116 | The Medicine Around the Medicine: 7 Unintentional Benefits of Psychedelics
“As we overcome our fears in medicine work, we also overcome our fears in life. It’s one of those benefits we take directly from the mat into our everyday experience.”
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In this solo episode, we welcome the new year and explore the “medicine around the medicine”—those unexpected gifts that arise from working with psychedelics. Rather than focusing on the direct, intentional outcomes we seek through ceremonies, this conversation dives into the unintentional benefits that often unfold on the periphery. From discovering deeper devotion in our day-to-day lives, to enhancing our diets and fortifying relationships, these surprising transformations act as the welcomed “cherry on top” of our psychedelic journeys.
Lana shares personal insights about integrating medicines like ayahuasca, psilocybin, and iboga, highlighting how these experiences can spark inner trust and strengthen one’s connection to nature and spirituality. Listeners will also hear reflections on the value of patience, the courage required to confront fear, and how a long-term view of transformation can foster true metamorphosis. Whether you’re new to psychedelics or a seasoned explorer, this episode offers an inspiring reminder of how plant medicines can weave their wisdom into every aspect of life—often in ways we never expected.
What You’ll Learn:
Cultivating devotion to what truly matters
Overcoming fear by facing the unknown
Embracing the long-term journey of transformation
Improved diet and physical well-being over time
Navigating shifts in friendships and relational dynamics
Deepening connection to nature and spirituality
Cultivating inner trust and honing intuition
Reflections on new beginnings and the power of intentions
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Where to find Lana:
I was introduced to psychedelics in my early 20s within rave culture, and few years later I began to use plant medicine ceremonially.
Many circumstances aligned leaving me shattered, and I began the journey of putting myself back together. Plant medicine & psychedelics saved me from depression, anxiety, and a life of feeling unworthy. This is now my life’s work and I have devoted myself to sharing psychedelics and plant medicines with others because I have personally experienced how effectively they can catalyze growth, healing and connection.
This idea for Modern Psychedelics came to me during a journaling session in early 2020. I was learning so much about psychedelics at the time (while experiencing the benefits firsthand), and I had a deep desire to talk about these topics with people in the field. Upon launching the Instagram community, the page grew tremendously over a short period of time and continues to have high levels of engagement.
I am a 3x certified professional life coach, and I work with people who want to better their lives by deeply integrating insights from their psychedelic experiences. I believe that we don’t have to spend our entire lives healing, and that the purpose of life is to live in the present moment.
Looking for a professional coach to support you on your psychedelic path?
Look no further! Along with being the host of the Modern Psychedelics Podcast, Lana is a 3x certified professional coach who works with people on the psychedelic path.
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MP116 - Solo
Speaker: [00:00:00] Hello everyone and happy, happy 2025. I'm a huge sucker for the new year. I love Any excuse to feel like, you know, I get a fresh start at life. So I'm just wishing you a happy 2025.
And I'm really excited for today's episode. It's been percolating in my mind over these last few months.
And what I want to talk to you about today is the medicine around the medicine. I want to look at and discuss some of these indirect benefits that we gain from engaging in medicine work with plant medicines and psychedelics.
. The medicine around the medicine are those benefits that we gain from engaging in this work without actually meaning to. gain these benefits. So those more direct benefits would be those more direct benefits would be those shifts and changes that we intentionally desire by setting out an intention around them and going into work desiring a specific shift.
But what I want to talk about [00:01:00] today is the ways that we grow and the benefits that we get from medicine work that we don't actually intend to get. And they're kind of like that, that cherry on top, they're the sprinkles, they're the icing, they're the things that we don't seek out to get.
But yet we realize that our lives are better because of these things. So these are the transformations that happen on the periphery. We're not really looking for them, but slowly and surely they're happening. They're taking place. And they shape our lives, our habits, the way that we show up, the way that we think about life and the way that we experience life in profound ways, from devotion to diet to overcoming fears.
These are all things that we're going to talk about today, but first I want to just take a little beat here to just check in with you guys because yeah, it's a new year. There's a lot of new energy going around. I have personally had a really rough start to 2025. I got really sick and this is actually my [00:02:00] first day back at work after about three weeks.
And I'm so fortunate and lucky that I work for myself and set my own schedule and I'm able to, you know, manage my own load that I was able to gift myself that. And I just burnt myself out. To the core by the end of 2024. I feel like a student again because often in university you know, I did grad school.
