Trust is the foundation of healing work, and it falters when integrity isn’t lived. I’ve witnessed “Sage Daddy Syndrome” – where lofty words mask broken agreements and avoidance of responsibility. In this reflection, I share why discernment is essential when choosing guides, how to protect yourself with clear questions and boundaries, and how together we can raise the standard for accountability in the medicine space.
The Beatles’ psychedelic years revealed how quickly insights can fade without grounding. Today, the lesson is clearer: psychedelics paired with integration create lasting transformation. Microdosing, full journeys, or a blend of both can each be powerful when guided with intention and woven into daily life, turning fleeting moments of awareness into steady growth and meaningful change.
Is it healing, or just a really pretty way to avoid your feelings? From retreat mats to festival dance floors, psychedelics are often framed as tools for healing and transformation – but they’re just as often used as another way to mentally check out.
Two weeks. Scorching temps. Forty thousand people vibrating to trance in the Portuguese sun. Boom Festival felt like stepping into another world where glitter is clothing, hugs are sacred, and your only job is to immerse yourself in the experience. I wasn’t on a quest for transformation like so many others attending – but I did swim nude, sleep soundly through nonstop psytrance beats, and practice peeing gracefully (sort of) in a compost toilet.
Letting go of comfort is easy to romanticize from a distance. But as I prepare to spend two weeks off-grid, I know there’s no script for what’s ahead. This isn’t the kind of journey you plan down to the detail – it’s the kind where you show up, let go, and see what emerges when convenience falls away.
Don’t worry. Be happy!
Whether it’s a secular or spiritual environment, so much of what we’re taught about how to manage our thoughts boils down to one message: “Don’t think those bad thoughts! Think only good thoughts!” And it’s a prescription for mental disaster.
It can feel isolating to carry old wounds into a day built on picture-perfect memories that were never yours. If Mother’s Day feels more complicated than comforting, you’re not alone.
Can I simply say that, he gets me? Stephen Dinan, the founder and president of the Shift Network said, “For a long time, I’ve wanted to find someone who could really teach us how to work with cannabis in a conscious way… show us how [cannabis] can be an ally in our growth, in our evolution, our emotional healing.”
I was stunned! The Shift Network, the largest platform for online wisdom courses with more than 3 million customers, invited me to teach a 7-week course, Harnessing the Power of Cannabis for Emotional Freedom.
I just want to take a moment and speak to my readers in the United States and say that my respect and compassion go out to everyone who’s genuinely wrestling with how best to resist what’s coming in the wake of Monday’s presidential inauguration. As you know I now live in Portugal for nearly 3 years, so I’m not in the frying pan. But, regardless of where you are in the world, we are all to some degree going to be held hostage to the man’s cruel whims and tantrums. At this point, the U.S. is a wobbling behemoth – the real question is when it topples who will be left in the wreckage?