In this episode of The Psychedelic Podcast, Paul F. Austin sits down with Rachel Pastor and Tiffany Hurd, leaders behind Golden Rule Mushrooms, a woman-led microdosing company pushing the boundaries of accessibility, education, and intention in the psychedelic space.

Find full show notes and links here: https://thethirdwave.co/podcast/episode-309/?ref=278

From overcoming heroin addiction and corporate burnout to leading a values-driven microdosing brand, Rachel and Tiffany share their powerful personal journeys and the mission that fuels their work today. They dive into the evolving landscape of legal psychedelics, the challenges of running a public-facing microdosing company, and the line between recreational use and intentional wellness.

This candid conversation explores how Golden Rule is reframing the perception of psychedelics by offering trustworthy, well-branded psilocybin and LSD microdoses paired with community support and education.

Rachel Pastor is the co-founder of Golden Rule Mushrooms and a passionate advocate for healing through psychedelics. After overcoming heroin addiction and years of trauma, she became a leader in the wellness space, working in fitness and personal development before discovering the transformative power of microdosing. Today, she channels her lived experience into helping others access safe, supportive, and empowering psychedelic tools.

Tiffany Hurd is the co-founder of Golden Rule Mushrooms, a microdosing advisor, leadership mentor, and speaker with over seven years of experience in the psychedelic space. She has guided hundreds of individuals and teams through intentional microdosing journeys using neuroscience-backed protocols. Tiffany’s work bridges personal transformation and professional growth, helping people build emotional resilience, unlock creativity, and heal with integrity.

Ready to try Golden Rule? Get a lifetime discount of 10% with code THIRDWAVE at checkout. Click Here.

Highlights:

• From heroin addiction to fitness leader to microdosing advocate
• Creating accessible, trusted microdosing products
• Navigating legality and risk in a gray-market space
• Building a woman-run company rooted in lived experience
• The role of education in safe microdosing use
• Wellness vs. recreational use
• Can microdosing be overused or misused?
• Microdosing as a catalyst—not a cure-all

Episode Sponsor:

• The Practitioner Certification Program by Third Wave’s Psychedelic Coaching Institute.

In this episode of The Psychedelic Podcast, Paul F. Austin welcomes Victoria Lynn Carroll, a Los Angeles-based filmmaker who made an unconventional journey from actor to documentary filmmaker.

Find full show notes and links here: https://thethirdwave.co/podcast/episode-308/?ref=278

Victoria shares how a vision during an ayahuasca ceremony inspired her to create her directorial debut, She Is a Shaman, which provides an intimate look into the personal life of a female ayahuasca shaman in the Peruvian Amazon. She discusses the challenges of filming in the jungle without electricity, the personal transformations that coincided with her creative process, and her decision to release the film for free on YouTube, where it has garnered over 350,000 views. Victoria explores the intersection of sacred storytelling, the role of women in shamanic traditions, and how creating art became a form of surrender for her.

Episode Highlights:

• Receiving the documentary vision during ayahuasca ceremony
• Filming challenges without electricity in Peru's jungle
• The paradoxical everyday life of female shamans
• Navigating ethics while filming sacred ceremonies
• Personal divorce synchronizing with creative breakthrough
• Mystery guest's stormy behavior at the center
• Choosing free YouTube distribution over streaming deals
• Surrender as the filmmaker's creative process
• Unknown Canadian refugee drama at the center
• The translator who fled with bug-bitten lover

Selected Links:

• 'She Is a Shaman on YouTube
• Victoria's Website

Episode Sponsors:

• Golden Rule Mushrooms - Get a lifetime discount of 10% with code THIRDWAVE at checkout

In this episode of The Psychedelic Podcast, Paul F. Austin welcomes Dr. Richard Blake, a pioneering psychologist and breathwork researcher, to discuss the science and clinical application of Conscious Connected Breathwork (CCB).

Find full show notes and links here: https://thethirdwave.co/podcast/episode-307/?ref=278

Dr. Blake shares key insights from his groundbreaking randomized controlled trial—the largest to date—on the effectiveness of CCB for reducing anxiety. The conversation explores the distinctions between breathwork modalities, how altered states are reached without substances, and why trauma-informed facilitation is essential for safe practice.

Paul and Dr. Blake also dive into the pitfalls of mainstream psychotherapy, the overlooked power of lifestyle interventions, and how breathwork compares to both SSRIs and psychedelics in measurable outcomes.

