Medicine With The Medals

In this episode, Mark and Michele sit down with Sean T. McAllister, a psychedelic attorney and their own lawyer in Colorado, to answer the question so many people are asking: are psychedelics legal where I live? Sean has spent 30 years in drug policy reform, from defending people facing prison time to co-authoring the laws that legalized cannabis and then four psychedelics in Colorado. He breaks down what "legal," "decriminalized" and "regulated" really mean, where psilocybin and ayahuasca stand today, and what someone outside Colorado can do. He also shares the deeply personal story that brought him to plant medicine, and how it helped him become the father his children came back to. If you've ever wondered where you stand legally on your own healing path, this conversation is for you.

Sean T. McAllister is an attorney specializing in the regulatory, health care, business and religious freedom aspects of psychedelic medicines and therapies in the United States. He co-authored Colorado's cannabis legalization initiatives and the Natural Medicine Health Act of 2022, which legalized four psychedelics in the state and created a regulated healing center pathway. He has helped four psychedelic plant medicine churches achieve federal recognition, more than half of those recognized in the U.S. Sean is licensed to practice law in Colorado and California and consults nationwide.

Join us as we explore:

• Sean's personal story: a painful divorce, years of separation from his children, and how plant medicine helped him heal before they came back into his life.

• Why 30 years of meditation didn't transform him the way plant medicine did, and why the ceremony is the catalyst that makes integration possible.

• The real difference between legal, decriminalized and regulated, explained in plain language.

• How decriminalization in Denver opened the door to cannabis legalization and, later, to Colorado's psychedelic laws.

• What Colorado's Natural Medicine Health Act allows, including protections for parents and people on probation.

• Is ayahuasca legal? Why every federally recognized psychedelic church in the U.S. is an ayahuasca church.

• Where psilocybin stands today, from the cities that have decriminalized mushrooms to Oregon, New Mexico and the FDA-approved psilocybin expected in 2027.

• If you don't live in Colorado: why the First Amendment isn't what protects religious use, how the Religious Freedom Restoration Act works, and what makes a spiritual practice "sincere."

• Spirituality, ancestry and the stoned ape theory: why plant medicine may be part of who we are as humans.

• The one law Sean would change tomorrow, and why practitioners should protect themselves legally.

Whether you're curious about plant medicine, already on the path, or working with these medicines in your community, this conversation is a reminder that laws change when culture changes, and that starts with people sharing their stories. Share this episode with someone who's been wondering if it's legal where they live.

Connect with Sean T. McAllister:

• Website: www.mcallisterlawoffice.com

• Instagram: @mcallister2928

• Facebook: Sean McAllister

• LinkedIn: Sean McAllister

  
  

Connect with Medicine with The Medals:

• Subscribe on YouTube: @medicinewiththemedals

• Listen on Spotify

• Follow us on social media: Instagram, Facebook & LinkedIn.

• Join our community at Mamadose: community.mamadose.com

Keep learning, keep exploring, keep the conversation going.

In this episode, Mark and Michele turn the mics on each other to share the story behind Medicine with The Medals: how each of them found plant medicine, how they met at an ayahuasca retreat, and everything that happened next. Mark was stuck in depression, anxiety and a constant feeling of never being enough. Michele had been in recovery for years and was searching for answers she couldn't find. Both found their way to the same retreat center in Orlando, Florida, and in January 2020, during Michele's second ayahuasca retreat, Mark walked up to her and said, "You must be Michele." What started as a friendship became a marriage, a mission and a community. If you've ever wondered what plant medicine can really change in a life, and what it can't, this conversation is for you.

Mark and Michele are the co-hosts of Medicine with The Medals and the founders of Mamadose, a company and community built around education, information and integration of plant medicines. What began in their living room, making and shipping everything themselves, has grown into a business that employs 17 people worldwide. Their mission is simple: everybody deserves access to ethical, natural medicine, and the information to make their own choices.

Join us as we explore:

• What brought Mark to his first ayahuasca ceremony, and why he left swearing he'd never go back, only to return three weeks later.