I did my undergrad and I would often study for exams and cram for exams. I'm going to write that final paper and then my body would just get sick and it's that feeling of like, okay, the body knows that it doesn't have to do anymore and it's kind of safe to get sick. I feel like that's where I'm at and I really pushed myself and this forced pause has really given me a lot of time.
Yes, to rest and be horizontal and watch all the YouTube vlogs to my heart's content. You know, watch reruns of Friends and read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, which is one of my favorite novels. But also it's given me a lot of time to [00:03:00] reflect about how I want to use my energy going forward and what I have planned for 2025.
So I'm actually going to be releasing a YouTube video. about goal setting for 2025. And I'm going to provide you guys with a lot of resources and tools that you can use to do the same. It's January 16th. It's mid January. It's definitely not too late to start thinking about your intentions and goals for 2025.
So look up modern psychedelics on YouTube and make sure you are subscribed there because I'm going to be releasing some cool content there over the coming year. Starting with that. And then I also just want to, yeah, send some love to anyone in LA or anyone who has family in LA. Anyone who is affected by the wildfires.
It is absolutely tragic to even watch what's happening on TV, let alone live through it or be connected to someone who's living through it. So I just want anyone who's listening to know, I [00:04:00] know we have such a vibrant psychedelic community over in L. A. Please send my, please accept my love and prayers and know that I'm thinking about you.
And I know that doesn't really do much, but please, know that you are being held in so much love. And I'm so sorry if you are going through that. If you need any support or just needs an ear or someone to reflect something back to you, please feel free to reach out to my DMs.
I just, I love our community and please let me know if there's anything I can do personally to help out. Yeah, just so tragic what's happening, , with the ongoing environmental crisis that we're facing and, you know, hopefully these plants and their consciousness will guide us as a humanity to some more sustainable ways because it's just tragic to see what's happening, let alone, you know, the man made issues and wars that are also happening worldwide.
But yeah, just want to take a moment to send some love and I hope that if you're not in LA that you join me in sending love [00:05:00] and prayers to everyone who is affected by that.
And the last little announcement that I have for you is that there is now a subscriber only platform available to listeners of the podcast through Spotify. Thank you so much to everyone who's already subscribed and signed up. It means so much. Look, it's getting really hard to fund this podcast.
If I'm being completely honest with you guys, it's really hard to get sponsorships. They want a listenership rate that is, you know, very, very high for the little niche that we've created here. I mean, look, my podcast does well and it touches thousands of lives and I'm really proud of it. But. It seems to not be good enough for a lot of the brands that I would like to work with.
And so it's getting harder and harder to fund the podcast. I'm having to start to pay out of pocket for this. And so I thought that it would be a nice idea to offer a community sponsored. podcast option, where as a subscriber for only 4. 99 per month, [00:06:00] you get access to ad free listening, early access to episodes, and then also a bonus episode per month that's going to be completely community driven.
I'm also going to be sharing much more vulnerably and personally over on the subscriber only channel. I have some thoughts and feelings about being a public person and sharing my life so intimately. And I've done so over the past four or five years, I'm definitely planning to pull back on that a little bit.
And so if you want some more of those, like more personal, juicy. updates from me and how my medicine work is going that'll be over on the subscriber channel. And if you've been a long time listener, or a new listener, if you've gained any value from my podcast, it would mean so much to me if you subscribe, even for a couple of months.
You can cancel anytime, but your ongoing support means so much to me. And I just hope that it doesn't fall on deaf ears, just the financial reality of keeping this podcast going. It's definitely become burdensome for [00:07:00] me financially. And so I'm trying to find creative ways to fund the podcast while also continuing to provide valuable free content.
And then some of those additional perks as a thank you for. being a paid subscriber. So you can check that out. There's a link here in the show notes. The Spotify podcasting platform is absolutely amazing. You can leave comments now. I definitely sense that most listenership of podcasts will be over on Spotify in the coming two to five years.
So shout out to Spotify for prioritizing content creators in this way and allowing us to Crowdsource and fund our podcasts in this way. So yes, please check that out. And let's get to the meat of today's episode. So what are some of these unintentional benefits that we get without really meaning to get them?
Well, the first one that came to mind for me is something that I [00:08:00] early on in my ayahuasca days is that medicine work allows us to really cultivate and question and hone in on what we are devoted to. And when I think about devotion, what comes to me is what do I devote? What do I intentionally send my life resources to my time, my energy, my money.
What is it in life that I am devoting myself to? And sometimes what we are devoted to can be very unintentional. For example, we can be devoted to our suffering by remaining stuck in a victim energy because there's lots of benefits to being a victim.
