In this episode of the podcast, we explore the present day legal and political conundrum psilocybin mushrooms are facing as they sit on the verge of a significant change in their criminal status; the historical impact of mushroom tourism on the indigenous cultures that work with psilocybin; how that history is impacting those cultures today; and how all of this is influencing the complex political situation mushrooms now sit in the middle of. Our guest is Mijal Schmidt. ... For links to Mijal's ...
May 03, 2024•1 hr 56 min•Ep. 187
Led by the inspiration of a cephalopod now extinct 66 million years, Sky Otter and I explore what is means to live our lives in alignment with life, creatively, and with heartbreak, grief, endings, and death as not only necessary parts of the process, but gifts that can deepen, enrich, and guide our limited days. Some of the topics we explore include ammonite as example of death and creative change in evolution; why life requires death and heartbreak is necessary; finding our way out of mass ext...
Apr 05, 2024•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 186
Alexander Beiner joins us to explore how psychedelics can help us make sense of the meta-crisis. This includes topics like complexity tolerance and the overwhelming deluge of information in modern digital life; "How" and "why" we solve a problem is as important as the "what" of the solution itself; the mythological impact of sci-fi narratives on identity and perception; and whether AI will become a new god. Additionally, we speak on extended-state DMT (DMTx) and interacting with entities; overla...
Mar 08, 2024•1 hr 44 min•Ep. 185
Travis Cartwright and Marie Zak are clinical herbalists from Althaea Herbals, an apothecary in Nelson, BC, Canada. They join us on the show today to talk about herbalism as a way of being in the world, as well as a clinical practice. We also explore why herbalism is not just a plant replacement for pharmaceuticals; how an animistic worldview can empower us to cultivate a direct and living relationship with plants and nature as a whole; how we can learn to communicate with plants through the dire...
Feb 09, 2024•1 hr 37 min•Ep. 184
This episode is with Mijal Schmidt and presents a rather robust exploration of what psychedelic integration is and the specifics of what an ayahuasca integration requires. We talk about the importance of good preparation, and what that looks like; various integration practices and activities; the most common challenges in integrating ayahuasca experiences, including integrating HUGE experiences and difficult experiences; the integration of experiences of exogenous material, e.g. entities or abso...
Dec 08, 2023•1 hr 53 min•Ep. 183
Acacea Lewis is our guest for this episode of Adventures Through The Mind. Our interview explores a number of vignettes into her scholarly explorations of psychedelic mushrooms throughout human history, and especially in various African traditions. But the two main thematic arcs we travel in the interview are the work of the late Kilindi Iyi and the value and potential of high dose psilocybin experiences as a form of marital arts, primarily through the lens of Acacea's personal experiences. ... ...
Oct 28, 2023•1 hr 38 min•Ep. 182
Dr. Eve Maram is a clinical and forensic psychologist and a certified Jungian Analyst in private practice in Orange, California. She joins us to share her perspective on schizophrenia, of it as a condition wherein the organizing function of the ego is overwhelmed by the turbulence waters of the unconscious (a statement that will be well flushed out in the interview); but we also go deep into her model of the schizophrenia complex, which is the bundle of "thoughts and feelings constellated by enc...
Oct 06, 2023•1 hr 35 min•Ep. 181
Dr. Adele Lafrance joins us to explore psychedelics and the healing power of Love. Our conversation begins with an exploration of emotional processing and how difficulties and deficiencies in emotional processing both our mental health, our relationships, and our general wellbeing. We then step into psychedelics and the role they play in supporting our emotional processing capacities. From there we turn towards Love, what it is and all the accidental ways we conflate it with things that can incl...
Sep 09, 2023•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 180
Here is a short but important update to the Podcast release schedule. TLDR: Rather than every two weeks, podcasts will now be released every 4 to 6 weeks for the next few months in order to allocate more time to writing a book: a follow-up to my first book, Decomposing The Shadow: Lessons From The Psilocybin Mushroom --- SUPPORT THIS PODCAST — ► Donate monthly on Patreon: https://patreon.com/jameswjesso ► Tip Me on Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/jameswjesso ► Donate via Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/...
Jul 20, 2023•4 min
Rachel Harris, PhD joins us to talk about her new book, Swimming In The Sacred Swimming in the Sacred offers a revelatory look into the past half-century of psychedelics use via in-depth interviews Harris conducted with women elders who have worked underground guiding sacred entheogenic journeys to cultivate insight, healing, and spiritual development. Specifically, we talk about working with unseen worlds and unseen others; thin veils, absorption, and being accidentally overdosed by psychedelic...
