Faces of 5: Stories with Substance

In this episode of Faces of Five, chad charles speaks with Raj, a physicist and lifelong seeker whose curiosity about the nature of reality led him from theoretical physics, philosophy, and meditation to an experience with 5-MeO-DMT.

Raj came to the medicine as a self-described “hard-headed scientist,” interested not in therapy, but in exploring the same questions that had fascinated him as an academic: What is consciousness? What is reality? And how do we reconcile the seemingly different worlds of science and spirituality? What he encountered became what he describes as the most profound experience of his life.

Together, chad and Raj explore consciousness as a fundamental feature of reality, surrender and the limits of control, trauma held in the body, and the unexpected peace that emerged from his experience. Two years later, Raj reflects on a transformed meditation practice, a deeper relationship with presence, and a worldview that allows his scientific mind to coexist with mystery, beauty, and the ineffable.

What We Discussed:

- Raj's lifelong fascination with science, religion, and the nature of reality

- Why theoretical physics ultimately left some of his biggest questions unanswered

- Approaching 5-MeO-DMT as a scientist rather than as a therapeutic seeker

- Experiencing what Raj describes as consciousness as fundamental to reality

- Surrendering control and learning to “flow”

- Finding an unexpected sense of peace

- Recognizing the ways trauma can be held in the body

- Reconciling scientific and spiritual ways of understanding reality

- How the experience transformed Raj's meditation practice

- Presence as a way of returning to the experience without the medicine

- Finding connections between mathematics, consciousness, religion, and philosophy

- How his relationship with purpose and meaningful work has changed

- Seeing consciousness—and beauty—in the world around him

- Why readiness matters when approaching profound psychedelic experiences

chad charles is a practitioner, educator, and mentor specializing in 5-MeO-DMT. Since 2016, he has worked exclusively in this field, developing a practice-based understanding of these experiences through direct facilitation, practitioner training, and ongoing research. He works one-on-one with individuals in therapy-assisted contexts, supports people around the world through integration calls, and guides practitioners through mentorship and training. A large, detailed body of documented sessions since 2020 informs targeted research initiatives, with a focus on clarity, precision, and lived data. His private practice operates in Toronto and Montreal.

Learn more at: www.recogntions.ca

Substack: https://substack.com/@chadcharles5Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/re.cognitions

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Recogntions

Timestamped Summary

00:00 – Intro to Raj: a physicist searching for answers about reality

02:00 – Why science alone left some of his biggest questions unanswered

04:00 – Coming to 5-MeO-DMT as a scientist, not for therapy

06:00 – “Consciousness is fundamental”: Raj's biggest realization

08:00 – Surrender, flow, and experiencing profound peace

09:00 – How the experience transformed his meditation practice

11:00 – Learning to surrender during the 5-MeO-DMT session

12:00 – Trauma, the body, and feeling ready to let go

13:00 – Reconciling science and spirituality

15:00 – Consciousness discovering itself through us

18:00 – Presence as the lasting lesson of the experience

20:00 – Meditation as a way back to peace

21:00 – Mathematics, consciousness, free will, and purpose

24:00 – Leaving materialism behind: Raj's new worldview

25:00 – Seeing consciousness, beauty, and connection everywhere

28:00 – Readiness and the most profound experience of Raj's life

In this episode of Faces of Five, Chad Charles reconnects with AJ years after their 5-MeO-DMT session to reflect on a much larger journey with psychedelics, therapy, and mental health.

After years of struggling with depression and searching for the right support, AJ began ketamine-assisted therapy at one of the lowest points in his life. That experience changed his trajectory and eventually led him to explore 5-MeO-DMT alongside years of consistent work with a psychologist.

Together, Chad and AJ explore what happens when psychedelic experiences aren't treated as standalone interventions, but as part of an ongoing therapeutic relationship. AJ reflects on the importance of trust and rapport, learning to recognize his tendency to brace against difficult experiences, and how years of psychedelic and therapeutic work have fundamentally changed his relationship with depression and anxiety.

