Brainforest Café

Luke served in the Marine Corps for six years and two years in the National Guard, deploying to Afghanistan with an Airborne infantry unit. After his deployment, he faced severe PTSD, a loss of purpose, and a transformative “dark night of the soul.” Seeking healing, Luke explored various modalities, eventually traveling to the Amazon basin in Peru to experience Ayahuasca. This profound encounter brought him personal healing and a spiritual awakening, revealing the vast, interconnected nature of the universe. Inspired by this experience, Luke delved into shamanism, including rediscovering lost Northern European traditions. Along his spiritual journey, he encountered neurofeedback and QEEG brain mapping, recognizing their transformative potential for healing and spiritual growth—what he calls “spiritual neuroscience” or “electronic yoga.” These tools became central to his evolving vision. In 2019, Luke met Dr. Richard Soutar, whose mentorship profoundly deepened his understanding of consciousness, healing, and the neurological foundations of spiritual development. Since December 2023, Luke has been leading retreats in Peru’s Sacred Valley, combining diverse healing modalities into a unique and transformative experience. He has also conducted groundbreaking research using QEEG brain mapping to study plant medicines, including the first longitudinal study on Ayahuasca and the first brain imaging study of Huachuma. Through these studies and future research, Luke hopes to deepen humanity’s understanding of plant medicines, consciousness, and spirituality. His work aims to inspire a greater recognition of our spiritual nature and the boundless potential for personal and collective transformation.

Paul Stamets, speaker, author, mycologist, medical researcher and entrepreneur, is considered an intellectual and industry leader in fungi: habitat, medicinal use, and production. He lectures extensively to deepen the understanding and respect for the organisms that literally exist under every footstep taken on this path of life. His presentations cover a range of mushroom species and research showing how mushrooms can help the health of people and planet. His central premise is that habitats have immune systems, just like people, and mushrooms are cellular bridges between the two. Our close evolutionary relationship to fungi can be the basis for novel pairings in the microbiome that lead to greater sustainability and immune enhancement. Paul’s philosophy is that “MycoDiversity is BioSecurity.” He sees the ancient Old Growth forests of the Pacific Northwest as a resource of incalculable value, especially in terms of its fungal genome. A dedicated hiker and explorer, his passion is to preserve and protect as many ancestral strains of mushrooms as possible from these pristine woodlands. His research is considered breakthrough by thought leaders for creating a paradigm shift for helping ecosystems survive worldwide.Paul´s most recent book (2025) is called "Psilocybin Mushrooms in Their Natural Habitats".oms in Their Natural Hbin Mushrooms in Their Natural Habitats

Steve Elfrink, a pioneer with over 40 years of experience in psychedelic medicine and integrative healing, is the founder of OmTerra (www.omterra.org). In this podcast, Steve focuses on his groundbreaking hypothesis of Psychedelic Iatrogenic Structural Dissociation (PISD), which was recently published in Frontiers in Psychology (co-authored by Leigh Bergin). Drawing from his own deeply personal journey—from a transformative yet destabilizing ayahuasca ceremony in a sacred Southern Wisconsin valley to years of navigating dissociative trauma—Steve shares how these experiences led him to explore how psychedelics can deconstruct dissociative processes and potentially release trauma too quickly. With his expertise in legal psilocybin facilitation in Oregon and Psycholytic Somatic Integration Therapy (PSIT) using low-dose ketamine for PTSD and C-PTSD, Steve offers unique insights into the importance of cautious, titrated psychedelic sessions and somatic integration. Join him as he recounts his personal story, unpacks the science behind PISD, and discusses the transformative yet sometimes challenging nature of psychedelic therapy.

