Psychedelics Today

In this episode, Kyle and Joe interview previous guest of the show, Daniel Greig. In the show, he goes in depth into the meaning of enlightenment and previews the new book he is writing with Dr. John Vervaeke, The Cognitive Continuum.

3 Key Points:

1. Insight, flow and mystical experiences are all facets of working toward enlightenment.
2. Enlightenment is really a fundamental grip on reality. It's about maintaining a relationship with the transcendent, it's not about just constantly escaping this body life.
3. The mystical experience is a glimpse at consciousness. The most important part of having a mystical (psychedelic) experience is coming back into our bodies and developing better relationships with ourselves, others and the world.

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Show Notes The Cognitive Continuum

• There will be a crowdfunding campaign launched for the book
• The book will be a combination of art and science
• He is writing it with Dr. John Vervaeke
  • Youtube - Awakening for the Meaning Crisis
• The core of cognitive continuum is insight
• There is also the flow state
• There are also mystical states
• Insight, flow and mystical experiences all have something to do with enlightenment
  • If we can train people on how to access this cognitive continuum, they can become enlightened

Enlightenment

• It is important to see the truth
  • "How can we take our natural ability to attach to things, and learn to step back and care about the greater good?" - Daniel
• Cognitive flexibility is important to understand the needs of the greater collective
  • "Enlightenment means to apprehend truth and act in relation to truth" - Daniel
• Mind does not equal brain

Gut Feeling

• EGG - electro gastro grams
• There is a singular resting state network between the brain and the stomach
  • You're never really able to access this network, but when we have 'gut feelings' it's typically coming from neurons in your stomach
• Being grounded in those sensations of the stomach is a huge part of problem solving and guidance in truths
• We need to get back to 'feeling' something as actually meaning something

Mystical Experience

• Enlightenment is really a fundamental grip on reality
• It's about maintaining a relationship with the transcendent, it's not about just constantly escaping this body life
• Daniel uses a lot of Roberto Unger's theories in his new book
• There is the absolute reality and illusory reality
• The mystical experience is a glimpse at consciousness
  • The most important part of having a mystical experience is the coming back into our bodies, having better relationships with ourselves and others
• Psychedelics don't do anything by just sitting there, they take a perceiver to matter and make a difference
  • It's the person, the body, that really holds the power to embodiment

Psychedelics and Enlightenment

• People say that psychedelics are a shortcut to enlightenment
  • Daniel says that psychedelics can help take people out of depression style states
  • A mystical experience can help you, but you're going to hit a plateau if you don't integrate and interpret these experiences
• For those practicing a lot of psychedelic work, they should balance with body work like yoga
  • There needs to be a balance in all practices in order to keep escalating toward enlightenment

Links

Website

About Daniel Greig

Daniel is an educator, organizer and artist living in Toronto. He studied Cognitive Science and Philosophy at the University of Toronto, specializing in wisdom, consciousness, and spiritual belief and experience. In 2015, he founded the Mapping the Mind conference that occurs annually in Toronto, which raises much needed funds for psychedelic research. Daniel regularly host lectures and workshops, on topics in cognitive science. He is currently writing a book with Dr. John Vervaeke on the science of enlightenment, which will be published in 2020. When not contemplating the realm of the intellect, Daniel delves in the sonic perturbations of music, writing and producing progressive metal.

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In this episode, Kyle and Joe interview Chris Bache, author of LSD and the Mind of the Universe. Chris went through 73 high dose LSD sessions and talks about his experience in the show.

3 Key Points:

1. Chris went through 73 high dose LSD sessions, but he says that pushing the edge of high dose and high frequency use brought on increasingly intense difficulties. He does not recommend high dose sessions like he did.
2. The mind of the universe is where someone goes when one completely dissolves.
3. In the show, they discuss psychedelic therapy and the debate on whether or not therapists should have to have psychedelic experience to do the therapy. Chris believes that the level of experience a therapist has had will impact the type of support they will be able to give.

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Show Notes Psychedelic Interest

• It was at the time Chris had just finished grad school and was looking where to take his research as a university professor
• He was introduced to the work of Stan Grof, and his book Realms of the Human Unconscious: Observations from LSD Research (Condor Books)
• He was the professor of Religious Studies, sticking to his traditional life
• He knew there would come a time for him to share his experiences with a larger audience
• Chris says he's always been locked into his body and his physical experience
  • He had no background in psychedelic states of consciousness

Protocol

• He said you're always working with a sitter and same context/setting
• As the dosage increased, he began creating a more intense music playlist
  • Chris thinks music is very important for psychedelic sessions
• Chris does not recommend working with high doses
• "When you're working with opening consciousness that radically, music has a tremendous effect, it has an amplifying effect by 5 or 10x than doing it without music" - Chris
• Chris said he has experienced all the common layers of the psychedelic unconscious that's talked about

Consciousness Levels

• Chris experienced 4 different death/rebirths
• Chris differentiated 5 levels of the universe
  • The first is at the personal mind, where an ego death happens
  • The second takes places at the collective mind, about species
  • The third level is an archetypal mind, the high subtle mind, moving beyond the species existence
  • The fourth level is causal mind, causal oneness, profound states of non-dual reality
  • The last is Diamond Luminosity, its absolute clarity, pureness

Psychedelic Therapy

• Chris says that there is a certain level of support that one needs to truly let go of themselves and let go to the experience
• He says that he thinks the level of experience will impact the type of support a therapist will be able to give