What We Discussed:

• AJ's long-term experience with depression and traditional mental health treatment

• Discovering ketamine-assisted therapy (and its limits) 

• Combining psychedelic experiences with consistent psychotherapy

• The difference between a clinical setting and a therapeutic relationship

• Why trust and rapport matter in psychedelic work

• AJ's experience with ketamine, psilocybin, and 5-MeO-DMT

• Fear, resistance, and “bracing” during his 5-MeO-DMT session

• Learning what happens when he stops expecting things to go wrong

• Unexpected changes that emerged after his session

• The importance of debriefing and working through psychedelic experiences

• How AJ has changed over five years of sustained inner work

• No longer allowing depression and anxiety to define who he is

chad charles is a practitioner, educator, and mentor specializing in 5-MeO-DMT. Since 2016, he has worked exclusively in this field, developing a practice-based understanding of these experiences through direct facilitation, practitioner training, and ongoing research. He works one-on-one with individuals in therapy-assisted contexts, supports people around the world through integration calls, and guides practitioners through mentorship and training. A large, detailed body of documented sessions since 2020 informs targeted research initiatives, with a focus on clarity, precision, and lived data. His private practice operates in Toronto and Montreal.

Learn more at www.recognitions.ca

Chad Charles on Substack

@re.cognitions on Instagram

Recogntions on Facebook

Timestamped Summary

00:00 – Intro to AJ and reconnecting several years after his 5-MeO-DMT session
01:00 – Depression, therapy, and discovering ketamine-assisted treatment
03:00 – Exploring 5-MeO-DMT and psilocybin alongside ongoing therapy
04:00 – The impact of pairing psychedelic experiences with consistent therapy
06:00 – What was missing from the clinical ketamine setting
09:00 – Bringing his psychologist into his ketamine treatments
10:00 – Why rapport and trust mattered during psilocybin therapy
14:00 – AJ's 5-MeO-DMT session and the importance of feeling safe
16:00 – Fear, resistance, and learning to release the “bracing” response
19:00 – How that pattern of bracing showed up beyond psychedelics
23:00 – Five years of psychedelic experiences and personal change
24:00 – Depression and anxiety: “It's not me anymore”

In this episode of Faces of Five, chad charles speaks with Livio about how his relationship with 5-MeO-DMT evolved from independent psychonautic exploration into a deeper practice of surrender, self-inquiry, and embodiment.

Having experienced 5-MeO-DMT before working with Chad, Livio reflects on what changed when the medicine became part of a relational, facilitated process. Through their work together, he began questioning not only what it means to “break through,” but the identities, attachments, and external structures he had relied on to create a sense of safety and self.

Together, they explore the difference between breakthrough and full release, letting go of external authority, and transformation that can happen without needing to cognitively understand or explain it. For Livio, the journey with 5-MeO-DMT has ultimately become less about travelling somewhere extraordinary and more about returning—more deeply each time—to his body, the present moment, and his own life.

What We Discussed:

• Livio’s experiences with 5-MeO-DMT before working with a facilitator

• Why relationship and container changed his experience of the medicine

• Surrender and learning to simply be with what arises

• Letting go of spiritual objects and external sources of safety

• The difference between a “breakthrough” and a full release

• Questioning identity and the parts of ourselves we hold onto

• Moving from ideas about life toward greater presence and embodiment

• Community, belonging, loneliness, and developing a relationship with himself

• The difference between embracing identity and becoming attached to it

• Experiencing energetic release without needing a story or explanation

• Willpower, physicality, and reconnecting with the body

• How 5-MeO-DMT continually points him back toward life and the present moment

chad charles is a practitioner, educator, and mentor specializing in 5-MeO-DMT. Since 2016, he has worked exclusively in this field, developing a practice-based understanding of these experiences through direct facilitation, practitioner training, and ongoing research. He works one-on-one with individuals in therapy-assisted contexts, supports people around the world through integration calls, and guides practitioners through mentorship and training. A large, detailed body of documented sessions since 2020 informs targeted research initiatives, with a focus on clarity, precision, and lived data. His private practice operates in Toronto and Montreal.