Rajnish Khanna, M.Sc. Ph.D., is a Senior Investigator, Biosphere Science and Engineering at Carnegie Science, Stanford. Rajnish is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of i-Cultiver, Inc. TerreLocal, and co-founder and Executive Director of “Urban Green Project”. He is a strategic biotechnology consultant, plant and soil health scientist applying multidisciplinary approaches for research and development. Known for empowering the industry through strategic partnerships with academic institutions, facilitating technology transfer into real world applications, and deploying advanced technologies such as CLASlite, a unique software to quantify and monitor crop and tree health at global scale for agro-eco projects. Rajnish applies photobiology to explore the science of consciousness. He has developed a unique and testable “Theory of Spatial Relativity” relating to the origins of consciousness, which aligns modern science with ancient concepts of spirituality. Rajnish is the host of TerreScience podcast/YouTube channel focused on soil and planetary health. For a full bio, visit  www.rajnishkhanna.com.

Isaac Abrams was born and raised in New York City.He is a self-taught artist who started painting in 1965.Based in Upstate New York, he continues to paint every day. He first discovered psychedelics in 1962. He then discovered psychedelics again and again. He decided there had to be such a thing as psychedelic art and founded the Coda Gallery - the first gallery of Psychedelic Art in NYC in 1965. He had his first one man show in 1968 at Galerie Bischofberger in Zurich. Other memorable moments include climbing a tree with Timothy Leary to discuss business, meeting Salvador Dali, shooting a film at Mickey Hart's Ranch in 1971 featuring Jerry Garcia and The New Riders of the Purple Sage, Reality One Group and David Crosby. MEDIUMSHe’s worked across several mediums from oil to acrylic, sculpture to animation. From brushes to airbrushes, canvas to board, glass to bronze.

Howard Sprouse, CEO of the Remediators, Inc. and developer of bioremediation technologies since the mid 1990s.  Howard previously worked as a consultant to Battelle’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Sequim, Washington assisting with the development of mycoremediation technology. His work assisted projects aimed towards remediation of petroleum hydrocarbons, biological agents, pathogen degradation, and biofiltration of agricultural runoff. Howard also worked for the Department of Botany, University of Washington and with US Forest Service, as a research assistant conducting fungal ecology research in Olympic National Park. Howard Sprouse is recognized in the bioremediation industry for commercializing mycoremediation and is a well known lecturer on the subject at universities across the United States. The Remediators have mentored student interns at Peninsula College in Washington State since 2005.

Jill Wagner has been a forester in Hawaii for 30 years.  She started at the Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden as a horticulturalist for the garden, where she grew native Hawaiian species.  She received a Bachelors Degree from the University of Hawaii in Ethnobotany.  She has been conducting forest restoration projects for the State of Hawaii, Department of Hawaiian Homelands, The Nature Conservancy, The National Park Service, Kamehameha Schools and other private land owners.  She has trained people in ecosystems restoration and nursery management for decades. She started the Hawaii Island Seed Bank in 2008, which banks seeds for large landowners on Hawaii Island.  It also serves as a model for small, regional seed banks, called Seed Arks. She conducts training to people from all over the world so they can save their native seeds, and their food crop seeds.  Seed Arks are off-grid solar powered seed banks that are built to keep seeds in the hands of the people.

