BodhiSpeak with Jerry Walsh

Interview with Michael Mithoefer 

Michael Mithoefer, M.D., is a psychiatrist living in Asheville, NC, with a research office in Charleston, SC. In 2000, he began collaborating with MAPS on the first U.S. Phase 2 clinical trial of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy. He and his wife Annie have since conducted two of the six MAPS-sponsored Phase 2 clinical trials testing MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD, as well a study providing MDMA-assisted sessions for therapists who have completed the MAPS-sponsored MDMA Therapy Training Program, and a pilot study treating couples with MDMA-assisted psychotherapy combined with Cognitive-Behavioral Conjoint Therapy. He is now Senior Medical Director for Medical Affairs, Training and Supervision at MAPS Public Benefit Corporation (MAPS PBC).

He is a Grof-certified Holotropic Breathwork Facilitator, is trained in EMDR and Internal Family Systems Therapy, and has nearly 30 years of experience treating trauma patients. Before going into psychiatry in 1991, he practiced emergency medicine for ten years, served as medical director of the Charleston County and Georgetown County Emergency Departments, and has held clinical faculty positions at the Medical University of South Carolina. He has been board-certified in Psychiatry, Emergency Medicine, and Internal Medicine.

Elements of Sound explores the relationship between sound and consciousness at the intersections of science, spirituality and music theory. DiMatteo's approach draws inspiration from ancient and modern thinkers, scientists and indigenous wisdom-keepers, relating sound as both a primal mystery and a practical tool for communication, healing and transformation.

Weaving together diverse perspectives, Elements of Sound compares global traditions of song, poetry, storytelling and sacred language. It invites us to consider how sound and silence frame our innermost thoughts, and to be aware that sound itself constitutes our beliefs, identities and the words we use to define reality.

Influenced by such classics as The Mysticism of Sound and Music by Hazrat Inayat Khan and The Kybalion by Three Initiates, Elements of Sound penetrates the cosmology, esotericism and philosophy of sound and music, suggesting that thoughts are subtle forms of sound which impact our psychophysiological health.

Drawing from decades of experience in academic, clinical and ceremonial settings, DiMatteo conveys the relevance of sound, music and language across human culture. Spiritual seekers, curious minds and students of music will find an oasis of inspiration in his work, along with a common language to discuss what might otherwise seem ineffable.

Neuroscientist and cognitive psychologist Daniel Levetin wrote, "Music may be the activity that prepared our pre-human ancestors for speech communication and for the very cognitive, representational flexibility necessary to become humans." Music and language are prehistoric, but traces of our ancient origins remain preserved in the mythologies and aural teachings of humanity's living traditions.

To learn, to express and to share are intrinsically human. They connect us through sound to the power of creation, and to vibration as a property of reality. Elements of Sound encourages us to consider how we relate to sound in our daily lives-what we hear, how we interpret it, and how we respond to the world within and around us. "Music is a limited term. Sound encompasses melody, harmony, speech, thought and a universe full of vibrations." - from Elements of Sound

https://www.sonicinstitute.com/allproducts/p/elements-of-sound-book

- Growing up in Hawaii

- Childhood Trauma and Sports

- 10 years in the NFL and Concussions

- Fire Fighting and Dealing with Trauma

- Hitting Rock Bottom and Re-birthing through Psychedelic Plant Medicine

- The Future of Psychedelic Plant Medicine Work for First-Responders

Jo Berry has founded the charity ‘Building Bridges for Peace and is an international speaker and workshops facilitator committed to bringing peace to the world. Jo is also an executive committee member of Uniting For Peace which promotes a culture of peace, non-violence and sustainable development. She is on the Board of the Global Alliance for Ministries and Infrastructures for Peace and is working to create a Department for Peace in Europe. Jo is also a founder member of Survivors Against Terror. Its mission is to help our country tackle terrorism more effectively and ensure victims and their families get the proper support. Jo shares her story below.

On October 12th 1984 my father, Sir Anthony Berry and 4 others  were killed in the bombing of the Grand Hotel, Brighton as they attended the Conservative Party Conference. I made a personal decision just two days later, to bring something positive out of this emotionally shattering trauma and to try and understand those who had killed him. I chose to give up blame and revenge, instead taking responsibility for my pain and feelings, transforming them into passion for peace. The journey of healing began with my intention and I trusted that life would then bring me the opportunities to heal and grow. Two months later I randomly shared a taxi with a young Irish man whose brother had been in the IRA and had been killed by a British soldier. We should have been enemies but instead we talked about a world where peace was possible and where there were no enemies. As I left the taxi, I had a flash of inspiration, this was one way I could make a difference, I could build a bridge across the divide.

