The New Statesman - A magic mushroom trip in Amsterdam triggers a revelation
AS FEATURED IN THE NEW STATESMAN
And what comes next?
The "what comes next piece?”, is often the missing step of the transformative process.
What comes next is integration.
What do we do with these insights? How do we continue to make space so more insights can continue to flow? Integration is the connection with and the embodiment of our insights into lived everyday existence.
It was my pleasure a few months ago to guide Pravina Rudra from the New Statesman through one of my psychedelic programmes. In the attached article she articulates her experience. I was so especially happy to see how much continued to land for Pravina in the latter phase of the process.
This is integration.
As she puts it “two months later, I feel a little like Scrooge in A Christmas Carol: I experienced the terror of being visited by the ghosts of my past, present and future – then woke up with a second chance at life.”
You can read the article here
Newsletter January 2024 - A New Years Pondering
It all begins with an idea.
Dear Friend
New Year’s greetings to you.
I wonder how your 2023 ended? How you celebrated? How you reflected?
Don’t you find that we are so often in a rush to focus on what’s to come, without perhaps giving valid attention to the year that’s passed, what has been or what in fact, still is?
In the days before the end of the year I sat with a friend and we asked each other to score our year out of 10. I gave a cautious 7.5, as with a flippant look back at the year I thought 2023 had been a bit of a ‘meh’ year. Not bad but nothing wow. ‘Meh’. Immediately however I thought, what would it really have taken in a year to award those additional 2.5 points? I upgraded the year to an 8. In the unfolding days I decided to take some more time to reflect on the year, noting the highlights (and lowlights) I remembered, reviewing my agenda and photos for all those I had already forgotten. I was left with a humbling and gratifying list that made me think "what more could I really ask for in such a short period of time?". All this is 52 weeks! The score got upgraded again.
Looking ahead to 2024 there is much I’d like to achieve. I found the following themes helpful to guide me in my year planning - personal themes and values; work; learning; family and friends; movement and exercise; travel and events; spiritual practice.
So, there I was feeling all proud and organised for the year ahead and as I gazed out of the window at yet another dark and rainy day a question arose, “is now the time of year to really be doing this?”. It's winter (at least here in the northern hemisphere). It's dark, the days are short, it's cold and wet. Is this the time of year when we should be forced to start all these energetic plans? Or is it moreover the time of year when we should be slowing down, as do the trees, the plants, the animals? Slowing down, resting, sitting by a fire, reading, making a stew. Hmmmmmm. Yes, we probably have to still work and to support ourselves and families. Yes, it's still good to create and grow. But just because a calendar says it’s a new year, does this fixed construct work for us in terms of doing and not-doing? Would it perhaps be more effective to wait until spring with all these new ideas and plans and, as the world emerges from its winter slumber, so can we, with light, with warmth and with energy to begin the things we want to do? I don’t have the answers, I’m just pondering. Pondering whether we would be better off to determine our own cycles. Perhaps cycles more based on the natural wisdom that surrounds us. So just as the land rests, so we rest. And when, in time, the leaves and flowers burst forth so too can we.
Podcast - Talking About Psychedelics and Coaching
White paper and latest podcast
Within a wider community of practice, a small group of us have been working on an academic white paper titled "Coaching & Psychedelics: A Beneficial Partnership?" And we are very pleased to announce that it has been accepted for publication for the August 2024 issue of Oxford Brookes' International Journal of Evidence-based Coaching and Mentoring. (Double sweet being an Oxford Brookes alumnus 😁).
In this issue of "Talking About Coaching and Psychedelics" the author team discuss the background to the paper, its development and its main findings. If you're looking for something to listen two over the break see here for Apple and here for Spotify or wherever else you listen to your podcasts.
Artificial Intelligence and Psychedelic Integration - a conversation
In September I came together in conversation on InstagramLive with a former client and two-times participant of a MAGUEY programme @tales.of.karoo, to discuss the intersection of Artificial Intelligence, Art and Psychedelics. The whole realm of AI was very new to me and to be honest one I had mixed feelings about however this approach to utilising the power of AI as a tool for our integration is fascinating.
Here were some of the themes we touched on in our conversation:
The connecting to and development of our creativity through the psychedelic experience.
How can the creative and artistic process help with sense making of psychedelic experiences and how they can aid integrating those experiences into life.
How can we translate the untranslatable - moving from verbal to creative solutions for explore our psychedelic experiences
How can AI help us with the artistic process and democratise access to our artistic creativity?
The parallels between having to Let Go, in both our psychedelic experiences and our creative processes
AI as community and as a creative sparring partner
This was a wonderfully thought provoking and emotion making conversation. You can find the IG recording here (with some clunky tech failures at the start).
As we received plenty of interested feedback on the subject, we have decided to repeat this event, this time in a more accessible and participatory way.
If this is of interest please join on Zoom
15 November @ 19.00 (CET)
RSVP using the button below or reply to this mail.
Newsletter November 2023
Dear Friend,
The clocks have changed, the nights are drawing in and the trees are riotous shades of yellows, oranges and reds. Autumn is most definitely making itself known. With the coming of autumn there comes a shift. You can feel it, see it and sense it, perhaps quietly from inside yourself, but certainly externally in our environment, the light, the leaves, the temperature, the eruptions of fungi. It’s a time where the slowing down can begin. The time of autumn offers us the chance to stop, to step into this shift and to reassess. What shifts might I like to make? It’s also a time to reap the gifts of seeds sown earlier in the year and to consider how we receive these gifts.
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It was my pleasure this month to host a weekend retreat specifically designed for gay and queer men. It's always such an honour to hold space for people undertaking this work, this time especially for a community so dear to my heart. More retreat details for 2024 will follow soon and in the meantime my one-to-one psychedelic programmes continue. On a personal level I have stepped into the unknown to explore the concept of syncopation and its role in imagining emerging futures, by following Bayo Akomolafe's course We Will Dance with Mountains.
syncopation
"a disturbance or interruption of the regular flow of rhythm"
"a placement of rhythmic stresses or accents where they wouldn't normally occur"
And certainly a personal highlight was the opportunity to join an evening even with Eckhart Tolle. Eckhart Tolle has been an important spiritual teacher of mine over the years. His message is so simple and one that resonates so strongly with my personal practice and the values I bring to my work. What an honour to see him live and be filled with his wisdom.
“The awakening of human consciousness is no longer a luxury—it is a necessity for the survival of our species. It is up to each of us as individuals to embody the state of aware presence and thus rise above the egoic mind and its dysfunction.
When a sufficient number of humans undergo this transformation, this will bring healing and sanity to our planet.”
Psychedelic podcast: Leadershipedelics - 2023
I recently featured on this podcast.
The Leadershipedelics Podcast explores the intersection of psychedelics, spirituality and leadership.
August 2023
I recently featured on this podcast.
The Leadershipedelics Podcast explores the intersection of psychedelics, spirituality and leadership. In this podcast we explore my recent experiences in Colombia but also delve deeply into my story, from childhood through to the now, as well as my approaches to leadership and healing. We touch on themes such as life's transformative journeys; mystical experiences and humility; head vs. heart dialogue; embracing life's natural rhythms; the transition to a service-centred life; reconnecting with the authentic self; utilising personal wisdom in healing; managing psychedelic experiences; and the essential role of self-care in healing.
Newsletter August 2023
Dear Friend,
It's August! Is it just me or does this year seem to be flying past? Wherever you are I hope you are enjoying your summer and finding some time to rest.
These last months have again delivered some interesting highlights. I got to chant again with Krishna Das. I facilitated some beautiful retreats and attended a masterclass on trauma-informed psilocybin ceremonies. Celebrating the dawning of new seasons is an important part of my annual calendar and whilst this years summer solstice was very soggy and not outside in the forest as planned, it still provided a beautiful opportunity to gather a community of dear people together to reflect on the year to date and to tell stories. More and more am I turned on by the power of storytelling as a method of bonding, of deepening community and healing. Oh, and we had a hurricane in Amsterdam that felled 110 trees, which was quite devastating to witness.
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The mythologist Joseph Campbell is a bit of a hero of mine and I am loving rewatching these episodes of the 1980s series The Power of Myth. In this six part interview series Campbell presents his ideas about mythology and the ongoing role of myth in human society (way more watchable than it might sound!)
We are now very used to seeing positive articles in the press about psychedelics. This is great, but this time here I thought it might be interesting to share an article exploring the darker side of this world. This is an important dialogue to have. (The article is written in Dutch, in Chrome just right click and translate to English). It only highlights how important it is to have standards, checks and boundaries in place in this emerging space. I am a member of, a signatory of the code of conduct, and part of the governance team of The Guild of Guides and together as a community of guides operating legally in the Netherlands, we are busy trying the raise the standards of service and care within this sector.
It raining (again) as I write this, so perhaps the sound of some tropical waves crashing on the beach will brighten our days.
Newsletter May 2023
Dear Friend,
The lengthening of the days gives us some indication that summer is here but brrrrrrrr, I don’t know how it is where you are but here in Amsterdam there is still a cold wind blowing.
But in our hearts we try to stay warm ❤️.
