Psychedelics for mental healing and expanded awareness

In the olden days people dropped acid, took shrooms, and tripped the light fantastic. In other words, they got high. Sometimes it went well and sometimes, well, let’s just say some people were never the same.

And there are plenty of people who still just want to get high for the sake of the buzz. A whole new generation of drug users is getting high with plants to expand their consciousness, to heal from depression, or to find a way to shift some inner stuck place.

I chose to bring a psychedelic specialist because there are I wanted to explore these plants’ potential. Universities like NYU, Johns Hopkins, and UCBerkley to name a few, and hospitals around the country are exploring the healing power of these plants for people with pain, PTSD, depression, addiction, and terminal illness.

Unless you want to enroll in a western medical trial, (Use that link to find trials now accepting new patients), then what are our options? 

In the US only Oregon has decriminalized shrooms. Here are the countries around the world where you won’t go to jail for possession or use.

My guest this week, Alice Smeets, is the co-founder of a company, A Whole New High, who facilitates this new cohort. Wouldn’t you know it but the original party people, Boomers, are the ones who are flocking to retreats, journeys, and individual guided sessions in large numbers.

Here’s how the website describes their business. “A WHOLE NEW HIGH, where curious minds, seeking clarity, purpose and deeper meaning come to accelerate personal and spiritual growth.”

 Her company hosts individual and group retreats using psychedelic plants to promote those things. The group retreats, called The Shift, use psilocybin as the vehicle to expand consciousness and the trained facilitators to support people before, during, and after the journey.

One thing I loved learning from Alice is about the different kinds of experiences one might have depending on the person’s intention.

And which plant is chosen.

Psilocybin is the mildest though depending on the dose can blast you into outer space. 

I asked her to compare LSD to mushrooms,

“L S D (the trip) is much longer. It's a 12-hour journey, 10 to 12 hours. psilocybin is four to six. And The intensity is more or less the same because it depends on, it all depends on the dose.

“With mushrooms, the experience will feel a lot more earthy. Like the visions that you get will have more to do with nature. It's not true for everyone, but many people report after mushrooms that they felt really connected to nature and they felt a feeling of being connected to everyone in the world and to nature and to trees.

And LSD feels a little bit more like flying through the universe. You not so much on this earth, you're more like flying through the clouds and two different dimensions.

But then again, because these are so similar, you can also have images like flying through the universe on mushrooms or like feeling really connected to nature on L S D.”

Once again setting and intention make a big difference.

If you do decide to “journey,” I know I will, make sure you work with people who are going to make safety—physical and mental—a priority.  

Their Youtube channel will answer more questions and expand on my convo with Alice.

They also have an active Facebook page.