Explorations through Inner Space: Recent Episodes
Reid Robison
Hi I’m Reid, your friendly neighborhood psychedelic psychiatrist and Chief Medical Officer at Novamind. I work with yoga, meditation, all kinds of therapy, and psychedelics to help you heal, grow, and get to know your inner world.
My focus is to make top quality mental health therapies accessible to all. I do this by building clinics, conducting research, and training clinicians in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapies—all this with a goal of revolutionizing the way we get and stay mentally healthy, and bringing psychedelic medicine into everyday healthcare.
Psilcybin, along with other serotonergic psychedelics, acts in large part by stimulating 5-HT2A receptors in the brain. Tune in to hear what happens next :)
This is an oldie but perhaps a goodie? It's a talk I gave at the Downtown Yoga Festival, in the YogaEx session, called "Where Yoga Meets the Road: The Yoga of Compassion & Kindness (aka the real reason to do your yoga every damn day)". Felt cute, might delete, lemme know what you think. Sharing here because who doesn't need some age-old wisdom from 2000+ yrs ago.
Embodiment is your first person experience of the body, in this world. It’s a subjective sense of wholeness, a sense of being “at home” and at one with who you are. Inhabiting the body is not just a matter of being aware or scanning the body -- embodiment is actually living within your body, being present, and being aware not just of the body, but as the body. The body is your instrument of experience, including perception, thought, emotion, sensation & action. It is your gateway to the here and now, because your body is always in the present moment. You use your body to do everything, and it’s the only way you can feel anything right now. How you’re constructed is in your body: your history, everything you’ve done, and everything you’re capable of.
Mindfulness meditation gives us our brains the street smarts to self-regulate our awareness so that we can keep our attention on the immediate experience with openness, curiosity, acceptance. So let's talk about it.
“I’m tempted to say MDMA gave me ‘hope,’ but that word isn’t right—the insight was more substantive than hope. I’d held the sensation in my body; I understood, at a visceral level, what might someday be mine: the sense of peace and joy within my body. For me, the therapeutic process could unfurl from there.” —MDMA participant
This is a replay of the audio from a webinar I gave at Center for Change in April 2021, talking about the potential of psychedelics in the treatment of eating disorders.
It is estimated that 60 percent of us have had a traumatic experience in our life, and that 10 percent of those go on to experience post-traumatic stress syndrome—the different symptoms that circle around trauma.This is part 2 of a 5-part series on Trauma Work, taught by psychiatrist Dr. Reid Robison.
Trauma is not what happens to us, it’s how your body and your nervous system respond to the event. It's what we hold inside in the absence of an empathetic witness at the time. Join me as we embark on a 5-part series together of how to approach trauma work and your healing journey.
On April 19th, 1943, the chemist Albert Hofmann discovered the effects of LSD during a psychedelic bicycle ride home from work. For those working to harness psychedelics for the betterment of humankind, Bicycle Day marks an important moment in medical and spiritual history.
Meditation is psychedelic -- somebody call the police. Jer and Reid chat about their entry into the wild world of meditation. We often get stuck in a certain way of thinking about ourselves and about the world. Meditation is the tried and tested way to blast ourselves out of that. Psychedelics, the crash course. Come on Karen, we're leaving the matrix.
Our friendly neighborhood inner space doctor, Reid Robison, explains how to make peace with your neurotransmitters with a big dose of awareness and understanding, and a few little brain hacks.
In this 9 minute lecture to ketamine-assisted psychotherapy clinicians, Dr. Reid Robison breaks down the rather complicated mechanism of action of ketamine into 4 main points.
This is a lecture by Reid to prescribers and therapists in a ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP) training.
Too long, didn't listen? No problemo. Here are the cliff notes: (wait, do people still know what cliff notes means these days, or has that gone extinct?)
Mindfulness is...
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Intentionally living with awareness in the present moment
- Waking up from automatic behaviors, and from a trance of unworthiness, to participate in our own lives
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Without judging or rejecting the moment
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Noticing consequences, but letting go of evaluating, avoiding and suppressing the here and now
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Without attachment to the moment
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Rather than ignoring the present by clinging to the past or grabbing for the future
Mindfulness is simply being aware. It’s noticing and paying attention to your thoughts, emotions, behaviors and experiences, in a non-judgemental way, on a moment to moment basis. It can be practiced at any time, wherever you are, whoever you’re with, and whatever you’re doing. Mindfulness is showing up and being fully engaged in the here and now. That means being free of both the past and the future -- the what ifs, the judgement of right or wrong, and the self-criticism. Mindfulness is a lifelong practice, and a companion to have throughout your life. It’s like an old friend we turn to when in need of inspiration, direction, or clarity.
