has dedicated his life to the cultivation of clarity, resilience, and heart. With the recognition that our true nature is vast and generous, wise, he strives to serve his clients in finding their own innate goodness and boundless strength. He currently offers leadership coaching with a heavy emphasis on mindfulness and somatics, and is based in Marin County. You can visit his website and learn more about coaching opportunities at sitaramdas.com.

In this episode, Kyle sits down to chat with Greg Kieser, Founder of think-tank, Supersystemic.ly and author of Dear Machine, a book written as a letter to a future super-intelligent entity. Topics covered include blockchain, AI, money, Psychedelic Investments and how psychedelics can help humanity prepare for the emergence of super-intelligent entities.

1. Blockchain offers an enormous amount of opportunity, by taking data that would otherwise be protected by government or big corporations, and making it accessible to the general population for a more accessible information source.
2. Money is this interesting concept, that we are storing our time, our energy and our goods in a piece of paper. Psychedelics can help with this, be rewiring the way we think about money and the overall exchange for goods and services.
3. Psilocybin is a cure, its use does not need to be continued for it to work, so Compass Pathways is highly incentivized to continue to heal new people, which is what we want, healing at scale.

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• Greg worked at a foundation in NYC aimed at reducing the rate of poverty
• He started an angel investment firm/think tank, Supersystemic.ly
• He wrote the book, Dear Machine, a letter to a future, super-intelligent entity

• Our nutrition narrowed when we became farmers
  • "The truth is, we can't go back to where we came from, we have to go to a new place, so how do we do that?" - Greg
  • There is such difficulty with people living in clusters (cities) and transporting all of the food in from the country
  • It's important for the psyche to get back to nature and even taking on a hobby as simple as gardening can be so healing
  • Children's immune system has been shown to become stronger when living on farms and playing with animals and in the dirt
• Psychedelics are helpful in understanding how interconnected everything is

• Blockchains have the capacity to take data and pull it into a place where we have more control over it (can't be bought or sold)
• When we combine our knowledge of technology with psychedelics, we will really start to progress as a species

• The creator of Bitcoin created BlockChain, which is a type of database that lives out on the internet that no one can own
  • It offers an enormous amount of opportunity, by taking data that would otherwise be protected by government or big corporations, and making it accessible to the general population for a more accessible information source
• Greg mentions a block chain that will be a regeneration of land
  • Maybe all the members donate $50 to the block chain, and those members then can follow the progress of a pond or the growth of a tree, etc
  • Its a good example of a block chain being used for good

• Money is this interesting concept, that we are storing our time, our energy and our goods in a piece of paper
  • Psychedelics can help with this, be rewiring the way we think about money and the overall exchange for goods and services

• AI is going to get more and more powerful and corporations and governments are going to want to get their hands on AI for more power
  • In Dear Machine, Greg wrote about a super aware machine that helps us to make super intelligent decisions based on what food to eat (based on our microbes, our genetics, what is the most sustainable for the environment, etc)\
  • Greg fears that the government will try to take control of it and have its own agenda, but he thinks that with super awareness for decision making, that good will win
• Kyle mentions that the Western mind is so obsessed with Apocalypse
• AI and Superintelligence are going to accelerate whatever systems we already have in place
  • If it happened right now, it would look ugly
  • But, if we create a world that appreciates interconnectedness and the diversity and complexity of our minds and our bodies, then we will be in a much better place
  • Psychedelics have a huge role to play, it allows us to appreciate things, it helps get our ego out of the way, it helps us break addiction
• Monoculturization has led to a lot of bad things
• "Don't try to change the system, just make a new system" - Buckminster Fuller
• Human well being and environmental stability are two metrics that we need to work on

• Greg's interest in psychedelics began when we was invited to Psilocybin ceremonies
  • He said it just 'clicks'
  • "You really don't understand what psychedelics are until you take them" - Greg
  • He then began to invest in psychedelics, microbiomes, agriculture, etc

• The main problem with the health system is that we get into the idea of patenting molecules
  • Psilocybin is a molecule that can't be patented, so he's not worried
• Greg wants to see psilocybin use at a larger scale, so the medical model is a great way to get there
• As a part of Compass Pathway's program, in order to be a therapist and provide the therapy, you have to go through the therapy yourself
• Psilocybin is a cure, its use does not need to be continued for it to work, so Compass is highly incentivized to continue to heal new people, which is what we want, healing at scale

• Greg is most excited to see healing from opioid addiction
  • Alcohol and tobacco fall under that in his hopes for healing
• Greg is also really excited about the microbiome and the gut connection to the rest of the body
  • There was an Autism study that gave people with Autism a microbe transplant from healthy people and after 2 years there has been a remission of symptoms Microbiome Reddit

Supersystemic.ly Dear Machine: A Letter to a Super-Aware/Intelligent Machine (SAIM)

Greg Kieser is founder of Supersystemic.ly, a Brooklyn-based think-tank and angel investment firm dedicated to increasing humanity's readiness for the emergence of superintelligent entities through the study and spread of "supersystemic" perspectives and innovations. Kieser, whose university and independent studies of complex systems science form the operating thesis of the company, founded Supersystemic.ly after more than a decade overseeing a portfolio of technology initiatives at an NYC-based poverty-fighting foundation. His work at the foundation was driven by a complex set of metrics for measuring the impact of investments on the economic, physical and mental well-being of low-income New Yorkers. Dear Machine, and to a greater extent the company, unites his unique skills and knowledge in technology, social investing and complex systems science.

In this episode, Joe interviews Dr. David Nichols, American Pharmacologist and Chemist. Dr. Nichols has made many contributions to the psychedelic space and is recognized as one of the foremost experts for his outstanding efforts in medicinal chemistry of hallucinogens.

1. Dr. David Nichols is the founder of The Heffter Research Institute, which promotes research of the highest scientific quality with the classic hallucinogens and psychedelics in order to contribute to a greater understanding of the mind leading to the improvement of the human condition, and to alleviate suffering.
2. Dr. Nichols has a strong opposition toward the DMT/pineal gland theory. The assumption is that DMT is released during birth and death, but Dr. Nichols presents opposing arguments as to why it isn't true.
3. David doesn't believe in the research of microdosing psychedelics. He believes there are many other diseases and disorders that research money could be put toward discovering drugs for than the potential for heightened creativity with microdosing.

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• When he was a kid he was into pyrotechnics
• He synthesized a lot of MDMA for MAPS
• He is the founding President of Heffter Research Institute
• He was introduced to psychedelics before he went to graduate school
• David's work was never interrupted during the drug war because he wasn't doing any clinical work
• He proposed the study for MDMA testing on rats for a micro-dialysis of chemicals being released from the brain

• David attended a meeting at the Esalon Institute
  • He met Rick Doblin, a young kid at the time, who was enthusiastic about MDMA and Marijuana
  • Rick decided he wanted to develop MDMA as a drug, and asked David to make it with him
• Then David met Rick Strassman, who asked him to make DMT
  • So he made the DMT and then DMT Spirit Molecule came out as a result
• David made the first batch of psilocybin for John Hopkins
• "The only way to use these substances, is to use the medical model." - David

• David doesn't agree with microdosing, he thinks its all just a big hype
• He says that there is a huge placebo effect with microdosing
  • He says there isn't a lot of proven results and literature to make him believe in it
• He thinks that there are far too many other things to research and create drugs to cure (like eating disorders for example) vs. just heightening creativity with microdosing
• David edited Torsten Passie's book, The Science of Microdosing Psychedelics

• Rick Strassman's DMT hypothesis is that upon birth and death, the Pineal gland produces DMT, which produces an outer-body experience
  • David says that the pineal gland is too small, it's only 180mg
  • It produces 25 micrograms of melatonin in 24 hours, so there is no way for it to produce 25 milligrams of DMT, the amount needed for a DMT trip

• Heffter Research Institute was David's idea
• Arthur Heffter was a scientist with a PhD in Pharmacology and Chemistry
  • He was one of the most well respected Scientists in Germany
  • He got samples of Peyote, and knew there were alkaloids in it, and he separated all the alkaloids, and took each alkaloid himself to find out that mescaline was the active component in Peyote
  • He was the expert who invented hair tests to find out if people were suffering from lead poisoning

• The effects that they discovered from Psilocybin blew them away
• They knew LSD had powerful effects, but they weren't expecting to find the therapeutic benefits that they did with Psilocybin
  • Psilocybin has a great timeline too, LSD is really long lasting, and 5-MEO-DMT is super short and really powerful
  • Psilocybin is great for use in therapy because of the time it allows for integration

• Joe mentions the patent of GMP Psilocybin and asks if there are other ways to make psilocybin
  • David says that he believes there are other ways to make Psilocybin
• The cost of psilocybin is trivial in comparison to the cost of therapy, David doesn't think that the drug itself will have a monopoly

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Dr. Nichols originally conceived of a privately funded Institute as the most effective mechanism for bringing research on psychedelic agents into the modern era of neuroscience. This vision led to the founding of the Heffter Research Institute in 1993. He is currently an Adjunct Professor at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, NC, where he continues his research. The focus of his graduate training, beginning in 1969, and of much of his research subsequent to receiving his doctorate in 1973 has been the investigation of the relationship between molecular structure and the action of psychedelic agents and other substances that modify behavioral states. His research has been continuously funded by government agencies for more three decades. He consults for the pharmaceutical industry and has served on numerous committees and government research review groups. Widely published in the scientific literature and internationally recognized for his research on centrally active drugs, he has studied all of the major classes of psychedelic agents, including LSD and other lysergic acid derivatives, psilocybin and the tryptamines, and phenethylamines related to mescaline. Among scientists, he is recognized as one of the foremost experts on the medicinal chemistry of hallucinogens. His high standards and more than four decades of research experience set the tone to ensure that rigorous methods and quality science are pursued by the Institute.