And I've talked about this before. I would check out the seven levels of energy podcast episode that I did. If you want to learn more about level one energy or victim energy, but that's a way like. When I say devotion, it's a beautiful word and it often invokes like this kind of [00:09:00] spiritual imagery of being devoted to a higher power or being devoted to the earth, but we can also be unintentionally absolutely devoted to our own suffering, to being stuck in life.
And so When we are in these medicine spaces particularly with facilitators and guides who are so devoted to the medicine that they are serving and so devoted and passionate about helping others work through similar blockages and inhibitions that they themselves have been through, right? Like when we're in that energy of not just the medicine, but of being in a room of Guides who have devoted their lives to sharing these medicines and sharing the messages of earth and love and unity consciousness with people.
You can't help but look at them and be like, wow, I'm so inspired to question what it is that I'm devoting myself to. [00:10:00] Where is it that? I want to make a change, obviously it starts with our own lives. We need to make changes in our own life before we can create profound and sustainable and even ethical change in other people's lives.
But what, what is it that I want to devote my life to? This is one of those questions that came to me so early on in my journey. And, you know, I've. come to a place where I really have devoted my life to championing psychedelics, but not even psychedelics themselves, but what this path encompasses, which is a path of continued growth and transformation.
And,
and the. Messages that we receive over and over and over again as a humanity from altered states, such as love is the only thing that is real. Earth holds all of the answers. We have infinite potential and wisdom already inside of ourselves. These are things that I. I've devoted myself to sharing with the world [00:11:00] and not just through me, but through medicine.
And as I'm, and as I even look up the definition of devotion, right, like just a quick Google search, the definition of devotion, you know, officially is love, loyalty, or enthusiasm for a person, activity, or cause. It can also be religious worship or observance and it can also be prayers or religious observances.
I really like that first definition because it's non dogmatic and I really strive to create a non dogmatic and clear space for people here. And so when we look at that definition, I, I, I I want you to reflect on this. If you aren't already, you know, what is it that you are devoted to, in love with, enthusiastic about, passionate about, and how can you bring that devotion into your everyday life?
And this doesn't mean that you have to quit your job and start a psychedelic retreat center. It actually can be in those everyday little [00:12:00] moments. If you are learning lessons all about Love and unity consciousness, then how do you actually bring that into your everyday interactions with the people who drive you the fucking craziest?
That's the work, my friends.
I've said this before and I'll say it again. One of my earliest teachers has, has often repeated the way that we show up for ceremony is the way that we show up for life. If you show up prepared, focused, present for ceremony, that's often a mirror for how you are willing to show up for yourself and for life.
And so this lesson of devotion and really integrating that into your life and really allowing your devotion, The places and spaces that you give and the way that you give and the way that you spread the messages that are important to you can be greatly ignited through the psychedelic journey.
The second thing that comes to mind as an unintentional benefit of psychedelics is overcoming fear [00:13:00] look, it takes a lot of courage to overcome your fear and sit down on the mat and receive a medicine that's going to alter your consciousness in ways that you have no reference point for in a lot of ways we're entering psychedelic states, altered states to completely
surrender everything that we know and all of our expectations, you know, that's like the first rule you, you're signing up to do a psychedelic journey. You're signing up to do something that is completely unpredictable and that's really where the magic and the healing of psychedelics lies because there's so much to be said about releasing control.
And in fact, I would tie in releasing control with, overcoming fears here, right? Just by yeah. Taking part in the process of working with psychedelics allows us to overcome those fears within ourself and, you know, really temper the control that we have on our lives and surrender to an experience that [00:14:00] is new and scary.
And, you know, the ironic thing is, of course, I see this time and time again in myself, in my medicine clients, in my coaching clients who I'm coaching through their integration process. on retreats that I go to, it always ends up being the same thing.
I don't know what I was so afraid of. And I don't know, this must be like a human condition that we have because I am sitting with Iboga in a couple of months. And look, I'm terrified. I'm scared. I have fear. And yet I know that there's actually nothing to fear. It's this dichotomy. It's this thing. But I think overall psychedelics and this path allow us to To really work with our fear, confront our fear, work through our fear in a way that nothing else can because to have a psychedelic experience is to have a direct experience, a direct experience.
It's different than seeing a therapist or working with a coach or reading a book about something like you're having a direct experience of ego [00:15:00] dissolution, of reliving traumas, of A mirror of yourself that you have never faced before. And that is so scary because it's unknown. But as we overcome our fears in medicine work, we are also able to overcome our fears in life.
And so this is one of those benefits that we take directly from the mat to life itself. And it's a beautiful one, definitely worth mentioning and reflecting on.
