Playing open mics has even led to paid gig as a solo act—an experience I’d never imagined before starting The Artist’s Way. Two years ago, opportunities like these weren’t even on my horizon.

In the time since I first picked up The Artist’s Way in early 2023, my world has expanded. It’s brought me into creative communities. It’s got me in touch with local scenes that I didn’t know existed—the types of communities I would love to read about but wasn’t really in touch with. It has also deepened what was probably my first love from a young age: music, and put me back into touch with that in a really beautiful way.

Whatever this has been for me over the last two years—process, journey, or something else—it’s not only reconnected me with music in a special way but also deepened my understanding of how creativity, creative endeavors, and communities can truly change lives. They can open up worlds, change our experience of life, and make them more enriching, fulfilling, and connected.

Which brings me to why I’m writing this blog post today—because today we are opening doors to Inspiration Alchemy, an offering that is like a guided community tour through The Artist’s Way. 

Inspiration Alchemy builds on the course’s powerful framework, bringing it into a psychedelic-friendly atmosphere with two core collaborators who are deeply involved in the worlds of creativity and psychedelics—two creative badasses: Daniel Shankin of Tam Integration, someone who I’ve admired for a number of years now, for his work and how he shows up. And Jake Kobrin, a visionary artist and educator who I’ve aware of since we both worked on different Truffles Therapy psychedelic retreats in the Netherlands in 2018, and who’s work I’ve become more acquainted with and impressed by recently.

It feels like a special moment to now be making this offering to help others embark on their own creative journeys and see their own worlds expand.

But I digress. Rather than give you all the details about Inspo Alch, I want this to be a personal blog post to give you an understanding of my own journey.

So I’m going back five years, an unassuming but pivotal moment in my story.

A Jam Session That Changed Things

Sometime in 2019, when I was still residing in Berlin, A few of the guys I played Ultimate Frisbee with every Saturday at Treptower Park invited me to bring my guitar to and play a few songs with them at the Noisey rehearsal rooms. I wasn’t expecting much, just a bit of fun. 

As we played through a few covers—some guilty pleasures like Blink-182 and other pop rock songs—I realized I hadn’t been in a room with a full band for what must have been about 10 years.

As we started playing, something inside of me just came alive. It felt like something expanding, something opening up, something reawakening.

After we left the rooms to roam down the grimy Warschauer Straße, I realized just how much I’d missed simply playing music in a room with other humans.

Between the ages of 13 and 21, through high school and university, I was pretty much always in one band or another. When I left the UK and started country-hopping for the next 8 or so years, though I played a lot of music, I never settled long enough to find those bandmates.

Through that time, I didn’t realize how much I’d missed it and how much that experience brought to me. Not only the playing itself, but the experience of being in the moment of a dynamic and loud creative act.

That day at Noisey Rooms brought something back to life that had been dormant.

I never actually played again with those frisbee guys. But the deed had been done, I had been reminded of something.

At the time, I still considered myself a creative person. I was writing regularly and had been through some creative processes. I’d gotten into a good writing habit, and I was able to publish and share regularly from a heart centred and intellectual kind of place.

I’d started a blog, which, after some years, developed into Maps of the Mind, where you read this today. It was a hobby slash side hustle which had grown into something which brought professional opportunities. It was through putting my thoughts, feelings, ideas, and experiences into form and sharing them with the outside world: that alchemical process of creativity.

But this was a whole different thing. Music touches something else, something special, something that transcends language. That experience in Berlin got me thinking about how I could bring it back into my life more fully. It planted a seed.

Finding Healing and Growth Through Creativity

When COVID hit, personal and professional challenges pushed thoughts of playing or connecting creatively with others to the back seat. But I did start recording in my bedroom. I made my first bedroom demo in years, a sloppy GG Allin cover. More bedroom recordings followed. In 2022, during another wave of COVID, another Ultimate Frisbee musician friend introduced me to Weekly Beats, a 52-week project where people post a new original recording online every week for a year. I published maybe 30 tracks that year.

By late 2022, I’d left Berlin in search of a new direction and returned to England. It felt like the perfect time to start a new course, so I asked my brother to gift me The Artist’s Way for Christmas.

The Artist’s Way is a 12-week creativity course that combines reflective exercises with two core practices: morning pages and artist dates. Morning pages are three daily pages of stream-of-consciousness writing to clear mental clutter, while artist dates are weekly solo excursions to nurture your creative spark. The program’s structure and exercises encourage participants to reconnect with their creative selves and overcome blocks like self-doubt and fear of judgment.

It felt like a good time to dive into a course, and I asked my brother for a copy of The Artist’s Way for Christmas.

The Artist’s Way was a book I’d heard mentioned a few times by people I followed. One of them was Steve Pavlina, a personal blogger whose creativity course I’d done before which had helped me make strides with my writing, blogging, and developing my first online course, The Conscious Psychedelic Explorer.

I was excited to dive in and I started on January 1st 2023.

Week by week, I began making meaningful strides in this area of my life.

Amongst dozens of exercises which are assigned on a weekly basis, there is one where you make an action plan based on your creative dreams, no matter how silly or unrealistic they may seem. 5-year plan, 1-year plan, 6 months, one month, one week, today. And you have to commit to going through with it.

Inevitably, stuff started happening for me, and in something like week 8 I was putting my name down at an open mic and nervously working my way through a Ty Segall cover and an original from lockdown. I was back the next week, and the week after, and when back in Berlin, played there. Now I just see whats going on everywhere I go.

And so, the world of music communities around the world opened up to me, something that’s been such a big part of my life in the time since. I love being in the environment of being around other musicians, playing and watching, with people who I can have great conversations with about music. I love that I can show up to a place in a t-shirt and people sometimes actually know the band on the t-shirt that I’m wearing. It’s so nice to then be able to have that conversation.

Beyond The Music

It wasn’t only music. The book and its exercises helped me confront doubt, self-criticism, and negative self-talk. The inner child work also gave me insight into where those doubting voices came from—early critics in my life, well-meaning or not, whose words had lingered. I realized how those voices of doubt and judgment had been subtly holding me back. They weren’t conscious; they were just part of my being.

