Dr. Chris Johnstone, medical doctor, resilience expert, and long-time collaborator of Joanna Macy, joins Laura Dawn to explore The Work That Reconnects and the power of Active Hope in navigating today’s crises. Drawing on decades of teaching alongside Macy, Chris shares how we can move through grief and despair into renewed purpose by engaging with the spiral of The Work That Reconnects: starting with gratitude, honoring our pain for the world, seeing with new eyes, and going forth with inspired action. Together, they discuss how the concept of The Great Turning invites us to embrace our role in this time of profound change, cultivating resilience, imagination, and a deep connection to the web of life.

Access Resources Mentioned, Full Transcript & Learn More About Dr. Chris Johnstone

www.lauradawn.co/72

Connect with Laura Dawn:

• Instagram: @livefreelaurad

Enrollment Open for Transilience:

Dr. Chris Johnstone is a guest faculty member for Transilience:

A 7-Month Training Program to Become a Certified Psychedelics Coach: Master the Art of Psychedelic Integration & Transformation: www.lauradawn.co/transilience

In this insightful episode of "Dear Humanity", Laura Dawn sits down with renowned author, elder and teacher Margaret Wheatley to explore the Hopi prophecy and its timeless wisdom for navigating the challenges of our era.

Margaret shares the story of how the prophecy came into her life and its profound instructions for facing global collapse with clarity, compassion, and courage. They discuss the importance of letting go of the shore, finding strength in community, and approaching life with a sacred attitude, in celebration for life.

From the cyclical nature of civilizations to the role of "Warriors for the Human Spirit," Margaret offers powerful insights on how to cultivate clear seeing, resilience, and meaningful action in the midst of uncertainty. This conversation invites us to reflect on who we choose to be and how we show up in service to life during these transformative times.

Access Resources Mentioned, Full Transcript & Learn More About Margaret Wheatley

www.lauradawn.co/71

Connect with Laura Dawn:

• Instagram: @livefreelaurad

Enrollment Open for Transilience:

A 7-Month Facilitator Training Program to Master the Art of Psychedelic Integration & Transformation: www.lauradawn.co/transilience

In this bonus episode, I introduce Transilience, a 7-month training program designed for coaches, therapists, and guides who want to master the art of psychedelic integration and transformation.

🔗 Learn more and apply at: Lauradawn.co/transilience

📩 Questions? Email [email protected]

Welcome to Dear Humanity, a podcast born from the heart of a transformative era. In this trailer, host Laura Dawn introduces the vision behind the show—a powerful invitation to explore what it means to be fully human during this time of profound change.

We are living through the ending of an era, a time that many elders call the Great Turning. As the old ways dissolve, we find ourselves in the midst of a collective Rite of Passage—a Great Restructuring that is reconfiguring every aspect of our lives. This podcast is for those who feel the call to step forth, midwifing this change with courage, creativity, compassion, and care.

Through transformative conversations with influential change-makers, elders, visionaries, and innovators, Dear Humanity dives into the essential questions of our time:

• How do we live and lead deeply purposeful and inspired lives amidst political division, ecological devastation, and systemic crises?

• How do we stay grounded and resilient while supporting meaningful work without succumbing to burnout or despair?

• How do we reimagine and create systems rooted in love, connection, belonging, and wisdom that render the old ways obsolete?

This show bridges ancient wisdom traditions with cutting-edge fields like psychedelics, creativity, neuroscience, cognitive science, and ecology to address the modern meaning crisis and illuminate the frontiers of human flourishing.

Laura Dawn describes this as more than a podcast—it is a transmission for those who feel the true gravity of this moment and the call to contribute to the Great Restructuring.

Together, we explore what it means to unlock our extraordinary capacities, strengthen the bonds that connect us to one another and the natural world, and step into leadership for a new era.

In this final episode of the Psychedelic Leadership Podcast, Laura Dawn shares her reflections on the current state of psychedelic censorship and its impact on the community. With transparency and insight, she explores how this “censorship era” has influenced her own decision-making as a psychedelic entrepreneur and what it means for the future of the movement.

Access Resources & Full Transcript Here: Access Laura’s resource for checking the status of banned words and hashtags:

www.lauradawn.co/70

Learn more about Transilience: a 7-month psychedelic facilitation program starting January 17th: www.lauradawn.co/transilience

• For those on the medicine path who feel called to birth a body of work Email: [email protected] with the subject line “Transmission" to learn about Laura Dawn's new high-level mastermind at the forefront of psychedelics and creative cognition for educator entrepreneurs.

• Navigating Psychedelic Censorship: A snapshot of the current landscape, including challenges with social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook, SEO shifts, and payment processors.

• The Silver Linings of Censorship: Why this moment is an opportunity for growth, integrity, and slowing down to build stronger foundations. Laura offers a fresh perspective on why censorship might actually benefit the movement by fostering depth, creativity, and resilience.

• Advice for Psychedelic Entrepreneurs: Practical tips on navigating social media with a psychedelic-related message, focusing on long-form content, and building mastery in your chosen path.

• Focus on the Deeper Layers of Wisdom Over The Substances themselves: The importance of shifting focus from the substances themselves to the deeper truths and wisdom they illuminate. Laura emphasizes the need for clarity, subtlety, and authenticity in sharing messages related to the psychedelic path.

• Building a Sustainable Path for the Long Run: Insights into why moving at the pace of integration is crucial, especially for those creating transformative offerings. Laura discusses the pitfalls of forcing growth, the dangers of shallow scaffolding, and the strength of referral-based networks.

