Meet Kristi, a member of The Conscious Psychedelic Explorer.

The Conscious Psychedelic Explorer is my flagship program for using psychedelics for healing, insight, and growth. In it we go step-by-step with preparing for, setting up, navigating, and integrating meaningful psychedelic experiences. I’m reopening The Conscious Psychedelic Explorer for new members next month!

If you’ve been looking on and are curious to join, here’s a transcript of a conversation I had with Kristi, a member who joined in the last opening, earlier this year. Kristi shares her experience of the program, how she went from frustration to transformation, and how she is passing on what she’s learned to people shes facilitating for. Read on to find out how you can unlock the power of psychedelics for your own journey…

–

John: Where were you before the course versus where you are now?

Kristi:  I was frustrated, before the course. I had done several ayahuasca retreats and had been doing my own journeys with psilocybin and I wasn’t getting the journey that I wanted.

I saw all these other things happening [with others] and I knew the potential for the psychedelics and the medicine. And so I started Googling and looking for information about how to get there, how to create or make this journey happen. Or how to deepen it. And I came across your course the night before it started. And just signed up. It seemed to be exactly what I was looking for: a complete guide to journeys.

I went through the course. I had my journey planned for right when the course ended. And I went through everything that we went through in the course, step by step. It was basically a road map to get to where I wanted to go. And the journey that I had right after that was 180-degree difference. It was night and day from my previous journeys. I visited past trauma, I had forgiveness, experienced love and beauty. It was amazing! 

I dropped right in and used all the tools and everything you taught us in the course and had a really deep and insightful and valuable journey, that I’d been looking for, through all of these experiences, and finally, I had reached it. And it was all because I did everything you taught us and everything we learned.

J: Amazing. It’s so wonderful to hear. And great work. I’ve said it to people before, but, I mean, like you said, you did everything. Not everyone does.

K: I mean, I really wanted that experience. It was very important to me to go deeper and get there. And I did everything from the clearing to meditating to our inner resources, self-care, and just, yeah, all of the things.  And it all came together.

J: That’s amazing to hear. I don’t know. It seems weird to say, but like, congratulations…!

K: Thank you. *laughs* Pat on the back.

J: I  shared with you about it before, but I know. Also, it’s just really great when you’re like searching, searching, searching. I’ve had that also. I mean, like coming out of experiences. Like, it’s just really kind of disappointing, and then it’s great when it lands. When it comes through.

K: Yeah. I was like, “Finally. Oh, my, oh, my God. Finally. This is what it’s like.” Cause I would see and hear people having all these experiences and I’m like, “This is beautiful.” And I like what I’m seeing, but I’m not getting anywhere. I’m not growing.

I’ve had a couple journeys since then and they’ve been great. The last one I did recently, it took me a little longer to get into it. I just kept thinking, ‘Remember your training. Remember your training,’ and then I just tried to relax and breathe, and then I was like, I got there.

J: Amazing. You’re on a great path.

K: Yeah. It feels much different for sure. Like my journeys before,  and now. it feels different. I feel like I’m just learning so much otherwise, searching for more information on psychedelics and really trying to expand my knowledge with everything, integration, and all of that. So the course for sure kind of kickstarted that, to where I now feel like I’m learning about psychedelics in general, about journeys, and then continuing myself.

J: Amazing. Is there a place you’re hoping to get to or at the moment or you’re just, like, devouring information? And curious?

K: Yeah I mean, even before I took the course, I kind of just fell into facilitating. I had a friend who wanted to journey, and so, I was like, “I’ll sit for you.” And he’s like, “Okay”. And then he had a really profound experience and started sending people. So I’m kind of in this, doing it for myself but also to help with my facilitation and help other people. Well, this has actually come into play with my facilitating. I’m using these tools and everything we learned in the course, passing them on to the people I’m sitting for. And it’s really helping. I can see the difference.

J: That’s amazing. I didn’t realize you’d already started facilitating. It’s almost like in tandem with your process. You’re meant to do it apparently.