• How Michele, after years in recovery and the loss of her mother, found ayahuasca, and the advice she received after her first weekend that she still lives by.

• The day Mark and Michele met, and the psilocybin journey that showed them they were much more than friends.

• The early days of The Plant Medicine Path, including the phone line nobody called, and how Mamadose was born.

• Why plant medicine is not a quick fix, but a catalyst for lifelong work.

• What integration really means, and why it's not about becoming someone new but about becoming your most authentic self.

• Michele's ceremony in Costa Rica, where a message from her mother and daughter taught her she was always going to be okay.

• Why the preparation and the work afterwards matter more than the experience itself.

• What each of them left behind, from Michele's fear of being seen to Mark's lifelong feeling of never being enough.

Whether you're curious about your first ceremony or you've been on this path for years, this conversation is a reminder that the journey is yours, but you don't have to walk it alone. As Ram Dass said, we're all just walking each other home. Share this episode with someone who's been feeling the call.

Connect with Medicine with The Medals:

• Subscribe on YouTube: @medicinewiththemedals

• Listen on Spotify

• Follow us on social media: Instagram, Facebook & LinkedIn.

• Join our community at Mamadose: community.mamadose.com

Keep learning, keep exploring, keep the conversation going.

In this episode, Mark and Michele sit down with Amy Charlesworth, a 16-year Army veteran and licensed Oregon psilocybin facilitator, for a powerful conversation about healing, access and the future of psychedelic medicine. After years of trying talk therapy, the VA and medications with no relief, Amy reached her lowest point. Then a chance encounter after speaking at an event led to a fully funded retreat for veterans, and one week of psychedelic work, as she puts it, “completely saved my life.” Today she helps others do the same, while fighting for safe, affordable access for veterans, first responders and everyone who needs it. If you’ve ever wondered whether psychedelic medicine could help when nothing else has, this conversation is for you.

Amy Charlesworth is a licensed Oregon Psilocybin Facilitator, Preparation and Integration Coach, and 16-year Army veteran whose work bridges psychedelic policy, facilitation and equitable access. She sits on Oregon’s 2026 Psilocybin Services Rules Advisory Committee, serves on the advisory board of the Center for Psychedelic Policy, and is an official facilitator for Oregon Health & Science University’s OPEN Study. Through her Portland practice, FlightGuide, she guides clients through 12-week programs of preparation, facilitation and integration, and she hosts The QNAMY Show.

Join us as we explore:

• Amy’s journey from 16 years in the Army to the psychedelic retreat that changed her life after nothing else worked.

• Why so many veterans and first responders carry trauma that starts long before their service, and why healing has to go back to childhood.

• What psilocybin services really cost in Oregon, why, and what’s being done to make them more accessible.

• The OPEN Study, the largest psychedelic study in the world to date, and what its first results show.

• How psychedelics help break old patterns, and the “car wreck” moment that brings so many people to this work.

• How Amy’s 12-week program uses preparation and integration to turn one experience into lasting change.

• Why protecting the spirit and ceremony of these medicines matters as they become regulated.

• Why reverence and the quality of the ceremony make all the difference, and an honest conversation about ketamine.

Whether you’re a veteran, a first responder, or simply someone searching for a different path to healing, this conversation is a reminder that there is hope, and that your voice matters in shaping how these medicines are made available. Share this episode with someone who needs to hear it.

Connect with Amy Charlesworth:

• Website: www.flight-guide.com

• Instagram: @qnamy

• YouTube: @QNAMYSHOW

• Book a free 15-minute chat with Amy through her website, where you’ll also find the latest research and ways to get involved in psychedelic policy advocacy.

Connect with Medicine with The Medals:

• Subscribe on YouTube: @medicinewiththemedals

• Listen on Spotify

• Follow us on social media: Instagram, Facebook & LinkedIn.

• Join our community at Mamadose: community.mamadose.com

Keep learning, keep exploring, keep the conversation going.

