Heather A Lee – The Psilocybin Sessions - Inspired Living

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Speaker 1 (00:15):
Join Mark Lainhart, the Intuitive Prospector, on a journey into
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(00:36):
This is a community where you are empowered to discover
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Speaker 2 (01:02):
And Hello, prospecting friends, and welcome to Inspired Living. I
am your host, Mark Lainehart, the Intuitive Prospector, and I'm
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you enjoy this next episode of Inspired Living. And today

(03:30):
we have a very special guest joining us for the
first time. She is a pioneering psychotherapist. Her name is
Heather A. Lee and she is going to talk to
us about her book called The Philocybin Sessions, and I
want to read just a little bit about her journey
and how she's joined in us today because she's not
only just a pioneering a pioneering psychotherapist, she's also a

(03:50):
cancer survivor. And she's helped fill a critical gap in
the national conversation on psychedelic healing, something I've become very
aware of in my own journe just within the last
few years of working with different plant medicines, and at
a moment when psychedelic medicine is moving from the margins
to the mainstream, debated in Congress and studied at John
Hopkins University in NYU, and it's great, and it's been

(04:13):
embraced by a number, a growing number of clinicians, and
one important voice emerges from the national conversation, and that's
the woman's voice. And in her new book, Heather's going
to share with us today her powerful stories of women's
transformation through the psychedelic healing. And if you want to
learn more about Heather, you can go to her website
Heather Alead dot com. And again, she's one of the

(04:35):
first leading psychedelic assisted psychotherapists with over twenty five plus
years of clinical experience. But she knows what she's doing
in the Integrated Mental Health Space. She's also she has
a Mind Body Training from Harvard University and specializes in
helping women build emotional resilience through transformational philocybin experience. She's
also a keynote speaker and leads international retreats that blends science,

(04:58):
which I love, and plant medicines to support healing, growth
and that lasting inner piece that we're all looking for.
She is the author of The Philocybin Sessions, Real life
Stories of Women's Awakening with the Psychedelic Medicine through Modern
Wet Wisdom Press, and with Like I said, with her
twenty five years of clinical experience in the Integrated Mental
Health Space and Mind Body Training from Harvard University. Heather

(05:21):
is going to share with us today about the journey
in the Philocybin Sessions and how much plant medicine, which
it's always been around, but is really making an impact
on today's society. Heather, Welcome to Inspired Living. So glad
you could join us today.

Speaker 3 (05:37):
I am so glad to be here. Mark, you talk
about all the things that get me excited. All the
topics that you talk about are all the things and
working in the psychedelic medicine space. You know, I always
say it is in the realm of the psycho spiritual.
There is no way. This is not something you just
map out somebody's brain on an MRI and go, oh,
that's what's going on. This is in the realm of

(05:58):
the psycho spiritual. So we have lots of good stuff
to talk about today.

Speaker 2 (06:01):
Yeah, we do, and it's gonna go by quick. So
I just want to jump right into it because this
is a very unique space. It's very I don't know
if the word it used to be very controversial, but
we're seeing through the times. In fact, we just saw
cannabis marijuana upgraded or downgraded from a Schedule three from
a Schedule one drug to a Schedule three, which allows
more research. People don't understand that myself had worked with

(06:24):
plant medicines the last few years and have really been
eye opening. But what I love most about this, Heather,
is the science is science is, you know, especially for
philocybin with the brain and what happens to the brain.
But tell the audience how you got into this space,
because not everybody just comes into the space of working
with you know, we know what it's philocybins. I may
call it magic mushrooms. It can go by many different

(06:45):
names and labels, and it may have some stigmas to
it too. But tell us how you got into the
space and started to research this and see the benefits
i'm sure with yourself and your patients, and then wrote
this book, The Philocybon Sessions.

Speaker 3 (06:56):
Yeah. Well, you know, I became a licensed clinical social
worker way back, you know, almost thirty years ago now,
and I think even as I was becoming a therapist,
I always knew it wasn't really so much about me
doing something too or for clients. It was really helping
people access their own inner wisdom. That's always I've known

(07:18):
that intuitively from the get go. So I was always
interested in sort of non ordinary paths to help people
access their own inner wisdom. So, you know, I studied
some shamanic journey work, guided imagery, breath work, dream work,
all the things that help people go deeper within their
own psyche to find their answers. So that was sort

(07:39):
of always how I was working in the mental health
field anyway. And then when this opportunity about five years
ago came up to study it was a year long
training I did to become one of the nation's very
first certified and licensed psychedelic assisted psychotherapists. I just I
knew I had seen the writing on the wall that
this was going to become the next wave in really

(08:01):
helping people heal. So I dove in and spent a
year doing this intensive training, studying with some of the
lead researchers at Johns Hopkins NYU, and then I flew
to Jamaica for four months and led psilocybin retreats back
to back to back down there and just did it
even deeper dive. But you know, it just really speaks
to that this is about healing, right, We know that psilocybin,

(08:24):
as you said, the scientific side, we're seeing this helps
us build new neural pathways. This helps us actually heal
our brains, versus pharmaceuticals, which there's a place for them,
but they're pretty much treating a symptom, and this is
healing at a deeper root level. So as a mental
health professionals, that's where I'm at, is really helping people heal.

