The horizons of psychedelic supported psychotherapy are constantly being expanded and reimagined, and this weeks’ guest is at the forefront of the research and clinical trial effort. Meet Dr. Steve Thayer, co-host of the Psychedelic Therapy Frontiers podcast, who joins us today to discuss the current psychedelic renaissance, where it’s going, and his unique role within it as a therapist specializing in PTSD and former member of the LDS church.

Introducing Dr Steve

• Steve’s background in the Mormon church and how he began to question his religion after experiencing a crisis of faith
• Steve makes a practical decision to pursue therapy over philosophy
• After researching psychedelics, Steve's first mushroom trip puts him in contact with his authentic self
• Steve considers how his psychedelically informed understanding of mindfulness could be applied to his therapy practice

Awakening and Religion

• The intellectual culture of Judaism and its emphasis on the spirit of inquiry and how it compares to the LDS church’s support of contemplative practices
• Steve describes where Mormonism “runs off the rails” for him - when you need a middleman between yourself and God
• Aaron shares his experience of camping with a group of ex-mormons at Burning Man

Psychedelics as Therapy

• LSD and psychedelics as tools to study the mind and learn about consciousness.
• How we can access an container of compassion of psychedelics where all things are permitted because they are human
• The importance of set and settings and psychedelics as “non specific amplifiers”
• Steve's experience of facilitating clinical trials for psychedelic treatment, including a life changing  psilocybin experience

Approaches to Psychedelic Therapy

• The role of the psychedelic therapist in holding space with an agenda
• How to approach resistance during a psychedelic journey
• How to get started with psychedelic therapy and how triggers serve as opportunities
• The inner healing wisdom and how it applies to psychedelic therapy

In 1962, Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert bridged the spiritual and psychedelic discourse, introducing the concept of reliable entheogens to the contemporary psychedelic research effort. Today’s guest, a former staunch atheist, tells us how he stumbled into God Consciousness via a mushroom journey and his passion for sharing that experience with others.

Join our survey of psilocybin through various historical, cultural, and religious lenses as we interview Josh Leonard, co-host of the Pursuit of Infinity podcast. Is the iconography we experience under the influence of psychedelics inspired by ancient cultures? How do western religions and eastern philosophies align with mystical experience? And how can we make use of psychedelics to heal and deepen our connection with our romantic partners? 

Explore these questions and more in this week’s episode.

Mushrooms & Awakening

• Rachel recounts how psilocybin brought attention to her internal dialogue and negative self talk
• Aaron talks about using journeywork to process relationship breakups
• Josh starts his psychedelic research with Terrance McKenna, Rick Strassman and Alan Watts
• Josh shares his first mystical breakthrough experience on  mushrooms blew the doors open on his understanding of reality, values and god

Mushrooms in History, Culture & Religion

• Are the visuals on mushrooms influenced by ancient cultures or did these cultures influence the mushroom experience?
• How Josh's awakening on mushrooms aligns with western religion and eastern philosophies
• Atheism and the conception of God as the acknowledgement something larger than yourself
• Approaching mysticism from a scientific perspective and how your religious and cultural background influences your psychedelic experience

Mushrooms Saved My Relationship

• Josh describes the mushroom that saved his relationship
• The importance of set and setting and how Josh approached his partnered mushroom journey
• The telepathic experience of love and how we can experience the connection to our partners more deeply with the assistance of psychedelics

Reflections on Mushroom Journeys

• Aaron describes his gentle introduction to mushrooms that gave him insights into how his senses worked
• Rachel’s impression of her psilocybin experiences being suffused with divine energy
• Bad trips,  why they happen, and how to navigate them skillfully

The Pursuit of Infinity Podcast

• YouTube.com/channel/UCPpwtLPMH5bjBTPMHSlYnwQ
• Instagram.com/PursuitOfInfinityPod
• Patreon.com/PursuitOfInfinity

For many, intuition labels psychedelic experiences as threatening, knowing that character defects and shameful behaviors are bound to confront them under the influence. But what happens if we lean into that fear? What do the molecules have to teach us, and how can we heed their teachings?

After years of dissatisfaction and a cynical world view leading to psychological and emotional struggle, Jay Nelson was catapulted into the vulnerability of a life curiosity by way of an unintentional LSD overdose. From there, Jay became obsessed with the hard questions of consciousness, and began devoting his life, in partnership with his wife Lindy Nelson, to finding and sharing answers.

What is consciousness? What is its purpose? And how can we function most skillfully knowing its influence? Join us for this week’s episode as we sit down with authors and explorers Jay and Lindy Nelson to discuss their forthcoming creative nonfiction, Consciousness in a Nutshell.

Intro to Consciousness

• Jay’s recounts the near death experience that that cracked his brain open and started him on his quest to explore the nature of consciousness
• 350 micrograms of LSD and the experience of the never-ending moment
• Jay comes face to face with death and resists surrendering to his ego
• Jay’s brains reboots and he sees the layers of consciousness stack up

The Photoshop Layers of Reality

• Exploring the layers of consciousness and how psychedelics increase the permeability between the unconscious and conscious selves
• How the majority of our reality is constructed from memories and past experience
• Understanding the malleability of our internal experience and how to use that knowledge to rewrite our identity and past experiences
• The similarities in psychedelic accounts of dissolving ego identity and experiencing unity consciousness

Depression & Healing Through the Shadow

• The default mode network, how it helps us to navigate the world, and the dangers of getting stuck in the past
• Seeing depression as a disconnect between the feeling body and thinking mind
• How altered states serve to surface subconscious information that the conscious mind doesn’t want to face
• Accessing “possibility space” through altered states of consciousness and how to bring that awareness into daily life

Other Resources

• Consciousness in a Nutshell
• Jay's Theory of Depression