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Psychedelics have gotten pretty popular these days, and there’s a lot of information as well as charlatans out there. We’re going to discuss the basics, benefits and risks associated with Psilocybin Assisted Therapy. There is a difference between taking Magic Mushrooms and hanging with friends, versus working with them and putting intention into transforming your life for the better. This talk will help educate you on how to look at Psilocybin as a transformative healing tool for improving your quality of life.

The latest scientific research and data is demonstrating that Psilocybin Assisted Therapy can:

Treat Anxiety & Depression

Treat Addiction

Help with replacing habits that do not benefit with one's that do

Treat OCD

Enhanced creativity and openness

Spiritual and Existental Insights

Improved mood and well being

Enhance mindfulness and emotional processing

Neuroplasticity

Reduce fear of death

It's important to note that while these potential benefits are promising, Psilocybin assisted therapy is still a relatively new and experimental treatment. Research is ongoing, and the therapy is not yet widely available. Additionally, Psilocybin is a controlled substance and should only be administered by trained facilitators in a controlled setting as part of clinical trials or research studies. Furthermore the therapy should always be conducted within legal and ethical guidelines, with a focus on patient safety and well-being.

Topics We'll Discuss:

What is Psilocybin / Magic Mushrooms

Background on Magic Mushrooms

Measurements / Dosage

Safety

Potential Benefits & Risks

Intention Setting

Preparation & Integration

The Process

This is a free online event

Learn more about us at www.brooklynbalance.org

About Us:

Brooklyn Balance aims to be a supportive companion in your psychedelic journey—from beginning to end. A journey starts the moment you decide to have a psychedelic experience, and having the right preparation and tools is essential for a transformational and positive outcome.

With that in mind, we help you prepare for your journey by setting conscious intentions aligned with what your desired outcomes are. We offer tools you can tap into during your journey, and integration coaching to help you bring the psychedelic experience into your day-to-day life.

Transcript:

My name is Joshua Jupiter. I'm the founder and I'm a psychedelic integration coach at Brooklyn Balance LLC. A couple of things just before we begin. This is, so this is a legally safe space. If anyone is here with the intentions of trying to distribute psilocybin or any illegal substances, I ask that you do not. And if anyone gets any messages doing so, I ask that you please report it to me. This talk is largely just informational with a harm reduction focus. So yeah, we do find at times people come in and they try to sell. So please do not please honor that space.

(00:02:23):

Please honor the space. Yeah, a couple more people joining in. Cool. So getting into it, the intended audience for this talk, this talk is from a harm reduction educational standpoint on what both an individual receiving treatment as well as someone interested in being a facilitator, might want to know about safety, understanding and the process of working with psilocybin as a tool for healing transformation and therapeutically as well. So to add onto that, this talk in no way, shape, or form is a training or certification. So no one's really walking out of here being like, Hey, I'm a facilitator. This is just some information if you're interested in receiving treatment or potentially giving treatment in the future.

(00:03:26):

So disclaimer, this presentation does not encourage or condone any illegal activities, including but not limited to the use of legal substances. This is not a substitute for mental health for medical services. This is not a substitute for medical, psychological, psychiatric diagnoses, treatment or advice. Cool. So yeah, to start off, there is a lot of information coming out there about psilocybin used as a therapeutic medicine in conjunction with therapy. And so there's a lot of hype out there. There's also a lot of information, and this is a talk where I've kind of put things together to make sense of a lot of what's happening out there. So here's a lot about what you really need to know before pursuing it for yourself. So what we'll talk about today, what is psilocybin background on psilocybin safety, contraindications, risks, measurement, dosages, choosing a facilitator, intention setting, preparing and integrating your sessions.

(00:04:42):

So yeah, a little bit about me here is founder of Brooklyn Balance, LLC. I've been a full-time psychedelic integration coach and facilitator for about a year or two now. Various certifications and professional trainings through TAM integration, maps, training, psychedelic support, and more. And fun fact, I am a native New Yorker. I might not have the strongest accent of a New Yorker, but it can come out sometimes. So some background on me. Who is this person talking to you about? Psilocin right here. So in 2003, I had my first life changing experience with psychedelics. It was with LSD, and that was an experience that really shifted my life. It encouraged me to eat healthier, be healthier, and it also really made me see things in a new and different way. Later on in 2008, I started to suffer from really debilitating panic attacks. I couldn't leave my bed, I had trouble breathing. I was just full of anxiety. It was a very bad and difficult time for me. So I saw that help. I was prescribed SSRIs and I was on SSRIs for about eight years. In 2016, I weaned off of SSRIs and around that time with my therapist as well as community members. Later on 2020 with the pandemic, as you can see, my background is film production. I got burnt out from film production and I started to explore what was next for me.

(00:06:53):

A couple of people coming in. So today, 2022, founded Brooklyn Balance, LLC. I've done various trainings including maps training. I did a 12 month program with TAM integration. There is a nice little photo of us here. This is me and my whole cohort and I have moved into doing full-time, psychedelic integration. Yeah, so this was me at the MAPS conference in May out in Denver, and this is when I met Rick Doblin, who is the founder of maps and yeah, moving on. So real people, real results. I personally feel very passionate about this work because I've felt the results for myself. I've also experienced the results. I've been able to witness the results for other people and people that I've worked with. So this is just two little testimonials from some people I've worked with, one who had very positive results treating their treatment resistant depression, and then another person who is just saying that it has impacted their wellbeing a lot.

(00:08:19):

So moving into more of the talk on psilocybin, here's some basics on psilocybin assisted psychotherapy. I had like to start off with this really great quote from the book LSD In the Mind of the Universe by Chris Bosch. From ancient times men and women have gathered under the night sky and taken substances that helped them commune with their inner being and with the life that turns through all things they have sat in prayer and silence, sorry, seeking healing and guidance so they could return to their lives, better people and more aligned with deeper currents of life. Because these substances opened them to spiritual dimension of existence, they were called sacred because they healed the wounds of forgetting who and what we truly are. They were called medicines from before written history began. The sacred medicine path has been one of the many spiritual paths human beings have taken to find themselves each other and the divine.

(00:09:34):

And one more quote from Ley Osmond to Albu Huxley to Fat and hell or Soar angelic, just take a pinch of psychedelic. And I personally really love this quote because there's definitely different sides and spectrums and multitudes. With psychedelics, we can be really, really high. We can also be really, really low. And I feel like this sums that up in its own magical way, but of course, always open to interpretation in different ways. So what are psilocybin mushrooms commonly known as magic mushrooms or shrooms? It's a fungi and they grow naturally all over the world, and they've been used by humans for thousands of years. It's a classic tryptamine, psychedelic whose mind altering effects can last two to eight hours.

(00:10:35):

It is a schedule and substance, so it is very illegal and they grow naturally all over the world. So in terms of overdosing on psilocybin mushrooms, that would be incredibly difficult to do. If you were to eat dried mushrooms, you would need to consume over 2.6 pounds of them. Psilocybin itself is biologically inactive and it quickly gets converted to psilocin once ingested, which creates the mind altering effects similar, which similarities to other substances such as mescaline, DMT and LSD. So just a brief timeline about it. Yeah. Back in 5,000 bc, there are ancient, ancient paintings dated to that time that show mushroomed humanoids in the caves of northern Algeria. So here is a look at what those looked like, and then around 1000 BC it's dated to have found carved mushroom stones and all sorts of statues. Just a side note is I recently attended a talk with Darren LeBaron who really goes into really great detail about these things.

(00:12:07):

I can share more information about that person and talk later. So in 1521, the use of psilocybin mushrooms and peyote are driven underground. As the use of non-alcohol intoxicants became forbidden by Europeans. In Mexico, Catholic priests punished the use of or genes by native people around 1799. In London. The first psychedelic mushroom experience is documented in a scholarly journal. Dr. Everett Brody witnesses a family that experienced waves of laughter accompanied by halluc hallucinations. The mushrooms were examined later and today turns out they were liberty caps, which is a strain of mushroom. In 1914, the first experience documented in a scientific science publication of intentional psilocybin mushroom ingest ingestion is documented, which details descriptions of visual effects, uncontrollable, joking and laughter. In 1938, anthropologist John Bassett Johnson and his wife, AMGARD White Lan became the first modern white people to witness a mushroom vada, a healing ceremony in Mexico. And then in 1953, amateur Mycologist Gordon Watson visits OCA Mexico to witness a mushroom vada. He returns again in 1955 with a photographer for witnessing Maria Sabina ceremonies and later participates himself.

(00:13:52):

So more modern times. In 1958, Albert Hoffman isolates psilocybin and then publishes the synthesis of it at Sandoz Pharmaceutical. So that's around the time the psychedelic area that where things started really coming into more of a research phase and things were starting to get more out there. And then fun fact is in 1960s, Sandoz Pharmaceutical creates psilocybin pills each with two milligrams in them. So in 1968, we have the staggered Dodds bill, which makes the possession of psilocybin and OSI illegal. And that later is followed by the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention Control Act in 1971, which made it a schedule one substance. So when something's a schedule one substance, it's essentially saying that this substance has no medical benefit or therapeutic benefit whatsoever, and that makes it really hard to do research and scientific studies on it. So today we are having lots of really awesome scientific studies, research and data coming out from psilocybin. So here's a couple of headlines about that that I like to put together from some reliable news sources or reliable scientific journals.

(00:15:40):

And then psychedelics can make you feel more connected with nature. New research confirms. And so if there's any psycho notes here, and if anyone agrees with this, put a one in the chat, right? Has psilocybin, if you've taken it, helped you connect with nature more? Has psilocybin helped you in any way? Yeah, just put a one in the chat if you can relate to any of this. So down here, this is one of my favorite studies where an FMRI was done between two people, one who had taken a placebo and one that had taken psilocybin. So with the psilocybin, you see that there's way more brain activity here.

(00:16:29):

And one of the effects I find with psilocybin that Pulse STAs talks about is that it's encouragement with courage. It's encouraging of people to become more courageous and more kind, bringing out more empathy, more sympathy, more love, more happiness. So when it comes to putting psilocybin together with therapeutic uses, we're seeing and we're learning that it may alleviate cluster headaches, may alleviate depression, anxiety may increase mindfulness and feelings of interconnectedness. It may increase relationship with nature and spirituality, the universe, it may increase creativity and cognitive flexibility. It promotes neuroplasticity, neurogenesis, and it may be helpful with substance abuse and addiction, including tobacco and alcohol. It may also alleviate PTSD.

(00:17:36):

So this is one of my favorite studies. It was conducted by David Nut, who is a neuropsychopharmacology, and it's about which substances are the most harmful in this study, mushrooms are at the very bottom, while alcohol is at the very top. You also see ecstasy is on a low level, LSD is on a low level. And then when we start moving into methamphetamines and cigarettes and things just become way more harmful. This was a study done at NYU Lamb go where basically 80 participants happened to control, were given psilocybin in conjunction with therapy over six months. What was seen was that through the use of combining psilocybin with therapy symptoms with anxiety and depression, interpersonal sensitivity, hostility and obsession, compulsion and somatization improved.

(00:18:57):

So you're welcome to screenshot anything as well. And a recording of everything will go out after the talk. So if you feel like you missed anything or if you feel like, oh, I want to go back and see that slide, you'll have capability too. But this is a really great study that I learned about, and I wanted to put it here as an introduction before moving into risks and contraindications for psilocybin, because nothing's entirely safe. And I think that out there, there's a lot of things that are painted as silver bullet or like, Hey, yeah, take this. It's going to change your life. But the reality is that not everything is for everyone. So these are some things to consider. If you or someone you know or someone you're thinking about working with is considering working with psilocybin. So there is a behavioral risk, right? It can change your behavior, you can get worked up, you can get anxious.

(00:20:07):

I have various personal stories about that, and I've seen it also with people that I've worked with. People come in very confident, want to work, want to go into it, and then there is potential for destabilization and it can take some time to get destabilized. So it's something to consider. HPPD, hallucinogen, persisting perception disorder is a risk. It's pretty rare if you're just doing low amounts of psilocybin and very infrequently, but too much of a good thing can cause negative consequences. And HPPD is basically where you might be seeing things that aren't there after your experience. You can have a challenging experience that's affiliated with behavioral risk, but a challenging experience can also happen more during the journey where maybe you're in the wrong set or setting or maybe a really negative thought loop comes into your mind. There's various things that can happen with that.

(00:21:21):

Borderline personality disorder is a risk. I'm not going to get too much into that. And someone did mention that in the chat at the beginning, but there is more. I put the information for Dr. Ben Malcolm down on the bottom who can really speak to people at individual levels from a medical doctor standpoint. So feel free to take that information down. Schizophrenic tendencies, HOR is a contraindication. Digoxin lithium creates seizure risks. SSRIs and SNRIs may result in serotonin syndrome or blunting of the effects. And then serotonergic migraine medications can be of a risk as well as anti-psychotics, and there is potential for psilocybin to be contaminated as well. Mold can grow on it or bacteria. So that is also an effect, a risk, sorry.

(00:22:36):

So when it comes to a challenging experience, also it's also known as a bad trip, right? This is why we stress the importance of screening, preparation and set and setting. So what might happen to cause a challenging experience? Negative thought loops might have extreme paranoia, a lot of anxiety, headache, extreme fear, nausea, heavy sweating, diarrhea, vomiting, HPPD and maladaptive, ontological shock syndrome, also known as moss, where people might come out of their experience or be in the experience and not see the world or themselves in the same way as they once did. And it can be a really big shock to them.

(00:23:26):

Potential side effects from taking psilocybin, and this is more so in a low to high dose or very high dose. It's not really including microdosing, disorientation, lethargy, giddiness, euphoria, joy, visual hallucinations, synesthesia, perceptual distortions, mystical experiences, pupil dilation, increased or decreased, heart rate increased, decreased blood pressure, body temperature, fluctuations and nausea. So these are all things to talk about and discuss in preparation and what to do if they come up and how to prepare for them. So additional potential side effects, anxiety, tension, dysphoria, fear, losing control, shivering, sympathetic arousal, fight or flight impaired, mort, coordination, headache, dizziness, unsteadiness and balanced, tremors, weakness, dry mouth thirst, sensitive to temperature, yawning, restlessness and arousal.

(00:24:42):

So moving into some pharmacokinetics and also we'll do a q and A at the end, but if there is any particular question that does come up, and if I can get to it, if it relates to the slide, feel free to put it in the chat. Once ingested, psilocybin is the phosphate, alright, the removal of phosphate group from an organic compound by hydrolysis to soin and then it penetrates, the central nervous system begins to move throughout the body in that process. So soin is then metabolized by the liver and it's excreted through the renal system. And a note I made is that psilocybin and soin is understood to be safe for those with mild to moderate kidney impair. It's not too heavy on the kidneys, it has a half-life of 50 minutes psilocybin. That is while soin has a half-life of 160 minutes. If you're thinking about, well, how long does this last in my system in terms of detectability, it may remain in the urine for up to three days and detectable in the blood up to 12 hours and it may be detectable in the hair up to 10 days.

(00:26:12):

So psilocybin, once ingested is metabolized, become osi. The OSI binds to the serotonin five H two A post synaptic receptors in the cerebral cortex. And here's an image I found of what five H two A looks like. It's like rainbow colored. And so those receptors activate and release glutamate. And so glutamate is the excitatory neurotransmitter. It's needed to keep your brain functioning properly and glutamate plays a major role in shaping learning and memory. Thus the brain enters into a state of high flexibility and hyper connection. This is going back to the FMRI image before with all the neuroreceptors going on when it comes to timing of the experience with psilocybin in regard to when I'm speaking to, I'm speaking in terms of taking a low to very high dose in terms of the length of time. So if someone were to take two grams of mushrooms, they're going to experience the ComeUp. And then between an hour and an hour and a half, they'll be reaching the peak, typically between an hour and a half and two, they are in the peak. And then they'll plateau around this area up until the third hour, and then they'll begin to gently come down, down and then they enter the return, psilocybin leaves the system and we come back to presence very quickly.

(00:28:19):

So when it comes to form forms of psilocybin, the most common is magic. Mushrooms also known as mushrooms. It does have various different names. So you have the mushrooms and they're harvested and then maybe they get dehydrated prior to oral consumption, John asked, how does food impair the standard timing of the experience? John, that is a great question. Food can definitely impact the experience when it comes to the timing of psilocybin, and I'll mention it later, but it's important to take psilocybin on an empty stomach largely because you don't want to get a stomach ache, and it helps keep the system clear.

(00:29:15):

There is a notion that more acidic foods can make an experience more intense, and there's also a notion that more base oriented foods like milk can bring it down a bit. Eating food during experience might also soften it or make it end a little quicker. It can move things with the body. I hope that answers your question for now, and I'm happy to talk about that more in depthly later, or even after the talk. Psilocybin can be created synthetically. This would typically be used in a clinical or research setting in which the amount given is consistent when it comes to chocolate containing psilocybin, right? So put a one in the chat if you've seen someone with a chocolate bar and say like, oh, I have a magic mushroom bar. Or if you have experience with magic mushroom bars, well, chocolate is known not to be consistent in its distribution, and it's difficult to know what is actually ingested. So there's less knowledge of what strain is this, how is it processed? And then if you're taking just a corner of it, and if the chocolate bar says, oh, one corner is one gram, how do you actually know that that actually is one gram? So me personally, while I think chocolate does transport well, and it's a safe way to carry it around, I don't view it as the most reliable.

(00:31:12):

And John asked about magnesium. Magnesium, I'm not too sure about magnesium's effect on psilocybin, though I do know that it relaxes the body and it can help just ease tension. And magnesium is very frequently used with MDMA assisted therapy for that reason. It helps with teeth grinding. And another note I have is just be wary of fancy packaging or potentially deceiving marketing like mushrooms that are branded to target people of a certain audience or be like, take these, they're really going to change your life. I'm just skeptical of those kinds of things. So moving into dosing and levels. So the first thing I'll say is everyone is different and there is no exact formula for each individual's dose. And then different strains have different potencies, and we'll talk about testing a little later as well. But in general, something like golden teacher might have the regular 10 milligrams per dried mushroom, 10 milligrams of psilocybin while penis vy may have 20 milligrams of psilocybin per dried mushroom.

(00:32:47):

So when it comes to what we're talking about at this moment, we're more so looking at 10 milligrams of psilocybin per dried mushroom. So I really, really love this chart, which was made by reality sandwich.com, put their info right there on the bottom. So we look and we see this is what constitutes a microdose. You might get some mood enhancement, crisp concentration, increased menthol stamina, and it's between 0.05 and point 25 grams, or maybe even 0.33 for some people if there's a tolerance or a microdose and then moving into a mini dose, right? So, oh, I just want to take a little bit and just see what happens, but I want to be able to feel it. So you might have some visuals. You might feel mild euphoria. You might feel a little stoned with 0.25 to 0.75 or even one gram. You might hear the term museum dose, like I want the visuals, but I still want to be present.

(00:34:00):

So you could take between 0.5 and 1.5 grams and things might become more vivid. If you close your eyes, you might see things, there may be some distracted thought patterns, but you might be feeling really creative and able to interact with things in a different way. So moving into more therapeutic doses, a moderate dose would be around that range. I would say more so 1.75 or even 1.5. So you might see warped and kaleidoscopic visuals, mild hallucinations, things might look more 3D, some synesthesia might be experienced and a distorted sense of time. And then moving up from there, things get pretty intense. So there is a heavier dose, a high dose. I don't really call the three and a half a mega dose. I call it a high dose heavy hallucinations, ego dissolution, mild disconnect from reality and complete loss of time, synesthesia and out-of-body experiences. And then with five grams, it's known as the hero's dose. So that can be really powerful, that can be really intense. And I highly recommend a lot of preparation for anything really, more than two and a half grams for sure. So yeah, different strains do have different effects. And starting with potency, like I mentioned, golden teacher may have 10 milligrams of psilocybin per dried gram of mushroom, while penis envy might have 20. And so therefore, penis envy is a known strain for having more of a hallucinogenic experience with it, deeper visuals and such.

(00:36:07):

Down here on the bottom, if you're ever interested in testing your mushrooms, these are two websites that sell testing kits. And if anyone has any personal experience with that that they'd like to share in the chat or after the talk, I'd love to hear about it. So yeah, dosing levels, right? So a low dose, one gram of dried mushroom, about 10 milligrams of psilocybin, and then moving up to there, very high dose would be 50 milligrams of psilocybin. So moving more into, okay, I'm thinking about doing, if I'm thinking about doing psilocybin assisted psychotherapy, am I qualified? Is it suitable for me? So we've already gone over risks and contraindications and safety. So if I'm in a physical healthy space for myself, and if there aren't any risks that will happen based off of diagnoses, then I'm going to move into what are the variables? State of mind, how is my state of mind? Do I have expectations, willingness to engage in therapy? What resources and support are available for me? Do I have a coach? Do I have a therapist? Do I have peer support? Do I have friends? Do I have family? Do I have a psychedelic network that can support me or a community that can help support me?

(00:37:57):

Cultural considerations and understanding this is something yeah, I really like to consider. Do I culturally understand the person that I'm working with? Can I relate to this person? So personally for me, I have learned more about other cultures, other communities to greater understand what they might be going through and what they may be experiencing and how that might show up with their psychedelic experience. And if I feel like I can hold space for that, great, I can feel into that. Yes, I'm in alignment for supporting this person, but if I don't really understand someone's deep cultural background, then I would recommend finding someone else that would, so that they have that relatability and that they can create a deep therapeutic alliance as well. Understanding certain uncertainty, something might happen, nothing might happen, no guarantees. And then also understanding that there's a tolerance for destabilization. How does this person feel if they get destabilized? And how might they approach that?

(00:39:33):

So moving into screening, so medical and psychological psychiatric assessments. Assess social support, social network, developmental, psychosocial, cultural history. How does this person communicate? What is their communication style? Do they prefer to text? Do they prefer email? Are they better talking? Are they introverted, extroverted? Is English their second language? Will we be on the same page about these things? Understand personal rituals and practices. So I always like to say different strokes for different folks. For me personally, I like to say I'm a bridge between the science and the spiritual. And I meet people sometimes that are like, I don't want any spiritual. I'm like, okay, I can meet that person where they're at. And then there's some people that just really want things to be very, very spiritual. And so for me, I'm spiritual, but I'm not the most spiritual and it's something to consider. Do they have any active suicidality or history of suicide? Any family history of psychosis, bipolar, schizophrenia, hypertension, medication, supplements? Have there been any prior adverse effects from psilocybin or other psychedelics that may or may not have required hospitalization? And if there were adverse effects, what were they like? And are they ready to meet that again? And is it safe for this person to do this type of work if they've had that experience?

(00:41:31):

So if someone is interested in choosing a facilitator or a therapist or a coach, some things to look for, life experience, experience with the medicine itself, experience with clients, professional training, underground training, non-judgmental, good discernment, active listening, patience, trust, comfort, cultural identity, understanding, continual learning, references, testimonials, ethics, collaboration in the community, cost and fee, transparency, informed consent, boundaries, clear and strong communication offers multiple consultations prior to booking. Sense of humor, just some food for thought on that last one, preparation. On the facilitator side, what fears is the facilitator feeling about doing this work or holding space for people understanding positive and equal healing? To elaborate on that, I would say there are good things that can come from this work. And there's also negative. Not that they're bad, but there are things that can come up that might equate to what was not expected. And if that happens, it's how do we deal with that? How do we work with that strong understanding of consent, inter directed process, non-directed process, which we'll talk more in later slides, safety and support symptoms, internal wisdom, creating a therapeutic alliance, music, managing stress, keeping a beginner's mindset, somatics, having a support person for themselves and figuring out the logistics as well. There's really a lot that goes into being a facilitator in this work, and it's a big reason why preparation and education is key for this.

(00:43:59):

So when it comes to the inner directed approach, basically when someone is in an altered state, we really don't want to be like, you need to do this or you should do that. This is the right way to do it. There is no right and there is no wrong. And as a facilitator, we're there to hold space for a person to have their experience. We might the term guide, but we're more so space holders. And when we need to step in, we're strengthening our hold on the container to support the person, to let them feel seen, heard, witnessed, confident, strong in themselves so that they're able to let go and have their experience. So the inner directed approach involves ways for allowing the person to do their own healing. The facilitator is not trying to heal the person. The healer is doing their own healing themselves.

(00:45:14):

So there's experiential, emotional engagement, encourage imagination, restructuring, cognition. How are we looking at things? How are we thinking about things in a imaginative way? Recently, there was someone recently who was stuck and we handed them just a pen and paper and they just started to draw and they were able to move that energy of stuckness by transmuting it into the art, and then they were able to go back into just being in their experience, transference between the client and the facilitator. Subconscious tendencies, psychodynamic, what is in the subconscious, how is that coming out? How do we process that? The body somatics, compassion for self and others, transpersonal and spiritual understanding when it comes to energy work and what might we be seeing and how things might be moving in more so of an energy field rather than a physical field.

(00:46:36):

And then imaginal exposure with the non-directive approach. Keeping ample timing. So if it's an eight hour experience, giving a lot of space before things start and allowing for a lot of space after too for the processing and during making sure that nothing is being rushed, there isn't a sense of urgency. I personally like to say we become a high frequency tuning fork with psilocybin and we feel everything very much more intensely. And so a lot of that energy is picked up. So it's really important to be sensitive in that regard. How was guidance? Invitational communication. So saying, I invite you to close your eyes, I invite you to lie down rather than saying, close your eyes, lie down.

