Podcast Intro:

In clinical research settings around the world, renewed investigations are taking place on the use of psychedelic substances for treating illnesses such as addiction, depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder.  The microdosing community swears by it, claiming that it has increased creativity, energy, and a sense of well-being, as well as reduced depression levels.

However, despite the rise in popularity of microdosing in recent years, there was little scientific data to back up the claims made by microdosers. Although official research into the use of psychedelics to treat mental health disorders is still in its early stages, growing evidence suggests that these drugs may benefit some people with certain symptoms, especially when other treatments have failed.

In this episode, Todd Caldecott, medical herbalist and practitioner of Ayurveda for 25 years, talks about emerging research on psychedelics for therapeutic purposes as adjuncts to psychotherapy, counseling for mental illness, or treatments for chronic diseases. Todd has been using psychedelics for roughly 20 years in his practice. And, for the most part, it’s to help with the ego dissolving process, and one of the compounds he utilizes the most is a treatment that contains magic mushrooms. Now that psychedelics are marking their way from the street to the clinic, from PTSD to palliative care, it’s not inconceivable that many studies will emerge in the near future.

What you’ll get out of tuning in:

• How Psychedelics approach facilitates the ego dissolution process
• The emotional and rational differences between men vs. women
• Why Plant medicines have more profound healing properties than conventional medicines
• How Psychedelics experience can improve neuroplasticity, neuroregeneration, and cognitive enhancement

Links/CTA:

• Take Cate’s Free Ayurveda Starter Course
• Dogwood School of Botanical Medicine
• Love, Death, and Magic Mushrooms by Tod Caldecott
• Microdosing LSD – Citizen Data

Highlights:

• Cate ran a study about psychedelics having an effect on autoimmune disease
• Cate shares her excitement about Todd’s research on Ayurveda and Psychedelics 
• Cate explains the correlation between the legalization of plant medicine and the rise of pharmaceuticals.

Timestamps:

• 02:15 – Facilitating the “Ego Dissolution State” 
• 14:52 – Psychedelics as “Appetite Suppressant”
• 17:15 – Brain Patterns on Psychedelics in Men vs. Women
• 23:06 – Ego Dissolution Experience
• 25:52 – Recreating the World through Imagination
• 32:25 – Legality of Plant Medicine
• 37:51 – Developing the Microdose Extract
• 47:29 – Evolution of Human Culture

Quotes:

• “A lot of our problems can be rooted from having hard boundaries of our ego, and we lose the flexibility and flow in our life. We identify too much with the external, not so much with the internal flowing process.”
• “If you have a difficult time with boundaries generally, then it can manifest anywhere on that spectrum from a psychosocial, emotional, all the way down to a more physical expression.”
• “Once those boundaries of individuation dissolve, we find that we have all these interconnections with the natural world. And we begin to see patterns that weren’t evident previously, regardless if we see them in our individual reality.“
• “We begin to see patterns that we weren’t able to see before because we’re so locked into this very individualistic perspective. So it’s a very healthy experience to have this sort of ego transcendent state.”  
• “As we get older, we see and learn how the world works. Our ego gets consolidated within the tamasic experience or perception. That’s why the psychedelics can be helpful for it to return us back to that childlike state of just pure imagination, where we see that the veil of reality can get ripped away, and we can see that there are depths to the reality that we weren’t even aware of.”

Guest Bio: Tod Caldecott

Todd Caldecott has been a medical herbalist and practitioner of Ayurveda for 25 years and is a registered professional member of the American Herbalists Guild and the National Ayurvedic Medical Association. He is the director of the Dogwood School of Botanical Medicine which provides online and in-person training in herbal medicine, Ayurveda, and holistic nutrition for aspiring clinicians. Todd is the author of several books including Ayurveda: The Divine Science of Life, Food As Medicine, and is editor of Ayurveda in Nepal. In 2014 he was the Visiting Mitchell Scholar at Bastyr University. For more information see https://toddcaldecott.com/clinic