It was like meeting with myself again. It helped me see creativity in a new light.

One of the things I noticed was how closely creativity is linked to healing. It’s no surprise to me that The Artist’s Way is used by therapists or why art therapy exists. Creativity isn’t just about making art or writing poems. It’s about understanding ourselves, expressing what words sometimes can’t, processing emotions, and making meaning of experiences. In some ways, it feels like a core human need—maybe even a purpose, like connection or movement.

That’s one of the reasons why I think The Artist’s Way is such a powerful framework. It provides tools not only to reconnect with creativity but to heal parts of ourselves we might not even realize needed tending.

It’s also given me concrete practices that are now part of my life and supportive on a personal well-being level, which, in turn, helps with creativity.

The Practices and Tools That Have Changed Things

The Morning Pages

One of the core practices is the morning pages: three pages of stream-of-consciousness writing. This has become part of my life.

I don’t do it every day and I don’t always do it in the morning, but I won’t go a week without doing it at least once. It doesn’t go far from me. It’s just too useful. 

Writing three pages helps me clear my mental clutter and bring clarity. In many ways, it’s like a psychedelic practice—it helps me connect with what’s important to me, tap into deeper levels of mind, and bring focus and clarity in moments of uncertainty.

Walking

Another simple but big practice that has been integrated more into my life has been walking.

Even something as simple as walking more has been transformative. One week, the course asks you to take a brisk 20-minute walk and observe how it shifts your consciousness. That simple exercise stuck with me. Since then, walking has become a regular part of my routine. In fact, I’m dictating this now while strolling through a park in Hanoi. Walking has been shown to foster well-being and even enhance thinking, as many studies and books highlight.

and that simple exercise stuck with me to the point that I’ve incorporated more walking into my life since. A simple habit that has changed my daily experience of the world in a positive way.

This is one example of these small deliberate acts that can open doors, and give small shifts that add up to larger shifts.

With these small but cumulative insights, the process has overall deepened my understanding of creativity as a force for transformation. It’s connected to well-being, connection, and fulfilment. It’s changed how I approach my days.

The Artist’s Date

Alongside the morning pages, The Artist’s Date is the other core practice; a solo weekly excursion to do something fun that inspires and nurtures our creative consciousness.

This is about allowing ourselves to do fun and enjoyable things for ourselves. No duty or workaholism. They are about having experiences that bring inspiration, awe, and wonder into life. Moments that fuel creativity.

One of my favourite artist dates was going to see Titus Andronicus, a New Jersey rock band on MDMA where I shook a personal hero’s hand. Another was a psychedelic trip where I took time to read through and muse upon The Basic Principles in and expanded and altered state. These experiences are treasures to me. The practice of the Artist’s Date has helped me carve out space for meaningful and exciting moments in my life instead of letting weeks or even months go by without doing anything interesting or creatively inspiring. 

Collaboration and the Birth of Inspiration Alchemy

In the year and a half since I finished The Artist’s Way, I’ve reflected on the changes I’ve experienced so far. Rather than hitting some end point, I’ve realised this is just an ongoing process, much like the process of personal growth and healing. It’s not some endpoint I’m heading for; it’s something that just continues expanding and unfolding. Which to me is much more exciting and interesting. 

Because I’ve experienced what is possible here, the idea of sharing this process, bringing it to the people in the psychedelic communities and supporting them through it, has kept coming up. When I was going through the course, I shared something about it with a psychedelic Signal Group I’m in, and Daniel from Tam, who had done the course himself some years before, dropped a comment like, “Don’t do it without me.”

As someone whose work I admired for years—that sounded like an invitation that I’d be a fool not to try and answer. I reached out to him about it, and he connected the dots with Jake, an incredibly talented who has not only experienced his own transformation through the course firsthand but is an experienced educator who has been guiding groups through The Artist’s Way for years. 

With Daniel’s grounding influence, Jake’s artistic expertise, and the renowned artists on board, I think we’re creating a space where transformation honestly feels inevitable for those who show up.

So I think what we’ve got here is something special that has the potential to be deeply transformative for all who get involved, and in its ripples, the world.

That for me, is the definition of a meaningful project.

As we open registration today, I’m feeling a mix of emotions; excited, optimistic, and hopeful, and grateful to be in a place to invite other people into this journey.

Reconnect with Your Creative Spark Through Inspiration Alchemy

Inspiration Alchemy is your chance to experience the transformative framework of The Artist’s Way in a whole new way. Over 12 weeks, you’ll be guided step by step through the course, enriched by live sessions with guest artists and creators, a vibrant and supportive community, and tools to help you overcome creative blocks and ignite your passion.

This course isn’t just for professional artists or creatives—it’s for anyone looking to bring more inspiration and flexibility into their life. Creativity permeates everything we do, from taking a new route home to cooking up something fresh in the kitchen. If you’re looking to make space for creativity in your life, this course is designed to support you.

The course starts February 10th 2025  and runs for 12 weeks with live sessions every Monday at 8pm EST.

Why Join Now?

Registration opens today, and we’re offering an exclusive Black Friday discount: $400 off through Thanksgiving weekend, plus an extra 10% off with the code MAPS. This is an incredible value for a course packed with inspiration, tools, and community.

Ready to take the leap?
Explore Inspiration Alchemy now

The post From Berlin to Hanoi: How The Artist’s Way Has Changed My Life appeared first on Maps of the Mind.

Overall, beautiful. Helping others to work with psychedelics for learning and growing is something I find truly meaningful.

We had an amazing group come together with 10 members joining for this round. Now the dust has settled, I thought I’d share a few thoughts on this group, and my plans for the next cohort in January.

Diverse Group

We had a diverse group, which I always enjoy. We had members in France, Germany, Canada, Mexico, the US, and the UK. Love the international vibe. To my surprise, even two members of the group had no experience with any of the classic psychedelics, only plans and a desire for extra support and education before the first liftoff. A couple more were also new on the path of conscious use. 