Learn more at chadcharles.net

Chad Charles on Substack

@re.cognitions on Instagram

Recogntions on Facebook

Timestamped Summary

00:00 – Intro to Livio

03:00 – Why the facilitator and container matter as much as the molecule

06:00 – Surrendering the need to explain and simply being with the experience

08:00 – Letting go of external objects, safety, and authority

11:00 – Rethinking the idea of a “breakthrough”

15:00 – Transformation, identity, and self-inquiry

17:00 – Coming into the body, the senses, and the present moment

21:00 – Letting identity dissolve and questioning what still serves

23:00 – Community, belonging, loneliness, and relationship with self

26:00 – Embracing change without becoming attached to identity

29:00 – Experiencing an energetic blockage and release through the body

34:00 – Healing and transformation without cognitive understanding

37:00 – How 5-MeO-DMT keeps bringing Livio deeper into life

38:00 – Curiosity, trust, and approaching future experiences

In this episode of Faces of Five, chad charles sits down with longtime friend Max to explore a profoundly metaphysical 5-MeO-DMT journey that carried him to what he describes as the final threshold of self.

Drawn to 5-MeO-DMT as the ultimate test of surrender, Max chose the injection route in order to fully commit to the experience. What followed was an accelerated journey through the unraveling of thought, a radical opening of the heart, and an encounter with a space beyond identity, memory, and reference itself.

Returning from that threshold, Max found himself seeing Earth from an entirely new perspective: a tiny, precious home suspended within an immeasurable vastness. The experience left him with a deep love for life, a renewed appreciation for the human "character" he inhabits, and a lasting sense that the search for something beyond himself had finally come to rest.

Together, chad and Max explore surrender, ego dissolution, the nature of consciousness, spiritual practice, and what happens when the seeker reaches the place they have been searching for all along.

What We Discussed:

• Why Max felt called to 5-MeO-DMT after years of spiritual inner work

• Choosing the intravenous route as an act of surrender

• The unraveling of thought during the ascent

• Heart-opening at the edge of annihilation

• The invitation to love everything

• Crossing the final threshold of self

• The mysterious gap beyond memory and identity

• Seeing Earth from a cosmic perspective

• Heaven, hell, and the stories we create

• Falling in love with the human character

• The difference between knowing and believing

• Practices that help maintain connection to the ineffable

• Latihan, spirituality, and direct experience

• Many paths leading to the same destination

• Why the seeking may end while the playing continues

chad charles is a practitioner, educator, and mentor specializing in 5-MeO-DMT. Since 2016, he has worked exclusively in this field, developing a practice-based understanding of these experiences through direct facilitation, practitioner training, and ongoing research. He works one-on-one with individuals in therapy-assisted contexts, supports people around the world through integration calls, and guides practitioners through mentorship and training. A large, detailed body of documented sessions since 2020 informs targeted research initiatives, with a focus on clarity, precision, and lived data. His private practice operates in Toronto and Montreal. Learn more at chadcharles.net

https://substack.com/@chadcharles5 https://www.instagram.com/re.cognitions/ https://www.facebook.com/Recogntions

Timestamped Summary

00:00 – Intro to Max 04:00 – Surrender, trust, and choosing the injection route 09:00 – The rapid onset and unraveling of thought 12:00 – Feeling the consciousness of Earth 13:00 – The invitation to love everything 14:00 – Crossing the final threshold of self 15:00 – Returning from the gap beyond memory 16:00 – Seeing Earth as home within infinite silence 18:00 – Falling in love with the human character 22:00 – Living with a knowing that cannot be forgotten 28:00 – Personal, transpersonal, and beyond differentiation 33:00 – Many paths leading to the same destination 36:00 – When the seeking ends and the playing begins

In this episode of Faces of Five, chad charles speaks with Miriam about a lifetime of dissociation, identity loss, surrender, and the surprising perspective that transformed her relationship to all of it.

