Psychedelic Passage

Content Warning: This episode addresses sensitive and potentially triggering topics within the psychedelic space, including ethical misconduct, facilitator abuse, and sexual abuse. We encourage you to prioritize your well-being and skip this episode if you are feeling sensitive to these topics at this time.

This episode explores how unbalanced power dynamics create an environment where abuse patterns, like overriding client autonomy and gaslighting, flourish in caretaker positions like psychedelic facilitation. To counter this, the community must embrace open communication and foster facilitator accountability, recognizing that conflict is generative and vital for ethical healing.

Our guest is Mikaela de la Myco, a mother, herbalist, educator, researcher, and facilitator whose work centers on ancestral healing, sacred earth medicine, and trauma-informed care.

As the founder of MushWomb, she creates education and containers for birthing people, queer folks, and BIPOC. Based in the occupied Kumeya and Luiseno territory in San Diego, California, Mikaela draws from her indigenous Mexican, Afro-Caribbean, and Southern Italian roots to promote well-being. 

Professionally, she spearheads organizations like Ma’at, the Matriarchal Alliance for Accountability and Transparency that represents the collective voices of survivors in the psychedelic space, and Mothers of the Mushroom Research and Resources for Psychedelic Families. Known as a maternal caretaker in her community, Mikaela collaborates with individuals, families, and organizations alike in the struggle to rematriate entheogens.

Key Takeaways

• A core principle of harm reduction is that harm and re-traumatization frequently occur when an experience is “too much, too fast, too strong.” Practitioners should adopt a soft, cautious approach to avoid moving too quickly and overwhelming the client’s system.
• Harm is an inherent risk of vulnerability, often occurring in caretaker positions like facilitation. Unethical practices are highly varied and range from obvious breaches (e.g., unconsensual touch, overcharging, cult-like dynamics) to more nuanced, subtle situations that are harder for newcomers to discern.
• Conflict is Generative: Healing requires moving past the “psychedelic halo effect” and embracing open communication and accountability. Conflict is a unique opportunity to strengthen ethics and build trust.

This podcast is edited by Chad Eschman. 

Our music is by Mic Coats. 

Psychedelic Passage is your partner in safe, supported, and effective psychedelic journeys. As the first concierge service in the U.S., we connect you with vetted facilitators who value integrity and expertise.

Start your free Match Making Process, join our Online Learning Community, and explore a range of educational articles at psychedelicpassage.com.

Psychedelic experiences often lead to mystical encounters, offering profound self-exploration regardless of one's religious beliefs, a phenomenon so common it's measured in clinical trials. Navigating the current gray area of legality requires understanding that federal religious exemptions are rare, and ultimately, the most important question to ask is whether your psychedelic use makes you a better person.

Join Jimmy as he explores the intersection of religion, spirituality, and psychedelics.

Key Takeaways

• Spirituality is Inherent to Psychedelic Work: Psychedelics frequently induce mystical or spiritual experiences (like unity consciousness), even in people seeking only mental health benefits. This “soul exploration” is measured by tools like the MEQ 30 and often involves connecting to something beyond the self, regardless of religious belief.
• Legal Protection for Religious Use is Complex and Risky: While the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) is the legal backdrop, seeking protection by becoming a “minister” isn’t a guaranteed shield against federal law. Only a handful of organizations have successfully secured federal DEA exemptions to use substances like ayahuasca or peyote as a sacrament.
• Awareness of Pitfalls is Essential for Autonomy: Journeyers must guard against “Psychedelic Superiority” and the risk of facilitators imposing their beliefs. The core issues remain power, consent, sovereignty, and autonomy; the true benefit of psychedelics lies in their ability to foster self-exploration and internal growth, not in becoming a replacement for spirituality or granting moral superiority.

This podcast is edited by Chad Eschman. 

Our music is by Mic Coats. 

Psychedelic Passage is your partner in safe, supported, and effective psychedelic journeys. As the first concierge service in the U.S., we connect you with vetted facilitators who value integrity and expertise.

Start your free Match Making Process, join our Online Learning Community, and explore a range of educational articles at psychedelicpassage.com.

Please be sure to check out part one before you enjoy part two! Jimmy Nguyen sits down with Dr. Glauber Assis, a respected sociologist, author, and leader in Brazil’s sacred plant community. Together, they explore the role of gratitude, groundedness, and connection in uncertain times. Dr. Assis shares his journey from a conservative upbringing to founding a vibrant community rooted in ayahuasca tradition, all while bridging indigenous wisdom and modern science.