K: It’s been a really cool process for sure. And just something I fell into, but it was something that I had been wanting to do, and so it’s all just kind of coming together. Very synchronous.  That’s been really great. They’re also passing on some of the techniques and things.

J: What was or has been your biggest win from taking the course?

K: I would say obviously knowing that, like all of this, everything I learned, works. I have seen it. I have experienced it. I have seen the change and the results. And that was my biggest motivation and the biggest takeaway as well. But also just being in the course, it’s such a safe space. You can ask whatever you want, you can say whatever you want. Share your experiences and you’re with a group of like-minded people who are all doing the same thing, searching for the same thing. Everybody might be in different areas with their experience, but everybody’s coming together to learn and everybody has their own insights and wisdom and experience to kind of help you along with learning. And that was something I really enjoyed, was just talking to people in the class and seeing where they are, what helped them, what they’re doing. And that was really valuable. Even still, it goes on. I mean, people are in the signal group all the time, asking questions and getting feedback, sharing trip reports.

And I know, especially even when I went on my journey, I had sent a message that I was going into it and I got so much support and love and just affirmation about it. I took it with me on my journey. It was really, really special.

J: It’s beautiful to hear. And I think almost everyone says chatting to the people or having some other people is a favorite part. Yeah. And also you’re contributing in the signal group. Like I asked you if you if I could share your wisdom in my newsletter.

J: What was your favorite part of the program?

K: I really enjoyed the group calls and the additional things you brought in, like the music experience and the mini-class we had on that. And the guests, with Sam (Gandy) like all of those played a part and I really enjoyed them. But yeah, overall, the group calls I think were my favorite. To talk to people and see where they are and realize I’m not alone.

Just knowing that there are other people who are in the same spot as I am and trying to learn and trying to navigate this, and having that validation of I’m not the only one thinking I’m doing it wrong or trying to get something out of this.

J: We will have more opportunities for that. Some more guests and other experiences. More to come.

J: What would you say to someone who was on the fence about signing up for the course?

K: Oh just do it. If you’ve come across it and you’re thinking about it, you’ve looked for it for some reason. I would say it was 100% worth it. You know, there’s no reason not to, if that’s something you’re searching for. It has been so beneficial not only in my own journeys but with assisting other people’s journeys. I was looking at a lot of other courses and nothing else fit. They were all about integration or coaching or something else. And this was the only one that I found that was exactly what I was looking for. It was how to create your journey and basically a road map of how to do it. Step by step, from preparation to integration and everything in between. It was exactly what I needed and wanted, and I got so much out of it. Invest in yourself! You’re worth it!

J Amazing. I’m really happy to hear that.

K: It was funny. You actually came up in my journey, my last one, and it was just like “John is a genius, John is so smart for creating this.” I was just like, Yes, yes, so smart. But yeah, it was pretty interesting, it came up that way.

J: Oh, wow. That’s s incredible to hear. I don’t know what to say. Very kind of you to say.

K: I think just the way you present the information and you’re so passionate and patient and you just, you let people say what they need to say, no matter how long it is. *Laughs.* Just accept it and answer questions in a very delicate and knowledgeable way.

J: Thank you so much for your kind words. It’s been super enjoyable. I mean, I really enjoyed speaking on the calls and getting to know people. People like you. It’s great. So thank you for joining.

K: Yeah. Yeah, I’m glad I did for sure. Spur of the moment decision but…

J: You know I’m really glad you did. It’s funny because when you said that, I was thinking. It was lucky. I’m really glad you did. I think technically you signed up after the deadline.

K: Oh, did I? I did it at like 11 or midnight my time. So probably past it on your end.

J: Right. Okay. Great that the link was still open. Not that much of a genius – I couldn’t get the link to close at the time it was supposed to.

K: That’s a technical difficulty, but it worked out!

–

Thanks to Kristi for her time and for having this conversation.

The Conscious Psychedelic Explorer opens its doors again next month, September 2023.

