WEBVTT 1 00:00:12.880 --> 00:00:18.320 Welcome to Destiny. Now here's your host, Cliff Dunning. 2 00:00:35.759 --> 00:00:36.240 Mm hmmm. 3 00:00:47.200 --> 00:00:54.320 I always a quate sitar music to drugs, and in 4 00:00:54.320 --> 00:01:01.600 this context it's plant medicines, hallucinogens, psychedelic And it's really 5 00:01:01.640 --> 00:01:07.719 the format and the prelude to our program today, which 6 00:01:07.760 --> 00:01:10.680 is a different kind of application of psychedelics. We've had 7 00:01:11.200 --> 00:01:17.120 people like Graham Hancock and Bob Straussmann talking about DMT. 8 00:01:18.120 --> 00:01:21.719 We've talked about ayahuasca. Oh my god, how many people 9 00:01:21.760 --> 00:01:25.120 have we had on about ayahuasca. And I have to 10 00:01:25.159 --> 00:01:28.519 admit I have not used the drug, haven't tried it. 11 00:01:30.040 --> 00:01:33.680 I'm still in preparatory state. It may not be in 12 00:01:33.719 --> 00:01:38.920 this lifetime I try it. But these psychedelics are important 13 00:01:38.920 --> 00:01:42.319 for a number of reasons. They open up pockets in 14 00:01:42.359 --> 00:01:48.239 our brain for creativity, for healing, for vision quests, for 15 00:01:48.319 --> 00:01:51.439 spiritual growth. I mean, the list goes on and on 16 00:01:51.560 --> 00:01:56.959 and on. We've had people on the program presenting a 17 00:01:57.079 --> 00:02:03.400 variety of uses of psychedelic and if you've been listening 18 00:02:03.519 --> 00:02:07.519 for the last few years, you know how we can 19 00:02:07.560 --> 00:02:13.039 apply psychedelics to our daily life. Here in northern California, 20 00:02:13.520 --> 00:02:17.039 we're close to the Silicon Valley. There are engineers that 21 00:02:17.080 --> 00:02:21.879 are microdosing DMT, that are microdosing would you believe LSD 22 00:02:23.039 --> 00:02:31.639 and making fantastic claims about powerful creative energy visioning and 23 00:02:32.680 --> 00:02:37.199 using it to really further their careers. We come full 24 00:02:37.199 --> 00:02:42.199 circle today with psychedelics and sexuality, which is a really 25 00:02:42.280 --> 00:02:48.680 interesting topic, but not just pleasure sexuality, but healing trauma, 26 00:02:49.560 --> 00:02:56.520 healing trauma from abuse, sexual abuse, and perhaps relationship abuse. 27 00:02:57.560 --> 00:03:00.960 It can be a variety of things, and this is 28 00:03:00.960 --> 00:03:03.159 the topic today. Hey, this is Cliff, your host of 29 00:03:03.879 --> 00:03:08.560 Destiny and my guest today has been using psychedelics in 30 00:03:08.639 --> 00:03:15.879 a very very positive therapeutic manner and finding very very 31 00:03:15.919 --> 00:03:23.360 profound healing effects and also openings. When I say openings 32 00:03:23.400 --> 00:03:28.400 people who are blocked who have issues with creativity, because 33 00:03:28.439 --> 00:03:32.840 when you're sexual, you're expressing, you're expressing a form of 34 00:03:32.879 --> 00:03:36.759 creativity as well. And I've always said, and of course 35 00:03:36.800 --> 00:03:39.800 I wrote a book called Cannabis and Sexual Ecstasy for Men, 36 00:03:40.680 --> 00:03:45.400 when you have an orgasm, that is the epitome of creativity. 37 00:03:46.080 --> 00:03:48.280 And that's why there's a lot of people that say 38 00:03:48.360 --> 00:03:50.680 we have to have an orgasm like once a day, 39 00:03:52.280 --> 00:03:55.360 which is I think pretty tough if your working soul 40 00:03:55.439 --> 00:03:57.599 like me, because you know, you come home, you don't 41 00:03:57.599 --> 00:04:03.360 want to even think about and form of coupling or sexuality. 