(00:47:44):

Who knows best is the journeyer? If they want something, if they need something, is it done that knows best rather than the facilitator? We might think, oh, we know how to conduct this experience for the person, but truly themselves that know how to conduct the experience best for themselves. In my opinion, avoid reductionist thinking. It's okay to get lost in details. Things don't need to always make sense. It's okay to see a bunch of squiggly lines. We don't need to really overthink and be like, what do these squiggly lines mean? I think I saw my mother in there. I think I saw my father in there. Cool. That's the experience.

(00:48:38):

We encourage you to also invitational. So I really like this image of this man holding the bike for the woman because I kind of view it like that sometimes. Alright, I'm going to teach you how to ride a bike. You're going on the bike, I'm going to hold it for you, but then I'm going to let go and you're going to ride the bike yourself. So I'm encouraging you to ride the bike. This might be a good time for you to tap on the brakes of the bike. There is a steep hill coming. Say breathing versus breathe. So if I want to encourage someone to breathe more during their experience, I might just say breathing rather than command of breathe, breathe, reflect, let people know that they're heard, that what they're speaking, you're hearing it. So I like to reflect and say things back to people.

(00:49:42):

OMI for somatics and psilocybin OMI is pretty interesting. I'll be doing a more advanced talk in the future on things. But to touch upon omi, the OMI method is experiential therapy. This means that changes abroad about by the experiences you have in the present moment. The experiences of the body are a key focus. The body's fault to be a resource that holds information like memories and beliefs. So Koi focuses on mindfulness, non-violence, unity, organicity, mind, body wholeness. You might hear in the spiritual space like we are all one. Or even the book, the body keeps the score. It's like what is the body holding onto and how do we allow the body to release what it needs to release for healing and making more space for things. So I do like to teach my clients emotional release techniques. Methods like shaking and hand screams movement that helps with the hakomi process.

(00:51:01):

So to touch upon group work, if anyone is considering group work, some things to consider are having an understanding and practicing of nonviolent communication that there should be no sexual energy in a therapeutic group work container. Practicing emotional release. We just touched upon understanding, practicing nervous system regulation, techniques, co and deregulation. Something as simple as putting your back next to another person's back and breathing together can be very regulated, explicit, and clear boundaries. Being in a container that's built slowly, not like being like, Hey, I have two friends and I have 12 friends and we've never done psychedelics and I want everyone to do psychedelics. You have 12 newbies going in and having kind of a crazy night, probably not a good idea. Trust established between people. Consent, training, sovereignty being true to you, knowing your yes and knowing your no. So and I really like to stress encouraging people to really drop into what's true for them. Take a beat. How do you feel about this? Are you a yes? Are you a hell yes or are you a no? And if someone's like I'm a maybe well i's a no. So really dropping into that is really important, especially for group work.

(00:52:56):

So psychedelic is paradoxical. So if we say, I don't want my mom to show up in my psychedelic experience, guess what? She's probably going to show up. I want my psychedelic experience to be the greatest experience ever. Nothing happens or it's the worst experience ever. Yeah, I really like to encourage having no expectations. And my opinion is that it's important for facilitators and space holders and people receiving treatment to have an understanding of that. Trust the medicine surrendered to the process, receive what comes up. Just I don't know what's going to happen. I'm just going to trust the medicine. I surrender what's going to come up. We'll find out.

(00:53:56):

Moving into intention setting, why are you choosing to work with psilocybin? What other parts of your life are you focusing on? Improving to better yourself? Quality of life. Yes. Expectation is different than intention. I can definitely speak to this for sure. So an expectation is more specific. I want my psychedelic experience to be like, I want to become enlightened by my psychedelic experience. And that would be an expectation. Oh, I thought I was going to become enlightened. Well, an intention is more of a calling in what are we nurturing or what are we adding on to our lives and what are we releasing to? So an intention could look like I'm cultivating more joy in my life, and it's not saying that I want my psychedelic experience to be joyful or that my psychedelic experience is going to guarantee more joy in my life. The intention is part of my doing work on this is that I'm cultivating joy and by doing this medicine, I'm being true to myself and making space for myself and enhancing myself so that there can be more joy for me. And I'm definitely, I can talk a lot about intentions for sure. We can circle back on that. I'm also open to chatting about it after. But does that sort of clarify for you, Sherry, your question?

(00:55:45):

Okay, cool. Yeah. So what are you calling in? What are you releasing? How are you practicing keeping it sacred? So we looked at the timeline of magic mushrooms that they've been used for thousands of years for healing purposes. And there is a sacredness to this work that I like to bring into it and encourage others to do so as well. I don't really like to make it a very clinical thing. Okay, Mr. Johnson, you're going to walk in, you're going to take your mushrooms, you're going to lie down. Things are going to happen in a sterile environment. So I like to really kind of make it unique, make it special, but treat it like it's sacred. Treat it as if we're maybe like a bar mitzvah or a baptism, that there is a sacredness to it and it's not required if someone prefers it being more clinical, if, like I said earlier, if someone just wants complete science, cool, someone wants more spiritual, cool.

(00:56:58):

But keeping an element of sacredness to the uniqueness is I find beneficial. And it makes it different too. Not like, oh yeah, I'm just going to go trip my friends and go to a fish concert. It's more of a very special, unique healing experience connecting with the divine potentially. So additional prep on the client's side, let your friends and family and anyone else know you will be unavailable the day of the session. Arrange transportation, do not drive. Avoid alcohol the week prior. Avoid caffeine, wear comfortable clothes, and bring a change of clothes too because they might get soiled. Record. Your session with a voice recorder if you choose to do so, can be pretty beneficial, is a great way to prep internal family systems as well. And I highly, highly recommend avoiding the news, avoiding social media and avoiding screen time for as long as you can before your journey. Set And setting private, no interruption, quiet, minimal stimuli, comfortable furniture, aesthetically pleasing decorations, right? Maybe some flowers and plants, snacks, food beverages, art supplies, space for movement. I like to encourage making a little altar, alter toys, stuffed animals, blankets, pillows, make it fun. So moving into day long session, also known as ceremony. Yeah, I like to encourage nonclinical setting, right, more relaxed, calm, and comfortable environment. I recommend the alter or an alter space. Comfortable. Couch playlist is very important.

(00:59:11):

Having it ease you into the experience through the timeline, maybe experiencing the peak arc with it. And also gentle music. You're coming out of it, having your eye mask, covering your eyes. And I recommend fasting, no food three to four hours prior, but if someone gets hangry, if someone has low blood pressure, low blood sugar, cool. Totally eat, please take care of yourself like a smoothie or toast. Eggs. Totally cool. Sherry asked, do you recommend voice recorder versus video recorder? Also, how do you manage recording at the same time listening to music? So some different strokes for different folks when it comes to if you're choosing a voice recorder versus video recording.

(01:00:07):

A video recorder can be kind of a big presence in a room just knowing that the camera's there rather than just an audio recorder. So it depends on your personal preference if you want to see what you're looking at, but also acknowledging depending on where you are, what your video recording might not be legal per se. And what if you put it on your computer and your computer got hacked and people saw it kind of thing. So there's things to consider in terms of privacy also with how you record your voice or if you're video recording. And generally when I'm speaking to voice recording, it's just like maybe just having the ability to take some notes, talking into a recorder when called to it because going in and out of the experience is definitely capable or even just recording what's happening. So if you just know it's there, you can just yell it out for sure. I'm happy to chat with you more about that later too.

(01:01:21):

Yeah, moving on, communicate, structure and flow. So a facilitator I recommend should communicate what to expect in terms of structure and flow on the day. So if someone's just like, all right, I'll see you at nine, the journey or what's going to happen at nine. So I like to encourage giving a brief loose layout of what the day might look like. I'm going to meet you at nine. We're going to get grounded. We're going to drop in. We're going to take as much time as we need to get you comfortable and settled so that you're in a good place for what you want for yourself for this experience. We'll go over consent boundaries, we'll talk about the dose, and we'll review emergency contacts and emergency plan information as well. In the end, I learned from my teacher, we both agree that neither of us leaves until we both agree. So if the facilitator's like, I'm ready to leave, but the journeyer is like, I'm not ready for you to leave, then it's not the best idea for the facilitator to leave.

(01:02:54):

And if the journeyer is like, Hey, I want you to go, but they're still in a very erratic state, the facilitator, it's like it might be unethical for the facilitator to leave the person in that situation. They might get, they could harm themselves, they could make a decision, not the best decision since they're in an altered state. So having those agreements before and having understanding and alignment is important. And that's also why I stress prep too. And then when we're complete, I'm going to slowly pack up, double check that you're okay with me leaving. So it's like, okay, we're done. I'm not just going to pick up and grab my stuff and run out the door. It's like I'm going to slowly pack up one by one. I'm going to ease this exit. And when I do leave, I'm leaving slowly and I'm walking down the hallway slowly, I'm walking to my car slowly just in case the person decides, Hey Josh, I want you to come back. I'm not ready for you to leave. Cool. Allow that ample timing.

(01:04:12):

Yeah, so staying with the breath, I do really like to stress breathing, especially if a particular memory comes up that could be upsetting or overwhelming. That is an indication that the client's body may be trying to release something that is encouraged in a safe, consensual, nonviolent, non-sexual way. Stay with the breath, breath, practice, emotional release, and somatic practices may assist with that. And it's also like staying with the breath is a good way for toggling the parasympathetic nervous system and the sympathetic nervous system for relaxing the body and encouraging the body to do what it needs to do. Shaking is also really good for that too. So when it comes to frequencies and protocols, so there's lots of different protocols out there, different strokes for different folks. So a couple to touch upon here are in the clinical trial for treatment resistant depression led by Dr.

(01:05:23):

Robin Carhartt Harris. The protocol consisted of four prep sessions between the facilitator and the patient or client. They did two day long sessions, also known as ceremonies, which were separated by seven days apart. The first session was a low dose of 10 milligrams psilocybin, so that would be one gram of dried mushroom. And in the second was a moderate high dose at 25 milligrams of psilocybin, which would be about two and a half grams of dried mushroom. And then they did one integration and prep in between, followed by six integration sessions after. So they did two ceremony, they met up again, they went over things, okay, are you ready for the next one? Cool. Did the next one. And then they met six more times.

(01:06:26):

Yeah. And that treatment was found to be effective with depression levels that were looked at to be reduced six months prior, up to six months prior when the study finished. So they tracked the clients for six months after that. While there are many suggested protocols out there, everyone is different and there's no perfect formula. So integration would be post sessions after a day long session or a ceremony or therapy sessions, depending on who you're working with. So an integration session, well, we're going to get to that soon, I promise. There's some slides on that. So with Yale University, they follow two prep, one day long session, two integration. And then the maps study on anxiety associated with stage four melanoma consisted of four prep sessions, two day long sessions with seven to 14 days in between and 10 post sessions or integration sessions. So like I said, integrations right after. So the Aladdin word for integration is Integra, which means I make whole, I renew, I repair, I begin again.

(01:08:03):

So we've had our experience and now we're coming out of it. And there may have been some really profound experiences, life-changing things that have come up for the person receiving the treatment. So is there any reprocessing that needs to happen? How do we talk about that? What do we do about that? Embodying, reassociating, restoring, releasing, and reclaiming. So moving into integration, it's the day after. Who are you? Are you still the same person? How are you different? Are there any lifelong conditions that may have shifted or are you looking at things differently? Do you, you feel more strength and trust, whether of yourself or other people or the universe? How do you speak about yourself? Have you developed any new relationships? Does anything need more attention?

(01:09:12):

So when it comes to integration, there's various ways to do so. So ceremonial ritual, religious, spiritual, somatic practices, movement, community. For me personally, as a form of integration, I practice five rhythms. It is a guided meditation movement that happens through dance and music. And I do it once or twice a week. And it's a space for me to really just drop in and process what's going on for me. And so that in itself is very therapeutic that I find for me and the people I know in that community. Journaling, I highly recommend for integration, ecology, connecting with nature, creating art, music, writing songs, poetry. Creating a plan for the future can be beneficial too. And then just talking about new experiences and insights with like-minded people as well. Yeah, five rhythms. Five rhythms. It was the name of the community that I just mentioned when you're done with yes.

(01:10:44):

And Susan asked if I'll be sending out a link to the slideshow and a recording. I will be sending out a recording. I'm happy to sign out the slideshow as well. Integration for change. So yeah, connecting with nature, avoiding continuing to avoid the news and screen time. Yoga, dance, hiking, Tai chi, Qigong, working out, wellness, going to the spa, I get a massage. Acupuncture is something I really love to do. Chiropractic adjustments may be beneficial as well. Meditation and breath work are definitely great for integration. And then there's grounding and there's discharging. And grounding can also mean discharging. So maybe if someone feels a little destabilized, how can they ground? Do they need to connect more with the earth, right? Maybe doing some walking on the grass without their shoes or and socks on, or do they need to discharge and release energy? And how can we hold space for them to do so? Eating well and nourishing foods and continuing with therapy. So benefits of integration. One of the things I do like to say, it might sound a little weird, but is upgrading your software. So I could say from, and I could speak for myself when I say Josh that worked in film production was Josh 1.0, Josh, today is Josh 2.0. My life today is very, very different from how it used to be, how I think, how I act, how I talk, my friends, my work, and just how I present myself and carry myself in spaces.

(01:12:43):

Increased felt sense, right? Increased sense of feeling. What's true for us in our sides. Maybe feeling emotions deeper, maybe feeling more empathy, maybe more in touch with the nervous system and what the nervous system is saying for us. Debriefing, difficult, challenging experiences, talking that out. Talking it out with a therapist or a coach followed with a facilitator or integration circle as well. Processing heavy emotions or even light emotions. Releasing and grieving, translating and applying new insights, embracing and adapting to change of identity, ego, world culture and non-linearity and amplifying felt sense networks. So you might hear in the psychedelic space, we are all one that can be attributed to that enhanced capacity for observing self. How do we view ourselves? How are we different with viewing ourselves? Increased self wisdom, enhanced compassion for others, making sense of potential generational trauma, epigenetics, maybe holding more compassion for our ancestors, our parents, our grandparents.

(01:14:09):

I'm Jewish and I've done a lot of processing about my ancestors in Eastern Europe. My great grandparents who came over to New York City from Ellis Island. And I've done a lot of processing around the trauma of the Holocaust, and I've done that through integration. Energetic work is very taxing. So if you are a facilitator, if you're considering becoming a facilitator, getting rest and rejuvenated is vital for facilitators. Listen to your body, shake, practice, emotional release. Don't overdo it. Burnout is common with facilitators. Yeah, I'm part of a support network and we frequently talk about burnout in the space. Eat well, treat yourself well. Go to the spa, saw, arrest, relaxation, and of course receive your own therapy, psychedelic or nons, psychedelic coaching, whatever you need to do to take care of yourself. So there's some really dope scientific studies that are in the works, and I'm really excited about 'em.

(01:15:31):

Some of 'em include creativity, O-C-D-P-T-S-D, studies on anorexia, alcoholism, depression in Alzheimer's disease, which I have an understanding of how that depression can be because my grandmother had dementia and so she would become very depressed. And I'm curious if I knew today, if I knew then what I knew today, how she might've responded to such treatment mood post Lyme disease treatment. There's more studies about microdosing underway and opioid use disorder as well. Go slow. Less is more. Give yourself time to integrate. The process likely continues to unfold for days and even weeks after. Be aware of chasing peak experiences, right? When it comes to peak experiences, it's like, wow, I had this experience, now I want to do this setter experience. I did ayahuasca, now I want to do five MEO. I did Bobby, oh, and now I want to do mushrooms, and so on and so forth. And going to Burning Man and always just chasing the next thing. Just having awareness to that. And in my opinion, transformation is possible with determination and time. If you put the effort in, it can really happen. Here's some recommended readings. Each one has its own value to it, for sure. I want to save some time for q and a because we're almost at time, but I do offer free discovery calls and you're welcome to email me, Josh or brooklyn balance.org. Follow up any questions. I will be sending out a copy of this recording and I will send out the slides so we can take a beat now to, I'm happy to receive any questions anyone might have.

Psychedelics have gotten pretty popular these days, and there’s a lot of information as well as charlatans out there. We’re going to discuss the basics, benefits and risks associated with MDMA Assisted Therapy. There is a difference between taking MDMA and going dancing, versus working with MDMA and putting intention into transforming your life for the better. This talk will help educate you on how to look at MDMA as a transformative healing tool for improving your quality of life.


The latest scientific research and data is demonstrating that MDMA Assisted Therapy can

Enhanced Emotional Resilience

Increased Empathy and Connection:

Reduced Anxiety and Fear:

Improved Communication

Exploration of Self-Identity

Reduced Defensiveness

Long-Lasting Effects

Increased Trust

Enhanced Problem-Solving Skills

Positive Attitude Change

It's important to note that while these potential benefits are promising, MDMA therapy is still a relatively new and experimental treatment. Research is ongoing, and the therapy is not yet widely available. Additionally, MDMA is a controlled substance and should only be administered by trained facilitators in a controlled setting as part of clinical trials or research studies. Furthermore the therapy should always be conducted within legal and ethical guidelines, with a focus on patient safety and well-being.

Topics We'll Discuss:

*What is MDMA
*The History of MDMA
*Measurements / Dosage
*Safety
*Potential Benefits & Risks
*Intention Setting
*Preparation & Integration
*The Process
*This is a free online event

Learn more about us at www.brooklynbalance.org

About Us:

Brooklyn Balance aims to be a supportive companion in your psychedelic journey—from beginning to end. A journey starts the moment you decide to have a psychedelic experience, and having the right preparation and tools is essential for a transformational and positive outcome.

With that in mind, we help you prepare for your journey by setting conscious intentions aligned with what your desired outcomes are. We offer tools you can tap into during your journey, and integration coaching to help you bring the psychedelic experience into your day-to-day life.

Transcript:

Speaker 1 (00:00:03):

Great. Yeah. So disclaimer, this presentation does not encourage or condone any illegal activities including but not limited to the use of illegal substances. This is not a substitute for mental health or medical services. This is not a substitute for medical, psychological, or psychiatric diagnosis, treatment or advice. So I am not a doctor, I am not a licensed therapist. I am simply in the position of offering information and education in this space. I have done lots of extensive training and practicing. I've also done a lot of my own work in this field, and so this is an opportunity for me to share that information for those that are curious. So if you're in the psychedelic space and if you're tracking what's going on there, there's a lot of information out there and there's a lot going on with MDMA used as a therapeutic medicine in conjunction with therapy. So in this talk, we're going to be talking a lot about what you really need to know before pursuing it, if it's for you, whether you're receiving it or if you're looking to enter the space as a facilitator as well.

(00:01:37):

So what we'll discuss today, we're going to talk about what is MDMA, we'll do a little bit of a general background on its history and the breakthrough that data that's coming out with it. We'll talk about safety, contraindications, measurements, dosages, choosing a facilitator, preparing and integrating for your session. So a little bit about me. I'm Josh or Joshua, either or. I'm the founder of Brooklyn Balance, LLC. I am a psychedelic integration coach and facilitator. I have various certifications and professional trainings, some of which include TAM integrations year long coaching program, the various trainings through maps including the MDMA certification. I've done training with psychedelic support, and I also work with various groups and communities here in New York City. And fun fact, I'm a native New Yorker born and raised. So a little background on me is I had my first life-changing experience with psychedelic back in 2003. It was a really profound experience and it really shifted a lot for me and it was a really big opening for me as well.

(00:03:06):

Later on 2008, after I graduated from college, I started to have really debilitating panic attacks and I was prescribed SSRIs, which I took for a number of years. Later on in 2016, I stopped taking SSRIs and I began to explore psychedelics with my therapist and also get involved in the psychedelic community. I found a lot of that work, very transformational and very profound. And later on in 2020 with the pandemic and my background being film production, I got really burnt out. I just really just needed to find something that was new for me. And so where I landed after really dropping into a new sacred purpose for me was one founding Brooklyn Balance, and then two, creating a nonprofit with the intention of unionizing the commercial film production industry, which has become successful in forming a new union known as local 1 1 1. So now I work basically doing full-time, psychedelic integration coaching, and I'm a part of different groups and organizations here in New York City, and it's been great.

(00:04:42):

So this photo up here on the upper right is me at the MAPS Conference. And on the lower right down here, this is my cohort from the TAM Integration 12 month training program and Real People Real Results. This is just a couple of inklings from people that I've worked with, being that I've done a lot of work for myself with depression and self-esteem, low self-esteem, I've really been able to offer a lot of what I've learned to people, and I've really appreciated these kind comments from the people that I worked with. So I put this here to share.

(00:05:29):

So here's some basics on MDMA assistance psychotherapy, and I'm starting off with this quote from Humphrey Osmond who was talking to Aldi Huxley to fathom hell or sore angelic, just take a pinch of psychedelic. I personally really love this quote I, because we'll get into it a little bit later, but psychedelics tend to be very paradoxical. So we might be really high at one point, but we also might be really low. And in those experiences, there's something really valuable to learn from. So getting into what is MDMA? So MDMA, it's a scientific name, is three four. I pronounce it as methyl methamphetamine. There's other ways to pronounce it, but that is how I learned how to say it, and that's in its pure form. So it's also been known as ecstasy. And ecstasy is a psychedelic amphetamine, and it's gained a lot of popularity over the past 20 years in its ability to produce strong feelings of comfort, empathy, and connections to others is how ARROWWOOD defines MDMA.

(00:06:59):

For those who don't know, arrowwood.org is a really great resource for learning about substances and psychedelics. I highly recommend it. So MDMA is illegal. It's a schedule one narcotic. It was synthesized over a hundred years ago by Merck and then patented in 1912. And later on, Sasha Shulgin res synthesized it, which kind of created a bit more of a buzz and popularity of it later on. So in the early 1960s and seventies, psychologists began to work with MDMA largely in group settings for therapeutic purposes. At the same time, MDMA, well at the same time, and later on a bit, MDMA began to be known more as ecstasy for party and nightlife, and we'll touch upon it more later. But for me, there is a difference between ecstasy and MDMA. So when I'm referring to MDMA, I'm referring to pure MDMA, while ecstasy often is cut with things like amphetamine speed, uppers and large amounts of caffeine that sort of made things more difficult for the therapeutic intentions.

(00:08:34):

And with the war on drugs in 1985, it was outlawed. So since then there's been a lot of misinformation about it. There was a situation where false rumor spread about putting holes in people's brains and it being overly neurotoxic. And basically that was actually, that information came from a study that was based off of methamphetamine, not MDMA, but the damage for that had already been done. So when we talk about the effects of MDMA and what it does, it impacts neurotransmitters involved in the emotional processing of the brain. So it releases serotonin, neuro amphetamine, and dopamine, and it heightens the positive mood and reduces anxiety while neurophin and dopamine increase energy and alertness. And to just give kind of context for that, it's like you're feeling upbeat, you're feeling like there's more energy, and you're feeling also like you may be feeling more expansive and loving because of that chemical reaction.

(00:09:48):

In addition and increases oxytocin and prolactin levels, which are affiliated with social bonding and love. So people may experience being more talkative, being more open, feeling less fear, and also desiring to touch more and to be touched more, more. It can cause a person to become less receptive to fear inducers and more inclined to social interactions. It decreases activity in amygdala. And the amygdala is the parted brain that creates fear. It's the reptilian part that also protects us and wants us to be safe. So when we turn that off, it may allow a sense of safety for many people. It also increases activity in the hippo cannabis for creating memory processing. There's sensation enhancement enhancement. One may feel more self-acceptance one may also drop into having more authenticity, and one may also want to talk a lot.

(00:11:04):

So today there's definitely a lot of buzz going on with MVMA, and there are a lot of studies happening with it as well. So here's just a few examples that I've put in here. MAPS is working on the phase three trials for MDMA and they were anticipating it to be used for medical use around this time. I attended a talk with Rick Doblin a few weeks ago, and now they're projecting for end of next year. So fingers crossed for next year that it'll be legal for therapeutic use. Lots of exciting things are happening in Australia with NDMA, and there's just lots of really new really interesting studies happening with everything.

(00:12:01):

So in addition to what we previous mentioned, when it comes to working with MDMA more as a therapeutic tool, MDMA is mostly mainly classified as an empathogen rather than a psychedelic. The difference in that is that an empathogen is more about feeling and connecting with other people and processing emotions in ourselves with our better understanding of other people while a psychedelic is psychoactive. And we may feel and see things visually. So it is possible to see things with MDMA, and it is known largely as a psychedelic, but my understanding is its technical classification is as an empathogen. And so working with it therapeutically, it may relieve PTSD or complex PTSD. It may alleviate depression. It may create feelings of connection, feelings of openness and feelings of euphoria when it comes to the safety of MDMA in these contexts with working with it therapeutically, this is a study that was created by Neuropsychopharmacology David Nut about the harm caused by substances. And so down here we'll see mushrooms are at the very bottom, LSD, and then ecstasy is just fifth on the bottom of the list while heroin and alcohol at the very top of the list. So MDMA is relatively safe to work with compared to other substances, including ketamine, which has become a very popular psychedelic for medical and therapeutic use.