Speaker 2 (08:47):
Yeah, and I love that, And thank you for being
on the show and sharing your journey with us. Because
this show continues on after the live session. It goes
to the podcast format and people who listen to this
for years to come, and you know, you make a
good point. You started to work with plant medicines myself
because I had tried everything, you know, breath work, retreats,
and it was really my plant medicine experience. It really

(09:07):
started to open my mind but also bring in that
healing because the one thing about big Pharma, it's funny,
is that there's a pill for everything, but there's really
a cure for nothing. You know, I know that we're working.
You know, I know that you're a cancer survivor. I've
lost you know, family members to cancer, and I'm just
so curious and passionate about the plant medicine because it's

(09:28):
not anything new, and that's what people have to realize.
It's been around for thousands and thousands of years, used
by many cultures outside of the United States that actually
make that a part of their lifestyle. But tell me
how you first came to kind of take the audience
through your first philocybin experience. How that was was it?
Did you drink it in the tea that first ceremony?

(09:48):
How did you feel when you're nervous, where you're scared
you're like, oh am, I opening up, you know, Pandora's box,
because I know when I talk with my students and
some of the listeners, there's a real fear and it
does take courage to work plant medicines to take us
through that journey.

Speaker 3 (10:02):
Yeah, and you know, I do have to have my
little disclaimer here is that psilocybin literally is safer than
anything in your bar or medicine cabinet. That's a fact,
you know. And most of the pharmaceutical medicines that are
out there are derived from and have their origins in
the plant kingdom. So it's kind of funny that we,
you know, stigmatize this little fung guy that grows in nature,

(10:26):
yet we push booze like it's nobody's business, and it's
probably one of the more dangerous.

Speaker 2 (10:31):
Substances that we can consume.

Speaker 3 (10:33):
So I think part of what we have to overcome
is that cultural stigma we all bought, you know. I mean,
the government did a good job telling us this is
your brain on drugs and scaring the shit out of
excuse me, my French on your show here, But you know,
they really did a good job with that. So I say,
as a therapist, one of my first jobs is to
help debunk some of that stigma and let people know
how really safe as long as you're screened and you

(10:56):
don't have certain mental health you know, contraindications, certain medications,
it really is very very safe when done with a
skilled facilitator. But you know, my own early experience was
in nineteen eighty one and I grew up in you know,
in a bedroom community of Wall Street. I grew up
in the West and Westchester, New York. Never had heard

(11:18):
of mushrooms. Came to college out in Colorado and fell
in with a lovely group of hippie friends who said,
we're going to go out in the mountains today and
we're going to do some mushrooms. I didn't even know
what the hell they were talking about pretty much, but
the whole everybody I was saying it out was was
reading ram Das and Carlos Castaneda, and the setting was

(11:38):
very spiritual. It was this, we're going to eat this
piece of nature and we're going to connect with our
environment and nature and spirituality. So my introduction was in
a very nature based, psycho spiritual way of opening to
you know, the world around us, and that's been how
I carry this medicine in all my years. Four is

(12:00):
that when done in the right setting, with the intention
of doing this to connect with your spirit, your soul,
the greater community, the world. You know, when done with
the proper intention and set and setting, we can really
go to beautiful places that help us access healing and
that inner healing intelligence. You know, back in the day,

(12:21):
the bad trip that people worry about that came because
first of all, you didn't know how much you were
eating or what you were eating, and you were probably
walking past the cops or your parents, or you're at
some giant public setting like a concert. So this is
all now done really really intentionally, which is a very
different different way to be approaching as medicine.

Speaker 2 (12:46):
Yeah, and it's you know, as a as a veteran
is actually work now, specifically with patients in the psychedelics
the most even mushroom to the space and they're they're finding,
you know, medical studies and here review studies that there

(13:10):
is a rewiring at the brain like you said that
there there is that as as researching for the Getting
ready for today's show, it was Robin Carhart Harris and
talked about psychedelics don't just shut down parts of the brain.
They disorganed, and the and fro coppy increases more of
the mind impressed file. And when I read that, I

(13:36):
was like, that's very interesting because we all have these.
Back in the day, you get a file was so
big you'd have to And that's really what in my
own personally, both with philis and others. A lot of
out there. But I love how you talked about how
it's more some of the stuff in and the alcohol
that's in society, right. It's just coming from someone that

(13:58):
and this is drugs back in the early nineties actually
have the War on drugs to fight. Now there are
drugs that we need to keep out of our country,
you know, you know, very very post things like heroin
and stuff like that. But the philocypha, which has been
naturally grown and used around the world for generations, is
really really something that we are are looking into and
seeing scientific and benefits with patients. And that's what I love.

(14:22):
So when when you want to be on Inspired Living,
I'm like, come on, I'm on in let's talk about this,
but just kind of offer us, you know, that spiritual sense.
It kind of it's intent to really risk the medicine
because I call it plants and intend to connect, grow,
to release, to let go, to transform, And every ceremony

(14:45):
I've been in, it's with one hundred percent respect. It is,
you know, lifting the medicine up in the sacred space,
you know, kind of the same thing. Everybody's hanging out,
reading wrong bus playing instruments, but everybody is so kind
and just I never really experiencing thing like that. Tell
Us really starting to get interest in studying this and
really kind of talking about because I'm sure you face

(15:06):
some backlash, as you know, with your background as a psychotherapist,
and then be Okay, I'm going to talk about magic
mushrooms about as tell us about that.