The conversation explores the balance between honoring tradition and fostering inclusivity, examining how both artificial and ancestral intelligence influence personal growth. Listeners will discover why true healing originates from within, why culture and community play a crucial role in psychedelic work, and how meaningful questions, rather than quick answers, pave the way to transformation.

Tune in for reflections on freedom, authenticity, and co-creating a more compassionate world.

Key Takeaways

• Bridging Ancestral and AI Intelligence: The AI era and psychedelic revolution share a core challenge: leveraging powerful external resources (AI or plant medicine) without surrendering internal authority and critical thinking.
• Healing is Relational and Communal: Lasting healing extends beyond individual mental health, requiring a shift from the Western separation of self and nature to an indigenous view that sees all life as relational. The Santo Daime community exemplifies this by thriving through communal support and strong social indicators, even during economic crises.
• The Future is Intergenerational: To build a sustainable path forward, society must make the psychedelic experience family-friendly and intergenerational, honoring cultural roots and focusing on healing intergenerational traumas to pass on wisdom and resilience to new generations.

More from Dr. Glauber Assis:

• Psychedelic Parenthood
• Jornadas de Kura

This podcast is edited by Chad Eschman. 

Our music is by Mic Coats. 

Psychedelic Passage is your partner in safe, supported, and effective psychedelic journeys. As the first concierge service in the U.S., we connect you with vetted facilitators who value integrity and expertise.

Start your free Match Making Process, join our Online Learning Community, and explore a range of educational articles at psychedelicpassage.com.

Jimmy Nguyen sits down with Dr. Glauber Assis, a respected sociologist, author, and leader in Brazil’s sacred plant community. Together, they explore the role of gratitude, groundedness, and connection in uncertain times. Dr. Assis shares his journey from a conservative upbringing to founding a vibrant community rooted in ayahuasca tradition, all while bridging indigenous wisdom and modern science.

The conversation explores the balance between honoring tradition and fostering inclusivity, examining how both artificial and ancestral intelligence influence personal growth. Listeners will discover why true healing originates from within, why culture and community play a crucial role in psychedelic work, and how meaningful questions, rather than quick answers, pave the way to transformation.

Tune in for reflections on freedom, authenticity, and co-creating a more compassionate world.

Key Takeaways

• Bridging Ancestral and AI Intelligence: The AI era and psychedelic revolution share a core challenge: leveraging powerful external resources (AI or plant medicine) without surrendering internal authority and critical thinking.
• Healing is Relational and Communal: Lasting healing extends beyond individual mental health, requiring a shift from the Western separation of self and nature to an indigenous view that sees all life as relational. The Santo Daime community exemplifies this by thriving through communal support and strong social indicators, even during economic crises.
• The Future is Intergenerational: To build a sustainable path forward, society must make the psychedelic experience family-friendly and intergenerational, honoring cultural roots and focusing on healing intergenerational traumas to pass on wisdom and resilience to new generations.

More from Dr. Glauber Assis:

• Psychedelic Parenthood
• Jornadas de Kura

This podcast is edited by Chad Eschman. 

Our music is by Mic Coats. 

Psychedelic Passage is your partner in safe, supported, and effective psychedelic journeys. As the first concierge service in the U.S., we connect you with vetted facilitators who value integrity and expertise.

Start your free Match Making Process, join our Online Learning Community, and explore a range of educational articles at psychedelicpassage.com.

Feeling discomfort can serve as a vital compass for identifying your most meaningful intentions in the preparation process for a psychedelic experience. Rather than avoiding it, leaning into this discomfort helps you pinpoint the root of what needs to be healed.

In this counterintuitive episode, we explore how discomfort can actually be a key aspect of one’s healing journey. We’ll discuss the different forms of discomfort, and differentiate when discomfort aids in one’s healing journey and when it may not be beneficial.

We will also learn about how to use discomfort as a way to measure your progress, and how it relates to intention-setting and navigating psychedelic experiences. Join us for a fruitful and stimulating conversation on a topic that we may want to shy away from at first glance, but that may surprise us. 

Key Takeaways

• You can use discomfort as a navigational tool for healing. By paying attention to what causes discomfort, you can identify the root of your issues and use this awareness to guide your psychospiritual healing journey and set meaningful intentions.
• Rather than seeing discomfort as a sign of dysfunction, it should be viewed as your body’s way of signaling that something needs attention, which is a crucial first step toward healing.
• Don’t be too hard on yourself. You aren’t broken, you’re just trying to survive living in a modern society that doesn’t cater to individual well-being.

This podcast is edited by Chad Eschman. 

Our music is by Mic Coats. 

Psychedelic Passage is your partner in safe, supported, and effective psychedelic journeys. As the first concierge service in the U.S., we connect you with vetted facilitators who value integrity and expertise.

