Info

Psychedelics Today

Psychedelics Today is the planetary leader in psychedelic education, media, and advocacy. Covering up-to-the-minute developments and diving deep into crucial topics bridging the scientific, academic, philosophical, societal, and cultural, Psychedelics Today is leading the discussion in this rapidly evolving ecosystem.
RSS Feed Subscribe in Apple Podcasts
Psychedelics Today
2024
March
February
January


2023
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2022
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2021
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2020
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2019
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2018
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2017
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2016
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May


Categories

All Episodes
Archives
Categories
Now displaying: Category: general
Apr 7, 2020

In this episode, Joe invites previous guest, Dena Justice back on the show to continue the conversation on Neuro Linguistic Programming and non-ordinary states of consciousness.

3 Key Points:

  1. 93% of what we do on a day to day basis, is unconscious. If we can figure out how to work with that 93%, then we can really do some important things.
  2. A lot of times we aren't happy with our behavior, first we have to distinguish between cause and effect. With effect, you blame other people, but when you're a cause in your life, you're taking responsibility for what's happening.
  3. Creating new habits is hard at the conscious level, because it requires conscious thought. NLP focuses on the unconscious.

Support the show

Navigating Psychedelics


Show Notes

Last Episode

  • 93% of what we do on a day to day basis, is unconscious
    • If we can figure out how to work with that 93%, then we can really do some important things
    • Communicating with the unconscious mind is kind of how we communicate with ourselves
  • The previous episode was called Neuro Linguistic Programming and Non-ordinary states of consciousness
  • NLP is all about our nervous system and what is coming in with our 5 senses, then the linguistic part is all about how we communicate what is happening in the body
  • NLP basically creates all of our behavior
    • The more we are able to understand how our unconscious mind works, the better we are able to get the outcomes we actually want

Outcomes

  • A lot of times we aren't happy with our behavior
  • First we have to distinguish between cause and effect
    • When you're at effect, you blame other people, but when you're a cause in your life, you're taking responsibility for what's happening
  • When we can help people be more at cause, they get those desired outcomes, and people start to get to where they want to go in life” - Dena

Perception is Projection

  • Whatever you're believing that which is outside of yourself, it's actually a reflection of you
  • Dena said that she won't go to fitness classes simply because of the language they use
    • Altering your state through movement makes a person very vulnerable and the language can be very suggestive
  • What are we subjecting ourselves to everyday? When we sit down to watch TV or movies, we are in a trance-like state
  • Dena suggests being very careful to be aware of what we let in
  • Getting rid of barriers and obstacles to get where you want in life is the goal for NLP

Prepping the Unconscious Mind

  • Going to the gym is a habit so many people want to have and don't
  • Creating new habits is hard at the conscious level, because it requires conscious thought
    • When we try to make decisions at the conscious level, it gets really difficult
  • All learnings and behaviors, happen at the unconscious level” - Dena
  • “How many times did you have to tie your shoes consciously, before you tied your shoes, unconsciously?” - Dena
  • Most people don't have good language running in the background, and that is a big reason why people are stuck in poor behaviors

Prime Directives of the Unconscious Mind

  • We create gestalts of emotions and experiences
    • A gestalt looks like a pearl necklace, and they are all related to each other
    • All of our experiences of our emotions (ex. anger) all get hooked together like a necklace
    • It's a way that our mind organizes the information
  • When we learn to re-frame intentionally, we can take it as a tool into non-ordinary states of consciousness

Re-framing

  • In psychedelic experiences, we are re-framing the conscious mind, we shake loose of our gestalts
    • We need to learn new tools in order to directly communicate with the unconscious mind” - Dena
  • When we can get to the ‘aha’ moment, we can create change more quickly
  • Limiting beliefs and negative emotions get in the way
    • Getting rid of limiting beliefs causes massive aligned action which leads to massive life change

Tools

  • Our unconscious mind loves following instructions
    • We tell the mind so many don'ts, ‘don't cross the street, don't walk on the grass, etc
    • We need to tell the mind exactly what to do
    • People are really clear about what they don't want, but they aren't always clear on what they do want
  • 7% of what we are saying are just words, the other 93% is is how we say it, our emotions, our infections, are body positions, etc
  • Joe mentions somatic techniques, but that only goes so far, NLP takes it home
  • We learn language, but we don't learn to be effective communicators

Workshop

  • Joe, Kyle and Dena are talking about doing a 5-day breathwork and NLP workshop in Sonoma, CA
    • Breathwork is such an amazing tool for non-ordinary state of consciousness
  • Until more news is released about the retreat/workshop, Dena invites listeners to take her course over at her website, Ecstatic Collective
  • Sign up at psychedelicstoday.com/NLP to be notified of the future workshop

Links

Website


About Dena Justice

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.

