A central topic of this podcast is our capacity to change our minds. I don't mean superficially – "Oh, actually yeah let's go see that movie instead." I mean a more fundamental change, our faculty for shifting our very sense of self and perception of the world around us. This type of change is not just an ethereal alteration of mental processes, but an actual redesigning of neural architecture. Our capacity to create such fundamental changes is due to our brain's ability to redesign its structur...
Mar 30, 2018•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 69
Have you ever experienced a psychedelic encounter with a plant spirit or an entity? Have you ever experienced a spirit realm or being healed by a shaman? Have you ever felt as though you invoked some type of divination or noetic insight while on psychedelics? Have you ever wondered if any of that was real or just merely a hallucination? The increasing popularity of using psychedelic substances within so-called shamanic ceremonies has introduced ideas and beliefs into the modern world that push c...
Mar 16, 2018•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 68
Dennis Jon McKenna is an American ethnopharmacologist, research pharmacognosist, lecturer and author. He is the brother of well-known psychedelics proponent Terence McKenna and is founding board member and the director of ethnopharmacology at the Heffter Research Institute, a non-profit organization concerned with the investigation of the potential therapeutic uses of psychedelic medicines. He is also one of the founding contributors to the modern wave of ayahuasca research in particular and psy...
Mar 02, 2018•2 hr 2 min•Ep. 67
Our guest is Elizabeth Bast! She is on the show to talk about her journey as a tantric practitioner and explore the potentials of a sexually empowered spiritual practice. We also talk about sexual consumerism; porn; toxic shame; #metoo; the historical use of entheogenic plants in yogic practice; and the (somewhat controversial) archetype of the sacred prostitute. *** See below for full episode breakdown. See full show notes here: http://www.jameswjesso.com/sex-yoga-and-entheogens-elizabeth-bast-...
Feb 16, 2018•2 hr 37 min•Ep. 66
On today's episode, we feature the author of DMT: The Spirit Molecule, Rick Strassman MD . He is a medical doctor specialised in psychiatry with a fellowship in clinical psychopharmacology research. His foundational work with DMT in the 90s was the first human-trial psychedelic research to be done in the two decades following the Controlled Substances Act of 1971. It was the clinical observations and participant reports during those trails that formed his book mentioned above, and the hit docume...
Feb 02, 2018•2 hr 30 min•Ep. 65
Michael Hilliard began his 27-year policing career in 1975 as a patrolman in an economically depressed neighborhood in East Baltimore. He served as an internal affairs detective where he coordinated Baltimore youth programs and led an undercover squad that investigated violent crimes and low-to mid-level drug crimes. He is on the show as a representative of the Law Enforcement Action Partnership , or LEAP. They are a nonprofit organization "composed of police and other criminal justice professio...
Jan 19, 2018•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 64
What does ayahuasca integration mean and how do we do it? This is a question our guest for this episode, Rachel Harris Ph.D ., has been exploring intensely though research, clinical practice, and her own direct experiences. Rachel Harris, PhD, although retired now, was a practising psychotherapist for 35 years. She received a National Institutes of Health New Investigator’s Award, has published more than forty scientific studies in peer-reviewed journals, and has worked as a psychological consul...
Jan 06, 2018•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 63
Joan Bello is the author of The Benefits of Marijuana: Physical, Psychological and Spiritual . She has been writing on cannabis since before the internet; since getting information meant driving from library to library hunting the stacks; since any mention of cannabis in public might have meant federal investigations and jail time. It was during the height of the Drug War that she published this book; when the knowledge was forbidden, and she has continued to advocate for it since. Her perspecti...
Dec 22, 2017•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 62
There are drugs in the bible and the most high were getting really high on 'em. ... So what if I were to tell you that the ancient Israelites upon which these the religions are based were a cult of desert pagans following the wisdom of shamans who used plant-based concoctions in hallucinogenic rituals to induce altered states of consciousness; and that the very structure of those religions today are based on clandestine distortion of the original teachings in order to disconnect the populous fro...
Dec 08, 2017•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 61
Many people struggle with addiction their whole lives. Their story one of (hu)man vs. addiction, their story often ending with addiction the victor. But what if that is not the way the story needs to be written? What if there is a way out that helps us suffering to reach into the root of our pain and find our love for life again? The guests for this episode of the podcast, Elizabeth Bast and Chor Boogie, believe true freedom from addiction is possible with an ancient African root bark called Ibo...
