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My Psychedelic Roots

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A #podcast about people's psychedel!c roots: sharing stories about what led them to their first encounter, and what that experience has taught them

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Episode 39 is out! Alycia Fridkin @finiky_radical is an equity and anti-racism health policy activist who has been working in public health and harm reduction settings for over two decades. As a queer Jewish White settler living in Vancouver, BC on the unceded homelands of the Musqueam and Squamish Peoples, she currently works for the Provincial Health Services Authority in Indigenous Health as a collaborative practice and policy lead. As we hear a bit about in our conversation together, Alycia is also the founder of Jewish Third Space, a retreat based initiative that integrates Jewish wisdom with transformative embodied practices— a reflection of the way she has reclaimed and blended her spiritual and cultural roots with her psychedelic unfolding. In our conversation together, we talk about her chaotic childhood experiences, and the roles that both fear and magic played in making sense of herself and the world around her. We talk about her desire to ‘get high’ in her teenage years, and explore two formative experiences-- one with LSD and one with MDMA-- that both reflect the unique mix of fear and magic that Alycia has experienced in her life. You can access the full episode at the link in bio, or anywhere you listen to podcasts #tripreport #podcast #psychedelics by @psyrootspodcast

Episode 38 is out! Kyle Buller @kylebuller_ is a somatic psychotherapist, breathwork facilitator, and educator recognized for his leadership in the psychedelic field. He is the Co-Founder, along with Joe Moore, of Psychedelics Today @psychedelicstoday and the Co-Founder and Director of Vital Psychedelic Training @vitalpsychedelic a professional program in Integrative Psychedelic Studies, as well as @settingsunwellness providing breathwork coaching and integration support. As we hear in our conversation together, all of these contributions and accomplishments are deeply connected to his psychedelic roots in childhood. We talk about some of his mystical experiences as a child, and how his curiosity led him to connect deeply to himself and the world around him. Then, after a near-death experience in his teens and subsequent deep depression and destabilization, we hear about his first and existentially corrective psilocybin journey, after which his life's path turned toward understanding the nature of consciousness while also learning to stay grounded and connected to his body and day to day life. You can access the full episode at the link in bio, or anywhere you listen to podcasts #tripreport #podcast #psychedelics by @psyrootspodcast

Episode 37 is out! Rielle Capler is the Executive Director for the Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies Canada (MAPS Canada), and has a long history of engaging in research and policy spaces, providing consultations, testimony, and submissions on both cannabis and psychedelics to a variety of Canada’s federal, provincial and municipal governments and other nations. Before leading MAPS Canada, Rielle applied her Masters in Health Administration to the first medical #cannabis dispensary in #Canada, and worked in the cannabis field for over 20 years, co-founding and leading several nonprofits in the cannabis space-- eventually receiving the Governor General of Canada’s Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal acknowledging her contribution to Canadian society through her work. In our conversation, we talk about the awe and curiosity she experienced as a child, and the reverence she had for #ritual at a young age. We explore her mostly-theoretical interest in psychedelics in her teenaged years, before happening into her first experience with an unexpectedly robust #psilocybin mushroom tea one summer before starting university. We talk about what she has learned from her experiences over the years, and the importance of set and setting for moving in these spaces with intention, agency and humility. You can access the full episode at the link in bio, or anywhere you listen to podcasts #tripreport podcast psychedelics by @psyrootspodcast

Episode 36 is out! Jamie Steel @mrjamessteel is an award-winning educator, music presenter, artist manager and community builder based in St. Andrews, New Brunswick. Across science, education and music, his work reflects his passion for bringing people together through creativity, community and shared experience—all of which is on display in our conversation together. In it, we talk about Jamie’s grounded childhood, which helped establish a solid base for his sense of exploration. We talk about how this admiration for explorers is connected to his psychedelic roots, the seed of which began on a train between Vancouver and Edmonton, and how those roots have supported his life’s many unfoldings and way of seeing the world—whether in a non-ordinary state of consciousness or not. You can access the full episode at the link in bio, or anywhere you listen to podcasts #tripreport #podcast #psychedelics by @psyrootspodcast

