Psychedelics Today

Latest Episodes:

Dr. Daniela Peluso - Guidelines for the Awareness of Sexual Abuse in Ayahuasca Ceremony Oct 08, 2019

Show notes

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.

3 Key Points:

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.
Ayahuasca is a commonly used substance for seducing participants looking for healing, whom then return from their retreats needing additional healing from sexual abuse.
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.

Support the show

Patreon
Leave us a review on iTunes
Share us with your friends – favorite podcast, etc
Join our Facebook group - Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community.

Navigating Psychedelics

Show Notes Daniela

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

Guidelines

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
Drinking with friends is wise
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
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
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
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
Sexual Intercourse between healer and patient during ceremonies or directly after the ceremony is not acceptable in Ayahuasca tradition
Sexual intercourse with a healer does not give you special power or energy
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
Consider cultural differences and local clothing customs
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
Be wary if healers offer psychoactive substances other than those used during ceremonies
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
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
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
Beware of getting romantically involved
If you are aware of or witness sexual abuse, speak up

Final Thoughts

"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

Links

Website

Chacruna.net

Email: d.peluso@kent.ac.uk

About Daniela Peluso, PhD

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).

Laura Northrup - Healing Sexual Trauma with Psychedelics and Entheogens Oct 01, 2019

Show notes

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

Dr. Ben Sessa - Preliminary Results from MDMA Assisted Therapy for Alcohol Use Disorder Sep 24, 2019

Show notes

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).

3 Key Points:

Ben Sessa plays a role in leading the current MDMA assisted therapy study for alcohol use disorder, and shares preliminary results.
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.
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.

Support the show

Patreon
Leave us a review on iTunes
Share us with your friends – favorite podcast, etc
Join our Facebook group - Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community.

Navigating Psychedelics

Trip Journal Integration Workbook

Show Notes Preliminary Results

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.

Future for the Study

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

Addiction and Trauma

"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

Breaking Convention

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

Looking ahead

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

Links

Breaking Convention

About Ben Sessa

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.

Rachel Anderson and James Franzo - Creating Practice using Kratom and other Botanicals Sep 17, 2019

Show notes

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.

3 Key Points:

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.
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.
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.

Support the show

Patreon
Leave us a review on iTunes
Share us with your friends – favorite podcast, etc
Join our Facebook group - Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community.

Navigating Psychedelics

Show Notes EDELIC

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

Conservatory

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

Events

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

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

Decriminalize Nature

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

Final Thoughts

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

Links

Website

Email: team@ecfes.org

About Rachel Anderson

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.

About James Franzo

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.

Tep - Drug Education and Festival Safety Sep 10, 2019

Show notes

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.

3 Key Points:

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.
There is a huge advantage of isolating the property of the drug when using them for therapy. For example, using isolated psilocybin vs mushrooms.
Learning on site at festivals and music events may not be super successful, drug education and harm reduction may look more like preparation.

Support the show

Patreon
Leave us a review on iTunes
Share us with your friends – favorite podcast, etc
Join our Facebook group - Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community.

Navigating Psychedelics

Trip Journal Integration Workbook

Show Notes About Tep

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

Drug Use Assistance Groups

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

Vision

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

Theraputic Use

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

Exotic Compounds

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

Compound Isolation

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

About Tep

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.

Dr. Peter Sjöstedt-H and Dr. Andrew Gallimore - Alien Information Theory Book Review Sep 03, 2019

Show notes

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.

3 Key Points:

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.
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.
They discuss Peter's critique, covering topics on information, consciousness, dimensions, dreams and theory.

Support the show

Patreon
Leave us a review on iTunes
Share us with your friends – favorite podcast, etc
Join our Facebook group - Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community.

Navigating Psychedelics

Trip Journal Integration Workbook

Show Notes Peter's review on Alien Information Theory

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

Information

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

Consciousness

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

Dimensions and Theories

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?

Final Thoughts

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

Links

Alien Information Theory: Psychedelic Drug Technologies and the Cosmic Game

Peter's Review

About Dr. Andrew Gallimore

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.

About Dr. Peter Sjöstedt-H

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.

Kyle and Joe - Telluride Mushroom Festival Aug 27, 2019

Show notes

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.

3 Key Points:

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.
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.
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.

Support the show

Patreon
Leave us a review on iTunes
Share us with your friends – favorite podcast, etc
Join our Facebook group - Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community.

Navigating Psychedelics

Trip Journal Integration Workbook

Show Notes

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

Attendees and Talks

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

Music and Psychedelics

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

Psychedelic Therapy

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."

Scientist Conference

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

Microdosing

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

Interesting Moments from the Conference

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

Links

Website

About Kyle

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.

About Joe

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.

Daniel Shankin - Leadership Coaching and The Psilocybin Summit Aug 20, 2019

Show notes

Download

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

3 Key Points:

The Psilocybin Summit is an online conference on the myth, magic and science of psychedelic mushrooms.
Psychedelic Integration is really a form of reparenting ourselves. We need to learn to ask ourselves how we can connect deeply without becoming codependent.
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.

Support the show

Patreon
Leave us a review on iTunes
Share us with your friends – favorite podcast, etc
Join our Facebook group - Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community.

Navigating Psychedelics

Trip Journal Integration Workbook

Show Notes About Daniel

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

Child Rearing

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

Attachment and Healing

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

Mindfulness of Enthusiasm

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

Psilocybin Summit

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

Coaching vs. Therapy

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?

Links

Website

Tam Integration

The Psilocybin Summit

About Daniel Shankin

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.

Greg Kieser - Psychedelics role in the emergence of Super-Intelligent Entities Aug 13, 2019

Show notes

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.

3 Key Points:

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.
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.
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.

Support the show

Patreon
Leave us a review on iTunes
Share us with your friends – favorite podcast, etc
Join our Facebook group - Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community.

Navigating Psychedelics

Trip Journal Integration Workbook

Show Notes About Greg

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

Looking to the Past

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

Integration of Technology

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

Block Chain

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

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

Interest in Psychedelics

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

Compass Pathways

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

Looking Ahead

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

Links

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

About Greg Kieser

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.

Dr. David Nichols - A Rich and Historical Overview of Psychedelic Chemistry Aug 06, 2019

Show notes

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.

3 Key Points:

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.
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.
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.

Support the show

Patreon
Leave us a review on iTunes
Share us with your friends – favorite podcast, etc
Join our Facebook group - Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community.

Navigating Psychedelics

Trip Journal Integration Workbook

Show Notes About David

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's History of Substances

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

Microdosing

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

DMT

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 Origins

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

Heffter Research Institute

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

GMP Psilocybin Patent

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

Links

Heffter.org

Donate

About Dr. David Nichols

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.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected