Mind Body Health & Politics

Affectionately dubbed "Her Deepness", by The New Yorker magazine, Dr. Sylvia Earle, one of the world’s top experts on ocean science and conservation, shares her inspiring wisdom in NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC OCEAN: A GLOBAL ODESSY showcasing how the ocean--with its forces, habitats, creatures, and global influence--has a tremendous impact on our everyday lives. President & Chairman of Mission Blue, Dr. Earl describes the evolution, beauty, and impact of our ocean, the challenges it faces, such as climate change, plastic, and overfishing, and the myriad ways we can help protect it. With a special focus on new discoveries in the deepest reaches of the ocean, Dr. Earle’s book reveals wonders that few have witnessed before and broadens our understanding of this essential realm of life on Earth. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mindbodyhealth.substack.com

For this week's episode we are speaking with Mike Jay, author of "Mescaline: A Global History of the First Psychedelic".He writes regularly for the London Review of Books (free access long reads on madness and revolution, Edgar Allan Poe, memory, and hallucinations), the Wall Street Journal and the Literary Review (free access piece on Philip K. Dick).Mike Jay has written widely on the history of science and medicine, and particularly on the discovery of psychoactive drugs during the 18th and 19th centuries. His books on the subject include Emperors of Dreams: drugs in the nineteenth century (2000, revised edition 2011) and most recently High Society: mind-altering drugs in history and culture (2010), which accompanied the exhibition he curated at Wellcome Collection in London. The Atmosphere of Heaven is also the third book in his series of biographical narratives of political reformers in 1790s Britain. It follows The Air Loom Gang (2003, revised edition forthcoming 2012) and The Unfortunate Colonel Despard

For this week's episode we are featuring a wonderful conversation with The Maudsley Learning Podcast. (Be sure to check out their podcast here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/maudsley-learning-podcast-psychiatry-psychotherapy/id1466932169)Maudsley Learning is part of one of the world’s most renowned mental healthcare organisations and unifies education. Their mission is to produce the highest quality mental health and well-being education and training products. They design and deliver courses to meet the continuing professional development needs of individual professionals in the healthcare workforce, but also to many others including colleagues in social services, policing, schools and in the private sector.We are discussing MDMA, Psychedelics & the Therapeutic Milleu on this week's show This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mindbodyhealth.substack.com

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This week I am interviewing Mr. Sanjay Singhal - entrepreneur and founder of the Nikean Project.Sanjay is a Canadian tech entrepreneur and author best known for founding and selling Audiobooks.com. He created the 500 Startups Canada fund in 2016 and actively remains an ongoing investor in over 20 startups. His memoir “Zero to Tesla,” published in 2018, chronicles the whole messy journey. He launched the Nikean Foundation in 2019 to fund mental health research, focusing on novel psychedelic therapies to treat mental disorders including anorexia, depression, and PTSD. The Nikean Foundation currently funds research trials around the world, with a focus on developing knowledge and infrastructure in Canada. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mindbodyhealth.substack.com

This week we are flipping the script and asking some hard hitting questions with our Host; Dr. Richard Louis Miller.Our Producer - Charlie Deist, along with our Audio Engineer - David Springer, will be addressing some questions from our listeners on this weeks episode.We love hearing from you! So please email us any questions you may have and we will do our best to bring those up in a future episode! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mindbodyhealth.substack.com

Dr. David L. Geisinger, is the 82-year-old author of Kicking It: The New Way to Stop Smoking and Permanently Going The Distance: Finding and Keeping Lifelong Love, written with his life partner, Dr. Lonnie Barbach.Dr. Howard I. Levene – 85-year-old former Commander and medical officer in the U.S. Navy – is founder of Diabasis House, and a faculty member at the C.G. Jung Institute of San Francisco and Department of Psychiatry, UCSF Medical School. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mindbodyhealth.substack.com

This week we speak with Jeremy Narby, author and anthropologist, on botanics and biology and their applications in psychedelic therapy. He has written several books including "Plant Teachers" and "The Cosmic Snake" as well as co-authored "The Psychotropic Mind".Jeremy grew up in Canada and Switzerland, studied history at the University of Canterbury, receiving a doctorate in anthropology from Stanford University. Jeremy spent several years living with the Ashaninca tribe in the Peruvian Amazon, cataloging indigenous uses of rainforest resources.Jeremy has worked since 1989 as Amazonian projects director for the Swiss non-profit Nouvelle Planète, backing projects for the self-determination of Amazonian indigenous peoples that involve land rights, primary education, village health, botanical knowledge, fish farms, tree nurseries, and other local initiatives. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mindbodyhealth.substack.com

This week I pivot from my exploration of psychedelic medicines to a new discussion on racial justice with Brendan Kiely, author of the New York Bestseller All American Boys. Brendan has also authored Tradition, The Last True Love Story, and The Gospel of Winter. His most recent book, and the topic of today's show, is The Other Talk: Reckoning with Our White Privilege. His work has been published in over a dozen languages, and has received the Coretta Scott King Author Honor Award, the Walter Dean Meyers Award, and ALA’s Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults.A former high school teacher, he is now on the faculty of the Solstice MFA Program. He states that he watches too much basketball and reads too many books at the same time, but most importantly, he lives for and loves his wife and son. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mindbodyhealth.substack.com

This week I continue my exploration of psychedelic medicines with Dr. Kile Ortigo, author of "Beyond The Narrow Life: A Guide For Psychedelic Integration and Existential Exploration".Dr. Ortigo a licensed psychologist in California with over 14 years of clinical experience and a passion for applying psychological concepts and scientific principles to improving experiences of individuals seeking mental health care, psychotherapists, and others with a desire to improve their life course. His clinical approach is integrative, collaborative, evidence-based and flexible to the needs and goals of the individuals with whom he works. He believe the therapeutic relationship is the key vehicle that can help people explore their innermost selves more freely and openly in order to make important shifts in their approach to life. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mindbodyhealth.substack.com