This fear can show up in really sneaky ways in ceremony. Sometimes I have seen this talk of I'm not doing another ceremony. I got what I needed. And sometimes that's completely valid and you're really in touch with yourself and you got exactly what you wanted and you're good. And that is totally valid.
Other times saying I got what I needed can be a way to avoid deeper work. It can be a way to stay in our comfort zone and look, [00:16:00] maybe you need to stay in your comfort zone and maybe you haven't overcome those fears yet. But I just want to, I just want to point this out as one of those like sneaky little nuances and ways that fears can show up.
And hopefully in me bringing this up to you, it can be an opportunity for you to recognize it within yourself, discern what's actually going on and then work with that.
The third thing that comes to mind is as we navigate the process of preparation and integration. And hopefully we are navigating these processes quite seriously. We learn that transformation, change, healing, metamorphosis, it's a journey. It's a process. It's not something that happens overnight. And there's so many benefits.
To orienting yourself to this way of life, orienting yourself towards focusing on the journey rather than the destination for starters, as we [00:17:00] focus on the journey and not the destination, we become more present to the experience that's in front of us instead of latching onto the experience that we want, that end goal, and as a result, we're actually able to bring it forward.
All of our energy, all of our energetic engagement, all of our resources, all of our attention and awareness to what's going on now. And as a result, we actually get better outcomes and better end goals when we are able to focus all of our energy and attention and presence on the present moment.
This also teaches us that There's so much value in patience and that things don't happen overnight and that while we might have a certain timeline of how long things should take or where we should be in our life or where we should be in our healing journey, psychedelic work over and over again teaches us that patience is a virtue
And that by engaging seriously in both prep and integration provides so much value in taking this long term view, this [00:18:00] honestly, lifelong view of transformation. And the longer I work on myself, , the more I realize that there's actually not much to work on. And that I'm actually Perfect.
Just as I am. And I don't mean perfect in terms of like, I'm perfect. I'm evolved. I'm great. I'm excellent. There's, I have it all figured out. That's not what I mean by perfect. I am perfect exactly as I am. Just allows me to bring some acceptance to myself and some grace to myself and everything that I am.
And from that place, I can look at myself and say, where might I be able to improve? My relationship with this person or where in my life may I be able to become a more effective leader and how might I be able to take steps towards creating a greater impact on the world and how might I be able to communicate better so that I have a greater impact, things like that.
If we cultivate the sense [00:19:00] of I am already perfect as I am. And there's infinite possibility for growth and transformation, right? Okay, that's how it ties all together. That allows us to really embrace the journey and take this lifelong, long term view of transformation.
And through that, we release control in our day to day reactions. We stop Wanting things to happen right away, we integrate this very thing into life itself, but we learn that from participating deeply in work with medicine and work with altered states,
I'm telling you that. When you come to the point of accepting all that is while also holding space for all that is possible, that's, that's really it, right? It's, it's that juicy spot in between all that already is and all that is already possible. That piece of. Acceptance of what is [00:20:00] with
the potential of what could be that's that sweet spot. And we really want to balance those equally and evenly in our journey. And I think when we focus too much on what could be that end goal, the result, the end of the healing, whatever that is, whatever that means. We tend to take a shorter view of.
transformation and healing. And so we try to rush through the process. We get frustrated and it's just, it's a recipe for disaster.
Okay, let's move on to unintentional benefit number four. Improvements to diet and our physical vessel. I have always been deeply Involved and passionate about diet and holistic wellness and holistic living. And that's because As a teenager, I suffered from severe cystic acne.
Like it ruined my confidence. I [00:21:00] had zits. All over my face. I couldn't look people in the eye. I mean, it was it was intense and something that like literally scarred me. I still have acne scars for me, but it also scarred my soul a little bit. And I've done a lot of healing around it.
But because I was you know, Going through this really intense cystic acne, I worked with so many uh, naturopaths and took a very holistic approach to my health and wellness from a very young age, and I've tried it all. You know, I did the candida diet when I was like, 19 for months and months. And while it cleared up my acne, I realized very quickly that it was not sustainable for me to never eat any sugar or any dairy or any gluten or any cheese.
And so I have been on a lifelong journey of navigating the most ideal diet, the most ideal nutrition for myself. And [00:22:00] working with psychedelics is something that. that process up immensely, immensely, especially the last two years. Like since I did the Shipibo Ayahuasca sit in Costa Rica in May 2023, I believe it was.
