In this spiritually rich episode of PsychedelicIQ: Guidance for Guides, Gv Freeman speaks with David Luce—a former Zen monk, ayahuasca apprentice, somatic therapist, and meditation teacher—about the sacred overlap between psychedelics, Eastern traditions, and Western psychology. David shares profound insights on meditation, subtle energy, trauma, and the importance of apprenticeship and personal experience. They also explore spiritual awakening, healing philosophy, and what it means to work for the client while serving God. A must-listen for facilitators on the path of personal growth, integration, and holistic healing. Subscribe for more grounded wisdom.
Show Notes
[00:00] Introduction: Mystic traditions, psychedelic healing, and a unified thread
[01:37] David’s background: orphaned teen, Buddhist monk, plant medicine seeker
[02:11] Training in Zen, Tibetan Buddhism, Amazonian ayahuasca, and somatic therapy
[03:30] Intention for the episode: to benefit guides and healers
[04:53] Interweaving paths of meditation, psychedelics, and Western psychology
[05:55] “Somatic psychedelics”—exploring healing in the body and subtle energy field
[07:25] Suffering as the catalyst for spiritual and psychedelic paths
[10:18] David’s first mystical experience: cannabis and spinning into the light
[12:43] Wachuma, seasickness, and spiritual discombobulation
[14:18] Maración: the moment of mystical nausea and separation
[16:46] “Stick the landing”: integration and re-combobulation
[17:31] Four years in Korea as a former Zen monk—bridging mysticism and daily life
[18:39] LSD psychotherapy leading to ayahuasca apprenticeship in the jungle
[19:59] Meeting the spirit of ayahuasca—and healing clinical depression
[21:51] “Your consciousness wasn’t in your body, so I put it back in.”
[23:20] Bodhisattva medicine work—healing through service, not ego
[25:52] Medicine, mysticism, and psychology as a multidimensional healing path
[28:06] Earth connection, nature as teacher, and the modern need for reconnection
[30:00] Non-conceptual awareness and changing internal narratives
[31:38] Meditation and psychedelics: cultivating altered states and emotional space
[33:40] Micro-meditations within a journey—“coming up for air”
[35:28] Meditation as a skillful container for guides and clients alike
[37:20] A “trained user” model—medicine as a long-term spiritual practice
[39:59] Importance of direct experience for facilitators before serving others
[41:50] Dietas, purification, and soul-strengthening in apprenticeship
[43:33] Intersubjectivity, trust, and clients sensing your experience
[47:24] Above-ground vs underground facilitation—who is doing their own work?
[50:18] Receiving permission from the medicine vs. from human teachers
[53:30] Using meditation as an integration tool—simple somatic practices
[55:21] Meditation resources: Soma Sangha, Reggie Ray, Will Johnson
[57:34] Belly breathing and the wisdom of relaxing into awareness
[58:29] When clients don’t know how to breathe—start with the body
[59:44] Interoception: helping clients feel their bodies and stay grounded
[01:03:00] “Original people” traditions of embodied mindfulness through living
[01:04:45] David’s take on psychedelics and Kriya Yoga compatibility
[01:07:32] Teachers’ perspectives: attachment, insight, and path orientation
[01:09:34] When the friction shows up, it may be time to move on from medicine
[01:10:33] Healing vs awakening—is there a difference?
[01:11:52] “I want to see”—on lifelong curiosity and the spirit of discovery
[01:12:57] Meditation and medicine each uncover shadow and support each other
[01:14:53] Vipassana, 1500 hours, and the difference between thinking and stillness
[01:16:09] Subtle body, energy flow, and how psychedelics open new channels
[01:18:22] What to do when atheists have spiritual awakenings in ceremony
[01:20:33] Using “energy body” or “emotional body” instead of spiritual language
[01:23:00] Just treat it as a phenomenon—describe, don’t explain
[01:24:00] Do plants have spirits? Or do spirits come through plants?
[01:26:24] All spirits serve God—medicine beings as agents of the divine
[01:27:33] LSD as the Tao; Stan Grof’s “beneficial nonspecific amplifiers”
[01:29:09] Two overlooked medicines: huachuma and cannabis
[01:31:53] Cannabis as sacred or numbing—right relationship is key
[01:34:06] Tobacco at the center of the medicine wheel—poison or prayer
David Luce
I was born in the Bay Area just in time for the 1960s. Like many people, I experienced much suffering in my early life, which culminated in my being orphaned as a teenager. In my search for a response to all of my pain, I discovered Buddhism, Taoism, and Plant Medicines at the age of 15. I’ve spent my life since then practicing these intertwining paths as deeply as possible.
After a short encounter with an Ivy League University, I spent 16 years living in Zen and Tibetan Buddhist dharma centers, including 4 years as a Zen monk in Asia. I’ve practiced in 7 years of cumulative retreat, which led me to 4 years of solitary retreat in a cabin here in the mountains of Northern California. My practice has been guided by masters of the Buddhist and Taoist traditions.
As part of my medicine path, I spent 3 years in the Amazon training with traditional healers and I also completed a long apprenticeship in the western approach to medicine work. I am trained in Hakomi Mindful Somatic Psychology, Acupressure Massage, and Hypnotherapy. I am a teacher in the Hollow Bamboo School of Meditation and have also been given permission to teach by Zen Master Dae Bong Su Nim.
My many paths combined naturally with a love of nature, writing, music, language, and travel to distant lands and cultures of many kinds. For me, this work is a remembering, an awakening, and—first and always—a path of the heart.
In 2005 I founded Two Rivers Sangha, dedicated to the meeting of the Buddhist path with earth wisdom traditions.
I currently live in the San Francisco Bay Area.
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