Subtle Level

• The mind of the universe is where someone goes when one completely dissolves
• Pushing the edge of high dose, high frequency use brought on increasingly intense difficulties
• Chris says he was very secret about his psychedelic use, his students didn't know about it
  • But he said after he had gone deep and touched these different levels of consciousness, his students became alive
  • The deeper he went in his own work, the more it touched the students at a deeper level

Potency

• Chris thinks that LSD is a little cleaner than other psychedelics
  • His basic sense is that psilocybin tends to be less evocative, disruptive
  • Ayahuasca is more disruptive in opening up to deeper levels
  • LSD is the most disruptive in opening people up to really deep levels of consciousness
  • With LSD is was less about his personal experience, and more about the collective unconscious experience

Realizations

• With one of his experiences, he had seen everything in his whole life all at once
• He then entered into archetypal experiences, the platonic domain beyond the time-space reality
• The beings he 'met' were as large as universes, responsible for creating time and space
• He went into 'deep time', different magnitudes of time experiences in a broader frame of reference (where we are in the history of time, what our future looks like)
• He reached that diamond luminosity level only 4 times out of all of his LSD sessions
• "If we keep this up, sooner or later, the totality of this consciousness is going to wake up" - Chris
• "We are moving toward a collective wake up, it's not a personal experience, it's a collective experience. An evolution of our species." -Chris
• If Chris has one tip, is to let go of our fear of death, when we die, we go back home
• After so many sessions, and not taking the time to stop to integrate, after years, his body was screaming for community, and he felt this deep existential sadness and felt as if he was just waiting to die
  • It took 10 years to integrate his deep exploration, and to finally feel okay and comfortable again in his body suit and in this life
• The universe is an infinite ocean of possibilities, we will never reach the end
• "The collective psyche is being cosmically stimulated by the trauma that we are entering into" -Chris

Links

Articles

LSD and the Mind of the Universe: Diamonds from Heaven

Chrisbache.com - future website

About Chris

Christopher M. Bache is professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Youngstown State University where he taught for 33 years. He is also adjunct faculty at the California Institute of Integral Studies and a Fellow at the Institute of Noetic Sciences. An award-winning teacher, Chris' work explores the philosophical implications of non-ordinary states of consciousness, especially psychedelic states. Chris has written three books translated into six languages: Lifecycles - a study of reincarnation in light of contemporary consciousness research; Dark Night, Early Dawn - a pioneering work in psychedelic philosophy and collective consciousness; and The Living Classroom, an exploration of teaching and collective fields of consciousness. His new book is Diamonds from Heaven ~ LSD and the Mind of the Universe (2019).

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In this episode, Joe interviews Dr. Peter Addy, Licensed Mental Health Counselor out of Washington. In the show, they talk about the research and therapeutic use of Salvia.

3 Key Points:

1. Salvinorin A is the active molecule that causes the psychedelic experiential reports, although there are at least a dozen unique compounds in the Salvia plant.
2. In a recreational setting, Salvia is usually smoked, but in the Mazatec culture, they do not smoke it, they use a sublingual method.
3. The clinical applications of Salvia are tricky right now. It's not easy to get funding for psychedelic research.

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Show Notes About Peter

• Peter helped found the Yale Psychedelic Speaker Series
  • The main goal was to normalize talking about psychedelic research as research
• Peter joined the pharmacology lab for his post doctoral research on Salvia
  • The team was mainly studying THC but were also studying Ketamine
  • He wanted to bring in MDMA and Psilocybin research
• Peter attended The Institute of Transpersonal Psychology
  • As a psychologist, Peter focused heavily on feedback and experience

Transpersonal Psychology

• It all started when Peter stumbled across a dusty book in the library as a Freshman, States of Consciousness by Charles Tart The book talked a lot about meditation
• Joe says he has been practicing non-drug transpersonal states (breathwork) for years
• You can have a psychedelic experience without drugs, and you can also take psychedelics and not have the psychedelic experience at all, it's not about the drug
  • "Everyone has an innate desire towards transcending who they are, moving towards wholeness, and personal and societal transformation" - Peter
• "If I'm kind, then people around me are more likely to be kind, it's about the transformation of groups and societies than about having a cool trick" - Peter

Salvia

• "Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy is proven to do a lot of really good things, but it's not the only way and it's not necessarily the right way. There are wrong ways to do it, but not one culture owns this experience." - Peter
• "Having a healthy critique of science in the modern world is helpful because its a series of provisional truths, it's a good tool to get closer to objective reality, but its not perfect, it's all we have so far" - Joe
• Peter says that art is an amazing tool as well
  • Verbal language is limiting, he has seen images that can convey an experience way better than words can
• Salvinorin A is the active molecule that causes the psychedelic experiential reports
  • There are at least a dozen unique compounds in the Salvia plant
• There was going to be a bill to make Salvia illegal in 2008 or 2009
  • Now it's just illegal for minors

Salvia Study

• Peter recruited 30 people who had all used psychedelics
• He used a controlled set, setting and intention
• He used either a Salvia extract or just the unadulterated leaf
  • No one in the real world is using Salvinorin A, they are smoking the leaf or using extracts of the leaf
• The participants smoked it when they desired, Peter was not enforcing the smoking
  • It was a very relaxed setting
• Once the participants smoked, they then had an experience for 10 minutes, and then he came together with them and just listened to their experience
  • 2 people got up and moved, the rest just sat there in the experience
• Interoception (the inner feelings of your body) is the internal form of proprioception (the feeling of your body in space)
• Every time you smoke something it is going to hit you quickly and be over quickly
  • By the time you realize what's going on in a Salvia experience, you're already on your way out
  • In the Mazatec culture, they do not smoke it, they use a sublingual method

