All language subtitles for Psychedelica.Series.1.10of14.Integrating.Psychedelic.Experiences.1080p.HDTV.x264.AAC.MVGroup.org

[MUSIC PLAYING]

>> In the course of evolution
in which life on Earth passed

through stages of single-celled
organisms to eukaryotes

to multicelled and
complex organisms,

one ever-present force has
guided all of it to where we

are now--

integration.

That underlying
principle that is

seen in all arenas
of intelligent life.

Individual organisms
utilize anything

in their environment to ensure
life and postpone death.

By far, the most advantageous
way for this to happen

is for peaceful and intelligent
coexistence to take place.

The flora feeds the fauna, which
in turn digests and returns

the food back to the flora.

The flowers attract the bees,
which in turn spreads the seeds

and plants more flowers.

The weather patterns, seasonal
cycles, birds, bees, plants,

and trees all live
within a greater organism

that many now call Gaia--

the living Earth.

And upon this Earth, there
is no such thing as waste.

Each part feeds the next
and eventually cycles back

into itself.

All these intelligent
moving parts

fit together in an
integrated system.

The purpose of integration
is for many individuals

to work towards one higher cause
that no one individual could

achieve alone.

In the world of computers,
software and hardware

are upgraded perpetually
for one purpose--

to better integrate the rest of
the endless web of technology.

These upgrades not only add
new features to the system,

but they remove disruptive
or obsolete features as well.

In the world of
psychedelic plants,

we find their effect
on human consciousness

not only adds
insights and visions,

but dismantles unproductive
or harmful patterns.

But when a deep psychedelic
experience has completed,

oftentimes, the seeker is
left with more questions

than answers.

It is precisely
these moments that

call upon us to take time in
peace, silence, and reflective

contemplation in order to pick
up the shattered pieces of who

we believe we were, discard
what no longer serves us,

and hold on to that
which may still teach us.

And to reintegrate back into
the dynamic system from which we

were momentarily departed.

>> Probably just as important
as the psychedelic experience is

the process of integration.

When you have a
psychedelic experience, all

your preconceived notions
of the world melt down--

gone.

You could develop all
this new information--

floods of new information.

And with all this
new information,

you have to integrate it into
your life when you come back.

>> Well, the physical
body has been taxed.

The brain, in some
ways, has been taxed.

Our psychology has
been taxed in that we

have to re-evaluate some
pretty fundamental assumptions

about ourselves.

And energetically, our spiritual
body has been blasted open

and is reforming, and that's
what's happening energetically

with psychedelics.

And like anything, it takes
time for that to happen.

It's a process.

It doesn't happen over a few
hours, or even a few days.

Sometimes it can take many,
many weeks or months to return

to a different baseline--

a baseline that's
more holistic, maybe.

>> Overwhelming experiences
often call us to take breaks

in order to process
what just happened.

After the death of a loved
one, there's a grieving period.

After running a marathon,
a recovery phase.

And after the fabric of
reality is unwoven and stitched

back together, after people's
old habits are dismantled,

there is also a period
in which the tissues

of the body and the patterns
of the mind need to begin anew.

In the daily grind of
economically-driven society

and survivalism all
around, the moments

we give ourselves to reflect
upon our lifestyles and choices

are few and far between.

And this happens even
after psychedelic journeys

that beg for us to slow down
and integrate the messages they

hold.

>> I think it's a mistake when
people rush off to their job

or rush off to do something
that re-establishes all the old

patterns, because there's this
amazing opportunity that people

have when, after the
psychedelic experience ends,

when things are fresh, when
their brain is almost like

a newborn baby, and they have
this ability to establish new

patterns, you want to strengthen
those new patterns and this

process of integration instead
of going back to the old

patterns.

>> A lot of people I hear
from say that they believe

ayahuasca's going
to be very damaging,

because people who come back
to society find it very,

very difficult to cope after
they come back to society.

Gee, I knew this guy,
and he wasn't the same

after he came back.

