Ibogaine Uncovered

Caroline Lee is a death doula, therapist, and photographer based in Oakland, California, where she is currently training to become a somatic psychologist and psychedelic therapist. She had the opportunity to receive ibogaine treatment about eight months ago. 

What we discuss:

What is a death doula? What does it mean to be in relationship with death, and why is this an important relationship to consider?

How Caroline envisions psychedelics fitting into our rituals around death, if laws were changed and psychedelics were available at end-of-life for people suffering from palliative anxiety

The potential applications of ibogaine for palliative anxiety and more, from a therapist’s perspective

Should therapists be required to take psychedelics if they want to offer psychedelic-assisted therapy?

How ibogaine helped Caroline process the grief she experienced after a divorce that marked the end of a 16-year relationship 

What death and the end of relationships have in common

What Caroline’s work as a doula and a therapist have taught her about the role of grief

Why it’s important: 

You’ve heard it said before but I feel like it needs to be said more often: death is a part of life – and this conversation really showed me that talking about it openly isn’t morbid or negative or inherently bad in any way - it’s a way for us to stay more connected to the present moment. Feeling into the grief that we feel when someone dies, or when a relationship ends, expands our capacity for emotion – and using psychedelics including ibogaine can allow us to not only come to terms with those emotions, but arrive at a feeling of peace around our own mortality. 

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Troy Casey is a holistic health practitioner and life coach who has spent the last 20 years helping people to eat, move, and feel better. Known as Certified Health Nut on YouTube and Instagram, Troy is an authority on longevity and leading a healthy and sustainable lifestyle. He’s also the author of Ripped at 50: A Journey to Self Love.

What we discuss:

Troy’s reason for undergoing ibogaine treatment. As someone who lives a very healthy lifestyle, I ask the obvious question: why might someone like Troy seek out ibogaine? 

Social media and vulnerability: is there a difference between what people see on social media, and what’s going on in the background? 

Troy’s goal of Finding balance in a world where so much of what we consume works against our physical and mental health

How ibogaine has helped him “get out of his own way”

How anger has manifested in Troy’s life, and what might be at the root of it

Creating space for anger while learning to shed bravado and “toxic” masculinity 

Why it’s important: 

In a world where we’re being more encouraged to feel our emotions, anger is one we still have trouble with. Anger or rage issues are incredibly common, affecting about 10 percent of Americans pre-covid – and after we’ve all suffered an extended period of isolation, the feelings we’ve suppressed are increasingly coming out in violent ways. Dealing with it can be a challenge. Troy’s experience with ibogaine sheds light on the inner battles that we face, and his response to it reinforces the idea that no human is ever “finished” their healing – or as Troy puts it, no one every truly “arrives” - and having that belief can sometimes be our downfall. 

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Originally from the United Kingdom, Dr. Kate Stone is a creative scientist, physicist, engineer and tech founder living in Los Angeles. She is the founder and CEO at Novalia, where she and her team create interactive posters and other everyday objects that embody the magic of interactivity and connectivity. Think posters that talk, books that turn into pianos, and walls that play music. She’s also an avid adventurer, a parent, and keynote speaker.

What we discuss:

Coming into her ibogaine treatment, Dr. Kate had almost no experience with psychedelic drugs. We talk about her fears and expectations, and how she hoped an experience with ibogaine might help with her depression and anxiety.

Dr. Kate’s experience of witnessing the most powerful moments of her life, and the impact that has had on how she lives her life from one day to the next and where she chooses to put her focus

Feeling low post-ibogaine, and how those experiences have given her a better understanding of what triggers her depression

How ibogaine helped Dr. Kate feel more connected to the needs of her body

The impact of having a digital detox and the value of not having a smart phone for a few days

Why it’s important: It’s a common misconception that a single powerful experience with a psychedelic can “get rid” of our mental health issues – but the reality is, even when we’re doing the work to feel better, we will still face highs and sometimes, earth shattering lows in life. Dr Kate’s experience illustrates that a journey with ibogaine can provide us with a better understanding of what prompts our depression and anxiety, and with a sense of compassion and resilience for when these feelings might arise again. 

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Kaia Roman is a bestselling author, service-driven entrepreneur, intrepid biohacker, producer, investor and philanthropist living and working in Silicon Valley. Specializing in the fields of health, technology, and sustainability for 20 years, she has also been the marketing and PR muscle behind the launch of several businesses and organizations.

What we discuss:

Why it’s important: Kaia’s experience with ibogaine might be outside of what you’ve come to relate to this drug. It illustrates that ibogaine can be used in more ways than helping us put an end to addictive behaviors – that it can help us connect with the parts of ourselves that feel unsafe and aid us in releasing our attachment to story lines that keep us small. It gives us an opportunity to upgrade.