If you have any questions about the program, go ahead and email me at [email protected]

Key Program Details

The Conscious Psychedelic Explorer is a step-by-step program that teaches you how to prepare for, set up, and integrate meaningful psychedelic experiences to help you harness personal insights, access healing states, and accelerate your personal growth.

Core Program

• 25+ Pre-recorded video lessons
• Access to a private CPE Signal group
• Workbook, templates, and extra resources

If you join in the next opening you will also be part of a cohort that has the chance to be supported with live calls to work through the program in 6 weeks. This will include:

• 6 Weekly live community calls
• Weekly meditation, journaling and practical planning exercises
• Weekly emails to stay on track

Dates for Live Calls

All calls are at 7pm UK time / 2pm EST / 8pm CET on:

Dates coming very soon!

Live calls for all CPE alumni continue on a monthly basis throughout the year.  This is a chance to ask me any questions you have and connect with the community.

Bonuses

There are a whole bunch of bonuses, including:

• Quarterly workshops in 2024 to learn and connect in community
• Guest masterclasses and experiences on topics like neuroscience, research, setting, and music.
• Living database of music playlists for psilocybin, LSD, MDMA and ketamine (Periodically updated)
• + more

Price

$497

This is the final time I will be offering this program for $497 before the price goes up, so if you’ve been thinking about it, this is a good time to join.

Course Page

The post Transformative Journeys: How Kristi Unlocked Healing and Growth Through The Conscious Psychedelic Explorer appeared first on Maps of the Mind.

If you’re interested in joining the program, I hope this will give you an idea of what you can expect from the experience. More information can be found at the bottom of this post.

Enjoy!

–

John:

Where were you before the course versus where you are now?

David:
Before the course, I had three sessions of MDMA for the treatment of PTSD. I think maybe one or two low doses of psilocybin, and really only having one point of contact with this whole psychedelic space other than just my self-inquiry of googling and that type of stuff. But I had a really strong desire to be part of a growing community where I can learn and share. Being part of a tribe or a community, you know, being part of a group with a shared interest. I could sense the benefit that would have.

So as I was searching, that’s how I stumbled across that podcast [Mind Meld], John, where I saw you being interviewed and talking about this upcoming course. I don’t know if it was serendipity or what, but I just happened to find this when I was looking for it. 

I now feel like I have a strong community of friends. Ryan [another member] and I were talking about that. I’ve never even met the people in our group in person, but I feel like I have a stronger friendship with most of the folks that are on the call than some of the people who live close enough that I can get in my car and drive to them, but with them I don’t have that sense of shared interest or connectivity.

So where I was, was seeing the promise, searching for how I can learn more, to where I’m at today.

Today I’m feeling like I’ve come quite a ways. I’ve developed a group of friends who I can continue to learn with in parallel and share ideas and continue to grow. A lot has changed in the course of just really a very short period of time for me. 

J:

Maybe some overlap here, but what has been your biggest win or result from taking the course? 

D:

Well, there are a number of qualifiers…

You know, when I was struggling with anxiety and PTSD, and depression, I felt so isolated. So isolated, so alone, so closed off. The biggest win for me is I feel so much more open. Naturally open. Not like I’m trying to force this opening. The biggest win has been this sense of connectivity.

And a general interest in learning and sharing. And with the community, there’s not that sense of “Oh shit, I shouldn’t say that, or I’m going to be judged for this, or what are they going to think if I ask that?”. That’s not there. There’s such a sense of symbiotic learning. 

J:

I love that, and totally have the same sense. What has been your favorite part of the course? 

D:

I can’t just say “this is my favorite part” because my favorite part truly was the course and everything that it is comprised of, all the components of the course. Your deep knowledge and willingness to share, your thoughtful weekly presentations with an honest desire to help, and to follow through. Bringing in a group of such diversity together with that singular interest, which is really, self-exploration using these various tools. 

And even though the course is over, to me it doesn’t feel like the other courses that I’ve taken over my life where, you know, I’ve got my report card, I’ve got my grade, boom, now I’m moving on to the next thing. To me, it seems almost like a chapter has closed and it’s just going to be naturally a continuation with the group. It is a group of explorers that have assembled here. 