Nov 24, 2017•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 60
There are some commonalities sewn into the foundation of the human experience: we are all subject changes we’d rather not be subject to, we all have the capacity to love and to hate, we all suffer and we all desire freedom from suffering, we are all born and we will all die and furthermore so will everyone we know and care for. Today’s guest is a man with a propensity to contemplate big questions around dying and a long history of being on the front lines of what he calls “the death trade”. Welc...
Nov 10, 2017•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 59
James Kent has been studying psychedelics for over twenty-five years. He was the editor of Psychedelic Illuminations Magazine, publisher of Trip Magazine, and founder of DoseNation.com. His book, Psychedelic Information Theory, is an examination of the physical processes behind psychedelic hallucination. His latest project is the final ten episodes of the DoseNation podcast, where he explores the darker side of psychedelics and the psychedelic community. His 'Final Ten Episodes Of DoseNation' is...
Oct 27, 2017•2 hr 37 min•Ep. 58
Back in the summer of 2017, I was invited to go to Mexico by author and Toad (5-MeO-DMT) facilitator Dr. Gerry Sandoval. He wanted me to come with him to Oaxaca, Mexico up to eat the wild psilocybin mushrooms that grow there. It was already an amazing offer and it hit a new level when he told me both Julian Palmer and Kilindi Iyi would be there as well. For this episode, I release to you the recording of Julian, Kilindi, Gerry, and I talking about our mushroom experiences the day after the cerem...
Oct 12, 2017•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 57
Christopher Timmermann is the cognitive neuroscientist leading a project at Imperial College London focusing on the effects of DMT in the brain and human consciousness. He is interested in the use of methods bridging the relationship between the phenomenology evoked by the psychedelic experience and changes in brain activity using diverse neuroimaging tools. We have him on the show to ask him some nerdy questions about his research on DMT, psychedelic research in general, and the relationship be...
Sep 29, 2017•1 hr•Ep. 56
Julian Vayne is an occultist and the author of numerous books, essays, journals, and articles in both the academic and esoteric press. While his name is closely associated with chaos magic Julian is also an initiated Wiccan, member of the Kaula Nath lineage and Master Mason. We talk magical traditions, self-transformation with psychedelic, religious history, and the nuances around cultural appropriation in the neo-shamanic and nonaboriginal cultures of the modern world. We also talk about differ...
Sep 15, 2017•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 55
We welcome French cultural anthropologist and philosopher Martin Fortier on the show for this episode to discuss his research into how culture influences cognition. His current PhD research project consists of exploring the interplay between neurobiological processes and culture in hallucinogenic experiences. His main fieldwork is located in Shipibo communities of the Middle Ucayali, in the Peruvian Amazon. Martin Fortier, Ph.D. Candidate , is currently a doctoral student at Institut Jean Nicod ...
Sep 01, 2017•2 hr 40 min•Ep. 54
Simply put, Changa is a powerful psychedelic smoking blend. It is a combination of herbs infused with dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and containing some form of monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOi). However, describing the "simply put" physical parameters of a psychedelic compound is as gross an understatement as saying sex is, simply put, a penis penetrating a vagina.... there is SO MUCH MORE to it than "simply put", which is why we have Giorgia Gaia on the show. Giorgia Gaia ---author of "Changa's Al...
Aug 24, 2017•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 53
Darcia Narvaez, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Notre Dame. Her prior careers include professional musician, classroom music teacher, business owner, seminarian and middle school Spanish teacher. Dr. Narvaez’s current research explores how early life experience influences societal culture and moral character in children and adults. She integrates neurobiological, clinical, developmental and education sciences in her theories and research about moral dev...
Jul 26, 2017•2 hr 42 min•Ep. 52
Tobias Ton is a Kambo facilitator based in Berlin, Germany. His work with the Amazonian 'frog medicine' takes a "more-therapeutic-than-traditional" approach as it is intended to specifically accommodate people living under the burdens of Western industrialized civilization. He specializes in intensive one-on-one sessions and on the synergetic integration of various other healing modalities, addressing the underlying energetic issues that manifest as physical and psychological disease.He advocate...
Jul 07, 2017•2 hr 31 min•Ep. 51
What is Consciousness? Is it unique to human cognition or is it universal and permeating all things? Is it an epiphenomenon of brain activity or a universal constant? Do all things 'have' consciousness or are they 'of', 'in', or 'by' consciousness? Who and what are we, humankind, in the grander process of Consciousness itself? What is the nature of this whole "Reality" game? For the 50th episode of Adventures Through The Mind podcast, we welcome philosopher Bernardo Kastrup onto the show to addr...