I have been working on my gut health. I have been reducing my intake of gluten. immensely, I no longer feel bloated, but it's also so sometimes like these lessons can come from ceremony itself. But also, I remember that feeling of having to do the ayahuasca diet over and over and over again for about Two and a half, three years, I was sitting with ayahuasca quite regularly, having to do that diet over and over again, and then bouncing back into like, the pizza and the fried foods and all of that stuff that makes me feel like shit.
Kind of yo yoing back and forth, like, every time I would yo yo back and forth, I got so much information about how good my body can feel. As we diet off [00:23:00] of these foods that are common allergens in preparation for a ceremony whether that's ayahuasca or mushrooms or even 5 MeO, it's always a good idea to really eat nutritious.
Whole foods. As we kind of like go through that process many times, we get a sense of how good we can feel and we start to learn, okay, when I cut this out, I feel like this. When I cut that out, I feel like this. And then you reintroduce it. And so it's this process of continuously learning Seeing what you feel like eating certain foods, and I would say the Shapibo Ayahuasca set and then 5 MeO DMT in particular have really, really helped me to realize what foods are good for me and what foods are not good for me,
I'm a recovering sugar addict. I have been addicted to sugar since I was very young. It was something that I used to soothe myself because I had parents who were quite absent because, you know, we were immigrants and they were working hard to build a life for me and my [00:24:00] brother. And so I would self soothe with sugar on those days that I was home alone and wanting comfort.
And that sugar addiction followed me into my teen years, into my adult years. And now I am turning 34 and I feel that I've finally kicked sugar in a big way. I still consume sugar, but I've learned so much about balancing my blood sugar and gut health. And particularly after five MEO, my nervous system became so much more sensitive to feeling like shit.
Honestly, I. Can still take in these foods that are allergens for me. So that includes mostly gluten and sugar and seed oils are a big one for me. I no longer feel bloated, whereas, you know, a year and a half ago, I was constantly bloated unless I was doing the ayahuasca diet. And so I'm sharing this with you guys, because this really relates to the previous point about transformation and growth being a lifelong journey.
Like, [00:25:00] it's taken me so many years of working on my diet and there's still places where I can improve my diet. Trust me, I'm not perfect but I'm really proud of the progress I've made. And I know that people listening can definitely relate to this. Unintentional benefit of working with psychedelics, whether it's through experiencing the diets and removing allergens and feeling the difference that makes and wanting to intentionally create diet changes through that, or whether it's a direct message from medicine work, or it can also be a change in your behavior.
Energetic composition and your physiological composition as you heal and as you gain more energy, you actually become more sensitive to the things that drain your energy, right? When your baseline is a low level of lethargic energy, you know, you can eat the shit foods that make you feel like shit.
And it's not really much of a change if you already are [00:26:00] feeling drained. But as you increase your vitality, as you increase your energy, as you start to feel better in life, as you start to. access more creativity and flow. You're like so far on that vitality spectrum, that something that drains your energy is going to be felt much more intensely.
And so that is the way that this improvement in diet and nutrition. Happens over time with medicine work as we heal and as we really step into ourselves. Of course, I want to disclaim that with me not being a nutritionist or a dietician, although I have worked with a few nutritionists and I consider myself very well informed about nutrition, but that only goes for what works for me.
And so I encourage you to really make this the year that you focus in on your diet and get that right for yourself. 'cause. What's going to be right for you is different than what's right for me. I personally thrive on animal protein and I know other people do not, but it's all about finding [00:27:00] what's good for you and allowing that to be like this constant thing that is being refined and tweaked as you navigate your transformation and healing with psychedelics.
I'm obviously very, very passionate about this. I always say if I wasn't talking about psychedelics, I would be talking about food because I love food. Catch me in the kitchen. Any day cooking up healthy food. I've gotten really into sourdough bread making this year. It's just it's a lot of fun.
Let's move on to the next point before this turns into a food podcast.
One huge unintentional benefit of working with psychedelics is that we often will experience enhanced relationships and dynamics. The first thing that comes to mind is our friend groups and the people that we keep around ourselves can often shift and change naturally as we step into wanting better for ourselves.
Some people will naturally fall away [00:28:00] when they are no longer aligned with where we are going and that's no shade on them. That's nothing against them. We don't have to look at this change in dynamic as I'm better and more evolved than these people. It's just uh, lack of alignment .
Your priority shift, your priorities change the way that you want to spend your time shifts and changes, and that's okay. So our actual dynamics and relationships and the company that we keep can change as a result of just going on this journey of self discovery. And that can often bring with it challenges.