42 00:04:03.759 --> 00:04:08.560 You want to just decompress. So but you know, we 43 00:04:08.719 --> 00:04:12.599 want to consider these plant medicines. And we know that 44 00:04:12.680 --> 00:04:17.120 the indigenous people, the natives of various parts of the world, 45 00:04:17.959 --> 00:04:23.879 use plant medicines for uh spiritual awakening, for community with 46 00:04:23.959 --> 00:04:27.519 the higher levels of spirits we've heard, We've had people 47 00:04:27.519 --> 00:04:32.600 like Graham Hancock talking about connecting with various animal kingdoms 48 00:04:33.480 --> 00:04:39.519 while they're on ayahuasca, and so it makes sense that 49 00:04:39.600 --> 00:04:45.759 we would have a program on psychedelics and sexuality. So 50 00:04:46.399 --> 00:04:52.319 today's program is Embrace Pleasure, How psychedelics can heal our sexuality. 51 00:04:52.920 --> 00:04:59.879 And my guest is d. D. Goldpaw as the year 52 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:01.639 he comes doing in a lot of us are thinking 53 00:05:01.639 --> 00:05:04.519 about twenty twenty six, what that year is going to 54 00:05:04.600 --> 00:05:06.920 be like. I would like to invite you to a 55 00:05:07.040 --> 00:05:10.800 special tour that we're doing. It's our seventh annual Grand 56 00:05:10.879 --> 00:05:15.079 Egyptian Tour April twenty eighth through May tenth. This is 57 00:05:15.279 --> 00:05:19.160 not to be mince. We only hold and take about 58 00:05:19.480 --> 00:05:21.839 twenty five people at the very max. We want to 59 00:05:21.839 --> 00:05:24.399 put everybody in the bus. But what makes this tour 60 00:05:25.040 --> 00:05:28.920 simply amazing. It's really a great time to be in Egypt. 61 00:05:29.160 --> 00:05:32.839 Number one, we are going to visit the brand new 62 00:05:32.879 --> 00:05:38.279 Grand Egyptian Museum in downtown Cairo. This museum holds almost 63 00:05:38.279 --> 00:05:43.120 a million artifacts, many many have never been seen before. 64 00:05:43.439 --> 00:05:47.600 There's a lot of anomalous stone cuts, there's a lot 65 00:05:47.600 --> 00:05:51.519 of statuary. 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And although I was sad that my grandfather left, 94 00:07:42.959 --> 00:07:46.279 you know, I was happy to get the guidance, the 95 00:07:46.279 --> 00:07:49.720 therapy so that I could continue on and get back 96 00:07:49.720 --> 00:07:53.279 to feeling like myself again. There's a new program out there. 97 00:07:53.319 --> 00:07:56.360 It's called Rula, and they do things differently. They have 98 00:07:56.519 --> 00:07:59.920 partnered with over one hundred insurance plans that make the 99 00:08:00.160 --> 00:08:05.759 average copages about fifteen bucks per session. It's not just affordable, 100 00:08:05.839 --> 00:08:10.000 the experience is tailored just for you. Other online therapy 101 00:08:10.040 --> 00:08:13.639 platforms might match you with the first available provider, which 102 00:08:13.720 --> 00:08:17.639 might fit or might not fit. 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Please support 113 00:09:00.080 --> 00:09:03.559 our show and let them know we sent you. That's 114 00:09:04.279 --> 00:09:09.519 r u la dot com Slash Earth Ancients to join 115 00:09:09.559 --> 00:09:15.279 the program again Rula dot com Forward slash Earth Ancients. 116 00:09:15.679 --> 00:09:18.840 You deserve the mental health that works with you, not 117 00:09:19.000 --> 00:09:58.879 against your budget. We've had a number of different authors 118 00:09:58.919 --> 00:10:03.919 over the past few years talking about psychedelics, and we're 119 00:10:03.960 --> 00:10:09.279 talking journeying with ayahuasca. We have had people talk about DMT. 120 00:10:10.799 --> 00:10:14.759 In fact, that's been in the news lately with a 121 00:10:14.879 --> 00:10:18.879 number of people who are working with DMT and finding 122 00:10:19.000 --> 00:10:24.399 various entities and other types of phenomenon. Today we're talking 123 00:10:24.440 --> 00:10:29.399 about psychedelics and sexuality. We're introducing a new book called 124 00:10:29.480 --> 00:10:34.440 Embrace