(00:14:10):

So the key findings with the maps phase three study of MDMA assisted therapy for chronic and severe PTSD, 67% of participants no longer qualified for PTSD diagnosis, active 3M DMA assisted therapy sessions, 88% of participants experience clinical meaningful reduction in symptoms. I personally find this really significant. So moving into, if we start to think about, Hey, I want to do MDMA therapy for myself, there's a lot to consider. And so here's a part that talks about risks and contraindications for MDMA. So starting with behavioral risk, how do you behave? How is it going to impact you? Have you experienced suicide in the past? Do you have any diagnosis such as psychosis, bipolar or schizophrenia? Physical symptoms such as hypertension, irregular heart rhythm, liver problems? These are things to really consider before doing this work as there are mental and physical impacts with working with this medicine. Neurological conditions such as epilepsy, medications with serotonin, serotonin, genetic effects, adverse effects from previous psychedelic experiences, risk of overdose. And then it's known as the Tuesday blues because more so in the recreational party scene, people may do MDMA on a Saturday and then because of the serotonin depletion, they'll really feel a real low or down a couple of days after. So people may experience the Tuesday blues and then risk of serotonin syndrome if on other medications. And DMA blows the serotonin receptors wide open.

(00:16:33):

If you take MAOIs or SSRIs, that's an contraindication. And certain anti antidepressants in psychotropics HIV medications, CYP 2D six inhibitors and medications that increase heart rate or different things, even things like robo stomach acid medications, people that sedatives even drinking alcohol can really increase the risk of things Donna wrote. Doesn't psilocybin below the receptors wide open too?

Speaker 2 (00:17:17):

Yes,

Speaker 1 (00:17:18):

Psilocybin does. And if you're unsure if this is safe for you, I encourage you to take a consultation with Ben malcolm@spiritpharmacist.com. He is a really great resource in the psychedelic space and I highly encourage people to consult with them. Donna, we can chat more about that at the end. Negative side effects. So when it comes to negative side effects, you may experience anxiety, tension dysphoria, fear losing control while on while on MDMA. It's not common, but it can happen. There can be increase of body temperature, heart rate, blood pressure. It may lower the immune system for up to two days after. So for me personally, I need a lot of rest and relaxation after working with MDMA. My body really feels it, and there is more risk of me getting sick.

(00:18:46):

And then while on it, there is potential for feeling nauseous, dizzy ability to become unsteady. It's very common to experience teeth grinding and clenching the jaw. So chewing gum can be recommended and people may experience dry mouth thirst and you may become more sensitive to temperature. Yes, so there is a supplement protocol and that will be coming up soon. Great question. So when it comes to form of MDMA, if you're seeking out MDMA, you want to make sure that it's pure MDMA, that it's crystal and powder that I don't recommend tablets, things that are pre-made because one, it's harder to test. So I test my MDMA for fentanyl. I tested for purity using testing kits from Drug Safe, sorry, dance safe.org. And before I even offer it to friends, I will test my own MDMA on myself rather than giving it to people without knowing what it's, but in the tablets, it's much more difficult to do that. And often the tablets are cut with other things such as caffeine or amphetamine. And given that there's a lot of fentanyl out there today, there's higher risk of fentanyl.

(00:20:32):

So yeah, I only recommend working with pure MDMA. So when it comes to dosing in levels, I really like to emphasize that everyone is different. There's no exact formula for each person's dose. So I personally recommend starting low before diving in a threshold dose would be about 30 milligrams, a light dose, 40 to 75, small or sensitive, 60 to 90, and a more average 75 to 125. And then when we start talking about a large dose or a less sensitive person, you're getting into 110 to 150. And then if you're talking about a really strong dose, you're talking about 150 to 200. So if you're completely new to MDMA, I don't really recommend going over a hundred for starting out. Definitely start low, treat it as if you're small and you're sensitive. Start with the threshold of 30 or 40 and just see what happens.

(00:21:59):

Yes, for sure. Oh, and one thing I'll add on to that is also there can be option for booster doses depending on the level of sensitivity. Some people might take a hundred milligrams and after about an hour, hour and a half, not really experience too much. So it can be okay and it can be safe to take a booster dose. And a booster is usually about 40 to 75 milligrams. I can talk about overdose that's coming up a little later. I believe there is a slide just for that. Oh, look at that. It was the next slide. Yeah.

(00:22:53):

So in the event of overdose or symptoms of an overdose, one might experience vomiting, headaches, busyness. People that are more sensitive to substances are more at risk for that. So you really want to be careful, especially if it's your first time or if it's your first time with a new batch or a new strength. So always start low. I also encourage people to drink water, but to not drink too much water because it can create water toxification. And in the event of an overdose, seek medical attention, call 9 1 1 hospitals nine one one. They do not care if you or a friend or a client or anyone took an illegal substance. All they care about is getting you stabilized, safe and healthy, and they will do what they need to help you recover from potentially taking too much. Yes, coconut water is excellent, electrolytes are excellent. I personally highly recommend LMT electrolytes. I drink a pack of that every day and it's, they've been very beneficial for me. Maybe I can get them to sponsor my next talk. So vitamins and supplements. So when MDMA begins to leave the system, it may dampen the mood. Some people may experience a crash. So to assist with alleviating these symptoms, some supplements I recommend taking vitamin C, taking it once in the morning and once in the evening as well as the day after taking magnesium. And magnesium really helps with the teeth grinding as well.

(00:25:08):

Five HTPI find very valuable, and that should be taken the next day and it can be taken for longer than one day. Depends on the person. Typically I'll take it just the next day, but it can be taken for three to five days. But I don't really recommend longer than five days. And I'm not a doctor, I'm just speaking from personal experience. SAM E can be taken, but not in conjunction with five HTP. It has similar effects and you don't want to mix similar supplements, L-carnitine and alpha loic loic assets. So yeah, feel free to take a screenshot of these slides, but there'll also be a recording of this going out to everybody in case you missed any information as well.

(00:26:15):

So moving more into, if you're interested in working with MDMA therapeutically, so finding suitability for use, what are the variables? What is your state of mind? What are your expectations? I really encourage people not to have expectations, to just be open and to receive willingness to engage in. There are a lot of people that are like, I want to do this. I want to do therapy. And they show up and they don't want to really do the work. And there's a lot of resistance. So ability to really be like, Hey, I want to do this, and I'm willing to engage. I'm willing to open up, I'm willing to connect, I'm willing to build a container, and I'm willing to go into the unknown resources and support. So who do you have in your life for supporting you, whether it's friends or peer support, community, family, other therapists who is there to support you if a dampening happens, if you start to feel low, if depression increases, if low self-esteem starts to get more intense, these things can happen.

(00:27:49):

So I encourage people to have a really strong support system for themselves and to also learn about resources that are available in the event that they need them. Cultural considerations and understanding. So when it comes to who I personally choose to work with, if I feel like I'm not fully in tune with the person's culture, it may inhibit me from fully understanding what they need, what they want to feel open and to feel safe and for us to work together. And so sometimes we really need to find the right person that's for us for these situations. And also understanding uncertainty, understanding that nothing may happen, understanding that things may be very intense or things may be very underwhelming. And then also a tolerance for destabilization. I'm pretty vocal about it, that psychedelics can be destabilizing.

(00:29:06):

Working with substances can be destabilizing. And that's why I put a really strong emphasis on having resources and support and also doing extensive prep work and extension, extensive integration work. So if you're interested in looking for a facilitator or a therapist or a coach, whether it's for MDMA or psilocybin or any sort of therapy in general, even talk therapy. But in this case, I'm referring to more so MDMA therapy. What I find of importance is seeking someone that has life experience, seeking someone that has experience with the medicine. So speaking to that, when I was at the MAPS conference in Denver back in May, I met a lot of psychologists and mental health practitioners that had zero psychedelic experience. And I personally would not want to work with a facilitator that had not done their own work with the medicine. So it's actually, it's pretty interesting now because now I'm actually training mental health workers on how to do these things.

(00:30:35):

So that's been really great to see them do their own work. How much experience do they have with clients? What professional training do they have? What underground training do they have? Because things in the professional world we can learn, but there's also really, really great valuable things in the underground world that we can learn. So is there a balance of that? And if not being aware of the kind of experience that will create for you, is your facilitator nonjudgmental? Do they have good discernment? Do they listen? Are they patient trusting? Do you feel comfortable? Is there a cultural and identity understanding?

(00:31:26):

And speaking to cultural and identity, where I live in Brooklyn, there's a large queer community. And if I don't have an understanding as a practitioner, if I don't have an understanding with the queer community, that might inhibit my ability to understand and have empathy and hold sympathy for certain situations that they've experienced or they're going through. So me personally, I've chosen over the past couple of years to learn more about that community and to get more involved in that community. And that for myself has been very, it's been very beneficial to really lean into that continual learning. I always say, who's your coach's coach? How is the facilitator continuously learning about things? What are they doing for themselves? Do they have references, testimonials? Do they follow a code of ethics? Are they involved in the community? What are the costs? And is there fee transparency?

(00:32:45):

So I always like to mention, are the costs way too high or are they way too low? It's like, I want a surgeon that's going to operate on me, and I know I want to pay a price for that surgeon to be able to pay the rent and go home and live a well life and have value in the work that they do. Paul wrote, where can clients go to find psychedelic? The, yeah, Paul, to answer your question briefly, there's various listings on the internet, and if you remind me of this question, I will type them into the chat at the end so everything is clear. But yeah, let's save that question for then.

(00:33:36):

Informed consent, boundaries, clear and strong communication, offer multiple consultations prior to booking, sense of humor, right? Sense of humor. He kind of, I personally would not want to work with a facilitator that just was really strict and really stern or overly just serious. I feel like for me, I wouldn't like that. So on the facilitator side, I'm going to talk about the facilitator's preparation a bit, but I'm also going to talk about the client preparation a bit during this talk. But when it comes to the facilitator, it's like, well, what fears do they have? And how might those fears impact how they're holding space for somebody and what do they need to alleviate that for themselves? So there's also positive and negative equal healing. And when I'm saying that, I mean there's a lot of really great feelings that might come up, and there's a lot of really difficult and challenging things that might come up.

(00:34:54):

And each thing in its own can lead to a path for deeper healing consent, really being aware of what is permissible, what's not permissible, and how to have those conversations. If you're interested in learning more about consent, I highly recommend the Betty Martin Wheel of Consent. Betty Martin also does online workshops and in-person workshops. And the wheel of consent is a excellent, excellent tool for that directed and non-directed process. We're going to talk more about later. They have their own slides, well as safety and support, internal wisdom. How do we channel our internal voice inside of us that's wise, that leads with strength, that feels true to itself, so that space can be held for the people that are doing this work. And when difficult situations arise, using our wisdom to discern what is the best thing to do or say, if anything, in that moment, a facilitator can also help recommend music for a session. It's important they manage their own stress and keeping a beginner's mindset, being in touch with somatic work, body work, understanding the body, where do you feel that in the body?

(00:36:36):

And then also having a support person. So the maps protocol calls that there are two facilitators, and I personally view that as a huge plus. It can make things more expensive, but there is a tremendous benefit to it. And then logistics being in tune with the logistics for what to set up and how to prepare for a session before, during, and after. So getting more into what a session looks like, a facilitator, it's recommended to use an inner directed approach as well as a non-directed approach. So the inner directed approach, it's more experiential and emotional, will encourage imagination. We'll encourage to just allow, encourage restructuring, cognition. So if someone is in a session and we've heard the expression, oh man, my mind was blown. That can change our point of view. We can see things differently. We can have a breakthrough on how we view things ourselves, the world and others in our lives.

(00:38:07):

So a lot of that is encouraged. Transference. Transference, I might also call that moving energy. So if you go to acupuncture, for me, it can be more than just sticking needles and relaxing. I might feel like I have an energetic block somewhere and I want to unblock it. Sometimes things get stuck and I might need to move the energy through me, out of me or around me. And MDMA can allow for that ability to happen, and a facilitator should be aware of when that may be occurring for a client and what they might need to allow that to happen, whether it's just allowing it to happen or giving them words of encouragement to do so. Subconscious tendencies, psychodynamic, this is one of my favorite topics that I could probably do a talk on its own about, but in short, the subconscious goes at a speed much higher.

(00:39:27):

I think it's like 2000 times faster than the conscious. And we already know what we're going to do before the conscious already recognizes that and getting into this work. There are ways to reprogram the subconscious, and there are ways to work with the subconscious for our benefit in allowing deeper experiences. It's a bit much to get into, but what I love about that, what I love about doing this work in terms is psychedelics and medicines can help bring things from the subconscious to the conscious. And they might be patterns that we repeat often. And so when we become in tune to the patterns that are happening, we can put our attention to changing those patterns, being in touch with the body, compassion for self and others, and transpersonal and spiritual practices or ways of being transcendence.

(00:40:46):

Yeah, transcendence. Transcendence is something that can happen. Yeah, getting to a higher level, I think that's what you're referring to with transcendence, Donna. Okay. We can also talk more about that later too. I'm happy to do a one-on-one as well. So non-directive approach. So having ample timing, not rushing things. So an MDMA session can be anywhere between, it's typically eight hours, but it can really be anywhere between six and maybe even 10 hours, depending on just what happens, what the person needs. And so being aware of that. I personally don't like to put a timer on things. I don't like to have hard outs. I just like to just see where we are in that moment. I personally don't leave a client's space or sod until we both agree that we both agree that we're both feel mutual, that they feel, okay, how is guidance offered?

(00:42:12):

So we want, as a facilitator, we want to avoid saying you should or you need to. We want to kind of make more suggestions. I have a couple of examples in the next slide, I believe. But there's no direct guidance. You need to, I want you to, there's no commands. Everything is an invitation. So invitational communication, I invite you to close your eyes. I invite you to put on the headphones, I invite you to tap your chest. And then who knows best? Does the facilitator know best or does the client know themselves best? So it's trusting that the client can do their own healing themselves and that they're going to have the experience that best suits them and avoiding reductionist thinking, it's okay to get lost in the details. Things don't need to make a hundred percent sense if it's like, oh, just different words start to come out or different imagery.

(00:43:24):

We don't really need to make meaning of them right away or even necessarily, sometimes things are just things, yeah, a non-directive approach. We encourage you to, this might be a good time to, and then say breathing versus breathe as a command. So breath is really important when it comes to working with psychedelics. And in this sense, it's just saying, just breathing versus like, Hey, man, breathe or breathe. And then reflections as the person's talking, offering reflections, reflecting what they say and just holding. It may look like holding a neutral tone and a neutral face to allow them to feel more open and that you're present with them in your reflections and that you're hearing them.

(00:44:32):

So there is also a hamy for somatics and MDMA. The HOMI method is an experiential therapy. This means that changes are brought about by the experiences you have in the present moment. The experiences of the body are a key focus. The body is thought to be a resource that holds information like memories and beliefs. So there's mindfulness, nonviolence, unity, organicity, and mind body wholeness. To sum this up, I would say it's different from inter-family systems. It's different from parts work. I view OMI as I might be feeling something, something might start to surface in my body and bringing mindfulness to it and allowing it to open and flow and express itself naturally and organically. Have you ever heard the term like this person's having trouble dropping in?

(00:45:48):

I view HO as a way to help view dropping it and getting in touch with the breath is also another great way to do so as well. So I'm going to touch a little bit about couples work. So I'm starting out, and this applies to any psychedelic work, but no major life-changing decisions for at least two weeks after doing a session, I heard about someone recently after doing some very deep work, went home and told his partner that he's only known for three months, that he wants to have a baby. And so things can come up for us, and it's important to just push pause and just talk things through. Take your time, go slow. Whether it's, I want to get married, I want to get divorced, I want to have a baby, I want to move to a new city. Just hang tight with all of that for a little bit. Practice nonviolent communication. NVC, if you're not familiar with NVCI highly recommend it. There's a lot. There's some free courses out there. There are people that teach it. There's a lot of great books about it. If you want to know more about that, please reach out to me. I have a couple of book suggestions I can tell you. And then in the session, no sexual energy unless previously discussed and agreed to with a facilitator who specializes in sex and intimacy coaching or sex and intimacy therapy or sacred sexual work or someone that's very experienced with,

Speaker 2 (00:47:49):

Are they,

Speaker 1 (00:47:53):

I'm just going to mute this person. Okay, great. So practice emotional release. Emotional release techniques are something that I encourage and love to teach my clients. And if we start to feel triggered or if we start to feel stuck, dropping in into practicing emotional release can be very beneficial. Speaking for myself, it's been extremely beneficial. And then learning and practicing nervous system regulation techniques. So when I'm saying that I'm speaking directly to co-regulation and deregulation, co-regulation often can be gentle touch or cuddling. Deregulation is coming down. Also, cuddling and just breathing meditation, finding grounding. Yeah, dropping more into the present moment and recognizing that our nervous system needs to come down.

(00:49:04):

And then having really, really explicit and clear boundaries in your session. And so one of the consent conversations I have in regard to clear and explicit boundaries is, for example, if I'm working with somebody and they are in ordinary reality, a non altered state, and if they say, okay, when I'm in an altered state, I give you consent to touch from my fingers to my wrist. Cool. I agree to that, they agree to that. But if they go into non-ordinary reality, and then they enter an altered state, and if all of a sudden they're like, I want you to touch my forearm, no, because we didn't agree to that in a sober state. So maintaining integrity for that.

(00:49:59):

But yeah, there's a lot more that can be talked about with couples work that could probably be a talk of its own as well. But moving on, psychedelics are paradoxical applicable to specific intentions or avoid disease. I personally love this because if someone comes in and they're like, I don't want this to happen. I don't want this to happen, I don't want this to happen, it's probably going to happen. And if they say, if someone comes in, I want this session to be the most life-changing session ever. I want to come out of this whole new person. That's likely not going to happen.

(00:50:46):

I really like to say, Hey, have no expectations and just see what happens kind of thing. But absolutely set an intention, right? Have your intention know what you're moving into. So why are you choosing to use MDMA? Why are you seeking this very powerful type of work? Why now? What other parts of your life are you focusing on improving to better yourself all day life? And when I say that, I'm saying when we hear about psychedelics, people might assume that they're a bit of a silver bullet. Hey, I did an MDMA session and I'm all better. It's not true. It can help. But we need to do things in our actual lives for creating new habits, creating new patterns, and putting things in place to really increase our quality of life and to be the change that we seek. What are you calling in? What are you releasing?

(00:51:58):

So I'm calling in more joy. I'm releasing shame. Those are just two examples I can think at this moment. But Visa intention setting really helped shape that scope for us. And I personally, I like to keep this type of work. Sacred things sometimes can feel clinical when we hear about what's happening with ketamine, going in, getting s bravado injected in the nose, and then just be sent on the way. It takes out a bit of the sacredness to it. And I believe incorporating a sacred vibration into this kind of work helps integrate it better into our lives. I personally like the science and I like the spiritual. So additional prep for the client. Let friends family know that anyone else and anyone else you need to, that you'll be unavailable for the day of the session. Arrange transportation. Do not drive, avoid alcohol the week prior and after. One of the benefits for me in this work is I don't drink alcohol anymore, very, very rarely, maybe like half a beer a year. And I notice for other people when I hear if they drank before or even during or after, it can be more hard on the body.

Speaker 2 (00:53:50):

What

Speaker 1 (00:53:50):

Are my thoughts on avoiding cannabis? Oh, hold on one second. I'm just going to mute somebody. Okay, the day beforehand, does it blunt the experience? I actually, I don't work with cannabis. I can't speak to that question. It's a great question. I can look into it if you reach out to me after, yeah, I'm sorry. I don't have an answer for that at the moment. Avoid caffeine, especially on the day, because MDMA is an amphetamine, and so it will keep you up. You will feel active. So I recommend avoiding caffeine, wear comfortable clothes, and have a change of clothes just in case.

(00:54:52):

Ellen, yes, a recording will be available. Record your session with a voice recorder is a really great way to prepare for any psychedelic experience, but especially MDMA. And then inter-Family Systems is also a really, really great therapy for practicing and for doing in general, whether or not you're doing MDMA, if you're looking to do work on yourself, inter-family systems and parts work, I highly recommend. And that can be very beneficial when bringing it into psychedelic work. So breathwork on its own, in my opinion, is a psychedelic. It can bring us into a psychedelic state, and we can do so naturally.

(00:55:57):

And so the breath is really powerful, and the breath helps us regulate our nervous system. And when we alter our breath, we can also alter our consciousness. We can have really powerful experiences through breathwork. And one of the great benefits of doing breathwork is that we can control it. We can step on the accelerator when we want to go faster, we can step on the brake when we want to slow down and come to a stop. And when we come to a stop, we know that there's not a substance in our body that is going to prevent that from stopping BRE on its own. I highly, highly recommend. I do. I do shamanic breathwork. Onna Mandala is a really great, sorry. Onna is a really great, really great YouTube video on that. And if you reach out to me after, I'm happy to send you some recommendations and videos about it.

(00:57:12):

So set and setting, you want to make sure that your space is private. There's no interruption, there's minimal stimuli. I once worked with a man that had a cat that had a bell around hiss neck, and it was just like this constant dinging. And I told him before we started, I was like, that bell is really going to influence you whether or not you realize it now or not. So we took the bell off. Also, just like here in New York City, we can sometimes hear airplanes fly over. Those little subtleties can make a big difference in one's experience. So I highly recommend a really quiet, minimal stimuli environment, comfortable furniture, aesthetically pleasing, like nice eco plants, artwork, have some snacks, food, beverages, art supplies, creative arts is a really great way to go deeper in one's experience, whether it before, during, or after space for movement. If some people get called to do yoga or Qigong, tai chi or just lie out on the floor. So having some space is beneficial. And then if you're called to it, antar space. So I really love this quote, trust in medicine, surrender to the process, receive what comes up.

(00:58:51):

Going into the session, having the experience. Are you making it ceremonial? Are you going in with the, have you set your intention? Does the music reflect the kind of experience that you're seeking? Do you have your noise canceling headphones or is there a stereo? Or is there both having your blindfold, right? So a lot of the work is about going inward and actually not talking, being with oneself. And then really important to fast three to four hours before and having the supplements. So food interferes. Yes, food does. So I recommend fasting before, but having food later on in the experience, like a couple of hours experience or just in case a person starts to feel fatigued or just needs some nourishment, you have to just kind of see how things go.

(01:00:03):

Timing of the experience. So this is a chart that basically portrays how the timeframe will look. So you'll see that the peak starts to happen around hour and a half between two, and then starts to float very gently down and can last over six hours sometimes. But typically by this point, it starts to mellow out and plateau. And then if there is a booster dose, it's not that it will increase the peak, it will elongate the experience wherever it is. So the booster dose can be taken at different times based off of what's happening. The booster dose may bring it up slightly and it will also elongate it.

(01:01:11):

Yeah, the booster dose can be different for everybody in that sense. Stay with the breath. So when you're in the session, if a particular memory comes up that's become upsetting or overwhelming, that's an indication that the body might be trying to release something. So encouraging safety and consensual non-violent in non-sexual way, encouraging that to happen. And then staying with the breath, breathing into it, practicing emotional release and somatic practices may help with that. Fully experiencing and finding release through it instead of avoiding is a path for healing. So moving into integration, Integra is the Latin word for integration, and it means I make whole, I renew, I repair, I begin again.

(01:02:21):

And I love this. And this is one of the big reasons why I got into integration. And so it's like you've had your experience and someone might feel like a new person. They might feel like they repaired something, they might feel like they've filled a hole in them as well. And so in this sense is how do I keep that hole plugged? How do I form being the new me? What does it mean now that I'm starting from a different perspective or different looking at life in a different way, whether it's the world or myself, reprocessing, reinhabiting, re embodying, reassociating, restoring, releasing, reclaiming. And so all of these things, moving and integration, moving into the life that we are choosing to have, that we are building for ourselves, mind, spirit, and body.

(01:03:38):

So the day after, I always recommend having, whether the day after or two days after having a session with the practitioner, how are you feeling? How are you different? Has any lifelong mindsets that you've held upon yourself shifted? Is there more strength and trust? How are you speaking about yourself at this moment? Are there older relationships that you want to end or new relationships you want to form? Does anything else need more attention? And then getting more into integration, what rituals are we creating in our lives? How do we practice it? And what frequency are we feeling like we want to go deeper into our religion or spiritual practice? What somatic and movement practices can we do to help continue this? And so for me personally, I practice five rhythms. It is a form of movement. It's like it's a guided meditation movement, dance ritual.

(01:05:07):

Through that, I've built community through those people. I like to encourage building community and connecting with that are like-minded or we share similar things with. And that is a really valuable thing that I view for integration, helping feel deeper sense of connection and for moving forward in the life that we're choosing to journaling. It's a really great method for integration, spending time in nature, doing art, singing, tending music, creating plans for the future, and finding new experience and other insights from moving into as well, like travel. I personally find travel and adventure to be really, really great for integration, taking time, hiking, exploring, dining, a new cuisine. It's great.

(01:06:13):

More in terms of nature, avoid the news. Avoiding the news, I would say is pretty important in terms of prep. And after, when we're doing prep work, especially the week before, our subconscious is taking in what's in our environment. And so things for us might come up based off of what is happening for us the few days before. When it comes to after, given that MDMA is an pathogen, we may feel more sensitive, we may feel more empathy. So if a commercial comes on and it's asking for money to help feed the poor, help the hungry before we know it, we might be reaching into our wallet to give a hundred dollars to that fund. And not to say that's a bad thing, I'm just bringing awareness that what we put in front of us is very influential on us. Before, during, and after a psychedelic experience, I highly encourage yoga, dance, hiking, tai chi, qigong, working out, practicing wellness, spa, sauna, massage, acupuncture, chiropractic meditation.