Download In this episode, Kyle sits down with Dr. Torsten Passie, Professor of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy with the Hanover Medical School in Germany. In the show, they cover a range of topics on Dr. Passie's studies on microdosing.

Dr. Torsten Passie will be taking part in a special panel dedicated to microdosing at Breaking Convention 2019 (August 16-18, Greenwich, London), also featuring Amanda Fielding of the Beckley Foundation, Dr David Erritzoe of Imperial College, London, Dr Devin Turhune (Goldsmiths), and Dimitris Liokaftos, exploring myriad aspects of microdosing, including its effects, unknowns, and media representation presented by BC director Nikki Wyrd. Find out more about Breaking Convention: https://www.breakingconvention.co.uk/

1. Psychedelic research in the University setting died off after 2004, but is finally seeing an increase as the psychedelic revolution continues to grow.
2. There is very little to no documentation of doctors doing self-experimenting with psychedelic drugs. It's becoming popular for therapists to use the substances used on their patients, more common to do the self-work before doing the work on others.
3. Even if microdosing does not produce any significant effects and it is all placebo, the trend is a new way to introduce it into our society.

The Science of Microdosing Psychedelics

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• Dr. Passie has been researching psychedelics for 25 years
  • He specializes in the therapeutic use of psychedelic drugs
  • He has found difficulties in researching psychedelics during prohibition
• Dr. Passie had a mystical experience before using psychedelics and then became interested in psychedelic use
• He had grown up as an atheist, a materialist, and his experience required him to change his psychological state
  • His perception of reality was irritated and he had to see a therapist to integrate this experience
  • He said that this was frustrating because he was young and still in search for his identity
• Through all of this, he decided to study medicine and become a psychedelic doctor
  • He became very conscious that he was on the right track

• The researchers were the only ones doing studies on psychedelic states, there wasn't much happening at the Universities
  • He did studies with cannabis, ketamine and even laughing gas
  • The research then was on how cannabinoids can help with psychosis
  • They were not successful with that, but it came to be that CBD was a neuroleptic and an anti-psychotic
• Research pretty much stopped after 2004 due to new laws and the cost of the research
  • Dr. Passie does mention that in the past 10 years research has really taken off again and that we are really seeing the renaissance of psychedelic culture
• In most of the literature of doctors doing self-experimenting, there is very little to no documentation of doctors doing self-experimenting with psychedelic drugs
  • Kyle mentions that MAPS has included into their training protocol to allow for therapists to have self-experiments with the substances that they are using on patients
  • Kyle also mentions he can't imagine trying to hold space in breathwork without having had his own experiences with breathwork
  • Dr. Passie says that the history of self-experimentation with psychedelics has shown that the participants can become 'gurus' and lose their objectivity, he uses Timothy Leary as an example
  • But with only a few times of self-experimentation, maybe 2-4 times, he doesn't see risks

• Hallucinogen persisting perception disorder (HPPD) is a disorder in which a person has flashbacks of visual hallucinations or distortions experienced during a previous hallucinogenic drug experience
• Dr. Passie thinks there is a selection bias in what is published about HPPD
  • Its more common to have a study published that talks about an adverse effect of LSD than a benefit of it
• Hundreds of thousands of studies were conducted in the 50's, and no one claimed that this phenomenon came up
  • And now one person has conducted a study, claiming that this phenomena exists
• Dr. Passie says that this pattern happens among people who are prone to anxiety and who are dissociative
  • He says that most subjects that claim to experience HPPD, have experienced visuals even before ever taking LSD

• It has been known to not have any effects from 15-20 micrograms of LSD
  • 20-50 micrograms of LSD is considered mini-dosing, where you can feel some type of effects from it, but not as much as the full dose
• Dr. Passie says it is strange for people to claim to have increased cognition during microdosing based on conventional data that shows that LSD produces poor cognitive function
  • He thinks that whatever the effects are of LSD at a high dose, that the effects at a low dose are the same, just less, not completely different effects
• He believes that there is some placebo effect with microdosing
• In terms of the microdosing trend, Dr. Passie is critical about the productivity factor, he does believe in the creativity factor though
  • The flow state may also be increased with microdosing
  • He claims that in his own experience with microdosing, he doesn't experience the flow state, in fact he experiences a feeling of agitation

• In a study, when patients took a microdose first, and then a little while later, they took a different full psychedelic dose, the microdose impacted the experience of the full dose
  • It lessened the effects of the full dose psychedelic

• Dr. Passie mentions a study where patients were given LSD, both high and low doses, during sleep
  • What was found was that LSD impacts REM sleep patterns
  • The dreams were not altered
  • The REM phases got longer during the beginning of sleep, and then much shorter near the end of sleep
• It shows that the impact of sleeping patterns brings someone to feel much different the next day

• Microdosing has much to be explored yet
• But even if microdosing does not produce effects, the trend is a new way to introduce it into our society
• "Microdosing might be a new assimilation process of psychedelics into our culture" - Torsten
• Instead of the 60's where we are taking huge doses, we are taking tiny doses as a slow approach to assimilate psychedelics back into society

The Science of Microdosing Psychedelics

Torsten is a professor of psychiatry and psychotherapy affiliated with Hannover Medical School, and led the Laboratory for Consciousness and Neurocognition. He has conducted clinical research on psychoactive substances and has written several books including The Pharmacology of LSD (2010) and Healing with Entactogens (2012). Between 2012 and 2015 he was visiting professor at Harvard Medical School.

In this episode, hosts Kyle and Joe sit down with Psychologist, David Luke, Executive Director of Breaking Conventions, a conference on the better understanding of psychedelics. In the episode, they cover research on psychedelics and transpersonal ecopsychology.

1. Transpersonal experiences are super powerful and can be valuable if integrated properly.
2. Getting access to drugs at affordable prices for research is difficult for the progression of the psychedelic movement. There is a lot of red tape in studying psychedelics.
3. There is a growing field for mapping altered states of consciousness using science and research.

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• David is a Psychologist
• He works at the University of Greenwich
• He is a co-founder of the Breaking Convention Conference

• August 16-19, 2019 in London England
• There are over 180 speakers, a variety of workshops, and more
• David will be speaking about Shamanic perspectives and mapping altered states of consciousness
• The topic of David's speech for the conference is Ecodelia: Towards A Transpersonal Ecopsychology Through Psychedelics.

• Parapsychology is a study of phenomena that questions what we think we know about science
• David has conducted pre-cognition experiments with ayahuasca, san pedro, mescaline

• David says it's tricky doing this work because there is a serious amount of red tape around psychedelic studies
• Getting access to the drugs and to get a lab to make them specifically for research is outrageously expensive
• David says that Compass Pathways is making the research side of things easier
• He says that he wants the proper research to be done so that it can be available for all those who need it, and for that he supports Compass Pathways, but if they were to pull something like what happened with Esketamine and making an isomer of Ketamine extremely expensive, then he will not support it

• Psychedelics provide a feeling of connectedness with nature
• People prefer to take psychedelics outside, but overall prefer to have amazing, transformative experiences, which in turn makes them more tuned in to nature

• An experience that is genuinely transpersonal can be useful
  • Typically after a transformational experience, people question their sanity, they have cognitive dissonance, their world view just isn't suitable enough to contain a normal sense of reality anymore
  • Its common for a lot of experiences to need a lot of integration afterward
• David leads breathwork sessions
• He sees people who have taken loads of psychedelics come in with skepticism about Breathwork, and then leave having the most transformative experience they've ever have
• "There are no limits to the human mind, and there are many ways to get there, and psychedelics are just the more obvious route." - David
• We get further and further away from figuring out psychedelics as a whole the more hyper-specialized we become in our individual fields
• The psychedelic space is a really interesting territory
• The things that Terrence McKenna would talk about years ago, we are finally starting to explore with science

Otherworlds: Psychedelics and Exceptional Human Experience (Muswell Hill Press)

David is Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Greenwich where he teaches the Psychology of Exceptional Human Experience. He was President of the Parapsychological Association between 2009-2011 and has published more than 100 academic papers on the intersection of transpersonal experiences, anomalous phenomena and altered states of consciousness. He has co-authored/co-edited four books on psychedelics and paranormal experience, directs the Ecology, Cosmos and Consciousness salon at the institute of Ecotechnics, and co-founded Breaking Convention.

In this episode, Kyle interviews David Krantz, Certified Epigenetic Coach, and an expert in nutritional genomics. In the show, they talk about the effects of substances via the implications on an individual's genetics.

1. Epigenetic testing is a bio-hack for boosting cognitive function and harnessing our creativity and ultimate human potential.
2. There has been a lot of research done on genetics and the effects of THC. The body produces cannabinoids that activate the THC receptors internally, which varies from person to person.
3. Each person should be seen on an individual level, and the more we know about our unique genetics, the more we can understand about our interactions with different substances.