It can be that way for people,
because we live in a very, very

dysfunctional society.

That's why it's so
important for people

to integrate their
experience after ceremony.

You've got to sit down
with the people you

had the ceremony with
and talk about it,

and realize what
you've experienced

and realize what the world
is that you've now opened up.

And realize what you're
going to be coming back into.

See, there's the
problem with ayahuasca,

is that it does reconnect
people to the earth

so much that when they come
back to somewhere like New York,

they just go, oh, my God.

What am I swimming in?

I can't do this anymore.

>> Many of those who have
traveled to the Amazon jungle

to try ayahuasca in its
traditional surroundings

experience culture shock.

The language, the environment,
the customs, and of course,

the medicine become a
whirlwind of new experience

that can be stressful
on the body and mind.

This is what is called
a peak experience,

and now these experiences
are so easily attainable

that people with no
preparation and no context

for the life-altering
journey to come

are flooding the Amazon
in search of this brew.

In the 1960s, the youth were
increasingly experimenting

with psychedelics and
ripping apart their most

cherished belief systems,
but with little education

and a lot of ambition.

So even if they were
waking the sleeping mind

to new information,
were they truly ready?

Just as the gut is equipped
to break down complex food

into basic building
blocks for energy,

the nervous system
must switch from

sympathetic, or activity-based,
to parasympathetic, which

is the rest and digest state.

Without this switch,
without the resting state,

the food struggles to digest.

So what is the result
of moving from one

peak psychedelic
experience to the next

without fully digesting
the previous insights that

were gained?

What happens when people
do ceremony after ceremony

without time for integration?

>> If you take another medicine
before the integration is done,

you start to stack those
big realizations and big

understandings without
fully integrating them.

And in a sense, it can create
its own psychic burden.

And it shows up like anxiety.

It's like, oh, I'm just
overwhelmed by the concepts

that I've received from my
medicine work experiences.

So there are times
when doing regular work

repeatedly is healthy and
important, particularly

in healing a trauma or
something like that.

You're doing some real clinical
work and it's a period.

But then after
that, there should

be long, extended periods
of non-medicine use,

just to really, fully
receive and embody

the lessons of the medicine.

>> In most ayahuasca circles,
after each night of ceremony,

the group will sit together
and share their experiences

or insights in order to allow
the group to reflect upon what

they experienced and why.

Some speak about what
they saw or felt.

Others realize that
they need to be better

to the people around them,
or spend more time laughing

and enjoying life.

And others find themselves still
in the throes of the journey.

Many of them have
similar reasons

for attending the ceremony
in the first place,

and it's nearly always because
the life that they were leading

seemed off-track, and
now they're desperately

looking for the
trail of breadcrumbs

to lead them back to
the familiar world.

>> Many people say, I am
here because I lost myself.

It's interesting to hear,
because, hey, I'm here.

How can I lose myself?

So what they are reporting is
that their spiritual awareness

knows that they're not complete.

Somewhere on their highway of
life, they took the wrong exit,

and then nasty
things have happened,

experiences happen, and they
want to go back on the highway.

So the beauty is, when
you hear 40 people share,

you lose your modesty or
shyness, or even shame,

and you just share.

And so I share, and I
hear myself say something

that I did not prepare.

I was going to say
something different,

but because of the whole group
and the sphere, the atmosphere,

the vibration, the resonance--
because it's a dynamic field

that we're all in--

I hear myself say
a different thing.

And I think, where
does that come from?

It's, of course, my own
subconscious speaking.

>> The ability for these
medicines to reveal

our subconscious mind to us
might be the hallmark of how

psychedelic plants can offer
us life-changing moments.

And out of all the
plant medicines,

ayahuasca ceremonies
in modern contexts

are held in a slightly different
manner from other ceremonies.

There's usually an emphasis
on the sharing circle.

Whether or not
everyone speaks is

second to the priority of all
being present for the sharing.

These moments highlight the
need for such peak experiences

to be spoken about,
listened to, and respected.