Advice

• The clinical applications of Salvia are tricky right now
• It's not easy to get funding for psychedelic research
  • Peter says if you do get funding, attach it to something else
  • MDMA research didn't just begin to 'see what it could help', PTSD sucks, and there isn't a whole lot that works to treat it, but MDMA does and it just happens to be a type of psychedelic

Links

Website

About Peter

Peter is both a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in Washington and a Licensed Professional Counselor in Oregon. He earned a PhD in Clinical Psychology from Sofia University in 2011, including certification in biofeedback and Process Oriented Psychodrama. There, he studied non-ordinary states of consciousness, holistic and all-encompassing views of a person, and ways that these experiences can transform a person and society. Peter then engaged in post-degree specialty training at Danville State Hospital, Yale University School of Medicine, and the Connecticut Mental Health Center. As faculty at Yale University he engaged in research and training. Some of his clinical training is in mindfulness-based therapies, Motivational Interviewing, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. He also discovered a passion for data management and security which he brings with him to his online therapy practice.

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In today's episode, Joe visits Naropa in Boulder, CO to sit down with Rafael Lancelotta and Alan Kooi Davis. Alan is a Clinical Psychology Professor at Ohio State and Rafael is a legal Psychedelic Therapist operating out of Innate Path in Colorado.

3 Key Points:

1. Facilitation is a huge problem in the 5-MEO-DMT space. Some people take it without the intention of working on it afterward, they are commonly given too much, and also in a poor context. This recipe of poor facilitation and guidance leads to a lot of challenging experiences and a lot of integration work.
2. The feeling of oneness typically arises when taking 5-MEO-DMT. It can be great for some, but for others, it can be extremely overwhelming and harmful when not provided the correct intention, context and tools to work through it.
3. Privilege is a huge issue in the psychedelic space. The goal in this space is to make everyone's voice heard, not just those of privilege.

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Show Notes Rafael

• Rafael studied Mental Health Counseling at the University of Wyoming
• He is currently at Innate Path in Lakewood, CO doing Ketamine and Cannabis assisted Psychotherapy

Alan

• Alan is on the Faculty at John's Hopkins
• He is a Clinical Psychologist
• He is currently doing clinical research on psychoactive substances

5-MEO-DMT

• It is a psychoactive substance that comes from the Sonoran Desert Toad
• It's a fast acting and powerful psychedelic substance that is challenging to predict
  • Some have amazing, beautiful and transcendent experiences, but it also has the ability to bring up challenging and dark things to deal with
• It isn't as visual as other psychedelics, it has to deal a lot more with consciousness itself
• "It may feel like being shot right into the center of love, or the center of the universe" - Alan
• DMT can be more visual, while 5-MEO-DMT can be more spiritual, not that they can't dip into each other

5-MEO-DMT Harms

• Alan did a talk on 5-MEO-DMT at Horizons
• There are a lot of harms when using 5-MEO-DMT
• Both Alan and Rafael have been contacted numerous times about looking for facilitators or about trying to integrate massive and difficult experiences
• An ego death, in the right context, can be transformative, but in the wrong context, can be extremely harmful.
• The facilitators are the problem
  • If the facilitators are delivering the medicine in a shamanic practice, and the people using it are coming from a Western mindset, then with goals misaligned, there can be some major issues
  • People have these grand, god-like experiences when using psychedelics, then feel like they need to become shamans and facilitate these experiences for others and have literally no clue or education on how to properly care for these people using the Toad
• Joe says facilitators commonly overdose their users because the toad venom is hard to predict potency
• Alan says that the fear response needs to be initiated when extracting the venom from the toad
  • He thinks it can come up as a huge problem when using 5-MEO-DMT from a fear-stricken animal
  • Alan says there is a lot of reports of feeling abducted by aliens, and it could be related to the fear response from the toad being hunted for its venom
  • It's a similar concept to the traumatization of any other animal by the way it is killed and then eating the meat of that traumatized animal
• On average, there is roughly 10-20% of 5-MEO-DMT in the venom

Oneness

• When someone becomes 'one' with everything, it takes a lot of detailed integration
  • When someone becomes 'one' with everything, that would also mean that they experience the suffering of everything around them
• When the rational mind comes back online, if the person does not decide to take action, it can be seriously overwhelming to feel that oneness
  • Integration has part to do with the experience but then the other part is everything before it, our family, relationships, job, our personality, etc.
  • "Yeah its cool that we are one with the universe, but so is everything else" - Rafael

Power and Privilege

• Privilege means having a voice, but it also means position in society, gender, race etc
• In psychedelics, for so long, it has been so hard to find a voice
  • But with this psychedelic renaissance, it has become so much easier to speak up about psychedelic use, research, etc
• The people within the scientific community get put on a pedestal to speak about psychedelic research
• Alan says his goal as someone in the middle of the research role, is to create community, to bring every voice to be heard
• Being connected to psychedelics in anyway, used to mean prosecution
  • There are still imbalances that need to be looked at
• The psychedelic renaissance is a chance to look at systemic issues
• We need to determine what our personal values are, and values of the whole community, and whether or not they are aligned

Final Thoughts

• Alan says his goal is to continue having a voice and allowing others' voices to be heard in this space
• Rafael says his goal is to make this therapy more available to those who can benefit from it and not just for the privileged