Originally I built this course for intermediate explorers, but I did adapt it a little this time around and make it more beginner friendly, making sure to cover all the basics. The upshot of this is that there is something for everyone and a more mixed group, some who’ve lots of experience alongside newcomers.

The newcomers keep it fresh, help to remind us all of the fundamentals and key principles, and connect us to the beginner’s mind. The experienced members offer their experience, knowledge, and resources. That is something that I love about the mix. 

Community is a bit of a trite word these days but the wisdom and energy of a group really do contribute more than the individuals inside. Although I am facilitating the process and organizing, I do see that the group takes on a life of its own, becoming something of its own entity.

Camaraderie And Connection

What I also love is that the community sparks connections. I loved seeing friendships bloom. It has been great to hear that other members have been chatting with each other, or even better, planning ceremonies. It’s cool to get updates from people before and after their experiences and to see the support from other members. 

On our final call, we had the chance to get a bit sentimental and misty, and many members remarked how the depth of connection with others was a surprise. One mentioned how they joined the course hoping to gain a technical understanding of how to organize psychedelic sessions, but received personal insights by way of the group. We had space for sincerity and openness to challenges and doubts, and also for fun and laughs.

Offshoots

We had a couple of offshoots from this group. One was a Psychedelic Film Club. We made a separate Signal group and shared film recommendations, and had some discussions there. A few members went deep on this, having their own “psychedelic film festival” and plowing through a bunch of films and doing their own deep dive. Very cool. I joined in for a couple, a screening of Aware: Glimpses Of Consciousness, which we watched at the same time, and joining a pre-and post-screening zoom call for a chat with other members. The other was watching a new personal fave Descending the Mountain. It has been a movie I’ve been wanting to see for years, so it was great to have a free and legit viewing sourced by one of our members and the group energy impetus to set aside the time even in a busy period.

As another side quest, I invited all members to join me in a daily awareness/mindful practice for 30 days on week 2. This coincided with week 2’s lesson on awareness, one of the lessons in the first module on foundations for working with psychedelics.

When the 30 days were up, one of the members suggested we keep it going for another 30 days, so we’re currently continuing with that, with a post and update in the Signal group each day. I like sharing and supporting others in meditation practice, so this is something I’ll definitely invite from future cohorts.

Embers

Ultimately I’d like to build something that outlasts me, that stands on its own, something that would just continue if I disappeared. And whilst this small community isn’t there yet, I see the embers of something great. So I’ve decided to reopen the course for another 10 members in January.

I like this group size, its small enough to keep intimate and give all members a chance to get to know each other, but large enough to have some group energy and diversity.

Registration will be open for one week from the 10th – 17th January. The course will begin with the first live call on the 19th.

If you’re interested, I encourage you to join the waitlist here for early access.

What’s Inside CPE in 2023

Beyond the 6 weeks, I will be offering a whole bunch of extras throughout 2023 for all new course members.

We will have monthly community calls for all course alumni, and I’m quite excited to see members new and old mixing.

I’ll also be offering quarterly workshops. The first, Music, Playlists, and the Art of Listening in Psychedelic Sessions, is already on the calendar for February 5th. These workshops will be included for CPE members, but I will also open them to others who’d like to join in the fun.

We will also have a bunch of guest classes, experiences, and calls.

This includes a neuroscience class from Manesh Girn, a live deep listening session with Wavepaths & founder Mendel Kaelen, a look into psychedelic facilitated nature connection with Dr Sam Gandy, a research overview and Q&A with Floris from Blossom, and a few others to be confirmed. These classes themselves could be a course and I’m excited to learn from these experts alongside the community.

If you want 2023 to be the year where you go pro in your knowledge and practice with psychedelics, this is an amazing opportunity. It’s a course with basically an added one-year membership to a club with expert classes, community calls, and quarterly workshops.

What’s On For You in 2023?

To close on a year’s end theme, I’d like to invite you to consider, what are your goals for 2023? What are your hopes, dreams, and aspirations? What would, if accomplished or experienced by year’s end, would make the year a meaningful one for you?

If it’s anything to do with psychedelics, come join us in the CPE!

.

The post CPE Cohort #2 Review and #3 Preview appeared first on Maps of the Mind.

Ahead of the course, I wanted to refresh and share my intentions for this cohort. This will be the second group, after having run it with the first group over 4 weeks in November last year.

Support

My primary intention for this course is to support others on their path of growth, exploration, and healing, through the conscious use of psychedelics.

It’s something I know and something I’m good at. Psychedelics are a personally meaningful topic for me, having helped me hugely in my own life, so I naturally have an enthusiasm for sharing on this subject and helping others where I can. It’s an area I feel I can help other people in a valuable and meaningful way.

I will offer support primarily by way of video lessons, live calls and a group chat.

The video lessons will run through the core content of the program. My intention with these recorded lessons and the workbook is to create a body of work that can support people who are using psychedelics for years, and hopefully decades, to come. I worked deeply on this and devised a four-part framework to approach work with psychedelics that covers all of the key topics. I call this The Path of the Psychonaut.

It covers two levels of preparation and two of integration; preparing to work with psychedelics, preparing for a single experience, integrating a single experience, and integrating on the path of using psychedelics. You can find out more on the program page, or hear me talk about it with Josh Gonsalves on a recent episode of the Mind Meld podcast.

The framework is cyclical, as the path continues

Community

I also intend to continue building a community of mindful psychedelic explorers. I really enjoy hosting live calls with members of our group and having a chance to interact with people in real-time. It offers an opportunity for a deeper level of learning, and a chance to connect with like-minded others. 

I’ve met a few of the first cohort in person, in Switzerland, Amsterdam, and Berlin, as well as those I’d previously welcomed on retreat, and hope that these online connections continue to spread into the real world.