Speaker 3 (15:16):
Yeah, Well, again, I think it's I think a lot
of what the you know, as this is an emerging field,
there's so much sort of unraveling of the outdated messages
that we were given culturally about this as a dangerous drug.
But there's a lot of education what people need to
really understand not only what it isn't, but what it is.
And so, you know, the really fascinating thing for me

(15:40):
as a therapist is that when you know, a client
comes to me and they they're going to do this medicine.
I don't orchestrate what comes up in that journey. Their
own inner intelligence and inner wisdom crafts the story for them,
so that the way I explain it, you know, you
talk to about Robert Carr and his you know zip file.

(16:03):
You know, I often say it's like when we experience things,
traumas or anything that we then store, we put it
in a drawer, right, we find someplace to store things,
And on mushrooms, it's like what needs to be put
in a different drawer comes up it And only in
our own unique language does that come up in metaphor

(16:24):
and imagery and story in our mind. While we're on
the medicine in this journey, which is you know, behind
eye shades and with music, this toll in our journey,
this story is presented to us, and that's what helps
us then reexperience so that we can create the new
neural pathways and literally put those past experiences back in

(16:44):
a different drawer with a different way of packaging than
so to speak. So the power is in in the journey,
in that experience that you have of whatever comes up,
is how you get the opportunity to create the new
neural pathways around it. So it's really fascinating for people
to see in real time, you know, how they have

(17:07):
that experience that helps them have a different, you know,
a different way of encountering material. So let me give
you an example one of the stories in my book,
so that you know people that don't really understand how
this medicine could work. Here's a real story of an
ordinary woman. So I was working with a woman who
her mother had died tragically in front of her in
a car accident when she was ten years old. So

(17:29):
she witnessed her mother's death, very big trauma. She comes
to me now as a forty five year old woman
and says to me, as we're doing the preparation for
her journey and we're getting to know each other and
talk about what might come up and her intentions, she says, Heather,
I just want you to know I've done a lot
of therapy around that. That's not going to come up.
I don't think that's an issue. I'm here because I'm

(17:50):
at this crossroads with my career and my husband and
I have some trouble, But like you don't have to
worry about that other trauma. I said, Okay, well, you
know what, I'm going to trust that the mushrooms will
know what it is that maybe me to come up
for some healing. So while she's deep in her journey,
I don't know really what's going on, but she's crying,
then she's laughing. She comes out of the medicine and
we're doing the integration, and she said, you know, Heather,

(18:11):
it was really amazing.

Speaker 2 (18:13):
All of a.

Speaker 3 (18:13):
Sudden, I was looking out over this valley and there
were just it was a clear sky, and all of
a sudden, I saw this clouds start forming, and I
felt these hands on my shoulders, like someone was standing
behind me. And all of a sudden, I got this
sense I could smell my mother. I remembered how my
mother smelled, and she said, and I heard her whisper
in my ear forgive, And all of a sudden, the

(18:34):
clouds spelled out the word for grive, and she goes
and then it was over like that. But she said,
you know, I didn't realize this whole time, I've been
so pissed at my mother for leaving me, and none
of the therapists I've ever worked with let me be
mad at my mother. And I realized I had to
forgive my mother for leaving. And she's like, and in
that moment, that one little unhealed piece of that trauma

(18:56):
was released. And then I saw her a month later
as part of me. I said, how are you working
with that forgiveness of your mother for leaving you? And
she said, she pulls her shirt down, she goes, I
got a tattoo of the word forgive, exactly where I
felt my mom's hand on my shoulder. So this is
the kind of stuff I see mark in my work.
And I didn't orchestrate that. I didn't plan that. You know,

(19:18):
this powerful medicine that takes us into these psycho spiritual
realms brings the stuff up in a way that helps
us heal on a soul level.

Speaker 2 (19:31):
Yeah, I know you're you're impacting me over here on
the other side of the camera. Here, I'm getting the
I get the glimmers, you know, the hair standing up,
you know, and just feeling that that that story is very,
very powerful because I can relate to it, I can
resonate with that. And we're gonna go to our first
breakthrough in just a second, but we're going to talk
about integration on the on the second half of the show.

(19:52):
But that story, thank you for sharing. Then to get
a tattoo and with a place that you know her
mom touched her shoulder is very I can just visually
see that because you know, a lot of the work
I do today, even to the show, my writing's my
work is because of trauma and tragedy and you lose them,
you know, family members in a very tragic way, but
having the plant medicine bring them back and communicate, and
I just love that message of forgiveness. So let's let's

(20:16):
go to our first break because I want to come
back and really explore more about this journey with you, Heather,
and also talk about integration and continue to share those
stories because, like I said, I just need a quick
break because that story kind of impacted me a little
bit more than I thought. So if we can just
go to our first break, we'll be back here in
just about two minutes with our special guest today, Heather

(20:36):
A Lee, talking about her journey with philos IBN and
how philos IBN has helped women heal from around the world.
So stay tuned, you're going to want to hear the
second half of the show here on Inspired.