Dr. Richard Blake holds a PhD in Transpersonal Psychology and is a pioneering researcher in the field of breathwork, psychedelics, and holistic mental health. He conducted the largest-ever randomized controlled trial on Conscious Connected Breathwork (CCB), providing groundbreaking scientific evidence on its effects on anxiety and well-being. Dr. Blake works with RUNGA, where he is dedicated to advancing the evolution of mental health treatments—moving beyond head-centered approaches to include breathwork, psychedelics, nutrition, exercise, and other integrative healing practices. His mission is to help people unlock deeper levels of psychological resilience, nervous system regulation, and self-awareness through embodied and experiential methods.

Highlights:

• Why breathwork is a potent tool for trauma and anxiety
• Comparing Holotropic Breathwork to newer trauma-informed approaches
• Facilitator-to-client ratio standards for safety
• The ethics and economics of group breathwork sessions
• Inside the largest randomized trial on CCB for anxiety
• Why 5% adverse effects matters—and how it compares to SSRIs
• The “pivotal mental states” hypothesis explained
• Integration of talk therapy and altered states
• The power of community and connection in healing
• From peak performance to depth psychology: Dr. Blake’s story

Episode Links:

• Website
• RUNGA
• Breathguru
• Richard on Instagram
• RUNGA 90-DAY INTENSIVE, START NOW FOR FREE.

Episode Sponsons:

• Golden Rule Mushrooms - Get a lifetime discount of 10% with code THIRDWAVE at checkout

In this episode of The Psychedelic Podcast, Paul F. Austin welcomes back Rick Doblin, Ph.D., Founder and President of MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies), for a deeply personal and visionary conversation on the recent FDA rejection of MDMA-assisted therapy.

Find full show notes and links here: https://thethirdwave.co/podcast/episode-306/?ref=278

Rick opens up about the painful setbacks, internal missteps, and his own process of recovery and renewed hope. He explains why this isn’t the end—but a critical turning point for psychedelic medicine.

Rick and Paul unpack the nuances of drug plus therapy, exploring why context, integration, and culture matter as much as pharmacology. They reflect on the future of MAPS, the psychedelic renaissance beyond FDA approval, and how business, politics, and spirituality intersect with healing. The episode also explores Rick’s enduring belief in public benefit models, global collaboration, and the potential of a spiritualized humanity.

Rick Doblin, Ph.D., is the Founder and President of MAPS. He received his doctorate in Public Policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and has spent nearly four decades advancing the safe and legal use of psychedelics and marijuana through science, education, and advocacy.

Highlights:

• The cost of MAPS' quiet period
• Why MDMA therapy was rejected by FDA
• Pharma vs. therapy: What’s best for patients?
• Drug-only treatments vs. integrated therapy
• Ibogaine’s role in brain healing and PTSD
• MAPS’ path forward: Phase 4 vs. Phase 3
• What the Dutch got right about MDMA
• Spiritualized humanity and self-transcendence
• The global impact of MAPS’ work
• Business, love, and psychedelic ethics

Want to attend this year’s Psychedelic Science 2025 Conference? For our community: Use code THIRDWAVE15 for 15% off registration. Learn more and register at psychedelicscience.org — See you there!

Episode Links

• Psychedelic Science 2025 Conference
• MAPS Website
• Psychedelic Science on Instagram
• MAPS on Instagram
• Psychedelic Science on LinkedIn
• MAPS on LinkedIn
• Psychedelic Science on X

Episode Sponsors:

• Golden Rule Mushrooms - Get a lifetime discount of 10% with code THIRDWAVE at checkout
• Psychedelic Coacing Isntitute's Intensive for Psychedelic Professionals in Costa Rica - a transformative retreat for personal and professional growth.

In this episode of The Psychedelic Podcast, Paul F. Austin welcomes Bryan Hubbard, a prominent advocate for psychedelic-assisted therapies, particularly ibogaine in the treatment of opioid addiction and mental health disorders. 

Find full show notes and links here: https://thethirdwave.co/podcast/episode-305/?ref=278

Update (May 2025): Days before this episode's release, the Texas House approved a Senate-backed bill to fund ibogaine research through a public-private partnership aimed at securing FDA approval. This vote marks a major milestone in the movement Bryan describes throughout this conversation.