I know that a lot of you struggle with finding aligned friend groups, and I really struggled with that for years and years. Basically, within a year, all of my friends fell away. Like I'm talking about best a best friend, a friend that I had been friends with since high school, like so many people in my life started to fall away.
And I was really lonely for years. And I can really say that [00:29:00] 2024 was such a. Socially, like, I feel like I socially thrived in 2024 by intentionally seeking out people who are, you know, a little more psychedelic, a little bit more weird, a little bit more creative and funky and just, you know, on that path and on that brainwave.
And I. I was at a New Year's Day party, because I actually worked on New Year's Eve, I was vending for Kana Wellness, but I went to a New Year's Day party, and it was kind of like an industry night in Toronto so it was kind of like the people who had to work on New Year's Eve partied.
On New Year's Day, shout out to wiggle room um, in Toronto, but I remember I had a moment and I looked around and I had attended that New Year's Day party three years in a row. And I looked around this year and I was absolutely astonished at how many friends and connections and beautiful people I suddenly have in my life.
So if you're going through this right [00:30:00] now, and if you're like. You know, some of my friends aren't feeling super aligned and maybe I don't even want to let go of them, but I definitely want to create space for new connections and new friends that are supportive of me being on this path. I just want to tell you that it's absolutely possible.
There's people out there who are waiting to meet someone just like you. Go out and meet people. Like, get in front of people. , get off of screens, get in front of people, go to events, find your local psychedelic community. I met my best friend through the Toronto Psychedelic Community um, absolutely amazing, like, go find some underground music events, go to some raves, you don't even have to do drugs, like I find like the really cool psychedelic people tend to hang out in the warehouses after most people have gone to sleep.
So, you know, or go to a breathwork class, go join a yoga studio, get in front of people, follow your passions, and you're going to naturally find people who are also passionate about the same things that you are. You can do this.
So that's, that's one element of [00:31:00] this, this enhanced relationships benefit of working with psychedelics. Another one though, is that as we better ourselves, as we look more deeply at ourselves, as we explore ourselves, we're naturally going to confront the ways that we show up in relationships, the ways that we maybe don't communicate, the ways that we maybe say yes when we want to say no, or say no when we want to say yes.
And so this is naturally going to come into our relationships with other people. And, you know, hopefully, and what I tend to see is that. We have better relationships. We're more willing to show up openly and honestly. We're more willing to go deep with people like if we're willing to go deep with ourselves and really confront ourselves.
We're also going to be willing to do that with other people life is literally a mirror and a reflection of our own internal world. And of course, there's exceptions to that. For example the natural disasters and the wars that are happening worldwide are not necessarily [00:32:00] an internal reflection of the individuals and victims of that.
So I just want to preface that I don't want to spiritually bypass. The very real the very real circumstances that people across the world are a victim to. But when we're really thinking about relationship dynamics and personal growth, we are offered a mirror into ourselves.
The way that we show up for our relationships and for the people in our lives. Is going to be directly reflective of the way that we show up for ourselves. And so as our capacity, as our energy around how we show up for ourselves changes, it's naturally going to change how we show up for our relationships and the people that we love.
And so this is how unintentionally without really meaning to, our relationships might improve as a result of working with psychedelics.
And of course, not to mention just with increased awareness, with increased consciousness, we come to see these relational [00:33:00] patterns. That might not be serving anyone and these ways that we relate, maybe it's codependently. I'm definitely a codependent in forever recovery and I know that a lot of the clients that I work with in my coaching practice are also codependent and, you know, I think we need to like own that a little bit more and bring some more acceptance towards recognizing these ways that we show up.
But. It's very, it's a very different thing to show up a certain way consciously versus unconsciously. And so I think the psychedelics offer us an increased awareness of how we show up and hopefully we'll get a chance to look at those relational patterns as they come up and get to work on making them better if that is what we desire.
And you know what, if it's not what you desire, and if you're like, Look, I need a break from all this work. That's, I [00:34:00] support that. I feel like I took the last. Well, I know like after Eboga, I definitely took like, I took a sabbatical from the personal development. I was like, I'm done. I'm, I'm hanging up the personal transformation hat and I'm just going to have fun and celebrate life.
And that's also freaking. Okay. I never want you guys to listen to my podcast and feel overwhelmed with like all of these changes that you have to make and all of these ways that you have to grow. And I truly sincerely hope that I never come across in that way. And I just want to grant you permission and not that not that you need permission from me.
