Life is a Festival

Today on the podcast, I’m speaking to a man I deeply admire about one of my favorite topics: medicine ceremonies. Tony Moss is a community leader, a musician, and an ayahuasca advocate. Thirty years ago, Tony was heavily involved in activism, trying to change the world through protesting war and inequality. Today, he is a leading proponent of the legalization and responsible use of ayahuasca and other plant medicines for healing individuals and the world. Tony’s mother, Rejoyce Moss, was part of 1960s gospel act The Stovall Sisters, and he grew up in a musical household. His medicine music is informed by his R&B roots, a love of musical theater, and icaros (traditional ayahuasca songs) that guide healing ceremonies. On the podcast, we discuss his personal journey to plant medicine and how ayahuasca has helped him heal his ancestral lineage. We talk about his specific strategies to facilitate ceremony and build community, as well as how to integrate psychedelic experiences. We also discuss the racial divide in Ayahuasca accessibility. In 2012, Tony founded I.AM.LIFE, a non-profit organization that promotes interconnectivity through modern and indigenous wisdom. He is part of the musical collective Bird Tribe, which has just released its debut album, Birds in Paradise. Tony’s gospel-inspired hymn “Grateful”, my favorite medicine song, is featured in its entirety at the end of the podcast. Eventually there is no difference between your life and ceremony… your life becomes a ceremony. And the secret is gratitude. Tony invites YOU to participate in a Gratitude Party and share your experience for the upcoming Grateful music video: https://www.iamlifeproject.org/grateful Tony Moss: https://www.tonymoss.me/ I am life band camp: https://iamlife.bandcamp.com/ Unify https://www.facebook.com/unify/ How SoCal's Bird Tribe Became the Soundtrack to Ayahuasca Ceremonies by Katie Bain https://thelandmag.com/the-secret-life-of-plants-bird-tribe-katie-bain-ayahuasca/?fbclid=IwAR1XphzJwAexCUJa1axOPMRmb7WAw33PsHYA3vkPDbtqMVY1BzboDnNr6-Q

A festival can be a rite of passage and a rite of passage can be a festival. Tomorrow is my birthday and so this week on the podcast my guest is myself. Or rather I am sharing my friend’s podcast. The podcast is called Life Rites and my episode comes out on Monday. It’s a new podcast started by my former producer Ari Anderson and actor Max Carver about Rites of Passage in the modern world. On the podcast Max and Ari explore the stages of the Hero’s Journey as outlined by Joseph Campbell in his famous book, The Hero With A Thousand Faces. I was honored to be one of their first guests sharing my story of embarking on the Mount Everest of shamanic journeys, the psychedelic medicine iboga which I took as part of an initiation with the Bwiti people in Gabon. On the Life Rites podcast, I share my journey from the very first invitation to adventure, through my 10 days of silent meditation, also called vipassana, to writing in Bali, a speaking tour on masculinity in Australia and suffering a broken heart (and broken ego) in India. I finally make my way to Gabon in the Congo Basin for 10 days of shamanic ritual which is the climax of our tale. I hope you enjoy the story of my life as a festival! My deepest thanks to Max and Ari for creating this excellent new podcast, be sure to check it out at https://www.liferitespodcast.com/ Photo by my friend Marc Patrick: https://www.marcpatrick.com/ Design by Andy McErlean: http://andymcerlean.com/ "Dancing with the Bwiti" by Ben Taylor http://www.mometo.net/

Bear Kittay is an entrepreneur, political organizer, musician and was once the Global Ambassador for Burning Man. He also led the acquisition of Fly Ranch for the Burning Man organization. He is currently co-founder of Good Money, a new online banking platform owned by the people in service of the planet. Bear considers himself a Social Alchemist, weaving together disparate communities around the world. On on the podcast we discuss how building a community is different than leveraging a network. We talk about creating small intentional communities and how they are kept together through ritual and ceremony. We consider the dark side of creating communities of common interests and clustering values. We finish up the podcast with an exclusive of Bear and Wavy’s new track “Clarity.” Community is a process, not a place.

Without today’s guest there would be no Life is a Festival Podcast. Chip Conley is my mentor, my dear friend and the co-founder of Fest300, an online guide to the world’s best festivals where I once worked as Creative Director. Chip hired me in 2013 and that year he went to 36 festivals in 20 countries. Chip got his start in hospitality, creating Joie de Vivre hotels. After founding Fest300, he went on to become the Head of Global Hospitality & Strategy for Airbnb. He is on the board of both the Esalen Institute and Burning Man and has written five books including his most recent “Wisdom@Work: The Making of a Modern Elder.” His most recent venture is The Modern Elder Academy, a campus for midlife identity refreshment in Baja where this interview took place. On the podcast we talk about Chip’s love of the “collective effervescence” of festivals. We go deep on mentorship from his first mentor, Herb Kelleher, and how to find a mentor to winding down a mentorship. We end the podcast talking about the role of the modern elder in today’s society and Chip’s creation of the world’s first midlife wisdom school. I hope you enjoy this podcast as much as I enjoyed interviewing my mentor, Chip. Chip Conley https://chipconley.com/ The Modern Elder Academy https://chipconley.com/modern-elder-academy Wisdom@Work: The Making of a Modern Elder https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078LS21ZX Fest300 https://www.everfest.com/fest300