In this episode, Mark and Michele kick off the new season with Heather Schwarz, founder of Elevating Perspectives, for a heartfelt conversation about what really happens after a psychedelic journey. After nearly 20 years building a successful career in banking, finance and real estate in Miami, Heather hit an "enough is enough" moment in the middle of a divorce. A friend invited her to her first ayahuasca ceremony, and as she puts it, it was "the switch that flipped everything." More than a decade later, she guides others through preparation and integration, the part of the journey she believes matters most. If you've ever felt called to plant medicine, or you've already journeyed and are wondering what to do with what you saw, this conversation is for you.

Heather Schwarz is a psychedelic preparation and integration coach and the founder of Elevating Perspectives. After more than 25 years in entrepreneurship, finance and real estate investing, including roles as a senior private banker at Wells Fargo and at Merrill Lynch, she followed a deeper calling into consciousness work. Drawing on more than 11 years of personal experience with plant medicine and continued learning from leading voices in healing, she helps people navigate their own path to expanded awareness with purpose, safety and clarity.

Join us as we explore:

• Heather's journey from senior private banker to psychedelic integration coach, and the front-porch conversation that led to her first ceremony with ayahuasca, psilocybin and ceremonial cacao.

• Why the journey itself is only 10 to 20% of the work, and why integration is where real change happens.

• The ayahuasca ceremony in Panama where Grandmother Ayahuasca showed Heather a vision about one of her daughters, and the changes she made at home and at work the moment she returned.

• Why integration doesn't have to mean huge life changes, and how small 2% shifts add up over time.

• Neuroplasticity, and what Heather has seen in herself and others: grief turning into joy, and decades of depression lifting.

• How Mark and Michele each found their way to plant medicine, and how so many stories in the medicine space begin with a moment of being stuck.

• The difference between being preached at and feeling a direct connection to God, and how plant medicine deepened Heather's, Mark's and Michele's spirituality.

• Why fear is the number one thing clients feel before their first journey, and why that fear is often just the ego trying to keep us in the same place.

• Heather's step-by-step process with clients: understanding their "why," choosing the right medicine and facilitator, setting an intention, preparing mind, body and spirit, and integration calls after the journey.

• Powerful stories of healing through ketamine, including one that is deeply personal for Mark and Michele.

• Where psychedelic access stands today, why cost is still a real barrier, and why first-time journeyers shouldn't go it alone.

• One small step you can take today if plant medicine keeps showing up in your life, starting with trusted sources like MAPS.

Whether you're curious about your first journey, preparing for one, or still making sense of an experience you've already had, this conversation is a reminder that the medicine opens the door, but you're the one who walks through it. Share this episode with someone in your life who's been feeling that pull.

Connect with Heather Schwarz:

• Website: www.elevatingperspectives.com

• Instagram: @theelevatingperspectives

• Facebook: @theelevatingperspectives

• YouTube: @elevatingperspectives

• Join Heather's Mindset Lunch Series, The Shift, in Naples, FL, launching in January and ask about her women's weekend retreat in Naples, limited to 10 women. Learn more here.

Connect with Medicine with The Medals:

• Subscribe on YouTube: @medicinewiththemedals

• Listen on Spotify

• Follow us on social media: Instagram, Facebook & LinkedIn.

• Join our community at Mamadose: community.mamadose.com

Keep learning, keep exploring, keep the conversation going

What happens when trauma, medical wounding, and decades of psychedelic exploration converge into a life of healing and service?

In this deeply reflective episode of My Psychedelic Story, licensed clinical social worker Alan Romano shares his remarkable personal and professional journey from fear-based LSD use in the 90s to intentional entheogenic medicine work, addiction recovery, and psychedelic integration therapy.

What You’ll Learn:

• Why early psychedelic use under fear and prohibition can fragment identity, not heal it

• How MDMA unexpectedly revealed vulnerability and emotional connection

• The interplay of opioid dependence, Suboxone treatment, and long-term healing work

• What intentional entheogenic medicine (Ibogaine, Ayahuasca, ketamine) revealed about dependency, authenticity, and relational healing

• How integration goes beyond ceremony to relational, nervous system, and identity transformation

Episode Highlights:

• 00:00 – Alan introduces his professional and personal background, including PTSD specialization and early psychedelic experiences under prohibition fears.

