December 16, 2023

26 - Sapha on Ayahuasca

57 minutes

Dr. T and Truth Fairy welcome guest Sapha to the show to talk about healing through ayahuasca. When Sapha reached out via email, Truth Fairy realized she has friends in common with him, and, being touched by his email and story, invited him to be on the show. The details of his advocacy and journey are inspiring to hear.

Sapha shares his father's story of emigrating to Canada from Tehran, Iran, during the Islamic Revolution. Pain, abandonment, and confusion that went with Sapha’s story led to a need for escapism through substance abuse. The addiction lasted through Sapha’s career in the oil and gas industry until age 29 when he realized he needed help. But after being denied assistance from the BC government, Sapha’s salvation came from an aunt who connected him with the Leipzig Serenity Retreat, a holistic recovery centre in Saskatchewan.

Dr. T and Truth Fairy talk with Sapha about how he found ayahuasca and his early psychedelic experiences, the need to really heal the underlying causes of addiction and not simply the addiction itself, and the benefits of small group work that Sapha embarked upon. Sapha also addresses how he now does a lot of work with men who have suffered at the hands of the patriarchal system and through the expectations placed on men. This episode reveals a lot about the benefits of working with ayahuasca and the healing possibilities of being on a psychedelic-assisted recovery journey.

“And that's a big part of the teaching here with what we do and the way that we work with men, it's like ayahuasca is a tool. You know, psychedelics are tools. They're not a cure for addiction. They're an opportunity to get a really close look from a different lens. How to uncover and unravel this bundle of emotions and these layers of pain that as men or as people we've been born with,” - Sapha

Resources discussed in this episode: