On April 19th, 1943, the chemist Albert Hofmann discovered the effects of LSD during a psychedelic bicycle ride home from work. For those working to harness psychedelics for the betterment of humankind, Bicycle Day marks an important moment in medical and spiritual history.

Meditation is psychedelic -- somebody call the police. Jer and Reid chat about their entry into the wild world of meditation. We often get stuck in a certain way of thinking about ourselves and about the world. Meditation is the tried and tested way to blast ourselves out of that. Psychedelics, the crash course. Come on Karen, we're leaving the matrix.  

Our friendly neighborhood inner space doctor, Reid Robison, explains how to make peace with your neurotransmitters with a big dose of awareness and understanding, and a few little brain hacks.

In this 9 minute lecture to ketamine-assisted psychotherapy clinicians, Dr. Reid Robison breaks down the rather complicated mechanism of action of ketamine into 4 main points. 

This is a lecture by Reid to prescribers and therapists in a ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP) training. 

Too long, didn't listen? No problemo. Here are the cliff notes: (wait, do people still know what cliff notes means these days, or has that gone extinct?)

Mindfulness is...

Mindfulness is simply being aware. It’s noticing and paying attention to your thoughts, emotions, behaviors and experiences, in a non-judgemental way, on a moment to moment basis. It can be practiced at any time, wherever you are, whoever you’re with, and whatever you’re doing. Mindfulness is showing up and being fully engaged in the here and now. That means being free of both the past and the future -- the what ifs, the judgement of right or wrong, and the self-criticism. Mindfulness is a lifelong practice, and a companion to have throughout your life. It’s like an old friend we turn to when in need of inspiration, direction, or clarity.

“It cultivates access to core aspects of our own minds and bodies that our very sanity depends on,” says Jon Kabat-Zinn, from The Unexpected Power of Mindfulness Meditation. “Mindfulness, which includes tenderness and kindness toward ourselves, restores dimensions of our being. These have never actually been missing, just that we have been missing them, we have been absorbed elsewhere. When your mind clarifies and opens, your heart also clarifies and opens.”

How to practice mindfulness:

Formal sitting meditation:

Mindfulness practice during daily activities:

                     1) ________________________   2) ________________________

                     1) ________________________   2) ________________________

This is the audio for a lecture by Reid (your favorite inner space doctor) on psychedelics, recorded as part of a ketamine-assisted psychotherapy training at Cedar Psychiatry. Here Reid walks us through a smorgasbord of psychedelic wisdom, such as: a brief timeline of psychedelic discoveries, some distinctions among classes of psychedelics (including what makes us hallucinate), your brain on LSD, what's in that gross tasting ayahuasca stuff, how MDMA helps us heal from trauma, why Gordon Wasson traveled to mexico to meet Maria Sabina (and went on to write a 1957 Life magazine article that birthed a shroom boom), how much psilocybin they're giving in psychedelic research studies, and the unlikely story of ketamine from anesthesia to club to clinic. 

Note that slides are referenced throughout, but this is just the audio. If you'd like a copy of the slides, just for fun or to follow along during this episode, visit: tinyurl.com/psychedelicsubstances

Allow yourself to switch from the usual mode of doing to a mode of non-doing. Of simply being. You are unconcerned, untroubled, letting go of the past, letting go of the future. right here, right now.

All you gotta remember is this: Give without expectation, receive with gratitude, forgive with grace.

1. The real meditation is how you live your life.

Triggers are friends to follow. When we experience a trigger, we can find great benefit from connecting with the internal mechanism of vulnerability that has become activated. In particular, this method allows for a deeper understanding of the unprocessed emotion fueling the trigger, thereby providing clarity regarding needs in the present moment – an invaluable skill when navigating life's challenges. This process also facilitates the activation of our inner healing intelligence, offering agency in the transformation of our emotional landscape.

Step 1. Take a few deep breaths to settle into the present moment. Next, bring to mind an experience that triggered you within the last few weeks, even if minor. This could be something that was said or done, or even something that was not said or not done.

Step 2. Keeping that recent experience of in mind, review the 20 statements below select the item that resonates best with your experience of the trigger (select only one):

What statement best reflects your experience of the trigger?

01.  I felt excluded       

02.  I felt like the bad guy

03.  I felt powerless     

04.  I felt forgotten

05.  I felt unheard

06. I felt unsafe

07.  I felt unloved

08.  I felt judged

09.  I felt blamed

10.  I felt frustrated

11.  I felt disrespected

12.  I felt disconnected

13.  I felt a lack of affection

14.  I felt trapped

15.  I felt uncared for

16.  I felt lonely

17.  I felt like I couldn’t speak up

18.  I felt ignored

19.  I felt manipulated

20.  I felt like I couldn’t be honest

21.  I felt controlled

22.  I felt like it was unfair

Step 3. Take another deep breath or two, inhaling and exhaling slowly. Close your eyes, and connect with your earliest childhood memory of having felt _______(the item you selected from the list above). Recall the scene with as much detail as possible, including your emotional experience. Did you feel scared? Sad? Mad? Embarrassed? Did you tell anyone? If not -- why? If so -- what happened then?

Step 4. Ask yourself: What were my child-self’s vulnerable needs at that time (comfort, validation, protection, compassion, understanding, patience, encouragement, love, celebration, etc.)?

Step 5. Imagine your child-self in your heart. Tend to them in a way that meets these needs, with words and action. For example, you might speak loving words of reassurance to them while placing your hands on your heart. Notice how your physical body responds. Take a few minutes to reflect on the experience of having gone through this process, including how your perception of the event and your needs may have changed.