It’s beautiful when a group comes together with a common cause, or of course, common-unity. It was something I experienced growing up, primarily in sports teams and music groups. In both of these, I experienced a sense of kinship and bonding with my teammates or bandmates. When we stepped out onto the pitch, or the stage, we were in it together. We had each other’s backs and would’ve (and often did, in rugby), taken blows for each other if it helped the team and our common cause.

I’ve also experienced this sense of community as an adult in yoga and meditation groups. More recently, a meditation group that I helped to organize for a couple of years in Berlin. Though individual motivations may have varied, what we all shared was the desire to develop in some way. Everyone wanted to be a better person and saw the group as a means of helping realize that goal. We practiced together, and I practiced guiding the group in all kinds of meditation and mindfulness exercises. Like all the other communities I’ve been a major part of, I found some great friends in the process.

This group also had a shared interest in psychedelics, and I’ve organized sessions with most of the regular members at one time or another over the last few years. I’ve sat, I’ve been sat, and I’ve journeyed alongside them. And the nice thing was, I knew everyone had experience in mindfulness, which is a recommendation I offer to anyone working with psychedelics. That is a practice that I’ll bring more of into The Conscious Psychedelic Explorer Community with this next cohort.

Awareness

My deepest level of intention is to do work that contributes to the evolution of consciousness. I believe we are here to learn, and to expand our awareness, and that psychedelics are an invaluable tool that can accelerate this process.

In doing so, I hope to spread positive ripples and benefit humanity with a deeply meaningful contribution.

Join Us for The Conscious Psychedelic Explorer

If you’d like to go deeper in your use of psychedelics for healing, insight or growth, then I invite you to join us.

Whatever your level, beginner or pro, you’re welcome.

You can find information on the course page here.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out and contact me or book a call.

I hope to see you inside!

Warm wishes,

John

The post My Intentions For The Conscious Psychedelic Explorer appeared first on Maps of the Mind.

Welcome to PSYJuly 2021!

Over the next 31 days we are going to be featuring 31 articles on psychedelics, one for each and every day of July.

This is the second edition of PSYJuly here at Maps of the Mind, with the inaugural edition last year, and becoming a blogging carnival and more collaborative and community minded project this time around.

Welcome, and I hope you enjoy!

Connecting the background

In the process of organising and setting this up it has been really nice to reach out and refresh communications with acquaintances and friends in the community but it has also been great to make introductions and new connections. It’s exciting in that you never know where these small sparks may lead. Sure, some may go nowhere, but also, and more importantly, some may go somewhere. I’ve had many meaningful, supportive and collaborative relationships arise from these kind of initial encounters and they continue to bear fruit in both my personal and professional life.

My sincere hope is that this will bring about more of those connections for both emerging and more established figures within the psychedelic space. I’ve benefited so much from being involved and included in various projects when I was looking to become more engaged and I am truly grateful that I was given those opportunities, be they volunteering at conferences and retreats, writing guest posts, and even just exchanging messages and emails. I hope that in someway I am able to give back through PSYJuly.

Who are the posts going to be by?

Due to my scattergun approach of contacting people and putting word out through various forms such as email, twitter, facebook, and telegram, and being flexible with deadlines to allow certain friends and acquaintances to contribute I cannot at this moment really give a finalised full lineup. 

At present I would estimate that around half of the posts will be guest posts and half will be written by yours truly. The guest posts are coming from various people: authors, activists, movers and shakers in the psychedelic space, as well as some up-and-comers.

What topics are going to be covered?

Oh baby we’ve got a whole host of goodies. Occultist psychonaut Julian Vayne will be kicking us off tomorrow and then we’re gonna be traversing our way through a host of topics, with Psychedologist Leia Friedman walking us through how to navigate the psychedelic renaissance, and then Akash Kulgod telling us why it should be actually called the psychedelic revival.

We have a special audio post from the (Ir)Reverend rabble-rouser Danny Nemu and we’re going to share lessons from ayahuasca from Mr. Steve Pavlina. My comrade and Magic Medicine author Cody is going to share his excellent post on Tripping for Self-Realization, brother outlaw KR is going to give us the lowdown on how to be a connoisseur with nitrous oxide, the girls from A Whole New High on how to surrender to a psychedelic experience, my buddy Dave from the MIND foundation on integration and, well actually I don’t want to give it all away. Let’s keep a few little secrets back. There’s more beauties to come.

And then, of course we have your resident host yours truly. I’ve got a few articles that I’m pretty excited to share, some that have been formulating in the background for a few months and have built into a nice little list of articles to write. I’ve already started working on a number, and I am really glad to have the impetus to sit down and write them and the opportunity to finally share them.

Getting Set…

Each post will be shared here and published by midday European time each day. If you’re stateside then they’ll be up by the time you’re awake so you can enjoy with your morning cuppa or breakie. You can bookmark the PSYJuly 2021 homepage for easy access to the latest posts over the month. And finally, I invite you to join us in celebrating psychedelics during this time.

Last year I started day one answering the question: Why Psychedelics?

This year, I’m delighted to announce we have author Julian Vayne with a special adapted section from his modern classic Getting Higher, on a fittingly following theme:
Why take psychedelic drugs?

See you tomorrow!

The post PSYJuly 2021 | 31 Days of Psychedelics | Welcome! appeared first on Maps of the Mind.

From 1st – 31st July 2021, one blog post about psychedelics will be published each day here on Maps of the Mind.

Last year I did PSYJuly largely as a solo project, writing and publishing 30 posts in 31 days, and featuring one guest post. I had an incredible time over the month and enjoyed connecting with my readers. This year, emerging from the isolation of corona, I would like to explore collaboration and community, so I am opening it up to feature writings from psychedelic bloggers, writers, explorers, activists and other psychedelic people from around the world.

I will also likely host a group call or two through the month to allow a space for readers, participants and contributors to connect. That will depend on how it’s going and expressed interest in this idea.

Intentions

The intentions for PSYJuly 2021 are:

• To share information amongst psychedelic explorers and enthusiasts. To create an event and place to collect and share experience, ideas, and wisdom.
• To build bridges amongst the psychedelic community. To create connections at a time where there are tensions within the movement. To encourage collaboration and conversation over infighting.
• To offer a platform to emerging or aspiring writers, or experienced psychedelic explorers without a channel.