This allows for the
nervous system to settle,

for the mind to evaluate
the experiences,

and to integrate the
lessons of the medicine

into the tissues of the body.

There are very real shifts
taking place internally--

and even externally--
around those

who partake in the ceremony.

To illustrate the effects of
what psychedelic plants are

truly doing to the human
body and the energy field,

a professor at St. Petersburg
University, Dr. Konstantin

Korotkov, has developed
the technology

to measure the biofield
of the human body

during ayahuasca ceremonies.

>> My main background is
quantum physics and biophysics.

And at some time, I
developed instruments.

Their overall name
is [INAUDIBLE]..

And this instrument allows us
to detect, measure, and analyze

human energy field, and we
work in predictive integrative

medicine.

It is measuring so-named
stimulated electrophoton

emission.

We apply very short electrical
impulses to our fingers,

and we have response in the
form of photons and electrons

from the skin.

So we are measuring
people before, during,

after ceremonies,
and this allows

to understand how
people transform,

how they experience this.

And typically, of
course, it takes--

ayahuasca is very
energy-consuming process.

It opens up human chakras.

It opens up your energy field.

That is why people
become vulnerable.

And of course, they lose energy
in the process of ayahuasca.

That's why, later on,
they need to be closed--

energy fields should be closed--
and they need to be re-charged.

And we see this in
our measurements.

We can see that initial
energy field was quite strong,

80 Joules.

And it's uniform, very good.

And after ayahuasca, it is 61
Joules, so it dropped down.

It shrinked, as we discussed.

And we need to take it down
so it is practically one day

after.

Same as on level of stress.

Level of stress drop down,
you see, from 07 to 91,

so it's very positive effect.

But energy dropped down
as well, quite strongly.

And we see dramatic
effect on chakras as well.

Chakras was very disoriented,
and after ayahuasca ceremony,

they became very well-aligned.

Not ideal, of course.

This is not meditation process,
this is different process.

But they're much more
aligned than before.

>> Dr. Korotkov mentions
that meditation puts the body

and mind into a different
process than an ayahuasca

ceremony.

The greatest difference is
that the meditative insights

are arrived at by an inner
process of relaxing, breathing,

focusing, and observing.

By its very nature, meditation
is the process of integration.

This is why every spiritual
tradition uses meditation

to integrate our concepts
of life with real life

at the end of each day.

Even in the Amazonian
ayahuasca ceremonies,

after each icaro, or song, a
moment of silence is observed.

In order to close
the photon field

around the body
before the ceremony,

the shaman blows mapacho smoke
over the crown of the head,

and several traditions also
include a flower-infused bath

after ceremony
specifically to close

any rip or hole in
that field after it

is weakened by the medicine.

This phenomena is also
seen after receiving news.

If the news is not
shocking or destructive

to the current mindframe,
not much energy

is required to digest
the new information.

But if the news is intense and
the person is not prepared,

it can cause such an awakening,
such a transformation,

that the energy
field around the body

is diminished as it
moves inward to digest

the earthshaking information.

So what if a psychedelic
journey reveals the inadequacies

and shadow sides of the modern
society we identify ourselves

with?

>> Enlightenment is a
very destructive process.

Enlightenment is a
breaking down of everything

you thought was real, and
none of this society is real.

Becoming aware of that is key.

That's the only way
we're going to heal it.

But that's why I say to people--

I suggest they do not
undertake this path lightly.

The path to enlightenment and
the path to spiritual awakening

is very, very uncomfortable.

You're not going to go
there and drink on Sunday,

become this new age
guru who's shining light

and is going to go out
and be warm and fuzzy

and speak the truth everywhere.

You're going to wake up
and look back at the world

and go, oh, my God.

What have I been doing for
the last 30 or 40 years,

and what am I doing, and what
is this world I'm living in?

And it can be very,
very confrontational.

So if you're not ready for that,
maybe don't do the medicine.

>> And so psychedelics can often
bring up a variety of different

kinds of material that's very
difficult for people to accept

and to figure out how
to move forward with.

