Ep114 - Dr. Erica Zelfand: Psychedelics, Gateway Drugs to Science and Spirit
Erica Zelfand, ND, a family physician and psychedelic therapist, discusses the science and spiritual connection of psychedelics... Psilocybin, MDMA, Ibogaine, LSD, Ketamine & God!
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In this fantastic and wide-ranging interview with Dr. Erica Zelfand, we touch upon her wide experiences with psychedelics as a conscious user and as a healer and doctor. Some of the many wise things you'll hear include:
"What we saw with the Timothy Leary generation, which was more of a grass roots movement was chaos and confusion and now with this revolution we’re taking off tie dye and putting on suits and ties and publishing papers. And that’s how we’re moving ahead now. I don’t think either is right or wrong."
"I was at an ayahuasca circle in Portland OR and was having vivid visuals and beautiful and difficult experiences. At one point I shot up and said “I have to know how this is working in my brain.” For me psychedelics were a gateway drug to science!"
"There’s a saying, “neurons that fire together wire together,” meaning that if you keep doing the behaviors over again [they form a habit in the brain]. A lot of psychedelics temporarily disturb that rigid firing pattern and let parts of the brain that don’t normally communicate with each other make novel connections."
"We have a theory that depression is caused by low serotonin in the brain, but we don’t actually have a lot of evidence supporting that. A newer theory of depression is that it’s a high level inflammatory state in the nervous system. Psychedelics (and SSRIs) are anti-inflammatory. This may be why even microdosing can have an anti-depressant effect."
"We can explain a lot of how psychedelics work with science and then we hit this wall... There’s this receptor site... and that neurotransmitter... and then, God."
Psychedelics don’t change beliefs or politics. What they seem to do, according to the data, is make people less extreme.
Like any tool you’ve got to know how to wield it. If you’re new to psychedelics, get a copy of The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide by James Fadiman
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