Jun 30, 2023•2 hr 1 min•Ep. 179
Today's episode is a bit of a lateral step from psychedelics specifically as we are going to talk about bipolar with Sara Schley, the author of the highly-acclaimed memoir BrainStorm: From Broken to Blessed on the Bipolar Spectrum. We talk about bipolar as a spectrum and the different variations of bipolar disorder; why it is that so many people with bipolar are misdiagnosed and the issues this presents to those individuals and their families; major triggers for bipolar episodes and why medicati...
Jun 16, 2023•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 178
This episode features Matthew Baggott of Tactogen Inc. and will explore entactogens, which are drugs like MDMA, 2C-B, and Methalone. We start with setting a basic framework for what an entactogen is and a few example drugs, before exploring the complexities in their various effects, mechanisms of action, and both the legislative and technical process of the development of novel or new entactogenic drugs. ... For links to Baggott's work, full show notes, and a link to watch this episode in video,...
Jun 02, 2023•1 hr 54 min•Ep. 177
In this episode, we welcome back Dr. Andrew Gallimore to explore the content of his new book 'Reality Switch Technologies: Psychedelics as Tools for the Discovery and Exploration of New Worlds'. We discuss how the brain builds an experiential world model from patterns of information at the neural level; how all of those worlds are correlated with specific neural patterns; how we can disturb that neural pattern to encounter new worlds; essentially, using psychedelic molecules to explore alternate...
May 18, 2023•2 hr 7 min•Ep. 176
Today's episode explores the mescaline-containing cactus known as San Pedro, otherwise known as Huachuma. Our guest is Laurel Anne Sugden. We discuss the objective side of the cactus; that is habitat, history, sustainability, poaching, pollination, propagation, fruits, flowers, and alkaloids. However, we also explore what we might, for lack of better language, call the subjective side of San Pedro; we explore "who is San Pedro", the qualities of experience it catalyzes, and what it asks of us an...
May 05, 2023•1 hr 30 min•Ep. 175
This episode features Jeronimo MM of ICEERS Foundation and explores the potential dangers and pitfalls present for ayahuasca/plant medicine facilitators in non-traditional contexts. Dangers specific to the facilitators, that Jeronimo refers to as The 6 Pitfalls: Sex, Money, Power, Intercultural Relationships, and Legal Situations. We also do a deep dive into what a "non-traditional context" is and two potential harms that might come up for participants, namely "when the experience is too much" a...
Apr 21, 2023•1 hr 46 min•Ep. 174
Bob Wold is from Clusterbusters Inc. He joins us on this episode of Adventures Through The Mind podcast to present cluster headaches, one of the most painful conditions known to humankind—their patterns, symptoms, and pathophysiology; as well as the treatments presently available, with a specific deep dive into psychedelic tryptamines as the most effective treatment discovered thus far and how those with clusters use those tryptamines. ... For links to Bob and Clusterbusters', full show notes, a...
Apr 07, 2023•1 hr 47 min•Ep. 173
Dr. Tim Read is a psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and author based in London. He joins us on the show to discuss the deep unconscious, complexes, being triggered, and why we need a new way to treat mental illness. We talk about the difference between spiritual crisis and psychosis; how modern psychiatry is broken; and why psychiatrists should undergo psychedelic therapy. Additionally, we explore the difference between being in process and processing; how our triggers are an opportunity to step in...
Feb 24, 2023•1 hr 36 min•Ep. 172
Jessica Corneille, MSc is a Research Psychologist specializing in spontaneous spiritual awakening experiences. On this episode of the podcast we start by presenting a definition of a spontaneous spiritual awakening experience before going on to explore the after-effects of these experiences; how they seem to affect both atheists and strongly religious people; common preceding factors; the neurobiological and psychological factors correlated with spontaneous awakening experiences; as well as nega...
Feb 10, 2023•1 hr 39 min•Ep. 171
Today we feature another addition to our Psychedelic Café series. This time exploring what art means and what the meaning of art might become in a growing era of ai generated art-like images flooding the mindspace of humanity through consumptive digital media channels. The cafe is a curated collection of participants who, through a structure series of rounds, explore together a single question. The question we are exploring is: What does the meaning of art look like in an era of increasingly-acc...
Jan 27, 2023•2 hr 20 min•Ep. 170
Justin Townsend is the CEO and Head Facilitator at the psilocybin therapy retreat centre MycoMeditations. He is on the show for this episode to explore two topic themes: The business side of running a successful psilocybin retreat centre in the economic context of the modern corporate world without losing your ethics in the process The therapeutic framework and philosophy that MycoMeditations holds for their retreats and their guests. Some of the things we cover on the first side of the conversa...