What is festival fashion? Is fashion a dirty word? Can festival fashion be truly inclusive? And affordable? Ash Lorona and Tessla Venus Goodwin are the Glitter Spies. They’re best friends, vendor coordinators, and deep thinkers about festival style as affordable, inclusive, eco-friendly self-expression. On the podcast, Ash and Tessla take us through all the magic of adorning yourself as a work of art both at a festival and in the world. We go deep on some issues around fashion at festivals like decommodification, cultural appropriation, and the toll of our personal style on the environment. This episode was a real joy for me, as radical self-expression is very important in my life. Ash and Tessla are playful, informed, kind, and wise. Whatever your comfort level in dressing yourself to celebrate, this episode will have something for you. Show Notes Glitter Spies https://www.instagram.com/glitterspies/ Personals https://www.instagram.com/tessla_venus/ https://www.instagram.com/ashthemagical/ Tessa’s Brand- Fenclaw & Faund https://www.instagram.com/fenclawandfaund/ Tamo/ Wild Feather https://www.instagram.com/tamodesignsf/ https://www.instagram.com/wildfeathersf/ Amanda Sage https://www.instagram.com/amandasagecollection/ Wolven Threads https://www.instagram.com/wolventhreads/ BioGlitz https://www.instagram.com/bioglitz/ Wild June https://www.instagram.com/wildjunedesigns/ Feeling Vague Vintage https://www.instagram.com/feelingvaguevintage/ Thriftsys https://www.instagram.com/thriftsys/ Jackalope Land https://www.instagram.com/jackalopeland/ Uplifted Mindz https://www.instagram.com/upliftedmindz/ Rust Locks https://www.instagram.com/rustlocks Yoshi Zen Couture https://www.instagram.com/yoshizencouture Pitango https://www.instagram.com/pitangorings/

In 2015 my partying caught up with me, I started getting intense brain fog which ultimately turned into full blown depression. It was time to get serious about my cognitive health so I called up my friend Molly Maloof, aka Dr Molly, for a full harm reduction program. Dr Molly is an advisor to over 20 medical technology companies in Silicon Valley and San Francisco. She specializes in personal health optimization for investors, executives, and entrepreneurs. Her work covers a spectrum of wellness enhancement from nutrition to exercise to mindfulness. On the podcast, Dr Molly and I review the specific protocols she created so I could continue my globetrotting lifestyle. Starting with supplements for cognitive and mood health, we discuss my particular issues with neurotransmitters and how to optimize for rebalancing. We talk about comprehensive nutrition, positive mindset, meditation and even a specific protocol for jet lag. We finish the episode by creating a hierarchy of the relative neurotoxicity of common recreational substances. Life is a festival, let it be a long one full of cognitive liberty and healthy brains. http://drmolly.co/ https://twitter.com/mollymaloofmd

Romi Elan is the founder of SoulPlay Festivals, which occur a few times a year in California. These gatherings are substance-free and focused on intentional connecting where participants can push their edges in a safe container. Romi and his team have crafted ideal environments to approach romantic connection mindfully, so he is an excellent person to have a frank conversation about the state of consent in our modern world. Romi grew up in Israel and attended conscious gatherings inspired by Osho. Dissatisfied with his successful job in the corporate word, Romi dedicated himself to creating festivals and gatherings for people to learn and grow. On the podcast we discuss why consent is much more than just yes and no. We go over what to do if a violation has occurred, and how both individuals and communities should respond. Finally we discussed how other festivals can take best practices from SoulPlay to create spaces of even deeper integrity and connection for all. Would you like to live life like a festival? If the answer is an enthusiastic YES, join us for this dynamic conversation.

Android Jones is one of the most successful artists in the visionary or psychedelic realm. From live digital painting on tour with Bassnectar to his immersive dome Samskara and the virtual reality experience Microdose VR, Android is constantly pushing the envelope. On the podcast we discuss ego death and the chemical rocket ships we use to get there. We talk about integrating our shadows and how that relates to an image maker’s use of light and dark. Most of all we discuss fatherhood. Android and his wife Martha are parents of two delightful children, Esher and Nova. Android has one major piece of advice for people in the festival world: having a family isn’t what you do then the fun’s over, in fact it’s the main event. If life is a festival, family is the headliner. Links Android Jones: http://androidjones.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AndroidJonesart Samskara: https://www.facebook.com/samskaraexhibit/ Microdose VR: https://microdosevr.com/

From Nectar Village at Burning Man, to psychedelic interactive games, to secret parties, Benja is a master experience designer. On this episode we discuss the four elements of a dynamic experience, Benja’s time at the College of Extraordinary Experiences and different types of participatory events including immersive theater (like Sleep No More), explorative worlds (like Meow Wolf) and alternate reality games. If you like fun and especially if you like creating fun for others, this might be the episode for you! Benja: http://benjajuster.com/

Sarah Wu is a co-founder of Envision Festival in Costa Rica. She’s also an herbalist, community leader and a modern witch. On the podcast we discuss the Village Witch program at Envision, including a holistic Healing Sanctuary alongside conventional medics and Zendo Psychedelic First Aid. We go deep on permaculture, the eight forms of capital and the Red Tent Movement. Finally we discuss witch throughout history and the unique case of witchcraft in Catholic Costa Rica. Life is a festival and in Costa Rica, they call it Pura Vida. Envision Festival: https://envisionfestival.com/ Envision Festival on Twitter: https://twitter.com/EnvisionFestCR Village Witches https://envisionfestival.com/village/