Links

Source Research Foundation

5 MEO DMT Forum

About Rafael Lancelotta

Rafael is a graduate from the University of Wyoming in Mental Health Counseling. He has worked as a wilderness therapy guide with adolescents and young adults experiencing a wide range of emotional and psychological challenges. He has also worked as a counselor at the Behavioral Health Services unit of a psychiatric hospital treating severe and persistent mental illness and medically supervised drug and alcohol detox. He has worked on several research projects studying the epidemiology of 5-MeO-DMT use in the global population and is also the administrator of 5meodmt.org, an online forum dedicated to hosting community discussions on harm reduction, integration, and safe practices around 5-MeO-DMT use. He is interested in the use of psychedelics paired with therapy for increased resiliency, mental health, and openness. He believes that the counseling relationship is essential to deepen, enhance, and actualize the benefits of psychedelic-assisted therapy. He is passionate about finding ways to make psychedelic-assisted therapies available to all those who may benefit from it as well as helping to raise awareness as to responsible clinical applications of psychedelics/entheogens.

About Alan Kooi Davis

Dr. Alan K Davis is an Assistant Professor of Social Work at The Ohio State University and an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Psychedelic Research Unit at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Davis's clinical experience includes working with people diagnosed with trauma-based psychological problems such as addiction, PTSD, depression, and anxiety. His clinical expertise includes providing evidenced-based treatments such as motivational interviewing, cognitive behavioral therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, and psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy. Consistent with his clinical interests, his research interests and expertise focus on contributing to the knowledge of and ability to help those suffering with substance use and mental health problems, understanding how to improve clinical outcomes through examining new treatments, and developing ways to conceptualize substance use and mental health problems through a strengths-based approach.

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In today's episode, Joe interviews Mike Jay, Author of the book, Mescaline: A Global History of the First Psychedelic. In the show they discuss Mescaline's origins and the history of Peyote use.

3 Key Points:

1. Mike Jay is a Cultural Historian and Author whose topics include science, medicine, drugs, madness, literature and radical politics.

2. Mike's recent book, Mescaline, is a definitive history of mescaline that explores its mind-altering effects across cultures, from ancient America to western modernity.

3. Over time, Peyote has been used by spiritual seekers, by psychologists investigating the secrets of consciousness, artists exploring the creative process, and by psychiatrists.

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Show Notes About Mike

• Mike Jay is a freelance writer, an author and cultural historian
• Mike has been interested in Mescaline for a really long time

Indigenous Use

• James Mooney is a crucial figure in the transition from indigenous use of peyote to the more current applications
• The New Deal made religions respected, protected under the First Amendment for freedom of worship

History

• There is a ton of literature before the 60's on psychedelic use
• It was obvious that if people were interested in psychoactive drugs, they would take it themselves
• Back then, science was much more proactive than it is today, but it is becoming more popular again

Peyote Experience

• It's hard to find an ethical source of Peyote
• Mike says its unpleasant but warm and tingly and euphoric
• By 1970, Mescaline was this legendary substance, but it was hard to find on the streets unless you knew an underground chemist
• On the Erowid site, they have a bulletin that the DEA created about all of the street drug seizures He wrote a book 20 years ago called Emperors of Dreams
• 2CB is not as intense as Mescaline
• Mescaline is a phenethylamine
• It does not cross the blood brain barrier as easily. So you need to take more of it
  • It is a body and mind drug

Indigenous Use

• The Comanches were in a reservation in the Wichita mountains
• He was notified by the Comanches on some history
  • He went to meet with them, and they told him stories on the history
  • Peyote use originated inside of a Tipi
  • "The way that we see psychedelics in modern Western culture, is not the only way of thinking about it:" - Mike

Native American Church

• There is an interesting thing that happened between Mexican/South American Shamanic practice and Native American Church
  • In the ceremony, the facilitator is made to not ask like a priest, everyone is their own priest
  • It is a healing modality for everybody
• The very first peyote experiences in the west encouraged artists to make art
• Salvador Dali was apparently anti-drug use
  • The surrealist movement had a number of rules
• Huichol art is a very psychedelic inspired art

The plant

• Peyote is so fast growing, in some places it is growing naturally
• San Pedro is way more sustainable than Peyote
• There is a lot of demand for Peyote currently
• Joe says he thinks that Peyote is not scheduled in Canada

Accounts

• The western story is full of first-person experiencesIts based on the personal
  • experiences and visions
• In the indigenous accounts, there are very little stories on experience or personal matters, its more recording on the collective experience

Links

Website

Twitter

About Mike

Mike Jay is a leading specialist in the study of drugs across history and cultures. The author of Artificial Paradises, Emperors of Dreams, and The Atmosphere of Heaven, his critical writing on drugs has appeared in many publications, including The Guardian, The Telegraph, and The International Journal of Drug Policy. He sits on the editorial board of the addiction journal Drugs and Alcohol Today and on the board of the Transform Drug Policy Foundation. He lives in England.

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In this episode, Joe interviews Dena Justice from the Ecstatic Collective. Dena and Joe talk about Neuro Linguistic Programming and how it is beneficial to use with non-ordinary states of consciousness.

3 Key Points:

1. NLP is Neuro Linguistic Programming. Dena Justice is a Lifestyle Design Strategist that uses NLP to help people create their dream, ecstatic life.
2. 93% of communication happens at the subconscious level. NLP training focuses on how we use communication tools to help people in non-ordinary states of consciousness.
3. Perception is Projection. Our belief of someone else, is a projection of ourselves onto them.