Wade Davis is a writer, photographer, and filmmaker whose work has taken him from the Amazon to Tibet, Africa to Australia, Polynesia to the Arctic. Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society from 2000 to 2013, he is currently Professor of Anthropology and the BC Leadership Chair in Cultures and Ecosystems at Risk at the University of British Columbia. Author of 23 books, including One River, The Wayfinders and Into the Silence, winner of the 2012 Samuel Johnson prize, the top nonfiction prize in the English language, he holds degrees in anthropology and biology and received his Ph.D. in ethnobotany, all from Harvard University. His many film credits include Light at the Edge of the World, an eight-hour documentary series written and produced for the NGS. Davis, one of 20 Honorary Members of the Explorers Club, is the recipient of 12 honorary degrees, as well as the 2009 Gold Medal from the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, the 2011 Explorers Medal, the 2012 David Fairchild Medal for botanical exploration, the 2015 Centennial Medal of Harvard University, the 2017 Roy Chapman Andrews Society’s Distinguished Explorer Award, the 2017 Sir Christopher Ondaatje Medal for Exploration, and the 2018 Mungo Park Medal from the Royal Scottish Geographical Society. In 2016, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada. In 2018 he became an Honorary Citizen of Colombia. His 2020 book, is Magdalena: River of Dreams, Knopf, 2020, is a tribute to his love for Colombia, of which he is an honorary citizen. His latest book, Beneath the Surface of Things: New and Selected Essays (Greystone, 2024) has been termed ‘A timely and eclectic collection from one of the foremost thinkers of our time, “a powerful, penetrating and immensely knowledgeable writer” (The Guardian). Andrew Weil, M.D., is a world-renowned leader and pioneer in the field of integrative medicine. Combining a Harvard education and a lifetime of practicing natural and preventive medicine, he is the founder and director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona, where he is a clinical professor of medicine and professor of public health. A New York Times best-selling author, Dr. Weil is the author of 15 books on health and wellbeing, including Mind Over Meds: Know When Drugs Are Necessary, When Alternatives Are Better, and When to Let Your Body Heal on Its Own; Fast Food, Good Food; True Food: Seasonal, Sustainable, Simple, Pure; Spontaneous Happiness; Healthy Aging; and Eight Weeks to Optimum Health. Dr. Weil is a frequent guest on talk shows and the lecture circuit. He is the editorial director of DrWeil.com, the leading online resource for healthy living based on the philosophy of integrative medicine. He is also a founder and partner in the growing family of True Food Kitchen restaurants. In partnership with Seabourn and The Onboard Spa by Steiner, his “Spa and Wellness with Dr. Andrew Weil” mindful-living program is offered on all of the Seabourn cruise ships.

Mariya Garnet is a Ukrainian-born artist, traditionally trained psychedelic facilitator, and student psychotherapist with over 15 years of experience in indigenous healing practices. Since 2008, she has been in apprenticeship with mestizo curanderos in the Peruvian Amazon. During her eight years living full-time in Peru, Mariya co-founded Canto Luz Centre for Research and Cultural Preservation, a treehouse retreat dedicated to healing and environmentalism. Mariya integrates her expertise in psychedelic therapy within the Amazonian Vegetalismo tradition with modern therapeutic approaches. Currently, she leads retreats in Peru and maintains a private one-on-one practice, focusing on healing complex trauma and restoring holistic health. As a postgraduate student at the CREATE Institute in Toronto, Mariya is deepening her knowledge in Expressive Arts Therapy. She views creative expression as a powerful pathway to an integrated Self, believing that artistic practices, similarly to plant medicines, can help individuals access deeper layers of consciousness and embodied cognition, facilitating personal transformation. Mariya is also an active member of the sound healing duo Project Mariri, organizing community events that leverage music and creativity as tools for healing and self-discovery. Through her work, she invites clients to explore their inner landscapes, guiding them towards embodying their true selves and authentically expressing their essence in the world.

Alexandre Tannous is as an ethnomusicologist, sound therapist and sound researcher. He has been investigating the therapeutic and esoteric properties of sound from three different perspectives - Western scientific, Eastern philosophical, and shamanic societal beliefs - to gain a deeper understanding of how, and to what extent, sound has been used to affect human consciousness. This search has led him to the intersection of art, science, philosophy and spirituality. His ethnomusicological approach entails a social scientific study of sound use in several traditional contexts—religious, spiritual, holistic, and cultural—for various purposes and occasions in entertainment, worship, meditation, and rituals of healing and trance. Consequently, his approach in researching, understanding, experiencing, transmitting, and working with sound has always been based on a multidisciplinary approach. The material he transmits about sound is based on a multidisciplinary research over 24 years: observations he made during his fieldwork in over 40 countries, scientific studies, personal experiences, and data collected from thousands of people he has worked with doing sound therapy. This has led him to a deeper understanding of how sound reveals and unlocks hidden powers we have within us to promote profound inner transformation and healing. Alexandre is the principle founder of the ResonantMind Collective, a non-profit collective providing support in processing and integration.