Will any of this cost anything?

No, it will be entirely free!

Would you like to take part?

If you would like to contribute and feel you have something valuable to share, submissions for blog posts are now open!

Some themes that I am currently leaning towards are:

• How to: practical advice for psychedelic explorers
• Tips, tricks & resources
• Integration
• Community
• Personal stories, especially those willing to share their mistakes and lessons that were learned
• Working in psychedelics
• The psychedelic movement

That said, the only hard and fast criteria is that the piece is somehow about psychedelics, so if you have something else you would like to contribute, I invite you to make a submission. Length and format of blog post are flexible, I will personally read all submissions.

The post could be:

• a text post
• a video post
• an audio post
• a post linking to other resources
• a list post
  
  Or something else that I haven’t thought of.

The lower word limit for text posts is 700 words.

The deadline for submissions is midnight CET June 18th.

Why make a submission?

For yourself, it will be an opportunity to connect with others, be part of a fun event, and gain exposure for your work.

But above all, you will be helping to spread the gifts of psychedelics and contributing to this exciting movement.

How to make a submission

You can make a submission by sending me a message via the contact form. Be sure to include the following information:

1. Your name
2. Your website (that you’d like linked when the article is published
3. A short bio
4. A link to a previously published article or blog post on psychedelics (if applicable)
5. A summary or outline of the post you’d like to write (No more than 300 words)

If you have one, you are encouraged to publish the post through your own website or channel, with a link back to the carnival hub page on Maps of the Mind. Further details will be included once your submission is accepted.

There are a total of 30 spots available. If there are not enough relevant submissions, I will fill the empty slots and write the remaining posts. I will review all submissions and contact all successful applicants by June 19th. You will then be given a date in July to submit your piece by and any other relevant details.

Can I just read, follow along or partake without writing or submitting anything?

Absolutely. The purpose of PSYJuly is to create information to share and open channels for connection. I hope you’ll join along in whatever role it may be.

If there is anyone you know who might be interested, please pass this along with them.

I look forward to hosting PSYJuly and further spreading the gifts of psychedelics this summer!

The post PSYJuly 2021: A 31 Day Psychedelic Blogging Carnival appeared first on Maps of the Mind.

A psychonaut is someone who uses psychedelic substances as tools of exploration. Exploration of the mind, of reality, of the universe. Like cosmonauts, psychonauts willingly enter into the unknown on a mission of discovery. We are explorers.

This year marks 10 years of being a psychonaut with my first psychedelic experience in late 2011. My use of psychedelics has evolved over time and so has my relationship with them. In the name of openness, today I’ll share what my current use looks like, including styles, intentions, substances, and frequency.

Psychedelic Therapy Style Method

I use psychedelics in many different ways but of the classic psychedelics my most common use is that of a psychedelic therapy style.

This means taking a medium to high dose in a comfortable and controlled indoor environment. I use headphones and an eye mask, while listening to a preselected playlist of music from start to finish. The headphones to immerse me in the experience, with the music acting as a type of guide, and the eye mask helps to keep my attention directed inwards.

I sometimes do this with friends but more often I do this alone. I find doing it alone really allows me to let go: I can express myself freely without worry of disturbing someone else. This might be sobbing, weeping, laughing, talking to myself out loud, groaning, grunting or making other animalistic or primal expressions. It may also be moving my body in some way like shaking, pacing around the room or even beating my chest. 

When working alone I have a set procedure that I follow and have built through practice. On the day, my ritual includes putting my phone on airplane mode, saying a prayer and giving thanks, and writing down my intention and saying it out loud before I consume the dose. I also close the ceremony by giving thanks and finally ringing a bell. It includes various preparation and integration practices, such as clearing in the days before, checking in with both of my parents, and journaling while listening to the playlist again on the day after the session.

I find this type of session to be the most useful thing I can do to gain access to the hidden realms of my psyche, to make the unconscious conscious, and to gain a better understanding and acceptance of myself. It helps to clarify things for me and I nearly always come out of a session with an extremely clear sense of where my heart wants to go and what I need to do next in my life.

I use this style of session as a tool for personal growth and view it as a foundational part of my spiritual practice.

These days I almost exclusively use psilocybin, though I have used LSD in the past and had great results. 

Exploring for Fun

I also use psychedelics in more casual ways and often with the express intention of having fun with friends. This may be inside, it could also be outside. The one thing that is consistent is that I like to be well prepared in terms of equipment, such as basics like having some food, drinks or snacks ready, and comfortable spaces to lie down with blankets. I also, like in the psychedelic therapy style, always write down all the doses I take and the times I take them. If I’m out or at a friends’ place, I will do this in my pocket notebook which I take everywhere with me.

I also like to give some thought to the types of things we might want to do beforehand, and may prepare things to entertain or amuse myself or the group with. These may be things to look at, things to touch, ponder, or experience. For example, music videos, wikipedia articles, or pieces of visual art.

When exploring for fun it is usually with LSD or 2C-B and sometimes combined with MDMA. Nitrous oxide has also often been in the mix in the past, but that is less common and more reserved for special occasions these days. Still, hitting a gas on a candy flip is something that I think every psychonaut should try once in their lives

Between Fun and Therapeutic

Though I place the highest value on the classic psychedelics, I also use non-classic psychedelics such as MDMA and ketamine for having a comfortable exploration at home. This is usually a mixture of growth oriented introspective style work and a fun exploration of ideas or themes. I sometimes also mix in 2C-B for this type of session and have enjoyed trying different combinations of these three substances. I also like to experiment with different types of ratios in terms of dose and timing of doses, and sometimes also blend in some marijuana to mix it up and increase entropy in my streams of thoughts and experience.

For introspective style work, I do journaling to explore my thoughts and feelings. Generally the content is often about my relationships with others, things I’d like to do such as lifestyle changes or experiments, and ideas around creative and professional projects.