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Show Notes About Dena

• Dena grew up with NLP in her life
• NLP is Neuro Linguistic Programming
• "You get to create your reality, what are you choosing consciously?" - Dena
• She became impacted by Tony Robbin's events, and decided to teach NLP
• NLP is about language and communication and things that are happening subconsciously
  • 93% of communication happens at the unconscious level

Neuro Linguistic Programming

• Perception is projection
  • "If I have a belief about someone else, that is my projection of myself onto them" - Dena
• The big no-no in NLP is to say things like don't or not
  • Say it the way you intend it
  • What messages do you want to enforce when in an altered state? You want it to be positive
  • "What is someone creating in their reality based on their unconscious communication?" - Dena
• It's important to take NLP and combine it with non-ordinary states because they are more powerful together than the sum of them separately
  • The 'aha' moment happens because we have neural networks in every single cell in our body
  • Resistance is always a sign of a breakthrough
• Virginia Satir is known for translating people's representational systems
  • In the Hierarchy of Ideas, Virginia was all about 'chunking down'
  • When someone says "I'm upset" then you ask "how specifically?"
• On the opposing side, Milton Erickson focuses on abstraction, chunking higher to get to trance
  • Dena uses the Milton model of hypnosis to bring people into trance states

NLP Training

• Dena offers NLP training that focuses on how we use communication tools to help people in non-ordinary states of consciousness
  • It's so important to understand the 93% of communication that is happening at an unconscious level
• Timeline therapy is a process that utilizes the unconscious mind to get rid of negative emotions such as anger, sadness and guilt
• Every part of her training concludes with NLP coaching
• The Milton model and hypnosis is really beneficial when focusing on its delivery specifically
  • Hypnosis is important because its using everyday words but with intention and volition to put people into a trance state
  • We reduce resistance in communication when we move up in abstraction

Links

Website

About Dena Justice

As a master manifester, Dena has created a beautiful life for herself. She been financially responsible since age 15 including putting herself through college, two masters degrees and purchasing her own home in the San Francisco Bay Area. She has made over $1M in her life through a fulfilling career as a facilitator, educator, trainer, mentor and coach working with thousands of people across the country. She loved her career, yet hit a point where she felt empty. Near the top of her career ladder, she was a classic case of a high performer and leader hitting burnout. She chose a powerful pivot out of her J-O-B and into her own business. Now, she helps other high performers who have hit burnout and are scared to admit they've hit a plateau or a wall. She helps them get the eff out of their own way and move to the next level to increase their impact so they feel fulfilled and inspired again, as well as helping them create more wealth and the relationships they want in their lives. She helps people experience new levels of success, increase/improve focus and performance, abolish FOMO, evolve communication skills, develop transformational leadership skills, create amazing relationships, increase financial abundance and live life on their own terms.

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In this episode, Kyle sits down with Raquel Bennett to recap on the KRIYA Conference. Kyle attended the conference, which is to bring people together with dedication to understanding the better use of Ketamine.

3 Key Points:

1. The more recent KRIYA Conference was the last of its kind. The goal is to make information on ketamine more accessible to more people in the future.
2. At KRIYA Institute, they believe that there is not one right way to use ketamine, different patients are best served by different treatment strategies.
3. Intramuscular ketamine is usually 93% bioavailable, while nasal and lozenge based ketamine is usually only 40% bioavailable. The less variability the better when working with a powerful medicine for therapy.

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Show Notes KRIYA

• KRIYA is an international conference focused on ketamine and its therapeutic potential
  • The goal of KRIYA is to get people of all different ketamine backgrounds in the same room
  • Different people benefit from different things, and different doses and methods matter
• There is a symbiotic relationship between therapeutic and spiritual practice of ketamine
• She wanted to create a place where researchers and clinicians could come together
  • This last conference was the last one
  • The conference is CME accredited, which means physicians can get units for their education
  • Raquel picks people from different backgrounds, therapists who use low dose ketamine for therapy, to those who do full blown spiritual work with ketamine
• Ketamine is a relational medicine - which is about having a relationship with the substance

Ketamine Therapy

• Ketamine Therapy Lessons
  • Wisdom Teaching
  • A Loving Relationship
  • The Medicine
• The medicine is adjunct to the entire process, it's not just about the ketamine, it's about the relationships, the wisdom teaching, etc. And each are powerful on their own, and even more powerful when all combined
  • When people are using ketamine in absence from the other components, people are not getting the full effect that they could
• "Ketamine when done correctly, when administered in the right setting, with the correct support, enhances resilience." - Raquel
• Therapy is an important mechanism to teach coping skills needed in psychotherapy

Highlights of KRIYA

• When Raquel first started running this conference in 2015, the clinicians were afraid to even come, they were afraid to talk about Ketamine
  • This past year, there were hundreds of applicants and so much excitement around talking about ketamine
• In 2014, a whole bunch of psychiatrists stood up and said they have been using ketamine for their patients and it worked
• A doctor talked about combining meditation with ketamine to heal substance use disorder
  • When ketamine is offered in a structured context, its highly beneficial
• Another doctor talked about using ketamine to treat those who are acutely suicidal
  • People who are severely psychiatrically distressed benefit from ketamine treatment
• Another doctor talked about combining ketamine with EMDR to treat patients with PTSD

Bioavailability

• Raquel says she prefers intramuscular ketamine over lozenges
  • It's the cheapest way of doing it
  • Its super precise, you have a great control of the bioavailability of the ketamine to the patient
• With IM, 93% is bioavailable
• With nasal and lozenge ketamine, usually 40% makes it to the patient's brain, which is a huge range of variability when working with a powerful medicine