Bryan shares his journey from leading Kentucky's Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission to spearheading breakthrough ibogaine research initiatives in Texas. He articulates ibogaine's unique neurological properties, discussing how it can reset brain neurochemistry in 36 hours and potentially treat conditions from traumatic brain injury to Parkinson's disease. The conversation explores the spiritual dimensions of ibogaine experiences, the political landscape surrounding psychedelic medicine, and Bryan's ongoing efforts to medicalize ibogaine through FDA drug development trials, highlighting Texas as the next frontier for this life-saving research.

W. Bryan Hubbard is the Executive Director of the American Ibogaine Initiative. He is the first and former Chairman and Executive Director of the Kentucky Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission. He concurrently served as Special Counsel to the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office of Medicaid Fraud and Abuse Control and was its prior Executive Director. He served on the Kentucky Judicial Commission on Mental Health, the Kentucky Child Support Guidelines Commission, Mine Safety Review Board, and the Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy’s Recovery Ready Communities Advisory Council. He previously served as Commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Income Support wherein he led the Commonwealth’s Social Security Disability and Child Support Enforcement systems. He practiced workers’ compensation law representing Walmart, Tyson Foods, and Tennessee Valley Authority for sixteen years. During his practice years, he observed the predacious onset of Kentucky’s Opioid Epidemic amid generational joblessness, poverty, disability, and substance use. He was raised in Virginia’s coalfields and is the proud grandson of two grade-school educated coal miners on whose shoulders he stands.

Highlights:

• Why ibogaine interrupts addiction instantly
• The Stanford study that changed everything
• Resetting brain neurochemistry in 36 hours
• From Parkinson's to PTSD: Ibogaine's broad applications
• The spiritual awakening dimension of treatment
• How pharmaceutical interests block breakthrough medicine
• Kentucky's lost opportunity: $42 million for research
• Texas as the new frontier for ibogaine medicalization
• Matrix pharmacology: Ibogaine's intelligent mechanism
• The political war over life-saving psychedelic medicine

Episode Links

• Website
• American Ibogaine Initiative
• Instagram: @w_bryan_hubbard
• X (Formerly Twitter): @w_bryan_hubbard
• Linkedin

Episode Sponsors:

• Golden Rule Mushrooms - Get a lifetime discount of 10% with code THIRDWAVE at checkout

In this episode of The Psychedelic Podcast, Paul F. Austin welcomes Dr. Pedram Shojai, known as The Urban Monk, a former Taoist monk and doctor of Oriental medicine.  Find full show notes and links here: https://thethirdwave.co/podcast/episode-304/?ref=278

Pedram shares his journey from intensive martial arts training under one of the last living descendants of a Daoist monastery to bringing ancient wisdom into modern life. He discusses the challenges of integrating monastic practices into householder living, the relationship between physical vitality and spiritual growth, and offers a balanced perspective on psychedelics. Dr. Shojai explores the importance of strengthening one's vessel before seeking peak experiences, the risks of "shortcut spirituality," and how ancient contemplative practices can help us live with greater presence in today's fast-paced world.

Dr. Pedram Shojai is the founder and director of The Urban Monk Academy and the New York Times bestselling author of Rise and Shine, The Urban Monk, The Art of Stopping Time, Inner Alchemy, Exhausted, Trauma, Focus, and Conscious Parenting.

He's the producer of the movies Vitality, Origins, Prosperity, and The Great Heist, as well as the docuseries Interconnected, Gateway to Health, Exhausted, Trauma, Conscious Parenting, Hormones Health & Harmony, and Gut Check.

He hosts "The Urban Monk" podcast and is a key influencer in the health and personal development space. As a prominent physician in the functional medicine space, he's known for his ability to bring people together around ideas that matter.

In his spare time, he's a kung fu–practicing world traveler, a fierce global green warrior, an avid backpacker, a devout alchemist, and an old-school Jedi biohacker working to preserve our natural world and wake us up to our full potential.

Episode Highlights: 

• From Kung Fu to contemplative practice
• The path of the "fire monk"
• Strengthening the vessel before spiritual work
• The life garden: mindful householder practice
• Vitality as prerequisite for spiritual growth
• Integrating ancient wisdom into modern life
• Jing, Qi, and Shen: energy management principles
• Nervous system preparation for psychedelics
• Awareness as background process, not app
• Atlantis origins of contemplative practices

Episode Sponsor: These show links may contain affiliate links. Third Wave receives a small percentage of the product price if you purchase through the above affiliate links.