After experiencing severe episodes of dissociation throughout her life—including periods of memory loss, loss of identity, and states of profound disconnection—Miriam came to 5-MeO-DMT with curiosity rather than expectation. What emerged was not a lesson in how to let go, but a lesson in how to stay.

Together, they explore the difference between dissociation and transcendence, the role of surrender in healing, and how conscious choice can transform a coping mechanism into a gift. This conversation offers a nuanced and deeply human perspective on trauma, presence, nervous system intelligence, and what becomes possible when we learn to remain connected to life without losing ourselves.

What We Discussed:

• Miriam's lifelong relationship with dissociation
• Losing her sense of identity, memory, and self
• The moment surrender transformed her healing journey
• Dissociation as both a coping mechanism and a gift
• Why she was drawn to 5-MeO-DMT
• The difference between dissociation and transcendence
• Discovering how easily she could surrender
• Learning to remain present while accessing altered states
• Choice, agency, and nervous system freedom
• How trauma shapes our relationship to presence
• Pleasure, embodiment, and reconnecting with life
• Transforming dissociation from something involuntary into something conscious

chad charles is a practitioner, educator, and mentor specializing in 5-MeO-DMT. Since 2016, he has worked exclusively in this field, developing a practice-based understanding of these experiences through direct facilitation, practitioner training, and ongoing research. He works one-on-one with individuals in therapy-assisted contexts, supports people around the world through integration calls, and guides practitioners through mentorship and training. A large, detailed body of documented sessions since 2020 informs targeted research initiatives, with a focus on clarity, precision, and lived data. His private practice operates in Toronto and Montreal. Learn more at chadcharles.net

https://substack.com/@chadcharles5
https://www.instagram.com/re.cognitions/
https://www.facebook.com/Recogntions

Timestamped Summary

00:00 – Intro to Miriam
02:00 – Coming to 5-MeO-DMT with curiosity and no expectations
04:00 – Why Chad's perspective on Miriam's dissociation resonated so deeply
06:00 – Severe dissociation, memory loss, and losing her sense of self
08:00 – The surrender that came effortlessly
14:00 – Dissociation as both a coping mechanism and a superpower
17:00 – Entering familiar dissociative states during the session
21:00 – The unexpected lesson: learning to stay present
25:00 – Choice, agency, and the difference between dissociation and transcendence
28:00 – Increased pleasure, embodiment, and connection to life after the session
30:00 – Reduced triggers and a new relationship with presence
33:00 – What dissociation taught her about worth, identity, and being alive

In this episode of Faces of Five, chad charles speaks with Laadaa, a Haida elder and lifelong student of healing, about the role 5-MeO-DMT played in a personal journey that spans more than three decades.

Rather than viewing medicine as a cure, Laadaa shares how 5-MeO-DMT acted as a catalyst—opening doors that allowed him to continue the deeper work of healing, self-discovery, and self-acceptance. Together, they explore collective trauma, Indigenous perspectives on wellness, the importance of personal responsibility, and why meaningful transformation requires far more than a single experience.

This conversation is a reflection on patience, perseverance, and the understanding that healing is not a destination, but a lifelong practice.

What We Discussed:

● How 5-MeO-DMT opened new pathways for healing

● Why medicine alone is not enough

● The importance of doing the work after ceremony● Ancestors, spirituality, and receiving guidance