Progression

• Clinicians are on the fence for prescribing for at home use
• A doctor talked about 4 different tiers of ketamine experiences related to dosage
• Other doctors talked about measurement tools of pre and post experience ways to take data when administering ketamine to patients
• There is a lot of ketamine use outside of the medical context
  • The field is stuck in the question "Should ketamine be allowed to be used by people who aren't psychiatrically fragile?"
• Everything good that is going to come out of ketamine usage and assisted therapy, will come
  • It's a slow process, but it is all moving forward

Final Thoughts

• Raquel encourages people to are interested with using ketamine in therapy to get together regionally and learn from each other
• She is thinking about creating a video series, as well as a retreat for ketamine providers
• The KRIYA Conference is over, but the KRIYA Institute isn't going anywhere
  • She is looking at ways to get the information out faster and to more people, than to limit it just to conference attendees

Links

Website

About Raquel Bennett

Dr. Bennett is a Post-Doctoral Fellow in Clinical Psychology (PSB 94022544), working under the supervision of Dr. Bravo. Dr. Bennett primarily works with people who are experiencing severe depression, who are on the bipolar spectrum, or who are contemplating suicide. She has been studying the therapeutic properties of ketamine since she first encountered it in 2002. In addition to her clinical work, Dr. Bennett's practice has evolved to include consultation services for medical professionals who wish to add ketamine services to their offices. She also lectures frequently about therapeutic ketamine. Dr. Bennett is the Founder of KRIYA Institute and the Organizer of the KRIYA Conferences.

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In today's episode, Joe sits down with Andy Frasco, a touring rock musician with the band, Andy Frasco and the UN. In the show, they cover what is it like to be a touring rock musician with drugs so available and how to live more healthfully in the space.

3 Key Points:

1. Andy Frasco is a talented, touring music artist a part of the band, Andy Frasco and the UN, as well as a podcast show host. Andy uses psychedelics to help cope with the anxiety that the rock star lifestyle brings.
2. Psychedelics open us up to the possibility that everything we know is wrong. Finding truth and clarity for some people is hard, and people resort to alcohol and other harmful behaviors to suppress the painful reality we live in.
3. Cocaine and uppers only keep a rock star up for so long. It keeps you awake for the partying, but it suppresses all the stresses of the lifestyle. Psychedelics and meditation can help with the balance needed in a stressful, lifestyle of traveling and fame.

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• Patreon
• Leave us a review on iTunes
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Navigating Psychedelics

Show Notes Intro

• Joe attended a bunch of his live shows and was able to catch up with Andy in his hotel room while he was in town
• Life is tough for a traveling entertainer, so the healthier they are, the better they are to perform for their audience
• Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast

Micro-dosing

• Microdosing is typically 6 weeks on, two weeks off, dosing every 3 days
• 1/10-3/10ths of a gram (of mushrooms) is the typical microdose
  • Once you feel it, it's more of a macro-dose
• Paul Stamets has made mushrooms popular

Mushroom Evolution

• Mushrooms did not leave a mark on bone structure, so it's hard to tell if they actually made a difference in human evolution
  • Drugs have been around for a long time, and people in the past have definitely used them
• There are studies of mushrooms helping to grow nerve cells and brain neurons back
• We are only 50-100 years in on science "(Psychedelics) open you up to the possibility that everything you know is wrong." -Terence McKenna
• Joe says he's been to a therapist a bunch of times, and he says he has enjoyed it
  • Joe's main form of therapy has been Breathwork
  • His most intense experiences have been just as powerful as his Ayahuasca experience

About Andy

• Andy says he is open about taking psychedelics, he takes mushrooms, he doesn't really use cocaine
  • He says he feels more anxious when he isn't taking them than when he is
  • He says he gets really anxious on weed now as he gets older
• Psychedelics show us a lot of truths
• "We are all trying to figure out life, it's hard. Psychedelics help us create a better relationship with our mind." - Andy
• Andy says he has been anxious his whole life
  • He has had very scary panic attacks
  • He became addicted to sex as a crutch for his anxiety
  • He woke up one day, and sex didn't give him the thrill anymore
  • Andy started in the music industry because rock stars get the chicks
• Teen years are just about being super insecure about everything
  • Shame is a huge influence on our relationships with other people
• "The majority of effects from drug use for people are good." - a quote from Carl Hart, a Psychology Professor who studies drug use
• Andy's first psychedelic experience was an 8th of mushrooms at 18 years old

Rock Star Lifestyle

• Andy says he used to be really into coke because he just had to stay up for the shows
  • But he says he doesn't take anything anymore that feels like speed
  • He was coping his exhaustion with drugs and alcohol
• "When you're in a band you're the party for one day of the year in that city." - Andy
  • Life for a rock star can't just be the 2 hour show, the trick is figuring out how to be mindful for the other 14 hours of the day after the party
  • The lifestyle is really hard, its very common to use drugs, sex and alcohol to suppress it
  • Humans were not designed for this
• Andy has begun using transcendental meditation to help with this lifestyle
• He also mentions having his first DMT experience recently

Links

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About Andy Frasco

Andy Frasco, a Los Angeles, CA native singer, songwriter, band maestro, entrepreneur, party starter and everyday hustler, tours with his band, "The U.N." The music has elements of Soul, Funk, Rock and Roots and the shows have been described as orchestrated chaos, an overall great time. Frasco average 200+ dates a year, touring the country dozens of times, creating a loyal following everywhere he goes.

In this episode, Kyle and Joe sit down to cover questions from listeners of the show. They discuss topics that include psychedelic use for exorcisms, cluster headaches, athletic performance, processing grief and more.