J:

I feel the same way about it the continuation and I’m looking forward to seeing where it goes. What would you say to someone who is on the fence about purchasing the course? 

D:

Get off the fence. Take the course. I would be so direct. I’d maybe choose words differently. But this is coming from a professional procrastinator. This course is the one thing that I just didn’t procrastinate on. I said, you know, I’m just going to do it.

If anyone is on the fence. I would say, the fact that you’re thinking about it. Trust that intuitive thought and for whatever reason you’re on the fence, put that on the back burner, take the course, and then judge for yourself whether it was the right thing to do.

Take the course, then judge based on experience versus projecting whatever hesitation you might be putting on to it based on past experience. Just experience it. I can’t imagine anybody coming through this course who isn’t willing to put in the work to learn and participate. 

Friends aren’t given to you. Knowledge isn’t given to you. Community isn’t given to you. It’s what you invest. And to me, as I look back on 2022, this is probably going to be one of the things that I’ll remember most, because, again, I think it’s just the initial chapter of what I hope to be volumes of in the years to come. 

–

The Conscious Psychedelic Explorer opens again soon an the course begins on the 19th September.

If you have any questions about the program, go ahead and email me at [email protected]

Key Program Details

The Conscious Psychedelic Explorer is a 6-week step-by-step program that teaches you how to prepare for, set up, and integrate meaningful psychedelic experiences to help you harness personal insights, access healing states, and accelerate your personal growth.

Core Program

• 25+ Pre-recorded video lessons
• 6 Weekly live community calls
• Weekly meditation, journaling and practical planning exercises
• Weekly emails to stay on track
• Access to a private CPE Signal group
• Workbook, templates, and extra resources

Dates for Live Calls

All calls are at 7pm UK time / 2pm EST / 8pm CET on:

• Tuesday September 19th
• Tuesday September 26th
• Tuesday October 3rd
• Tuesday October 10th
• Tuesday October 17th
• Tuesday October 24th

Outside the 6 week period, community calls for all CPE alumni continue on a monthly basis throughout the year. 

Bonuses

There are a whole bunch of bonuses, including:

• 4 Quarterly workshops in 2024 to learn and connect in community
• Guest masterclasses and experiences on topics like neuroscience, research, setting, and music.
• Living database of music playlists for psilocybin, LSD, MDMA and ketamine (Periodically updated)
• + more

Price

$497

Course Page

The post A Participant’s Perspective on The Conscious Psychedelic Explorer appeared first on Maps of the Mind.

A member from the last cohort recently reached out to me to report back after embarking upon their first session since completing the program. Their email message displays a shining example of some of the lessons from the course being put into practice, and so with their permission, I share their write-up here.

To me this just shows exemplifies a careful and respectful approach to a psychedelic session duly rewarded. I hope it can inspire you in your preparation too.

Here’s the report:

–

I wanted to reach out directly. My experience yesterday was the culmination of over 3 years of therapy and 2 years of working with psychedelics. It was by far the deepest and I know holds the most potential for change of anything I have ever experienced.

I used a lot of what I learned in your course to plan and carry out this experience, with that you absolutely had a role in its success. For that, I say thank you! I appreciate that you took the time to put it together and your passion in presenting. 

I wrote the below “trip report” in the day leading up to and yesterday. I did want you to see it though so you could see some of your work in application. 

Spoiler alert, I personally don’t think it is productive to read “Trip reports” of other people’s experiences. I have done this in the past and it has only led to me second-guessing or trying to drive my experiences because of what I thought they should look like.

I am thoroughly convinced each experience is an individual gift and no two will be the same. Past that, every time I have tried to describe what took place in one of my experiences I sounded like this crazy old man, well more than normal anyway, so I quit trying.

This report is an outline or “report” if you will of what I did leading up to what I consider a very successful, productive experience. Not that following my path will make your experience successful but perhaps you can see some actions that may make it better for you as I did in John’s course.

