What Psychedelic Therapy Can Learn From Shamanism

Psychedelic psychotherapy is the process of taking a psychedelic substance within a therapeutic setting, which typically includes psychotherapy. In clinical studies, psilocybin (magic mushrooms) and MDMA are two compounds that are being investigated for their therapeutic use in treating certain mental health conditions, like depression and PTSD, and improve overall mental health. Most of the psychedelic therapy taking place is within clinical research studies in the underground and in places where psychedelics are legal.
 

Psychedelic therapy is widely discussed as an innovative development within psychiatry, yet the ironic truth is that mind-altering substances have been used to promote mental health for thousands of years. And while the ceremonial ingestion of plants like ayahuasca in South America, peyote in North America, and iboga in Africa may seem a far cry from Western psychotherapy, researchers are increasingly looking to indigenous cultures in order to learn how to utilize these potent medicines.
 

Anthropologists who study the ceremonial use of psychedelic plants often write about the skilled manner in which shamans guide their patients into "managed altered states of consciousness." Through the manipulation of sounds, symbols, and other aesthetic elements in a ritual context, these traditional healers are able to steer participants' visions and hallucinations in certain desirable directions. Overall, the ritual context provides a controlled, supportive, and safe environment for participants to engage in reflective emotional work that is often difficult.
 

A recent study of Westerners attending a mental health retreat run by indigenous ayahuasca healers found that 36 percent rated the actions of these shamans as the single most important factor in the improvement of their well-being. The non-indigenous users attributed the benefits of ayahuasca to their immersion in the traditional aspects of the ayahuasca experience, which were often intense or difficult to endure, echoing the ascetic experiences of the traditional users. Research indicates that the beneficial elements of ayahuasca are enhanced when the cultural and spiritual aspects of its use are emphasized. And while shamanic rituals may not be fully appreciated by conventional psychiatrists, it is widely agreed that psychedelic experiences are the product of more than just mere pharmacology.
 

Set and Setting
 

Back in the 1960s, famed psychologist and LSD evangelist Timothy Leary helped to popularize the notion of "set and setting", which holds that the effects of psychedelics are largely determined by the mindset of the user as well as the environment in which they are taken, rather than the properties of the substances themselves. "Set" refers to the expectations and intentions the person brings to the experience, and "setting" is the outward circumstances in which it takes place. Additionally, the expectations and experiences of participants in a traditional ceremonial setting are often influenced by the shamans' shaping of those aspects.
 

For this reason, set and setting has been incorporated into recent psychedelic trials. Typically, this is achieved by manipulating the therapeutic environment with low lighting and carefully selected music playlists. This last element is considered to be of particular importance, as research has revealed that music amplifies the capacity of psychedelics to enhance activity within the parts of the brain that process emotion.
 

A Clash of Worldviews
 

Indigenous people view creation as a living process, resulting in a living universe in which a kinship exists between all things. There is no such thing as an individual in the same way that we take for granted in the west. There is no separateness. We are all one consciousness. It's a different way of looking at things. For those of us who have been raised as staunch materialists, such a concept can be difficult to understand, let alone accept. We are conditioned to see the world as populated by distinct, independent entities that can be methodically isolated from one another, whereas indigenous cultures view the universe as one unified conscious system, in which everything is connected to everything else.
 

In line with this perspective, mental health problems are understood not as the product of faulty brain chemistry or personal psychological quirks, but as a symptom of misalignment with the encompassing whole. Healing, therefore, is typically a collective affair and is achieved by restoring the patient's sense of connectedness to their community and wider environment.
 

While most research into the efficacy of psychedelics to treat mental health disorders continues to focus on individual treatments, a number of studies are beginning to recognize the importance of contextual factors like the shared togetherness of indigenous group rituals. A global study of people who have used psychedelics in group settings found that group bonding during ceremony was significantly correlated with increases in psychological well-being, social connectedness, and other salient mental health outcomes.
 

Conclusion
 

While researchers have demonstrated the benefits of psychedelics as a treatment for mental illness in Western users, the traditional context associated with the use of psychedelic plants is also an essential aspect of the experience. Like indigenous users who emphasize the ascetic aspects of the psychedelic experiences, the immersion in an intense, often challenging ceremony leads to benefits for Western users who understand the necessity of these difficult experiences in reaping benefits. Overall, the traditional ceremony accounts for important aspects of the psychedelic experience such as social and environmental connections. Adapting indigenous approaches to psychedelics may well be the key to psychedelic healing. 

Happy Autumnal Equinox

At the Autumnal Equinox, we begin a new cycle on the Medicine Wheel of Life, entering the West -- the home of autumn, twilight, Bear, introspection, emotions, flow, the moon, death, endings, and the element of Water. From the West flows the energy of transformation. In the West we assimilate our life experiences. Experience is the only baggage we carry with us from this Earth walk. From the West we exit the realm of physical experience and join into vast levels of experience in the spirit worlds of light, or we choose to return and walk again the sacred wheel of life.
 

Autumnal means autumn; Equinox means equal night. Night and day are the same length, each lasting exactly twelve hours on this day. It is at this time when light and darkness are in balance. The forces of feminine and masculine energy, yin and yang, are also in balance at this time, providing a unique opportunity to tune in and find our inner balance, harmony, and alignment.
 

The theme for this fall equinox is recapitulation. Recapitulation is a recapture, remembrance, and retelling of experiences, choices, actions and relationships from the past in order to digest, neutralize and file them away without any residual emotional charge. The release is the act of letting go of any attachment to the emotional content of the past event or memory.
 

It is important to reflect on your decisions past and present, as with every decision made something is always left behind. I recommend a ritual where you complete something with a burning of a photo, letter or object that represents what you are releasing. Make sure you spend some time dreaming up what you wish to bring into this new cycle. Share with others and do something celebratory to acknowledge change, a new creative beginning and reset.

Mummified Shaman Discovered in Siberia

An almost perfectly preserved shaman burial site dating back to the 18th century has been discovered in remote Siberia. In only the second-ever archaeological study in the Yakutia area of Siberia, Russian researchers at the Institute for Humanitarian Research and North Indigenous Peoples Problems discovered the mummified remains of a fully-clothed man inside a sarcophagus.
 

Shamans are spiritual leaders among the Yakut, practicing as healers and diviners in their communities. Yakutia, the Yakut homeland, is hugely remote, situated in the far northeast of what is now Russia. When Russia occupied Yakutia in the 17th century, Orthodox Christianity began to influence the folk religion. However, during Soviet rule, shamans and their followers were persecuted. The religion didn't die out, though, and continued to be practiced in secret.
 

The burial lay at a depth of around 2.5 feet, and the sarcophagus was made of wide planks and covered with birch bark. The mummified body of a man was wearing a suit consisting of a caftan, a silk shirt, cuffs and legs. The shaman's legs were of particular interest, as they were covered with fabric that was embroidered with colored threads and a patchwork of leathers from hips to ankles. The shaman also wore a pair of leggings, a caftan, a belt, and was accompanied by a saddle, girth straps with iron buckles, stirrups, two bags and a funeral feast.
 

The shaman and its burial site are in remarkably good condition considering it has been buried for over 200 years. This is a truly unique find, because due to climate change, the preservation of items from archaeological excavations is getting worse every year, and the search for funerary monuments is gradually becoming more difficult due to dynamic changes in the landscape.

Let's Stand Again With Standing Rock

It's time to take action and stop the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL)! It's been over six years since DAPL began carrying oil and nearly a year and a half since the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the pipeline operator Energy Transfer's attempt to avoid producing a required Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). Today, in violation of a separate court order, DAPL continues to operate illegally, without a federal easement. Finally, after interminable delay, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has finally released an extremely problematic draft EIS for public input.
 

That's where you come in. You now have just a few weeks to submit your public comment demanding the Corps shut this pipeline down and require a new, valid EIS. Please stand with Standing Rock in this critical moment and write to the Army Corps right now.
 