(01:07:40):

And here I say grounding and discharging. So discharging energy may also be grounding in itself. So sometimes there was someone recently that said, after an MDMA session, they felt like there was electricity flowing through their body. And that might indicate that they have a lot of energy that they need to discharge from there. So what can we do to help discharge that energy? Someone might be feeling unbalanced. What do they need to feel balanced, more grounded, and then continuing to eat well and nourishing foods. And of course, I always recommend therapy like continue your work, continue talk therapy, keep doing the work that you need to do to make yourself the best self, whether you're receiving or giving this type of work.

(01:08:38):

And then if you're here and you're interested in becoming a facilitator, it's really important to acknowledge self-care for yourself. So energetic work is very taxing and rest and rejuvenation is vital. So I really recommend listening to your body shake and practice emotional release. Don't overdo it. Burnout is very common in the psychedelic space. And the last thing that a client or patient would want is a grumpy or burnt out facilitator because they feel that energy, those vibrations really do spread. Eat well, treat yourself well. And again, do your own therapy. I highly recommend going slow. Less is more. Give yourself time to integrate the process. Likely will continue days and even weeks after any session, be aware of chasing peak experiences, always having to move from the next thing. I want to do psilocybin. I want to do ayahuasca. I want to do MDMA, I want to go to this retreat, I want to go to that training. Sometimes it's okay to just be still and do nothing. Transformation is possible with determination and time is my opinion and point of view. If you're interested in learning more specifically about MDMA, these are four books I recommend, one of which was written by a mentor of mine, Charlie Wininger, who is a psychotherapist here in Brooklyn and often does talks about MDMA as well. That's a really, really great book. I highly recommend starting with that one. The other three are excellent as well. And that's it. I

Speaker 3 (01:10:50):

Offer free 20 minute discovery calls,

Speaker 1 (01:10:55):

And if you have questions, we can take some now, but you're also welcome to email me josh@brooklynbalance.com. I'll put that in chat, not comm.org. Sorry.

Speaker 2 (01:11:21):

Cool.

Speaker 1 (01:11:28):

Yeah, if you have any questions, you're welcome to turn on your camera, unmute yourself or raise your hand or drop them in the chat,

Speaker 3 (01:11:48):

Donna. Yes.

Speaker 4 (01:11:52):

So my main concern, I first used to facilitate c-suite executives on psychedelic journeys and then would bring them to a Native American church in my area for Ayahuasca journeys. And I came across MDMA for the first time when my adult children invited me to journey with them on a visit in town. And that was just recently. And I'm wondering why one would choose MDMA over a natural organic plant medicine for therapeutic use. So that's my first question. And then it goes a little deeper, like what's the benefit for the individual? There's really no hangover or depletion that I would notice or have heard from clients on a psilocybin journey, whereas an MDMA, it didn't leave me depleted, but it does others, and I don't always understand that I get what you're saying as you presented, right? Because it's all about a lot of things, their own set and setting their own mindset, their own cleanliness, and did they have alcohol? Did they fast into this, right? So there's a lot of determining factors that come, but I'm going to allow you to answer why MDMA would be your choice for therapy over a natural spirit.

Speaker 3 (01:13:34):

Yeah, totally. Great question. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:13:41):

Why would someone choose a synthetic compound, a chemical versus something that the earth provides? Something that's been used for thousands of years by various cultures all over the world and shown up in many different ways through our history? Well, my first answer to that is different strokes for different folks. There are certain people that prefer to go to a doctor. There are certain people that prefer to go to an osteopath. And we all have experiences in our lives that shape who we are today. And from those experiences, they shape how we feel and they shape how we think, and they shape what we believe and do I think that plant medicine is very beneficial and very powerful? Yes, absolutely. I do. Do I think that synthetics and synthesized compounds and molecules also have tremendous benefit. I really do as well when it comes to certain things in terms of when we start talking about what's going to become legalized or medicalized in the future, it's going to come down to the science and the data and the research.

(01:15:30):

That's what a lot of the world is going to look at in terms of the benefits for things. So there are a lot of studies that are happening now with psilocybin, ayahuasca, iboga, and there's lots of really, really great developments with those plants. And there's also a lot of studies happening with ketamine and MDMA and potentially like MDA in the future. I haven't really heard much about that. And so there's going to be options. And so someone like myself, I'm going to look at the science and the data, and I'm also going to touch base with what's true for me inside as to how I want to approach my own healing path. Have, would I personally choose to choose a natural plant versus a synthetic? I think it just depends on the situation and where I am at that time and that moment. And yeah, I will be doing a talk about psilocybin assisted therapy probably before the end of the year. I've learned a lot and worked a bunch also with MDMA, and that's how I've gotten to where I am today. And giving this talk. Does that help with your answer?

Speaker 4 (01:17:09):

It helps, and it brought a little clarity. I guess the biggest thing that dropped in for me is that MDMA feels like to me a lot like peyote. It's like a love drug. It takes the ego out of the scene and it just brings you into the heart space of feeling ease and love and connection to everything. And there are so many ways to heal. It takes an aim, a vision for where you want to go, and the fastest route is just focusing on that aim. And to me, that's sort of where MDMA goes, where psilocybin, it takes you the old fashioned route of bringing the unconscious conscious for you to deal with it, accept it, right? Instead of reject it where the MDMA didn't bring up any shit for me, but it seems like in a real deep experience with whether it's mushrooms or ayahuasca, something comes up that's been unconscious for me to look at in a conscious form and fashion.

(01:18:27):

And MDMA didn't do that, it just not a bypass per se, right? Because you're still getting to the same result of changing your mind about things and your state of being, right, and you're choosing. So it sort of just seemed like different strokes for different folks. So it brought me to another question because as a facilitator, I would never recommend anyone. I would never prescribe to someone this as therapy. I feel like you could get here without this. There's many tools. This is just a tool to aid you in the journey to speed it up to help things happen faster. So in that, are you saying that you too have clients that have a preference and you lean into what they're being called to as well?

Speaker 1 (01:19:24):

Yeah. For me, most people come to me knowing what they want to work with already. And if they don't, I just help educate them. I do not prescribe. I might share from my personal experience, I might tell them, well, if you work with this, that might happen. If you work with this, that might happen. But most people have already decided what they're doing before they walk through the door.

Speaker 4 (01:20:02):

Yeah. Thank you. That was really clear. I feel like legalizing it and having it medicinal makes it sound like doctors are going to be prescribing it. And that's a weird feeling when it's always been like a calling. We've known that we've been called to the medicine. Anyway, that was it. Thank you.

Speaker 3 (01:20:23):

Yeah,

Speaker 1 (01:20:24):

And if I may add on, I've spoken with a number of veterans associations just in terms of MDMA for PTSD. And so when it comes to prescription or medicalizing, there's a lot of people out there that may not have access at the moment to things or to maybe stigma to things. And if things do become more medicalized, it helps open a door for healing and opportunities for people to do so. There's always going to be pros and there's always going to be cons, and there's going to be some things we agree with and some things we don't agree with. But I really appreciate and value you being here and listening and sharing your experience and asking these questions for sure. They're really great.

Speaker 3 (01:21:39):

Anyone else? Hey, Josh. I think I saw Jay had her hand up just real quick.

Speaker 5 (01:21:47):

I did. Feel free to go first if you'd like though, Jeff,

Speaker 6 (01:21:51):

I just wanted to say, in my opinion, each of the medicines has their own characteristic and their own maybe appropriate clientele mix. And so I think each situation might vary. Mushrooms are certainly powerful healing elements, but also they can be a difficult experience. And sometimes I think someone mentioned in the chat, MDMA can be a nice opener to this in Theo world to help ease some of the maybe anxiety that would be there going into a psychedelic experience. That's all.

Speaker 1 (01:22:37):

Thanks, Jack.

Speaker 5 (01:22:41):

I was just going to ask if you had any thoughts on two CB versus MDMA? So my understanding, and feel free to correct me, it looks like you do have some familiarity with that. Am I correct?

Speaker 1 (01:22:53):

A little bit. If you give me a couple of months, I'll have more experience for you.

Speaker 5 (01:23:01):

So as background for my question, I think it's totally okay to not have an opinion. My understanding is that the shulgin's synthesized a number of substances that MDMA uses endogenous serotonin, but the two CB supplements it so there's not a Tuesday hangover, whatever you called it. I can't remember. And I, anyway, I'm curious, and my understanding is I suspect that MDMA is much more prominent because of maps work and the clinical trials that have been done around it. But I'm really curious about why two CB isn't more prominent in the psychedelics world.

Speaker 1 (01:23:39):

That's a great question.

Speaker 5 (01:23:41):

I haven't found an answer to it yet. I just thought I'd ask.

Speaker 1 (01:23:43):

I personally don't know. I'm personally very new to two CB and I'm going to be learning more about it next year, but at this moment, I'm not sure. And I'd love to look into that and find an answer about that. Absolutely. Right. I've heard absolutely nothing about two CB in studies for it. The one thing I do understand about it is that it's much, much heavier or much heavier on the body. That's what I've heard from other people, and that's what I've experienced for myself.

Speaker 5 (01:24:34):

Interesting. Thank you. Thank you for sharing that. Yeah. I have some very experienced psycho knot friends who used it and usually have very strict boundaries about their usage, and they ended up using it all weekend too, which is they broke all of their boundaries. So that might be a problem also. Just is so good. You don't want to stop. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:24:54):

Donna Lee asked, how often can one partake in MDM Max with MDM Max? My answer for that is less is more. I personally, if you're looking to do sessions, I would recommend putting six to eight weeks in between or more. I personally don't take MDMA more than three or four times a year, so every four months for me if that.

Speaker 2 (01:25:38):

Anyone else?

Speaker 3 (01:25:42):

Great. Thanks everyone for being here. Appreciate it. Reach out if anything.

Speaker 6 (01:25:50):

Thanks, Josh. Awesome. Awesome.

Psychedelics have gotten pretty popular these days, and there’s a lot of information as well as charlatans out there. We’re going to discuss the basics, benefits and risks associated with Psilocybin Assisted Therapy. There is a difference between taking Magic Mushrooms and hanging with friends, versus working with them and putting intention into transforming your life for the better. This talk will help educate you on how to look at Psilocybin as a transformative healing tool for improving your quality of life.

The latest scientific research and data is demonstrating that Psilocybin Assisted Therapy can

Treat Anxiety & Depression
Treat Addiction
Help with replacing habits that do not benefit with one's that do
Treat OCD
Enhanced creativity and openness
Spiritual and Existental Insights
Improved mood and well being
Enhance mindfulness and emotional processing
Neuroplasticity
Reduce fear of death
It's important to note that while these potential benefits are promising, research and data on Psilocybin is still a relatively new and experimental treatment. Research is ongoing, and the therapy itself is not yet widely available. Additionally, Psilocybin is a controlled substance and should only be administered by trained facilitators in a controlled setting as part of clinical trials or research studies. Furthermore the therapy should always be conducted within legal and ethical guidelines, with a focus on patient safety and well-being.

Topics We'll Discuss:

What is Psilocybin / Magic Mushrooms
Background on Magic Mushrooms
What is Anxiety?
How Anxiety impacts the mind and the body
Measurements / Dosage
Safety
Potential Benefits & Risks
Intention Setting
Preparation & Integration
Tools, skills and modalities for using psilocybin for treating anxiety
The Process
This is a free online event

Learn more about us at www.brooklynbalance.org

About Us:

Brooklyn Balance aims to be a supportive companion in your psychedelic journey—from beginning to end. A journey starts the moment you decide to have a psychedelic experience, and having the right preparation and tools is essential for a transformational and positive outcome.

With that in mind, we help you prepare for your journey by setting conscious intentions aligned with what your desired outcomes are. We offer tools you can tap into during your journey, and integration coaching to help you bring the psychedelic experience into your day-to-day life.

Transcript:

00:01:25):

Cool. Hector, New York. I'm not sure where that is, but I'm imagining that's upstate, central. Cool. Yeah, one of my favorite parts. I love the Finger Lakes. Awesome. Yeah. Experience with ketamine now, psilocybin. Great. And can everyone see that my screen is shared or should I say, can anyone not see the shared screen? Great. Cool. I'm going to assume that all technical stuff is in a good position and we might have some people entering in late. If they do, I'll just be letting them in. But otherwise I'm going to begin. Yeah. So welcome to utilizing psilocybin for alleviating anxiety. My name is Joshua Jupiter. I'm the founder of Brooklyn Balance LLC. And yeah, I'm really excited to be here and giving this talk to everyone. Thanks for being here. Thanks for waking up early and turning on your computers or your phones.

(00:02:59):

So to start out, this talk is intended to provide an educational framework to both individuals receiving treatment as well as facilitators. Topics include processes such as harm reduction and safety while working with psilocybin as a tool for healing, transformation and therapy. While you may already be familiar with some of this information, we ask that you maintain a beginner's mindset disclaimer. This presentation does not encourage or condone any illegal activities, including but not limited to the use of illegal substances. This is not a substitute for mental health or medical services. This is not a substitute for medical, psychological, or psychiatric diagnosis, treatment or advice. And one thing I'd like to also add on is that this is, it's a safe and legal space. So no one is here with the intention to trying to sell or buy anything that might be an illegal substance. Everything here is just informational. And if anyone happens to get a DM from somebody and doesn't make them comfortable, just please let me know and I'll remove that person.

(00:04:31):

Starting out. There is a lot coming out about psilocybin used as therapeutic medicine in conjunction with therapy. So I very much like to say, when you're checking things out, use your discernment, go slow and be safe. It's really better to approach this type of work slower than faster. So what we're going to talk about today, what is psilocybin? I'll give a brief background on psilocybin. We'll talk about safety, contraindications, risks, and then we're going to talk about anxiety modalities for alleviating anxiety and working with psilocybin for anxiety. And we're also going to talk about integration as well if you're able to and if it's safe, if you're not driving, if you have a writing utensil and a piece of paper available, having that standing by would be great. You will need it for later.

(00:05:43):

So a little bit about me, founder Brooklyn Balance, LLC. I'm a psychedelic integration coach and facilitator. I have various certifications and professional trainings through TAM integration maps, psychedelic support, and more. And fun fact is that I am a native New Yorker, born and raised and bred in Manhattan. And now I've lived in Brooklyn for about 14 years now. So some background on me, who is this person talking to me about anxiety and ps? So in 2003, three, I had my first life-changing psychedelic experience. It was with LSD and it was quite profound. Around 2008, I had graduated with a degree in film production. That was also the time where the economy collapsed and I began to suffer debilitating anxiety attacks, couldn't leave my bed. I had trouble breathing, I had a lot of stomach issues, the whole shebang. I went on SSRIs and I was on SSRIs for about eight years, maybe nine. When I stopped taking the SSRIs, I moved more into exploring with psychedelics with my therapists as well as with community members. In 2020, almost four years ago now, I got burnt out from film production. I pushed pause and I began to pursue a new path. So I was a producer or I can still consider my ego producer at times. This is a photo of me where I was working on a job at Paramount Studios.

(00:07:42):

So today I founded Brooklyn Balance, LLC. I've done the maps trainings, like I mentioned before, the TAM integration, 12 month certification program. TAM integration is an excellent, excellent resource. Highly recommend 'em. Highly recommend Daniel Shankin. And I now work doing full-time, psychedelic integration. So it's a photo here on the upper right of me at the MAPS conference, me and Rick Dolin. And then this is my cohort that I studied with for a year. And it's great because we're still in touch and we collaborate a lot, a really great group of people. So just a little feedback, some kind words that people have shared about working with me. This one person worked with me and they found relief with their depression. They've been off SSRIs for about almost a year now, and they're doing quite well. And then one of my favorite lines here is other than an emergency appendectomy in 1995, I don't think anything has impacted my wellbeing so much.

(00:08:59):

So I really appreciate those words. So some background on psilocybin, and I'm going to start off with just setting the tone and reading this quote from Christopher Busch, from LSD In the Mind of the Universe, from ancient times men, women have gathered under the night sky and taken substances that helped them commune with their inner being and with the life that turns through all things, they have sat in prayer, in silence, seeking healing and guidance so they could return to their lives, better people, and more aligned with the deeper currents of life. Because these substances opened them to the spiritual dimension of existence, they were called sacred because they healed the wound of forgetting who and what we truly are. They are called medicines from before written history began. The sacred medicine path has been one of the many spiritual paths human beings have taken to find themselves each other and the divine. And one of the things I like to say and why I start out with this is my approach to a lot of this work. I view myself as a bridge between the spiritual and the science. So I really like to learn about the science, talk about the science, refer to the science, and I really do enjoy bringing in a lot of the spiritual elements in it as well. But I find myself not too far on the right and not too far on the left.

(00:10:41):

So what are psilocybin mushrooms commonly known as magic mushrooms or shrooms? There are fungi. They grow naturally all over the world and humans have been using them for thousands of years. They're a classic tryptamine, psychedelic whose mind altering effects can last two to eight hours. And the amount of time, of course, depends on the dose, the person, many various factors. Psilocybin is a schedules one substance. So it is believed to have no medical value based by the government at this moment. They grow naturally all over the world. So for context, it would be incredibly difficult to overdose on psilocybin for mushrooms. For that to be considered over 2.6 pounds of dried mushroom would have to be eaten, which is almost 2000 times a typical therapeutic three gram dose.

(00:11:48):

Psilocybin itself is biologically inactive, but it quickly gets to cell losin, which creates the mind altering effects similar, which bear similarities to other substances such as mescaline, DMT and LSD. So just brief timeline, just love giving a little background on things in case anyone's new. Like I said, some of you may have already a broad knowledge of psilocybin, but I like to talk about just the background as well, that psilocybin has been around for thousands of years. So in the caves in Northern Algeria dating back to 5,000 bc, there are drawings that reflect the use of them and dating to 1000 BC Central American cultures built temples for mushroom gods and carved mushroom stones. So here's a little photo of them over here on the right.

(00:12:48):

In 1914, there was the first experience documented in a scientific science publication of intentional psilocybin mushroom ingestion. And it details descriptions of visual effects, uncontrollable laughter, and joking. So 110 years ago, 1953, amateur Mycologist r Gordon Watson visits OCA to witness a mushroom ceremony. And then he returns again two years later to photograph Maria Sabina ceremonies. And he as well participates later on. A bit passed there in 1958, Albert Hoffman isolates psilocybin and publishes the synthesis of it at Sandoz Pharmaceutical. The next year he publishes the synthesis, sorry, synthesis. And then two years later, Sandoz begins to make two milligram pills of psilocybin. Eight years later here in the USA, the staggered Dodds bill makes possession of psilocybin and psilocin illegal, followed by the comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention Control Act in 1971, which made it a schedule one substance.

(00:14:16):

So bit of the history, where are we today, right? Where are we going with studies and science and the medicine and all that good stuff. So a lot of headlines. And so we have one here from CNN Neurotherapeutics, and we're seeing that psilocybin can be used in conjunction with therapy for helping with mental health disorders. There's what are some positive effects of psilocybin that we're seeing? We're seeing that psychedelics can help you feel more connected with nature. And the research is showing that we're seeing that the effects of psilocybin on the hip, cannibal neurogenesis can help eliminate fear or help alleviate fear. I don't think I want to use the word eliminate because there's always going to be some fear. And then we're seeing that psilocybin can be used for anxiety disorders as well. Down here on the lower left, this is one of my favorite images. This is an FMRI scan, and one is on the left is the regular brain with a placebo, and on the right is with psilocybin. And it reflects all the new neuro pathways that are being created in the stimulation from psilocybin in the brain when it's taking its effect.

(00:15:54):

So with proper guidance, we're seeing that psilocybin may alleviate cluster headaches, depression, anxiety, increased mindfulness and feelings of interconnectedness, increased relationship with nature, spirituality, the universe, it may increase creativity and cognitive flexibility, promote neuroplasticity. Neurogenesis may be helpful with substance abuse and addiction, including alcohol and tobacco, and it may help alleviate PTSD. So this is probably my favorite study that was conducted in 2010 by David Nutt, A Neuropsycho pharmacologist. And it's a study that talks about the harm caused by substances focusing on society. And so as you can see up here, alcohol has the most detriment to society while magic mushrooms are on the very bottom.

(00:17:05):

And so right now at this very moment, there are hundreds of scientific research studies underway about the benefits of psilocybin as well as other psychedelics that are mentioned here such as MDMA, ketamine, cannabis, and all sorts of other stuff that are actually not mentioned on here. I learned about a really great study about ayahuasca last year. That was pretty awesome. I'll have to get that one. So if you're new to psychedelics, if you're new to psilocybin, it's important to learn about the risks and the contraindications. So here is a list, it's not a full list of risks and contraindications, but to briefly mention, there's a behavioral risk hallucinogen persisting perception disorder, also HPPD for short, you can have a challenging experience. It's contraindicated for borderline personalities. Schizophrenia, if you take warfarin, digoxin, lithium can create seizure risk. If you're on an SSRI or an SNRI, there is risk of blunting and serotonin syndrome. And then serotonin, generic migraine medications are contraindicate as well as antipsychotics, and there can also be a risk of contamination. I see a question in the chat from Mitch. How long does it take to get trained to be a facilitator? It's a great question.

(00:19:05):

Yeah, I don't have a specific answer for that. I guess it just depends on the person when they're ready. And we can talk more about that too at the end of the talk as well, or I'm happy to chat with you after as well. Are there contraindications for benzos? Good question. I'm not a hundred percent sure based off of which particular benzo. One thing I do know is that something like Ativan will stop psilocybin from functioning in the brain. It's like an emergency cutoff switch. It's not something I recommend to do unless it's an emergency. And if you are on benzos or other medications and you're not sure, I recommend taking a consultation with Ben malcolm@spiritpharmacist.com. Ben Malcolm is a doctor. He has a great reputation, very credible person, and he's a doctor. I'm not. And he can give really great information to you about that. And why is borderline personality a risk?

(00:20:34):

I can say there's various reasons. One reason I can think of is that it might create a challenging experience. So challenging experience is a bad trip freaking out, which can lead to trauma, which can lead to other difficulties with a person such as being institutionalized or having a spiritual crisis. These are all very extensive things to talk about if considering to work with psilocybin. And it's a big reason why I say go slow and use your discernment when exploring this work. Carol, what about gabapentin? I don't know about gabapentin. I'm happy to look into that later. Feel free to circle back with me about any of these questions later. I'm happy to help out.

(00:21:41):

Potential side effects, disorientation, lethargy, giddiness, euphoria, joy, visual hall, hallucinations, synesthesia, perceptual distortions, mystical experiences. So there's some interesting side effects that kind of add to the experience. And then there's also some bodily side effects such as pupil dilation, increased heart rate, decreased heart rate. So if you ever stood up too fast and you get lightheaded, that can happen with psilocybin. And so you want to move slow and be careful, hold onto something or have someone hold your hand. Same thing with increased and decreased blood pressure. Are you at risk of a heart attack or for your heart slowing down to slow rate? So being aware of those things. Your body temperature can fluctuate. You can get really cold, you can get really hot and nausea. Yeah, some people get very nauseous and some people vomit. Those are potential side effects.

(00:22:53):

And then suitability for use. So if one is considering working with psilocybin in conjunction with therapy, therapy, what are the variables? How is your state of mind? How is your mental health? Are there any expectations, unrealistic expectations, willingness to engage in therapy? What resources and support are available? So let's say someone does have a challenging experience. Who is there for you? Who is there to help you? All things to consider cultural considerations and understanding. Can you relate to the facilitator? Can the facilitator relate to you? Is there a significant cultural difference? Maybe there's a language barrier, understanding uncertainty. That's a big one. Something might happen, nothing might happen. And then what about a tolerance for destabilization? Because some people can get destabilized from psychedelics. So how might that person or how might you handle that?

(00:24:08):

So moving into anxiety, what is anxiety? The brown paper bag. I tried that. I don't really think it worked. So symptoms of anxiety. And this is not a full list, so if anything's missing or you'd like me to know, if there's anything, feel free to put in the chat as well. But this is just a list I've put together. Apprehension, tension, uneasiness, persistent and excessive worry, intrusive thoughts, fatigue, palpitations, GI problems, fear, depression, nervousness, blocking love like closing ourselves, hiding ourselves, taking, lurking the shadows almost sometimes impending doom. Oh my God, oh my god, something's going to happen. Increased heart rate and shallow breathing types of anxiety. So agoraphobia, I don't want to go outside. I'm afraid to go outside. I can't go outside. I know a lot about that from when I was having my debilitating panic attacks. It was really hard for me to leave my apartment during that time.

(00:25:36):

Anxiety due to medical condition. So if get a diagnosis or you're on something and deaf anxiety about deaf, thinking a lot about it, Mitch asks, will you share the slides after? And will there be a replay? Yes to both. I can send out the slides and a recording will be sent out. I put it on Vimeo and I put it on my website as well. And so then there's generalized anxiety, just various types. Panic disorder, selective mutism, which I've learned can be just more common with children or younger people, just really just quiet, can't talk. But it can also be in conjunction with social anxiety, separation anxiety, social anxiety, social phobia, and in substance induced.