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Speaker 6 (22:52):
If could be you could be me just one, if
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Speaker 1 (23:14):
Well before you reviews.

Speaker 6 (23:16):
Griticize and accused, welcome all shoes.

Speaker 2 (23:25):
And welcome back to Inspired. Leaving our special guest today,
Heather A. Lee, because I'm sure there's a lot of
Heather Lee's out there in the world, So you want
to say Heather A. Ley, you can check her out
at Heather ale dot com. Talking about the Philocybin sessions
and the plant medicine. And I apologize, I've done a
lot of interviews. Heather and I don't usually get choked up,
but that that visual and that story you shared with
that that forgiveness message was kind of because the first

(23:48):
message that I actually had with wasn't with Philocybon, was
actually with the plant medicine called hyahuasca, And it was
the first message i'd received from grandmother, and she talked
about the listening listen and you, and I loved your
analogy of like, you don't get to control what drawers
you're opening or unzipping. That's not your job. Your job
is just to facilitate and hold that sacred space and

(24:11):
let the medicine take you on the journeys and what
drawers you're going to open, because some of those draws
are not easy to face. Some of those drawers that
we've locked away and closed for many many years get
opened and revealed. But through that, through that courage, I
found is healing and transformation. And I love that. Just
that message of forgiveness and then to have the clouds,
you know, visually go to say forgiveness, it just kind

(24:34):
of choked me up. So I apologize. We went to
commercial sooner rather than later because I just was I
was having a hard time talking because I could just
feel it, I could see it, I could feel it.
So thank you for sharing that story. And I'm sure
there's many stories in this book that will resonate with people.
If they want to get this book, where can they
go get this book besides your website, because this new
book just came out let the listening audience.

Speaker 3 (24:56):
It's so it's called The Psilocybin Sessions, and it's available
on you know, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, all those online
places that one gets books.

Speaker 2 (25:05):
Yeah, yeah, so just I'm sure do a search and
find it anywhere. So, but I always like to, so,
how is this how is this treatment you know for
you you had that you now have the experience you
went to Jamaica. You know a lot of people think
of this as you know, And I'm going to share
a story that my own wife, when I went to
my first plant medicine ceremony, she thought it was just

(25:26):
getting high, getting naked and run around in the forest,
and it's none of that, right, So it's really an
approach to heal your journey in the human experience. So
you go to Jamaica, you do these sessions, and then
you start to facilitate. Tell me of just the paradigm
shift that you saw with your patients, probably the probably
saw even from your your own personal experience and your

(25:47):
own changing of who you are, you thought you know
and what you didn't really know.

Speaker 3 (25:52):
Yeah, So I the beauty of it should probably back
up a little bit is that I can practice now
legally here in Colorado. So I am one of the
nation's very first licensed psychedelic assistant psychotherapist. So I practice
legally here in the state of Colorado, and people can
fly in. People fly in from all over the country
and can legally even if it's not legal in your state,

(26:12):
people fly to Colorado and can legally access this medicine.
And what I love about psilocybin is, you know, it's
maybe about a four to six hour journey, and you know,
your comfy, like you're taking a nap. You're in clean,
nice surroundings, and you've got your earphones and your eyemask
and you're just comfortable having your little nap, which is

(26:32):
really a deep journey, but so you know, it's not.
It's a very tidy experience now, which is beautiful. And
you know, I work almost exclusively with women and most
of my clients are sixty and over. So there's this
whole sort of you know, just awakening of wisdom of

(26:54):
women who are moving into what I refer to as
the Age of the Sage. But it's really a beautiful
medicine for for that awakening, whether it's for healing or
for just stepping into your greater expanded consciousness. It's a
really beautiful medicine. Oh.

Speaker 2 (27:14):
I like that, the age of this Sage. It's funny
because I was just thinking, you know, unfortunately, with all
the fires going on in Canada, we're saying that Canada's Sage.
In the United States, all that stuff's coming down, so
maybe we're getting sage down here.

Speaker 3 (27:28):
You know.

Speaker 2 (27:29):
Let's talk about integration.

Speaker 3 (27:31):
Yeah yeah, So so you know, with psilocybin done properly
with it, you know, I'm trained as a clinician in
this medicine. You have prep, and you have the journey,
and you have integration. And somebody who's doing this properly
will be offering you several prep sessions. Preparation where you're
setting intentions, you're understanding what the experience will look like,

(27:54):
how to you know, resource yourself if it feels big,
how to do some breathing, how to ask for you know,
somebody to hold your hand or whatever you need, and
then you'll do integration. And the integration is key because
it's after all this information comes up, you need to
do the meaning making. It could be like wow, what
the hell just happened? I mean, it could be a
lot going on, and so you need somebody who's going

(28:16):
to really help you explore all those images and symbols
and emotions. And that can take several sessions. You know,
they to take a period of you know, I mean
for everybody that I work with has at least three sessions,
but sometimes they need more. Sometimes they take that material
back to their therapist. Sometimes they want to work together
for several months, and I find it might be four

(28:39):
months after a journey that all of a sudden I
have the AHAs about what really that information was. But
integration is you know, that's when a therapist can bring
some of their other tools to the table, so internal
family systems, looking at the parts, what part of you
you know, experienced this that art therapy, somatic work. There's

(29:00):
lots of different just tools that are in any therapist's
tool chest that can really be helpful on integration. But
the thing that's important in the psychedelic medicine space that's
different than normal therapy I think is, you know, there's
no it is each client's journey. My job is to
help them make sense of that in a way that

(29:22):
is within their own world view and perspective for their
meaning making. There's no overlay of oh, a snake appeared,
while that snake means this. There's no dictionary for what
these symbols and images mean. Because you might have had
a pet snake as a kid and you think snakes
are fabulous. I might think snakes are the scariest creature

(29:42):
on earth. So you have to be you know, as
a therapist in the space, it's very much about helping
you understand how this makes sense in your own personal
mythology and ethos.

