When it comes to plant based medicine, my guest on today's podcast is widely considered to be a groudbreaking pioneer. His name is Dennis McKenna.

Dennis's research - spanning back to the 1970's - has focused on the interdisciplinary study of Amazonian ethnopharmacology and plant hallucinogens. During the early 1970's, he developed a technique for cultivating psilocybin mushrooms with his brother Terence McKenna and they later published what they had learned in a book entitled Psilocybin - Magic Mushroom Grower's Guide. Dennis has conducted extensive ethnobotanical fieldwork in the Peruvian, Colombian, and Brasilian Amazon. His doctoral research (University of British Columbia, 1984) focused on the ethnopharmacology of ayahuasca and oo-koo-he, two tryptamine-based hallucinogens used by indigenous peoples in the Northwest Amazon. He is a founding board member of the Heffter Research Institute, and was a key organizer and participant in the Hoasca Project, the first biomedical investigation of ayahuasca used by the UDV, a Brazilian religious group. He is currently Assistant Professor in the Center for Spirituality and Healing at the University of Minnesota.

During our discussion, you'll discover: -The strange magazine, still published, that Dennis's father used to read - a magazine that first got Dennis interested in the "paranormal" and psychedelics... -How DMT works, and ways that you can induce the same psychedelic sensation that DMT induces without actually using something like ayahuasca... -Ways that you can induce deep sleep without relying upon compounds such as valium or ambien... -Why one common spice that you can find on the counter at Starbucks can send you on a hallucinogenic trip... -The difference between an ayahuasca experience in rural South America vs. an urban New York loft... -Why Silicone Valley is obsessed with LSD microdosing as a creativity-enhancing "smart drug"... -How psilocybin works to enhance your connection with nature and how you may be able to activate this via other mechanisms... -How one can safely "source" these kind of plant-based medicines in their local community... -And much more...

Resources from this episode: -Fate magazine -Deltasleeper device -10 ways to activate the pineal gland -The ajna light -Passionflower extract -Nutmeg essential oil -Kava kava extract -Syrian rue extract -Hefter.org and MAPS.org -Ayaadvisor.org -LSD Microdosing: The New Job Enhancer In Silicon Valley And Beyond? -Pre-frontal cortex tapping -erowid.org for online drug information -Alexendra Tannous's Sound Meditation video -The WholeTones Sound of Healing CD's -Psilocybin - Magic Mushroom Grower's Guide -The Invisible Landscape: Mind, Hallucinogens, and the I Ching -The Brotherhood of the Screaming Abyss -Botanical Medicines: The Desk Reference for Major Herbal Supplements

Do you have questions, comments or feedback for Dennis McKenna or me? Leave your thoughts at BenGreenfieldFitness.com and one of us will reply!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.