(00:26:44):

So for example, I was once prescribed Valium about 12 years ago for an injury from a car accident, and I took it for way longer than I should have. And when I stopped taking it, I started to get anxiety, I started to feel tightness in my chest, and I started to feel panicked and stressed and tight and tense. And so I learned I had to wean myself off of it slowly. And the doctor was like, that shouldn't be happening. I was on it for a short time. But I like to say everyone is different strokes for different folks, and I like to just view myself a bit more sensitive with medications like that.

(00:27:37):

So how does anxiety affect the body? So there's increased levels of cortisol, increased levels of adrenaline, stress, illness, autoimmune diseases, upset, stomach, diarrhea, constipation. Put a one in the chat if any of this resonates with you. As I'm going through, I'd love for everyone to just share more about their own experience and how we might all be able to relate to each other. Insomnia, difficulty sleeping or even an emoji, right? It's like chest pain, lightheadedness, headaches, increased blood pressure, increased heart rate, decreased libido, like, oh, I'm not feeling it. Muscle aches, and then higher risk of coronary events. So yeah, if you've ever seen a movie or something where someone gets all angry and then it leads into them having a coronary event, stroke or a heart attack.

(00:28:49):

So how can psilocybin alleviate anxiety? To start out, I'd like to look at the science. So here's a great study that was conducted by NYU Langone and it's about psilocybin assisted facilitation for patients that have cancer. And so what they did was they had 80 participants, half in a control and in half with psilocybin in conjunction with therapy integration over six months. And by the end of the study, it was shown that the people that had received therapy in conjunction with psilocybin assisted facilitation significantly improved, not just anxiety as well as depression, interpersonal sensitivity, hostility, OCD and somatization. And so yeah, this was featured at the MAPS conference in Denver last May. And yeah, I just really enjoyed I learning about this. Feel free to take a screenshot. I will also be sending this out so you can use it as a reference, but it's also online as well. Easy to find.

(00:30:35):

So in another NYU study, it was focused on anxiety induced by cancer patients as well. This one was longer. Some participants participated for three years as a minimum and others for four and a half. So there were 16 participants, and they all received psilocybin facilitated therapy. And with the study showed that there were reductions in anxiety, depression, hopelessness, demoralization, and death anxiety. That was reflected in the first and second follow-ups. Also to add, this is a summary of the study. If you'd like to read the full review of it, you can find it online. I can also share it later as well if anyone is interested. So the study showed that there was promise with psilocybin facilitated therapy and hoping it showed long-term relief from cancer related psychiatric distress.

(00:31:48):

In another study that was done with John Hopkins, and this one was done earlier in 2016 by Ron Griffiths, who recently passed away, was a real benefit to the community. It was really wonderful getting to see him back in May. Yeah, so research conducted with 51 patients showed people suffering cancer related anxiety and depression, found considerable relief for up to six months from a single large dose of psilocybin. Six months after about 80% of participants continued to show clinically significant decreases in depressed mood and anxiety with 60% showing symptoms in remission into the normal range. 83% reported increases in wellbeing or life satisfaction. And they were given one high dose and one low dose. And I am not sure, but I believe that there was two weeks to six weeks in between the doses.

(00:33:09):

So there's always space in between. It's never really done back to back to days or the next week. Yeah, actually I hear about retreats in Jamaica where people do three journeys in a week. My opinion on that is that it doesn't really give enough time in between to integrate. So moving into modalities for anxiety. So yeah, I'm a fan of omi, OMI for somatics and in conjunction with psilocybin. So OMI is an experimental therapy and it's largely about what's present at the moment and what's in the body, the body being the key focus. So as we start to move in modalities and more therapeutic approach, there's more of a focus on the body. And that's because the body is a resource and it holds information and it has all this data in it, and it's just processing that data all the time. So there's memories, there's beliefs, there's trauma, it's all held in the body. So OMI looks into mindfulness, non-violence, unity, organicity, and mind body wholeness. And so it's a practice of really just allowing the body and to allow the mind to relax and from that, seeing what the body needs, wants calling in or releasing.

(00:35:02):

And so another item is and stands for acceptance and commitment therapy. So what's interesting to me is that this model is very specifically used to the best of my knowledge for psychedelics. And it helps give the clients, it gives them a modality where the client can maybe see things differently or shift into things where they might feel more connected and get more invested in the work that they're doing to go deeper. And it's also about recognizing flexibility that one has or may have that we don't already recognize. So it's a lot about pivoting and going from one side of the to the other and looking around at different things.

(00:36:10):

So one example could be a person who is experiencing depression and less likely to make judgements of complex situations that, and they might tend to see things in black and white, so good and bad. Someone might only be looking at good and bad, I'm good at this, I'm bad at that. And there's so much in between, really the good and the bad or the high and the low. So Joshua Schultz, SD says, act helps clients embrace their demons and follow the hearts. When we have more flexibility, we can value more of what we're able to do and we can feel more inner strength as to how we can approach things and look at things differently.

(00:37:06):

Yeah, enact is a little complicated and this is just a very brief share about it. So it's okay if you don't completely get it. So the inner directed approach when working with psilocybin, allowing what's true or what's natural to just come and naturally arise. So being experiential, having emotional engagement, encouraging imagination, restructuring, cognition, transference. There might just be reflecting, going on between the client and the facilitator. There might be mirroring, there might be energy exchange as well, subconscious tendencies, psychodynamic the body, compassion for self and others, transpersonal and spiritual imaginal exposure. So a lot of this is more just allowing things to naturally happen, encouraging imagination, encouraging the body to be, and deepening more into a spiritual element as well, but all science backed as well.

(00:38:31):

Yeah. So put a one in chat if you agree with this quote, thoughts are not real, they're just ideas presented to you. Or put a one in chat if you've heard of that before or if that resonates with you, anybody. Okay, great. Cool. Yeah, I'm happy you say that, right? Yeah, and to reference, Stacy Ellis is a clinical psychologist and I've learned a lot from her. I really enjoy listening to her courses. When it comes to thoughts relating to our idea self and others thoughts may be correct or incorrect, they may be clear, distorted, confusing, or focused.

(00:39:27):

And so when we start getting into our thoughts, we're thinking things. And if we're thinking we ruminating, thoughts, paranoia, fear, part of the brain that is attributed to that or that's doing that is the amygdala. So when we start to label things, it helps reduce activity and the amygdala. So when we're going into a psychedelic experience, many thoughts are going to come up, a lot of emotions are going to come up, and there's going to be just a lot of reflecting and things happening. And so I like to encourage ease, and I like to encourage just allowing. And sometimes things come up where we can get a little scared or startled. So an example may be like, have you ever heard a noise in another room? And you're like, what is that? I don't know. And maybe you get a little startled, you get a little fearful concerned. And then you saw, so you went into the room and you took a look and you saw, oh, your cat knocked over something or the dog did something, or the wind. So what happened?

(00:40:44):

Type in the chat or feel free to just, someone is welcome to unmute and just say what happened to you when you went and saw what had happened after you heard that noise. I'm curious if Jesse has any thoughts, but I'd like to encourage other people as well. We could also just totally have a shy audience, or everyone's driving a car right now. Okay. Relief. Yeah, you felt relief. Cool. Yeah. Thanks Jesse. Yeah, you felt relief. You realized it was nothing to be concerned about. It was nothing to fear. You were safe. Yeah, Emily, knowing where it came from instantly calms your nervous system. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks for sharing. So if you brought a pen and paper, now is the time to have it. I'm going to just open up for a short exercise and I'm going to just share about the shaha meditation. I apologize if I'm not saying that correctly or in the correct accent of it, but shaha means peaceful, abiding, or tranquility.

(00:42:16):

It can help stabilize the mind, cultivate awareness, help calm faults and emotions. So does anyone here not meditate? So if you don't meditate, I'm just going to just share a little bit about this meditation, what it looks like and how it may benefit you for labeling and reducing anxiety. So we take a meditative posture, we sit up straight, and there's an invitation. I'm not going to start just yet, I'm just demonstrating and explaining. So take a spine, straight or relaxed position and an invitation to close the eyes or soft gaze to the floor. And then just breathing in and out slowly. And when we reach the top, holding it for just a moment, and then down to the bottom, letting it out and taking a pause as well. So it looks like breathing in 3, 2, 1, up to the top of the head. Hold it in for a moment out and going down and pausing and repeating.

(00:43:50):

And just like up 1, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, 1, down. And I'm going to show you a practice that I've learned and that I do that can help with labeling. So if you have your paper and you have your writing utensil, I invite you to draw four squares together like this. So just four boxes. And this is going to be short. I know this is a talk, and some of y'all might not be able to do this, but there's plenty more talking after this. There's a lot more to share. But this is just something I'd like to invite in for a bit of a practice at the moment. So you make your box like this, and the top two are attraction, bottom aversion on the right future and on the left past. And so while you're doing this meditation, if you notice that you're thinking about something in the future that is favorable, that is attractive, that is pleasant, you put a.in the upper right box. If you notice you're thinking about something in the future that is an aversion, avoidant, anxious, oh my God, I'm dreading doing this tomorrow. Put a.in the lower right box. If you notice that you're thinking about, oh, yesterday I went to the spa and it was so great and I had so much fun with my friends, you put a.in the upper left.

(00:46:08):

And then if you're thinking about, oh man, last week it was such a rough week, I had such a rough time and it's really messing me up today. You put a.in the lower left. Any questions about that? And so yeah, it's called the mindfulness matrix. And as you're doing the meditation, as you notice your thought and you are like, oh, future attraction. Oh, past attraction, but a dot, and then so on and so forth for a version. So I invite us to take a moment to do this. You're welcome to turn on your cameras or leave them all, and I invite you to just step into the meditation and we'll just take a minute to just see what happens. I'm going to set a timer, so I'll guide you along the way. Yeah, so if you're able to, and if it's safe for you at this moment, if you're not driving or you're not going to get in trouble at work, take a meditative posture. I like to lengthen my spine, but not too much so that I'm hurting it. And I just feel like my vertebrae one on top of the other and begin to breathe in through the nose slowly. 3, 2, 1, hold, and then down deep towards the belly, releasing slowly, 3, 2, 1.

(00:48:27):

And if it feels comfortable, your eyes are closed or soft. Gaze to the floor. And just try this for a moment. See what happens. And put a.in the box where your thoughts might be.

Speaker 2 (00:49:31):

Cool.

Speaker 1 (00:49:33):

Yeah, coming to completion, settling back into the room. Settling back into the talk. Yeah. So invitation to share. Please type in the chat or feel free to raise your hand. I can call on you or unmute yourself if you were able to do that in the past two minutes, blank. Okay. Yeah. So some questions that I wrote here, what did you notice during the practice? What box got the most dots? How did you feel when you labeled your thoughts? What was easy? What was challenging? Yeah, so me, baba, I'm sorry if I'm saying your name incorrectly, blank. So great blank. Jesse says, future both attractive and aversion. Great. Nice noticing Devin. I noticed that I wasn't always sure whether every thought was about the past or the future. Yeah, interesting. Yeah. And since Steven says center, Jesse says, I've heard future focus can be related to anxiety and fat and past focus can be related to depression.

(00:51:10):

I can agree with that. Yeah, I can agree with that for sure. I am personally not, I don't really like to, when it comes to labeling and boxes, we can very easily start to put a diagnosis in that can become our personality. So if we go to the doctor and the doctor says, oh, you have depression, we start to believe it. We're like, oh my God, I have depression. The doctor says I have depression. And it's like we don't need to believe it. We can just be present to the moment and just say, Hey, I'm dealing with a challenging situation right now and I'm going to move through this. Yeah, I'm so glad people were able to participate in this. Thank you. Jordan says, first time encountering the mindfulness matrix, really believe in that maximum labeling reduces amygdala activity. Yeah, yeah, I agree. Thanks Jordan. So our thoughts, we make a thought real by focusing on it, it will cease to exist if we stop entertaining it. So I'm going to try to play a video, and if you don't hear the audio, please let me know, but I have the subtitles on.

Speaker 3 (00:52:55):

What do you mean choose? We don't understand. Choose the, I get it all very cute. Whatever we think of, if I think of j Hoover, j Agar, Hoover will appear and destroy us. Okay, so empty your head. Empty your head. Don't think of anything. We've only got one shot at this. Anything? No, I didn't choose anything. I couldn't help it. It just popped in there. What just popped in there? I tried to think, no. What did you do, Ray? Oh shit. It's the state pop marshmallow, man.

Speaker 1 (00:54:31):

Okay, so what happened there? Has anyone never seen Ghostbusters?

(00:54:43):

Right? So his mind thought of this thing and they were told, clear your mind and his mind just went to this random childhood figure that in the past was so nice and delightful and this God has turned that image into a monster to destroy New York City. So our thoughts can manifest things and things can become psychosomatic or we can get in our mind about things. So reading this quote again, we make a thought real by focusing on it will cease to exist if we stop entertaining it. So anxious thoughts might look like worrying that is uncontrollable and creates distress. Worrying that affects your daily life, including school, work and your social life. The inability to let go of your worries. Tendency to frequently worry about many things such as your job or health, minor concerns such as a regular errands and tasks.

(00:56:05):

Put a one in chat. If you can relate to any of those things, I would probably put 10 of those in the chat for me in certain parts of my life. Yeah, so the mind. Yeah. Thanks for sharing, Bradford. The mind will attract what it is in harmony with. So one of my favorite quotes is, or I say it all the time, my vibe attracts my tribe. So when it comes to the relational asking ourself, do I keep attracting a certain type of person in my life? So have we ever gotten into a romantic relationship with the same person over and over? And we keep wondering, why do we keep meeting the same person? And then we're like, oh, we're here again and then we break up. Or even with friends, why do I keep making the same type of friend?

(00:57:19):

Yeah, and our thoughts influence how we are and how we think. And our thoughts will vibrate out to other people. And other people will see that. And so let's say someone's just too nice or perhaps has low self-esteem, they may be more attractive to a narcissist because a narcissist knows that they can take advantage and pray on someone who's just really nice and not as confident. So when we think something like I am not worthy, we may feel, I feel worthless thoughts and feelings and we can reframe our thoughts. I learn and grow every day. I feel helpful. I feel excited and hopeful to expand.

(00:58:27):

Just shifting our perspective. The next slide, shifting our perspective. So mushrooms have a way of opening the subconscious and mind allowing for the ability to shift the way we look at things. By combining different tools, skills, and resources, we can utilize that to our advantage for changing the way we think and look at ourselves as well as others. Instead of, I'm a mess, we can try, I'm human, I can't do this. I can do hard things. Why is this happening? What is this teaching me? So thinking more from a different perspective and how our actions and thoughts impact what we do and what happens from it.

(00:59:26):

Instead of, my friends are probably angry or unhappy that I'm not going out tonight. You could try. My friends are happy that I'm taking care of myself tonight. So yeah, put a one in the chat. If you've ever gotten so much anxiety that you just have to leave a party, cancel plans, stay in, not respond to a text message, not respond to a phone call, because we just don't have space, we don't have capability. So what do we need to do? We need to care of ourselves. And sometimes other people don't understand that, and sometimes they do. And it's easy for our thoughts to run away with judgment. Oh, my friends are so angry. But if we think, Hey, I'm taking care of myself, my friends love me, my friends care about me, they appreciate me taking care of myself, cool, I'm neurotic. You could try.

(01:00:24):

I'm particular and attuned to my needs and I can take care of myself. So might get a little jittery or might get in our heads, or we might need things to be a certain way. We're just a little particular and we know what works for us. And maybe we're flexible with some things over here and maybe we're not as flexible with some things over here. And we like things to be a little bit of a certain way rather than just being like, I'm neurotic. I am too rigid. You could try. I am working on being more flexible.

(01:01:04):

I'm bad at yoga. Well, guess what? There is no bad or good in yoga. I do my best. And if you do ever hear from a yoga teacher that says, oh, you're good at yoga, get out of here. Because yoga mindset is just there is no good, there is no bad. It's all yoga. We're all just trying. We're all just doing. Even if it is just like Shavasana lying on the floor or child post, I'm not good at playing the piano. I just recently started putting effort into playing the piano and intend on practicing to improve or I never put any effort into playing the piano. So how can I be very skilled at playing the piano if I never practiced the piano?

(01:01:59):

So, so we can shift our thoughts and we can look at those things and we can look at some other things that we can do for alleviating anxiety, deep breathing, journaling, CBT, exercising, socializing with friends and like-minded friends or friends that love us and accept us for who we are. Not friends that are judgmental or are going to give us a hard time or crap on us. Limiting caffeine, getting a good night's sleep, resting, establishing boundaries. So getting a little deeper into the work, what triggers you? How do you respond to triggers, fight or flight? Reparenting as a tool, what do you need? This is something I say to my clients.

(01:03:10):

If I'm with them in ceremony and there's a moment of confusion, I might just simply say, what do you need? And just pause and just listen. I'm giving space to what this person might actually need at that point. And even asking ourselves at that time, like, Hey, I'm on the subway and I'm noticing this, this and that. What do I need? Oh, I need to just step off the subway and it was too crowded for me. I'm going to wait for the next one. Internal family systems, highly recommend knowing your yes and your no, right? So put a one in the chat. If you're a people pleaser, you'll say yes to doing something you don't really want to do, right? Yeah. Thanks for sharing, Jesse. I was a people pleaser for quite a while, myself, better understanding consent. So giving, taking, accepting, and allowing. I like to refer to the Betty Martin wheel of consent. I'll probably be doing a talk on it maybe in February or March.

(01:04:24):

Communicating your needs and better understanding sovereignty. And so when I say sovereignty and better understanding it, understanding that we are sovereign, we are responsible for our decisions. And when we choose to do something, we take ownership with that choice. If we say yes to something and we really meant no, it's like it's okay to change your mind. You have sovereignty over yourself or something like that. Tracking patterns, recognizing chaos. So yeah, put a one in the chat if there's a lot of chaos in your life, a lot of franticness, hecticness, maybe work is really crazy. If you work in commercials or in film production, there tends to be a lot of chaos. So recognizing chaos. And we can get very used to chaos and we can become dependent on chaos. And we just get really used to that feeling. And we can get so into chaos, in the chaos. And particularly if it comes from a young age where we might not trust love and we might just get more fearful, like stillness and quietness may cause fear.

(01:05:52):

Knowing that you have agency and understanding what was normal in your development, how are you producing any patterns? Yeah, any patterns that have come from your whole life. And as I mentioned before, it's like why do I keep attracting these type of friends or relationships or people in my life? All those patterns and noticing things that we do. So what we change in the body will change our mind. So yeah. What's something I always worry about? Money, health. Yeah. What do y all worry about? I'd love to see some things in the chat about that. Does anyone worry about money, health, the rent being raised? Climate change, politics, health, yeah. Anything else?

(01:07:02):

Health and retirement. Yeah. And we're living longer and longer today. Yeah, definitely something I can feel anxious about. Worried about covid. Cancer debt. Yeah. Thanks for sharing. So worry gives us a sense of traction and it gives us a sense of familiarity. So we get really used to it. We're just worried about it because that's what we're used to. I'm just always worrying about money, I'm worrying about my health. And the mind just gets so used to that. That's what begins to drive it. And we may just begin to just focus heavily on that one thing and that might just create more anxiety fixating on it. So what is it like not to worry, it's like we're not worrying. We might not be familiar with not having something to worry about. So our thoughts might go to different places. So moving on into getting a little deeper into the work, embracing the younger version of self.

(01:08:16):

So a lot of the way we are today is from our childhood. Very early on, as soon as we're born, our brain is like a sponge and we're just taking in all the energy around us. So what's interesting is that the amygdala, the part of the brain for fear has no sense of time. So any trigger of a past experience will activate the amygdala. So when we get triggered and we get a physical response and tightness in the chest, that's from patterning from way in the past and new patterning can develop too, but it's all stuff from when we were younger. And a way to help alleviate anxiety is practicing presence and being present. And so if we ever look at how a child is, a child is very present to the moment, they're very into now, they're like, what am I doing now? I'm having fun playing with this toy. Like, okay, I'm done playing with the toy. I want to go to the movies. Okay, I'm done with the movie. I want to do this.

(01:09:32):

I don't often hear a lot of past or future talk from very young children. They're just very in the moment playing their games in the school yard, having a ton of fun. I don't have kids. So some of y'all might think different things, and that's okay if you do. And I never worked with kids either in any guiding capacity. This is all just thoughts and research and opinion. So psilocybin can assist with untangling wires in our mind. So our thoughts in our mind, they can get tangled and psilocybin can help untangle 'em and gain clarity. Psilocybin can help a person get data about themselves. It can help understand how we organize ourselves, help our state of mind to allow reaction, be vulnerable experience how we are behaving in the world. And many people function as if what they're experiencing is real. We process through stages and stages before things come to consciousness. So what one may think they're seeing may not actually be there.

(01:11:03):

And not literally visually it's like, oh, this person is looking at me in a weird way. They must be thinking they don't like my clothes or they think that I am ugly. We might be making those things up when they're not actually true. So if we can entangle our thoughts and change the way we look at things, we can change our beliefs about ourselves that have blocked us from taking in certain emotional nourishment and may create unnecessary suffering, therefore allowing more space for trust. If you don't trust anybody, you're not going to have healthy relationships. Look to who can be trusted and it will heal the pain.

(01:11:57):

So reaching closer to the end of this presentation. The last thing I'm going to next up is just touching upon integration. But before getting into that, it's vitally important when considering working with a facilitator, what is their state of mind? A facilitator's state of mind creates an energy, an aura, and that energy in the aura affect the client. If you're looking to work with somebody, it's going to affect you if they come in and they're sad or if they're in a state or a mood. So it's a lot about being a conduit and just a hollow bone. So being aware of what's your energy and what's someone else's energy. And being aware that a facilitator's energy should not interfere with your process. So being mindful of judgment projection and just how they're showing up and how they're behaving when they're working with you.

(01:13:12):

So for the sake of time, well, I added this, I'm not going to get too into this, but what I want to touch upon with this is the aspects of divine feminine and masculine and masculine and having balance with it. On the left there is the unaware wounded feminine bottom left, the aware and empowered feminine. And then on the right, the unaware wounded, masculine in the bottom right, aware and empowered masculine. And so we as people, as humans, are always navigating different polarities. There may be times where we're more in our wounded masculine, we might be times where we're more in our empowered masculine and noticing that are we too in our empowered masculine, do we need to go more into our aware feminine because we're just so manly man? And there might be times where we're just feeling more light and graceful more in our aware feminine.

(01:14:44):

And so I like to bring an element of utilizing these aspects, but navigating the polarities as to where we are with our thoughts, with our emotions, and with our day to day as to where we might need to shift energy to. Did something happen at, are you a manager? Did something happen at work? And you noticed you were bullying an employee, but it was all subconscious? How can you take more awareness to that? How can you step more into the aware and less micromanaging and just talking with more love and compassion to the employee and communicating in a way that helps productivity in everyone being, yeah. So I'm going to move on from this. I could probably talk about this all day and I'll share, the slides will be shared, so it will be here to reference to, yeah, I spoke about this, right? Healthy, balanced, human of integrity, power, and wisdom.

(01:15:57):

Are you more healthy or are you more sick and fearful and finding the polarity with that? Where do you need more balance? So yeah, allowing and accepting. So I made this page this morning last night at 2:00 AM I live in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. And there was an incident in my building and at 2:00 AM and I was woken up and I couldn't fall back asleep. And I found myself becoming anxious and I found myself getting inside my head about what was happening. And earlier this morning while I was taking a bath, I noticed that I was just fatigued a bit. And a thought came to me about not sleeping and wanting to control, going back to sleep. And I just said to myself, maybe this is how I'm supposed to be. And when I said that, I recognized that, oh, maybe I'm supposed to be fatigued, maybe I'm supposed to be tired.

(01:17:13):

And as soon as I thought that, I felt a relief because what I noticed is sometimes we can get exhausted and even more overwhelmed from fighting, trying, doing. So I like to take notice that I like to surrender and just allow and accept sometimes. And it helps me just come to presence. And it might just take me to being in the exact place I need to be not thinking about what should have happened or where I need to be, just the now. So I popped that in last minute. Yeah. So working with psilocybin or any psychedelic to note, it's not a silver bullet, it's not a cure. All it, remember we talked about risks and contraindications in the beginning. It's also something might happen. Nothing might happen regardless of substance or not focusing your attention on these therapeutic modalities will be to your benefit. So everything that I've just shared and more like you can do and still see improvement with yourself if you focus on the work, psilocybin may just be an extra tool in what we're doing. Jesse says, I got covid yesterday and surrendered, and now I'm not freaking out about getting back to work and tuning in here. Awesome. Love that attitude. Thank you, Jesse, appreciate you being here. Appreciate you sharing that. Yeah. So some questions asking, if you're considering this work, why are you choosing to work with psilocybin? What other parts of your life are you focusing on improving to better yourself, your quality of life? What are you calling in? What are you releasing? How are you practicing? Keeping it sacred?