Designed to help the body with cellular energy and cardiovascular endurance.

Get a 30 day free audible trial at audibletrial.com/psychedelicstoday

Mar 3, 2020

In this episode, Joe interviews Clinical Psychologist, Alicia Danforth. In the show, they cover topics including how to get involved in the space, consent, research, MDMA, Autism and more.

3 Key Points:

  1. Alicia Danforth is a Clinical Psychologist who will be having a talk on Ethical Challenges in Psychedelic Medicine at the ICPR Conference in the Netherlands, April 2020.
  2. There is a possibility for MDMA to have a non-responder effect. No one has done research dedicated to why some people don't react at all to MDMA.
  3. Psychedelic science is very hard to talk about. We have the language of science that studies the psychopharmacological effects of drugs but no language that holds the effects of an altered state of consciousness yet.

Support the show

Navigating Psychedelics


Show Notes

About Alicia

  • Her path to her current place is such a random road that led her to where she is
  • She was going to burning man and getting into harm reduction when she realized the untapped value of psychedelics, its where her interest began
  • She began volunteering, doing administrative work for a doctor
    • She was offered to be a study coordinator
  • She got introduced to the power of psilocybin as a medicine, for dying cancer patients
    • The patients had a prognosis from 6 months to a year
    • To see how this state of consciousness helped people transition to the end of life so smoothly, that is what inspired her
  • 5 months after she started working on the study, she got a cancer diagnosis

Getting Involved in the Space

  • Alicia would always get people approaching her about how to get in the field and she tells them “what field?”
  • Her Power Point making skills, are what technically got her involved in this field
  • “You never know what skill may be needed in this field” - Alicia
  • Alicia encourages people to look into their own collection of skills, and dig deep into that, find your niche, and then use that to contribute to the movement
    • Clinical therapists and psychologists are not the only people in this field
      We need accountants, marketers, etc

Consent

  • People start to get really religious around this field
  • Joe mentions a story where someone performed non-consensual reiki

Current Research

  • She is currently looking at why psychedelics appeal to people who typically like to abuse power
  • She did a talk at burning man about ‘coming down from the psychedelic power trip’
  • She tries to cite as many references and research as possible
  • Her talk at ICPR is going to be the very professional, version of that talk
  • Why are individuals who seek to abuse these tools so irresistibly drawn to psychedelics?
  • “If someone gets abused, and people say don't come out about it because it's not good for the movement, then what kind of movement is that?” - Joe

Empathogens

  • MDMA is known as an Empathogen
  • Can empathogens help people who are not empathetic, become empathetic?
  • Cohen’s D is the measure of effect size
    • Big pharma uses this all the time, to determine the effects of one drug compared to another
    • The Cohen’s D is how large that difference is

Non-response MDMA

  • There is a known, non-responder effect with MDMA
  • There was a few double-blind sessions, where the patient received MDMA, and they didn't react, their vitals didn't change
    • At the end,  it was revealed that they truly received MDMA, and then even to be sure, they would do a blood test, and it showed up in the blood
  • No one has done research dedicated to why some people don't react at all to MDMA
  • It's probably common, that for people who are relying on MDMA to work as their last resort option and try it and not feel anything at all, to end their life afterward

Media and Support

  • It's the most difficult thing in dealing with the media
    • When you are entirely dependent on funding, if you don't talk about what you're doing, then you can't get funding at all
  • There is a crisis in science on the replicability on these studies
    • Joe says its cool to have these studies replicated outside of the US
  • Psychedelic science is very hard to talk about due to the subjective nature of the psychedelic experience. We have the language of science that studies the psychopharmacological effects of drugs. There is no language that holds the effects of an altered state of consciousness yet.” - Alicia
  • The rapport that the patient and facilitator have, and the effect of that relationship, is a variable