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• David works with clients on creating optimal epigenetic expression
• He uses people's genetics as a guide to look at recommendations for diet, herbs, supplements, etc.
• He began looking at cannabis for recommendations and found curiosity in psychedelics too
• Epigenetics studies the effects of the modification of genetics
  • It looks at chemical groups attached to the DNA itself and what happens to them over time

• The most robust area of research on genetics is THC
• David said he has seen some research on Psilocybin and just very recently that liver enzymes are responsible for LSD interactions
• It looks at the way people are metabolizing these substances
• When you ingest something or smoke it, it has a higher impact on the body, edibles are a great example
  • Kyle brings up the curiosity of edibles impact being either physiological or biological
• Genetics show the body's cannabinoid levels
  • The body produces cannabinoids that activate the THC receptors internally
  • There are two enzymes that break down cannabinoids in the body, Anandamide and 2AG
• There is a higher likelihood to use cannabis in a person with lower levels of endocannabinoids
  • This makes some people high-functioning stoners, and others non-functioning stoners
  • The substance is neutral, it's all about the body and how it reacts to it
• When the liver breaks down an edible, it makes THC more potent
• There is speculation that the slow metabolizers have a better chance of passing a drug test because they don't have a chance to convert 110HTHC to the COOHTHC

• Kyle mentions someone who was drinking grapefruit juice everyday for 3 weeks, and it potentiated the effects of Ketamine
• In order to psilocybin to be converted to psilocin, you need a chemical in your body called alkaline phosphatase
  • Vitamin C deficiency and Vitamin B-6 deficiency all both correlated with alkaline phosphatase deficiency
• David brings up his experience going keto, it worked really great for him, his energy levels increased, he lost weight, but his wife had a horrible time with keto
  • Then he looked to genetics and it made perfect sense to him as to why it worked for him and why it failed for her
• Metabolism, biochemistry, genetics, and so many other factors impact a person's reaction to substances

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  • David also mentions that with companies like 23 and me, they get their money from selling people's genetic information
  • He says Apeiron is focused on what you can actually do with the information, not just simply providing the results
• David says its super valuable for people to know these things about themselves, how to mitigate stress, how the metabolism works, knowing what to eat, knowing vitamin deficiencies, etc.

• David thinks were going to see that the epigenetics of psychedelics are going to show the ability to overcome trauma
• When we look at people at an individual level, we all have our own idiosyncrasies and variations
• "Because there is no such thing as an average human, let's stop treating people like average humans and start treating them like they are individual people. Let's stop leaving out the outliers." - David
• Taking an individualized approach to the psychedelic space is highly beneficial

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David Krantz is a certified Epigenetic Coach who specializes in boosting cognitive function and helping clients harness their creative and personal power. As a lifelong musician, David sees the various systems of the body as parts of a complex symphony. And, as a coach, he excels at fine-tuning those parts to create resonant harmonious health. David also serves as Director of Psychoacoustics at Apeiron Center in Asheville, NC where he develops sound-based tools for better mood, energy, and focus. Additionally, he's an expert in the pharmacogenetics of the endocannabinoid system and has developed a proprietary genetic test for looking at individual response to cannabinoids. A biohacker by training and artist by nature, David enjoys working with others who have a deep passion for enjoying life.

Download In this episode, Kyle joins in conversation with Dr. Sam Gandy. During the show, they cover topics including the implications psychedelics have for human well-being and the biosphere at large at a time of growing disconnection.

1. There have been a lot of recent threats to our planet and its survival if we continue on our current path of unsustainability. Feeling connected to nature increases the human desire to take care of and heal nature.
2. There has been an inverse correlation with our connectedness to nature and our connection with technology. Getting out in nature, as well as using psychedelics in nature, both help increase our connectedness to nature.
3. There has been a rise in cutting edge research that reveals the capacity of psychedelic substances to enhance human-nature connection, which Sam shares snippets of throughout the episode.

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• Sam has a PhD in Ecological Science from the University of Aberdeen and a Masters in Entomology from Imperial College London
• He has a lifelong interest in nature and wildlife and has conducted research in areas all over the world
• He is a Scientific Assistant to the Director at the Beckley Foundation
• He is a collaborator with the Psychedelic Research Group at the Imperial College of London
• Sam's interest in psychedelics began in London when it was legal to buy mushrooms
  • He was 'anti-drug' until he discovered psychedelics and began to explore consciousness and a love for nature
  • His background in Ecology (the science of interconnection) has combined with the Psychedelic field
  • Sam is interested in the capacity of psychedelics to increase human-nature connection and relatedness

• There is a huge threat that our planet won't survive past this century if we continue on our path of destruction
  • Remedying our nature disconnect is something really important if we want to survive
• This nature disconnection is inversely proportional from our technological connection
• We cant live without nature
  • We have to make room for all the other life going on, not just the life that directly serves humans, like crops and livestock
• There is an increasing awareness of the need for nature connection
• Sam mentions about humanity's screen addiction, it raises our cortisol levels and there are many consequences such as psychological and physiological effects
  • "Contentment is the enemy of invention"
• Psychedelics and the internet are growing alongside each other
• • Timothy Leary would say the internet is the psychedelics of the future in terms of connection
  • The internet is playing a pivotal role in access to information in this psychedelic renaissance
  • "Technology is not good or bad, it's about how its used, the intent behind it" - Sam

• Sam thinks that the first step that took us away from nature is when we started farming, we became less hunter-gatherer minded and stepped away from the wild environment
  • At that point we started living in large groups (creating cities)
  • Then there was the division of labor and urbanization
• Cities and technology are the main reasons for our disconnect with nature
• "Long term sustainability would be one of the chief governing principles of how things are ran" - Sam

• There is something radical about psychedelics, they can convert the skeptics into appreciating nature
  • The ego dissolution character of psychedelics are a key component in feeling connected to nature
  • The default mode network (where the ego resides) becomes relaxed and dissolved, and when that happens there is a breakdown of perceived boundaries between self and others/nature
  • That dissolution of boundaries is a key component in the psychedelic experience
  • "When you feel part of it, it changes fundamentally how you relate to it" - Sam
• One's knowledge of nature is a very weak predictor of one's concern for nature
  • There isn't research of the use of psychedelics in natural settings yet, Sam hopes that as we research psychedelics more (in clinical settings) the research can evolve into studying their use in nature
  • With psilocybin, most people have claimed to have a long-term fleeting change in their connectedness to nature, that the feeling of connection doesn't go away after the trip is over, it lasts for weeks, months, even the rest of their life

• Psilocybin decreases blood flow to the default mode network
• "When we are destroying our own homes (our bodies and nature) are we falling out of love with our self?" - Kyle
  • When we dissolve the ego, we increase connection, to ourselves, to others and to nature

• We are going to see the rise of Psychedelic Therapy
• We are going to see Psychedelic groups and communities on the rise
  • From those groups, we will see projects and initiatives develop, which could bring decriminalization, integration circles, etc.
• Sam believes the rise of depression and anxiety are a cause of our disconnection to nature, and he believes there is a lot of personal healing to be had if we get back into nature and actually play a role in healing nature too
  • Instead of trying to save the world just for our children and our children's children, we need to look at this planet as if we were to reincarnate and come back to this planet, so we should want to look after this physical plane to make it better for future installments of ourselves

• The direct, physical sensory experience with nature alone is well known to increase our connectedness with it
  • Sam suggest listeners to get out in nature and do anything! Boating, gardening, bee keeping, a walk in the woods, whatever
  • Sam really likes the art of Japanese Forest Bathing, which is about mindfulness and taking in nature, maybe combining it with breathwork exercises, etc.
  • The more mindful you feel, the more connected to nature you are, and vice versa

• Nature connection is just a single facet of the psychedelic experience, and Sam hopes for more research on this facet in the future
• We have a decent amount of research on psychedelics effect on people with depression, PTSD, etc, but Sam hints toward some future research on the effects of psychedelics on the healthy-normal population
• Make time for nature in whatever way works for you
• 2 hours of nature time a week are profoundly beneficial for health

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Dr. Sam Gandy works on the cutting edge of psychedelic research, as Scientific Assistant to the Director of the Beckley Foundation, and as a collaborator with the Psychedelic Research Group at Imperial College London. Sam has a lifelong love of nature and wildlife, and a PhD in ecological science from the University of Aberdeen. He has been fortunate enough to conduct field research in various parts of the world including the UK, Kefalonia, Almeria, Texas, the Peruvian Amazon, Vietnam and Ethiopia. Outside his work in the psychedelic field he has written papers, book chapters, articles and spoken at conferences and festivals on psychedelics and he is fascinated by their potential to benefit human lives.

Download In this episode, Joe and Kyle sit down and chat with Veronica Hernandez and Larry Norris of Decriminalize Nature Oakland. Decriminalize Nature is an educational campaign to inform Oakland residents about the value of entheogenic plants and fungi and propose a resolution to decriminalize our relationship to nature, which just recently had success in doing so.

1. Decriminalize Nature Oakland is a campaign that just recently found success in decriminalizing psilocybin mushrooms as well as other psychedelic compounds naturally derived from plants or fungi, such as ayahuasca, peyote and DMT.
2. The mission behind Decriminalize Nature is to improve human health and well-being by decriminalizing and expanding access to entheogenic plants and fungi through political and community organizing, education and advocacy.
3. These decriminalization initiatives are gaining traction across many cities in the US. It's about connecting to key people in the community and educating them, so they can use their reach to get information about these plants out there, to provide access to people everywhere.