Intention.

I got my intention about 3 months ago. That is typically how I work; it will just come to me at some point, and I will know it’s time to start prepping for the next experience. My intention for this experience was to “Work with and address my inner trauma”. Sounds like a party, right? Well to be honest this was obviously going to be shadow work, I had a distinct inner comfort in the prospect of healing in this way.

It took me over 3 months to schedule the event due in part to my internal preparation. I have found that if I spend some time trying to refine and get my head around what I think the details of the intention are I will be better prepared on the day of the healing. I also had some scheduling challenges to get through.

Medicine.

I only have experience with Psilocybin and MDMA, I have heard Psilocybin described as “Spiritual” and MDMA described as “Psychological”, that description settled in well with me. In this case, I saw the healing as more of a dialog and integration of my trauma so in my head MDMA seemed to be the perfect fit. I reflect as much I can on the chosen medicine and its mechanisms as I work on my intention.  

For this event, after I had decided it needed to be scheduled I revisited our course material. Trying to incorporate as much as I could as I re-listened to the content.

Schedule the day.

I did choose, for this event to schedule a day. I discussed it with my wife, we agreed on a day, I cleared my calendar and we both worked to protect that day from being rescheduled.

Agreements.

I made the agreement to accept the music for what it is and enjoy what it brings. Most of you have heard me talk about music, it has been a bit of a challenge for me. For this experience I made the agreement that I would accept what was in the chosen playlist unless it was completely taking me sideways.

Next, I agreed to go to the bathroom when I first noticed the need. This was brought up in the course and hit home with me.

Clearing.

As inspired by folks in this group my first clearing exercise was the decision to be open with my kids about my activities. This cleared a lot of emotional baggage as well as the day. My scheduled day was a Saturday. I have always scheduled during the week and typically in the evening or nighttime to avoid interaction with my kids.

I also worked to clear my work calendar so the Friday prior to my event was an easy day. The most prominent thing here was to reschedule a touchpoint meeting with my boss. We don’t always see things the same and I didn’t want to risk the drama just before to my event, so I rescheduled. The upshot to that was I had the call earlier in the week and it was a positive interaction.

Self Care.

Starting the Sunday before I chose to abstain from alcohol, I typically do this for 24 hours prior to my events but started early this time to evaluate my relationship with alcohol.

Tried to eat cleaner for the week leading up to the event. To say I ate clean would be stretching the truth, ok, it would be a lie, but I did do much better.

Gave my room a thorough cleaning the Friday before, including clean sheets on the bed and a clean towel for my ritual shower prior to taking the medicine.

Abstained from sex beginning Thursday night. MDMA elicits a serotonin dump but so does sex. To ensure I have serotonin to dump I try to keep the storehouse full prior to taking the medicine.  

Made it a point to get to bed early so I would be well-rested for my event. No real reason to be up late after that last step anyway, right?

Starting Friday morning, no news, no talk radio, no social media, and no TV.

I typically get up early, meditate and read for an hour. I refrained from reading the day of the event. I want to focus on my intention, and I get easily sidetracked so no reason to possibly introduce some new concept that may take me off my path.

Ritual.

• Wake up at about 7 to meditate. I will have coffee and maybe a few almonds very early but stop liquid intake at least an hour before I take the medicine, back to that not wanting to get up to go to the bathroom thing.
• I will get a “purge vessel” cool name for a Home Depot 5-gallon bucket. I place this right next to the bed. I have, thankfully, never had to use it but I like that it’s there.
• Make the bed up with my pillows and an extra blanket.
• Lay out the headphones.
• Download my playlist, I use Spotify. In the Spotify settings on your device, you can set the download quality to high. I have mine set to high, not sure if there is a difference or not?
• Download a backup playlist. I know, I am not forgetting my “agreement” but you can’t be too careful
• Download another backup playlist, going to be REALLY careful.
• Take the device I am playing music on off the network
• Sit down and journal my intention, trying to allow it to flow and allow any details or the story to unfold as a write. I do this just until the natural flow has stopped.
• Take a shower.
• Measure out my medicine and the booster into two shot glasses.
• Give my wife my phone.
• Take initial dose, followed by the booster in 2 hours.