Okay. Cause you don't. But You know, perhaps it's a matter of giving yourself permission to take some time off because it can feel overwhelming to feel like there's so much to do. And I think in the psychedelic space, especially, we get really hung up on, the momentum and we get really. Optimistic about what is possible, and we see what is possible, and then we're like, Ooh, well, I'll work on [00:35:00] this and I'll work on that.
And also, you know, it's okay to just enjoy your life
and not be constantly working on yourself. Okay. Tangent aside.
Okay. Unintended benefit number six is there's like a strengthened connection to nature and or spirituality. For me personally, nature is my spirituality. It is the thing that I look to. Um, At least one of the things that I look to to be a source of power and wisdom and direction for me, but as we work with plant medicines, of course they have a consciousness of their own and as we work with them more and more like they become a part of us like ayahuasca is inside of me.
The sacred mushroom is inside of me. Iboga is inside of me and a part of me. When I decided to consume these things, I decided to merge my [00:36:00] consciousness with their consciousness. And obviously, the more often, the more times you Work with a certain medicine, the more you become that certain medicine. Like, I remember being really deep in ayahuasca.
I was like, I feel like I look like ayahuasca, like , you, you, or like, I, I have so many friends who are like mushroom people and I'm like, yeah, that makes sense. You look like a mushroom. You know, we really start to like take on their consciousness and their energy. And so. As we take on the consciousness and the energy of these plants that are from the earth and they carry these wisdom I I never use the word codes because it like it I don't know.
I get a little It feels icky to me when people are like, oh, I have these activation codes for you. I don't know what it is about it. I just, it's not the language that I speak. You know, if that's your language, that's, that's cool. It's not the, it's, it's just not my language. I'm not about that. But [00:37:00] in this case, I actually would use that word because there are these like unique.
energetic codes, which in other words, can just be understood as pieces of wisdom and understanding that these plants and the consciousness of these plants hold that when we consume these plants or fungi and bring it into ourselves, we have access to these messages to these. I think that's the first time I've ever used the word codes on my podcast and I'm judging myself a little bit about it, but let's move on.
Yeah, so there's like a beautiful connection to nature that can happen to pretty much. Everyone, whether you're taking a synthetic like 5meo or LSD or MDMA, I feel like this connection to nature is such a universal thing. And I think the extent of it and the flavor of it and the depth of it varies from medicine to medicine.
Like, you know, the. The fungi have a very specific [00:38:00] way and message compared to ayahuasca compared to iboga, ayahuasca is more of a vine that grows upwards and iboga is more of a root that grows downwards and mushrooms are more of a network that grow all around the world.
And so their wisdom is directly connected to their nature. But I believe, I think that the reason this connection to nature is a natural part of working with psychedelics, a natural benefit is because Nature is our nature.
And so as we connect more with truth and dissolve the barriers and the fog that is not allowing us to see truth, the more we really tap into our true nature. And it's such a beautiful thing. And it's so needed for us to connect to nature because this earth is a beautiful place, despite all of the suffering and the violence and the inequality, you know, the earth itself, the trees, the grass, the [00:39:00] birds, the mountains, the water, the wind, the fire, every, it's all a beautiful thing that, needs to be honored for the healing of humanity and is a very, very important, crucial aspect of moving collectively.
as a humanity into a better reality, into a reality where we are working more together and with each other rather than against each other. And so that's, that's an important one. And spending time in nature during integration really becomes. a form of integration itself, right? Going for a walk, touching a tree, listening to the sound of the wind, looking at the way that the water flows down the river and how it reminds you to flow with life.
This is a way that we, Allow those codes, those messages, those wisdoms to remain [00:40:00] active and to guide us in life.
Number seven, seven is, I feel such a sacred number. There's so many, like, you know, the seven chakras and the seven levels of consciousness. And I feel like there's seven is a sacred number. So we're going to do seven today. The last, the last unintentional benefit, Around medicine work is cultivating inner trust, listening to your intuition.
I don't know if many of us, at least in the beginning, seek out psychedelic experiences to connect more deeply with our inner truth, although that is a beautiful intention. I think at the beginning, usually we're coming to medicine for things that are, creating distress in our lives rather than having an intention such as cultivating intuition and inner trust which is something that would create less distress in our lives.
Does that make sense? It's, it's less pathological, I suppose, to want to cultivate your intuition, but wow. Yeah.
The ways that psychedelics teach us to listen to our intuition, I think [00:41:00] is. By giving us a direct experience of what our intuition sounds like and feels like, who knows what's going on? You know, I know with Iboga and in the Bwedi tradition, there's a very, very direct Approach to cultivating intuition with the soul journey and with the pygmy powder and iboga itself is known as truth serum and like that medicine in particular is one that is Very well known for helping you tune Into what is truth and what intuition is but even with other medicines, you know, we have this this Intuitive process that happens when our consciousness is expanded and when our boundaries are down and when our expectations are suppressed, there's this intuitive process that happens.