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• Veronica is a clinical psychologist licensed in Peru
• She has been working in the US as a Social Worker Clinician
• She has been combining plant medicines and spirituality back into psychology
• She is currently finishing her PhD at CIIS

• He is in the same PhD program as Veronica
• Him and Veronica are the team that created ERIE
• In between they have taken the time to run Decriminalize Nature Oakland

• In this initiative, they had to convince 8 people of city council to agree to this, in comparison to the Denver Initiative, where they needed thousands of ballot signatures
  • This bill included naturally occurring psychedelic compounds, not just mushrooms
• Larry mentions they used the word entheogen instead of psychedelic, as a way to create new conversation around the plant medicines a reduce the stigma

• From where Veronica comes from, Ayahuasca and other plant medicines are national patrimony, state and church can't touch them
  • To be able to bring these to a place where it's considered schedule 1, Veronica is super inspired about being able to make this happen
• Right now these plants are in a tug of war between money interest of the tax side and the government, and the other side of corporate interest
  • The goal now is to educate people on what these plants do, safe practices and develop places and services to hold the space and make these plants available to people
  • It's about connecting to key people in the community and educating them, so they can use their reach to get information about these plants out there
• Starting city by city is typically easier to initiate, to then have a better hold on direct action and education afterward to be able to duplicate on the state level
  • They have had 50 different cities from 30 different states reach out to make this happen in their communities
• Veronica says that her first time trying San Pedro, she had felt an immediate connection to the plants
  • It became her goal to combine conventional medicine with plant medicines and make it available to everyone
  • "To be in touch with something bigger than yourself is one of the most important things" - Veronica

• Although there was no verbiage in the bill, they are being mindful about sustainability of the plants when making them more available with decriminalization
  • Synthesis is a better idea for ibogaine, 5-MEO-DMT and other compounds that are naturally derived but also pose a risk to their sustainability with decriminalization
  • The landscape just doesn't allow for synthesis right now, so we start at decriminalization and then hopefully open doors to the route of synthesis to aid in the sustainability of these substances and resources
• Larry's advice is that instead of spending your money and taking a trip to Denver or Oakland, to stay home and organize this is your own community because it can actually happen
• • It starts now and it starts with education Joe says the most major push-back received in Denver for the decriminalization was the threat of people driving on mushrooms

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Veronica Hernandez, is a clinical psychologist and shamanic practitioner from Peru. Since 2006 she has been trained on shamanic facilitation. She received her clinical training at the Institute of Rational-Emotive Therapy, New York, under the supervision of Dr. Albert Ellis. She was assistant professor at the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia and research assistant at the Hospital Psiquiátrico Noguchi de Lima (Peru). In the United States, she worked as a Social Services Clinician at John Muir Health Hospital's Inpatient Psychiatric Adolescent Unit, California. Currently she is completing her doctoral degree at California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), San Francisco, where she is carrying out research on the healing and transformative benefits of entheogens, especially Ayahuasca.

Larry Norris, MA, PhD Candidate is the co-founder and executive director of ERIE (Entheogenic Research, Integration, and Education) 501(c)(3), a group dedicated to the development of entheogenic research and integration models. Larry is also a co-founder and on the Board of Decriminalize Nature Oakland and helped to co-author the resolution which received an unanimous decision from Oakland City Council. Beginning his studies in cognitive science as an undergrad at the University of Michigan, he is now a PhD candidate in the East-West Psychology department at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) in San Francisco. His dissertation reviews archived ayahuasca experiences to identify transformational archetypes that induce insights hidden within the experiences. As adjunct faculty at CIIS, Larry taught a graduate course called Entheogenic Education: Contemporary Perspectives on Ancient Plant Wisdom in order to discuss the concept of entheogens as educational teachers and cognitive tools. He was also an adjunct faculty at John F. Kennedy University teaching a class titled Paradigms of Consciousness. A dedicated activist and proponent of cognitive liberty, Larry's efforts are a contribution to not only change the Western legal status of these powerful plants, fungus, and compounds, but also to emphasize the potential sacred nature of entheogens given the right set and setting.

Download In this episode, Kyle talks with Tom Lane, author of Sacred Mushroom Rituals: The Search for the Blood of Quetzalcoatl. In the episode, they discuss the history of Quetzalcoatl, the ceremony of the deified heart and sacred mushroom rituals.

1. Quetzalcoatl is a feathered-serpent deity of ancient Mesoamerican culture that can come to you when partaking in the ceremony of the deified heart. Quetzalcoatl teaches how to overcome fear and hatred and bring love.
2. The ceremony of the deified heart is a sacred mushroom ritual that when methods are combined correctly, can bring about Quetzalcoatl.
3. In the episode, Tom tells intriguing stories of his experiences with mushroom rituals and experiencing Quetzalcoatl, including a ceremony with Maria Sabina.

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• He was not an Aztec, he originated as a King in the Toltec civilization thousands of years before the Aztecs
• As legend has it, where his blood fell is where the sacred mushrooms grew
• Some people believe he was a Naga, a combination flow of energy, a male/female serpent
  • A winged, jeweled, male/female, serpent
• In the ceremony of the deified heart, the serpent will come to you

• He was building geodesic domes in a remote area in Mexico
• He had some of his first mushroom experiences, and it led him to realize that the story of mushrooms was about Quetzalcoatl
• His first experience with the mushroom was mild
• He said the mushrooms found him, he takes them as a sacrament

• The legend was that Quetzalcoatl gave cacao to participants as an aphrodisiac and it would help release serotonin
• The goal is not to talk a lot
• Then, the mushrooms are to be retrieved from the ground, fresh
• Before the ceremony, Tom says he likes to put four candles placed in all four directions
• The key to eating the mushrooms is eating them totally covered with honey
  • You eat them two at a time, as it represents the male and female
  • And when you eat the mushrooms, you actually never swallow
  • You chew and chew and the mucous membranes of your tongue take the psilocin straight to the brain and spine
• He says once it starts to take effect, it feels like there is a snake up your spine (He mentions his friends call this Kundalini)
• Then you go out and Quetzalcoatl will come
  • When he comes, he is like a rainbow jeweled serpent, an embodiment of pure light, pure energy, pure love
• Tom says the next day it feels like you're 10 years younger
• Its a pure force of love, an obliteration of the concept of time
• Quetzalcoatl created this ceremony to bring about the serpent for healing, for a balance of male and female
• This ceremony is best done during the night, with thunderstorms in the mountains

• One night they went to see Maria Sabina
• She agreed to do a ceremony at night
• Her house was in the mountains and had a thatched roof with no windows or doors and sometimes clouds would come through her house
• During a ceremony a lightning bolt came though the house, in one window and out the other
• Maria's daughter gave him truffle like mushrooms and he brought them back with him
• Maria's daughter really tried to learn his name, she repeated it a multitude of times until she said it exactly perfectly so she could say it during the ceremony

• God gave us love and pain
• We have to learn how to celebrate the pain
• God gave us knowledge, and tools of how to heal the pain
• Tom's goal is to teach people how to take the sacred mushrooms to meet Quetzalcoatl and find healing, love and peace
• "Once you get rid of the ego, you get rid of fear, and then you have love." - Tom
  • The only way you can overcome hatred and fear is with love
• The body is teaching the mind when consuming the sacred mushroom
• It's best to just try to love people and be kind, and it's all acts of kindness and love that makes a person feel good

Sacred Mushroom Rituals: The Search for the Blood of Quetzalcoatl

Tom, Author, has a Bachelors in Forestry from the University of Tennessee and a Masters from the University of Florida in Science Education and Middle School Education. He has worked full time in the Solar Energy field as a Contractor and Trainer and has a background in Mushrooms. Tom spent some time in 1973 living in the jungles of Palenque in Mexico and learn about mushrooms and mushroom ceremony. Tom is the Author of the book, Sacred Mushroom Rituals, The Search for the Blood of Quetzalcoatl.

Download In this episode, Kyle interviews Dr. Alexander Belser, a Clinical Researcher who has done a variety of works in the psychotherapy and psychedelic fields, helping patients heal from depression, OCD, suicide, and other illnesses, all while focusing on gender neutrality and equality. In this episode, they cover topics on privilege, inclusivity and recommendations for the psychedelic space.

1. Privilege is commonly seen in therapist roles and as well in an individual's access to treatment. It's important for the psychedelic community to be vocal about privilege and be inclusive of all types of people, all repressed groups.
2. Psychedelics have the power to help people come to terms with their own sexuality, as well as become accepting of other individuals sexual identification.
3. In order to see more equality in the psychedelic space, we need to confront structural heterosexism and transfobia, retire the male/female therapy diad, and develop acknowledgement in the psychedelic world of the stresses that LGBTQ people face.

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• Alexander started attending psychedelic conferences in college
• He works at Yale currently, treating individuals with major depressive disorders with psilocybin assisted psychotherapy
• He lives in New York and works on a team for the MAPS, MDMA trial for the treatment of PTSD

• Queering Psychedelics is a Conference put on with the help of Chacruna
• Its an opportunity for Queer folk to come together and talk about psychedelic medicine
• Alexander's presentation was on Queer Critique for the Psychedelic Mystical Experience

• People with more privilege have more power, more access to funding, more access to expanding the research agenda
  • Many of the people in psychedelic research are privileged, white, cisgender individuals (and Alexander believes they are using the privilege for good)
  • But it's important for the psychedelic community to be vocal about privilege and be inclusive of all types of people, all repressed groups
• Alexander thinks that we need to eliminate the male/female diad
  • The typical structure for psychedelic therapy is to have a male cisgender therapist and a female cisgender therapist
  • But Alexander thinks this is gender essentializing
  • Its totalizing of gender, assuming that the masculinity is held by the male therapist, and femininity is held by the female therapist
  • Alexander thinks that the therapists should be more gender neutral
• Its essential to assess the individual needs of the client for specific gender pairing

• Alexander's Reccomendations
  • Confront Structural Heterosexism and Transfobia
  • Retire the Male/Female Therapy Diad
  • Acknowledgement in the Psychedelic world of the stress that LGBTQ people face
• We need to be able to run moderation analyses to see if a type of psychedelic treatment works the same for sexual minority populations as it does for straight folks
  • Are there unique clinical considerations for sexual minorities?
• The psychedelic Renaissance is maturing and reaching a point where our approaches can be more inclusive
  • He thinks it's important for straight folks to think about this too
  • "We all suffer, including straight folks, in a world where the idea of gender and sexuality is firmly printed as either being A or B. It's a disservice to our identities." - Alexander
• It is common to feel "oneness" after a psychedelic experience, and it's common for gender roles to change throughout the process
  • And on the flip side, maybe our perception of other people's gender (homophobia) transforms from a psychedelic experience, and we can become more accepting of other forms of gender