Episode 35 is out! Thessaly Storm Lerner aka Rainbow Valentine @rainbowvalentinelemur is a multi-media artist, storyteller and accidental counterculture historian. Along with producing narrative podcasts about hippie heroes with the “Psychedelic Women” podcast @psychedelicwomenstories, Lerner shares her talents as a musical comedian known as The Ukulady @theukulady, a voiceover actress best known for the cult videogames “Silent Hill” and “The Sims 2”, as well as a writer, producer, director, improviser, creator, and promoter of the Downfall of Evil. Thessaly adopted her childhood moniker Rainbow Valentine as her podcast alias while also making the popular podcast “Disorganized Crime: Smuggler’s Daughter” about her childhood growing up with pot-smuggling counterculture parents, which we talk about a bit in our conversation together. In tracing Thessaly’s #psychedelic roots, we also explore the relativity of understanding oneself in childhood, we talk about the role magic played and continues to play in her life’s unfolding, and the role of safety and home in her first – and subsequent—psychedelic experiences. You can access the full episode at the link in our bio, or anywhere you listen to podcasts #tripreport #podcast #psychedelics by @psyrootspodcast

Episode 34 is out! Ona Praderas @onapraderas is an art therapy student at the Toronto Art Therapy Institute, embodiment wellness coach, clinic administrator at @flowstate.therapy, facilitator at @acerintegration, and board member of the Psychedelic Puppet Show @psychedelicpuppetshow. Previously, she co-led Synthesis Retreats, guiding participants through transformative experiences. Ona holds safe spaces for people to reclaim their bodies, pleasure, and power, and to reconnect with their creativity and inner wisdom. In our conversation, Ona describes her early childhood moving from Spain to Mexico, and finding comfort in the different languages and cultures in which she was immersed. She talks about how art and creativity helped her feel grounded and connected throughout her unfolding, and after some recreational experiences, she walks us through her first supported experience with friends at a retreat in Oaxaca Mexico. Ona also shares about the role that art and expression can play in psychedelic meaning making, and her own experiences of healing and transformation with creativity. You can access the full episode at the link in our bio, or anywhere you listen to podcasts #tripreport #podcast #psychedelics by @psyrootspodcast

Episode 33 is out! Kenneth Tupper @drkennethtupper @intonicatedpodcast is a Canadian policy consultant, scholar and educator who provides guidance on public health and transformative education, with a particular focus on mental health, substance use and psychedelic research. In our conversation together, Ken takes us through his childhood of embracing science while being surrounded by awe-inspiring nature in the west coast of Canada. He walks us through some of his early experiences with LSD where the seeds were planted for his interest in psychedelics and non-ordinary states of consciousness, as well as planting seeds for some of his more fulfilling and nourishing threads in adulthood, including his passion for playing music and caretaking of his body and health. Ken also shares about how his experiences with psychedelics helped shape his academic and professional choices, and we end the conversation talking a bit about what the present—and future—of Canadian drug policy is grappling with as we aim to work towards the equitable and sustainable unfolding of the legal and regulatory space in #Canada. You can access the full episode at the link in our bio, or anywhere you listen to podcasts #tripreport #podcast #psychedelics by @psyrootspodcast

Episode 32 is out! Scott Wright is a filmmaker and producer who is on the cusp of premiering his new film 'The Next Chapter - Psychedelics, Healing, and the Second Half of Life' @thenextchapterfilm : a documentary following adults over 55 as they have a shared psychedelic experience in a facilitated group setting. In our conversation together, Scott shares about what led him to make this film, and the rich and varied life that led him to his first supported psychedelic experience in his late 60s. Scott spent 25 years of his life on the radio, rising from his high-school station in suburban Chicago to become America’s most-listened-to DJ throughout the 1980s on Z-100 in New York and his nationally syndicated show “Hitline USA” (listeners knew him as “Shadow Steele” or simply “The Shadow”). He turned later in his career to film, and his latest offering was inspired by his transformative psilocybin experience in Mexico over three years ago. We hear about his spiritual experiences with music, his harrowing and unexpected first experience with LSD when he was 16, and staying away from psychedelics until he picked up Michael Pollan’s book in 2018 and rekindled his curiosity about the healing potential of these experiences—eventually leading to his profound experience of connection and compassion, and transforming into what he calls “Scott 2.0”. You can access the full episode at the link in bio, or anywhere you listen to podcasts #tripreport #podcast #psychedelics by @psyrootspodcast