Integration.

Integration begins the night of the event. I journal for integration and will continue doing that in the days/weeks that follow an event.

I can say with calm certainty that this was the deepest event I have ever had, with what I consider the most potential for change. The work to integrate it will determine how much of it I get to keep.

–

The Conscious Psychedelic Explorer reopens for another cohort in September 2023.

You can join the waitlist to get first access to places here.

Live Calls are at 7pm UK time / 2pm EDT on:

• Tuesday September 19th
• Tuesday September 26th
• Tuesday October 3rd
• Tuesday October 10th
• Tuesday October 17th
• Tuesday October 24tt

More information can be found on the course page.

If you have any further questions or would like to talk, feel free to send me a message directly or book a call.

The post The Conscious Psychedelic Explorer | Member Case Study appeared first on Maps of the Mind.

As I’ve wrapped up, I’ve been talking with some of the members inside to learn about their experiences. The post today is a transcription of one of those conversations.

I wanted to share this to give people an idea of what it’s like inside and for those of you who might be on the fence about joining and would like to know more.

This conversation is between myself (J), and Mark (M) – an alias- and has been edited with permission for clarity:

–

J:

So where I’d like to begin is to ask, where were you before the course versus where you are now?

M:

So I’ve probably taken the psychedelics for, we’re probably coming up on two and a half years. I’ve probably taken 15 to 18 doses of psilocybin and three doses of MDMA. All of which, the protocol and the means by which I took them was formed out of just research that I did on the internet. And while I had what I thought was a fairly good protocol, as you can imagine it was evolving over all that time.

I find now that when I look at the overall protocol after the course, I can see it’s gonna be much more structured. Considering a lot of the things that you brought up throughout the course, I look at them and say, oh, that makes sense.

Like, setting aside a specific day. I mean, those thoughts come up, but when you hear somebody else say things, it makes it a little bit more solid to you. So going into my next experience, it’s gonna be much more structured.

I think because of that, it’s going to be better because I’m a structured kind of person, it gives me a sense of comfort. I don’t know why I didn’t tie to it before, but having you lay things out from one end to the other, has allowed me to see a more complete view of it. So that’s kind of where I stand.

J:

Right. Yeah, it’s great to hear that as a structured person, you’ll bring some of that more to your psychedelic work.
What has been your biggest win or your biggest result or benefit from taking the course?

M:

I’m gonna say twofold. So one of the big wins for me is the structure and the way you laid out the modules and stepped through everything and gave me that view.

Next, I think as I look at the journaling exercises and look at the exercises that we’ve done, I have more confidence in planning my next experience.  I think having that confidence, having that control, and going into the next experience is huge.

Finally, I would say the community. The group calls and the breakout rooms, I found much more value in that than I anticipated, especially the breakout rooms. I usually don’t like that. When you first said you’re gonna do the breakout rooms? I was shaking my head saying, “no, why are we going down this path?” <laughs>

But I found them, literally, every one of them was fruitful, in one way, shape or form. So that was huge for me. Being able to talk openly within the community calls was so incredible. I don’t have anybody I can talk to about it, nobody around me, or in my sphere, is active in psychedelics. I mean, we’re talking about something that’s illegal here, so it’s not like you can have this open conversation about it. It was huge for me to be able to just talk about it openly and freely and hear other people’s experiences.

…

J:

Amazing to hear so much has sunk in for you. What was your favorite part of the course?

M:

The way you packaged and presented it. I’ve looked at some other courses before and I mean, we’ve obviously all been to courses, we’ve been to classes and learned things. To me, you provide the wisdom of experience in your knowledge that lies beyond just teaching. Beyond that it’s not delivered in an antiseptic way, or the way I would traditionally see a course. It was more like having a discussion with a wise friend that understands what you’re talking about.