Start your free Match Making Process, join our Online Learning Community, and explore a range of educational articles at psychedelicpassage.com.

When defining psychedelic experiences, it's more accurate to view them as a dynamic spectrum rather than a rigid choice between recreational and therapeutic use. Experiences can possess qualities of both, and their nature is shaped by factors like intent, setting, and support.

In today’s episode, we talk about why it's important to define your psychedelic experiences and the labels we use for them. We'll break down the difference between using psychedelics for fun (recreational) versus using them to heal (therapeutic), and what usually goes along with each type of experience. 

We'll also give you key items to think about when you're defining your own journey. Plus, we'll introduce a new framework for describing your experience. To wrap things up, we'll share some good advice for anyone on a psychedelic journey and read a story from someone who participated in one of our programs.

Key Takeaways

• Beyond the Dichotomy: Psychedelic experiences should be defined on a dynamic spectrum rather than a rigid recreational vs. therapeutic dichotomy.
• The Importance of Labels: The labels you use to describe your experiences can significantly impact how you process and integrate them, so it’s important to be honest and descriptive.
• A New Defining Framework: A more holistic way to define an experience is by considering its degree of intention, utility, novelty, intensity, social engagement, functionality, and post-experience support.

This podcast is edited by Chad Eschman. 

Our music is by Mic Coats. 

Psychedelic Passage is your partner in safe, supported, and effective psychedelic journeys. As the first concierge service in the U.S., we connect you with vetted facilitators who value integrity and expertise.

Start your free Match Making Process, join our Online Learning Community, and explore a range of educational articles at psychedelicpassage.com.

The symbiotic relationship between psychedelics and creativity fosters both inspiration for novel ideas and vital avenues for expression, especially during integration. This broad definition of artistry emphasizes that everyone can engage in creation to materialize their authentic selves and leave a meaningful mark on the world.

“Creativity is defined as the tendency to generate or recognize ideas, alternatives, or possibilities that may be useful in solving problems, communicating with others, and entertaining ourselves and others.” — California State University Northridge

By California State University Northridge's definition, creativity is three-pronged, dealing with problem solving, communicating, and entertainment. We believe that creativity is a core facet of the human experience, and something uniquely attributed to our species. 

Where else do you see art purposefully created? And how does it put us at an evolutionary advantage? What’s the point of it? 

We might not have the answers, but we know art is a form of expression that helps us express things we may not even fully understand. Things that lose meaning with just words. 

Creativity and psychedelics have a unique relationship, directly affecting each other like two species in a symbiotic relationship. Psychedelics can act as a tool to inspire creativity, while creativity can be used as a form of expression during any part of the process, possibly most importantly in the integration phase.

Let’s dive in and learn about how creativity and psychedelic use intersect in many aspects of life, and why creativity is so important to the psychedelic healing process.

Key Takeaways

• Creativity is an inherent human trait, not a specialized skill, encompassing problem-solving, communication, and entertainment in everyday life.
• Psychedelics can act as a tool to inspire creativity and facilitate self-expression.
• Engaging in creative acts, regardless of the outcome, is crucial for authenticity and personal well-being.

This podcast is edited by Chad Eschman. 

Our music is by Mic Coats. 

Psychedelic Passage is your partner in safe, supported, and effective psychedelic journeys. As the first concierge service in the U.S., we connect you with vetted facilitators who value integrity and expertise.

Start your free Match Making Process, join our Online Learning Community, and explore a range of educational articles at psychedelicpassage.com.

Deciding between individual and group experiences will depend on personal needs, an honest assessment of your expectations and content, and comfort level in groups. Cultural influence may shape preferences for individual or group psychedelic experiences, but ultimately, hybrid models are emerging to offer diverse healing opportunities and the profound power of being witnessed.

This week we take a deep dive into the nuanced dynamics of individual versus group psychedelic experiences, examining cultural, psychological, and practical considerations. We will discuss substances like ayahuasca, yagé, and psilocybin mushrooms ,exploring the cultural impact of their use in group contexts such as communal ceremonies or private treatments like a dieta. 

There is no one-size-fits-all approach, and we will consider factors like accessibility, personal comfort, and societal influences when individuals are choosing their healing path. You’ll find how flexible, hybrid models that incorporate both individual and communal elements, might just be the future of psychedelic healing. 

Additionally, we will address a question asked by one of our community members about substance interactions, specifically the timing between MDMA and psilocybin, offering guidance grounded in safety and individual readiness.