Speaker 2 (29:58):
Yeah, and I think that's important to really point out.
And I like how you talked about the prep too,
the leading up to it, so that anytime that I
work with plant medicines, whether it's philocybin or hyahuasca or
coyote or even just cannabis, is specifically the plant medicine.
Hiauasca is a ten day detox foods that I'm meaning
because hiauasca is a little bit more of a purge

(30:20):
than philocybin, but the approach is still the same, the
respect for the medicine set in the intent having the
dietary cleanse of you know, clean eating for ten days
before the ceremony and even up until the ceremony, three
days before and three days after, getting out of the
technology space, getting off the internet, getting out of watching
you know, horrible things in the world or you know,

(30:40):
maybe scary movies. And then my integration lasts for about
six weeks where you know, there's a lot of writing
and even just some of the music. You know, what's
interesting to me, and you know, from a spiritual and
from a scientific standpoint is a lot of people don't
realize that we do have d MT in us. It's
right here in this pint called the pineal gland. And
one of the interesting things to me whether is at

(31:01):
the time of upon upon the time of death, DMT
is released from the brain, just like the energy is
released from the heart upon death. There where science is
now even questioning if death is actually real or is
it just an expansion of our consciousness and a release
from this this human suit right to release, because why
does DMT release from the brain, and why does energy

(31:23):
released from the heart, Because physics tells us it has
to go somewhere, right, you just don't cease exists. But
what I tell people is once you start to work
with the plant medicine, you know, there's many different that
you can work with. Today we're talking about the philocybin,
but you're accessing parts of that brain and the pineal
gland that's always been a part of you. And you're
not you're really not taking something in that's new to you.

(31:45):
You're just expanding what's already in your head. And there's
certain things true integration that you can do to retrigger.
Like the monks in Tibet are really really powerful to
me because they can access that DMT without the plant medicines.
You know, they spend years deep in you know, meditation, practice,
rep work, and they can release the DMT. They've done
studies on their brain of releasing the DMT from the

(32:07):
pineal gland, and so really think of it as kind
of an amplifier few listeners out there, you're just really
kind of plugging in and in accessing something that you've
always had and from there. That's where the file gets
and zipped. That's where the drawers get pulled out. But
there's a preparatory to it, there's an integration past it,
and it's a respect for the plant medicine. This is
not the show about getting high and getting naked and

(32:28):
running around hugging trees. That is not this at all, y'all. So,
and you want to work with Heather, go to Colorado
where it's legal. There's I just looked up how many
states just with cannabis already there's forty out of the
fifty states that have some sort of legality just for cannabis.
And philocybin is right behind it. I don't know how
many states right now, but you're in Colorado, so I

(32:49):
know Oregon, which is just south MEAs in Weshington State too,
Oregon and Colorado. Okay, so we're growing right progression. But
I remember when you know my day is the code started.
You know, marijuana was legal and pretty much all over
the country, and now we're forty out of the fifty
states and it just got scheduled to a Schedule three
drug because they're doing research. It opens up the research.

(33:09):
That's what we have to talk about too follow the
money the research on this because personally, and you may disagree,
but I think plant medicine is also a cure for
any of the diseases we have today, including cancer and
you being a cancer survivor, because I lost my brother
to brain cancer, and I think plant medicine would have
helped him in his journey. He may not have been it,
but you know, if it would have been legal and
had access to it, I think it could have been

(33:29):
a different outcome.

Speaker 3 (33:30):
Well, it certainly helps with your existential anxiety, right because
to your earlier point about that maybe there is not
even death. Maybe it's just an expansion. You know, you
do these medicines and when you're you know, in the journey,
you often get this this deep embodied knowing, this cellular
knowing of a truth which is we are so much
more than this body that we're hanging out in, that

(33:51):
we are one with everything, and that everything is love,
and that it's all energy and it's all frequencies. So
you know, we get it's like when you've this medicine,
it's like you get to peak behind the curtain. And
once you've peaked behind the curtain, there's kind of no
going back. You know, you're in the club, and you
know there's something I want to add that I think
you'll love to your point about that we already have

(34:12):
this within us. So as humans, we spend on average
a third of our life asleep, often in a dream state.
So we spend a third of our life in a
non ordinary state of consciousness. Dreams are a non ordinary
state of consciousness. So we are designed to spend a
third of our life in these states. Why it obviously

(34:35):
serves a purpose for us, and I think it's where
we make sense of all the stuff that goes on
and figure out what jory to put it in. But
we are so much more than just this waking state
of consciousness that we're in, and so I often use
that as something to prepare my clients too. I say, hey,
you spend a third of your life in a non
ordinary state of consciousness. It's really pretty vascinating, you know.