You deliver and lead the course more from a caring perspective. I mean, the way you present your materials, lead the calls and facilitate the conversations, it was all delivered and created, not in a “yeah, I’m just going put this class together so you can learn the material and get through it” way.

There was caring and that’s the best way to describe it. There was care in the content that you created and the way you facilitated it. So that was super good for me. I didn’t feel like I was just in a class to just learn the material and go away, you know what I mean? Even the material done at home away from the calls, seemed to be done in a very caring way. That was huge for me too.

J:

Very much appreciate that. What would you say to somebody who’s on the fence about purchasing or joining the course?

M:

J:

Thank you for your kind words M. I’m really glad you joined. I’ve enjoyed your presence and the curiosity and sharing that you brought to the group.

–

The Conscious Psychedelic Explorer opens for registration again on the 10th of January 2023. Join the waitlist to get first access.

The post Student Interview – The Conscious Psychedelic Explorer Program 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!

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

R/EVOLUTION is a deep dive course for psychedelic explorers. If you’d like to find out more about the core information or sign up, visit the course page. Here I will share more of a behind the scenes blog post.

The Openings of R/EVOLUTION

I am excited to say that after having done a soft launch, we already have the first members of our first cohort signed up and on board. I have ‘soft launched’ over the last week by emailing an early version of the course page to previous clients, those who filled out the feedback form, and my mailing list, and adjusting and editing the course page based on their feedback. I am really excited to see the first group for this course beginning to come together. This cohort will be a key part of what I see as a co-creative group experience.

Group Experience

One aspect that I want to bring to R/EVOLUTION is the group experience aspect. Connecting with others is something that many people on the psychedelic path have difficulty with, for obvious legality and stigma reasons, and a few people who were generous enough to give early input mentioned that this aspect of the course would be very appealing and go some way to making the course a meaningful experience.

One of these early contributors even mentioned that they feel like integration is like a solo sport, and this is something that resonated with me. I remember often feeling like a total outsider after my first psychedelic experiences ten years ago. I was fortunate enough to have one friend who also had his worldview thoroughly shaken to talk with, though at the time, I had never heard of the term ‘psychedelic integration’, let alone had a framework or guide. I fumbled through and found my way, leaning heavily on meditation as a support and finding some semblance of community support in meditation groups or gatherings in the places I was living. Though I have found my way, I can see how beneficial it would have been to have had a dedicated group or community that I could share my experiences with and learn from through those years. I think it would have supported my growth massively.

Community

The theme of community comes up again and again in psychedelic integration because support is so crucial on a path of growth. Also as humans we are social animals and have a desire to connect with others.

Even in Buddhist tradition, which is often seen as having a very solitary practice, community, or Sangha, is one of the three key supports, or ‘refuges’ – the other two being the Buddha and Dharma. 

In R/EVOLUTION, we will have a series of live zoom calls to give participants a chance to connect with other members of the group. Each call will have a section for small group sharing and connection exercises. Depending on the number of people who attend each call, we may split into smaller and go into breakout rooms for exercises. I tried to fix the dates based on availability of the first signups, but alas it is very difficult to coordinate across different peoples schedules, so I’ve just done my best and tried to include a mix of days so most people can at least attend one. The calls will be recorded and available to people who can’t make them live, and there will be another opportunity to connect through a private Signal group.

The Signal group will offer a place for members to ask questions and share difficulties and learnings as they go through the course. It will also be a space to allow any members to set up peer led calls in addition to the calls I will be hosting as part of the course itself. 

Personalising a Psychedelic Approach

Although I hope the group and social aspect will be a big aspect of the course, another key aspect will be that of the individual. The core content of the course will be delivered in audio lessons and associated homework exercises, and I am designing the course in a way that facilitates a personal experience for each participant.

No individual is the same, and I’ve found that developing a personalised approach is the best way to work with psychedelics. Whilst frameworks and structures can be extremely helpful, I believe they are best used as a basis or starting point for exploration, experimentation and customisation. 