● Collective trauma and Indigenous healing

● Shame, identity, and generational wounds

● Play, joy, and reconnecting with the inner child

● Acceptance, forgiveness, and personal growth

● Self-acceptance and finding a new relationship with oneself

● The experience of symbolic death during 5-MeO-DMT

● Medicine as a catalyst rather than a cure

● Discernment, readiness, and responsible medicine work

_____

chad charles is a practitioner, educator, and mentor specializing in 5-MeO-DMT. Since 2016, he has worked exclusively in this field, developing a practice-based understanding of these experiences through direct facilitation, practitioner training, and ongoing research. He works one-on-one with individuals in therapy-assisted contexts, supports people around the world through integration calls, and guides practitioners through mentorship and training. A large, detailed body of documented sessions since 2020 informs targeted research initiatives, with a focus on clarity, precision, and lived data. His private practice operates in Toronto and Montreal. Learn more at chadcharles.net

https://substack.com/@chadcharles5

______

Timestamped Summary

00:00 – Reconnecting after years and reflecting on a lifelong healing journey

03:00 – How 5-MeO-DMT opened new pathways and opportunities

05:00 – Why healing requires action and commitment beyond the medicine

07:00 – Ancestors, spiritual guidance, and receiving support along the path

09:00 – Collective trauma, Indigenous healing, and personal responsibility

12:00 – Shame, generational wounds, and confronting difficult truths

13:00 – Remembering play, joy, and the importance of putting yourself first

16:00 – Struggling with acceptance while continuing to heal

18:00 – Self-acceptance, progress, and trusting the direction of life

20:00 – Conscious participation during 5-MeO-DMT and the experience of symbolic death

22:00 – Why medicine is a catalyst, not a cure

24:00 – Discernment, integrity, and not chasing medicine

28:00 – Guidance for those considering 5-MeO-DMT

29:00 – One-on-one work versus group ceremony

30:00 – Moving through darkness and finding what lies beyond

In this episode of Faces of Five, chad charles speaks with Coline about her first experience with 5-MeO-DMT and the profound lessons it revealed about trust, surrender, and the delicate relationship between the body and the mind.

Drawing from years of meditation, somatic exploration, psychedelic work, and personal development, Coline shares how the experience challenged her tendency to analyze, control, and make sense of everything. Together, they explore protective parts, embodied wisdom, and the surprising discovery that her body often knew the way forward long before her mind was ready to trust it.

This conversation is a thoughtful exploration of self-awareness, surrender, nervous system intelligence, and the delicate balance between intuition and analysis.

________

What We Discussed:

● What drew Coline to 5-MeO-DMT and why timing mattered

● How 5-MeO-DMT differed from other psychedelic experiences

● Meeting the observer beyond the ego

● Parts work, self-awareness, and internal dialogue

● Resistance, panic, and learning to trust the process

● The wisdom of the body versus the stories of the mind

● Surrender as a skill that can be developed

● The role of guidance during profound psychedelic experiences

● Integration through embodiment and daily awareness

● Reactivations and experiences of deep presence

● Navigating the relationship between intuition and analysis

● Trust, gratitude, alignment, and the lasting impact of the experience

_______

chad charles is a practitioner, educator, and mentor specializing in 5-MeO-DMT. Since 2016, he has worked exclusively in this field, developing a practice-based understanding of these experiences through direct facilitation, practitioner training, and ongoing research. He works one-on-one with individuals in therapy-assisted contexts, supports people around the world through integration calls, and guides practitioners through mentorship and training. A large, detailed body of documented sessions since 2020 informs targeted research initiatives, with a focus on clarity, precision, and lived data. His private practice operates in Toronto and Montreal. Learn more at chadcharles.net

_______

Timestamped Summary

00:10 – Why Coline felt called to 5-MeO-DMT and the importance of trust and setting

03:00 – Arriving at the session from a place of curiosity rather than fear

05:00 – Comparing 5-MeO-DMT to other modalities

07:00 – A lifelong devotion to self-discovery and personal growth

08:00 – Meeting the observer and exploring the different parts of the self

09:00 – Panic, resistance, and losing trust during the session

11:00 – Discovering the body's wisdom when the mind wants to take control

13:00 – Surrender as a practice: learning to let go and trust the process

15:00 – Integrating the experience through the relationship between body and mind