• When people score higher on the mystical experience questionnaire (profound unity, transcendence of time and space) its predictive of their improvements on depression and anxiety
• It's important to be mindful of what value we put on marginalized people's psychedelic experiences
• The most common issue Alexander sees is people feeling 'stuck' in these bodies Psychedelic medicine encourages (at least in appeal) embodiment

• First, we need to come to terms with our own internalized homophobia, transphobia and racism
• Together, we learn from each other, how to dismantle types of patriarchal, homophibic and transphobic structures
• MDMA expanded access may probably end up being very expensive, we need to think about privilege and access to mental healthcare broadly
• It's not just about diversity, Alexander encourages people to create allies
  • He has hope that we can proceed with integrity in these topics

Alexander's website Center for Breakthroughs

Alexander Belser, Ph.D., is a Clinical Research Fellow and clinical supervisor at Yale University. He is the Co-Investigator of two studies at Yale exploring psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy to treat OCD and depression. His research with sexual minority people has focused on preventing suicide among adolescents and on the protective role of gay-straight alliances for students. Dr. Belser was a founding member of the Psychedelic Research Group at NYU in 2006, and he is currently an Adjunct Faculty member in NYU's graduate program in Counseling Psychology. He has been a researcher on various psychedelic studies of depression, anxiety, OCD, addiction, trauma, and among religious leaders. He is a study therapist for the MAPS study of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD. Dr. Belser serves as a peer reviewer and has published peer-reviewed articles on topics such as psychedelic mysticism, altruism, patient experiences in psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy, cancer and psychedelic therapy, case studies, psilocybin treatment and posttraumatic growth (forthcoming).

In this episode, Kyle interviews Dr. Ido Cohen, co-founder of The Integration Circle. In the show they talk about themes that arise from transformative experiences and the different ways to integrate them through attitude change, environment and community.

1. A common theme after a transformative experience is the calling for an attitude change. The experience is only the first step, the integration is where the real work begins.
2. Environment is a critical part in integration. You can't always change your environment, but you can change your relationship to it by forming new coping mechanisms than the ones used before a transformative experience.
3. Joining consciousness events, finding a therapist and looking for integration circles are all great way to not feel so ashamed or alone after a transformative experience.

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• Ido is a Clinical Psychologist based in San Francisco
  • He works with individuals and couples in integration groups
• Ido graduated from the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS)
  • He did his post-doctoral internship at C.G. Jung Institute in San Francisco
• He went to India and it opened up the psycho-spiritual realm for him
  • He realized there is a lot more to this reality than what we see
• He had a powerful Ayahuasca experience, and it led him to choose his dissertation project
• • He wanted to know how to take his experience and integrate it into his daily life

• Ido began talking to people who had big transformative Ayahuasca experiences (pre, during and after)
  • He interviewed people at a year out of an Ayahuasca experience, so they had time to reflect
  • "For most people, something is calling them. Either curiosity or suffering." - Ido
  • The message comes through a relationship that we are having with something
  • People felt that they had to go through something personal before they were able to go into archetypal realms
• A theme afterward was difficulty of re-entry (integration)
• Another common theme was people realizing that they need to change their attitude in order to heal
  • It starts with small steps, maybe instead of watching TV for 2 hours you go for a hike for 2 hours, you open up to make room for change

• Jung's idea of ego-self access; there is the ego that takes things and organizes them and processes things into our reality, and then the self that is the unconscious, the imaginary and dream state
  • The idea is to look at the relationship between the two
  • Are they fighting or are they in harmony?
• The role of community is so important
  • "We need to learn to integrate not just the negatives, but also the positives." - Ido
  • Having pleasurable experiences can feel unsafe to a person who has been through a lifetime of negatives

• Personal and Environmental
• Most people have these experiences, and come back to the same urban environment, the same work mindset, the same cultural ideals about "achieving", the instant coffee mentality
  • "We want things fast because we don't want to suffer, we don't want to wait, we don't want to invest, we don't want to change." - Ido
  • "When people come back with this new experience but to an old environment, then the question is, 'How can I not let the pressure of this old environment get in the way of my experience?'" - Ido
• It really is all about changing your attitude
  • Maybe go journaling, go into nature, go dancing, etc.
  • "How do I honor my process and not succumb to the pressures of using the same coping mechanisms as I had before?" - Ido
  • Integration is a complex process

• You can't always change your environment, but you can change your relationship to your environment
  • You can start looking for integration circles
  • You can start looking for therapy
  • You can go to consciousness events, meditation/yoga groups
  • It really depends on the person but it's all about finding resources that help you feel more connected, less ashamed, and less alone
• One of Ido's clients said to him "I realize I have to break my own heart if I really want to change"

• Ido suggests a great book on understanding spiritual bypass
• Spiritual Bypassing: When Spirituality Disconnects Us from What Really Matters
  • When you start to be really critical about an experience, that's where you need to be more curious
  • Shift from criticism to curiosity
• Jung says that this is 'the lifelong process where we are slowly descending into our authenticity'

• Seek community
• Don't do it alone, even if you think you can, you don't have to
• If you're shy, come anyway, were all just doing our best
• Encourage people to seek out knowledgeable communities
• Take yourself seriously, honor these sacred experiences and honor yourself

Integration Circle Website

Instagram

Facebook

Ido offers depth oriented psychotherapy to the bay area out of San Francisco. Ido conducted his doctoral dissertation study for 6 years, researching the integration process of Ayahuasca ceremonies in western individuals, using a Jungian psychology lens. Ido is committed and passionate about supporting individuals engaging in psychedelic, entheogenic and other consciousness expanding practices, as they integrate their experiences to create long lasting and sustainable change. In addition to his psychotherapy practice, he offers individual and group preparation and integration services.

Download In this episode, Joe interviews Raquel Bennett, Psy.D. at Kriya Institute. In the show, they cover topics surrounding the properties and paradigms of therapeutic Ketamine use.

1. The Kriya Institute is devoted to understanding the therapeutic properties of Ketamine. Raquel Bennett specializes in using Ketamine therapy for patients with severe treatment resistant disorders.
2. There are three questions that should be used when determining if someone is fit for Ketamine therapy. Is it safe? Is it legal? Is it ethical?
3. There are many different paradigms for Ketamine Therapy, but determining the best method for each individual patient is the goal.

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• The Kriya Institute deals with how to work with Ketamine specifically in Psychiatry and Psychotherapy
• Kriya provides clinical services to patients, training for other clinicians, and Kriya conference
  • The conference is a big collaborative meeting
• Raquel is trying to create a patient assistance fund to make services more available to people

Ketamine isn't addictive physically It is possible to become psychologically addicted to Ketamine Raquel thinks its a property of the person not of the object It's possible to become addicted to anything, shopping, sex, etc.

• She first encountered Ketamine in 2002 when she was suffering from severe depression
  • She was seeing a therapist that took her to a psychedelic shaman where she took Ketamine
  • From the way she felt after taking Ketamine, she wanted to know if it was replicable for other people
• She is interested in people with treatment resistant mood disorders, such as severe depression, unusual bipolar disorder and people living with active suicidal ideation
• She remembers her teachers (who gave her Ketamine) saying they don't use it often, and don't know if it will work
  • They were not seeking an antidepressant effect, they were helping her to connect to the cosmos and the universe, to find out why she was having such severe depression
  • The fact that it acted as a rapid-acting antidepressant was a surprise to them, and that's what triggered her curiosity with it
  • "Most of what I know of being a Ketamine provider, I learned from being a patient" - Raquel

• Johnson and Johnson just came out with a filtered Ketamine product that they patented
  • $850 for 84mg of filtered Ketamine
  • $1.59 for 100mg of generic Ketamine
• They are only providing it as a nasal spray
• Companies tried to make a new molecule, but they couldn't
  • Instead, they modified it, and filtered it, and then patented it (Esketamine)

• There is a lot of disagreement on the route, the dose, the setting importance, etc
• This was the reason she created the Kriya conference, to share ideas, to find the best possible methods
• One way is to give it as a low dose infusion out of the anesthesiology model (0.5mg of Ketamine per kg of bodyweight in an infusion center)
  • They aim to get enough ketamine in the patient's body without the psychedelic effects
  • They take the normal dose, divide it by 6, and space it out to avoid the psychedelic nature
  • The patient is being forced into a passive role, they aren't being called to heal themselves, they are just showing up for the medicine
  • Raquel says that's not all that there is to it, the medicine is only half of it
• Another paradigm for using Ketamine is facilitated Ketamine Psychotherapy
  • In this way, the Ketamine is used as a lubricant for talk therapy
  • We are using Ketamine to help people to talk about material that is too painful or too shameful to get to otherwise" - Raquel
  • In this paradigm, the emphasis is on the therapy, not the Ketamine, the Ketamine is a lubricant and a tool
  • In this way, the patient and the therapist are both participating 50%, the patient is not passive
  • She says the psychedelic effects are to be avoided, or else the patient becomes too far out
• The third paradigm would be to induce mystical experience on purpose
  • As a provider, it is believed that the visions are meaningful
  • Only about 1 in 6 patients are actually a good candidate for psychedelic dosing
  • The patient is willing to offer their body up as a vessel, and the messages they receive are from God
  • The provider's role is to make sure the journey is safe, and then help the patients to help construct meaning from what they saw, create actionable steps on how to change their lives
• Raquel says that all of these paradigms are helpful, different methods work for different patients
  • That's her job as a Ketamine Specialist, to determine which method is best for patients
  • "This is where the direction of the field needs to go, being aware of the spectrum of the services available, and then matching the treatment to the patient. Individualized treatment." - Raquel