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Flor Bollini is a creative entrepreneur, strategist, and medicine carrier – and the founder of NANA Heals. She’s also trained as a Iyanifa, a priestess of the IFA divination system, and is a student of  Ayurveda, Shamanism, and Africanism. She has been receiving and serving medicine for more than 15 years, and says her recent treatment with ibogaine was the most impactful psychedelic experience she’s ever had.

What we discuss:

Why it’s important: Ibogaine specifically and psychedelics more broadly are often discussed and used in the context of healing trauma and facing our shadow, but Flor’s experience with ibogaine shows that when used with intention, this medicine can also enable us to get more comfortable with our light.

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Brigit is the founder and CEO of We, a learning studio that provides workshops and experiences to help people develop relational mindfulness within their relationships at work. She’s also an intimacy and relationship coach, a mom, and an artist.

What we discuss:

Why it’s important: Brigit’s story is one that many of us can relate to: how many of us are struggling with burnout, numbing our pain with substances, and sitting with unresolved childhood trauma? There’s a lot to learn from Brigit’s understanding of relationships and intimacy, and from her experience navigating her ibogaine treatment.

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Kerry Rhodes is a former NFL safety who played in the league for 9 years, first for the New York Jets and then for the Arizona Cardinals, until 2013. Today he is a musician, writer, director, producer, and actor, who hasn’t exactly shied away from talking about his own personal use of psychedelics and how they have changed his life for the better.

What we discuss:

Why it’s important: Supporting a loved one through a traumatic period in their lives can be incredibly challenging, because it requires a level of surrender on the part of the supporter, too – a sense of trust in the process, and a willingness to let go of control. Kerry’s experience shows us how vital support from a loved one can be in taking the initial step to seek treatment, and how that support can allow a person to learn to trust the process, too.

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Vianey Ariadna Perez, or Nurse V. as everyone at Beond calls her, is a registered nurse and the head of nursing at Beond. Nurse V. has overseen more than 500 ibogaine experiences, and a few months ago, she also had her own experience with the powerful medicine. Born in Mexico and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, she studied at a private nursing university and worked in Cancun’s General Hospital in several different departments before she began working with ibogaine in 2018.

There are some obvious things required of Beond’s nursing staff, and some less obvious things. In this episode, Nurse V. discusses some of the finer points of being a nurse in this kind of setting, and shares about her experience of witnessing transformational changes in the people she cares for.

Nurse V. opens up about her own experience with ibogaine in the spring of 2022, and she discusses a topic on the minds of several people in the psychedelic space: is it necessary for people who work with a psychedelic medicine like ibogaine to have their own experience with the medicine?

She also offers up advice to folks with nursing experience who might be considering working in this growing space.

Why it’s important: Nurse V presents a different perspective on ibogaine treatment: not one from the patient’s chair or the science lab but from directly opposite a patient, within the treatment room, and as the leader of a nursing team overseeing several patients who are at different points in their ibogaine treatment plan. Learning about Nurse V’s experiences with ibogaine, both personal and professional, provides a level of insight into treatment that could be new for listeners.

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Elizabeth Bast, a writer, yoga teacher, Bwiti Initiate, traditionally trained ceremonial iboga facilitator, and the co-founder of SoulCentro in Costa Rica. She has worked with iboga for well over a decade and is the author of Heart Medicine: A True Love Story, a memoir about an experience in healing through iboga.

What’s covered:

Why it’s important:

This heartfelt conversation gets to the root of why community is so important and intrinsic to not just an iboga or ibogaine experience, but any medicine experience. Elizabeth’s work and life experience speak to the value of relationship, and remind us that healing is not an individual pursuit, but something that happens as a collective.

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Dr. Thomas Kingsley Brown, an anthropologist, chemist and a MAPS researcher who studies the potential for ibogaine-assisted therapy to treat drug addiction, among other things. He is the research program coordinator at the University of California San Diego McNair program, and an advisor to Beond.

What’s covered:

Why it’s important:

If you’re interested in learning more about both the long-term effects of ibogaine, and ibogaine’s history, this episode is for you. Dr. Kingsley Brown also does an excellent job of explaining why ibogaine is where it’s at right now as far as policy and research. His explanations of his own work on ibogaine’s long-term effects speak to the potential that it has in treating addiction effectively.

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Talia Eisenberg, co-founder of Beond, a serial entrepreneur involved in psychedelic healthcare who is most passionate about democratizing access to safe, scientifically backed treatment for addiction and trauma

What’s covered:

Why it’s important:
Talia’s story is a wonderful example of the potential ibogaine has to completely turn someone’s life around – and not just that, but how that can 180 can inspire changes that go far beyond one person’s individual journey.

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