Speaker 2 (34:57):
And that's a really good point, because I actually teach
my students that, you know, this is a little bit
of wrong dos philosophy, the three states of consciousness. Right,
like you and I are conversing, we're having fun, we're
talking about Philisidon we're talking about your book. This is
the awakened state of consciousness. And then in a few hours,
like you said, we're going to go to that sleep
state consciousness. And then from the sleep state consciousness we
go even deeper into the dream skate where the brain

(35:19):
actually fires at so many different levels, but yet we're
not doing anything, we're just laying in our bed and
so and then we return to the awakened state. So
you have awakened state, sleep state, dream state of consciousness,
and those are the three states that you're in it
yet any given time. And you're right. It's like it's
fascinating because eventually, when we learn that we're not alone
in this universe and that there are other consciousness not

(35:39):
necessarily haven't matter, but you know, sentient plasmoid life consciousness,
they're going to say, we don't sleep. Why do you
as humans shut down? Why do you sleep? And I
think it's just a fascinating question, like why do we ship?
I've always questioned why do we sleep? Because we're connecting,
we're rejuvenating, we're you know, the brain sign shows us
the brain is more active a sleep that it is awake.

(36:01):
And I find that to be very fascinating. Yeah, so
Heather for you and I'm gonna have you back because
I want to talk about this. An hour just goes
by so quick, and we have we're trying to cover
so much you know of this topic. But who should
do this? Who should do this? With this journey?

Speaker 3 (36:17):
Well, I you know, people that feel called, people that
are that are already feeling a little bit of a call.
I would never say to somebody you need to do this, right,
So it's really there is a certain calling to it,
like people that are curious and have done the research,
but people that are at crossroads. You know, when you're
at a place where there's a lot of transitions in
your life, this can be a really good way to

(36:38):
just sort of stop action, go deep, go within and
find your path. People who you know, I just feel like,
you know, I'm just carrying stuff from the past that
I know I could be lighter with if I just
let it go. There's just I just feel like I
need to release some things that I have more capacity
to move into the future. So healing from anxiety, depression, trauma,
grief and loss, I mean I work with people who

(37:00):
have lost loved ones and it is one of the
most powerful modalities. I mean, I've worked with women who've
lost children and they it's like the soul healing that
they get, and you're shaking your head because you know,
it's like it's like we talk about lifting that curtain.
They connect with their loved one in a deep and
meaningful way. So you know, it could be for clinical reasons.

(37:20):
It can be for depression, anxiety, trauma, but it can
also be for personal growth and exploration, or being at
a crossroads, or moving into your elderhood. There's so many
realms in which this is just I would love to
see people doing psilocybin or plant medicine journeys. I would
like that to find its way into the conversation of

(37:41):
how we just maintain our psycho spiritual, emotional balance and
wellness and center as something that maybe people do like
as a yearly thing to stay balanced. I mean, I
think there's a whole nother realm this conversation can can
be and besides just as a mental health modality. I
think this is about to be honest with you, and
I'm sure you will agree with me. I think we're

(38:02):
at a point juncture in the humanity on the planet
that we need to evolve because there's a lot of
devolving going on, and I think the reason plant medicine
is popping up at this time on the planet is
because we need it to help us evolve.

Speaker 2 (38:17):
Microp Yeah, I know, I'm a mic job. I'm with you.
I think I like I like how you said the
age of stage because we are at a point where
we couldn't have this conversation even fifty years ago, this
conversation in a public forum would not have been had
right and to have this conversation because a lot of
the reasons I do this show is to spread that

(38:37):
ripple effective inspiration but also education, spirituality and blending it
with science. Carl Sagan was all about spirituality and science,
you know, going hand in hand, and the science is
teaching us that plant medicines. You know, if you step
outside of the United States, there's cultures down in Peru,
down in South America that have been working with the
hyahuasca plant medicine for thousands of years and they actually
microdose their children on a daily basis so they can

(39:00):
have that interaction perspective between what is seen and what
is not necessarily seen. But you're right, it's like the matrix.
It takes courage to step up to the plate. Do
you want the blue pill or do you want the
red pill? Because I was invited to plant medicine ceremonies
for five years before I finally said yes. Because I
had worked previous previous life, I was in the federal government.
I couldn't do it. It was actually it would, you know,
jeopardize my career. But I had been invited for five years,

(39:23):
and finally after I was done with that career and retired,
I was like, you know what, I'm going to take
the blue pill and I want to see you know,
Alice in Wonderland. You can reflect back to even some
of the old shows and cartoons when Alice, you know,
asked how deep does the does the rabbit hole goal?
And I think it was like the caterpillars, like, well
how deep do you want it to go? Right? That's
so plant medicine. And so you're right. Once you are

(39:43):
once that veil is lifted, once you are plugged from
the matrix, you don't get to get plugged back in,
but your perspective and healing is going to be so
much more. And I highly recommend it. But I agree
with it. We're at the age of the stage and
we're evolving, which can be scary for some, but it
it's needed and for you other what excites you the

(40:05):
most in this field right now and where we're going?
Kind of give me a forecast. What excites you, what
you've seen, what you've seen from the transformation from yourself,
your patients, people come to you. But where do you
see this going and what excites you most about this work?