Jun 23, 2017•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 50
Episode Part 2/2 From the origins of life, through ancient human history, to the interplanetary future of humanity and everything in between. "Bruce Frederick Damer, Ph.D. (born 31 January 1962) is a Canadian-American multidisciplinary scientist, designer, and author. Dr. Bruce Damer collaborates with colleagues developing and testing a new model for the origin of life on Earth and in the design of spacecraft architectures to provide a viable path for expansion of human civilization beyond the E...
Jun 09, 2017•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 49
Episode Part 1/2 From the origins of life, through ancient human history, to the interplanetary future of humanity and everything in between. "Bruce Frederick Damer, Ph.D. (born 31 January 1962) is a Canadian-American multidisciplinary scientist, designer, and author. Dr. Bruce Damer collaborates with colleagues developing and testing a new model for the origin of life on Earth and in the design of spacecraft architectures to provide a viable path for expansion of human civilization beyond the E...
Jun 09, 2017•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 49
The late, great Terence McKenna is famous for his suggestion to eat five dried grams of psilocybin mushrooms in silent darkness. Thanks to Terence five dried grams has been a milestone of depth and commitment to psychonauts around the world, an apex of intensity. Then Kilindi Iyi comes along and dismantles the concept of five dried grams as an apex of psilocybin intensity when he begins to speak publicly about his regular use of 30+ dried grams of psilocybin mushrooms.... 30 dried grams of psilo...
May 25, 2017•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 48
If you had to point to any singular example of institutionalized racial prejudice in America, the so-called drug war is a shining example. The prohibition of drugs in the United States, and subsequently much of the Western world, has its origins in racism, classism, and xenophobia (as well as the socio-economic control of industry, but that's a different story for a different time). The war on drugs was a classist and racist war on people of color (the origin of the Marijuana Tax Act in 1937) an...
May 10, 2017•2 hr 38 min•Ep. 47
As the technology of virtual reality continues to progress, it is important that we look beyond the uses gaming companies, Facebook, and Samsung will develop it for. What happens when the capacity to build a completely immersive and convincing alternate reality lands in the hands of visionary artists and shamanic healers? For the new moon episode of ATTMind Radio, we welcome Dutch visionary artist Sander Bos to the show. Painter, musician, and reality-engineer, Sander has been exploring the pote...
Apr 26, 2017•58 min
We welcome Gay Dillingham to the April full moon edition of ATTMind Radio. Gay is an award-winning filmmaker and the director of Dying To Know: Timothy Leary and Ram Das . We have her on the show to talk about Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert (no known as Baba Ram Dass), who they were on the surface of history but also who they were as people, friends, and members of a larger community. For full show notes, head to http://bit.ly/ATTMindRadioEp45 We also talk about the process of making this film...
Apr 11, 2017•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 45
Emanuel Sferios is an activist, educator and harm reduction advocate. Founding DanceSafe in 1998 and starting the first laboratory pill analysis program for ecstasy users that same year, Emanuel pioneered MDMA harm reduction services in the United States. He is currently producing a documentary on MDMA highlighting its use in therapy as well as harm reduction as a practical, rational alternative to three decades of failed efforts at prohibition. For the March new moon episode of Adventures Throu...
Mar 27, 2017•2 hr 43 min•Ep. 44
MDMA is on the front lines of the psychedelic renaissance, shining a light of hope into the lives of those suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). On this episode, we feature Melanie and Thomas Heath . These two incredible humans have been putting themselves in the public eye to speak about the therapeutic power of MDMA. They come onto the show to share their experiences working with MDMA to assist in the treatment (and even resolution) of deeply debilitating PTSD. This episode goe...
Mar 12, 2017•2 hr 32 min•Ep. 43
This week's episode features an interview with Mark Wolynn. Mark is a leading expert on inherited family trauma. He is also the director of the Family Constellation Institute in San Francisco where he trains clinicians and treats people struggling with depression, anxiety, panic disorder, obsessive thoughts, self-injury, chronic pain, and persistent symptoms and conditions. He is also the author of It Didn't Start With You: how inherited family trauma shapes who we are and how to end the cycle. ...
Feb 24, 2017•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 42
We welcome mycologist and author Robert Rogers to the show for this episode of ATTMind Radio. He is the author of over 40 books on medicinal plants and fungi of the boreal forest, including The Fungal Pharmacy: The Complete Guide to Medicinal Mushrooms and Lichens of North America and his most recent book, Mushroom Essences: Vibrational Healing from the Kingdom Fungi . We have him on the show to talk about the science behind medicinal mushrooms, how to work with them, and how to do so without ge...
Feb 10, 2017•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 41