(01:19:17):

Staying with the breath. So yeah, doing this work, things might come up, especially in ceremony, might become upsetting or overwhelming. And that's an indication that the body might need to release something. So encouraging your body to release that in a nonviolent, non-sexual consensual way, staying with your breath using emotional release, somatic practices will help with that. And then fully experiencing and finding release through it instead of avoiding is a path for healing. So integration, Aladdin, Integra, I make whole. I renew, I repair, I begin again. Reprocessing, reinhabiting, re embodying, reassociating, restoring, releasing, reclaiming. So if you're considering doing this work, some elements for integration I like to mention are creating rituals in your everyday life. Meditation, yoga, dancing, prayer, lighting, a candle, journaling. Those are all rituals. It's just what's the frequency that it is being done. Somatic and movement practices. I like to do five rhythms. I do it once or twice a week and community. And now I'm in the five rhythms community where I have friends and we hang out and we see each other. I'm also a part of the Brooklyn Psychedelic Society as well. And those are places where I meet like-minded people. I also highly recommend Tam integrations. Integration circles every Wednesday night, 9:00 PM Eastern. Yeah, TAM.

(01:21:23):

Ecology, spending time in nature, arts and crafts, singing, writing, and creating a plan for the future. What baby steps are you putting in place for yourself? New experiences and insights, processing what's new for you and traveling. Yeah, touched upon this more. Wellness, spa, sauna, massage, breathwork, acupuncture. Does anything need more grounding or discharging? How do we want to eat? Are you able to eat well and nourishing foods? And yes, continuing with therapy and some of the benefits of integration, upgrading your software. So Josh, in the past I referred to as like Josh 1.0. Josh today I referred to as like Josh 2.0 because I'm very different today. The Josh you saw in the photo in the beginning was a very different Josh from today.

(01:22:29):

Yeah, increased felt sense, debriefing, difficult, challenging experiences, processing emotions, releasing, breathing, translating and applying new insights, embracing and adapting to changes of identity, ego, world culture, non-linear, sorry, and amplifying felt sense. Networks enhanced capacity for observing self, increased self wisdom, enhance compassion for self, making sense of potential generational trauma and epigenetics. So down the road, this is a list of a few of the studies that are currently being done and they include, but not limited to creativity. O-C-D-P-T-S-D, anorexia, alcoholism, depression in Alzheimer's disease, mood, post Lyme's disease treatment, microdosing, opioid use disorder. Yeah, I also, I recently did a talk on microdosing as well as a more basic psilocybin assisted therapy talk and an MDMA talk. So those are all accessible on my website as well. And then I talk about some of the studies in those as well. So yeah, go slow. Less is more.

(01:24:09):

Give yourself time to integrate the process likely will continue to unfold for days, weeks, months, even years after. I'm still integrating my first psychedelic experience from when I was from 20, 21 years ago. So be aware of chasing peak experiences. Yeah, I want to go to Burning Man, I want to do ayahuasca, I want to do San Pedro, I want to do 5:00 AM DT, I want to do all that stuff. Be aware of that. Transformation is possible with determination and time, with or without substances. And I assure you about substances can just, I like to say are just an additional tool. They're not for everybody. And I like to say this works even without the medicine itself.

(01:25:07):

But when it comes to the medicine, trust the medicine, surrender to the process, receive what comes up, some recommended readings, the Untethered Soul, which is now on Spotify. Audio, audio books, undoing Perpetual Stress by Richard O'Connor. Your Body Is Your Brain by Amanda Blake is a great read. And then Freedom from Your Inner Critic talks more about Thoughts, Jay, early and Bonnie. Yeah, so that is it for the talk. We can open up to a little bit of time for q and a. But yeah, I do offer free 20 minute discovery calls. You can schedule them on website. If you just want to talk, we can talk. If you want to learn more, you can learn more. I'm just like, I'm out, I'm available for that. And yeah, you can email me also at josh@brooklynbalance.org. Yeah, thank you so much for being here. Yeah, any questions? You can raise your hand and unmute yourself or you could type in the chat. Go for it. Jordan.

Speaker 4 (01:27:02):

Hi. So I was wondering, do you have any thoughts on going into an experience on using high CBD cannabis to alleviate nausea and anxiety just before the experience with psilocybin? Yeah, I was just wondering, would you have any thoughts on that? Because something like I've recommended to people before their first experience or whatever, that it can help. But I'm also curious as to, for an anxious individual, if they have sensitivities that interplay between general anxiety and the experience and what can be done to lessen those effects.

Speaker 1 (01:27:58):

I don't have any knowledge about that. I personally do take CBD once in a while to help me sleep. I no longer consume cannabis. Maybe once a year I'll take a gummy. When I was in college, I consumed a lot of cannabis and now it just makes me paranoid and anxious. But I gave it a quick Google and there seems to be some interesting articles here that talks more about it. If, am I hearing from you that your intention is to lower nausea with using mushrooms?

Speaker 4 (01:28:45):

Yeah, especially like CBD, but also to help general anxiety going into the experience as well, so that it's not an experience that is overwrought with anxiety or that kind of fear.

Speaker 1 (01:29:02):

So I have a lot of thoughts on this, but in short, my first thought is to try doing something like emotional freedom technique EFT. Have you heard of that? No, I haven't. Yeah, it's a somatic practice. It's also known as tapping, and I won't get too into it now, but that something I do do with my clients when we need to get more into the body or ease, tension. I can also suggest, depends everyone's different, but I can suggest breath work as well. Do you do breath work?

Speaker 2 (01:29:57):

Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:29:59):

Yeah. And I can also recommend emotional release. And so something as simple as shaking, shaking out the tension, shaking out the anxiety, shaking out fear. You ever see little kids stomp their feet, have a tantrum from screaming to a pillow? That's all emotional release. And that's a way of moving energy to come into more of the present. And so doing that even for two minutes can make a big difference. One of my favorites is the hand screen.

Speaker 2 (01:30:44):

You hit

Speaker 1 (01:30:45):

The hand over and you blow and you shake. And when you shake, you move your hips too. So those three things are things I can think of that are not substances or supplements in that regard. There may be some other data out there about it, but those three things are what come to my mind. And if you're specifically looking at for cannabis, CBD, there seems to be a number of recent articles on Google from this year and last year that talk a bit about it. I could also suggest trying to connect with a cannabis society or cannabis organization, or maybe even Reddit that might be able to give some feedback about cannabis and CBD specifically. But I personally do not at this time.

Speaker 2 (01:31:56):

Okay.

Speaker 1 (01:31:56):

Thank you. Yeah, thank you for the question. Great question. Anyone or anything else? Cool. Well thanks so much everybody. We went three minutes over our scheduled time. If anything else, feel free to reach out. I will be emailing the slides as well as a recording of this talk. And yeah, you'll also be added to my newsletter and if you don't want to be, just let me know or unsubscribe. Cool. Thanks everybody.

Microdosing Mushrooms 101 & QA

Embark on a captivating journey into microdosing with this concise 1-hour video. Explore its rich history, from ancient cultures to modern practices. Uncover the science behind microdosing and its therapeutic potential for mental health. Learn the dosing, timing, and integration methods from experts and firsthand experiences. Discover how microdosing can transform your life.

Transcript

Cool. So yeah, we have some, we have a couple of ones. We have a maybe a 1.511. Okay, great. So hopefully that this presentation helps you get some clarity on that for sure. So if you haven't microdosed mushrooms, write this down.

You can put it in the chat. Or on a scrap piece of paper next to you or on your computer. What's stopping you from improving your life or yourself through microdosing? Thank you. Panic attacks, legalities, access.

So it's funny, Tomas or Thomas, I'm sorry if I'm saying your name incorrectly, but part of my background is that I suffered from very debilitating panic attacks. I had very bad anxiety attacks that landed me in the hospital.

I was stuck in my bed for months, and this was around the age of 21. And part of my story is I was on SSRIs for about eight or nine years to just like function and to not have panic attacks. And about seven years ago, I stopped taking my SSRIs, and I actually started working with psychedelics therapeutically with my therapist.

And for the past seven years, through a combination of different modalities, not just psychedelics, I haven't had panic attacks that have debilitated me or put me in the hospital. I still get anxiety.

It's very normal. We all get anxiety, but I can definitely relate to the panic attacks. So, does this sound like you? I don't know where to start. It's too complicated. I'm worried about what people will say or think.

Isn't it illegal? I'm scared of what might happen. I don't have time. These are all very true things. And we'll talk about a lot of these things today. But if this sounds like you, and sounds like some of y'all can relate, again, put one in the chat.

um let me know like what's present for you what do you need for getting more curious about during this talk and what i can provide for you so what we'll learn today what are magic mushrooms safety and contraindications measurements dosages intention setting protocols how to make your own finding a bridge between the science and the spiritual and transformation and growth some more background on me uh in 2003 i had my first life-changing psychedelic experience in 2008 i graduated college with a with a degree in film production and i suffered debilitating panic attacks and i was prescribed ssris in 2016 i weaned myself off of ssris very slowly all over a period about two or three years and i began to explore psychedelics with my therapist and as well as community members in 2020 i got burnt out from film production working 80 hours a week i pushed the pause button and i said i gotta find something new to do um so today i'm the founder of brooklyn balance LLC um i'm the co-founder for a non-profit for unionizing commercials i've done various map trainings i've graduated from tam integration a 12-month coaching program and i've moved full time into doing psychedelic integration in conjunction with the union that i'm also a part of so this is my class over here on the right and then on the upper right hand side uh that was me at the maps conference in denver this past june ironing my t-shirt Real people,

real results. So these are some kind words from clients. I came to Brooklyn Balance and Josh to do the suffering from continuous treatment resistant depression. I've suffered with depression for most of my adult life.

I'm 60. I've been on most of well known antidepressants as well as some not well known. I've continued to notice a substantial reduction in depressive symptoms. This is quite remarkable since I've been on medication most of my adult life.

So I love checking in with this person. This person is doing quite well. We work together for a short period of time. And yeah, it just makes me really happy to know that they're in a better place today.

Someone else said, other than an emergency appendectomy in 1995, I don't think anything has impacted my wellbeing so much. Here's some basics and know-how to discern if microdosing is a good fit for you or someone you know and what it might look like.

So starting out, what are psilocybin mushrooms? So psilocybin mushrooms are commonly known as magic mushrooms or shrooms. They're a fungi, they grow naturally all over the world and they've been used for thousands of years by humans.

And if you live in an area that has woods or forest, just walking around, simply you might be able to find some. Psilocybin mushrooms are a classic psychedelic and their mind altering effects can last two to eight hours.

And that really, that can also depend on the dose as well. So with a microdose, it airs on the much lower side. It would be incredibly difficult to overdose on psilocybin mushrooms. For that even to be considered, over 2.6 pounds of dried mushroom would have to be eaten.

I'm just hearing somebody, I'm gonna try to mute them. Cool. So it would be incredibly difficult to overdose on psilocybin mushrooms. So they're pretty safe in terms of like toxicity. Eating two and a half pounds of mushrooms would be an extremely, extremely difficult challenge.

So this is a study. based, done by neuropsychopharmological list, sorry, I'm saying that probably not correctly, neuropsychopharmacologist, David Nutt, and it's on harm caused by substances. So if we look at mushrooms down here, we see that they're anti-addictive in their nature and everything up above has the highest harm to others.

Or to the user. And also to note, like more and more in the news, there is more and more research and data coming out about mushrooms all the time. So down here, those are a few universities and schools that are conducting research every day.

And I love hearing the reports out of what come out of them. So some positive effects of psilocybin. Yeah, you know, we've all heard the rumors and more and more the data comes out. The research is showing that psychedelics can make you feel more connected with nature.

They can help with depression. And some of the ways that that works too is by activating neurogenesis in the hippocampal. And what that will do is help eliminate fear in the mind. And so when we feel less fearful, we're able to drop into more courage and kindness.

And with more courage and kindness, we're able to be better citizens, we're able to be better leaders, we're able to be better parents, better friends, and we're able to vibrate that energy throughout into the world.

So these are just things that are like pluses with coming to using psilocybin. Down here on the lower left, this is an fMRI study. And it shows an analysis of one person that was given a placebo with the neural pathways that were generated in their brain.

And then with this fMRI, it shows all of these new neural pathways that were being constructed during their experience. So what does that mean? It means, oh, you had to use a psilocybin MagicBand. Cool.

Awesome. Yeah, so neuroplasticity is growing new neural pathways. So our brains are like sponges. And when we're babies and we're in our adolescence, we're able to learn new things really well, easier.

And as we get old, we have less and less of that neuroplasticity. So psilocybin helps encourage neuroplasticity. And when we get that neuroplasticity, we're able to work with it to train ourselves and to learn new things, to learn new habits, and to help us remove old habits that no longer serve us.

So if you go on Google and if you type in what is microdosing, the first thing that comes up is the action or practice of taking or administrating very small amounts of a drug in order to test or benefit from its physiological action while minimizing undesirable side effects.

It's kind of a mouthful, right? So the effects of psilocybin with anything more than a microdose may have really strong effects and largely impact your capacity to function, make decisions, and move.

So one of the key things about psilocybin is that it compounds. And microdosing can be a very effective way for some people to take in its benefits. So when I say it compounds, it means like it stays in your system, but you can also build up a tolerance to it.

So for example, if I were to take one gram today, and then a week later, another gram, that gram is not going to be as strong for me. So putting time in between is very important, and we're going to talk about that with protocols as well.

Paul Stamet says a microdose is defined as being below the threshold of a sensorium effect. So in that regard, it means that we're not entering an altered state. We're not seeing things. We're not hearing things.

We were not really feeling like light and ambient feelings. We're feeling normal. So there are risks associated with psilocybin, and even with microdosing psilocybin. So the first thing is behavioral risk, and that's like if you're figuring out what the right dosage is for you, if you take too much, you could enter a little bit of an altered state, and if you're not in the right state of mind or at the right place with the right people,

it can bring on things like anxiety, fear. It can just make it might make you feel very unsettled, for sure. And then with large doses, you can go into a really deep altered state, and you might perceive things that aren't actually your reality.

And that's one of the reasons why it's important to work with a professional, but also to have somebody, even just a friend, if you are going to take psilocybin in large doses of it at any point. There is something called HPPD, hallucinogen persisting perception disorder.

So one of the risks with taking like many, many doses of psilocybin, potentially even though one is that you can potentially see things that might continue even after your experience and that can stay with some people for years.

There's a lot of really interesting information out there about that. But it is very, very rare. And there's ways to feel into who might be more susceptible to HPPD. With large doses of psilocybin or small ones, you can have a challenging experience also known as formerly known as a bad trip.

It's not recommended to take psilocybin if you have been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder or if you have schizophrenic tendencies. It can be dangerous to take psilocybin with warfarin, digosin, lithium.

And then there are risks as well if you are on SSRIs, SNRIs, serotonin, serotogenic, migraine medications, and antipsychotics. Feel free to take a screenshot of this. And if you ever want to speak with a doctor, these two doctors listed down here, Ben Malcolm and Dr.

Saad, are excellent. So when it comes to dosage by gram, this chart really gives a good indication for microdosing and what a proper dose would look like. And so there's different doses for different people.

So on the low end would be like 0.05 grams. And that's typically like what I would recommend for someone to start with. And if someone's like, I don't feel anything. I'm like, great. like you're not supposed to feel anything and give it some time see what happens and then moving up from there too like very slowly and very gradually so going from 0.05 to 0.1 to 0.15 so on and typically most people feel a bit of the perceptual effects after 0.3 some people might feel them at 0.2 some people might even feel them at 0.1 um i think the thing when it comes to me with working with psychedelics is that everything is very individualized nothing is cookie cutter and i think a big red flag to look out for is if someone says like you should do 0.1 grams or you should be doing that or this is the right way to do it i don't agree with that Um,

there are even people that can take five grams of mushrooms and not feel anything. And I know some of those people and it's really interesting to like talk to them. So one of the most well-known protocols is the Fatima protocol.

Put a one in the chat if you've heard of this protocol. Or if you've heard of the creator, James Fatima. Leslie, cool. Dan, cool. Cool. So it sounds like this is new for most of the people here. So the Fatima protocol basically is dosing on the first day and then down for two.

And so the reason for that is we dose, we feel the effects the next day and then the day after we feel the effects without it. The idea is that the dose has left our system. And so that third day gives us time to integrate and it allows us to just process what is happening with us.

And then we dose again on the fourth day and repeat. There is the Stamets protocol. Put a one in the chat if you've heard of the Stamets protocol created by Paul Stamets. Cool. Okay, not as many people.

So yeah, the Stamets protocol is basically dosing four days in a row and then down for three days. And there's other protocols too. There are people that just microdose once a week. There are people that microdose once every two weeks or once a month.

It's really, it's like what works best for you. But these two protocols are the most well-known in the psychedelic space and they're used for different intentions. So when I'm talking with people and if they're asking like, what do you think the right protocol for me is, I'll give them this information.

I'll say like, well, what do you think the right protocol is for you? But I'll educate them on what the effects of each one might have on their day-to-day life. Yeah, it's not a good idea to like microdose and then drive.

And so not everyone can microdose four days in a row. So, yeah. Um, a few people in the beginning said like, Oh, I don't know where to get shrooms or access to it. So you can grow your own shrooms. Um, and they're really easy to grow.

So put a one in the chat if you're here and you've ever grown your own shrooms. I know there's one person here that has okay, cool. Yeah. So if, if you go like on the internet, there's lots of places that sell spores and kits for growing mushrooms and the spores are legal.

It's it's the selling of mushrooms that are illegal, but to get by your own spores before they're actually psilocybin, that's legal. And there's many websites that do that. And so there's lots of YouTube videos.

There's lots of like grow kits that you can buy. I think a popular one is grow plus one or grow plus. Yeah. Birthday cake. Um, you know, there are people that forage for mushrooms because they do grow naturally all over the world.

Um, so I do know people that go out into forests and they find mushrooms, they dehydrate them and then they take them. So when you grow your mushrooms and you cultivate them and they're ready for consumption, do the math.

If you want to make 0.1 gram doses, one gram will make you 10 doses. And so, and yeah. I say like go low and go slow. So you can put them in a coffee grinder, grind them up really fine. You can buy capsules.

And I use a tiny funnel to pour it into the capsule. And then there are some people that just put it into a smoothie. There's some people that put it on their sandwich. There's some people that just eat it on their own, just nibble it.

Everyone's different and it's what works best for you. A 1 16th and 1 8th teaspoon, it can help for making the measuring easier. You'll need a digital scale that can measure out micrograms. You can buy them on Amazon.

I think some hardware stores sell them. Walmart. um hopefully some mom and pop stores out there during Glasgow I imagine there's like a science community that might be able to point it away or an Amazon similar website and while it's not necessary some people do like to add lines main and niacin to their capsules and the reason for that is lines main and niacin are known for helping the brain function and for helping the nervous system so adding those in with your micro doses may be beneficial to you so yeah different strokes for different folks um when it comes to the protocols for I can speak for myself personally I've done throughout the years throughout the past seven years I've done some protocols that have been just a week long and I've done some protocols that have been six weeks long what's really important is to take breaks psilocybin you build up a you build up a tolerance to it but you don't want to get into a dependence with it psilocybin is not addictive but like anything it can be habit forming we can get we can get dependent on things so it's important to set boundaries for yourself and say hey I'm interested in doing this I'm going to try to do this for a week or I'm going to try to do this for eight weeks I'm going to see what happens I'm going to take a break for three months I highly recommend it I highly encourage always taking breaks in between and the longer the better um there are certain psychedelics that I will only do once a year or once every two years.

When it comes to mushrooms and myself, I take mushrooms maybe just once every three months. People look at me and they're like, oh, this guy takes mushrooms all the time. I'm like, no, no, no. I'm like, I've learned a lot over the years and it's like less is more for me.

So don't drive or operate heavy machinery after dosing because you might be sensitive. I like to just relax or go for a walk, take a hike. If you have a cat, pet your cat, walk your dog, keep it simple, maybe do some drawing, maybe do some journaling, take it in the morning.

And that way it's effects are felt throughout the day. And build a relationship with the spirit. What do I mean by that? I mean, like, keep it sacred. Put intention into it, and that will be coming up soon in another slide.

And when I say intention, it's talking, I like to like talk to the mushrooms. I like to be like, hey, like, how can I be my best self today? Or how can I call in more peace or ease into my life? And I'll sit and I'll meditate with the mushrooms for a moment before I welcome them into my body.

So yeah, asking yourself, why are you choosing the micro dose? What other parts of your life are you looking to focus on improving to better yourself to improve your quality of life? What are you calling in?

What are you releasing? And keep it sacred. So what are you calling in? What are you releasing? Those are two of my favorite parts of psychedelic integration. Calling in like so for me, I've been calling you more ease into my life.

Working in the film industry was very difficult. It was very challenging. There was a lot of toxicity. There was a lot of bureaucracy. There was a lot of anxiety, egos, personalities. And it made things difficult.

And today, moving forward, it's well, how can I bring ease into my life? How can I flow with things? And how can I also accept? And so how can I connect with things and just have a mindset in which I'm viewing things easier?

My film company is being has been wrongly named in a lawsuit. And I approached it with ease. And because I'm approaching it with such ease and relaxation, it's going away so easily and so quick. I'm not saying that's the same thing that might happen to you in a situation with you.

But when I'm talking to people, I'm letting them know I trust you and I feel like this is a very easeful situation. And when they hear that tonality in my voice, it more easiness. And it helps them feel calmer.

And because they're feeling calmer, the situation is just dissipating much more swiftly than it would maybe a few years ago for me. What are you releasing? Are you releasing insecurity? Are you releasing hesitation?

Are you releasing parts of you that no longer serve you things from the past? meditation, prayer are really good ways for contemplating these things and for deepening our thoughts when we're working with mushrooms.

It can help us feel connected and it can also help us dive into what's true for us in the senses of bettering ourselves. So what habits are you looking to build? What habits are you looking to change?

These are things to move forward towards and so what needs to be put in place and how can you do that? Whether it's continuing education courses, working with a teacher, taking a workshop. There is someone I know that is learning the guitar.

They're 50 years old and they are taking lessons twice a week and they're learning the guitar and they're doing just really really great and it's like I've heard from so many people like oh I'm too old to do that and what I've really learned from various experiences and this is not just with psychedelics.

It's in anything in general that we put our mind to that if you dream it you can be it and like I feel a little corny when I say that because my high school coach would say that to me but today I really see it and that is something I'm really trying to like radiate and vibrate myself whether you use psychedelics or not.

Practicing gratitude is a really great method and technique. technique. Baby steps, just going slow. Nature walks and hiking. Put one in the chat if you are a fan of nature or hiking and if you have been able to incorporate that into your daily life or weekly life for helping yourself.

I think the pandemic might have really influenced us with that a lot. Yeah, cool. Avoid the news and screens. We live in a society that's very addicted to our cell phones and computers and right now we're all on screens.

But I set wellness timers for me after like a half hour, an hour social media. I can't access it. And I say avoid the news because We is, it's important to know what's going on in the world, but there's so much of it.

And many years ago when we lived in tribes, we got our news just when the news came to us. And even before the internet, we were reading the newspaper once a day or once a week and just taking it in as we could.

So social media and the 24 news hour cycle is really bombarding us with tons and tons of information. And if we're looking to grow and if we're looking to transform ourselves, it's important to focus on where we put our attention and why we're putting our attention on those things.

Because what we look at and what, where we put our attention is what we're taking in for our mind. And that's what we're going to grow into. Yoga, dance, hiking, tai chi, qigong, working out. Those are great practices, like any of those and more.

Yeah, if you love swimming, if you love running, if you like rock climbing, like moving the body is really important. And these are, you know, it just might sound like I'm preaching wellness here, but this is all a part of microdosing mushrooms and using them with intention for growing ourselves.

More nature, avoiding the news, wellness, acupuncture, chiropractic adjustments, meditation and breath work. Put a one in the chat if you do breath work. Cool. So breath work is really, really great for anyone that's not familiar with breath work, breath work is for me, a natural psychedelic.

Um, yeah, it's just breathing. It's just different ways for breathing and taking in oxygen. But when we do it enough, we can have really profound experiences and it can feel very psychedelic. And breath work is a really great modality for learning how to journey if you're new to journey.

Um, yeah, finding ways for grounding and discharging techniques. So when I say grounding, you know, I think of like connecting to the earth, earthing, walking around in the grass with our shoes off. Or like lying on a rock, whatever we find, whatever we find useful for us.

Discharging. I find dance very discharging. I find like moving and shaking my body, very discharging. I'm an avid five rhythms dancer. So if you're ever in New York City and you want to hang out, and you want to go dancing, I will take you to five rhythms dancing.

And it's very, very discharging. And it's a really, really amazing technique for just bringing more goodness into our lives. And I'm absolutely a big fan of it. So if you're in Glasgow, maybe there's some five rhythms there that you could check out.

Eating well and eating nourishing foods, taking care of yourself, taking care of your body, not eating too much, not eating too little, maybe taking vitamin supplements. This is all a part of moving forward and transforming yourself with micro dosing psilocybin, if you choose to, if you choose to like move towards the benefits of it.

And then lastly on here is therapy. And yeah, therapies, therapies are really vital part of bettering ourselves. And so when we are working with mushrooms, things might come up for us, and we might need support.

So whether support looks like a friend, a coach, a therapist, peer support, your community, psychedelic integration circles, having ways for support, for supporting yourself is really important if things come up.

There are some times where things can get worse before they get better. And it's important not to feel alone and isolated during those times. So putting things in place before you choose to go on a journey like this is very important.

important. Go slow. Give yourself time to integrate. Be aware of Chasing Peak experiences. So what do I mean when I say Chasing Peak experiences? There are people that are just constantly looking for the next thing.