Now that the EIS has been released, we can confirm what we already suspected. Prepared by a member of the American Petroleum Institute -- clear conflict of interest -- the EIS addresses none of Standing Rock's many grave concerns about DAPL. Those include DAPL's imminent threat to the Missouri River, big problems with Energy Transfer's emergency response plans, Energy Transfer's horrendous safety track record, continued lack of transparency with Standing Rock throughout the environmental review process, inaccurate characterizations of tribal consultation, and sensitive habitat and sacred burial sites along the riverbank.
 

Earlier this year, four U.S. senators including Bernie Sanders submitted a letter to the Corps seeking an explanation. The reply from Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Michael Connor did not adequately or honestly address the tribe's complaints. Standing Rock replied, pointing out the flaws in approach and demanding redress.
 

For now, it's up to us to lend a hand. We must flood the Army Corps with a single, unified message: This illegal pipeline's operations must be terminated and the Army Corps must start over with a legitimate environmental review. In the midst of a climate emergency, let's defend sacred ground and safeguard Unci Maka (our Grandmother Earth). This may be our last, best chance to end DAPL once and for all. Please take action now.

How Rhythm Shapes Our Lives

Simply put, rhythm is a strong repeated pattern of movement or sound, generally considered to be an ordered alternation of contrasting elements. As regular and natural patterns of change, rhythms are everywhere--in the cycle of seasons, the tides, the phases of the moon, waking and sleeping, day and night, ebb and flow, yin and yang. In fact, rhythm is the very pulse of the universe. According to quantum physics, everything in the universe, from the smallest subatomic particle to the largest star, has an inherent vibrational pattern. Everything has a unique vibrational frequency--a pulsating rhythm that belongs only to it. Within the heart of each of us, there exists a silent pulse of perfect rhythm that connects us to the totality of a dynamic, interrelated universe.
 

Rhythm interconnects everything in the natural world. All living things share in the common experience of being plugged into the electromagnetic grid of the planet. All life pulsates in time to the planet’s extremely low frequencies, which are concentrated at about 7.83 Hz (cycles per second). This so-called Schumann resonance is produced and maintained by more than eight million global lightning strikes a day. Every lightning bolt discharges a large amount of energy and so contributes to the Earth’s background base frequency or "heartbeat." This alpha rhythm is the primary frequency in the web of life. All life forms are innately connected to this primary frequency.
 

Beyond natural manifestations, rhythm characterizes human expression and is inseparable from speech, music, dance, and all forms of art. Rhythm plays an important role in how we perceive and connect with the world. Rhythm plays a role in listening, in walking, and in language. More importantly, rhythm is the underlying foundation of human sociability and interaction. Consider the broad range of biological rhythms in the human body, fast and slow, transmuted and integrated by the complex interdependence of the somatic, autonomic and endocrine nervous systems. The results of this synthesis of movement and sound act directly on us, spatially and temporally differentiating our interactional patterns.
 

Indeed, the very universality of rhythm is a compelling argument for the existence of biological processes governing the perception and production of rhythm. Rhythms in the brain have been identified as a basis for consciousness itself. According to neuroscience research, rhythm is rooted in innate functions of the brain, mind, and consciousness. As human beings, we are innately rhythmic. Our relationship with rhythm begins in the womb. At twenty two days, a single (human embryo) cell jolts to life. This first beat awakens nearby cells and incredibly they all begin to beat in perfect unison. These beating cells divide and become our heart. This desire to beat in unison seemingly fuels our entire lives. Studies show that, regardless of musical training, we are innately able to perceive and recall elements of beat and rhythm.
 

It makes sense, then, that beat and rhythm are an important aspect in music therapy. Our brains are hard-wired to be able to entrain to a beat. Entrainment occurs when two or more rhythms come into sync and begin to beat as one. If you are walking down a street and you hear a song, you instinctively begin to step in sync to the beat of the song. This is actually an important area of current music therapy research. Our brain enables our motor system to naturally entrain to a rhythmic beat, allowing music therapists to target rehabilitating movements. The better we understand the biological basis of rhythm, the better we will be able to employ rhythm--in all its guises--to improve communication and to better understand ourselves.