Jan 13, 2023•2 hr 12 min•Ep. 170
Baba Masha MD joins us to present the results of her research into microdosing amanita muscaria mushrooms, the benefits and the risks, as well as what she learned about the ideal prepration and protocol. In this episode of the podcast we first explore Masha's journey of making a banned-podcast about psychedelics in Russia; being the first person to be public about consuming psychedelics in Russia; as well as the context of drug use and prohibitionist propaganda in Russia and it's impact on publi...
Dec 23, 2022•1 hr 46 min•Ep. 169
Our guests for this episode are Dennis McKenna, The Teafaerie, Chris Bache, Bruce Damer, Dank Duchess, Laurel Anne Sugden, and Stephen Gray. Together, in Psychedelic Cafe style, we explore conversation with the following question as our central guiding inquiry: "What is the power and potential of psychedelics in navigating the many-orders of growing collapse that our planet is currently facing?" Topics explored include global crisis and the birth of the future human; how the pain and suffering o...
Dec 09, 2022•2 hr 14 min•Ep. 168
Jordan Gruber is one of the authors of "Your Symphony Of Selves" and joins us to discuss how we all have multiple selves, not a single self. Some of the topics we explore in this episode include an in-depth look at The Health Selves Model in comparison and contrast to The Single Self Assumption; why we mistakenly assume multiple selves to be pathological; how mental health is being in the right mind (self/selves) as the right time; and how we can start applying the healthy selves model into our ...
Nov 22, 2022•2 hr 14 min•Ep. 168
Belinda Eriacho joins us today to explore the intersection of the psychedelic renaissance and ancestral wisdom; connecting with our own ancestry; and what indigenous people bring to the psychedelic renaissance and the problems created by their absence. We also talk about being in right relationship with sacred plants and where that does and doesn't not overlap with recreational use; how to cultivate reciprocity with indigenous peoples in psychedelic movements; the value and importance of support...
Oct 27, 2022•1 hr 39 min•Ep. 167
Darcia Narvaez, PhD and Wahinkpe Topa (Four Arrows) join us to explore various precepts of the indigenous worldview—aka the kinship worldview—how we might restore that worldview in both our personal lives and the world at large. We also explore the basis of what a worldview is and why our guests propose there are only two, the indigenous/kinship worldview and the dominant/Western worldview. We go in-depth on the historical rise and impact of the dominant worldview and the intergenerational cycle...
Oct 07, 2022•1 hr 56 min•Ep. 166
WHAT IS THE EVOLUTIONARY ROLE OF PSILOCYBIN IN LIFE ON THIS PLANET? This is both an explicit question and an implicit guiding inquiry in the discussion you will hear on this episode Adventures Through The Mind. Our guest is Jahan Khamsehzadeh, PhD. He is the author of The Psilocybin Connection: Psychedelics, the Transformation of Consciousness, and Evolution of the Planet—An Integral Approach. Together we have a conversation that waves in and out from the microscopic to the cosmological. We expl...
Sep 16, 2022•1 hr 48 min•Ep. 165
Sara Ness joins us on Adventures Through The Mind to have a conversation about the art of conversation and its role in our relationships and vice versa. We also explore how play can help us develop and exercise our relational and conversational skills, specifically what are called Authentic Relating games. Furthermore, we also speak about how the possibilities of conversations can be both literally and phenomenologically psychedelic. ... For links to Sara's work, full show notes, and a link to w...
Aug 26, 2022•1 hr 53 min•Ep. 164
Robert "Bob" Falconer has been bridging his long history of IFS and psychedelics together into the body of work that informs the conversation you will hear today. Bob lays the groundwork for what Internal Family Systems therapy is; its foundational propositions about the nature of the mind; and both how IFS works and how therapists work with IFS to bring about healing. From there we go into the unique benefit IFS has to offer psychedelic therapy and how to use IFS in both preparation for and int...
Aug 06, 2022•1 hr 51 min•Ep. 163
WHY DOES OUR SENSE OF CONNECTION MATTER? This is the central question that guides the conversation you will hear today, another session in our Psychedelic Café series, where we featured a curated selection of guests to explore how "whether or not we feel connected affects everything". We also explore the neurobiological origins of our sense of connection/disconnection with each other and how that is wrapped up in personal and collective traumas; our sense of connection with nature and the conseq...
Jul 15, 2022•1 hr 58 min•Ep. 162
A.J. Bond—author of Discomfortable: What Is Shame and How Can We Break Its Hold —joins us on Adventures Through The Mind to talk about what shame is, what it feels like, and how it impacts our sense of self and perception of the world. We also talk about healthy vs unhealthy shame; internal vs. external shame; attachment styles and shame's link to our developmental past and early relationship with our parents; intimacy and how shame hinders our ability to truly connect with others; unconditional...
Jun 26, 2022•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 162