But that's also the gift
of the psychedelics--

is that it forced us to
deal with these issues

that we were otherwise able
to bury into our unconscious.

So people often have
difficult experiences,

because they don't have the
support necessary to help them

move through the new
information and to find

a different level of
integration regarding

the traumatic experiences
that they had in the past.

>> If it truly is a lack of
support that keeps us from

integrating new and
useful information,

what kind of support
are we in need of?

By looking to the experts
who have been researching

psychedelics in both modern
and ancestral contexts,

we can begin to acknowledge
how shamanic cultures use

psychedelic plants to strengthen
and expand the community,

and even raise their youth.

>> The major problem is, how
to integrate this into a larger

culture?

If you were a [? witch ?]
living in Mexico

or in one of these cultures
where everybody is part

of rites of passage and so on--

these experiences-- then it's
actually helping the culture,

because the way of living, the
life strategy, the philosophy,

the mythology, the
spirituality of the culture

comes out of these experiences.

So they actually
initiate the young people

into their way of living
and their way of thinking.

This is very different.

We see what happened
in the '60s.

Suddenly, you had
a young generation

that started creating a totally
different hierarchy of values.

Make love, not war--
very pacifistic feeling.

Very much concerned about
the environment, and so on.

They started differentiating
themselves in the way

they looked--

beards and long hair and
beads and funny uniforms.

They're painting their cars
with psychedelic colors

so every cop knows there's
grass to be found there.

Not very skillful revolution.

>> A rite of passage is
something that many traditional

cultures do value, where young
people maybe go through some

rite.

It could be something
like your first hunt,

or it might be something like
getting your first tattoo.

It might also be your
first ayahuasca ceremony,

or your first peyote ceremony.

Of course, in our
modern culture,

we have ceremonies, which all
too few people have nowadays--

like a confirmation, a bat
mitzvah, a bar mitzvah.

But I think that we need
some sort of rite of passage,

because young people--
they want to show

that they're more grown up.

I don't know how it is
in various cultures,

but I do know that
young people are going

to come up with some pretty--

sometimes dangerous--
rites of passage.

And very often, it also
entails not being truthful

with their parents.

And wouldn't you
want your teenagers

to tell you they were
thinking about doing something

of this nature,
they were thinking

about doing psilocybin,
and that they

could talk to you about it?

That you knew where they were,
who they were with, and maybe

you could even give them some
guidance, like you should

have an intention, a prayer.

Be in a safe set and setting.

>> Current forms of rites of
passage are seen at age 16 when

children in the US
can legally drive,

at age 18 when they can vote,
and 21 when they can legally

drink.

But these achievements
are not earned

by bravery,
intelligence, or honor,

but simply by being alive
through enough solar cycles

to be considered an adult.
Because it is only natural

that youth crave to perform
more mature tasks in order

to prove themselves,
ancestral tribes

have traditionally crafted
cultural passage ways

for children to become adults.

In the small island
nation of Vanuatu,

boys at the age of 7 or 8 begin
bungee jumping, oftentimes

off a 98-foot tall tower with
a vine tied to their ankles,

to symbolize their bravery and
their ascent into adulthood.

Among the Apache
of North America,

the young girls must
complete the sunrise ceremony

after their first menstruation,
in which they paint themselves

and reenact the Apache origin
myth of the first woman.

For four days, they are
not to touch their skin

and can only drink water.

The Inuit youth are brought
into the harsh arctic weather

to learn to speak
with animals and hunt.

At age 13, the boys of
the Sateré-Mawé tribe

in the Brazilian jungle wear
gloves filled with bullet ants,

which cause extreme
throbbing pain.

All of these rites of
passage call upon the youth

to engage with their
community and perform

some sacrificial ritual
in order to become

an adult in that
particular tribe.

But these communities weren't
simply initiating people

into adulthood.

They were integrating them
into a healing tradition,

in order to serve others
and the planet at large.

For the hallmark of
a functional society

is peaceful and intelligent
community goals.