Speaker 3 (40:17):
Yeah, well, I think because the research is really you know,
it's sort of like ratcheted up, and we're having more
and more states are going to be opening up to
this medicine and the it's been getting destigmatized. That is
really really exciting to me. I mean, I'm sixty three
and I'm now just like just just stepping into my
career full steam here as one of the first psychedelic

(40:38):
assistant psychotherapists. So I'm just really excited to be here
at this time and able to jump in and really
be I mean, I'm like a face and a voice
of this in many ways, i put myself out there
to have these conversations. So it's really exciting for me
to help be part of that destigmatizing and I think
what I look forward to is having more people be

(40:58):
able to access this as we do stigmatize it. Because
as a therapist, what excites me is I'm seeing true
sustain and lasting healing in people, and it's soul healing,
you know, it's tailing people at this deep psycho spiritual
soul level. And that is so gratifying to have more

(41:19):
people wandering around this planet with a sense of like
inner peace and perspective.

Speaker 2 (41:25):
Yeah, and what a better world it would be if
everybody was, you know, dabbling in plant medicine and having
those perspectives. I think we'd see it much different. And
maybe that's part of our evolution. Maybe that's part of
what we have to go through, you know, because you
know they talk about that, you know, transformation is usually
preceded by chaos, you know, the caterpillar in the struggle
and then the butterfly emergence kind of thing. But I'll
tell you, you know, I've I've been I've been doing the

(41:46):
show for almost eleven seasons now, and it's very rare
for me to get choked up in a in a
personal story with all the you know, one hundreds of
amazing guests that I've sat down and talked with so
and that's because it's the plant medicine. It's that integration.
Just that story you told integrated on me at the
sole level in this healing aspect. It was like who
we need to go to break? Yeah, because I was

(42:07):
literally just my hair would stand up. I call the
glimmers where I can just feel the medicine. I can
feel Grandmother. I can heal, you know, just by that story.
So on the flip side, what worries you the most
about where you're going with your journey in this work?

Speaker 3 (42:19):
Yeah, Well, there's a bit of a sort of gold
rush going on with everybody who's wanting to hang a
shingle and say I'm a psychedelic psychotherapist now. And there's
a lot of people out there who I don't think
have any business hanging a shingle. So I get a
little worried, you know. Even here in Colorado, where you
know I went, I was alongside other people that were
getting licensed, and some of those people had no training

(42:41):
and mental health. And I don't believe that somebody should
be licensed to work with this psychedelic medicine who does
not have training and mental health and I don't know
how the state decided that factor. So what I really
say all the time to people as part of my
speel is, you know, please like interview the people going
to work with, find out what their training is, find

(43:02):
out how much they've worked with the medicine, and you
should anybody who's worth their salt should give you at
least a half hour of a free like consultation so
you can feel them out. Because you've got to feel
safe and comfortable and connected to the person you're going
to work with as well. You know, you're going to
have way better outcomes if you feel like you're really
in a safe, you know, supportive relationship with the person

(43:22):
who's holding space for you. And so you know, do
you got to do your due diligence because that's what
worries me the most is people who maybe don't really
have the credentials, but they got some really glossy marketing.

Speaker 2 (43:36):
Yeah, and that's a good point because you have that
in every industry, right, So everybody has one experience and
they hang their shingle, you know, you know, so you know,
for the listening audience, you know, look at people that
have the background, the education, but also maybe the experience.
You know, you're a cancer survivor and you had to
go through your own, you know, mortality journey and look
at people that you know have the background and not

(43:56):
just hang their shingle and say because you're right. There's
a lot of people that do that, even in the
industry of being a professional psyche medium, right, there's a
lot of people that hang their shingle. But it's you know,
it's really about you know, trusting your intuition too. I
say a lot of times, you know, when the student
is ready, the teacher appears, and intuition is a big
part of this, and the plant medicine will start to

(44:17):
call to you. You know, she will I say she,
because for me it was it was a divine, feminine
connection that has been in all the many times I've
used the plant medicine, both philocybin and hyahuasca. So I
always refer to her as she or as grandmother. But
you know, trust your intuition because it's going to take
courage if you've never done this before. I've done a
lot of things in my in my life and my

(44:37):
fifty plus years on the planet, but that's one of
the scariest things that I ever had to do is
sit in this beautiful ceremony of people I didn't know
and drink this tea that I knew I was going
to go on a journey for six eight hours, right,
And that was terrifying to me. But if you can
overcome that and you know, check with people you know,
checking with people that you know, I have done this. Trust.

(44:58):
I had a student. I've had two students now that
I've seen own transformation that have now worked with the
medicine specifically. And a third student that you know, she
was worried about recovery because she, you know, she had alcohol,
you know, for many, many years, and so she's been
in sobriety for twenty years and she was worried about
falling off the wagon. I said, well, you can take
my opinion, but go to your doctor, go to your sponsor.