• Golden Rule Mushrooms - Get a lifetime discount of 10% with code THIRDWAVE at checkout

In this episode of The Psychedelic Podcast, Paul F. Austin welcomes Dr. Richard Schwartz, creator of the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model of psychotherapy. Dick shares how he discovered that psychedelics naturally facilitate access to what IFS calls "Self energy" - the compassionate core within everyone that can heal wounded parts. He explains how medicines like ketamine and MDMA help relax protective parts of our psyche, revealing both Self energy and exiled parts that need healing. Dick reveals his personal journey with psychedelics, including his work with ketamine-assisted IFS therapy, and discusses the relationship between psychedelic experiences and spiritual guides. He emphasizes how reframing "bad trips" as opportunities for exiled parts to be witnessed can transform challenging experiences into profound healing moments.

Dick Schwartz began his career as a family therapist and academic at the University of Illinois at Chicago. There he discovered that family therapy alone did not achieve full symptom relief. His patients became his teachers as they described their inner "parts," which formed networks resembling the families he had been working with. He found that when patients separated from these parts, they shifted into a state of curiosity, calm, confidence, and compassion—what he called the Self. From these explorations, the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model was born in the early 1980s. Now evidence-based, IFS has become widely used, particularly for trauma work, offering non-pathologizing techniques for individuals, couples, families, corporations, and classrooms. Dick lives with his wife Jeanne near Chicago. Highlights: 

• The natural synergy between psychedelics and IFS therapy
• How psychedelics temporarily quiet protective "manager" parts
• Understanding how there are “no bad parts” of the psyche
• The difference between Self and parts in IFS
• Reconceptualizing "bad trips" as healing opportunities
• IFS and shadow work
• How psychedelics accelerate access to exiled parts
• Moving IFS beyond therapy into leadership and systemic change
• Legacy burdens: healing inherited trauma collectively

Episode Sponsors: 

• Golden Rule Mushrooms - Get a lifetime discount of 10% with code THIRDWAVE at checkout

In this episode of The Psychedelic Podcast, Paul F. Austin welcomes Marlena Robbins, a proud member of the Diné (Navajo) nation and doctoral student at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health. Marlena shares her personal journey with psilocybin mushrooms and how they helped reconnect her with her heritage and family. Her research examines the cultural, social, and policy aspects of psilocybin use within Native communities, highlighting differences between urban and rural perspectives to inform educational frameworks, culturally-informed psychedelic assisted therapy models, and public health policy.

Find full show notes and links here: https://thethirdwave.co/podcast/episode-302/?ref=278

Marlena Robbins is pursuing a Doctor of Public Health degree at UC Berkeley. Her research examines the cultural, social, and policy aspects of psilocybin use within Native communities, highlighting differences between urban and rural perspectives to inform educational frameworks, culturally-informed psychedelic assisted therapy models and public health policy.

Robbins is a graduate student researcher at the Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics, focusing on program evaluation. Her residency with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration led to the development of a tribal engagement toolkit, showcasing the significance of psychedelics in spiritual, recreational and conservative contexts among Tribal communities.

Recently, Robbins was invited to join the Federally Recognized American Tribes and Indigenous Community Working Group for the Natural Medicine Health Act with the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies. This role enables her to advocate for the protection of sacred plants against commercialization and cultural misappropriation.

Highlights:

• Finding sobriety and healthy motherhood through mushrooms
• First experience of Hozhó: beauty, harmony, and balance Reconnecting with mother through shared psychedelic healing
• Advocating for indigenous representation in psychedelic research
• Applying indigenous critical lens to psychedelic policy
• Personifying medicines as relatives with their own spirits
• Evaluating psychedelic integration in Native mental health systems
• Moving beyond capitalism toward reciprocal relationships with medicines
• Meeting ancestral trauma with courage instead of avoidance
• Building bridges between indigenous knowledge and Western healthcare

Episode Sponsors:

• Psychedelic Coacing Isntitute's Intensive for Psychedelic Professionals in Costa Rica - a transformative retreat for personal and professional growth.
• Golden Rule Mushrooms - Get a lifetime discount of 10% with code THIRDWAVE at checkout

In this episode of The Psychedelic Podcast, Paul F. Austin welcomes Sam Mandel, co-founder and CEO of Ketamine Clinics Los Angeles (KCLA). Find full show notes and links here: https://thethirdwave.co/podcast/episode-301-sam-mandel/?ref=278 Sam shares his journey co-founding KCLA with his father in 2014, pioneering ketamine infusion therapy when few were exploring its potential for mental health. From humble beginnings in a storage closet to becoming a leading mental health center with over 30,000 infusions administered, Sam discusses the challenges and triumphs of building a patient-centric practice. He explains the science behind ketamine's effectiveness compared to alternatives like Spravato, highlights the importance of individualized treatment, and offers a passionate critique of the current mental healthcare system while envisioning what meaningful reform could look like.