For the fun exploration of ideas or themes I will also explore with certain materials like music or art and journal about them.

I also like to do things which are a little more creatively ambitious which may extend over the course of multiple sessions to create a deeper exploration and expression. For example, during lockdown this year I explored the theme of ‘the Loner’ and loneliness. This is something I identify with and, living with two couples and not being allowed contact with anyone else for 2 months, this came up strongly for me. I explored it by creating a playlist of songs on the theme, reading the wikipedia pages of loneliness and solitude, and gave myself expression by writing and recording a punk song: ‘Loner’. It was awesome.

On more casual sessions like this I will also often just have an open free association brainstorm kind of thing just using pen and paper to externalise thoughts and ideas so I can see them and more easily make new connections.

Normally sessions will not be either therapeutic or fun, but a mix of both, always with the therapeutic and more challenging content coming up at the start of the session before giving way to a more relaxed tone and sense of agency about where I want to put my attention.

Psycholytic Style

I also do this type of fun/therapy session occasionally with a good friend of mine. We use ketamine as it is his preferred substance. Likewise, the first section of the session we generally do more therapeutically oriented work, and we will go for a more psycholytic style approach, using our conversation and interaction as a means to to dig in to and look closely at perceptions and feelings, question beliefs, reach deeper levels of understanding, and ultimately find some resolution with current issues in our lives. We also sometimes do role plays, acting out interactions with different people in our lives who we currently have tension with, and look at quotes from our favourite philosophers.

Music

I am a huge fan of music in general and just love listening to music on all psychedelic substances. I also occasionally like going to concerts and taking something. For example, a couple years ago, I went with some friends to see one of my faves Kurt Vile at the Kulturastrahaus and for the whole show just danced my little heart out down front. 

One of my more recent all time favorite life experiences was taking 2C-B with MDMA and seeing the-man-the-myth-the-legend, Ty Segall. Front row I got absolutely pounded in a tornado of thumping guitars that swept through the core of my being and left me mixed parts obliterated and exhilarated. Yeah, just awesome.

Nature Connection

Less often I take psychedelics out in nature so I guess I’m more of a city psychonaut. However, I think that is mostly due to the fact of psychedelics being illegal and my uncomfortable feelings of being outside and exposed in an uncontrolled environment. After all, psychedelics can and often do increase feelings of sensitivity and vulnerability. That is, however, something I would like to change because I would like to deepen my appreciation of the beauty of the natural world.

How often I take psychedelics

The frequency of my use really varies season-by-season and year-by-year. My practice and use, like life and myself, is a living, evolving thing. I do try to make time for psychedelic therapy style sessions at least a few times a year but there isn’t a set pattern that I stick to. Use of the non classics is more regular, even though I would say it is less beneficial. That is because my psychedelic therapy style sessions are a bigger deal, a 2-3 day affair, also with the added preparation time needed in the run up. They require more from me, in time and energy commitment, so it is harder to fit in. Still, I think I do a decent job.

For example, in 2019 I did around ten sessions with classic psychedelics, (about half in psychedelic therapy style), and ten-fifteen with non-classics. Last year, overall use increased with corona and I had around nine sessions with classics, and fifteen or so with non classics. So far in 2021, I have had two experiences with the classics, and a fair few of the non-classics to get me through a protracted lockdown.

I also sometimes microdose psilocybin or LSD but not often or with any kind of consistent frequency. 

My Name is John Robertson

Up until now I have written and worked under the name John Andrew. Andrew is my middle name and I first used this name before I was working in the psychedelic field.

At the time I had just finished a stint of three years as an English teacher and I was taking something of a sabbatical to travel. I was hoping to make it as a blogger but I wasn’t sure if at some point I would need to go back to teaching English or find some other kind of more conventional job to give myself another injection of cash that would enable to go on doing the types of projects that were closer to my heart.

I was worried about potential employers googling me and finding my blog writing about all my crazy and illegal psychedelic adventures and ultimately limiting my options and ability to work. It is kind of sad that I felt I had to hide such a huge part of what I see as a beautiful and core part of my identity but such was my predicament.

I used the name John Andrew for jobs such as workshops and public talks and continued to use it as I entered more deeply into the wider psychedelic network. When finally committing to full-time psychedelic work some years later I thought that it would be kind of fun to continue using what had become my pen and now psychedelic name. After all, having a pen name is kind of cool, and I also wanted to build on the name I’d started to establish.

By this point it was not that I was really hiding it from anyone that was important to me. I revealed my psychedelic side to both of my parents at the time of their separation. With everything that was going on I felt the need to reach a much deeper level of openness and honesty with both of them. I wanted them to really know their son. 

Initially my Dad was more accepting than my Mum and he was actually a huge support to me in the founding of the New Moon Psychedelic Retreat project which launched in 2019. He encouraged me to follow my heart and seeing that I had clarity on what I wanted to do, he pushed me to fully go for it. That is what I did and I committed myself to a project of a scope that I had never taken on before. I put a part of my heart and soul in to New Moon in a way that was a deeply meaningful and formative experience.

Since then it has then now come the point where people know me through my public psychedelic work and will actually call out to me as John Andrew. Or people closer to me know that my name is John Robertson, but they’ve also seen my name around as John Andrew and there is some kind of confusion. It’s not really that I was trying to keep those sides separate in recent years, it’s just that I had used that name for a while and just thought it would be more convenient to continue using it.

I now want to clear up this confusion and be called by my family name for my work. This is me taking one more step on my path of long term integration.

I am John Robertson.

And I fucking love psychedelics.

.

The post I am a Psychonaut appeared first on Maps of the Mind.

Many things helped me to make it through my way of publishing 30 times in 30 days, and today I’ll continue to share a few more.