• 02:30 – How fear-based set and setting shaped early LSD experiences and identity fragmentation.

• 05:45 – The MDMA experience that facilitated vulnerability, acceptance, and emotional connection.

• 08:20 – Childhood exposure to Camp Lejeune toxins, Restless Leg Syndrome, and ensuing opioid dependence from medically prescribed OxyContin.

• 11:15 – The transformative motorcycle accident and extended intentional LSD self-work.

• 14:02 – Mexico entheogenic retreat: Cambo for opioid withdrawal, Ibogaine flood dose, and profound release of physical and psychological suffering.

• 17:48 – Ayahuasca, Yopo integration, emotional revitalization, and the relational pull of community healing.

• 20:40 – Ketamine medicine work and professional integration training leading to clinical service roles.

Meet the Guest:

Alan Romano is a licensed clinical social worker and Academy-assisted psychotherapist who blends traditional trauma therapy with somatic and psychedelic-informed modalities. His lived experience spans personal addiction recovery, entheogenic medicine work (Ibogaine, Ayahuasca, Kambo, ketamine), and somatic integration pathways rooted in emotional and nervous system healing.

Tools, Frameworks, or Strategies Mentioned:

• Set, Setting, and Informed Consent: foundational principles that distinguish intentional entheogenic work from recreational use.

• Somatic Integration: body-based healing to process trauma beyond cognition.

• Kambo Medicine: intense emotional and nervous system confrontation used to support opioid withdrawal and emotional purging.

• Ibogaine Treatment: medicine that stops physical withdrawal and facilitates deep psychological introspection.

• Ayahuasca+Yopo Ceremony: visionary work that reconnects emotion and relational depth.

• Ketamine Integration: clinical tool that supports emotional closure and neural regulation.

Closing Insight:

As Alan eloquently reflects, plant medicines are not a cure but a relational mirror that reveals our conditioned neural landscapes and invites transformational work:

“Healing is not about eliminating pain, it’s about altering our relationship to it.” His experience shows that true integration requires context, consent, nervous system regulation, and a community of support.

Subscribe to My Psychedelic Story on your favorite podcast platform: https://podlink.com/1723629751

For the best in microdosing products and education, visit http://mamadose.com

Join The Plant Medicine Path community: https://community.theplantmedicinepath.com/feed

Connect with us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/medicinewiththemedals

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Connect with us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/theplantmedicinepath/

What happens when consciousness expands so far that your identity has to rebuild itself from the ground up?

In this deeply personal episode of My Psychedelic Story, Stephanie shares how a powerful Golden Teacher mushroom experience reshaped her understanding of autism, ADHD, mental health systems, and reality itself. From corporate work and hospitalization to homelessness and service, her journey explores what it means to live in an ongoing psychedelic awareness while learning how to integrate it into everyday life.

What You’ll Learn:

• How a high dose psilocybin experience can dissolve identity and expand perception into source awareness

• The connection between neurodivergence, pattern recognition, and spiritual consciousness

• Why integration after psychedelics is essential for navigating relationships and institutions

• How mental health systems and legal structures shape identity and behavior

• The importance of boundaries when navigating unity consciousness and expanded states
  

Episode Highlights:

• 03:12 – The Golden Teacher mushroom journey that expanded awareness beyond personal identity

• 05:40 – When spiritual awakening exposes unhealthy relationship patterns

• 08:21 – Mental health hospitalization, jail, and seeing institutional systems from a new lens

• 11:07 – Early childhood awareness and questioning reality at four years old

• 14:36 – A nuclear war vision and choosing to tether love in the face of fear

• 17:52 – Autism, ADHD, and understanding nervous system regulation after psychedelics

• 19:10 – From the edge of homelessness to working in a shelter and redefining purpose

Meet the Guest:

Stephanie is a certified coach and aspiring life coach currently working in a homeless shelter. Her journey bridges neurodivergence, psilocybin experiences, institutional systems, and consciousness exploration. She shares her story as someone learning how to integrate expanded awareness into grounded service and responsible living.

