Integrating Ayahuasca (and "her" voice in your head) w/ Rachel Harris Ph.D. ~ Ep. 63

What does ayahuasca integration mean and how do we do it? This is a question our guest for this episode, Rachel Harris Ph.D., has been exploring intensely though research, clinical practice, and her own direct experiences.

Rachel Harris, PhD, although retired now, was a practising psychotherapist for 35 years. She received a National Institutes of Health New Investigator’s Award, has published more than forty scientific studies in peer-reviewed journals, and has worked as a psychological consultant to Fortune 500 companies and the United Nations. She is also the author of the recent book Listening to Ayahuasca.

She is on the show to talk about her research with ayahuasca and what integration means, however, a very interesting tangent-at-depth emerged during the conversation between her and I: hearing voices, in particular hearing the voice of ayahuasca in your head as though it were an entity of external agency and intelligence, during and after the ceremony. To say that this is an intellectually dicey topic in the realms of conventional psychiatry and psychology, might be an understatement, but include in that fact that Rachel herself proposes to hear this voice and it was what guided her along her groundbreaking research and we have thoroughly entered the medical and academic fringe.

I very much enjoyed this connection with Rachel Harris and trust that you will too. Thanks for listening. Enjoy.

 

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See the full show notes and my blog entry on this episode: http://bit.ly/ATTMind63

 

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Episode Breakdown

• Research foundations, extent, and observations.
• Relating to the spirit of ayahuasca.
• Hearing voices: religious or psychosis? 
• God as an attachment relationship
• Ayahuasca as the perfect therapist. 
• Criticisms of biological psychiatry's approach to mental illness.
• Differentiating psychosis from spiritual awakening.
• Dark entities and entity attachment.
• Spiritual bypassing and spiritual materialism
• Integration: theories and practicalities.
• The importance of community transparency and social relationships in the integration process.
• Tips for finding safe and supportive ayahuasca experiences.

 

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