The Liberated Leader Podcast

“I went deep, and I went far away from who I was in order to find who I actually am.”

Lindsay is a social worker and clinical counselor who has spent the last 17 years working to support those struggling with substance use and mental health.

5.5 years ago her life course shifted dramatically and catapulted her into her own journey of healing and self-discovery. Since that time she has been on a path from the head into the heart, finding her way through the embodied practices of yoga, meditation, and somatic experiencing, to the gateway of psychedelic-assisted therapies.

She is a graduate of CIIS Certificate in Psychedelic Therapies and Research, the MAPS MDMA therapy training program, ATMA's psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy program, and the Phoenix Academy's Integration Training. Lindsay also volunteers her time as the coordinator of the MAPS policy and advocacy committee, as a decriminalization advocate with the Psychedelic Association of Canada, and as a social welfare advocate working with local governments advocating for proper support for those affected by the drug poisoning epidemic.

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“I was somehow afraid to charge money because I thought it went against the ethos of it and my own resistance towards money played against me… money is not a bad thing, money is the energy"

Dave Grillot is a yogi, plant medicine enthusiast, and change-maker located on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica. In 2014, he launched Karma Tribe, a "pay-it-forward" social network that grew to be in 63 countries. In 2019, with a friend he started Thank You Plant Medicine, a global gratitude movement to raise awareness and destigmatize plant medicines and psychedelics through gratitude. He currently teaches non-violent communication and leads men's circles.

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"I wanted to find other black folks in this space that were into the medicine, and I couldn't find any… so I wanted to create a space where we could all come together, and Black People Trip became a safe space for us."

Robin Divine is the founder of Black People Trip, a grassroots organization that serves the needs of the Black Psychedelic community through education and advocacy. She is the co-founder of the online community "The Black Psychedelic Collective," an information hub of psychedelic resources by Black educators.

In addition, she serves as a Safety, Equity, and Accessibility consultant for companies that serve the Black community in the wellness space. Her latest initiative, The Black Psychedelic Equity Fund, was organized to create more access and equity in the psychedelic space for the Black community.

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"I believe in the decriminalization of all medicine, I believe that all plant-based medicine is a human right… Everything that grows in my backyard I should have access to"

Cory Firth is a human-impact community builder and plant medicine advocate who has spent the better part of the last 5 years building communities in the mental health and wellness space, including his work as the former Executive Director of the Canadian Psychedelic Association.

Today, Cory works as Chief Storyteller for the Nikean foundation and is the founder of Dose Day, a group-matching peer support community for intentional microdosers designed to match like-minded interests with real-world mental health outcomes.

Cory has committed his career to a vision of the future where mental health and disease are viewed as holistic, collective experiences, and the stigmatization of mental illness is replaced with compassion, transformation, and community connection; a world where we all have the opportunity to reunite with our innate abilities to heal, overcome and actualize our full potential.

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"When you're used to one perspective your whole life and suddenly you have a change of narrative because of psychedelics, you are humbled by just the sheer beauty of the universe. My life changed without me really realizing it - the world is the same but I'm different".

Mia's call to psychedelic awakening was in the form of profound curiosity to understand mental health and dis-ease. After she co-created her university's first Psychedelic Society, she graduated with a degree in Psychology. After working in venture capital for a number of years, she felt her own stress levels mounting.

Reaching the abyss of burnout, Mia found solace in marketing for clients and gradually found her place branding the wellness world including clients like Saje Natural Wellness and True You Yoga. Mia found her place within Psychedelic Salons in 2019 where she helped its first-ever event raise almost $10K.

She has since spoken at Microdose's Annual Psychedelic Conference and volunteered in harm reduction for the Zendo Project at Burning Man (2019). She is a space holder, sound healer and you can find her at one of the monthly Psychedelic Salons held around the world.

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 "Staking can enhance the experience and bring you deeper if you are trying to experience life, but you should be mindful and know if you can do certain combinations, it does carry risk, and you have to be aware of that."

 Kristof is the founder of the Vancouver Psychedelic Society - a rapidly growing community of over 1400 members with bimonthly gatherings featuring guest speakers and discussions on topics related to psychedelics.

He is inspired by the promising therapeutic implications psychedelics may offer those suffering from mental health conditions and problematic substance use. Kristof has a background working as a Registered Nurse in the ER and is currently doing professional photography and in the process of completing his Master's in Counseling Psychology to become a psychotherapist.

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"Psychedelics allow me to dance to music; it allows me to free my body and mind… It frees me from this fear that I won't be enough."

In this episode, we chat with Ana Badila.

She is a student of life soul searcher and deep diver into layers of reality and consciousness. She left her comfortable and steady growing career as a special needs specialist back in Romania to explore and live across the world, starting from zero in Canada. She thought she was looking for adventure when in fact, she was looking for herself and the courage to be fully self-expressed.

After nine years of soul searching, she found her Northstar, her why: To inspire and empower those around her through presence and example. She found that psychedelics and play are a great combination of healing trauma, connecting with herself, and allowing the divine expression to pour through her manifesting into this reality.

She is a third-wave psychedelic coach guiding those who want to design a life that they love based on play, presence, and connection to be fully self-expressed. When you feel stuck in your life and want to bring more of the beauty found during your psychedelic experiences back into your life, she helps you bridge that gap.

“Freedom Comes With Responsibility, people defend freedom in all kinds of ways, some in the military, some through the legal system, and it requires courage.”

In this episode, we chat with Marc Goldgrub

Marc is the founding lawyer at Green Economy Law Professional Corporation, a boutique Toronto-based corporate, commercial, and environmental law firm specializing in work with green businesses and non-profits, as well as parties working in the health and psychedelic sectors. He is licensed to practice law in Canada and the United States and was formerly a resident associate at the New York media and entertainment firm Grubman Shire Meiselas and Sacks.

"You can either clean up your shit or smell like shit - it’s not going to go anywhere on its own. That’s what integration is sometimes too - is cleaning up that mess. Sometimes you come out of [a psychedelic trip] and there’s half a dozen people who you need to say sorry to."

In this episode, we talk to Daniel ‘Sitaram Das’ Shankin

Daniel is the founder of The Psilocybin Summit and Mt. Tam Psychedelic Integration.

After a deep awakening in 1998, Daniel dove deep into his yoga and meditation practice to stabilize his realization in his body and the world. As a yoga and meditation teacher for over 20 years, Daniel dedicated his life to the cultivation of clarity, resilience, and heart.

“Kratom is not FDA-approved, but neither are vitamins so it falls under this field of pseudo-pharmaceuticals. Big Pharma can’t monopolize it so the FDA doesn't approve them. That said, it doesn’t mean these medicines aren’t absolutely miraculous.”

In this episode, we chat with Brian Flasche.

Brian is the owner of Botanical Solutions, co-founder of the Las Vegas Psychedelic Society, and one of the Decriminalize Nature NV leaders.

Through Botanical Solutions, he provides Kratom, dream enhancing plants, herbal remedies and integration coaching to help his clients improve their quality of life.

The Las Vegas Psychedelic society is a non-profit organization focused on supporting and strengthening the local community with online and in person integration circles, classes, and events.

With the team over at Decriminalize Nature NV, he advocates for drug policy reform through the decriminalization of natural psychedelic medicines like mushrooms, ayahuasca, iboga, and mescaline.

“Learning how to slow down [is] the biggest thing and the most challenging for most of us in the west...tap into breathing and realize that that is the doorway into our parasympathetic nervous system.”  

In this episode, we chat with Ayahuasca Kaur (Birth Name: Sarai Darbandi).

Ayahuasca Kaur is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Ayahuasca Preparation & Integration Coach. She specializes in childhood trauma, helping people optimize their Ayahuasca experiences and transformations.

The Multidimensional Journey, her coaching practice, was created in 2018 and provides educational resources like podcasts, videos, and content dedicated to the Ayahuasca Preparation & Integration process as well as group breathwork experiences and individual coaching for deeper work.

She is extremely passionate about upholding integrity and ethics as this wave of psychedelic therapy happens across the West.

“The imagery of the college kid who is looking to get high needs to be let go. Yes, college kids go out and get high, but I’m 43 yr old and I’m involved in these substances because they are helpful tools in my own healing.” 

In this episode, we chat with Peter Gulka

Peter began his journey of healing with plant medicine in 2017 after over 20 years of anxiety, depression, and OCD symptoms that began in adolescence. 

After medication no longer served to manage those symptoms, he sought relief elsewhere. 

Through deep personal experiences, Peter was empowered to continue the healing work with EMDR psychotherapy, and a variety of other modalities. 

"It's important to have people who are experiencing [the psychedelic effects on women's health to be] at that leadership level where they can bring it into the greater consciousness of all genders”

In this episode, we chat with Dana Harvey

She's an entrepreneur, non-profit leader, professional communicator, ex-C-suite executive, mom and recovering workaholic who knows the feeling first hand.

Plant medicines helped Dana recover her love for life and the joy in her soul. 

Now, as a Transformational Microdosing and Psychedelics Coach, as well as the founder of The Flourish Academy, Dana supports other high impact leaders in rebalancing their lives, changing their perspectives, and flourishing into authentically fulfilled versions of themselves.

Dana’s approach combines 20+ years of experience coaching, mentoring entrepreneurs and executives with specific training around microdosing, tripsitting, somatic integration, mindfulness, questions-based thinking, and breathwork. 

"When you feel safe in your physical environment, then you feel a lot more safe to explore your internal environment. That’s the key thing!"

In this episode, we chat with Michael Oliver

He's a leader, community builder and psychedelic practitioner based in Vancouver, BC. 

Michael is the co-founder of The Flying Sage, a psychedelic community of healers and educators, and is also the Volunteer Coordinator and Executive Assistant for MAPS Canada. 

Through his own practice, Michael seeks to offer transformative experiences to leaders, entrepreneurs and change makers who are seeking to self-actualize and step into their own leadership journey.

“The more specific the picture I see in my mind, it’s possibility. When i see the possibility, it’s believability. When it’s believability, then I can pursue readily.”

In this episode, we chat with Jamie Star Crawford.   

She's a dedicated Integrative Life Coach, mental and emotional wellness specialist, entheogenic integration coach, visionary mentor, and passionate creator. 

After experiencing decades of multi-layer illness and mind-body dysfunction, she pursued a pathway of holistic healing that led her into dozens of modalities, teachings, and experiences that would shape her mission and purpose for others. 

Today, she supports others with navigating life transitions, creating self mastery, and living on purpose through healthy mindsets, emotional wellness, physical vitality, and spiritual congruence. 

“If you don’t have any tools [to down regulate] going into a ceremony to deal with stress, it’s Russian Roulette. Psychedelic is an amplifier of whatever you’re carrying, so if you’re carrying a lot of stress going into ceremony, it could very likely just amplify that.”

In this episode, we chat with Maxwell Honey.  

He's a breathwork teacher, wellness coach, TRE provider, and Katukina Kambo practitioner. His approach to personal empowerment is based on a unique combination of modern science, shamanic spirituality, trauma integration, embodiment training and 15+ years' experience working with entheogenic medicines.

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