17:00 – Reactivations, intimacy, and returning to states of profound presence

20:00 – When to trust the body and when to trust the mind

24:00 – Protective parts, surrender, and reaching a state of blissful awareness

27:00 – Lasting feelings of trust, gratitude, and alignment after the session

32:00 – Why she would return: self-discovery, embodiment, and the ongoing journey inward

In this episode of Faces of Five, chad charles speaks with Moreno, an artist, spiritual practitioner, and long-time participant in 5-MeO-DMT work. Reflecting on over five years of sessions together, Moreno shares how the medicine helped him move from confusion and self-doubt toward clarity, confidence, and a deeper understanding of who he truly is.

Together, they explore spiritual materialism, self-love, intuition, trauma healing, subconscious reprogramming, and the practical actions required to embody lasting transformation. Moreno offers a grounded perspective on spiritual growth, emphasizing that awakening isn't about collecting knowledge, rather, it's about integrating insights into everyday life and becoming who you were always meant to be.

What We Discussed:

- Beginning the journey with 5-MeO-DMT

- Readiness, surrender, and transformation

- Spiritual materialism and personal truth

- Turning insight into action- Intuition, synchronicity, and trust- Self-love and inherent worth

- Confidence and authentic self-expression

- Higher states of consciousness

- Stabilizing growth and embodiment- Trauma, memory, and healing

- Reprogramming the subconscious

- The lasting impact of 5-MeO-DMT

_______

chad charles is a practitioner, educator, and mentor specializing in 5-MeO-DMT. Since 2016, he has worked exclusively in this field, developing a practice-based understanding of these experiences through direct facilitation, practitioner training, and ongoing research. He works one-on-one with individuals in therapy-assisted contexts, supports people around the world through integration calls, and guides practitioners through mentorship and training. A large, detailed body of documented sessions since 2020 informs targeted research initiatives, with a focus on clarity, precision, and lived data. His private practice operates in Toronto and Montreal. Learn more at chadcharles.net

__________

Timestamped Summary

00:00 – Intro

01:00 – What led Moreno to 5-MeO-DMT

03:00 – Readiness, surrender, and being open to whatever the medicine reveals

05:00 – How 5-MeO-DMT amplified who he already 

06:00 – Reflecting on five years of growth, transformation, and integration

07:00 – Spiritual materialism, direct experience, and finding your own truth

12:00 – Clarity, releasing trauma, and seeing beyond unconscious patterns

14:00 – Turning realization into action

16:00 – Intuition, synchronicity, and trusting life's unfolding process

18:00 – Self-love, self-worth, and becoming comfortable in his own skin

22:00 – Higher states of consciousness and stabilizing personal transformation

25:00 – Understanding identity, recovering hidden memories, and healing trauma

29:00 – Why 5-MeO-DMT became a major catalyst for lasting change

30:00 – Advice for spiritual seekers: clarify what you truly want

In this episode, Andria, a therapist based in Vancouver, speaks about her first 5-MeO-DMT experience in 2021 and the sessions that followed. She describes feeling a clear pull toward the work despite not having prior guided psychedelic experience, and moving forward based on intuition and trust in the referral that connected her to it.

She shares how her background as a therapist shaped the way she entered the experience. Andria also describes being accustomed to holding space for others, and what it was like to shift into being the one inside the process. In her words, this involved navigating control, trust, and letting go within the sessions themselves.

Andria describes her experiences as unfolding across multiple sessions rather than being contained to a single moment. Some are described as subtle, others more direct, and she speaks to how each session met her in a different way depending on where she was at the time.

Andria also speaks about working one-to-one with the same guide and returning for multiple sessions, and how that continuity and setting supported her engagement with the process.