Co-founder & CEO of Ketamine Clinics Los Angeles (KCLA), Sam Mandel has channeled his lifelong passion for healthcare advocacy into transforming mental health care. From volunteering at a teen-to-teen suicide prevention hotline at twelve to pioneering one of the foremost Ketamine Infusion Therapy clinics in 2014 alongside his father, Dr. Steven L. Mandel, Sam has been featured in Entrepreneur's Top 10 Inspiring Healthcare Entrepreneurs (2023) and earned two 2024 Stevie Awards. Under his leadership, KCLA has provided over 30,000 infusions to more than 6,000 patients with an 83% success rate, establishing gold-standard treatment protocols while expanding services to include General Psychiatry and TMS therapy. Highlights: 

• The founding story of KCLA and early skepticism from the medical community
• Why IV ketamine outperforms nasal Spravato in efficacy and cost-efficiency
• Creating individualized ketamine protocols for optimal patient outcomes
• How insurance companies create barriers to effective mental healthcare
• KCLA's 83% success rate compared to 50-70% in controlled research settings
• Expanding from ketamine to TMS and general psychiatry
• Preparing for future psychedelic medicines like MDMA and psilocybin
• The critical flaws in America's mental healthcare system

Episode Links: 

• Ketamine Clinics Los Angeles (KCLA)
• The difference between Ketamine and Spravato (esketamine)
• Third Wave’s Ultimate Guide to Ketamine

Episode Sponsor:

• Psychedelic Coacing Isntitute's Intensive for Psychedelic Professionals in Costa Rica - a transformative retreat for personal and professional growth.

In this episode of The Psychedelic Podcast, Paul F. Austin welcomes Dr. Simon Ruffell, a psychiatrist, ayahuasca researcher, and student of curanderismo.

Find full show notes and links here: https://thethirdwave.co/podcast/episode-300/?ref=278

Simon shares his transformative journey from being a skeptical Western psychiatrist to embracing the spiritual dimensions of plant medicine after experiencing what he describes as an "ontological shock" during an ayahuasca ceremony. He discusses his ongoing apprenticeship with Shipibo curanderos in the Amazon, his research into ayahuasca's effects on mental health and epigenetics, and his work bridging indigenous wisdom with Western scientific understanding. Dr. Ruffell explores the differences between Western medical approaches and traditional healing practices, highlighting how the Shipibo focus on harmony and balance rather than fixing specific problems. Through his organization Onaya, he conducts reciprocal research with indigenous communities, studying how ayahuasca affects veterans with PTSD and examining the epigenetic changes that may explain its profound healing effects.

Dr. Simon Ruffell is trained across three modalities: Western medicine (as a medical doctor specializing in psychiatry), research psychology (with a PhD in Amazonian ayahuasca and mental health), and traditional plant medicine (as a student of curanderismo). He is the Chief Medical Officer of MINDS, a nonprofit research organization exploring the potential of psychedelics and consciousness practices to address humanity's greatest challenges.

Since 2015, his work has focused primarily on exploring ayahuasca while collaborating with indigenous communities in the Amazon basin. He is the CEO of Onaya and founded the nonprofit Onaya Science, which researches the effects of ayahuasca in naturalistic Amazonian settings. Dr. Ruffell's work seeks to understand plant medicines from both Indigenous and Western perspectives, and he is currently training in Shipibo Shamanism under Don Rono Lopez.

Highlights:

• A spiritual attack during ceremony that shifted his perspective on reality
• Bridging indigenous wisdom with Western scientific research
• The difference between psychedelic guides and trained shamans
• Ayahuasca and epigenetics: clearing ancestral trauma
• How traditional medicine evolves and adapts over time
• Remarkable PTSD treatment outcomes with veterans
• Approaching healing as returning to harmony
• EEG research during ceremonial Icaros singing
• Shamans as navigational experts of the psychedelic realm
• When to choose Western medicine vs. traditional approaches

Episode Links:

• Dr. Simon Ruffell's Website
• Onaya
• Onaya Science

Episode Sponsor

• Psychedelic Coacing Isntitute's Intensive for Psychedelic Professionals in Costa Rica - a transformative retreat for personal and professional growth.