• Is it safe? Is it legal? Is it ethical?
• Is it appropriate to give Ketamine Treatment to someone without a profound impairment or disorder?
• The literature supports the use of Ketamine for the following psychiatric or psychological disorders; major severe refractory depression, bipolar depression, physical pain with depression, recurrent suicidality and obsessive compulsive disorder
• Do the potential benefits verify the potential risks?
• Raquel doesn't believe that making this experience available to everyone is the right way, her goal is to demonstrate that Ketamine is safe and useful for refractory problems

• They can work with 6 clients at a time
• It includes carefully selected individuals that all fit into the group
• This provides a much lower cost for patients

• There are 3 Types of Ketamine
• The molecules themselves are not flat, they are 3 dimensional and fold in space
• Some molecules are 'right handed' and others are 'left handed'
• Right handed molecules are Arketamine and left handed are Esketamine
• Generic Ketamine is an even amount of Arketamine and Esketamine molecules
• What Johnson and Johnson did with Esketamine was patenting the filtration process of removing Arketamine from the Esketamine molecules

• Kriya Conference in November
• A list of providers working with therapeutic Ketamine
• A resource list of books and journey music
• A Contact option

Website

Dr. Bennett is a Post-Doctoral Fellow in Clinical Psychology (PSB 94022544), working under the supervision of Dr. Bravo. Dr. Bennett primarily works with people who are experiencing severe depression, who are on the bipolar spectrum, or who are contemplating suicide. She has been studying the therapeutic properties of ketamine since she first encountered it in 2002. In addition to her clinical work, Dr. Bennett's practice has evolved to include consultation services for medical professionals who wish to add ketamine services to their offices. She also lectures frequently about therapeutic ketamine. Dr. Bennett is the Founder of KRIYA Institute and the Organizer of the KRIYA Conferences.

In this episode, Joe and Kyle interview Ben Eddy, a Black Belt from Eddy Bravo's 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu system. In this episode, they cover a range of topics on Jiu Jitsu, Psychedelics and flow state.

1. Before Jiu Jitsu, Ben says he was very analytical, thinking of the most efficient, fastest way to complete anything. Jiu Jitsu is an 'in the moment' type of game, and it allowed him to tap into a flow state.
2. Psychedelics have the ability to imprint you and change your thought patterns, and when combined with a sport like Jiu Jitsu, you're able to achieve a type of embodiment you wouldn't have before.
3. We do not need to rush into psychedelics at a young age. It is important to experience life for what it is first, and to feel that fully to have a comparison to after diving into the psychedelic realm.

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• Ben got into Brazilian Jiu Jitsu when looking for a way to get in shape
  • He was in San Francisco in the tech scene
  • He was into wrestling in his past and competition and he found that Jiu Jitsu was similar
• His main instructor, Eddie Bravo, was training for a match
  • He wanted to be around the energy of this event
  • He moved down to southern California and that is where his psychedelic use began
  • Ben knew that when he was going to do psychedelics, there was going to be a before and after, that there were going to be doors that were going to be opened
  • He says he took the time to really understand the sober life before psychedelics, in order to know the difference
  • Ben describes it as a cool opportunity to wait to use psychedelics, he had the choice to wait and experience life and figure out what life is before psychedelics
  • Joe says for the younger listeners "meditate on that", figure out life first before diving into psychedelics

• Before Jiu Jitsu, Ben says he was very analytical, thinking of the most efficient, fastest way to complete anything
  • Jiu Jitsu is an 'in the moment' game, where there is more of a 'flow state'
• He was running into people that could just 'find answers in the moment', there was no plan or no strategy, it was a natural flow

• Training with an active dose was hard to get to at the start
• Ben trains now with active doses
• It has the ability to imprint you and change your thought patterns
• Ben's active dose is 2 grams of mushrooms during a practice
  • Ben does mention that all people are different and his active dose is different than anyone else's
• Jiu Jitsu makes you bring everything that you have up to the forefront in that moment
  • Feeling is a way of knowing, especially in these flow states
• He says that weed is commonly used in Jiu Jitsu, but he hasn't seen a whole lot of Psychedelic use yet
  • Ben says that weed helps you drop into the one instrument that you're trying to play, get into that flow state
• Jiu Jitsu is a sport of form, technique, and dance, it's not about strength

• Jiu Jitsu came from Japan and their Judo
  • Then it came to Brazil and mixed with the beach vibes and turned into Jiu Jitsu
  • Then it came to the west and our beaches and developed into what it is today
• Kyle mentions the idea of using Paul Stamets 'microdosing', psilocybin, lions mane and niacin
  • In that state we are creating new neurogenesis and neural pathways and being in that state may make us learn differently
  • Kyle says its an interesting application for performance and new ways of learning
  • Ben says the goal is to get to a certain level of embodiment, at every point you're trying to be present in the here and now

• After Jiu Jitsu, music took on a whole new color, feel and wave for Ben than it did before
  • He thought music was a distraction
  • Once he started to play with flow more, he began to open up to music to live in it
• Jiu Jitsu and the flow state really start with the breath
  • Its like breathing in and accepting life, and the exhale is where it all lets go

10th Planet Jiu Jitsu

Ben Eddy is a Blackbelt at 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu system. Starting off in the tech scene in San Fransisco, Ben relocated to southern California, where he began his journey into Jiu Jitsu, psychedelics and tapping into the flow state. He currently travels and competes.

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In this episode, hosts Joe and Kyle interview Hamilton Souther, Shaman of Blue Morpho. In this episode, they cover Hamilton's incredible journey from Western life into becoming a Shaman and the spirit teachings that he experienced along the way.

1. Hamilton Souther, a Shaman of Blue Morpho, shares his experience from living a normal Western life to his journey of his calling, learning and training to become a Shaman. He shares amazing examples of connectedness and spirit while living amongst the natives.
2. A common concept that comes out of an Ayahuasca ceremony is that the plants care for you. The teachings that come from the plants are peace oriented and resolution oriented and opening of creativity and problem solving.
3. Shamanic training is a long and extremely difficult journey. Training comes to the people that feel the deepest calling, because you have to commit your whole life to it.

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• He grew up in Silicon Valley
• He went to CU Boulder for Anthropology
  • He was interested in humanity
  • He wanted to travel and had opportunities to
• He had some near death experiences and accidents when he was younger
• The year after he graduated from college he would go into spontaneous awakenings and altered states of consciousness while totally sober
  • He would have really intense visionary experiences in those states
  • Those experiences were so powerful which led him into training and into his Ayahuasca experiences
• He felt without purpose and gave himself up to something greater
• He turned to shamanism to try to explain the nature of those experiences

• Kyle mentions that this can happen, that substances are not always required for an 'awakening'
• Hamilton says he wanted to connect to something other than himself
  • The path took him to Peru, and there was a possibility of meeting people with Ayahuasca
  • He was being called to it and knew they were real and it led to his 'apprenticeship' as a Shaman
  • It wasn't by accident that he was there, he had visions that he was supposed to stay there and to learn

• Coming from a scientific background, he demanded (from the spirit guide) that the process be practical and grounded in reason and logic
  • He used doubt in a way that he was able to use a lot of proof and truth toward his belief system rather than just being naive and believing these messages too early
• He couldn't envision how to evolve from the vomiting, defecating human on the ground to the composed shaman in the room
• Even though he spoke the language, he couldn't understand what the people were saying when they shared their stories
  • It seemed like a different world to him
• The first few years were learning how to survive in the jungle and learn how to live off of the food
  • He says it was like reliving his childhood, he had no idea how to walk through the forest like he knew how to walk down a street growing up
  • The first house he lived in out of college was one he built himself with locals
• These experiences were so far from what he grew up in
• Toward the end of his apprenticeship, ceremony started to look less impossible and more of something he would dedicate his life to

• In the indigenous communities, everybody sees spirits, especially at night
• And not just in the Ayahuasca culture, its everybody. They thought the jungle was literally alive with spirits
• They would say things like "call me if you need me" and they meant it telepathically
• Hamilton says "sure enough, they do answer when you call".
  • He was in Southern Peru at a pizzeria, and they were in ceremony, and they started to call to him
  • He had to excuse himself from the table and go outside and sit with himself and went into an Ayahuasca vision and the two men in ceremony said to him in the vision "we just wanted to call to say hi"
  • So Hamilton, using his doubt, wrote down the place and the time of when this happened, and when he returned from his travels and got back to the community, the two men gave him the coordinates and time where Hamilton was when they called him. It matched perfectly
  • He realized then and there that they had a very different understanding of the forest and of space time and they were tapped into another kind of knowledge and wisdom
  • That's what he was looking for when he came down to the Amazon in the first place
  • "The mysteries of consciousness are really unexplored and are not studied by science at all" - Hamilton
  • For Westerners, reality and how it is experienced is just a tiny slice of total consciousness
• "When you're in the amazon, and you're living in the forest and you're participating in these visionary experiences, you see the interconnectedness of life." - Hamilton
• "Globally we've all agreed that education, literacy and participating in the economy is worth it. I think it's worth it to really address on a massive scale what were facing collectively. It's a part of our natural evolution." - Hamilton
• The plants have a very specific role to play, and that they care
  • That's a common concept that comes out of an Ayahuasca ceremony, that the plants care for you
  • The teachings that come from the plants are peace oriented and resolution oriented and opening of creativity and problem solving
  • Especially with the environmental crisis, people who turn to Ayahuasca start to care for the environment
• Psychedelic plants have a huge role to play in global life, individual growth and collective change