• Transitioning to a New Era: Laura shares her decision to retire the Psychedelic Leadership Podcast name and evolve into her new show, Dear Humanity, which centers around human flourishing, creativity, and personal mastery in service to collective evolution.

This is the final interview I'll be publishing under "the Psychedelic Leadership Podcast" featuring an in-depth conversation about psychedelic integration with Author of Psychedelic Integration: Psychotherapy for Non-Ordinary States of Consciousness, Marc Aixala.

Learn more about Marc Aixala and access the full transcript here.

I'm launching a new email series called TRANSILIENCE, a sunday newsletter offering timeless, actionable insights to enhance your freedom, flow, flourishing, and fulfillment.

⋙ SIGN UP FOR TRANSILIENCE NEWSLETTER HERE.

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JOIN TRANSILIENCE & Become a Skilled Psychedelic Coach. Starts September 13th. Apply Now.

Transilience is A 6 Month Facilitator Training to Learn how to support yourself and others on the path of psychedelic integration to fuel personal transformation.

Apply Psychedelic Neuroscience to Optimize Integration & Personal Development with Manesh Girn - 68

How can we learn to leverage our understanding of psychedelic neuroscience to optimize integration so that we can more effectively support ourselves and others on the path of personal transformation?

This is the central question of today's episode featuring psychedelic neuroscientist, Dr. Manesh Girn.

Manesh Girn is also a guest teacher for TRANSILIENCE where he will dive much deeper into the topics we explored here today.

In this episode:

• Neural plasticity & self directed adaptive neural plasticity. 
• 3 Reasons it’s important to understanding the neuroscience of psychedelics. 
• And how we apply those 3 reason to inform optimal integration. 
• The effect that psychedelics have on the 5HT2A
• Critical periods, and the specific critical period that psychedelics help to open. 
• Metaphor and meaning making. 
• Why transformation is a slow and steady process, and why that’s actually a good thing
• Manesh's perspective on how mental health issues originate as nervous system dis-regulation
• Discomfort as part of the transformation equation.
• The power of stress and how stress can be highly adaptive. 

Access full transcript and learn more about Manesh Girn here.

ENROLLMENT OPEN FOR TRANSILIENCE: STARTING SEPTEMBER 13th.

Join me for TRANSILIENCE: a 6-month training program for psychedelic coaches, integration guides and microdosing mentors who want to learn how to support others on the path of psychedelic transformation.

We live in a culture that holds the “Light” as superior to the Dark. 

In spiritual and medicine communities there’s a strong underlying narrative to move towards “enlightenment” but what is the impact it’s having on our health and wellbeing? 

Does the darkness hold the key to help us collectively move back into balance within ourselves? 

In this episode, Debohrah Eden Tull , the author of Luminous Darkness An Engaged Buddhist Approach to Embracing the Unknown, joins Laura Dawn to explore the medicine inherent in darkness and just how crucial this medicine is for us at a time of accelerating change and transition. 

Eden is a Zen meditation/mindfulness teacher, spiritual activist and sustainability educator. She has been practicing meditation for the past 30 years and teaching for over 20 years. She spent seven years as a monastic at a silent Zen Monastery, and has been immersed in sustainable communities for 25 years.

In this episode we explore:

• The concept of Endarkenment
• The 5 pillars of Endarkenment
• Life as a teacher of love
• Cultivating resilience through restoration
• The darkness as a source of creativity
• The Shadow & Spiritual bypassing
• Our incessant need to fill space with stories and narratives
• The inner compass of interoceptive awareness 
• The medicine of grief 
• The potency of anger
• Transmuting sacred rage
• The necessity for compassion
• Our connection to this earth and how Nature models and illuminates the wisdom of darkness. 

And so much more.

• Click here to learn more about Deborah Eden Tull, access the full transcript and resources mentioned in this episode.
• Connect with Laura Dawn on Instagram

ENROLLMENT OPEN FOR TRANSILIENCE: STARTING SEPTEMBER 13th.

Join me for TRANSILIENCE a 6-month training program for psychedelic coaches, integration guides and microdosing mentors who want to learn how to support others on the path of psychedelic transformation.

In today's episode, I share the 7 core pillars of how I weave psychedelics into my creative process as a content creator, entrepreneur, and thought-leader.

This episode is the follow up to episode #62 from Ideation to Implementation Psychedelics and the 5 Phases of the Creative Process.

• The 7 core pillars of my creative process.
• Why creativity is inherent in the process of inner transformation, and why creativity and transformation are two sides to the same coin.
• The essence of what 25 years of journeying with psychedelics and sacred plant medicines has taught me.
• A definition of creativity
• Exploring psychedelics as both "inspirogens" and "ideagens" (and why the names we give psychedelics matter.)
• Monophonic vs. Polyphasic cultures.
• Why my philosophy of life and creativity are one and the same.
• Why thinking in frameworks is helpful.
• Understanding that navigating medicine space is a skillset that you can learn to cultivate.
• Two hidden assumptions that prevent optimized cognition.
• My perspective on Intention Setting.
• The science of imagination.
• What is an Idea Space?
• What defines our best ideas?

A 6-Month Facilitator Training Program for Psychedelic Coaches, Integration Guides & Microdosing Mentors. >>> Click here to learn more.

Music Credit: Aisha Badru

PLEASE NOTE: I am recording outside in the Costa Rican Jungle. Please excuse the static background noise.