Pleasure, How Psychedelics Can Heal Our Sexuality in. My 125 00:10:34.480 --> 00:10:38.000 guest today is d d Goldpa, and let me tell 126 00:10:38.000 --> 00:10:40.759 you a little bit about DDI. She is a psychotherapist, 127 00:10:41.279 --> 00:10:45.879 an educator, a leading voice in the development of psychedelics 128 00:10:46.559 --> 00:10:49.799 or I should say psychedelic integration psychotherapy. We'll talk a 129 00:10:49.840 --> 00:10:54.240 little bit about that. And I had a chance to 130 00:10:54.279 --> 00:10:55.799 look at this book, and I have to tell you 131 00:10:55.919 --> 00:10:59.919 it's very well written, not only because this is something 132 00:11:00.159 --> 00:11:03.440 that I have not heard about psychedelics in sexual healing, 133 00:11:04.000 --> 00:11:08.919 but also just for its general information and overview. So DEDI, 134 00:11:09.039 --> 00:11:11.360 welcome to Destiny. Great to have you on the program. 135 00:11:11.720 --> 00:11:13.840 Thank you so much for having me. Cliff, I'm thrilled 136 00:11:13.840 --> 00:11:14.080 to be. 137 00:11:14.080 --> 00:11:22.279 Here talk about psychedelics and sexual therapy, or I should 138 00:11:22.279 --> 00:11:27.000 say in therapy as a whole. I have understood that 139 00:11:27.120 --> 00:11:30.639 you can use psychedelics in microdosing, you know, so you're 140 00:11:30.679 --> 00:11:34.159 not too out of balance, But how do you integrate 141 00:11:34.200 --> 00:11:34.679 those two? 142 00:11:36.279 --> 00:11:39.559 Sure, well, I think I'll go back to sort of 143 00:11:39.559 --> 00:11:44.240 how you introduce this interview the topic of psychedelics, sexuality, 144 00:11:44.240 --> 00:11:47.720 and pleasure. Despite the fact that psychedelics have sort of 145 00:11:47.759 --> 00:11:51.720 emerged into the mainstream as something that's getting folded into 146 00:11:51.840 --> 00:11:55.399 acceptable medical treatment, is certainly part of our mainstream culture 147 00:11:56.240 --> 00:11:59.759 more than it ever has been. These are particularly taboo 148 00:11:59.759 --> 00:12:03.360 top and to my knowledge, my book is the first 149 00:12:03.440 --> 00:12:07.480 by a major publisher that addresses these issues right, how 150 00:12:07.519 --> 00:12:12.480 psychedelic impact, how psychedelics impact our sexuality, and how we 151 00:12:12.559 --> 00:12:17.919 heal through pleasure. So you started to talk about microdosing 152 00:12:18.240 --> 00:12:23.039 and perhaps other ways of taking psychedelics. So just to 153 00:12:23.120 --> 00:12:27.480 define this for our listeners, microdosing is not actually a 154 00:12:27.519 --> 00:12:31.000 new phenomenon at all. There's some evidence that this existed 155 00:12:31.399 --> 00:12:36.919 in indigenous cultures traditionally and was primarily used to heighten 156 00:12:36.960 --> 00:12:41.840 the senses for hunting. And there was a wave of 157 00:12:41.879 --> 00:12:48.080 interest in microdosing, I don't know, fifteen years ago, primarily 158 00:12:48.159 --> 00:12:51.639 coming on a Silicon Valley for exactly the opposite reason, 159 00:12:51.720 --> 00:12:57.600 which was to optimize performance in creativity. So it's a 160 00:12:57.639 --> 00:13:01.039 really interesting place to start the interview because whereas I 161 00:13:01.120 --> 00:13:05.559 cover microdosing in the book as a phenomenon, my approach 162 00:13:05.639 --> 00:13:09.799 to psychedelic healing is actually quite the opposite, and it's 163 00:13:09.840 --> 00:13:13.799 founded on this idea that the psychedelic experience has value 164 00:13:14.080 --> 00:13:20.440 in and of itself, that the ways we are impacted spiritually, emotionally, 165 00:13:20.519 --> 00:13:26.960 and physically by psychedelic experiences has the potential to profoundly 166 00:13:27.080 --> 00:13:31.000 change our relationship to our personhood and to our sexuality. 