• Its a center that Hamilton and the shamans that he works with created
• They did a ceremony to talk with the plants to make sure that this was okay to use as an offering to everyone
• It started in 2003 and evolved over the years to practice traditional ceremony and now San Pedro
• People come from all over the world to visit them
• The majority of the people are really coming for the right reasons, with clear intentions for transformation, growth, exploration and personal healing
• Over 17 years they have focused on bettering services and professionalism and they believe they have truly succeeded
• Ayahuasca is just one aspect of Amazonian plant medicine
  • There are hundred of plants with medicinal healing properties
  • The Dieta is a period of time where you go into deep individual isolation and connection to a specific medicinal plant where you create a relationship with a plant
  • Then you go into the Ayahuasca ceremony and Icaros are sung and you drink the Ayahuasca
  • Then the Dieta is a time where there are restrictions such as abstinence, no alcohol, strict food diet, no medications, etc. and you go into a meditative state for healing for a time of a few days, to weeks to even months

• Training comes to the people that feel the deepest calling, because you have to commit your whole life to it
• Then, you find a lineage of shamans that are willing to accept you (if you aren't born into a lineage of shamans)
• It's a journey, and you have to find a group of people open for training
  • It's different from any kind of training from the western world, it's a tremendous journey, and it could take years to decades
  • Its meant to be a test, and incredibly difficult
  • When Hamilton trained, he was told that 1 out of 100 make it to be actual shamans
• It's really a job of service, not an exalted one
  • The reason the training is so incredibly difficult, is so that you can sit with people, who are going through extremely difficult, and transformational experiences and you can be there for them and love and support them unconditionally with the strength gained through the training process
  • "Its a role of service, you have to be able to deal with any form of suffering that people come to you with." - Hamilton

• Stay open minded
• He warns about a dystopian world
• We need to be the change makers, and there is a lot we can do
  • We are incredibly powerful, especially when we are united in common goals
  • Whether they are about human rights or the climate
• There is something mysterious about life itself

Website

Hamilton focuses his work on Universal Spiritual Philosophy. He is bilingual in English and Spanish, has a Bachelors degree in Anthropology, and has studied shamanism in California, Cusco, and the Amazon. Hamilton was given the title of Master Shaman by Alberto Torres Davila and Julio Llerena Pinedo after completing an apprenticeship under Alberto and Julio. He guides ceremonies and leads shamanic workshops, in which he shares Universal Spiritual Philosophy.

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In this episode, Joe records with Sean McAllister, an attorney who helped advise Decriminalize Denver. During this special, extra episode, Sean helps us understand the language in the recent bill for Mushroom Decriminalization in Denver, CO.

1. Recently, Psilocybin Mushroom Decriminalization passed on the ballot in Denver, CO.
2. Psilocybin mushrooms have not been made legal, they have simply been decriminalized. This means that Denver has the lowest law enforcement priority around psilocybin and that no money can be used to criminalize this behavior.
3. Decriminalization of Psilocybin in Denver is a big step toward changing the stigma around psychedelics. But we need to be careful, decriminalization is just a tiny step in the right direction and we need to be respectful and responsible with this initiative.

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On May 8th, the city of Denver, Colorado voted yes on I-301, which decriminalizes the possession and use of Psilocybin-containing mushrooms. The official results will be certified on May 16th. As of May 9th - the unofficial results are - yes (50.6%) and no (49.4%).

I-301 decriminalizes adult (21 years or older) possession and use of Psilocybin mushrooms - making these offenses the lowest priority for law enforcement. This initiative also prohibits law enforcement to spend money and resources enforcing arresting adults with possession of mushrooms.

• Sean is an Attorney with McAllister Garfield Law Firm in Denver
• He has done a lot with cannabis law since 2005
• He heard about the Mushroom Decriminalization campaign and began working with them
• His role started in January to help the team understand what it would look like if the bill passed and his role definitely continues going forward now that it has passed

• "Decriminalize" means just that
  • Psilocybin mushrooms have not been made legal, they have simply been decriminalized
  • "You should never be arrested for putting something in your body that grows naturally in nature." - Sean
• This means that Denver has a lowest law enforcement priority around Psilocybin
  • Its not legal, it's not regulated
• This bill means that a person cannot be imprisoned for possession and cultivation for personal possession amounts
• The city is not supposed to spend any money to criminalize this behavior
• You can grow them to eat them yourself, but you can't grow them to sell them
  • This also doesn't mean that groups can host events and 'give out' mushrooms as a gift in return for donation, this is not good behavior for this initiative
• This initiative is simply a first step at looking at mushrooms in a better light and reducing the stigma
• For the benefit of this bill passing, we have to be careful about amounts, the smaller the amount of mushrooms the better
  • There isn't an amount listed in the bill to distinguish between personal use and intent to sell
• The city has to establish a review commission
  • What this commission is supposed to do is track the public safety impact, use, criminal justice impact, etc
  • We hope and guess that Psilocybin will not impact any of these, just like how Marijuana did not impact anything for the bad when it was decriminalized
  • Once the city sees the results, they won't have so much stigma about it, and Denver will lead the way for the state and the rest of the nation for sensible drug policy

• The typical response was "we already legalized marijuana, let's not jump to something else"
• Sean thinks this gives Denver an amazing reputation, that it understands therapeutic ability and research and no tolerance for the drug war
• "We need a system that addresses public safety concerns but maintains as much personal liberty as possible on these topics" - Shane

• Sean is a part of Chacruna, based in San Francisco
• Oakland is attempting to Decriminalize Nature, which by nature means all naturally occurring substances
  • They aren't on a ballot, they are looking to convince city council to agree with it and accept it
• California attempted to raise signatures to be on the ballot in the 2018 election but it failed to get on the ballot
• Oregon is now collecting signatures to get on the ballot at the state level in 2020
  • Oregon's model is for medicalization, Sean expresses concern for a purely medical model
  • Between big pharma and quiet equity firms, they want to monetize on psychedelics like they did with marijuana, and that's what we risk with medicalization
• Psychedelic Liberty Summit in 2020 in the Bay Area will be to talk about the rights and wrongs around psychedelic initiatives

• Sean mentions a possible system that revolves around a licensing structure
  • Similar to how we get a drivers license; we practice, we take tests, etc.
  • For psychedelics, we would need to learn the effects, harm reduction techniques, take tests to verify our knowledge, etc and receive a license that allows us to use psychedelics freely
  • If we abuse psychedelics and use them improperly, then we would get our license taken away, suspended, etc.
• Overall, after this initiative passing, we have to be careful we don't ruin this victory with poor behavior
• Let's just do what we're doing respectfully, responsibly, and to ourselves

• https://mcallistergarfield.com/
• https://chacruna.net/council-for-the-protection-of-sacred-plants/
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/attyseanmcallister/

Sean T. McAllister is one of the nation's leading cannabis business attorneys, licensed to practice law in both Colorado and California. Sean's legal work focuses on the complex interplay between corporate law and state cannabis regulatory structures and federal law. Sean is a recognized leader in the cannabis industry. In 2004, he founded Sensible Colorado, which worked on all of the ballot initiatives in Colorado that culminated in recreational cannabis legalization in 2012.

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In this episode, Joe talks with Shane LeMaster, Licensed Addiction Counselor and Certified Mental Performance Consultant. Shane is also involved in Psychotherapy as well as Sport and Performance Psychology and Psychedelic Integration Therapy. In this episode they cover a range of topics such as social work, Ketamine, sensory deprivation, psychedelic icons and the psychedelic culture.

1. Shane has a podcast of his own, and his goal with the podcast is to bring people's personal experiences to light to learn from them, to master the potential of our minds.
2. Ketamine is a great gateway to opening up people's minds to all of the other psychedelics. Its also a great place to start for therapy.
3. Every single facilitator or shaman has different techniques and styles and that's okay If we don't have differences then we won't have styles to choose from.

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• Joe and Shane met up recently at a Psychedelic Club meeting about harm reduction in Fort Collins
• Shane just got accepted into the PhD program in social work at CSU
  • He had been pursuing a PhD program in psychology and it wasn't working out for him so he decided to take the social work route
  • He works with many people and has developed a strong skill set on the micro level and he wants to start making impact on a macro level with helping people

• Shane thinks of social work as an integrative approach for every discipline that we find useful, to come to a holistic, greater understanding of an issue
• Shane wants to use Ketamine as a 'medium' term goal, because it's legal
  • But ketamine is not where he is going to stop, he finds there are benefits in many other substances
  • He would love to work with LSD and Psilocybin
  • He will continue to offer his services through his business Mind Ops
• Shane's Podcast - Conversations with the Mind
  • His goal with the podcast is to bring people's personal experiences to light to learn from them
  • It's important to create dialogue and invite people for conversation with differing opinions
  • The goal is to create a theory that implements both opinions

• Ketamine is a great gateway to opening up people's minds to all of the other psychedelics
• Shane has had a lot of personal and recreational experiences on Ketamine and when he returns to it as a medicine, he is able to attain and sharpen skills for mindfulness
• Joe brings up the idea that recreational ketamine could have the ability to bring up past trauma or may re-traumatize someone if not used therapeutically
  • Ketamine has a lot of risks, but being educated and using the substance correctly can be absolutely beneficial
  • Shane says we shouldn't try to avoid trauma, we should accept it and use it for good and let it power us
  • "Sometimes we don't even know what were suppressing. We need some assistance to show us what were avoiding in life and I think that psychedelics help with that a lot." - Shane

• Shane says he's interested in John Lilly's work from back in the day and his terminology of being able to meta-program your human brain
• Joe says John Lilly was a big part of isolation chambers which led to float tanks

• Joe mentions Robert Anton Wilson, he was good friends with Timothy Leary
  • He had great critiques, great books and worked with Leary on the 8 levels of consciousness Joe suggests listeners to read The Illuminatus! Trilogy: The Eye in the Pyramid, The Golden Apple, Leviathan
• "My interest is not in psychedelics themselves, but psychedelics as a means to access higher states of who we are, parts we have forgotten." - Shane
• Psychedelics are just one way to tap into ourselves and discover our ultimate potential
• "We should all be questioning, everyday, changing our belief systems" - Shane
• "Belief is the death of intelligence" - Robert Anton Wilson
• Shane says a lot of people give Leary a bad rap, but Shane appreciates what he has done
• Joe mentions 'smile squared' - Space, migration, intelligence and life extension
• TFYQA - Think for yourself question authority
• "Turn on, Tune in, Drop out" - Timothy Leary
  • Shane says that phrase sticks with him, it called to his rebel phase in youth to grow and do this work in his life

• Splitting - a rephrase of divide and conquer
• Joe says the psychedelic world is very cut throat
  • "We should take care of each other a bit more in this space" - Joe
  • Shane says, we need to lift each other up versus look for ways to step over each other
  • Every single facilitator or shaman has different techniques and styles and that's okay
  • If we don't have differences then we don't have styles to choose from
  • "We can't become fundamentalists in our own practices, we need to value the differences culturally and from a world view. They are all valuable." - Shane

Website

Mind Op Youtube Podcast

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.