Connecting to something bigger

At times of difficulty when I encountered a resistance to hit publish I returned to my why. It was a personal challenge, but personal only in so far as that I want to improve my ability to write and put out content so that ultimately I am more able to spread knowledge and information about psychedelics and to share ideas that I believe can be useful to other people. So when I had doubts I returned to the thought of ‘this is about much more than you’. This helped me to get over myself and think about the people my writing could reach and help. My feelings about how I might come across or how nice my writing is to read took a back seat to the primary aim of getting that information and those ideas out there into the world. This made it a whole lot easier to not get overly concerned with editing.

Knowing that it’s about more than myself was very helpful as those difficult feelings that I encountered were in the end just my personal difficulties. If I want to actually play my part in something bigger and contribute to the world in a meaningful way then I’m gonna have to get over myself.

Before the month I made a small reminder card with an image of the world and a heart that I now keep over my desk. This was to connect to the bigger picture of love and all those lives of the people around the world to help drive me on in times of difficulty.

Inspiring Material

I read Steven Pressfield’s Do The Work before and during the month on a timely recommendation from a friend. I think I’ve blown Pressfield’s trumpet enough on this blog by now for you to get it that his work speaks to me. One thing that stuck out from this work was that doing research can become a form of Resistance and procrastination. So for this month I actually did zero research for any of the articles. I referenced other materials and websites, but only ones that I was already aware of or had in mind that I could use. Aside from being hugely practical in terms of saving time, this was nice in that it was a good chance to test myself and my knowledge of psychedelics and it felt really good to keep churning stuff out without looking at what others had to say on the topic. It has been a great confidence boost for me and I feel way more ready to embark on creative challenges without spending so much time doing prep and just coming up with things on the spot. This is something I’d like to explore more in the future with workshops and talks and have more confidence in myself to do this than before.

Rituals & Routines

I had a few rituals and routines which helped me throughout the month. Here are a few:

Waking up early

I am a fan of a strong morning routine. In July I would wake up around 6, drink a glass of hot lemon water and stretch, take a cold shower, meditate, walk once around the block and then eat breakfast before settling down to begin writing. Having such a consistent routine with an early start was definitely helpful.

The 6AM start did go out the window after my accident as I had difficulty sleeping due to the pain in my arm, but I did get back to early rising once I was able to sleep well.

Fiery Music

Music was a huge help on days when I felt tired or low on inspiration. On most mornings during my short morning walk I would listen to some slamming track which would get me fired up and generally ready to kick some ass. My go to anthem for the month was The Bronx’s cover of Black Night Crash, a punk track which opens up with a ‘yeah!’ that got me going on even my most sluggish of mornings. I would often bounce around the block and always returned home ready to face a new challenge.

Pre-Writing Statement

Once at my desk, immediately before beginning the first draft, I would read a short passage aloud:

“Anything and everything that arises today can be written down,
Anything and everything that arises is a gift from my basic wealth, is bringing me closer to the truth, could be part of the message I want to convey… even if it’s a poop joke”.

This was inspired by Stephen Pressfield who makes a prayer to the Muse every morning before he begins writing. I liked the idea of using the same one but it just didn’t quite feel right for me. I found the above one whilst searching for prayers/odes to read before writing. This one was simple and straightforward and felt right, reminding myself that whatever I put down would be OK. Having this in the forefront of my mind before writing helped to settle me and then to blast through doubting resistance and keep moving forward with my first draft.

A Positive Mantra

The idea for this challenge came in the latter part of a magic truffle journey and both excited and scared me. It seemed like a pretty big ask but at the same time the belief came to my mind, and it came with two words: ‘I can’.

This served as a mantra for my month and I repeated it many times in the week before starting as a way to psych myself up. I even changed the password on my computer to ‘I can!’ before the month so that every time I logged in I would again put it out in to the world and internalize this belief. I believe there is a great power to this and developing a mantra for a challenge is something that I will probably do again in the future.

Final Thoughts

So those are a few things which supported and helped me through the process, to finish here are a couple of final thoughts from the challenge.

Creativity breeds creativity

Before going into the month I brainstormed a few article ideas and kept them in a list for my reference. Initially it was useful to have so I felt reassured that I wouldn’t draw a blank but as the month went on what happened was a surprise. Rather than the list getting shorter as I wrote different pieces, what I found was that the opposite actually happened, and the list of ideas for articles kept growing. As I wrote more articles, more ideas for other articles that I wanted to write just kept popping up. This was a great feeling as I find that moment when a new idea pops up in the mind to be quite satisfying. In a creative sense it feels great to have such an abundance of ideas out there. However, deciding to act on them or let them go is another step and definitely something for to me consider as I make decisions about how I will spend my time and what projects I want to devote my time and attention to.

Writing More

This was the first 30 day challenge I used for a creative project and I think that is what made it so rewarding. It forced me to engage my mind in a particular way every day that is different than other challenges I’ve done and I noticed my mind working in a new and novel way that I haven’t since I learned Spanish. That psychedelic (reality broadening) aspect was hugely interesting and definitely will push me to do more of these types of challenges in the future.

Also, just being that creative felt great in and of itself. I was away for work the two weeks immediately following the challenge and didn’t have an opportunity to blog. (I wrote How to Start a Meditation Circle on a double day during the 30 day challenge so I’d have something to publish whilst away on work). I have actually missed getting up and writing and publishing every day. I don’t really know how to describe the feeling other than totally agreeing with Seth Godin’s comment that ‘blogging is good for the soul’. Although I feel rusty coming back to it after a couple weeks out it feels good to write again. There is a new version of Maps of the Mind coming later this year and I will then settle in to a schedule of one to two articles every week. I noticed that I had more regular readers for the month of July and that also felt great to have new content for people coming back.

Finding Purpose

One of the most remarkable things I experienced was the sense of purpose I felt throughout the month. The daily challenge gave me a real raison d’être each day and I woke up each morning excited for the day and to see what it had in store.

So there’s my review for my 30 day writing challenge.  Ultimately it was an incredible, magical, and especially empowering month. It has just further developed my love for the 30 day challenge and I am excited to throw myself in to many more. Taking a break for the month of August, I am already looking forward to embarking on a new one for September….