And I see this with medicine clients that I hold space for, and I've experienced it myself to [00:42:00] where. Once we create the space, like the actual space for a journey, and once we create the energetic space by consuming the psychedelic and allowing our consciousness to expand in that way, answers just come.
We just know. We just know without knowing. What is intuition? Intuition is knowing something. Without knowing how we know it. We don't have a reason. We don't even need a reason. We're not even concerned with the reason, because we just know something. To be true, right? And so with psychedelics, we get that direct experience, and then we can take that direct experience of connecting to that inner truth, that inner wisdom and bring it into our lives because we.
All of a sudden have a benchmark for what it feels like to know something truly deeply within yourself without knowing how you know it, but knowing how it feels for that truth to land and [00:43:00] sit with you in a way that feels completely different than someone else telling you what is truth reading about it in a book.
And sometimes those messages that you get intuitively will be the same as like. Like, it'll often come and you'll be like, Oh, I already knew this. But it's that moment of connection to your intuition that allows it to land so deeply in a way that it won't land through indirect experience.
And I'd love that we're leaving off on this point because this inner trust is, I think, one of the most empowering in direct benefits of psychedelic work because it informs everything, everything in your life. All of a sudden you have a completely new way of looking at decisions, of looking at your relationships, of looking at your purpose and you have, it's like activating a new compass in your life.
We have three compasses in life. We have our intuition, we have [00:44:00] our thoughts like our brain, our mind, and we have our emotions or our gut. Most of us are usually pretty well oriented to our mind because we live in a very heady society and world. And I don't know about you guys, but I know that I used to be someone who would have a feeling about something and that feeling would mean that it was truth.
And so we have those two compasses usually. Pretty honed in but what a lot of us are missing is the compass of our intuition and psychedelics allow us to really Explore that and to bring that into our lives.
So those are the seven unintentional benefits That I have come up with that are a by product, the cherry on top of working with our psychedelic Intentions. I'm curious what you think though Leave a comment if you're watching on YouTube or if you're listening on Spotify.
Spotify now allows you to leave comments So I would love to hear from you. What is an unintentional benefit that you have experienced from working with [00:45:00] psychedelics? What is that thing that's changed in your life that you're like, huh? That's funny This is so much better, but I never even really set out For that to become improved.
Let me know. I would love to hear from you. And with that, of course, it's January. We're all feeling that new year energy and it is the perfect time to start your coaching journey. So if you are listening and you are ready to really invest in yourself in a way that you haven't invested in yourself before, I would love to work with you as your coach.
We would spend six months together and you will receive 12 hours of one on one time with me through core energy coaching. This is work that aligns very beautifully, very perfectly with being on the psychedelic path because we're essentially working on coaching. Not you as a person, not the situations in your life.
Not even the relationships in your life, we're actually working on coaching your consciousness and getting you to that place of expansion, of openness, of creativity, of flow, of acceptance in your everyday life, [00:46:00] rather than just. On the mat or in the journey. So if that sounds like something that you want to explore, check out modern psychedelics.
net slash coaching. I have a huge webpage there. If you want to read all about my process and how I work with people, there's a ton of testimonials on my website too, from previous clients that have been so lovely to. Provide in depth testimonials and if you want to apply, it's modern psychedelics.
net slash apply. And all of those links will be for you in the show notes. And again, if you would like to subscribe to the podcast for 4. 99 a month, that will be a huge help in helping me keep this baby going, keep the ship flowing and supporting thousands of listeners across the world. I'm sending you a big hug.
Oh my gosh, it feels so good to have recorded an episode for you. I'm literally smiling. So hard because it feels so good to be back at work and back at doing what I love to do After being out for three weeks. So thank you so much for listening. Thank you for all of your support I [00:47:00] hope you enjoyed this a new background I really liked recording here and I think I'll record from here from here on out and also shout out to Oscar who is a listener And a previous client and just all time Amazing supporter of the show and everything that I do.
He actually sent me this beautiful photo print of the Lynn Valley Canyon in British Columbia that I have hung up here. Thank you, Oscar, for making our little podcasting space a little bit more beautiful. All right, everyone, I will catch you in the next episode, sending you a big hug, lots of love, no matter where you are at.
I know that you can take wherever you're at and turn it into your biggest transformation yet. Bye!