Susan Campbell, Ph.D. is a counselor and author of 12 books. When she was a professor at UMass Amherst in the 60’s and 70’s, she co-founded an alternative counseling and education center for university students seeking to integrate their psychedelic experiences and avoid bad trips and confusing after-effects.The methods she pioneered then are still a major part of her practice today and are considered state-of-the art in psychedelic therapy. Susan trains coaches and therapists throughout the United States and Europe. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mindbodyhealth.substack.com

Dale has been the state director of California NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) since 1987. He wrote his PhD dissertation at Stanford on Consumer Choice and FDA Drug Regulation. He was one of the original co-authors of California's medical marijuana initiative, Prop. 215, in 1996, and has co-sponsored and lobbied for other drug reform measures. He has published original research on medical marijuana, the history of marijuana and drug prohibition, the economic benefits of legalization, marijuana and driving safety, cannabis vaporization, CBD, and drug urinalysis. He is a founding member of the Drug Policy Forum of California. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mindbodyhealth.substack.com

John Gilmore is a computer engineer, computer entrepreneur, civil libertarian, drug policy reformer, and philanthropist. He has thirty years of experience in the computer industry, including applications programming, systems programming, language implementation, management, and investment. He was the fifth employee at Sun Microsystems, and contributed to hardware and software design and production. He co-designed the protocol that your phone or laptop uses every day to get when you connect to WiFi or Ethernet. He has contributed significantly to the worldwide free software movement, by writing many free programs, and co-founding Cygnus Support, a successful commercial free software company that is now part of IBM. He cofounded the "alt" subnet of the Usenet decentralized world forum to improve its free expression. He is a champion of civil liberties, a cofounder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and a cypherpunk, an advocate for wide distribution of strong encryption systems, to provide privacy and

This week I continue the series with my old friend, Dr. Martin H. Goodman. Marty graduated from Harvard with a BA in biology in 1971, before receiving his MD from the University of California at San Diego.He worked at the Haight Ashbury Free Medical Clinic in the 1980s and volunteered taking care of people having "bad trips" at rock concerts under the auspices of their "rock medicine" section. Marty has been a life-long fighter for social justice, and is an advocate for educating the public in the scientific method, and using evidence-based reasoning when it comes to matters of medicine and science. He is also a mountaineer (often in remote desert regions), backpacker, river rafter, long-distance cyclist, and life-long environmentalist.Marty is a self-described "iconoclast," who has rejected the politically correct tropes of both the "right" and of the "left". He first used LSD over 50 years ago. Always with a friend, and more often than not in an outdoors (often genuinely wilderness) environment. This is a

This week I continue my series of Confessions of the Psychedelic Elders (please subscribe and review) with an old acquaintance (and neighbor of mine in Mendocino County) – Mariavittoria Mangini, PhD, FNP. Mangini is the author of the forward for the newly released volume of Sasha Shulgin's pharmacology lectures: The Nature of Drugs, and has written extensively on the impact of psychedelic experiences in shaping the lives of her contemporaries. Her particular interest is in the history of women in this field. In addition to her personal confessions, she will be telling us about her upcoming doctoral class at the California Institute for Integral Studies this fall on women and psychedelics.Mangini has also worked closely with many of the most distinguished investigators in this field and is a founder of the Women’s Visionary Council, a nonprofit organization that supports investigations into non-ordinary forms of consciousness and organizes gatherings of researchers, healers, artists, and activists

This week, I take a break from the Confession of the Psychedelic Elders series to bring you an interview with my dear friend Rabbi Sydney Mintz. The topic of our conversation will be what it means to call oneself Jewish. We will also discuss how Judaism has shaped her identity as a human being, a mother, and a lesbian.Rabbi Mintz (she/they) was ordained in 1997 by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City. She is the founder of the award-winning Late Shabbat Young Adult Program at Congregation Emanu-El where she has served as Rabbi for almost 25 years. She became a Senior Rabbinic Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem after completing her fellowship in 2004 and serves on the National Board of Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice.She is a graduate of Bend the Arc’s Selah Leadership Program, is a member of the U.S. State Department’s Working Group on Religion and Social Justice, and serves on Reimagine’s 360 Advisory Council.In 2018, Rabbi M

Richard Elliot Doblin (born November 30, 1953) is an American drug activist and executive who is the founder and executive director of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mindbodyhealth.substack.com

Join us today on another stimulating episode of Mind, Body, Health, and Politics! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mindbodyhealth.substack.com

This morning we are flipping the script, as Philosopher Charles Bush solicits my own personal confessions as a psychedelic elder.Don't miss my own story, as I officially join our growing tribe of elders – this morning at 9 am PACIFIC.If you miss the live program, be sure to subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts, and leave us a 5-star review in Apple podcasts. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mindbodyhealth.substack.com

My guest this morning is Countess Amanda Feilding – the Founder and Executive Director of the Beckley Foundation – widely recognized as a leading force behind the current Psychedelic Renaissance.Born in 1943, Countess Feilding is the youngest child of Basil Feilding, great-grandson of the 7th Earl of Denbigh and the Marquess of Bath, and his wife and cousin, Margaret Feilding.She has propelled the field forward over the last 20+ years, spearheading studies such as the world’s first psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression study (on which Compass Pathways based their business), the world’s first LSD, MDMA and DMT brain imaging studies, plus the initiation and collaboration with Johns Hopkins on the first study using psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy to overcome nicotine addiction. She has also co-authored over 80 research papers. Since 1998, the Beckley Foundation has been at the forefront of exploratory research into psychedelics, and evidence-based global drug policies. Through h