How Psychedelics and Meditation Help in Midlife

Midlife often brings new challenges. The life you built still functions, but it no longer feels aligned. Work, identity, and family roles start to pull apart, and the strategies that once worked stop providing clarity.In this conversation, Steven Miyao speaks with contemplative psychotherapist David Redish about how psychedelics and meditation help in midlife, particularly when identity begins to strain under change. They explore fatherhood as an early catalyst, burnout as a signal rather than a failure, and why holding too tightly to a fixed sense of self creates unnecessary suffering.They discuss psychedelics as tools that can temporarily soften rigid identity structures and create perspective, and meditation as the ongoing practice that trains awareness day by day. The conversation also covers legality, safety, preparation, and integration, with a clear emphasis that insight alone is not enough without sustained work.This episode is for people who are not looking for shortcuts, but for ways to navigate midlife transitions with more honesty, stability, and alignment.Chapters00:00 Wanting a whole different life01:49 Fatherhood as the first identity rupture03:21 When the identity you built stops working06:50 Midlife, aging out, and changing rules07:33 How psychedelics loosen fixed identity11:34 Safety, legality, and responsible use15:47 Set, setting, and integration20:10 Psychedelics and meditation, different roles23:15 Why daily meditation matters27:24 Advice across a lifetime#Midlife#MidlifeTransition#IdentityShift#Psychedelics#Meditation#InnerWork#Fatherhood#PersonalGrowth#Consciousness#CoachingMetta