Download In this episode, Joe holds conversation with Dr. Michael Sapiro, Clinical Psychologist out of Boise, Idaho. They cover topics surrounding how meditation and mindfulness intersect with psychedelia as well as psychic ability, altered states and integration. 3 Key Points: Meditation and psychedelics have a lot of overlap such as ego dissolution and unity. Dr. Sapiro believes that meditation and mindfulness bring personal awakening in order to create collective transformation. Both meditation and psychedelics are the most beneficial when they are integrated into our waking life and when we use our experiences to help others and our planet. Support the show Patreon Leave us a review on iTunes Share us with your friends – favorite podcast, etc Join our Facebook group - Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community. Navigating Psychedelics Show Notes About Dr. Michael Sapiro Attended John F Kennedy University where he received his PsyD He focused on meditation research at the Institute of Noetic Sciences He is from Chicago, IL He spent time in Thailand for the Peace Corps A lot of his experience was from his time in the Bay Area There is more data coming out about awareness based meditative states and psychedelic states and how they relate subjectively to each other Dr. Sapiro’s Practice Transformational Psychology, Integration based He integrates the Buddhist Dharma, Western Psychology, Non-dual meditation and philosophy, and Noetic Sciences into his practice Michael sees 20-28 patients a week Kashmir Shaivism It's a dissolving type of experience, Its a non-dualistic style of tradition The non-dual tradition helps one just be “whole and unbroken” and focus on the present and now He does the human work in the Buddhism Dharma style, and the spiritual work with the restful piece of being in the now, the focus being integration Vision His vision has been on enhancing personal awakening in order to create collective transformation He wants to help communities and states and nations to transform via individual awakening He has worked with law enforcement agents, military vets, community members, a variety of people at different levels all the way from grounding to stability to thriving He always ends each Sangha with saying 'take this work and apply it to your neighbors' A Sangha is a buddhist community of monks/individuals in support of each other “People have such a deep connection to nature when you come out of the psychedelic experience. You start taking care of the environment differently than before went you went in.” - Michael “We now have data on greater environmental concern and stewardship after the psychedelic experience.” - Joe People who are consciously interacting with things outside of themselves have a greater care for those things. “If I am hurting the world I am hurting myself.” - Michael “Hopefully one of the bigger things that come out of the psychedelic movement are greater levels of environmentalism and global stewardship” - Joe The psychedelic movement helps us see systems that are made up are a part of our tangible reality and our responsibility to take care of the people in the systems We can use psychedelics and meditation, and integration from these experiences, to see how we can operate in these systems and help people find resources in these systems Dr. Sapiro’s Work He teaches as Esalen Institute leading workshops One of his colleagues has reached over 200,000 people with their work since 2011 His goal isn't to be the lead, but the support of leaders, especially women because he feels the need for a balance and the need for more female leaders Michael says he loves surrounding himself around ‘world-changers’ and loves doing anything to be around them and learn from them Boise, Idaho Michael says its surprisingly conscious state Its very community oriented There are 6-7 Buddhist Sanghas, groups of dedicated folks to their practice There is a lot of nat