“It cultivates access to core aspects of our own minds and bodies that our very sanity depends on,” says Jon Kabat-Zinn, from The Unexpected Power of Mindfulness Meditation. “Mindfulness, which includes tenderness and kindness toward ourselves, restores dimensions of our being. These have never actually been missing, just that we have been missing them, we have been absorbed elsewhere. When your mind clarifies and opens, your heart also clarifies and opens.”
How to practice mindfulness:
Formal sitting meditation:
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Find a time to set aside 3 minutes at the same time every day
- i.e. first thing in the morning before you start your morning routine
- I intend to practice my formal sitting meditation at _____________ o’clock each day
Mindfulness practice during daily activities:
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Awareness of surroundings (i.e. when you arrive in a new environment or space)
- I intend to practice being mindful of my surroundings in these two places this week:
1) ________________________ 2) ________________________
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Awareness of tasks (driving, eating, taking a shower, using the restroom)
- I intend to practice being mindful while doing these two tasks every day this week:
1) ________________________ 2) ________________________
This is the audio for a lecture by Reid (your favorite inner space doctor) on psychedelics, recorded as part of a ketamine-assisted psychotherapy training at Cedar Psychiatry. Here Reid walks us through a smorgasbord of psychedelic wisdom, such as: a brief timeline of psychedelic discoveries, some distinctions among classes of psychedelics (including what makes us hallucinate), your brain on LSD, what's in that gross tasting ayahuasca stuff, how MDMA helps us heal from trauma, why Gordon Wasson traveled to mexico to meet Maria Sabina (and went on to write a 1957 Life magazine article that birthed a shroom boom), how much psilocybin they're giving in psychedelic research studies, and the unlikely story of ketamine from anesthesia to club to clinic.
Note that slides are referenced throughout, but this is just the audio. If you'd like a copy of the slides, just for fun or to follow along during this episode, visit: tinyurl.com/psychedelicsubstances
Allow yourself to switch from the usual mode of doing to a mode of non-doing. Of simply being. You are unconcerned, untroubled, letting go of the past, letting go of the future. right here, right now.
All you gotta remember is this: Give without expectation, receive with gratitude, forgive with grace.
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The real meditation is how you live your life.
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In order to live life fully, you have to be present for it. In other words, life is made of moments – if you miss the moments you aren’t really alive.
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To be present, just bring awareness to your moments, otherwise they’ll just pass you by. You do this by paying attention, non-judgmentally, to whatever is happening in this moment, inside and out.
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This requires a great deal of kindness and compassion to yourself, which you deserve. Self love and self compassion, not just self esteem.
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If you miss a moment, don’t worry. Another one is happening right.. now. Each moment is a new beginning.
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Remember that good, bad or unpleasant, the present moment is the only time you’re alive, therefore it’s the only time to learn and grow, to feel and express emotion, to find peace and balance. The present is the only time we have to do what we need to do to take care of ourself and others – the only time we can really do anything.
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We’re not trying to create a special feeling or experience, just to uncover the special one that’s already there.
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Fall in love with the now. Have a gentle love affair with the present moment.
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It takes practice, and that’s part of the journey. Adopting a meditation practice, formal or informal, helps by giving you ways to accelerate the process, to deepen your awareness. Try waking up 15 minutes earlier. Carve out some time for you. Try it for a few weeks – befriending yourself in this way is an adventure of a lifetime, and hugely empowering.
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Remember, you are not your thoughts, your likes, your dislikes. These are just like weather patterns in your mind, like clouds moving across the sky. Just be aware of them, observe with curiosity. No need to be imprisoned by them. Study the moment. Rise above the inversion of your mind.
Triggers are friends to follow. When we experience a trigger, we can find great benefit from connecting with the internal mechanism of vulnerability that has become activated. In particular, this method allows for a deeper understanding of the unprocessed emotion fueling the trigger, thereby providing clarity regarding needs in the present moment – an invaluable skill when navigating life's challenges. This process also facilitates the activation of our inner healing intelligence, offering agency in the transformation of our emotional landscape.
Step 1. Take a few deep breaths to settle into the present moment. Next, bring to mind an experience that triggered you within the last few weeks, even if minor. This could be something that was said or done, or even something that was not said or not done.
Step 2. Keeping that recent experience of in mind, review the 20 statements below select the item that resonates best with your experience of the trigger (select only one):
What statement best reflects your experience of the trigger?
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I felt excluded
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I felt like the bad guy
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I felt powerless
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I felt forgotten
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I felt unheard
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I felt unsafe
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I felt unloved
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I felt judged
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I felt blamed
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I felt frustrated
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I felt disrespected
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I felt disconnected
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I felt a lack of affection
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I felt trapped
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I felt uncared for
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I felt lonely
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I felt like I couldn’t speak up
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I felt ignored
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I felt manipulated
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I felt like I couldn’t be honest
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I felt controlled
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I felt like it was unfair
Step 3. Take another deep breath or two, inhaling and exhaling slowly. Close your eyes, and connect with your earliest childhood memory of having felt _______(the item you selected from the list above). Recall the scene with as much detail as possible, including your emotional experience. Did you feel scared? Sad? Mad? Embarrassed? Did you tell anyone? If not -- why? If so -- what happened then?
Step 4. Ask yourself: What were my child-self’s vulnerable needs at that time (comfort, validation, protection, compassion, understanding, patience, encouragement, love, celebration, etc.)?
Step 5. Imagine your child-self in your heart. Tend to them in a way that meets these needs, with words and action. For example, you might speak loving words of reassurance to them while placing your hands on your heart. Notice how your physical body responds. Take a few minutes to reflect on the experience of having gone through this process, including how your perception of the event and your needs may have changed.
Embodiment is your first person experience of the body, in this world. It’s a subjective sense of wholeness, a sense of being “at home” and at one with who you are. Inhabiting the body is not just a matter of being aware or scanning the body -- embodiment is actually living within your body, being present, and being aware not just of the body, but as the body. The body is your instrument of experience, including perception, thought, emotion, sensation & action. It is your gateway to the here and now, because your body is always in the present moment.
**Deep satisfaction & meaningful connection only happen when you are present.
When you are embodied, you get to question the stories you tell about yourself and others. You begin to notice what is alive and resonating in you right now, and ask yourself “Why am I absencing instead of presencing right now?” When grounded through embodiment, even when triggered and “reactive”, you have the capacity to observe your own thoughts/behaviors & start to reshape them. Once you’ve developed a strong sense of wholeness and comfort within the body, you can start to experience a deep and meaningful connection with the world around you, while still inhabiting your body. The body is your greatest sense organ, and once tuned into these senses, you can start to feel your body and the surroundings at the same time. You start to feel as though you’re made of space, and that everything around you is made of space as well. You begin to experience your own presence & aliveness, while simultaneously experiencing the aliveness in everyone and everything around you.**
From the archives, here's a by Reid Robison, MD MBA at the YogaEx session of the Downtown Yoga Festival, Salt Lake City, Utah back in May 2015.
From professor named Omid safi, I learned that in many Muslim cultures, when you want to ask them how they’re doing, you say something like Haal-e shomaa chetoreh? How is your haal?
Haal in persian is the transient state of one’s heart. In reality, we ask, “How is your heart doing at this very moment, at this breath?” When I ask, “How are you?” that is really what I want to know.
I am not asking how many items are on your to-do list, nor asking how many items are in your inbox. I want to know how your heart is doing, at this very moment. Tell me. Tell me your heart is joyous, tell me your heart is aching, tell me your heart is sad. Examine your own heart, explore your soul, and then tell me something about your heart and your soul.
Tell me you remember you are still a human being, not just a human doing. Tell me you’re more than just a machine, checking off items from your to-do list. Have that conversation, that glance, that touch. Be a healing conversation, one filled with grace and presence.
Put your hand on my arm, look me in the eye, and connect with me for one second. Tell me something about your heart, and awaken my heart. Help me remember that I too am a full and complete human being.
Waking up on the bumpy road to urban enlightenment. Reid & Jeremiah chat about what embarking on a spiritual journey feels like.