Key Takeaways

• Both individual and group psychedelic experiences have unique benefits and cultural contexts. You may even find yourself doing a combination of both, it’s about what suits your needs and preferences.
• Accessibility, personal comfort, and level of care needed are important factors to consider when deciding between group or individual settings for psychedelic work.
• Sharing experiences and being witnessed by a compassionate presence enhances healing and integration, emphasizing the importance of community support and ethical facilitation.

This podcast is edited by Chad Eschman. 

Our music is by Mic Coats. 

Psychedelic Passage is your partner in safe, supported, and effective psychedelic journeys. As the first concierge service in the U.S., we connect you with vetted facilitators who value integrity and expertise.

Start your free Match Making Process, join our Online Learning Community, and explore a range of educational articles at psychedelicpassage.com.

Mindful eating is a vital yet often overlooked aspect of psychedelic healing, but more importantly life, and our society has felt the effects of that. By integrating practices like savoring your food, growing your own herbs, and setting clear intentions, you can enhance your healing journey and nourish both body and spirit. 

Today we have Dr. Randall Hansen, PhD as our guest today as we embark on an illuminating conversation surrounding one often-overlooked aspect of complete healing: mindful eating. 

Dr. Hansen is an educator and author of the Wholeistic Healing Trilogy which comprises of The Healing Revolution Diet, the groundbreaking Triumph Over Trauma,  and Heal! Holistic Practices to Help Clear Your Trauma, Heal Yourself, and Live Your Best Life. 

Drawing from biology-heavy research done by figures like Dr. Robert Lustig, he uses his own books as a way to distill the complicated scientific research into accessible insights for everyday readers.

Rand's focus and advocacy center around true healing, which is healing that results in being able to live an authentic life filled with peace, joy, and love. 

In this article, we’ll discuss topics like food insecurity, both the spiritual and biological importance for food, how psychedelics and diet are intrinsically linked, and provide actionable guidance on how to step into whole healing. 

Key Takeaways

• Exemplified in the indigenous practice of “dietas,” indigenous cultures have been incorporating mindful eating into psychedelic healing for centuries.
• Systemic food injustices and misinformation have contributed to widespread physical and mental health crises, highlighting the need for nourishing, community-supported, and locally sourced food choices.
• Integrating conscious, intentional nutrition before, during, and after psychedelic experiences supports emotional regulation, neuroplasticity, and long-term healing, fostering a holistic approach to well-being.

More From Our Guest:

• Check out his website RandallSHansen.com
• Find his books here: HealingRevolutionDiet.com 
• Like Dr. Randall Hansen’s LinkedIn to connect
• Go to his YouTube channel for more helpful tips on healing and health

This podcast is edited by Chad Eschman. 

Our music is by Mic Coats. 

Psychedelic Passage is your partner in safe, supported, and effective psychedelic journeys. As the first concierge service in the U.S., we connect you with vetted facilitators who value integrity and expertise.

Start your free Match Making Process, join our Online Learning Community, and explore a range of educational articles at psychedelicpassage.com.

Elderly individuals seek psychedelics for reasons such as emotional healing, existential reflection, and reconciling past experiences, which offer significant benefits like enhanced self-awareness and emotional well-being. Practical considerations, including medical clearance, safe set and setting, and support systems, are essential to ensure safe and meaningful psychedelic experiences for the elderly.

Intentional psychedelic use has gained popularity among older demographics. Anyone who feels they are in the later stages of their life or knows someone who is may find this episode fruitful. So settle in as we explore the role psychedelics can play in later life, emphasizing their potential benefits for older adults. 

Addressing common questions about aging and psychedelic use, we will explore how these experiences can aid in achieving peace, reconciling with mortality, and finding renewed purpose and curiosity. We offer practical guidance on safety and preparation for seniors interested in exploring psychedelics, highlighting the importance of support, physical health, and intentionality. 

Designed to honor the wisdom and growth of older generations, this episode encourages curiosity and mindful exploration of psychedelics as tools for healing, reflection, and enriched aging.

Key Takeaways

• Psychedelics can serve as modern rites of passage for older adults, helping them find meaning, peace, and reconciliation as they navigate aging and mortality.
• These experiences foster self-awareness, emotional healing, and neuroplasticity, supporting mental and emotional well-being even in later years.
• Approach with safety and intentionality, prioritizing health, support, and setting, to ensure a meaningful and safe journey into the depths of consciousness.

This podcast is edited by Chad Eschman. 

Our music is by Mic Coats. 

Psychedelic Passage is your partner in safe, supported, and effective psychedelic journeys. As the first concierge service in the U.S., we connect you with vetted facilitators who value integrity and expertise.

Start your free Match Making Process, join our Online Learning Community, and explore a range of educational articles at psychedelicpassage.com.