Links

Website


About Alicia Danforth

Alicia received her doctorate in clinical psychology from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in Palo Alto in 2013. Since 2006, she has worked in clinical research at the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center on clinical studies for adults with anxiety related to advanced-stage cancer and with autistic adults who experience social anxiety. She is currently a lead clinician and supervisor for a clinical trial at UCSF for psychological distress in long-term survivors of HIV/AIDS. She is also certified in Trauma-Focused CBT and Focusing-Oriented Psychotherapy.  

Designed to help the body with cellular energy and cardiovascular endurance.

Get a 30 day free audible trial at audibletrial.com/psychedelicstoday

Dec 10, 2019

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.

3 Key Points:

  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.

Support the show

Navigating Psychedelics


Show Notes

About Dena

  • 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

Neuro Linguistic Programming

  • 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

NLP Training

  • 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

Links

Website


About Dena Justice

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.

Use code PSYTODAY at Onnit for a discount on all products except fitness equipment

Get a 30 day free audible trial at audibletrial.com/psychedelicstoday

Nov 12, 2019

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.

3 Key Points:

  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.

Support the show

Navigating Psychedelics


Show Notes

About Jac

  • 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

A Synchronistic Event

  • 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

Understanding the Experience

  • 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

Frequency for Healing

  • 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

Malta Hypogeum

  • 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

Intuition

  • 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

Final thoughts

  • 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

Links

Website


About Jac Harrison

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.

Aug 13, 2019

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:

  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.

Support the show

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

  • 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.

Jan 18, 2017
View in iTunes Download Kyle and Joe talk to an anonymous MDMA therapist and relationship coach. He has been working with people while they use MDMA beginning in the early days while it was still legal and continues to facilitate work with people while it is prohibited. For his safety, his identity is kept anonymous. The insights here are wonderful and worth learning. Hopefully you will learn something here and it can be applied to future therapies once we hit the 2021 MAPS target date. Some interesting thoughts from the interview:
  • Transcending the parent-child relationship.
  • We are human beings that can be in good relationship with one another.
  • Do I feel safe? What does it mean to feel safe?
  • Appropriate dosages.
  • Intuitive approaches for engaging with the client \ patient.
  • Possible applications for group therapy.
Enjoy!!
Sep 22, 2016
Download Neal M. Goldsmith, Ph.D. is a psychotherapist specializing in psychospiritual development. He is a popular speaker on drug policy reform, spiritual maturation, and the emergence of an integral society (a six-minute clip of his talk on the “Fusion of Spirit and Science” may be found at: http://vimeo.com/7517009) and an author, most recently of Psychedelic Healing: The Promise of Entheogens for Psychotherapy and Spiritual Development. Dr. Goldsmith has curated dozens of successful conferences and cross-disciplinary “meetings of minds” for corporations as well as the psychedelic community, including the Horizons and MAPS Psychedelic Science conferences. He is a founder of several discussion salons on integral philosophy, governance, media, postmodern science, healing, and the future of society. Trained in humanistic, transpersonal, and eastern traditions, Dr. Goldsmith maintains a (non-psychedelic) psychotherapy practice in New York and Sag Harbor, NY, and may be reached via his Web site: http://www.nealgoldsmith.com/psychedelics.

Topics Discussed

  • What Neal's practice looks like
  • How Neal works with people who use psychedelics
  • Self with a small "s"
  • Aligning with one's Deeper self
    • Creating health
  • Sensory deprivation
  • Maturity - long term vs short term
  • Human history
    • Use of sacred technology to align with long term good
  • Psychedelic vs Psycholytic Approaches - Psychedelytic (combined)
  • Maturation and rites of passage
    • How do we transition to adulthood now?
  • How one can become involved with the field
    • Getting good grades, bringing good grants with you
  • MAPS
  • Erowid staff write ups
  • Future research with adept Buddhist monks
  • World religious leaders - research
  • We have to be mature with this process.
  • Comissions
  • Meetings with leaders
  • How to reintroduce back into society
  • 279 chems from Shulgin to research - Chemical Modeling
  • Autism research -UCLA - Alicia Danforth

Influences

Links

Sep 11, 2016
Download Featuring Brian Normand, Co-Founder of Psymposia. Bio from Psymposia's site. 