I have recently returned to the jungles of Colombia to undertake two weeks of my own medicine work, under the guidance of a very experienced shaman and family of medicine people. The journey to get to and back from these sorts of things is so often a symbolic part of the whole process. In this case it involved two days of travel each way including international and internal flights, buses, motorbikes and pickups. And then ten days in the jungle, multiple ceremonies with a variety of plant medicines, clean home cooked food, plant baths, drinking and showering from the river, beautiful nature (the jungle sounds at night are a wonder) and lots of nothingness and presence. Beautiful. But also extremely challenging. They say that your work is never done and they are right. A humbling and profound learning experience. Now I emerge, offering a deep bow to the wisdom of the plants, with a lot to integrate.
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Connecting further to our ancient European traditions, I really enjoyed this short film exploring the Bulgarian tradition of Kukeri. Kukeri are elaborately costumed villagers who perform traditional rituals intended to scare away evil spirits. A tradition that has been practiced since Thracian times.
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The benefit of psychedelics reaches the Hay Literary Festival - Kate Bingham, who chaired UK’s Covid vaccine task force, tells Hay Festival how she hopes psychedelics could treat mental illness.
And click here for some bird song to brighten your day.
Newsletter March 2023
Hello friend,
Dare we say that spring is upon us? I don't know about you but I am ready for things to warm up a bit!
It's been quite a period of hibernating this winter but I have have still found time for some interesting conscious activities. My first experience of a Holotropic Breathwork retreat continues to resonate, as does a personal session with Greenlandic shaman Angaangaq.
Over the past months I have had the joy of welcoming clients from Germany, UK, Sweden, Netherlands, Australia, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Norway, Switzerland, USA, Spain. Its such a joy to work with people from such a variety of backgrounds and needs.
Interested in a guided psychedelic session? Please reach out.
Integration has been very much on my mind recently. Integrating and embodying the insights that come from our peak experiences into daily life is what make them transformational. But it's not always so easy. I have recently become a certified Somatic Plant Medicine Integration Practitioner through the training of Atira Han. Which has led me to finally set up a community circle for all those people that have been though one of my psychedelic programmes. An opportunity to come together in community to share your psychedelic or peak experiences and to listen to others.
The first gathering will be online online 30 March @19.30-21.00 (CET) – please email me if you’d like to join
Psychedelic research pioneer and Johns Hopkins University professor Roland Griffiths has launched a legacy foundation to establish a world class, rigorous, empirical program of research with psychedelic substances to advance understanding of well-being and spirituality in the service of human flourishing. This is so interesting as to date most research is undertaken though a medical/curative lens rather than the benefit of the psychedelic experience on general well-being.
See here also for a beautiful discussion with Roland and Tara Brach where they discuss not only this legacy but also his diagnosis of terminal cancer and how he is handling it. A truly beautiful soul.
The Cosmic Miracle of Trees: Astronaut Leland Melvin Reads Pablo Neruda’s Love Letter to Earth’s Forests. See here
Psychedelic Research
Hallucinations and Hallucinogens: Psychopathology or Wisdom? - During the last decades a huge body of research has shown that certain kinds of hallucinations, exerted by hallucinogenic drugs, may serve to improve mental health. Read more here
Dutch Minister of Health received research report on therapeutic application of psychedelics. Read here
MAGUEY Community Integration Circle
February 2023
MAGUEY COMMUNITY INTEGRATION CIRCLE
There are three key phases when working with altered states of consciousness. The first would be preparing and connecting, in the period beforehand. Then comes the altered state itself, perhaps for example during a truffle ceremony. And then the phase of integration.
Integrating and embodying the insights that come from these experiences into daily life is what makes them truly transformational.
However, integration can be challenging.
It’s important to remember that integration is a process, a continual unfolding and not a final destination. A process that can take many years and may never reach a final conclusion.
In many cultures where plant medicines and heightened states of consciousness are traditionally practiced, community structures are often in place to offer support to those that need it. However, in our societies where such practices are still uncommon or even taboo, we often lack the community network we need to fully connect with our experiences.
For that reason, we have decided to set up the MAGUEY Community Circle.
The MAGUEY Community Circle
The MAGUEY Community Circle will be a place where those of you that have undertaken a MAGUEY programme can come together in community. It will be a place to share experiences and to be witnessed. It will be a place to listen to the stories of others and to learn from their experiences. It will simply be a place to be, with others who share a common bond though similar experience.
How will this work?
Community Circles will be held online, on a bi-monthly drop-in basis and will be made available on a no-obligation donation basis.
I look forward to welcoming you to the MAGUEY Community Circle and connecting further.
In friendship,
Nigel