3 Key Points:

1. There are a few examples where psychedelics are used to increase athletic performance. Psychedelics can also be used to help realign those who are using sports as a form of distraction from internalized issues.
2. When eliminating variables for psilocybin consistency in mushrooms for therapeutic use, freeze drying helps. But there are so many variables in mushrooms versus synthesized psilocybin.
3. When addressing the sustainability of the Toad, according to the data, there isn't a real difference between 5-MEO-DMT from a toad and synthesized 5-MEO-DMT

Support the show

• Patreon
• Leave us a review on iTunes
• Share us with your friends – favorite podcast, etc
• Join our Facebook group - Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community.

Navigating Psychedelics

Show Notes Kratom Warning

• Joe brings up an issue that was brought up to him by a physician from the Wholeness Center, Dr. Craig Heacock, out of Fort Collins, CO
• Dr. Heacock warns about Kratom
  • It is safer than opioids, but it can be physically addictive and getting off of it can be horrible
  • Kratom withdrawal closely imitates opioid withdrawal
  • The receptor site activity is the same as opioid pills

Using Psychedelics for an Exorcism

• Kyle thinks of shamanic uses for plant medicines, and with the idea of purging and spiritual emergence, working in non-ordinary states can exacerbate these states and maybe help with this kind of work
• Joe and Kyle go into writings from Stan Grof, explaining the physical appearance of those going through LSD psychotherapy or breathwork, and how it assimilates to an 'exorcism' of releasing the bad
• The purging during a psychedelic experience may feel evil, or alien
• Joe and Kyle say, do not perform an exorcism, leave it to the trained people

Treating Cluster Headaches with Psychedelics

• Cluster Busters is an organization for the research on cluster headaches
• LSD works for some as well as oxygen treatments work for others
• We know a lot more about migraines than cluster headaches
  • The migraine is where neurons in the brain start misfiring and create a firing storm

How can Psilocybin Mushrooms be Standardized in Production for Therapeutic Use?

• Joe says the practical solution is to have a really large amount of psilocybe cubensis, all blended up, and then split in even doses
• There are potency differences between species, strains, etc
• There are so many variances with mushrooms versus synthetic psilocybin
• Freeze drying also promotes close to 0% loss of psilocybin when drying mushrooms

Psychedelics and Athletic Performance

• There may be psychological blocks that are getting in the way of a person reaching the peak performance of their genome
  • It could be trauma, or psychological blocks
• Athletic performance could be a distraction from what you're really here to do
  • Athletes have a lot of dysfunctional behavior
  • Psychedelics may show us our bad behavior and help us align
• Kyle says he had this passion to snowboard and dedicate his life to snowboarding, and then he received a message in journeywork that told him snowboarding is simply a hobby and he needs to focus his life on other things
• "Sports are a great way to cover up our emotions" - Joe
• Kyle mentions tow other episodes that cover similar topics Ben Eddy Shane Lemaster

How to get the Ball Rolling on Psychedelic Liberty

• Start a club
  • Joe says he's been incubating a Psychedelic Club in Phoenix
• Clubs are great for harm reduction

Is There a Humane or Conservative Way to Harvest the Toad Without Disrupting its Habitat?

• Joe says yes, roadkill, pick them up off the road
• If you touch a living one, there is a chance you'll be doing harm
  • Even touching the toad can transmit harmful fungus to them
• According to the data, there isn't a real difference between 5-MEO-DMT from a toad and synthesized 5-MEO-DMT

How Psychedelics Might help with Processing Grief

• Kyle says when he thinks about grief, he thinks about trauma
  • Psychedelics may be really beneficial when treating trauma
• Kyle says he loves breathwork, because it creates the container to process things and even just simply cry
• Kyle recommends a really great book on grieving, The Smell of Rain on Dust: Grief and Praise by Martin Prechtel
• Our culture does not contain grief very well
• A lot of people internalize it instead of breaking down and letting it go

Links

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About Kyle

Kyle's interest in exploring non-ordinary states of consciousness began when he was 16-years-old when he suffered a traumatic snowboarding accident. Waking up after having a near-death experience changed Kyle's life. Since then, Kyle has earned his B.A. in Transpersonal Psychology, where he studied the healing potential of non-ordinary states of consciousness by exploring shamanism, plant medicine, Holotropic Breathwork, and the roots/benefits of psychedelic psychotherapy. Kyle has co-taught two college-level courses. One of the courses Kyle created as a capstone project, "Stanislav Grof's Psychology of Extraordinary Experiences," and the other one which he co-created, "The History of Psychedelics."

Kyle completed his M.S. in clinical mental health counseling with an emphasis in somatic psychology. Kyle's clinical background in mental health consists of working with at-risk teenagers in crisis and with individuals experiencing an early-episode of psychosis. Kyle also facilitates Transpersonal Breathwork workshops.

About Joe

Joe studied philosophy in New Hampshire, where he earned his B.A.. After stumbling upon the work of Stanislav Grof during his undergraduate years, Joe began participating in Holotropic Breathwork workshops in Vermont in 2003. Joe helped facilitate Holotropic and Transpersonal Breathwork workshops while he spent his time in New England. He is now working in the software industry as well as hosting a few podcasts. Joe now coordinates Dreamshadow Transpersonal Breathwork workshops, in Breckenridge, Colorado.

In this episode, Kyle sits down with Jac Harrison, a grammy nominated music producer. Kyle and Jac talk about music as therapy, how DMT mimics the near death experience, and how Jac produces music based on frequencies of mystical experiences.