I want to do this. I want to do that workshop. I heard ayahuasca is amazing. I heard San Pedro is amazing. I heard mushrooms are amazing. I want to do this. And it's just weekend after weekend after day after day or month after month, people are looking for the next thing.

And there, you know, when we talk about presence, one of the key things with presence is stillness and just being still and doing nothing. Something I like to do is just lie on the couch and stare at the ceiling and do nothing.

And it's amazing. And it's amazing because I'm doing nothing. And it feels so good to me too, because there were many times in my life where I could not do nothing, where I was so busy or I had my hands full.

So me personally, I'm very grateful that I have opportunities to find stillness and to just be with the nothing. And I'll say like transformation is possible with determination and time. It just, some people, things can happen quicker.

Some things can happen shorter. I'm sorry, quicker or longer. Some people can change in a year and some people can change in five weeks. And so, yeah. This was, I hope this was an enjoyable talk and we're gonna move into the Q and A.

But this is my website where you can learn more about me. And I offer free 20 minute discovery calls. And I really do spend a fair amount of time with people before I move into working with them. But also I'm happy to give out advice, suggestions, resources listed on my website.

And yeah, if, I know this was just like a very quick microdosing one-on-one and we're gonna get to the Q and A. And I know it's not like I was like demonstrating how to actually make the capsules or anything.

That would actually just take a lot more time. But like, yeah, I'm curious about what other questions are out there and such. So I see one question in the chat. We can start with this and if you'd like.

You can raise your hand using the button on the bottom and I can call on you and we can answer some questions. Happy to start with this one from YY. So YY, this relates to a question I have. How, why is microdosing thought to be better for healing?

Introspection than regular dosing. Real question. Is it purposefully taking the peak experience out of it? So, well, that's a really good question. YY, I'm curious if you're open to turning your camera on so like I can answer straight to you and we can maybe just converse about this for a moment, if not totally cool.

Okay, no worries. So I'm gonna start with peak experience chasing doesn't necessarily mean like a large dose. Peak experience chasing could be someone saying like, I need to go to Burning Man. And after I'm at Burning Man, I need to go to another Burning Man event.

And then I need to go and travel to New Zealand and have an adventure there. So peak experience chasing is more just like about always having to be doing something looking for the next thing. So micro dosing could be a people that when it comes to like larger doses, it's like, I want to take a bigger dose, I want to take a larger dose, I want to move into this, I want to combine this psychedelic with that psychedelic.

It really all depends. Micro dosing, I think will allow because of the protocols will allow more stillness and allow more of a slower pace to happen. And because the protocols you can do for one week or eight weeks, it takes up more time and therefore there's less of a rush to it.

Your other question is how why is micro dosing thought to be better for healing? It really depends on all people. My answer for that is because more and more data and more science and more research studies are coming out about psilocybin specifically.

as well as studies specific for a microdosing, we're actually having real data that reflects the benefits for it. And because we're seeing that data and we're hearing about that data, this is becoming more of a popular thing for healing.

So microdosing, microdosing has been around for a long, long time, but because there's lots more studies happening with the universities and research studies, we're hearing more about it and it's being looked at as a good way for healing.

And when it comes to healing specifically, I would like to say that like the mushrooms don't heal you and the person you work with doesn't heal you, you're doing the healing yourself and you're doing the healing yourself by doing the work that you...

want to do or need to do for yourself. And so you're moving yourself through that process and through that energy. Was that helpful? Does that answer your question? Cool. Thank you. Okay, I'm just checking the chat.

Ken Ronald asks, can you recommend a specific online source to order mushroom growing kits? There is a website called tripsitters.org and if you explore that website they have tons of information on it and there is one that says for growers and there's tons and tons of information here about it and if you scroll down it will list everything and depending on where you are what state you're in, who delivers for you,

or what country you're in will determine what's best for you but on this website they give really good guidance for growing your own as well as links to where you can purchase spores. Any programs or certifications for clinicians to incorporate this into their practice once it becomes legal in my state of course.

Yeah, Shonda, is that how you pronounce your name? So there's lots of good programs. So I studied with TAM integration. I did a 12 month long program and we collaborated with doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists.

I work with ketamine here in Brooklyn at a psychiatrist's office and the psychiatrist will prescribe the ketamine and we will journey at their office. So ketamine is a good way to get introduced to working with the medicines.

I found there to be a residual calming effect many months after a larger dose trip. Yeah, that too. Oh, but there's also third wave and there's also CIS programs as well that do trainings. And we can talk more about that too.

If you want to schedule a discovery call with me, we can talk more about trainings. I can look more into it for you and ask around. Cool. Any other questions? Feel free to raise your hand or type in the chat.

Yeah. In Georgia, we're slow with everything. Yeah. But slow can be good. Have I had a bad experience? Christy. Yes, I've had a few bad experiences. I did a TikTok video recently talking about one. I took mushrooms at a fish concert at Madison Square Garden and somebody bumped into me and I went into a negative thought loop.

So what does that mean? It's like I was just thinking a lot about negative thoughts and they were getting very stuck in my mind. It was a very challenging experience, but it actually took me a couple of months to get over.

But I've learned a lot from it and I bring that experience into my work here today. And I'm very vocal about it, which is why I talk a lot about set and setting. So that experience was about six or seven years ago.

And obviously I was not working with psilocybin in a intentional or therapeutic way. So that was an experience. In terms of when I've worked with it in intentional. And therapeutic experience, it's actually, it's always been positive.

It can be very emotional. There can be a lot of laughing, there can be a lot of crying, but it's in a positive way. When it comes to, and that's what large doses, with micro doses, there is a meme Instagram thing that's called, that wasn't a micro dose.

So it's important really less is more. And one time there was a new type of mushroom that I tried to micro dose. And I did micro dose it. And it was very powerful. And it came on much stronger than I expected.

And it caused me to have a little bit of anxiety. but it passed and if that ever happens to you, breathing is a really good technique for calming yourself down. Our breath is like a break and accelerator.

So just like breathing into it. Breathe faster, it will intensify. If you bring it long and slow, it will calm you down. I've had a couple of other bad experiences too, but one to name was with a facilitator.

I was in Arizona working with a facilitator with Ayahuasca and she kind of went batshit crazy on me during our time working together. And that was a pretty bad experience and that's also why I'm very vocal about who you work with is very important.

Get referrals. Shonda asks, do you feel it brought up something you need to heal, Josh, the concert? I don't think the concert brought up anything I needed to heal, but I believe it brought up a reality for me, kind of a cruel awakening of the world that we live in and how things really are.

So for me, it was a really, really big wake up call about capitalism and the effects of capitalism. As well, I had sort of wake up calls about the impacts of slavery and segregation and the effects of it in our society today.

And so those are experiences that I'm still integrating. Do you have any advice for using along with? MS autoimmune disease. I'm looking to explore healing of trauma, which I have read can trigger autoimmune diseases and rebalancing if this is an issue.

I've been messaging you on direct. Lauren, this is a really good question. I don't have an answer for you on this. You're welcome to email me or schedule a discovery call. We can talk more in depth about it.

And I can see if I can learn more about it or find someone who does have experience that can give you proper guidance on that. Anyone else? Cool. Thanks, Dan. I'll see you at five rhythms. Okay, so we can end here.

Love doing things nice and short. I think you all have my contact information. Again, I offer free discovery calls. Happy to talk more. There's lots of events happening in New York City this week for New York Psychedelic Week, and I'm looking forward to seeing you all around.

Have a great rest of your day. I invite you to turn on your cameras and unmute yourselves and say goodbye. Hi, I'm at work. I'm going to turn my badge around. Hey everybody. Thanks for coming. Thank you so much.

Have a good day. Have a good day. Bye. Bye.

Psychedelics have gotten pretty popular these days, and there’s a lot of information as well as charlatans out there. We’re going to discuss the basics, benefits and risks associated with Psilocybin Assisted Therapy. There is a difference between taking Magic Mushrooms and hanging with friends, versus working with them and putting intention into transforming your life for the better. This talk will help educate you on how to look at Psilocybin as a transformative healing tool for improving your quality of life.

The latest scientific research and data is demonstrating that Psilocybin Assisted Therapy can:

-Treat Anxiety & Depression
-Treat Addiction
-Help with replacing habits that do not benefit with one's that do
-Treat OCD
-Enhanced creativity and openness
-Spiritual and Existential Insights
-Improved mood and well being
-Enhance mindfulness and emotional processing
-Neuroplasticity
-Reduce fear of death

It's important to note that while these potential benefits are promising, research on psilocybin is still a relatively new. Research is ongoing, and the therapy is not yet widely available. Additionally, Psilocybin is a controlled substance and should only be administered by trained facilitators in a controlled setting as part of clinical trials or research studies. Furthermore the therapy should always be conducted within legal and ethical guidelines, with a focus on patient safety and well-being.

Topics We'll Discuss:

-What is Psilocybin / Magic Mushrooms
-Background on Magic Mushrooms
-What is Depression?
-How Depression impacts the mind and the body
-Measurements / Dosage
-Safety
-Potential Benefits & Risks
-Intention Setting
-Preparation & Integration
-Tools, skills and modalities for using psilocybin for treating anxiety
-The Process

Learn more about us at www.brooklynbalance.org

Transcript:

Speaker 1 (00:00:02):

Cool. So yeah, this presentation does not encourage or condone any illegal activities including but not limited to the use of illegal substances. This is not a substitute for mental health or medical services. This is not a substitute for medical, psychological, psychiatric diagnoses, treatment or advice. So there is a lot coming out about psilocybin used as a therapeutic medicine in conjunction with therapy. The first thing I like to just tell people is use your discernment. Go slow and be safe. So what you will learn today, what is psilocybin? I'll give a brief background on psilocybin safety, contraindications, risks, what is depression modalities for alleviating depression, working with psilocybin for depression and integration. And if you, it's safe for you if you're not driving, if you have a writing utensil and paper available, we'll be doing an exercise during this talk as well.

(00:01:25):

So a little about me, right? Who is this guy talking about psilocybin. So my name is Josh or Joshua Jupiter. I'm the founder of Brooklyn Balance, LLC. I am a full-time psychedelic integration coach and facilitator. I have various certifications and professional trainings including but not limited to, TAM integration maps, psychedelic support and more. Also fun fact is I'm a native New Yorker. So a little background on me. So I had my first life-changing psychedelic experience in 2003. Later on in 2008, I began to have really debilitating panic attacks. I couldn't leave my bed, I could barely go outside. I was just like, I was just very trapped in my apartment. And so I went on SSRIs, I was prescribed citalopram and I was on that for about eight or nine years. And in 2016, I weaned myself off of SSRIs and I began to explore more with psychedelics with my therapists and my community members in 2020.

(00:02:50):

My background is film production. I got burnt out. I was working 80 hours a week and I pushed pause and pursued a new path in 2022, I founded Brooklyn Balance, LLC, and this past year I did the match training. I graduated from TAM integration's 12 month certification program, and now I am here in New York City working full-time as a psychedelic integration coach and trip sitter. So some of these photos I just like to share. This is up on the upper right, it's me at the MAPS conference in Denver back in June. This is my cohort from TAM integration. And if you're familiar with maps, this is Rick Dolin and I, so real people, real results. So these are two things that people have said about this work and working with me. I came to Brooklyn Balance due to suffering from continuous treatment resistant depression. I've suffered with depression from most of my adult life. I'm 60, I've been on most of the well-known antidepressants as well as some not well-known. I've continued to notice of substantial reduction in depressive symptoms. This is quite remarkable since I've been on medication most of my adult life other than emergency appendectomy in 1995, I don't think I've had anything impact my wellbeing so much.

(00:04:31):

So yeah, it's a little background on me and we'll do a q and A at the end as well if anyone has any questions about more of my experience and my background, but moving into some background on psilocybin. So I always like to begin my talks with this quote from Chris Bosch, which is from the book LSD and the Mind of the Universe. From ancient times, men and women have gathered under the night sky and taken substances that help them commune with their inner being and with the life that turns through all things they have sat in prayer and silence, seeking healing and guidance so they could return to their lives, better people and more aligned with the deeper currents of light. Because these substances opened them to the spiritual dimension of existence. They were called sacred because they healed the wound of forgetting who and what we truly are we're called medicine from before written history began.

(00:05:45):

The sacred medicine path has been one of the most spiritual paths human beings have taken to find themselves each other and the divine. So what are psilocybin mushrooms? So I imagine a number of you here already know a bunch about it, but just a little more background on it. And for those that we don't know, they're commonly known as magic mushrooms. And some people call them shrooms. I actually really don't like that word, but just to bring awareness to it, they're a fungi. They grow naturally all over the world and they've been used for thousands of years by humans. They're classic tryptamine, psychedelic whose mind altering effects can last two to eight hours. They are a schedule one substance and they grow naturally all around the world. It would be incredibly difficult to overdose on psilocybin mushrooms for that to be considered over 2.6 pounds of dried mushroom would have to be eaten, which is almost 2000 times a typical therapeutic dose of three grams. Psilocybin itself is biologically inactive, but it quickly gets converted to soin, which creates mind altering effects similar, which bear similarities to other substances such as Mescalin, DNT and LSD.

(00:07:29):

So a bit of a timeline on psilocybin. So back in 5,000 BC there are ancient paintings of mushroomed humanoids and they're in caves on the alii plateau of Algeria. And then 1000 bc. There's evidence of central American cultures building temples to mushroom gods and they carved these mushroom stones here, a little image on the right. In 1914, the first experienced documented in a scientific science publication of intentional psilocybin mushroom ingestion occurred and it details descriptions of visual effects, hallucinations, uncontrollable laughter, and joking more so in 1953, mycologist r Gordon Watson visited oca Mexico to witness a mushroom ADA ceremony and he returned again in 1955 to photograph and participate with Maria Sabina.

(00:08:47):

Maria Sabina is a well-known mushroom facilitator and she educated him a lot and a lot of that knowledge therefore got passed along to North America there. In 1958, Albert Hoffman isolate psilocybin and publishes the synthesis of psilocybin at Sandoz Pharmaceutical. A couple of years later, Sandoz created two milligrams psilocybin pills, which we could get a prescription for. So eight years later, the Staggard dog bill passed making possession of psilocybin and osint illegal, followed by the comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act in 1971, which made it a schedule one substance. So schedule one basically means that it serves no medical use and that there's high potential for abuse. So today, many years later, there's a lot of new stuff coming out about psychedelics. There's a lot of new stuff coming out about mushrooms. This is just some of the headlines that I'll put together here for it.

(00:10:10):

And we're seeing the positive effects of psilocybin and more and more studies and research are coming out every day. So this image here on the bottom left is one of my favorite images when talking about psilocybin. So in a study, one person was given a placebo and one person was given psilocybin, and they were both given an FMRI. And so you can see here this is like the neurons and activity in the brain with the placebo and with the psilocybin there's just a lot of neuro energy being generated and neuroplasticity. So the neurons are firing off exponentially here and we'll talk more about that later.

(00:11:10):

So through the research done and with the things that have been coming out, we're seeing positive effects of psilocybin in conjunction with proper guidance. So some of the things that we're seeing, we're seeing that there's alleviation from cluster headaches, alleviation from depression, anxiety, increasing mindfulness and feeling of interconnectedness. It may increase your relationship with nature. Spirituality, the universe, it may increase creativity, cognitive flexibility, it promotes neuroplasticity, neurogenesis, neurogenesis was the word I was trying to remember in the previous slide, and it may be helpful with substance abuse and addiction, including tobacco and alcohol as well as PTSD.

(00:12:09):

So this is one of my favorite studies also. So this was a study about harm caused by substances by Neuropsychopharmacology David Nutt in 2010, and its focuses really on how these substances not just affect people's health but affect culture and society. And so we see here that mushrooms had the least harm with all of those substances that were studied. So moving into risks of psilocybin, right? We're going to talk about their benefits and how they may help people, but it's not for everyone. Psychedelics are not for everyone. They're not a silver bullet, and there's a lot of things to consider before taking. So this is a short list that speaks to some of that behavioral risk. How will they affect your behavior? There is a risk of HPPD and that's where you remain seeing hallucinations even after the medicine has left your system. And for some people that can persist for months or even a lifetime, some people may experience what we call a challenging experience, formerly known as a bad trip.

(00:13:40):

If someone has borderline personality disorder, schizophrenic tendencies, it's advised to not really work with psilocybin. It can be very risky if someone is on a pharmaceutical medication such as barring dioxin, lithium, there can be a risk. Lithium particularly causes seizures, SSRIs and NRIs. There can be a risk of serotonin syndrome as well as blunting, serotonin, genetic migraine medications, anti-psychotics and contamination. So if you're considering working with psychedelics or psilocybin and you're not sure if it's safe for you, I put the information here for Dr. Ben Malcolm. He's also known as the spirit pharmacist. His website is spirit pharmacist.com, and he's a really great resource for advising on that.

(00:14:54):

So there are potential side effects as well. Disorientation, lethargy, giddiness, euphoria, joy, visual hallucinations, synesthesia, perceptual distortions, mystical experiences, pupil dilation, decreased heart rate, increased, decreased blood pressure, body temperature, fluctuations and nausea. So yeah, there's definitely pros and there's definitely suitability for use. What are the variables? What is your state of mind? Do you have expectations? Are you willing to engage in therapy or be guided by someone, be coached by someone, listen to someone with experience. What resources and support are available for you in case you need them? Or if something goes wrong, is there a cultural understanding, particularly between you and your facilitator? And then understanding uncertainty. I always say something may happen, nothing may happen. And also having a tolerance for destabilization. What do you do when you're feeling dysregulated and what is your tolerance for that?

(00:16:22):

So moving more into what is depression and the correlation between psilocybin and depression. So if someone's experiencing depression, it's generally defined as a mood disorder that causes persistent feelings of sadness. You might have a loss of interest and typically like hopelessness. So there's other names for depression and things can get very clinical with it. Me personally, I don't really like to apologize too much, but what I do understand from it is that there are a lot of emotional and physical problems that derive from depression and it can really lead to having trouble in your normal day-to-day activities. And one of the most difficult things that we might hear is suicidal thoughts that life is not worth living.

(00:17:28):

Some of the symptoms include sadness, irritability, apathy, being tired, disrupted sleep, lack of motivation, difficulty concentrating, negative thoughts, feelings of hopelessness, suicidal thoughts, that being withdrawn, not engaged in activities, getting teary eyed, a lot of tearfulness, just a lot of heavy sadness, emptiness, hopelessness. There's various causes for depression. And I personally like to say it's nice and it's important to get to the root of things, but sometimes it's okay to just allow things to happen and to be in the mystery of things. But some general causes of depression, biology, genetics, health conditions, diabetes, heart disease, thyroid disorders, hormonal changes, brain chemistry changes, stressful and traumatic life events, limited access to resources. So if someone's feeling a lot of scarcity, I don't have enough food, I'm worried about what I'm going to live, I'm worried about this hospital bill, I have to pay or I can't go to the hospital because it's expensive. And then a lack of social support as well. Negative thoughts, problematic coping behaviors. So drinking for drinking alcohol to avoid like, Hey, I had a really tough day, I don't want to think about it, I'm just going to get drunk. Or substance abuse, other substances.

(00:19:17):

So if you've battled depression, you may have already been informed of or tried trying to improve your sleep, exercising, addressing your health issues, taking antidepressants or anti-anxiety, medication, going to therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy. And then there's different types of depression, major depressive disorder, persistent depressive disorder, also known as dys, methia, postpartum depression, bipolar depression, seasonal affective disorder and psychotic depression. So also just to, while speaking about these different types of depression, it's not always safe to take a psychedelic if you're in a very deep depression or if you have a diagnosis of bipolar disorder because it can be more damaging or it can even be very risky to do. So.

(00:20:36):

When we start to get anxious or depressed, it starts to affect our mind and it really can also affect the body too. So when the body gets stressed, it might experience aches, pain, joint pain, limb pain, back pain, upset, stomach. And if anyone here can relate to this, put a one in the chat. I'm just curious, how do y'all relate to this? Does any of this resonate with you? Have you had any experiences like this? Have you had insomnia, difficulty sleeping at any points in your life? Tiredness, appetite changes, headaches, psychomotor activity changes. And in general too, when we're feeling physical pain, the more severe the depression can be as well.

(00:21:29):

Yeah, thanks for sharing, Dan. So how, what's the connection between psilocybin and depression? So first I'm going to introduce some recent studies that came out where research was done. And so this first one, there were 30 cancer patients and they were from a single oncology community practice and they had been struggling with major depressive disorder. They were administered in small groups. So three or four of them at a time were given 25 milligram doses of psilocybin. And if you're more like me, a dried mushroom type of person, if you're working with a strain golden teacher, that might be two and a half grams. But if you're working with something of more potent like penis vy, the strain of mushroom, that might be like 1.25 grams because different dried mushrooms have different potencies. Yeah, Philip says, I treat my body as a conscious vessel consciousness vessel, hence I listened to what it says and I treat it well and maintain it in great shape.

(00:22:55):

We only have one body. If we do not take care of it, it won't be able to take care of us. I a hundred percent agree with Beth Philip, thank you so much for sharing that. So in this study, the results were very encouraging. They showed a robust reduction in depression in regard to the severity scores coming down by more than 19 points and sustaining for eight weeks. 80% of the participants demonstrated a sustained response to psilocybin treatment while half of them showed full remission of depressive symptoms as soon as the first week, and it persisted for two months. And so I always like to add on because it's like they study these people for two months, it's very likely symptoms came back later, maybe, maybe not. But again, echoing that none of these medicines are a silver bullet.

(00:23:59):

So in this study done at NYU Langone, I actually, I learned about this at the NAPS conference back in June and Denver. So they had 80 participants who had cancer and half were again given psilocybin in conjunction with therapy. Over six months they saw that the psilocybin assisted therapy significantly improved not just depression, but anxiety, interpersonal sensitivity, hostility, OCD and somatization. And so I do send out these slides, but you're also welcome to take a screenshot, but if you look here at the graphs, you can witness the reduction in depression that they were experiencing right here in the middle. And then the other ones featured the other experiences that they had reduced in a John Hopkins study, another one with people with life-threatening cancer research conducted with 51 patients, showed people suffering cancer related depression anxiety found considerable relief for up to six months from a single large dose of psilocybin.

(00:25:28):

Six months after about 80% of the participants continued to show clinically significant decreases in depressed mood and anxiety with about 60% showing symptom remission into the normal range. 83% reported increases in wellbeing or life satisfaction, and they were given one high dose and one low dose. So a high dose might be like 25 milligrams, which can be like 1.25 to two and a half grams of dried mushroom. And a high dose would be, well two to three and a half, maybe four, but four would be a lot of a dried mushroom that could be 25 milligrams and up it's considered medium to large dose.

(00:26:23):

So modalities for therapeutic process. So it's like, alright, we have more knowledge of psilocybin and we know that in conjunction with therapy facilitation, coaching mindfulness, that there can be benefits between using the two. So one of the tools that I like to encourage is omi. OMI method is an experiential therapy, experimental therapy. So it means that changes are brought about body experience that you have in the present moment. The experiences of the body are the key focus. The body is fought to be a resource that holds information like memories and beliefs. So hamy involves mindfulness, non-violence, unity, organicity and mind body wholeness, inter-family systems is also a modality that I feel is similar to this. What we start to talk about somatics, holding attention in our body, locating in our body, and just being present to it and noticing it and giving it what it needs, talking to it, rubbing it, releasing it, calling it energy for it, all sorts of things.

(00:27:54):

So I find H Aflex and ACT very interesting is a model that is currently being used to better understand the psychological mechanisms involved in psychedelic experiences. So accesss for acceptance and commitment therapy and it, it's a way to go deeper and it is a way to just bring in more flexibility. And so it's like if I'm here and I want to go there, but I can't go there, I can go over here and now I'm here, but I don't like being over here, I can go over there. And it's really an interesting modality to be present, to drop into what our values are and just accepting like, hey, this is where I am right now.

(00:28:47):

And a quote down here I say about that Joshua Schultz says about act is that it helps clients embrace their demons and follow their hearts, the inner directed approach. So I mentioned the word somatics before and somatics to me is kind of a fancy word for body, but working with the body and being in tune to the body. And so allowing things to arise naturally, we'll see experiential emotional engagement, encouraging imagination, restructuring, cognition, and then transference too. So if you're working with mushrooms, with a facilitator, being aware of how the facilitator's energy might influence you and how you might influence the facilitator's energy, subconscious tendencies, compassion for self and others, transpersonal, spiritual and imaginal exposure. So these are just a couple of modalities, these few slides when it comes to bringing in doing the work.

(00:30:04):

So moving into bringing in changes into your life. So if someone is feeling depressed, it's looking into like, Hey, well what might be causing this depression? And so as humans, it's very natural for us to just be like, I'm having pain, I'm having suffering right now. I want this suffering and this pain to just go away right now. And that's being in the moment. And yeah, our nervous system's going up and we're just thinking about that, but it's like, well, why does this pain, why does this suffering keep coming up for me? What do I need to consider about the long-term? And making changes and maintaining them daily, weekly, or monthly, yearly so that they'll stick and that there's less pain and less suffering in life. So I'm going to invite us to do a exercise, which is why I said if you're able to have a pen and paper nearby. So if it's safe for you and if you're in a quiet space, I'm going to invite you to do a meditation. And we're just going to be brief here. It's not going to be long. So if you're unable to do so, we're just going to be a few minutes, but we're all participating in this regardless because we're all here. And I like to always say that even as an observer, an observer is participating, an observer is not an outside and observer is included.