(45:19):
Both of them one hundred percent do it. Do it.
So there's that fear factor too that you may fall
off the wagon if you have an addiction background, but
the plant medicine will work with you specifically on that
and help you get over that hump. So again, Heather,
we're gonna have to have you back. I'll let my
team know to have you back so we can keep
talking about this. But how do you know, how do

(45:41):
people know who is good and legit to work with?
Just just do they need the education, do they need
the certificate? Do they what would you recommend? I know
you have the background Harvard and all the experience and all. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (45:53):
I mean again, I would say that you really want
to work with somebody who's got training and mental health
as well, so that they're also a some sort of
a life licensed mental health professional in addition to being
licensed in the psychedelic medicine. I would, you know, ask
them how much of their own medicine work they've done.
And I would also, you know, if you're going to
go if you're if you're trying to heal some complex trauma,

(46:16):
find somebody who is trauma informed. If you're working on
grief and loss, find somebody who's who that's their area
of specialization. You know, look for somebody who's got training
in the area that you are bringing to the table.
You know. For me, I work with a lot of
with women and women that are they're older. I also
work with people with cancer. I work with people end
of life because those are areas that I have a

(46:38):
certain expertise, so I would say, really, you know, look
for somebody who's got the training outside of just the
psychedelic piece in whatever it is that you're looking to,
you know, work on or heal from.

Speaker 2 (46:50):
All Right, you heard it here first from Heather Ale.
You can get her information not only through our show page,
but Heatherale dot com. She's out of Colorado. Do you
do events as well?

Speaker 3 (47:00):
I do. I lead retreats and yeah, OK, I do.

Speaker 2 (47:05):
So we've got about four minutes till the end of
the show. I want you to give just a story,
just give another amazing story of a real life client
in your book that kind of touched me in the
first half of the show.

Speaker 3 (47:15):
Well, I'm going to share one because you said that,
you know, this is when I worked with a first responder.
So I worked with a woman who had been a
firefighter for most of her career. She had now been
retired for quite a while, and she too said, you know,
I'm just at this crossroads now that I'm retired, and
she thought that's what she was going to work on.
So she was deep in the medicine and she was
really I could see she was really she was like struggling,

(47:36):
she was crying. There was a lot going on. But
when she came out and we were processing, and she said,
you know, something came up that I had really tucked
away and thought that I had dealt with it. But
she said, one time in my career, I went into
a home that had burned, and I found this couple
and they were in an embrace, burned on their bed together,

(47:57):
And she said, and I thought I had processed that.
And she said, but in the medicine journey, I walked
into that house and it was still all burned, and
I had this terror. But I opened the bedroom door
and everything was pristine and beautiful, and that couple was
healthy and gorgeous and wonderful. And they were sitting there
and embrace, and they looked at me and they said,
and now giving myself goosebumps. They said to her, they said, hey,

(48:20):
why are you still thinking about us? We never think
about you. And she just started laughing, and in that
moment she was released from that because she saw them
as beautiful and healthy, and they said to her, hey,
we don't think about you anymore. Stopped thinking about us.
So the way this medicine finds to bring the story
and the healing to people. And sometimes it's not even

(48:43):
what you think needs to be healed, but somehow, amazingly
the mushrooms know, you know what, there's this one thing.
I'm going to bring it up and we got to
heal this. And there's a reason they're called magic mushrooms.

Speaker 2 (48:55):
Ah ah, all right, that's twice in one show. You're good,
my friend, You're good. I'm coming to Colorado to sit
with you. I will definitely get that on the calendar
because I do plant medicine ceremonies once or twice a year,
and again, it's transformative, it's you know, we have a
curious mind. So if you're curious about this, explore Heather's work,
Explore the Explore the short, the show's work, and the

(49:17):
topics that we covered here on Inspired Living Again. The
book is called The Philocybin Sessions, Real life stories of
women's wisdoms, wisdom awakening to psychedelic medicine and just you know,
I always tell you know. We talk about being a
prospect or prospect for the diamond within and prospect be
a prospect for all the many hidden gems that are
all around us. Just before we close, Heather, what inspires

(49:39):
you or who inspires you?

Speaker 3 (49:43):
The big mother, Mother Nature. Mother Nature is my biggest
inspiration because of just the balance and the beauty and
the calm and the healing our great mother. They may
all take good care of her so she can continue
to take care of us well.

Speaker 2 (49:59):
Said, I always say nature is the purest portal to
inner peace. So Heather, we will definitely have you back
here on Inspired Living. Thank you so much for being
a wonderful, informative, inspiring guest. Keep up the great work.
I will touch base with you in Colorado. I got
a niece that lives in Colorado, so I'll go down
and visit her as well. Excuse to come down to Colorado,
but I just want to say thank you for being

(50:20):
Inspired Living and keep up the great work. Keep inspiring,
especially for what's going on in our world today and
just being a human being in this journey. So I
really appreciate you again, Heather A. Lee. You can learn
more about her at Heather Alea dot com. The Philocybin
Sessions Real life stories of women's wisdoms Awakening with Psychedelic Medicine.

(50:42):
You've been watching and listening to Inspired Living, and of
course I always close each show with be kind, be caring,
be compassionate, and most importantly, wherever you're at, whatever you're doing,
there to dream, there to explore, There to live, and
you'll discover not only the diamond within, but you'll discover
the many hidden gems that are all around us. So
thanks for listen. Name as I really, as I always
like to say, I'm mistake, Noma go

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Heather A Lee – The Psilocybin Sessions

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Heather A Lee – The Psilocybin Sessions