Tools, Frameworks, or Strategies Mentioned:

• Golden Teacher psilocybin mushrooms

• Integration after psychedelic experiences

• Nervous system regulation through awareness

• Sacred geometry and pattern recognition

• Quantum perception and multiverse exploration

• Conscious boundary development within unity awareness
  

Closing Insight:“Unity is beautiful, but the edges of who we are matter. Separation creates the diversity that makes life navigable.”

Subscribe to My Psychedelic Story on your favorite podcast platform: https://podlink.com/1723629751

For the best in microdosing products and education, visit http://mamadose.com

Join The Plant Medicine Path community: https://community.theplantmedicinepath.com/feed

Connect with us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/medicinewiththemedals

Connect with us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/medicine_with_the_medals/

Connect with us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/theplantmedicinepath/

What does it really mean to say yes to psychedelic healing?

In this powerful episode of My Psychedelic Story, therapist Micah Stover explores trauma-informed psychedelic therapy, somatic healing, and the ethical responsibility behind working with psilocybin, ketamine, MDMA, and cannabis. She shares why preparation and integration matter more than the peak experience, how consent must be conscious and informed, and why depth psychology and archetypal awareness are essential to lasting transformation.

This conversation matters for anyone exploring plant medicine, psychedelic integration, or trauma recovery. It offers a grounded framework for approaching expanded states of consciousness with reverence, discernment, and nervous system safety.

What You’ll Learn:

• Why psychedelic therapy requires preparation that focuses on surrender, not control

• How somatic healing and nervous system regulation support trauma integration

• What informed consent really means in psychedelic work

• The difference between a psychedelic experience and true integration

• How Jungian depth psychology and archetypes help make sense of symbolic, non-linear journeys
  

Episode Highlights:

• 03:12 – How Micah’s personal trauma shaped her path into somatic and psychedelic therapy

• 06:48 – Why “research is me-search” in the world of trauma healing

• 09:27 – The role of preparation and why surrender is more important than expectation

• 12:03 – “This is metaphysical heart surgery” and what that means for therapists and clients

• 15:41 – Why informed consent is often misunderstood in psychedelic spaces

• 18:22 – How art, poetry, and symbol become the language of medicine

• 20:15 – Bridging Western clinical models with indigenous healing traditions

Meet the Guest:

Micah Stover is a trauma-informed therapist specializing in somatic healing and psychedelic-assisted therapy. Trained in psilocybin, ketamine, MDMA, and cannabis work, she integrates Jungian depth psychology, archetypal frameworks, and intergenerational trauma awareness to guide clients through preparation, experience, and integration.

Tools, Frameworks, or Strategies Mentioned:

• Somatic healing and nervous system regulation

• Trauma-informed psychedelic preparation and integration

• Depth psychology and Jungian archetypes

• Consent-centered therapeutic frameworks

• Symbol and metaphor as integration tools

• Healing Psychedelics methodology
  

Closing Insight

Psychedelics can open the door to profound healing, but the real transformation happens in how we prepare, how we surrender, and how we integrate.

If you are exploring psychedelic healing, trauma recovery, or conscious transformation, this episode offers clarity and grounded guidance for the path ahead.

Subscribe to My Psychedelic Story on your favorite podcast platform: https://podlink.com/1723629751

For the best in microdosing products and education, visit http://mamadose.com

Connect with Micah: https://www.linkedin.com/in/micah-stover-49016114/

Join The Plant Medicine Path community: https://community.theplantmedicinepath.com/feed

Connect with us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/medicinewiththemedals

Connect with us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/medicine_with_the_medals/

Connect with us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/theplantmedicinepath/

What happens when food as medicine becomes a doorway to ayahuasca ministry?

In this episode of My Psychedelic Story (12:37), Lauren Pounds shares her evolution from off-grid organic farming and gut health research to founding Seraphaya Spiritual Center, a trauma-informed ayahuasca church.