The hardest bridge to build was with Patrick Magee, who was sentenced for his part in planting the Brighton bomb and released as part of the Good Friday Peace Agreement in 1999. I made enquiries from mutual friends and finally met Pat for the first time in November 2000 at a friend’s house in Dublin. My intention was to hear his story so that I could experience him as a human being rather than a faceless enemy. I was scared and had doubts, but the strongest part of me needed to see him and speak to him. I asked him many questions and shared a little about my Dad. At first he began to express his political perspective, which though I was familiar with was hard to hear but I could see he was a sensitive and intelligent person.

Then something changed. He stopped talking and said he didn’t know who he was any more, he wanted to hear my anger, my pain and what could he do to help. It was as if he had taken off his political hat and had now opened up and became vulnerable. The conversation was very different after that and a new journey started, one which we are still on. He now had a need to meet me and rediscover his lost humanity. When he planted the bomb he was not seeing human beings in the hotel, they were just a means to an end. During our meetings, he began to develop the awareness that he had killed a human being with a soul, someone he could have sat down and had a cup of tea with. He would later say that he was disarmed by the empathy I gave him, that he would have found it easier if I had met him shouting, blaming and defending my position. I wasn’t there to argue my point; I was there to listen and experience his humanity. After three hours I could not talk any more and ended our meeting by thanking him for his willingness to engage with me so honestly and he said he was sorry he had killed my Dad.

Looking back on the years which have passed since the bomb, I am so touched by the amazing people I have met and the opportunities I have had to make a difference. I have now shared a platform with Pat Magee over 300 times and I see how our dialogue has inspired others to choose a non-violent ­solution.  I have learnt so much from this ­challenging dialogue and continue to do so. I have learnt about my capacity for violence and for non-violence. I am learning to give up blame and choose empathy.

I passionately believe that there is humanity in everyone, and every time we demonise the “other” we are delaying the onset of peace in this world. Once we find our own humanity, and we see the humanity in the other, then we are going to want them to have their human rights, their good housing, food, ­medicine, education and freedom to be themselves, to be safe and secure. We will want for them all what we want for ourselves. Peace happens when we treasure everyone, all creatures, our land, our planet, and work together to find solutions in which everyone wins.

We have been speaking in many different places including Lebanon, Rwanda and Israel and Palestine.  We have been all over Europe and in the UK we have spoken in schools, Universities, religious groups, youth groups and many organizations.

I am now focused on working with young people and and empowering them to be positive changemakers.

Marcina is a therapist and film maker who is trained in many modalities from different traditions and who appreciates the collective wisdom of cultures.  She is a License Marriage and Family therapist and also CIIS and MAPS certified in psychedelic work.  She has facilitated conversations and workshops internationally and across the US and has had the honor of co-creating with many amazing people especially the team at Reconsider including the Guardians / Board Members, Wisdom Keepers / Advisory Board and Chacarunas / Bridgers.

She is an Executive Producer of Fantastic Fungi, Producer of Disturbing the Peace and is a facilitator for Reconsider workshop experiences, which have been given in the U.S. and internationally. Marcina spoke at TEDxKC Women about how to change the world in which we are living. 

Marcina’s vision is to catalyst the creation of experiences that evoke thought and conversations that both challenge and inspire a new ways of relating to ourselves and to life itself. 

Stephen Apkon is an award-winning filmmaker, and social entrepreneur. He is the Founder and former Executive Director of the Jacob Burns Film Center, a non-profit film and education center located in Pleasantville, NY. Stephen is the Director and Producer of Disturbing the Peace. He is also an Executive Producer of Fantastic Fungi and Planetary, and Producer of I’m Carolyn Parker, and Enlistment Days, and Co Producer of Presenting Princess Shaw.

He is the author of The Age of the Image: Redefining Literacy in a World of Screens, published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux – foreword by Martin Scorsese.

Stephen lives in the Hudson Valley with his partner Marcina, their dog Osa, and the flora, fauna and fungi they share this corner of the planet with.

Nathan's initiation into Native healing work in the prison system

His connection and work with Leonard Peltier

His work at Standing Rock

Protecting the Waters

Native Youth Alliance on Facebook

Free Leonard Peltier Now

Discussions on the subject, accusations, and relevancy of Genocide in Palestine

Recorded and originally published in 2022

James shares how he was passed the peyote and authorized to bring it to the white man's culture by Native elders, leading to a political struggle that takes him to the Utah Supreme Court

Recorded and originally published in 2022

James continues sharing his life story about finding real healing to his bipolar diagnoses through traditional Peyote ceremonies and Native American culture, simultaneously connecting him back to his buried Seminole ethnicity