(00:31:53):

If it feels good to you, I just invite you to sit with your back straight spine tall invitation to close your eyes or soft gaze to the floor. And just start taking some deep belly breaths into your nose and out your mouth, feel your belly rows and feel a fall as you exhale.

Speaker 2 (00:32:47):

And just take a few deep breaths,

Speaker 1 (00:32:59):

Just begin to notice how you feel in this moment. And I invite you to imagine what a perfect day would look like for you.

Speaker 2 (00:33:30):

What does it look like?

Speaker 1 (00:33:34):

What does it feel like? What does it sound like? Is there a smell?

Speaker 2 (00:33:55):

Are you with people? Are you alone

Speaker 1 (00:34:05):

Noticing what that day brings up for you and what's happening in it? How things might be able to be fun, exciting, tranquil, relaxed.

Speaker 2 (00:34:37):

Notice what's happening in this moment for you.

Speaker 1 (00:34:47):

Look around, where are you? What are you doing? Who are you with?

(00:35:07):

And maybe take notice that all of this that you're thinking, that you're imagining envisioning is just coming from you. It's not coming from anywhere else outside. You're choosing this. You're choosing your perfect day, keeping your eyes closed or soft, ga to the floor. Shifting into intention. What are some goals that can move you in the direction of creating this perfect day to step into this vision? Think about some specific things, little steps. Is there anything confusing? Is there anything that's challenging that feels unsure to get to that perfect day? What do you need to get clearer on for that? To take a better, to get better clarity? What do you notion? What do you notice emotionally with that? Take a few final breaths. Take a moment to recognize that the work never ends, that all this work, all this progress is continuous and each day is a new day for doing so. Still breathing. Slowly come back to the room. Notice where you are, notice how you feel.

Speaker 2 (00:37:47):

Do what you need to do to be present.

Speaker 1 (00:37:54):

And moving into reflecting and integrating the past few minutes. If you have your pen and paper writing down what resonated with you, what felt good, what do you have the most resistance with? Whatever you have the most resistance to, that's probably what you need to do first. And I invite you also, if you're comfortable sharing chat, what some things that are present for you that you can take action with. I know that for me, I noticed I wanted to earlier this week, last week, improve my environment, improve my apartment. So I made a little list and I said, I want to buy an alarm clock so I'm not on my phone first thing in the morning to turn off my alarm. I want to buy a new altar, I want to buy a new desk. And I ordered one very promptly and I started to put little notes as to like, all right, well where do I want to buy that?

(00:39:25):

What kind do I want to buy that and research it. So yeah, this is a little exercise meditation. A few more questions here that would just be repeating myself as to how to take notice of what we want in our lives. And it's like, yeah, it's easy to think about. It's easy for me to say like, Hey, yeah, I want a new couch, but I have to make time and space to buy a new couch. I have to research it. How much do I want to spend on a couch? What's it going to cost for me? Delivering what takes up time and energy? And it could be exhausting. And so it's just putting things in motion and when we see it, we can make it happen.

(00:40:28):

So yeah, moving more into thoughts. So someone I study with by the name of Dr. Stacey Ellis, she likes to say thoughts are not real, they're just ideas presented to you. So when we relate to our ideas ourself and others thoughts may be correct, thoughts may be incorrect, they might be cleared, they might be distorted, they might be confusing or focused. So we're going to touch upon CBT and our thoughts. So if we're battling depression, some thoughts might sound like I'm a failure, I'm at fault. Nothing good happens to me, I'm not worthy. There's nothing good I can't change, it's hopeless. They're better off without it beating ourselves up. If you can relate to that, put a one in the chat, big one over here, more so in the past.

(00:41:41):

So where do these thoughts come from? So a lot of these thoughts come from our early experiences. So were we criticized a lot as an adolescent, bullied, abused, what events might've been triggering for those? Programming is a word I like to say put into our mind, into our subconscious to create our core beliefs. So our core beliefs of judgment worthiness and in creating limiting beliefs, getting us to start to assume things that are not true. So we start to think, I got to please other people before I please myself. If you can relate to being a people pleaser, put a one in the chat. I know I can less so these days are pretty much not much these days.

(00:42:42):

Critical incidents that can happen when you're older too. So someone in your family getting sick, did you get laid off or fired? Career transition in some countries like a terrorist attack or a medical diagnosis. And we might go into automatic negative thoughts, I never get it right. And this can really perpetuate symptoms of depression. Philip says, indeed, feelings and thoughts are not real. They just bubble up and we can spiral into them or we can dismiss them. Our choice. Absolutely. Yeah, I really appreciate you sharing that. And yeah, Steve, yeah, thanks for putting a one in the chat. Yeah, thanks for sharing. So something I like to say is my vibe attracts my tribe. And it's like, have you ever noticed in your life that you keep attracting the same kind of person?

(00:43:52):

Maybe for example, you're the kind of person where people keep coming to you for help and people keep coming to you and asking you for money, or can you lend them this or can you help them with that? And it's like stop it. When you wonder, it's like, why do these types of people keep coming to me? So it's like we might be thinking a certain way and because we're thinking a certain way and we do things that let out an energy, that let out a vibration, it attracts that energy. So it's like, if that is not serving us, what are some things we can do to change that? So getting a little more into C, B, T, right? So if I think, for example, I don't have many friends, we might feel people must not like me, so I feel sad. But if you reframe your thoughts, if you look at things from another perspective, it's like this is what's in the front, but let's go in the back, we go in the back and it's like, no, let's look at this differently. I have a couple of friends, but the group of friends I have is a small group of friends and they're really special to me. And if I put things in motion, I can make more in due time.

(00:45:19):

And so this is talk about psilocybin and depression. So mushrooms have a way of opening the subconscious and the mind and they allow for the ability to shift the way we look at things. And by combining different tools and modalities as the ones that I'm talking about, we can utilize that to our advantage for changing the way we think, looking at ourselves and others. And so just to speak a little bit more about mushrooms, like I said earlier, they generate more neuroplasticity and they'll also, they may have a way for some people to open us and to expand us, and then we will experience neuroplasticity after or not. And it's during that time where it's like, oh, when I was in my journey, I just saw things a bit differently. And so it's like we had that there, but then therapeutically, how do we start to notice what are our thoughts and shifting our thoughts through integration and therapy. So it's like imagine your life is like a movie and you're the screenwriter. Can you flip the script? So if you might say to yourself, man, I'm a mess. It's like, how can we be a little more compassionate and softer on ourselves and just be like, I'm human. Things get messy sometimes I can't do this. I can do, I do hard things or I can put effort into doing this. Why is this happening to me?

(00:47:16):

What is this teaching me? Something bad happens, something an event happens, how can we learn from it? Some more examples, my friends are probably angry or happy that I'm not going to see them tonight. Maybe try. My friends are happy that I'm taking care of myself tonight. I'm neurotic. I'm particular and attuned to my needs and I can take care of myself. I'm too rigid. I'm working on being more flexible. Yeah, Philip shares psychedelics permit us to observe ourselves from a neutral perspective, allowing to see habits we do not resonate with, hence giving us the choice to change. I agree with this, I agree with this for myself, and I always say when it comes to words like us or you, it's like what might happen for me might not happen for everybody. So I just like to always remind people, especially people that are new and exploring this about that.

(00:48:36):

It's like, I'm bad at yoga. Well, if a yoga teacher ever said that to you in yoga, there is no good and there is no bad. I try my best at yoga. I'm not good at playing the piano. I recently started putting effort into playing the piano and intend on practicing daily to improve. So when we start to notice more about our thoughts and noticing how our thoughts are impacting us, something that can really benefit if we're trying to make changes and improve ourselves with things such as depression and other things as well. Maybe anxiety is tracking it. So in this example, made this up, but it's like how do I feel on Monday? I'm having 40% depression. How do I feel on Tuesday? I had breakfast alone that morning I felt really depressed more than Monday at 70%, but the next day I just took a walk and my depression was less.

(00:49:56):

Thursday, les had a phone call with a friend and then Friday breakfast alone, a bit more depression. So what do I learn from this and what do I need to do and change for myself to mitigate and put preventative measures for the depression, as well as calling in things for improving life and tracking our activities. It helps provide a structure. We will learn about what's priority, what's not a priority. Well, I got really upset when I was talking to my friend on Tuesday. Maybe I need to talk to this friend less or at another time.

(00:50:50):

It helps prevent ruminating, just fixating on thoughts and going like, well, why was I thinking that? And spending a lot of time just thinking about one thing, looking at the larger picture and learning from it so we can realize for the future and therefore have less rumination. Tracking what gives you pleasure, changing perception from chaos to manageable tasks, increasing the chances that activities will be carried out and enhancing our sense of control. Some other tips I can suggest for alleviating depression when working with psilocybin, which are equally as important during preparation and integration, continuing to do deep breathing, journaling, CBT, exercising, socializing, limiting caffeine, meditation. Yeah, thank you. Getting good sleep, resting, avoiding alcohol, stimulants, narcotics. And for some people cannabis, cannabis can be good for some people and it might not be good for some people. It's a very interesting medicine of its own establishing boundaries and getting firm with your boundaries, getting more attuned to what am I yes to, what am I a no to? And mindfulness meditations.

(00:52:29):

Yeah, learning about what triggers you, how do you respond to your triggers? Are you reactive or do you pause? Do you go into fight or flight? Re-parenting as a tool, asking yourself, what do I need? I'm a big fan of internal family systems and better understanding consent and sovereignty, knowing that we are sovereign, we make our own choices and we decide our own path. For me, it's like if someone asked me to do something or request for me to do something, I'll pause, think about it and really drop into if I'm a yes or no to it. And that will really, it's really impacted me with doing so and pausing that. Yeah, inner team dialogue too. Yeah. Thanks for sharing, Philip. Appreciate that. As we mentioned, tracking patterns, recognizing where's the chaos, when are you suffering? And when it comes to chaos and suffering, growing up in that kind of environment, we get very used to it.

(00:53:55):

And it might create feelings of I can't trust or it's harder to love, and the psyche gets really filled up with fear. And so it's like how do we work with that? Recognizing that we do have agency and that we can open our hearts, our minds, and our souls to love what was normal in your development and how are you reproducing that pattern? And so that's more about touching upon what are the good parts and what are the bad parts? Well, not bad, there are no bad parts, but what are the parts in us that might seem more love and attention that we may have inherited from our family members?

(00:54:46):

And so what we change in the body, we change in our mind. And so it's like what's something we always worry about? Money, health, worry gives us a sense of traction as the suffering. It gives us a familiarity. So if we're feeling depressed, it's like we're just so familiar with this feeling that it can be scary to think about what it's like to not experience that feeling. And it's like, yeah, embracing the younger version itself, like talking to the parts and talking to ourselves when we were younger, what happened before certain events happened to us and what do we need to give that earlier version of ourself? And so it's like when we're a child, we're very present, we're very in the world and we're feeling very connected and we're very in the moment and psychedelics can really help bring us to and relate us to that state of mind.

(00:55:54):

So this is probably one of my favorite things about talking about how psilocybin is a beneficial tool in regard to working with as a medicine, our minds can get knotted up, be like a ball of yarn, it's all tangled and psilocybin can, for some people, help it to just relax and help create more space, lightness, clarity. It can help us get more data about ourselves and so that we can straighten out that yarn and relay it, put it into a new ball the way that we want it to be. It can help us to be more vulnerable and it can help us see how we're behaving in the world.

(00:56:50):

Many people function as if what they're experiencing is real. And so if our thoughts are not real, they're just ideas that are presented to ourselves, how do we present our thoughts to ourselves in a different way and putting new programming in the subconscious so that it becomes conscious. So yeah, there's certain things that may not be there and we can help get a grasp on how to reformat that. I just spoke to this and establishing trust. If you don't trust anybody, it's unlikely that you're going to have healthy relationships. If you're working and you're a manager and you don't trust your team, you're going to be micromanage. You're going to be putting all this energy out there of you need to do this and you need that. Did you do this? And I don't believe you that it's going to make your relationships very challenging.

(00:58:04):

So looking into who can be trusted and how will trust lead into feeling the pain. And yeah, bill, exactly right, if you don't trust other people, you don't trust yourself. Yeah, really appreciate you saying that. So if you're considering working with a facilitator with psilocybin, it's vitally important to consider what is that facilitator's state of mind. A facilitator's state of mind creates the aura, it creates the energy that will affect you, that it will affect the client or the friend that you're saying like, Hey, you need to go and do mushrooms. So it's important to really get clear on yourself but also have a clear understanding as to what is the energy, what is the partnership like between you and the facilitator and being with your own energy and maintaining it for your own attention to be present for what's true to you. A facilitator's energy should not interfere with your experience.

(00:59:17):

I'm not going to touch upon this too much. I will send out the slides and you're welcome to look at this a bit more in depthly, but I like to talk about balance. And in short, there are different polarities that we have and there's different ways that we act and we navigate all of these different polarities. So there's the unaware, wounded feminine up on the upper left, and that's, it's not literally in regard to the female body, like a woman, it's just about the energy in general. A man also has or can have unaware, wounded feminine energy. And same thing in regard to masculine. And so it's like, alright, is there a lot of attachment is like there are a lot of sadness and grief, a lot of drama like reacting impulsively, not pausing and just taking a minute to drop into things and creating chaos or being like the victim being needy, self-sacrificing the unaware or the wounded, masculine aversion, fear, anger, rage provoking.

(01:00:40):

I'm going to start a fight contracting, mentally reacting physically. I'm just going to punch this guy controlling, bullying him. Narcissistic. Yeah, I'm wondering, I put a one in the chat, but I don't can relate to any of these things, right? No one's perfect, but I imagine at one point or another we've been there. I can, I'll put a one in the chat. And then there's the aware feminine, the empowered feminine, love, roundedness, healthy boundaries, being compassionate, abundance and flow and radiance, wisdom and birth in new beginnings, be aware and embodied, masculine freedom, holding space, creating safety, witnessing without judgment, silence, spaciousness, stillness, knowledge, death and endings.

(01:01:45):

And so it's like where is our balance? What might we be experiencing? Where does imbalance, am I up here with the wounded and need to drop more into my aware? And am I out of touch with the feminine? How can I find the center between all four? Yeah, strengthening all of those pillars and diving into the core wounds as to what may have created those wounds. So when we have a profound experience or when we're in a moment, if we're depressed, it's like things might not always be clear. So something I like to say is, maybe this is how I'm supposed to be.

(01:02:47):

And just taking a pause with that and just thinking maybe this is where I'm just supposed to be right now. Dropping into accepting. And sometimes we can get exhausted and even more overwhelmed from fighting, trying, doing. I will often see people that rush from psychedelic experience to psychedelic experience, to psychedelic experience trying to fix or change something or people that are doing workshop or education after training after one another. It's like allowing space to just eat and say like, Hey, maybe I'm not meant to change this right now. Maybe I can pause with it, go to something else and come back. Maybe I can surrender.

(01:03:45):

So yeah, again, psilocybin or any psychedelic surely is not a silver bullet or a cure all regardless of the substance. If you're considering working with psilocybin, asking yourself, why are you choosing to work with psilocybin? What other parts of your life are you looking to focus on and improve to better improve yourself and the people in your life? What are you calling in? What are you releasing? And how are you practicing keeping it sacred? So I'll say a lot, and the community will say a lot, being intentional, and when we make something have a sacred energy to it, we're making it special. We're making it unique. It's not like, Hey, I'm going to take mushrooms and you just go dancing at the club and hopefully I'll have this profound experience. It's like, no, make it a ritual.

(01:04:47):

Treat it, treat yourself. Treat your space like it is a sacred ritual in a temple, in a church, something that's very precious. If you're in your experience with the mushrooms or any psychedelic, stay with the breath and tracking your system, particularly if a memory comes up that might be upsetting or overwhelming, that's an indication that the body may be trying to talk or release something. So I like to encourage releasing in a safe, consensual, nonviolent, non-sexual way and staying with the breath and practicing emotional release to allow somatic experiences to occur. So nearing the end, touching upon integration in Latin, Integra, which means I make whole, I renew, I repair, I begin again.

(01:06:13):

Philip says, ask the memory, what are you here? Why are you here? What can you teach me? A hundred percent, absolutely agree with that, for sure. Yeah, talking to the memories, talking to the parts, integration reprocessing, reinhabiting, re embodying, rea, associating, restoring, releasing, reclaiming, right? And so I talked about ceremonial ritual, getting in touch with spirituality. When working with psychedelics, it can feel sometimes for some people isolating, it can feel like I just had this big experience and I want to talk to people about it, but maybe these people can't relate or maybe these people will judge me. Maybe these people will just not understand and think I'm crazy. So it's beneficial to cultivate community, to go to places to find community that can relate to these experiences. So integration circles are really great for that. Attending an event at your local psychedelic society. And if you don't have one, maybe starting one.

(01:07:35):

Journaling, just letting a stream of the subconscious being in nature, doing creative arts, singing, writing, creating a plan for the future and moving into doing new experiences and insights I like to recommend. Avoid the news. Spend as little screen time as you can as well with integration or in general, yoga, dancing, hiking, Tai chi, Qigong, working out, move your body. Wellness, spa, massage, acupuncture. I love acupuncture, chiropractic adjustments, meditation, breath work. And then there's grounding, and then there's also discharging. So sometimes it's like during our experience we might actually take in energy that isn't ours and might not realize it. We might need to let that go.

(01:08:41):

I've spoken to a number of people that have had demons come up with them after their psychedelic experiences. And it's like we've had to do exorcisms is the word I'm going to use to release that deep, that energy that was not theirs, that was disturbing. So eating well and nourishing foods going to therapy and throw a party, have a potluck or go dancing. And so the benefits of integration, taking this time to create space for yourself to process what happened for you, upgraded your software, you may get increased felt sense, debriefing, difficult, challenging experiences, processing emotions, releasing and breathing, translating and applying new insights, embracing and adapting to changes of ego, identity, world and culture. Enhanced capacity for selfserving, self increased wisdom, enhance compassion for self, making sense of potential generational trauma and epigenetics. Yeah, Philip says demons can also be deeply repressed. Sub personalities, totally agree with that. In my context, I was speaking to just definitely outside energy and viewing it as coming in and getting in there. It can be ours, it might not be ours.

(01:10:28):

So some down the road. And right now there's tons of psychedelic scientific studies happening and they're focused on creativity, O-C-D-P-T-S-D, anorexia, alcoholism, depression in Alzheimer's disease, mood, post Lyme's disease treatment, microdosing and opioid use disorder. So nearing the end, I always like to say go slow. Less is more. Give yourself time to integrate. The process is likely to continue to unfold for days, weeks, months, years after. I'm still integrating my psychedelic experience from when I was 16 years old. Transformation is possible with determination and time, with or without substances. And yes, Philip says journal, journal, journal. A hundred percent agree. Trust the medicine, surrender to the process, receive what comes up. Here are some recommended readings that I find beneficial when focusing on depression. The untethered soul, I'm doing depression by Richard O'Connor. It's not always depression, which I have right here. I was reading in preparation for this talk and freedom from your inner critic, and again, I'll send out slides, so if you want to come back to this, it'll be in the email later. I

(01:12:16):

Having some technical issues. And that's it. Thank you so much for attending this talk. I do offer free discovery calls if you're interested in learning more about psychedelic integration or if I could be, if you're interested in talking as to how I could be of service to you, let me know. I do post a lot on Instagram and TikTok too. Brooklyn balance, Brooklyn Balance Integration. You can follow me there. And if you've registered for this talk, you'll be automatically added to my news blast, which if you don't want to be on that, you're welcome to unsubscribe, but I'll be adding you. Yeah, thank you Philip. Appreciate the time words. So I'm going to stop sharing my screen and I'm going to open it up for any questions. Does anyone have any questions? You're welcome to unmute yourself or type in the chat.

Speaker 3 (01:13:40):

I have a question for you. How do you see micro microdosing as a really good, as a form of integration? Let's just say you do a large journey or some people don't like to do large, they want to titrate, they want to go small, which is totally great. I find that going small is actually more beneficial or more at the helm. See, I love your thoughts on that.

Speaker 1 (01:14:15):

Yeah, it's a great question. And I was actually thinking about touching upon that, but I was concerned about time. I did do a talk specific to microdosing and that's, I can forward that to you. It's through my website. And microdosing I think is amazing. And I think it's different strokes for different faults. I know for some people that they may get relief from macro doses, and I know for some people they may get relief from micro doses and vice versa. Macro doses might totally dysregulate one person, and so they lean into microdosing and that really works for them. And then there's some people where it's like microdosing does nothing for me. I don't feel anything. I'm not noticing any changes, but macro doses do and it can take time to figure that out for the individual. And I fully support microdosing. And I think it's also a really good way to get introduced to the medicine before too. So I'm a fan of the vitamin protocol and if someone's very new or has never done psilocybin, it can be recommended to microdose before a macro dose so that it's in the system and that there's a familiarity to the medicine. And then likewise for post macro dose journey as well. So I had this really big experience and it's resonating with me and maybe microdosing after is a way for continuing the integration. It's all, yeah, it's all

Speaker 3 (01:16:24):

Define microdosing versus macro dosing versus journey in your opinion.

Speaker 1 (01:16:31):

Great question. So in my opinion, you'll hear the word sub perceptual a lot in regard to microdosing. And so it's like if we listen a lot to Paul stats or James typically say a very, very low sub perceptual dose is 0.05 grams of dried mushroom. And also depending on the strain of the mushroom, depending on the potency of the mushroom.

Speaker 3 (01:17:10):

When you say 0.05 grams, you're meaning milligrams, correct?

Speaker 1 (01:17:14):

No, I personally prefer grams, so that would be like, I think that's 25 milligrams.

Speaker 3 (01:17:24):

Okay. You're talking about the active alkaloid inside, not the, because a true microdose in my mind is 50 milligrams of, and if it's at 1%, if the tested fruit body is at 1%, I'm just trying to gain clarity, a hundred milligrams is normally what I utilize. And then a macro would be a half gram or 500 milligrams.

Speaker 1 (01:17:56):

Yes. Yeah, actually I'm going to see, I have a really great chart that

Speaker 3 (01:18:05):

I love charts

Speaker 1 (01:18:06):

I'm going to try to find, right, so this is anecdotal, and this is from a talk that was done between James Fatman and Daniel Shankin of TAM integration. And I use this chart also in my microdosing talk. And so I personally just stick with using grams, not milligrams. I find it gets a little confusing for me with milligrams, but 0.05 grams. Right. And so you said you like a hundred milligrams?

Speaker 3 (01:19:02):

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Point oh five is 50 milligrams. Point one is a hundred milligrams, this is 15. Point 15 would be 150 milligrams. And then 0.2, I don't know, I got a little lost on that one,

Speaker 1 (01:19:23):

Right? Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 3 (01:19:27):

So that's 200 milligrams or 250 milligrams.

Speaker 1 (01:19:32):

Yeah,

Speaker 3 (01:19:33):

Yeah, yeah, yeah, right. Yeah, yeah. Yes, six.

Speaker 1 (01:19:37):

What I'm hearing from you is that anything over 500 milligrams or a half a gram of dried mushroom and depending on the strain is a macro dose. And it's like if that's what allows you to feel, if that's what you consider a macro dose. Yeah, definitely. And I would just say that it's a low dose Personally, I think for me, in my opinion, a macro dose is something that brings me more into a journey state. So anything like over agram.

Speaker 3 (01:20:21):

Okay. Okay, cool. Yeah, and everybody's different as we know. It doesn't matter if you're a 250 pound guy or Hey, I'm 150 pound guy, I have a high tolerance. And that a big person, it doesn't really, it's not like I guess as cannabis would be. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:20:47):

Yeah, totally.

Speaker 3 (01:20:49):

Cool. Thank you for the clarity.

Speaker 1 (01:20:50):

Yeah, I appreciate the question. It's a really great question. For sure. I'm really glad that you asked it. Anyone else?

Speaker 3 (01:21:08):

No one else. I have another question. Any microdosing programs that you would recommend on the internet or you know of anything or you could recommend there's any programs out there that you feel confident in or safe

Speaker 1 (01:21:28):

For learning?

Speaker 3 (01:21:30):

Just yeah, microdosing protocol program to learn about it and go through a type of cohort one to three months. So it's accountability.

Speaker 1 (01:21:50):

There is moms on mushrooms and it's for moms, but guess what? They're making one for fathers. That's awesome. I don't know if you're a father or not, but that's going to be a really, really great cohort. And nothing else is coming to mind

Speaker 2 (01:22:11):

At this

Speaker 1 (01:22:11):

Moment specific to microdosing, but let me think about it and get back to you.

Speaker 3 (01:22:22):

Sounds great. Thank you, Josh.

Speaker 1 (01:22:24):

Yeah, you're welcome. Cool. Well, we're at time. I always like trying to end on time. If I say if I'm going to end at two 30, I'm going to try to end at two 30, so appreciate you all being here. Thank you so much. I invite you to turn off your cameras and wave goodbye or type in the chat, whatever works for you. But thank you so much for being here. Really appreciate you all. Have a great rest of your day and I'll be in touch with emailing some more information to you all. Thank you. Bye.