Episode 31 is out! Ariel Fuenzalida is an Adjunct Professor for the Classics and Religious Studies Department and core faculty of the Psychedelics & Consciousness Studies M.A. Program at @uottawa while also teaching for the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at @carleton_u. In our conversation together, we wend our way through his tumultuous childhood: from his experiences as a child growing up in Chile and losing contact with his mother for a year during the political unrest, escaping to Canada with his family, and finding grounding and community in what became eventually their new home. As he came to settle in Canada, Ariel talks about his early experiences of presence, flow and wonder that he accessed in his early years, and the influences and motivations that eventually brought him to his first psychedelic experience with friends as a curious and maybe a little naïve university student at a Chinese restaurant in Ottawa. You can access the full episode at the link in bio, or anywhere you listen to podcasts #tripreport #podcast #psychedelics by @psyrootspodcast

Episode 30 is out! Matthew Skinta is an Associate Professor of Psychology and Affiliated Faculty of Women and Gender Studies at Roosevelt University in Chicago, USA. As we hear in our conversation, Matthew also does global work on the adaptation and advancement of cognitive behavior therapies for work with sexual orientation and gender diverse people, a passion born out of his own experiences growing up queer and experiencing a childhood full of contrasts, challenges and changes that provided very little grounding as he literally made his way through the world, moving around as a military kid. As we explore this chaotic context of childhood, we learn about Matthew’s deep connection to mindfulness and meditation that he cultivated in early adulthood, and which continues to be an important spiritual anchor as he continues to access home and interconnection in himself and with the world around him. We also talk about how his spirituality has deepened since his first psychedelic experience at a supported retreat in the Netherlands a few years ago, and learn about the beautiful experience of connection and witnessing he had there. Link in bio to listen to the full episode, and you can find the show wherever you listen to podcasts! #psychedelics #podcast #storytime by @psyrootspodcast

Episode 29 is out! Deva Arani’s @devaarani life and work explores what it means to integrate profound experiences into our lives. She is the author of Integration Alchemy: The Real Ceremony Is Your Life, a book devoted to the art of integration-- and The Mother Ache, which explores healing early relational wounds through compassion, embodiment, and feminine wisdom. In our conversation together, we hear about Arani’s complex and painful childhood, and the connections to nature and her body that helped resource her as she navigated these confusing foundational experiences. We learn about her deep mediation experiences of non-duality and self-compassion, all of which set the stage for her first psychedelic encounter with ayahuasca in Peru many years ago. You can access the full episode at the link in bio, or anywhere you listen to podcasts #tripreport #podcast #psychedelics by @psyrootspodcast

Episode 28 is out! Pamela Kryskow is a medical doctor, advocate, practitioner and life-loving human. She serves as the medical lead of the non-profit “Roots To Thrive” Psychedelic Assisted Therapy Program @roots2thrive , she volunteers as a founding board member of the Psychedelic Association of Canada, and serves as the Medical Chair of the Vancouver Island University Post Graduate Certificate in Psychedelic Medicine Assisted Therapy. Prior to studying to become a doctor, she was a City of Coquitlam Firefighter for 8 years and provincial forestry firefighter for 4 seasons. Pam is someone who thrives in complexity, abundance and the ‘and’ of the human experience. Wending our way through her roots, in our conversation we explore her childhood moving all over North America with her professional-hocky-playing father and family, and the resilience and groundedness she cultivated in that unique childhood context. We explore her evolving relationship with religion and spirituality, from her Catholic roots to her deepening relationship with nature. And we dive into what she calls her ‘meandering’ life path, and talk about what she is learning about herself, her truth and the world around her, all while her roots continue to nourish and ground her unfolding. You can access the full episode at the link in bio, or anywhere you listen to podcasts #tripreport #podcast #psychedelics by @psyrootspodcast