Her journey bridges plant-based nutrition, addiction recovery, psychedelic integration, and conscious leadership. This conversation explores how physical healing, nervous system regulation, and spiritual insight converge into embodied service.

What You’ll Learn:

• How gut health and plant-based nutrition can influence mental clarity and emotional regulation

• Why integration matters more than the ceremony itself in psychedelic healing

• What a trauma-informed ayahuasca container actually looks like

• How to responsibly bridge psychotherapy and plant medicine work

• Why embodiment and shadow integration are essential for ethical psychedelic facilitation
  

Episode Highlights:

• 01:05 – From off-grid farming to understanding food as medicine

• 02:40 – Discovering the gut-brain connection and mental health awareness

• 04:10 – Addiction recovery and researching ayahuasca as a healing modality

• 06:02 – First experience with ayahuasca at SoulQuest and long-term integration

• 08:15 – Founding Seraphia Spiritual Center after SoulQuest closed

• 09:40 – Designing a trauma-informed week-long ayahuasca retreat model

• 11:05 – Why mainstream conversations about plant medicine improve safety
  

Meet the Guest:

Lauren Pounds is the founder of Seraphaya Spiritual Center, a church serving ayahuasca as sacrament, and Yoga Plants Thoughts, an integration-based yoga coaching practice. With a background in plant-based nutrition, addiction recovery, and trauma-informed facilitation, Lauren bridges spiritual ceremony with psychological safety and embodied leadership.

Tools, Frameworks, and Approaches Mentioned:

• Food as Medicine and Gut-Brain Research

• Trauma-Informed Psychedelic Facilitation

• Week-Long Immersive Ayahuasca Retreat Model

• Yoga-Based Integration Practices

• Nervous System Regulation in Ceremony

• Shadow Work and Embodied Leadership
  

Closing Insight:

Lauren’s story reflects a modern evolution in the Plant Medicine Path: healing is not about escape. It is about integration. It is about safety. It is about embodying the work you facilitate.

If conversations about psychedelic spirituality, trauma-informed healing, and conscious leadership matter to you, subscribe for future insights and share this episode with someone exploring their own integration journey.

Subscribe to My Psychedelic Story on your favorite podcast platform: https://podlink.com/1723629751

For the best in microdosing products and education, visit http://mamadose.com

Connect with Lauren: https://www.facebook.com/lauren.pounds.9/Visit Seraphaya at https://www.seraphaya.org/

Join The Plant Medicine Path community: https://community.theplantmedicinepath.com/feed

Connect with us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/medicinewiththemedals

Connect with us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/medicine_with_the_medals/

Connect with us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/theplantmedicinepath/

What does it mean to walk between worlds as both healer and student?

In this powerful episode of My Psychedelic Story, Pat Miller, a massage therapist and sound healer, shares her decades-long journey through shamanic apprenticeship, energetic medicine, and the sacred art of guiding others through transformation.

From her early experiences in Andean cosmology to her deep work with ayahuasca and non-medicine shamanic practice, Pat reflects on how true healing begins with self-awareness and the courage to face the unseen.

What You’ll Learn:

• How the Andean medicine wheel can guide deep personal transformation and energetic release.

• The difference between shamanic journeying, ayahuasca work, and the integrative healing process.

• Why shadow work is central to emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being.

• What it truly means to serve as a curandero, pampa masayoc, or medicine guide—and how humility shapes that role.

• How energetic healing can complement and expand beyond the limits of modern psychology and medicine.
  

Episode Highlights:

• 00:00 – Pat’s journey into healing: massage, sound work, and the shamanic path

• 02:12 – Discovering the Andean cosmology and apprenticeship in the medicine wheel

• 04:10 – Lessons from serpent, jaguar, hummingbird, and condor, the energies of the four directions

• 06:18 – Integrating shamanic wisdom into everyday life and self-awareness

• 07:45 – Understanding shadow work, fear, and energetic transformation

• 09:00 – Becoming a guide: service, humility, and walking between worlds

Meet the Guest:

Pat Miller is a massage therapist, sound healer, and shamanic practitioner with nearly two decades of experience in Andean traditions and energy medicine. Her work bridges body-based healing with deep spiritual practice, helping others integrate physical, emotional, and energetic transformation through guided ceremony, sound, and intuitive awareness.
Tools, Frameworks, or Practices Mentioned

• Andean Medicine Wheel

• Ayahuasca and Curandero lineages

• Energetic Shadow Work

• Mesa Building and Ritual Practice

• Sound Healing and Drum Journeywork

Closing Insight

“Healing isn’t about fixing what’s broken, it’s about remembering what’s whole.”