3 Key Points:

1. Jac shares his story about his near death experience, and how DMT has been a therapeutic option for him to cope with his crippling anxiety and PTSD.
2. Jac is a music producer, who uses frequencies from mystical experiences to produce music. His music helps people with addiction, sleep issues, anxiety, and more.
3. Music is not an FDA approved medicine, but if there is music that tricks your mind into thinking you have taken a medicine, then it should be an option for those suffering.

Support the show

• Patreon
• Leave us a review on iTunes
• Share us with your friends – favorite podcast, etc
• Join our Facebook group - Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community.

Navigating Psychedelics

Show Notes About Jac

• In 2008, Jac was newly married with a baby on the way
• He needed a new job, and accepted one with Whole Foods Magazine
• Around 2011, the owner of the company became ill, and gave his company to his daughter, who was awful
• Jac said that he knew something had to change
• He started his music career, went under a lot of stress, and went through a divorce
  • Everything started to go okay with his music career, money was pouring in
  • His first album was Musicians Collection Project
• He had a ton of anxiety after the divorce, and had high blood pressure
  • He took some cold medicine, on top of his blood pressure medicine, totally forgot about it, then decided to have a glass of wine with a friend
  • The next thing he knew, he was in an ambulance getting his chest pounded on
  • They told him he was in and out all night, and practically died
• After this near death experience, he felt amazing!
  • But the feeling of greatness only lasted about 3 weeks, and then his anxiety came back, and it was crippling

A Synchronistic Event

• Jac says he doesn't believe in magic or witchcraft or any woo woo
• For his 39th birthday, he was working a trade show
• He ran around his hotel in Las Vegas, screaming that he felt he was going to die
  • He didn't know how, but he could feel it
  • Everyone thought he was crazy
• Moments later, was the shooting right outside of his hotel
  • It was the Las Vegas shooting
• He does believe in coincidence
  • He had this overwhelming feeling that something bad was going to happen, it was his intuition

Understanding the Experience

• After trying to figure out what this all meant, he took a 2000mg bar of chocolate to blast off, trying to relive his near death experience
  • He said, there was a lot of frequency, and as a musician, he felt like he could mimic it
  • His first album, and first song on the album, Relief, was about his experience when he died
  • His music is found at MindToyBox
  • Each song he did after that, catalogs the DMT experience he had
• "An old projector TV, I had one for a while, it was great. The light came on and told me I needed to change the bulb. I changed the bulb and saw in a new and clear way forever. That's what DMT is like." - Jac
• Kyle says that when he attended COSM for the DMT Spirit Molecule release party, Rick Strassman was there and said that the idea that DMT comes out of the pineal gland is just a hypothesis, and people took it and ran with it as truth

Frequency for Healing

• After he smoked DMT, he heard this humming, and so he started humming and recording it as a frequency for the album
• He took opium, and then figured out the frequency that substance performs at
  • He wrote music, based on the mathematical equation on how opium works and releases
  • He says it has helped others detox off of opium
• Jac cant take mushrooms because he is allergic, so he takes DMT
• Jac worked with a man who had gone through a ton of trauma, he had gone through combat
  • He kept reliving his combat trauma when he would try to go asleep
  • He smoked DMT, and really relived the experience, and was able to let go of it after that
  • "Your mind is a bitch." - Jac
  • "If you can lock onto a memory, and dissociate it with something, and re-associate it with something else, Every time you can go back to that memory,you can relive it in a way that it's tolerable, and get over it." - Jac
• Jac says without this, he would not be able to function, and he would be institutionalized
• Jac's music is Alex Grey's form of art creation
• It is made to go with journeywork experiences
  • It is supposed to mimic taking a pill, so you don't need to take the actual pill
  • It is supposed to guide people when taking different psychedelics
  • His tracks match the frequency of specific psychedelics

Malta Hypogeum

• The Malta Hypogeum, the oracle chamber, is a cave with naturally occurring frequencies
• Raymond Reif is an underestimated person in history
  • He beat cancer using frequencies in the 30's and 40's
• "If we're not going to someone to get drugs for something that we need drugs for, and solving our problems using plant based medicines, music therapy, and frequencies, we are much better off." - Jac
• Jac came across psychedelics when trying to treat crippling anxiety
  • Kyle is the first person he has told this NDE story to
• Alzheimers is not a neurological problem, it's a perception problem
  • Psychedelic medicine should be used for research to treat cognitive health problems, PTSD, alzheimers, etc
• "If the earth gives us something for our body, we should be able to take that at the same time we are able to take modern medicine." - Jac
• Jac says that he started doing this type of work as more of an Atheist, and after the psychedelic experiences, he says he has become more spiritual

Intuition

• Jac says that his intuition and discernment came after his near death experience
  • Kyle says that this happens after mystical experiences, we become more in tune with what is going on around us
  • "I believe that we have something in us, that is triggered, when we have a fear of death." - Jac

Final thoughts

• Jac recommends Relief as the first track for listeners
• He extends himself to people who are heavily anxious, have severe PTSD, or depressed, to come to him, and he will make music for them
• He said that this is not medicine, but if there is music that tricks your mind into thinking you have taken a medicine, then it should be an option for those suffering

Links

Website

About Jac Harrison

Having spent most of his adolescent life medicated to treat ADD/ADHD, Jac developed a dependency on the medications and could not function without them. When he stopped using them, his anxiety was so bad that he was diagnosed with PTSD in 2009; so he took his love for music with his understanding of mathematics and developed music to help himself get off all the medication. Mind Toy Box is the result of his work.