>> One of the classic
features of shamanism was that

the neophyte who was trying to
develop shamanic skills would

have to go through a very
arduous ritual ordeal,

often spending weeks or more
alone in the wilderness,

and often with the expectation
that they were going to have

to encounter and deal
with the animals--

the beasts-- that
came to kill them.

And I think that this reflects
a primordial human concern.

Once we become conscious, we
realize we're going to die.

Your dog doesn't know
he's going to die.

The antelope out on the
plains doesn't worry about

whether or not the tiger or
lion's going to eat him--

unless it's right there.

But we have a consciousness
to project into the future

and say, eventually,
it's my turn.

So how do we deal
with this angst,

this anxiety about death?

Well, shamanic
practices had a variety

of different ways of
addressing this death concern,

and one was that you
acquired an understanding

of your spiritual nature--

that the body dies,
but the spirit doesn't.

And so people move
beyond the concern

about their physical demise to
understanding this continuity

of spiritual existence.

>> The realization
that someone comes to--

that one day they will die--

doesn't sink in all at once.

It takes many moments of
considering the implications

of this final event to truly
make an impact on that person's

daily life.

Some people, perhaps, never
come to this realization.

So to fully integrate
the knowledge

that one day this body will
die and return to the earth,

tribes have traditionally
used extreme rites of passage,

as well as psychedelic
plant ceremonies.

Without dedicated moments
of focusing on mortality,

we may never fully
realize the importance

of living life as if we truly
know it will one day end.

Those who have gone through
near-death experiences

have reported much
of the same phenomena

as psychedelic journeys.

Portals of light, other-worldly
beings and ancestors,

timelessness, and
even the total life

reviews that cause
them to re-evaluate

what matters to them.

They often report that they
felt every harsh word or action

that they've ever given,
but from the other person's

perspective.

Another commonality between
near-death experiences

and deep psychedelic
ceremonies is the realization

of how we truly use
the precious time

that we're given in this body,
and that this fleeting moment

of life between birth and
death should be devoted

to the people around us.

In fact, all of life seeks
to integrate and support

each other as one
living organism.

>> You couldn't develop
consciousness in a vacuum.

It takes an
interaction of things.

And all of life is really
an interaction of things.

The body you see before you--

they say every seven
years, I've completely

gone through all my cellular
matter and reproduce new cells.

My old cells have died off.

Hair's fallen off.

Skin's fallen off, and
I'm completely rebuilt.

Same thing with consciousness.

I was on my 30th birthday,
and I was kind of depressed.

My first book hadn't
been published yet,

and I was feeling like
kind of a failure.

And I did some mushrooms,
and I was just like--

I started out with a friend,
but I was being such a bummer,

I think he just went home.

And I was lying in this
bathtub, having a bath,

feeling sorry for myself.

And there was this spider plant
hanging above the bath tub.

And it was just
dry as dry, and I

could see its
roots and tentacles

vibrating, sensing the wealth
of water that I was in,

just going like this.

And I cupped my hand and I
put the water up to his roots,

and it just went
[WHOOSH OF AIR] limp,

and just started sucking the
water right out of my hands.

And it just totally brought
the whole thing to life for me

in a fascinating
way that I don't

think I would have
ever noticed had it not

been for the effects
of the mushrooms.

And yeah, I think that
it makes us realize

that we are on Mother Earth.

That's what these plants offer.

>> That's the message.

We have to re-understand
that we are part of nature.

We're not in control of it.

And we are potentially capable
of damaging it very severely

by upsetting and
destabilizing all

of these homeostatic
processes that keep Gaia--

the Gaia organism--
in equilibrium.

We need to wake up.

I think the plant teachers
have been urging us

to wake up as long as we've
been associated with them,

but we're not very--

we don't listen very well, and
it's getting even more urgent.

First you have to wake up.

Then you have to wise up.

You have to have the
realization, then

what do you do about it?

That is trickier.

But I think it's inevitable.