Pat reminds us that medicine work isn’t about escaping the human experience but expanding our ability to hold it with compassion. The true healer, she says, is both student and guide, one who walks beside others, shining light into the places we’ve forgotten to look.

Subscribe to My Psychedelic Story on your favorite podcast platform: https://podlink.com/1723629751

For the best in microdosing products and education, visit http://mamadose.com

Visit Pat’s Website: https://apukunahealingarts.com/

Join The Plant Medicine Path community: https://community.theplantmedicinepath.com/feed

Connect with us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/medicinewiththemedals

Connect with us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/medicine_with_the_medals/

Connect with us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/theplantmedicinepath/

What happens when the medicine that saves your life also rewrites your understanding of it?

In this episode of My Psychedelic Story, Dr. Maria Clara Restrepo, a medical doctor and psychiatry nurse practitioner, shares her extraordinary journey through near-death, cancer, and the healing power of psychedelics. Diagnosed with a rare and aggressive cancer, Maria found herself at the threshold between life and death, only to rediscover healing through ayahuasca, psilocybin, and reconnection with the body’s innate intelligence.

What You’ll Learn:

• How psychedelics like ayahuasca and psilocybin catalyzed profound healing after years of medical treatment.

• Why integration is not just reflection, but an act of embodied intelligence.

• The connection between trauma, physical illness, and spiritual disconnection.

• How near-death and psychedelic experiences mirror one another in teaching surrender and peace.

• The role of neuroplasticity, community, and self-trust in sustainable healing.
  

Episode Highlights:

• 00:00 – Maria Clara’s medical background and the cancer diagnosis that changed everything.

• 02:45 – Life on the edge: surviving multiple surgeries and near-death experiences.

• 05:10 – Returning to Colombia and discovering ayahuasca as an unexpected healer.

• 07:40 – The ceremony that changed everything—and how her cancer vanished.

• 10:15 – Breaking free from opioid dependency through psilocybin therapy.

• 12:30 – The neuroscience of healing: how psychedelics rewire the brain through neuroplasticity.

• 14:40 – Redefining surrender, healing, and purpose through the body’s innate intelligence.

Meet the Guest:

Dr. Maria Clara Restrepo is a Colombian medical doctor and psychiatry nurse practitioner who integrates Western medicine with ancestral plant medicine wisdom. Her work bridges palliative care, trauma healing, and psychedelic therapy, with a mission to help others reconnect to the source of healing within.

Tools, Frameworks, or Strategies Mentioned:

• Ayahuasca and psilocybin-assisted therapy for chronic illness and trauma recovery.

• Somatic awareness and “energetic intelligence” as core healing mechanisms.

• Neuroplasticity as the scientific foundation for emotional transformation.

• Integration practices including silence, prayer, breathwork, and conscious movement.
  

Closing Insight:

“Healing is not about becoming light, it’s about becoming whole.”

Maria’s story is a reminder that the body is not an obstacle to healing, it is the instrument of it. When science meets spirit, medicine becomes memory, and life becomes sacred again.

Subscribe to My Psychedelic Story on your favorite podcast platform: https://podlink.com/1723629751

For the best in microdosing products and education, visit http://mamadose.com

Visit with Dr. Maria’s website: https://www.sanarcura.com/

Join The Plant Medicine Path community: https://community.theplantmedicinepath.com/feed

Connect with us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/medicinewiththemedals

Connect with us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/medicine_with_the_medals/

Connect with us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/theplantmedicinepath/