In this episode, released on Ann Shulgin’s birthday, Joe interviews Wendy Tucker: daughter of Ann and stepdaughter to Alexander “Sasha” Shulgin. Recorded in Sasha’s old office, she recounts her formative years, giving an insider’s look into her Mother’s openness about psychedelics, working with Sasha in the lab, how the Shulgins made a perfect team, and watching a close-knit circle of self-experimenters start to form at Shulgin Farm – and keep coming back over the years. She talks about the energy infused into the property from the decades of research and gatherings, and how she is trying to preserve it – not just to capture its history and the pioneering research that happened there, but as a beacon for future generations. She imagines weddings, conferences, other communal gatherings, and more. Imagine taking a chemistry course in Sasha Shulgin’s lab? To learn more about the project and to donate, head to Shulginfarm.org. Click here to head to the show notes page and watch the video.

In this episode, Joe interviews Juan Pablo Cappello: co-founder and former CEO of Nue Life Health, whose assets were subsequently acquired by Beckley Waves. Cappello digs into his recent article which has been making waves across the psychedelic community: “Profit Over Patients? A Critical Look at At-Home Ketamine Therapy.” He created Nue Life with the goal of helping a million people address the root cause of their anxiety, and while the company was successful, he began to see a problematic trend: that using ketamine while providing services of a mental health company is very expensive and resource-consuming, and as companies saw a large percentage of clients requiring maintenance doses, the most profitable business model became essentially slinging ketamine to patients without providing any real integration or aftercare. Are these companies promising healing but really only guaranteeing recurring revenue? He talks about: How this emerging model makes it harder for ethical practitioners to be able to provide their services The tools they built at Nue Life for long-term benefit, and why these should be the main focus – not repeated ketamine Matthew Perry’s death and how the media was quick to place the blame on ketamine The need for companies and communities to come to gather and create ethical industry standards for the at-home ketamine model How cannabis was almost decriminalized under the Carter administration and more! Click here to head to the show notes page. 

In this episode, David interviews Dr. 1Drea Pennington Wasio: integrative physician, psychedelic-assisted therapy facilitator and psilocybin retreat leader, international speaker, podcaster, and author of several books, including "Sacred Medicine: Exploring The Psychedelic Hero’s Journey." She discusses her personal metamorphosis and name change inspired by a powerful ayahuasca experience, and how that moved her into a life more inspired by authenticity and self-love. She gives the details of her retreats, explains her PRISM sessions, and talks in depth about the magic of resiliency: How can we not just return to baseline, but experience post-traumatic growth? She talks about: The power of tuning into creativity in times of depression The efficacy of narrative therapy and writing in general The universal themes of ‘The Hero’s Journey’ and how much agency matters The importance of embracing nonfiction, and her upcoming book series, "The Dreamweaver’s Legacy" The potential of microdosing psilocybin for menopause and more! Her new course on trauma-informed psychedelic therapy begins this month, and her next retreat begins May 10. Head to 1drea.com for details. Click here to head to the show notes page. 

In this episode, David interviews Itzhak Beery: author, shamanic teacher, speaker, trip leader, and founder of ShamanPortal.org, an online community and resource for people who want to learn, practice, and teach shamanic traditions. Beery shares his transformational journey, starting from his upbringing on a kibbutz in Israel, to his disillusioned advertising days in Manhattan, to the life-altering sweat lodge experience in Hawaii that eventually led him to write the book, Shamanic Transformations: True Stories of the Moment of Awakening, and realize his true purpose. He discusses the two major sides of trust: how to know when a healing path has truly become your life purpose, and how to know who to trust as a good healer in a world of self-initiated shamans. He and David dig into: How we all have the innate ability to be a shaman How Westerners are often seeking healing too young, before they have the capacity to truly understand lessons they may receive His upcoming book which attempts to teach practitioners how to create narratives out of symbols, The Language of Spirit The importance in not denying the experiencer’s truth and more! Click here to head to the show notes page.

In this episode, Johanna interviews Laura Reeves: Glastonbury-based facilitator and medicine woman trained in craniosacral therapy, somatic experiencing, breathwork, and more, who holds retreats at sacred sites in the U.K. and Peruvian Amazon. She tells of her journey from serendipitously booking a trip to Ecuador just as she first heard about ayahuasca, to the early ayahuasca experiences that showed her our true interconnectedness, to a heroic dose of psilocybin and a trip to the hospital, to being accepted into training with an Indigenous shaman in the Amazon. With a lifelong love of nature, paganism, and ancient traditions, she stresses the importance of connecting to the natural rhythms of the Earth and harnessing its energy. She talks about: Self-initiated shamans and the dangers that can come from bad actors operating out of integrity and respect for the lineage Ayahuasca as a purgative and the power of energetic clearings Her experience with shamans using Icaros to channel the sounds of plants Shadow work and its role in personal growth and healing The energy of Glastonbury, feeling deep connections to sacred places, and how ley lines inspire places of pilgrimage and more! Click here to head to the show notes page. 

