Sophia Rokhlin is an author, speaker and nonprofit organizer dedicated to supporting the conservation of Indigenous wisdom and territories.

Sophia is a co-author of When Plants Dream: Ayahuasca, Amazonian Shamanism and the Global Psychedelic Renaissance (Watkins, 2019), and her research has been featured in publications including the New York Times, PBS, the BBC and others. 

She has worked with the Environmental Justice Atlas mapping grassroots activism related to commodity extraction in the Americas. She previously served as a Program Coordinator at the Chaikuni Institute, supporting regenerative agriculture in the Peruvian Amazon. 

Okay, that's the official bio.  My UNOFFICAL bio is Sophia has spent a lot of time studying indigenous cultures, participating in ayahuasca ceremonies, and thinking about the issues I like to think about.  She also toured with Comedian Shane Mauss delivering talks about Ayahuasca to the public and is unusually articulate on the subject.

Read the book! I loved it! If you are interested in/have participated in Ayahuasca--then this book is partially about you and the phenomenon you are a part of.   For me, it was a little bit of a splash of cold water to the face, viewing myself as part of a much larger trend/movement. It's also just loaded with information, perspectives, and authors I'd never considered. For the true Ayahuasca nerd. YAS!

Speaking of Books, did you know I wrote a novel?  Maybe not since I never promoted it on MY OWN PODCAST.  What is it about?  Ayahuasca of course.  And a science experiment gone wrong, the spirit world, technology and mysticism, heart breaks and setbacks, late 20's angst...The Eagle And The Condor.  Check it out!

https://www.natefalkoff.com/book

OKAY, here are some of the things Sophia and I discussed, or at least the ones I wrote down while I was editing before I stopped taking notes.

--New research indicating that in ancient history, the Amazon was an agriculturally managed Garden--not a 'wild' jungle.
--There is no "original" ayahuasca ceremony. It's a blend of influences that differs from tribe to tribe and is ever evolving as it meets Western culture.
--Does Ayahuasca inherently bring you towards an appreciation of nature? Why?
--Deconstructing the Ayahuasca culture that may organically emerge from the use of a plant, similar to how there may be a Coffee Culture or a Cocaine Culture.
--What are some of the negative sides to viewing Ayahuasca as a benevolent, loving Mother who is saving Humanity?
--I criticize over-identification with the Ayahuasca lifestyle and Sophia agrees but points out she wrote an entire book about it and I have a podcast about it. (lol)
--"If you don't share your medicine it'll make you sick." How and when to share your experiences with humility?
--Difficult Ceremonies as a great equalizer
--Our personal health is inextricably linked to our environment
--As a culture we are starved for Rites of Passage. Ayahuasca and other ceremonies feed a deeply human need to pause, assess, transform
--Science/Mysticism are intertwined, both parts of the human experience, only recently have we separated them into incompatible disciplines
--Sinister ideas of why right-wing investors might become involved in psychedelic therapy
--Sophia teaches me about Astrology and Chakras at my insistence.

Stephen Harrod Buhner has been called an Earth poet, bardic naturalist, and an herbal philosopher, as well as one of the most accomplished writers on medical herbalism in the United States. He is the multiple-award winning author of 23 books, a score of memoir and fictional short stories, and numerous nonfiction articles.

He is a tireless advocate for the reincorporation of the exploratory artist, independent scholar, amateur naturalist, and citizen scientist in American society - especially as a counterweight to the influence of corporate science and technology.

I was first introduced to Stephen’s work through my encounters with Lyme Disease–of which Stephen is (in my words) the preeminent expert. He essentially wrote the Bible of how to understand the disease and treat it effectively yourself with herbs (spoiler, it works).

Later I discovered Stephen wrote twenty two other books on far-ranging topics across many disciplines, incorporating radically subversive ideas about intelligence, ecology, environmentalism, science, mental health, and perception.

I wanted to discuss “Gaia Theory” with Stephen–the idea that the Earth is a sentient, self regulating organism, and how that overlaps with the ayahuasca experience–and discuss we did.

Also in this episode are:

• Western Science's origins in the Protestant Revolution (and why that's bad)
• Rationalism and the dissection of nature into discrete parts
• The Journey of the Self, learning to think for yourself and discard inherited beliefs
• "Who Am I?" 
• Reframing painful experiences as part of your personal myth
• Plant and Bacterial Intelligence
• The function of psychedelics in ecosystems
• Invasive species as a natural reorganization of Earth’s ecosystems
• Lyme Disease
• Herbalism, the deeply ingrained societal beliefs that dismiss it
• How to present information that bridges two paradigms
• The limiting trap of trying to win approval and mainstream acceptance with fundamentally paradigm shifting ideas ("Trying to make Daddy proud")
• You cannot control or suppress nature--humans are destined for some tough lessons.

And so much more that if you're not curious already,  there is no point in me typing the rest of it, so go to the mall instead (and pick me up a Cinnabon).

Claudia is a social scientist whose research examines the medicalization of psychedelics' and the broader decriminalization movement. 

We talk about the dynamics of legalization, decriminalization, and corporatization of  psychedelics. More personally, we examine the enormous benefits of psychedelics used in group settings, the importance of rules and creating a safe container for healing, working with trauma and depression, how we view our long term growth from plant medicines, spirituality, and more!

Read Claudia's article  about decriminilization here: https://chacruna.net/why-psychedelic-researchers-should-not-push-back-against-decriminalization/?fbclid=IwAR3261tfmQL6eIumRmh3KHuQSfUjKl058GRDGcmj-7TT7bcQIQ91JlP15oI