10 things this month

Monthly resource roundup #3 - February 2023

1. The lovely Jayde Barber recently interviewed me for her podcast Students of Mind. We talk about everything from my journey healing with psychedelic medicine, how to integrate journeys, recreational vs. medicinal use, common misconceptions about psychedelics, and the war on drugs… listen here (from minute 43:52 onwards)

2. We also did a bonus episode on my recent ibogaine experience which you can listen to here.

3. I’ve recently rediscovered the incredible work of Sarah Blondin. If you don’t know her, please do yourself a favor and check out her meditations on Insight Timer (for free). I know few people who articulate the journey into the heart so beautifully.

4. Speaking about beautiful articulation, my meditation teacher recently shared an Arabic proverb that I’d like to pass along: “only speak when the words are more beautiful than silence". A powerful mantra.

5. On silence, this 7-minute NYT-produced YouTube video featuring Gordon Hempton explores how to find silence in a noisy world. In Hempton’s words, “silence is going extinct”. Also, “silence is not the absence of something, but the presence of everything”.

6. I’m currently listening to “William Blake vs the World”, a fascinating account of one of our time’s greatest mystics. Blake’s visions were similar in nature to those that are often triggered by psychedelics, yet, they emerged naturally. We can learn a lot from Blake about the unseen world.

7. This interview with Megyn Kelly and psychedelic research legend Roland Griffiths is worth a watch. Griffiths, who has been at the forefront of the psychedelic renaissance since initiating psychedelic research at Johns Hopkins University nearly two decades ago, shares fascinating insights into the nature of his research — and the nature of consciousness. (Thanks to Rav from Noble Truths for encouraging and sharing this).

8. Huge news on the policy front - Australia became the first country to legalize psychedelic medicine (namely psilocybin in MDMA). You can read more about the details on The Trip Report.

9. The Microdose published an interesting section on challenging psychedelic experiences, illuminating a hugely important topic. We talk a lot about the benefits of psychedelics and sometimes dismiss some of the risk (myself included). This is a good reminder of why caution and sturdy support structures are so necessary for this work.

10. In my day job, I’m dedicated to initiatives designed to help legalize psychedelic therapy in the US. One of these initiatives is concerned with Veterans. My beautiful colleague Juliana spoke to the NYT this week about her journey of healing PTSD with psychedelic medicine. Listen to The Daily here.

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Finally, if you haven’t done so yet please consider donating to this fundraiser I started to make psychedelic healing more accessible. Anything helps. More details on the GoFundMe page, but essentially we’re pooling resources to send people in need to psychedelic retreats for free (including preparation and integration support).

Much love,

Julia