>> According to many
conversations surrounding this

topic, the most important thing
we can wake up to is the nature

of our individual egos--

the collection of beliefs
and behavioral patterns

we have about ourselves.

The ego often wants to
know all and control all

in order to ensure no one
else can take what is ours.

But this violent cycle
of fighting for our place

at the expense of others
is fantasy, not reality.

The web of life is already
functional without our desire

to exploit it and milk
it for everything we can.

This is called
scarcity mentality--

the belief that there
isn't enough for everyone,

so I better get mine.

Unfortunately, when
someone is in this mode,

it is difficult to wake
up to its inadequacy,

especially when surrounded
by others that are also

stuck in scarcity mentality.

So the process of waking up is
a surrender and the letting go

of our ambition to have
more than others and more

than we need.

From there, the
wising up process

consists only of peacefully
and intelligently integrating

with the one dynamic web of life
that we are all dancing upon,

a surrender to the
flowing river of life.

And the punchline at the
end of this divine comedy

is that one way or
another, through intention

or exhaustion, the
river will win.

But why, then, does the ego
seem so afraid of surrendering

to the ways of the universe?

>> The ego wants closure.

It wants a complete explanation.

The beginning of
wisdom, I believe,

is the ability to accept
an inherent messiness

in your explanation
of what's going on,

because nowhere is it writ
that human minds should

be able to give a full
accounting of creation

in all dimensions
and on all levels.

The universe, at this moment,
is a tremendously complicated,

integrated, multi-level thing.

Perhaps what the universe
is is a kind of system

in which more advanced
forms of order

actually influence previous
states of organization.

They are attractors.

That means that
they exert influence

on less-organized
states, and pull them

toward some kind of end state.

The attractor is at the bottom
of a very deep pit into which

all phenomena is cascading.

>> All life is truly a lesson,
and the attractor that Terence

speaks of is that invisible
compelling force that calls us

to continue learning in life.

The increasing complexity
of the universe

may be exactly what calls us to
abandon the ambition of knowing

everything, or
playing every role,

and to simply play our own role,
to keep observing and engaging

reality in order to use
the information that we

do have more wisely.

Perhaps the evolution of
complexity in the universe

is a reflection of our capacity
to understand and utilize

more complex information.

And one of the most complex and
malleable instruments we use

is the mysterious and
ever-evolving human brain.

>> The brain is a
product of evolution,

and the brain evolved as a
profound information generator.

It generates an inordinate
amount of complex information,

but also to receive and
process information.

And the environment is also
an information generator.

The environment is full.

The external world is
full of information,

and this information is
always entering the brain.

But the brain needs to learn
to sample information that is

useful and to learn from that.

And in a sense, sensory
information sculpts the brain.

It's sculpts the connectivity--
the patterns of connectivity.

All of these neurons--

these cells in the brain--

they are connected in
an extremely complex,

intricate pattern.

As sensory information
enters the brain,

it changes the structure.

>> Perhaps the universe
itself is one single phenomena

overflowing with information,
and our brains are the part

of that phenomena that
collects, processes,

and generates new combinations
and patterns in service

to an ever-evolving relationship
between creation itself

and that which is
continually creating it.

If psychedelic plants truly
break down old beliefs

and thought patterns to make
way for the new, the way

a wildfire clears the
debris from a forest

so new life can grow,
then maybe the process

of integrating into
the cosmos is not

a dilemma to be solved,
but a dance to be danced.

The idea of solving
problems only

allows for win, lose,
or draw scenarios.

If life were viewed more as a
relationship of moving parts--

a cosmic dance do
engage with, learn from,

and perpetually refine--

then the outcome
wouldn't be limited

by who gets what in the end, but
by how deeply we've connected.

Perhaps the point
of living is not

a measure of the
individual puzzle

pieces, but how they integrate
into the full picture of life

itself.

Up next, we will open two sides
of the holy mushroom theory--

a debate that might
shake the foundation

of the Christian
religion and its origins.

[MUSIC PLAYING]