Throughout the lockdowns of the last year and a half, I’ve spent a lot of time developing and refining my own protocols by way of practice and feedback. The middle section of the course will guide people through the process of doing this themselves, and I will be offering my own protocols and rituals as models and templates to give people ideas.

The templates will be bases or starting points for people to work from and develop their own customised approach. The level that people deviate from the suggestions given is entirely up to them. 

I hope that course participants will share their own ideas and customisations with each other too, building something of a repository of knowledge, and together making a contribution to the field of psychedelic exploration.

The Atmosphere of the Space

I hope to create a space of learning, with an atmosphere of genuine warmth and comradeship. It’s also vital to me that community members are respectful of each other, as this is important with the type of openings that psychedelics can bring about and that I hope to facilitate. 

I love the feeling of being in a group which has a special bond and I hope we are able to create that by bringing together people who have a shared love of psychedelics, and offering opportunities for connection and bonding. I have found that psychedelic work is especially conducive to forming special bonds and I hope that will be true here too. 

I also want members to feel supported and heard, to have a space to share both their learnings and their struggles too. Walking the psychedelic path is no easy feat. For that reason, resources, support systems and finding the others will also feature in the core material too. 

My Approach to Creating the Course

Though I have many lesson outlines and a couple folders of material and ideas, I have not yet finalised any lessons. It makes the most sense to tailor the information to those who will actually be using it, so I will be refining the course content based on the input of those who will be taking part.

As such I will be creating a lot of the course content throughout the month of November. When the portal opens on the 1st November, I will have the first few lessons uploaded, so that people can begin, and I will then be creating the rest of the course and finalising lesson plans and recording the audios and uploading them to the course portal as we move through the month. By the 30th, all 30 lessons will be uploaded. This will allow the fastest people to work through the material at one lesson a day, and the rest to go at their own pace. On a personal level, not having everything done beforehand is about leaning into trust, creating something unique and inspired, and developing my creative flow.

I am quite excited about the 29th lesson, which will be decided on by the group. I will be accepting ideas and listening to feedback for the weeks before then, and as we approach that day I will put it out there to the group to decide. I will then do my best in creating a lesson on the specified topic, or perhaps even try to make it something of a group creative collaboration. I will feel into that with the group as it approaches but I’m excited about this as I’m not aware of anything like this already out there. 

Creating the Course

Over the last couple weeks my main focus has been building the main infrastructure for the course, such as the course platform, payments system, setting up my home recording studio, and some marketing and outreach. With most of that now taken care of, my focus has begun shifting back to the course content itself.

One of my main challenges right now is that I have too much that I want to pack in and I’m already feeling like the 30 lessons isn’t enough. That is a nice problem to have, and I will see this as an exercise in condensing information as succinctly as I can to the most fundamental principles. I believe that this will lead to each lesson being relistenable and I am aiming to create a course that people can repeat and still make big gains.

Each audio lesson will end with an exercise. These will be a mix of journaling, guided meditation, and awareness or out-in-the-world practice exercises. Currently my thinking is that for some of the lessons, I will offer two or more exercises and people can choose which one they want to do. This fits in nicely with the personalised approach theme that will run through the course and explorers will be able to re-run the course and do any alternate exercises in the future. For those that aren’t sure which one to do, or if nothing in particular calls, I will offer a suggestion as a default first option.

Where I’m at

I am beginning to brew with anticipation and excitement for this experience. As I was setting up my microphone in my home work space yesterday, I reflected on the fact that creating this course will require me to draw upon the vast majority of my professional experience from the last decade of my life. Having studied broadcasting, I worked in media, spent years in education as an English teacher, and then transitioned to workshops and facilitation work in psychedelics.

It really feels like this is how I can best offer my unique gifts to the world at this moment in time. With most of the administrative and organisational work to be taken care of by the end of the week, I am especially excited to shift my energy to the content and finalising and recording a few of the first lessons.

If this course interests you, I invite you to take a look at the R/EVOLUTION page, and if it is calling you, join us! 

As I write this, there are still some early bird tickets left

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