The post 30 Day Writing Challenge Review pt. 2 appeared first on Maps of the Mind.

It was an incredible month packed with synchronicities and very meaningful to me in terms of challenging myself and cultivating a growth and exploratory mindset. I can say that it has been one of the most interesting months of my life and so many things occurred, not all clearly because of the challenge, but in ways that I don’t think were entirely coincidental.

The month also nicely coincided with two other milestones for Maps of the Mind, the most views and visitors the site has ever received in a month, and also during the month, 2020 became the year with the most views and visitors. With 5 months left this is very promising and by years end will set a nice new bar for me to reach in 2021.

I’d originally planned to do a review on the final day of the month but in the end needed the time to prepare for a work trip to the Netherlands. I just arrived back on Wednesday and today wanted to take the time to sit down and review the challenge and allow the lessons and all that passed to sink in a little deeper.

PSYJuly Review

Going into the challenge I was both excited and nervous. At the start of July I’d averaged around one post per month on the blog so this was effectively multiplying my output by a factor of 30 – no small amount. However, I knew that my slow rate was due largely to overthinking and perfectionism and the idea of making a jump that was so ridiculous in this regard was that I knew it would push me to overcome this resistance and through whatever was holding me back.

I learned an incredible amount about my writing process and was able to experiment with different ways of approaching writing articles, from structuring, drafting and also using different writing tools.

It was a challenging process and although letting go of those perfectionist tendencies was one of the main difficulties, there were were other hurdles such as days when I didn’t feel that motivated or inspired, and other days when I was tired and was still faced with the fact that I still had to crank out another piece. There were also some very personal things I wrote about which I’ve never shared in public and was nervous about posting online.

At those difficult moments, there were many things which helped. Here I will share a few of those things and I believe these will be most useful for me to remember going forward into new challenges.

Fully committing beforehand

Fully committing 100% to completing the challenge beforehand helped me to find ways and solutions through tight spots. The biggest example of this came on day 11 with an unexpected obstacle.

I was out on my skateboard early on the Sunday morning (I have found weekend mornings are the best times to skate as the city sleeps and you have the roads to yourself). One third in to the 30 days of publishing, I was feeling great about my creative output and in an excellent mood. The sun was shining, I had music playing in my headphones and, skating on some newly paved smooth ass roads, I felt on top of the world. I busted out a few new tricks that I haven’t in a while and was getting a little bit cocky. What happens when you get too cocky? You get a hard lesson.

Flying down the road on my way home from Alexanderplatz I attempted something I haven’t landed in years, and clipping the curb, fell hard. After lying on my back for around 15 minutes, making strange noises whilst I dealt with the pain, I picked myself off the tarmac and with a blood stained T-shirt, gingerly got myself home.

With my cuts and scrapes cleaned and bandaged up and an icepack applied to my right elbow, I was OK, but I’d totally lost the use of my right arm. No movement whatsoever, I couldn’t use my fingers, I couldn’t use my hand. The whole right arm was immobile and in a lot of pain.

At this point I might’ve thought that maybe I can’t go on with the challenge. After all, losing all use of your dominant arm is quite a setback if you are planning on writing. However by this stage I was so committed to the challenge that I knew I had to find a way.

Coincidentally, I had read article the day before called Setback or step up? about whether a change is a setback or an opportunity depends on your framing. It clicked in my mind that this is actually an opportunity for me rather than a hindrance. Thinking back to my original intentions, one of them was to force myself to think differently about how I create. If this wasn’t an opportunity for me to to think differently then what was?

I began dictating my first draft directly into Google Docs using voice typing and did my editing one-handed with my left hand. This editing process was tedious and time-consuming, but determination and resolve kept me going and I feel like I really strengthened these muscles through this trial. Fully committing to the decision to finish 30 days is something that ultimately pushed me through and kept me determined.

In this regard taking the time before hand to think about why I was doing it and having clear intentions very much helped me.

Revisiting Intentions

When stuck in some way, revisiting my original intentions helped a lot. I was able to remember why I was doing this and use it as a compass and impetus for action. There were many occasions when I started to get a little bit jammed or doubting and one of my intentions absolutely cleared up the issue for me and gave me a clear focus and direction to move forward.

Explorer’s Mindset

Seeing the month as an experiment very much helped to let go of perfectionism. I was able to tell myself that it was an experiment and that I would gain valuable data whatever happens and whatever I put out. This is one of the most useful mindsets I’ve found in terms of growing and something I wish to continue to cultivate.

Setting Limits

The first week was difficult and I had to overcome a lot of resistance to hitting the publish button when I was not happy with what I was putting out. Fortunately I had a very busy month outside of the writing challenge and though that might seem like the worst time to do such a challenge, it was actually a blessing. It pushed me to hit publish early in the day so that I could move on and get on with the rest of my day. It meant that I couldn’t afford to continually edit or try to refine the post.

I would set a deadline early in the day, do the piece to the best that I could by that time, publish it, and then move on. When my deadline came, usually around 10 or 11 am, I would remind myself that the point was to practice hitting publish even whilst not being satisfied with the final piece. Some days I really didn’t want to publish, but coming out the other side can say it was definitely worth it. I always have the opportunity to revisit and edit pieces in the future if I like.

More next time…

There is plenty more to this, but alas I am out of writing time and need to move on with the day. I’ll continue in a part two of this post soon… see you next week!

The post 30 Day Writing Challenge Review appeared first on Maps of the Mind.

The post My Psychedelic Story Pt. 3 appeared first on Maps of the Mind.

Join Tim and Shannon as they discuss psychedelics. They will be delving into different types of hallucinogens, how they can benefit your mental health, and its long-term effects, as well as hallucinogen addiction. They will be speaking with Alice Smeets, a Trauma Integration Therapist and Kerrie O’Reilly, a Trauma Integration Therapist, and Holistic Health Practitioner. They’ll also interview their John Andrew, a Psychedelic Explorer & Guide.

The post Let’s Take a Trip – Interview on Awaken Atlanta appeared first on Maps of the Mind.