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In this episode, Kyle hosts a conversation with Veronika Gold from the Polaris Insight Center, a center that offers Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy. They compare and contrast Ketamine Psychotherapy methods and Ketamine Infusion.

1. The most studied way of using Ketamine has been infusion, mainly used for treatment resistant depression and PTSD. Veronika used lozenges and intramuscular Ketamine therapy working for Polaris.
2. When people are healed from depression, there is a lot of anxiety and activation that happens. Infusion clinics don't offer the therapeutic help that comes with Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy.
3. The dissociation that happens with Ketamine is a different dissociation that happens with trauma. With trauma, dissociation happens when the nervous system can't handle the stress in someone's life, with Ketamine, it allows people who feel dissociated from their trauma, to feel again.

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• She specialized in trauma treatment
• She is involved in the clinical trials for the treatment of PTSD, sponsored by MAPS in San Francisco
• Veronika is originally from Czech Republic
• She studied at CIIS
• She grew up in the Czech Republic in a communist time so she dealt with a lot of trauma
• She met Stan Grof at 16 at a Transpersonal conference
  • She was fascinated with his work and Transpersonal Breathwork became a part of her healing
  • It lead her to study psychology and become a psychotherapist and study non-ordinary states

• Ketamine therapy has been studied from the late 60's until today
  • The most studied way of using Ketamine has been infusion, mainly used for treatment resistant depression and PTSD
• In Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy, the therapy is as important as the medicine
  • There is a biochemical effect of Ketamine
  • When people are healed from depression, there is a lot of anxiety and activation that happens
• Infusion clinics don't offer the therapeutic help that comes with Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy

• The treatment method used at Polaris includes a comfortable room, eye shades, music tailored to the therapy, and an ongoing therapist
• They use non-ordinary states of consciousness as a part of the transformation
• They use lozenges and IM (Intramuscular)
  • Only 30% of the ketamine from the lozenges are effective
  • The lozenges allow for a slow onset of the medicine
• With IM, a higher dose can be used because it's less taxing on the body and more effective
  • The property of Ketamine is dissociation
  • Veronika says she prompts people to explain where they are, to share about what comes up for them
  • "Sometimes there are memories that come up that are connected to their struggle. Sometimes they do full trauma processing. There are times where they go inside and then come out." - Veronika

• They used Ketamine as a means to do the work legally
• For the work that is being done underground, the therapists are putting themselves at risk for legality, and it does impact set and setting
  • But even if other substances were legal, Veronika thinks Ketamine will still be used for certain issues
• Ketamine is described as a +4 on Shulgin's scale
• A moderate to high dose can allow people to have a near death experience or 'review of their life'
• The dissociation that happens with Ketamine is a different dissociation that happens with trauma
  • With trauma, dissociation happens when the nervous system can't handle the stress
  • Opposingly, with Ketamine, it allows people who feel dissociated, to feel again
• Veronika mentions a study that says the higher the effects of dissociation from a Ketamine session, the higher the antidepressant effects are.
• She has work in somatic studies and organic intelligence

• Veronika's experience with Breathwork helps her understand her patients
  • The bodily experience that happens in Breathwork also helps her understand the body movement/energetic blockages, etc that happen in Ketamine therapy
• The last 30-90 minutes is where the integration starts

• They do mainly one-on-one session but have done a few pair therapy sessions
  • Veronika says its easier to do one-on-one because the sessions are short and there is a lot of internal work

• Veronika is excited about people's curiosity with Ketamine therapy and the effectivity of it
• Ketamine is a new and emerging field and we are figuring out who it is useful for and who it is not
• Veronika says that non-ordinary states are all beneficial for healing, and not having to use Ketamine (using Breathwork) is still beneficial
• "A big part of the healing is having a positive experience and connecting with places that feel good, having positive visions. Its supportive for our nervous system and our ability to heal." - Veronika
• "When we allow the inner healing intelligence to come through, it will take us to where we need to go." - Veronika
• Patients don't always need to just feel the dark stuff and the trauma, sometimes sitting with the good feelings and remembering what good feels like is a part of the healing too
• Kyle and Veronika were both on separate episodes of the Consciousness Podcast with Stuart Preston
  • Podcast Episode 23 with Kyle

Website

Polaris

Veronika has expertise in the treatment of trauma. Her approach is integrative and informed by Somatic Therapies, contemplative practices, and mindfulness. She also has an interest in educating others about the healing and transformational potential of non-ordinary states of consciousness.

Download In this episode, Joe talks with Matthew Remski, yoga teacher, consultant and author. In the show they talk about high demand group life and their cultic mechanisms, and the after effects of living in a high demand group setting.

1. Matthew Remski shares his experience of spending most of his 20's in cults, and his healing journey afterward.
2. Cults aren't defined by their content (political, religious, psychedelic), they are defined by their element of control. Another term for a 'cult' is a high demand group.
3. High demand groups can be very appealing from the outside, no one signs up for the rape, torture, or manipulative experiences that happen inside of a cult. And the after effects from high demand group life can be extreme, such as PTSD, inability to form romantic relationships, etc.

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• Yoga was a safe space of retreat and recuperation after being in cults
• He was in a cult for 3 years led by Michael Roach at the Asian Classics Institute
• He was in Endeavor Academy for 6 years in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin
• These experiences gave him group dynamic perspective
• Yoga gave him somatic autonomy, and allowed him to feel himself again after the cultic nature of the groups
• He spent age 22-29 in these groups where we would have built some sort of career, and he didn't
• He became a yoga teacher and opened his own yoga studio as a part of his healing

• People end up doing harm to themselves, or do things that they didn't sign up for
  • An organization misrepresents itself, and presents itself as a safe haven for people who may be vulnerable for any reason
• High Demand Organization, along with other synonyms, are other words for 'cult'
• 'Self Sealed' implies that everything that happens within the group is to have the individual think it's for the 'good', a 'bounded choice' environment (saying that sexual advances or torture are a part of the development toward enlightenment, for example)
• The high demand group rewires a person's attachment patterns to make them 'unattached'
• Steve Hassan's BITE model
  • Behavior Control
  • Information Control
  • Thought Control
  • Emotional Control
• The content of the cult doesn't matter (religious, psychedelic, political, etc), it's the element of control that is the same amongst true cults
  • There can be political groups that aren't cults, but the element of control is what defines it as a cult
• Octavio Rettig and Gerry Sandoval
  • They are perhaps responsible for multiple deaths (maybe not directly but through negligence)
  • They use 5-MEO-DMT with abuse and malpractice

• The impact from a cult can be cognitive, labor related, relationship/family oriented, etc.
  • Matthew says the estrangement from his family has taken over a decade to repair
  • The relationships he had prior, has been unable to restored
• His identity was changed for him through social coercion
• "The cult takes its best possible part of you for its own agenda" - Matthew
• The after effects from high demand group life can be extreme, they can have PTSD, they may not be able to form romantic bonds, they may become estranged from their family, etc.
• Recent estimates in the US alone say that there are 8,000 high demand groups
  • These dynamics can be found in many organizations
• Wild Wild Country - When a controversial cult leader builds a Utopian city in the Oregon desert, conflict with the locals escalates into a national scandal

• Psychotherapy cults look like a Buddhist or yoga cult but with different group practice techniques
  • They will depend upon group psychotherapy that break down and humiliate members and create fear that looks like love and acceptance
  • It includes members revealing intense secrets so they become vulnerable

• Matthew's book is applicable in many different community constellations
  • His intention is to help foster critical thinking and community health
• Joe says that anyone in a group dynamic or especially those leading groups (such as an ayahuasca circle) need to read this book

Practice And All Is Coming: Abuse, Cult Dynamics, And Healing In Yoga And Beyond

Website

Matthew has been practicing meditation and yoga since 1996, sitting and moving with teachers from the Tibetan Buddhist, Kripalu, Ashtanga, and Iyengar streams. Along the way he has trained as a yoga therapist and an Ayurvedic consultant, and maintained a private practice in Toronto from 2007 to 2015. From 2008 through 2012, he co-directed Yoga Festival Toronto and Yoga Community Toronto, non-profit activist organizations dedicated to promoting open dialogue and accessibility. During that same period, he studied jyotiśhāstra in a small oral-culture setting at the Vidya Institute in Toronto. Matthew currently facilitates programming for yoga trainings internationally, focusing on yoga philosophy, meditation, Ayurveda, and the social psychology of practice. In all subject areas, he encourages students to explore how yoga practice can resist the psychic and material dominance of neoliberalism, and the quickening pace of environmental destruction.