In this episode, Joe and guest co-host Erica Rex interview Elizabeth Anglin: spirit medium, animal communicator, intuitive healer, alien abductee, and author of Experience: Memoirs of an Abducted Childhood. She talks about her early abduction experiences, the time when she and her father realized they were both being abducted at the same time (from different locations), and the horrifying experience of six beings entering her apartment and realizing she knew one of them. These experiences led her to Budd Hopkins, and eventually John Mack (who did regression work with her) and the John E. Mack Institute, where she became a peer mentor for abductees. She talks about the validity of alien abductions, the concept of spiritual ecology, and the importance of listening to people: There’s so much we don’t know, so is it fair to label experiencers as schizophrenic just because we can’t replicate the experience? She discusses: The commonality of people from the same family being abducted and why some people are lifetime abductees while others are only taken once The differences in abductions and how some seem to only be mental while others are physical and extremely painful The story of Linda Napolitano and the famous Brooklyn Bridge abduction Regressive hypnotherapy work: Are the memories you’re recovering accurate? Quantum biology, the Penrose-Hameroff quantum theory of consciousness, parallel realities, time travel, and quantum jumping and so much more! As the X-Files made famous: The truth is out there. And this episode is definitely pretty out there! Click here to head to the show notes page.

In this episode, Christopher Koddermann interviews Dr. Sam Banister: co-founder and chief scientific officer of Psylo, an Australian biotech company developing next-generation psychedelics. Banister discusses how he got involved in drug development, how Psylo came about, and the hallucinogenic and non-hallucinogenic 5-HT2A agonists Psylo is working on. He talks about the compromise between immediate need and ambition, and the ethical considerations and possibilities behind developing non-hallucinogenic compounds: What can we take from the psychedelic experience for people who aren’t ideal candidates for one? Is the psychedelic experience truly necessary? And for what indications will these new Gen 3 compounds be most useful? He discusses: What we can infer about the volatility of biotech and the state of the psychedelic industry based on recent mergers and acquisitions The long-term challenges of drug development and the scalability of treatment options How the initial success of Spravato has played a role in allaying fears around new compounds Head twitch response and concerns it’s not as accurate of a metric as we’ve believed Australia’s decision to down-schedule psilocybin and MDMA, and the speed of implementation and licensing: How long will it be before people have easy access? What he sees for the future and why we need to be careful with language around expectations and more! Click here to head to teh show notes page. 

In this episode, Joe interviews Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris: founder and head of the Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London, founding director of the Neuroscape Psychedelics Division at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and founder of the Carhart-Harris Lab. A legendary researcher, he talks about his psychedelic origins: studying Freud, Jung, and eventually Stan Grof and depth psychology to try and better understand the unconscious. He discusses the growth of psychedelics and the cultural shifts he’s noticed (especially in the U.S.), as well as what he’s working on today: researching the influence of psychedelics on set and setting by studying experiences in both enriched and unenriched environments. He also talks about: Plasticity: how he defines it, how it relates to critical reopening periods, and how it’s a fundamental thing that transcends the metrics we use to measure it Early LSD studies, the nervousness surrounding he and David Nutt dosing Ben Sessa, and the youthful energy that kept them going How plasticity could be exploited to help relieve chronic pain The potential of psychedelics to help with fibromyalgia and anorexia How psychedelic-assisted therapy brought care back to health care and more! UCSF is seeking survey volunteers, so if you’ve had more than three experiences with ketamine, MDMA, and psilocybin (must have experiences with all three) and want to contribute, do so here. Click here to head to the show notes page. 

In this episode, Joe interviews Alyssa Gursky, LPC: artist, research associate and study therapist at the Social Neuroscience and Psychotherapy (SNaP) lab, and founder of Psychedelic Art Therapy LLC, which pioneers ketamine-assisted art therapy. She talks about her first mushroom experience and how her art and creative process instantly felt different – how the judgment and concern about where the art was going disappeared and was replaced by a freedom; a return to a more childlike way of being, where all that mattered was the fun of the creative process, and expressing her inner world in art. They realized how much the creative process related to true embodiment and the ability to be fully present, and how healing it can be to simply be with other people and create art.  She talks about: The power of being seen in a group, and how the bravery of one person can completely shift the group dynamic The need for mentorship in the psychedelic space The comfort and freedom found in affinity groups The inspiring lives of Genesis P-Orridge and avant-garde filmmaker, Alejandro Jodorowsky Rick Rubin’s ability to treat creativity as a spiritual act and how attending a live wrestling event aligns with non-ordinary states. Gursky is launching a virtual education and support group this March for anyone who wants to integrate art into client work or their own process. Visit her instagram for details. Click here to head to the show notes page. 

In this episode, Joe interviews Matthew ‘Whiz’ Buckley: former decorated US Navy F/A-18 Hornet fighter pilot and now, founder and CEO of No Fallen Heroes Foundation, a non-profit focused on healing veterans and first responders with psychedelic-assisted therapy. Buckley met Joe in D.C. while they were both campaigning for psychedelic therapy to any lawmaker they could speak with. He talks about how the government is spending a fortune on the military, but not paying the total cost, since so much of that is externalized onto the soldiers themselves. He points out how many of them care more about making money than saving lives, and how we need “We the people” moments to wake them up or remove them from office. He discusses: His time in the Navy and his transition back to civilian life, coming to terms with trauma and realizing how much was physical (including tinnitus) His life-changing experiences under ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT with the Mission Within How we should be teaching veterans about various mental health options (including psychedelic-assisted therapy) as part of their transition process The signing of the National Defense Authorization Act and the disappointing amount of money reserved for psychedelic research: Was it all just lip service? The complications that arise when trying to get benefits from the VA while also trying to move on: When honesty about mental health isn’t incentivized, when do you tell the truth? His experience operating legally in Colorado and how he plans to stay on top of Governor Desantis to bring psychedelics to Florida and more! Click here to head to the show notes page.