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

He graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a BS in Plant, Soil, Insect Science, & Sustainable Horticulture, Magna Cum Laude. He lives in Baltimore.
In this interview, we discuss a lot, but here are some highlights.
  • Brian's introduction to psychedelic art.
    • Music and plants informing Brian's interest.
  • The genesis of Psymposia at a more academic conference.
  • The stuffiness of the academic world and it not being suitable for everyone.
    • Yet how important the academic work in top schools is.
      • Rick Doblin, David Nichols, Mithoffers and Grifiths and Dennis McKenna are individuals who prove how important it is to have top academic credentials.
  • The Psymposia Afterparty at this years Horizons: Perspective on Psychedelics Conference
    • This year's after party includes guest speakers such as Duncan Trussell and Rick Doblin.
  • The legal status of psychedelics in the USA and internationally.
    • Some loose discussion about Portugal.
  • Leveraging the globe for legal research on Psychedelics.
  • John C. Lily's LSD, Ketamine and float tank research.
  • How to get involved in Psychedelic work of different kinds.
  • Speculation on how to take advantage of different legal systems globally to move research forward.
  • Singing to the plants - Steve Beyer
If anyone would like to submit a story to the magazine at Psymposia you can do so by submitting your story to -- hi@psymposia.com Take a list and let us know what you think! Brian Normand
Jul 19, 2016
This episode features Joe Moore, co-host of Psychedelics today. Joe was a student at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire and is now working in the software industry as well as hosting a few podcasts and coordinating Transpersonal Breathwork workshops mostly in Breckenridge, Colorado. LINKS Dreamshadow - Holotropic Breathwork in Vermont CAPS PTSD scoring system VICE article on Tony Macie - MDMA\PTSDmt. silverheels with aspenglow (colorado)
Jun 3, 2016
Download Lex, Kyle and Joe discuss MAPS, Psymposia, Ibogaine, Mushrooms, Ketamine, LSD, Cannabis, and loads more. Lex is working on a book related to the supremely complex neurochemistry of cannabis. "Whales, Cannabis and Neurochemistry" Lex -- http://www.lexpelger.com/ Aunt Zelda's Tea Farie Iboga Story https://www.erowid.org/columns/teafaerie/2014/12/18/hard-reset/ Dimitri -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvEv5trIdrg Nese -- http://www.psymposia.com/magazine/preview/nese-devenot-coming-out-of-the-psychedelic-closet Ketamine -- https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00088699 Bluebird Botanticals -- https://www.bluebird-botanicals.com/  
May 15, 2016
Download Kyle and Joe get to talk with Elizabeth regarding her experience with MDMA assisted psychotherapy, Holotropic Breathwork, and her work with Stan and Christina Grof in the Grof Transpersonal Training program. Elizabeth also discusses the importance of bodywork such as working with people who "aren't back" from their experience, doing breathwork/bodywork with other experienced facilitators, observation of bodywork, and the lack of bodywork in psychedelic psychotherapy. Elizabeth will be facilitating some Dream Work at her next Holotropic Breathwork workshop. Mentions Petra and Ken Sloan | Sandra Phocas Jack Kornfield Insight and Opening Retreats (for historical reference) Michael Mithoefer & Annie Mithoefer (2013) - YouTube
May 12, 2016
Download This is a continuation of our last episode with Lenny Gibson. In it we discuss psychedelics, Spring Grove Psychiatric Hospital, Holotropic Breathwork, Agency, and Philosophy. Let us know what you think.
May 11, 2016
Download Brett Greene is the co founder of Psymposia. Kyle and I talk to him about how Psymposia is different from events currently being put on and important for the psychedelic world. Story telling of people in the psychedelic world is just as important as doctors and academics giving presentations. Psymposia is having their busiest year yet. Check them out here to keep track of their upcoming events. https://vimeo.com/143491234
1