_________

chad charles is a practitioner, educator, and mentor specializing in 5-MeO-DMT. Since 2016, he has worked exclusively in this field, developing a practice-based understanding of these experiences through direct facilitation, practitioner training, and ongoing research. He works one-on-one with individuals in therapy-assisted contexts, supports people around the world through integration calls, and guides practitioners through mentorship and training. A large, detailed body of documented sessions since 2020 informs targeted research initiatives, with a focus on clarity, precision, and lived data. His private practice operates in Toronto and Montreal. Learn more at chadcharles.net

Substack

Timestamped Summary

00:00 – Introduction to Andria’s 5-MeO-DMT journey

02:00 – Her background as a therapist specializing in EMDR and somatic work

04:00 – Working beyond cognition: healing through the body and energy

05:30 – Her first 5-MeO-DMT session in 2021

06:30 – Physical releases, observing consciousness, and energetic purging

08:00 – Understanding the “observer” state and equanimity

10:00 – Spiritual practice, meditation, and emotional detachment

12:00 – Intensity, blocked energy, and nervous system release

13:30 – Reactivations and integration after the first session

15:00 – Why she returned for a second session years later

16:00 – A radically different second experience: from darkness to rebirth

17:30 – Encountering “the void” and wanting to stop the process

18:30 – Emotional aftermath, integration support, and post-session lows

20:00 – Why guidance and relational safety matter in psychedelic work

22:00 – Vulnerability, trust, and the therapeutic container

24:00 – Why this became some of the most important work of her life

27:00 – Lasting changes: observer consciousness, self-compassion, and resilience

28:30 – Supporting others through psychedelic integration work

30:00 – Living with epilepsy and shifting her relationship to epilepsy and medication

34:00 – Reflections on long-term psychedelic integration and closing thoughts

Naran describes returning to 5-MeO-DMT with chad after a previous experience (with someone else in a less-than-supportive container) left him terrified of both the medicine and life itself. That early experience initiated a two year journey of constant fear, panic, disregulation. Even hearing the medicine mentioned could send him into panic, yet he knew that avoiding it was not resolving what had been opened.

Naran reflects on the original experience as ending in an overwhelming contraction despite it being a profound state of liberation. He says that contrast was deeply destabilising and the facilitator was not able to hold him adequately. For roughly two years he lived with reactivations, fear, and a sense of being hunted by something he could not escape. Although he had tools and resources, he says that although they soothed him, they did not resolve what remained unfinished.

What allowed him to return to the medicine was a different context: a gentler, more gradual approach, one-on-one contact, time with the facilitator, and a stronger sense of safety and connection. He describes the first session with chad as giving him courage, and the second as the real crossing—meeting the fear, feeling it fully, and finding safety within it. He says that the completion accomplished in that process was due to a softening, a growing trust, and the sense that he could finally stop.

He now speaks about fear as a teacher that calls him forward rather than something to avoid. That shift shapes how he works with others: with empathy, with safety, and with a willingness to stay with whatever is happening. He says the return to 5 with chad taught him the power to relax into intensity, to soften reactions, and to gently unravel contractions rather than turn away from them.

_____

chad charles is a practitioner, educator, and mentor specializing in 5-MeO-DMT. Since 2016, he has worked exclusively in this field, developing a practice-based understanding of these experiences through direct facilitation, practitioner training, and ongoing research. He works one-on-one with individuals in therapy-assisted contexts, supports people around the world through integration calls, and guides practitioners through mentorship and training. A large, detailed body of documented sessions since 2020 informs targeted research initiatives, with a focus on clarity, precision, and lived data. His private practice operates in Toronto and Montreal. Learn more at chadcharles.net

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Timestamps:

0:00 Introduction to Naran
1:41 Retreats, breathwork, and one-on-one work
3:26 Returning to 5-MeO-DMT after fear
5:00 Freedom, contraction, and destabilization
6:48 Forgetting his name and coming back to limitation
9:29 Two years of fear and reactivations
11:49 A gentler approach and saying yes again
14:00 Why one-on-one support mattered
16:23 Second session: from the shore into the depths
18:49 Crossing the fear and finding safety
20:57 Fear as teacher, softening, and guide work
29:42 Can going back be the remedy?