167 00:13:31.440 --> 00:13:35.320 And the experience of taking psychedelics itself is an erotic 168 00:13:35.399 --> 00:13:39.600 experience because it is somatic. It puts us in touch 169 00:13:39.639 --> 00:13:46.840 with the divine, and those are deeply spiritual erotic experiences, 170 00:13:46.919 --> 00:13:52.960 and the pleasure of the experience itself is healing. Microdosing 171 00:13:52.960 --> 00:13:55.080 on the other hand, not to put it down in 172 00:13:55.120 --> 00:13:58.960 any way, because people mental health is impacted in really 173 00:13:59.000 --> 00:14:03.320 positive ways by my redosing, but it's looking at these 174 00:14:03.440 --> 00:14:06.679 medicines as something that could be integrated into our life 175 00:14:06.759 --> 00:14:10.159 for the purpose of mental health versus how will we 176 00:14:10.279 --> 00:14:13.600 changed on a large scale through the experience of pleasure, 177 00:14:13.679 --> 00:14:16.039 embodiment and connection with spirituality. 178 00:14:16.759 --> 00:14:20.240 M amazing. I should have mentioned before we started that 179 00:14:20.320 --> 00:14:23.200 I wrote a book a few years ago called Cannabis 180 00:14:23.200 --> 00:14:25.679 and Sexual Healing for Men, And. 181 00:14:27.279 --> 00:14:28.279 I've heard of that book. 182 00:14:28.600 --> 00:14:33.039 I Oh really, I think it's the same publisher you're with, 183 00:14:33.200 --> 00:14:37.480 Inner Traditions, right, yeah, oh yeah, it was Barren Company, 184 00:14:37.519 --> 00:14:40.080 which is one of their companies. But one of the 185 00:14:40.120 --> 00:14:47.120 things that I discovered is that cannabis heightens sexual pleasure, 186 00:14:47.960 --> 00:14:50.759 and I had never thought about And you list the 187 00:14:50.840 --> 00:14:56.240 various types of psychedelics kennamine as well as masculine piote 188 00:14:56.320 --> 00:15:04.240 d mt LSD as a form of sexual enhancement. I mean, 189 00:15:04.279 --> 00:15:09.919 because they're so powerful, how do you work with them 190 00:15:10.559 --> 00:15:14.679 in a way that allows for enough expressions so that 191 00:15:14.720 --> 00:15:17.159 you to get sexual pleasure. 192 00:15:18.200 --> 00:15:21.240 Yeah. It's a really interesting question because my work really 193 00:15:21.279 --> 00:15:24.600 focuses on the post acute effects of psychedelics. So there's 194 00:15:24.639 --> 00:15:28.360 different ways to think about psychedelics and sexuality, And one 195 00:15:28.519 --> 00:15:31.600 is sex on psychedelics. So what is the experience of 196 00:15:31.639 --> 00:15:34.360 adding a psychedelic to a sexual experience? And I do 197 00:15:34.440 --> 00:15:36.919 write about that in the book, But the area of 198 00:15:37.120 --> 00:15:41.639 interest that is much deeper for me is how are 199 00:15:41.679 --> 00:15:46.039 we changed as sexual people because of our psychedelic experiences. 200 00:15:46.120 --> 00:15:48.639 How does it make us more connected to our partners, 201 00:15:49.440 --> 00:15:54.120 more embodied, more present in our sexual experiences. So, you know, 202 00:15:54.240 --> 00:15:57.879 I do write that there are some medicines that people 203 00:15:57.960 --> 00:16:05.480 have seemed to experience as libido enhancing or sexuality enhancing 204 00:16:05.679 --> 00:16:09.679 LSD being one of them. And again as a therapist 205 00:16:09.720 --> 00:16:12.320 for example, to give you the opposite side of this. 206 00:16:13.360 --> 00:16:16.759 You know, I work clinically in my psychotherapy practice with ketamine, 207 00:16:16.799 --> 00:16:19.240 but I'm certainly not working with people who are having 208 00:16:19.279 --> 00:16:22.600 sex on ketamine. But what they may be doing in 209 00:16:22.679 --> 00:16:28.639 my office in a you know, controlled clinical context, is 210 00:16:28.679 --> 00:16:33.279 addressing issues about their sexuality, particularly sexual trauma, that help 211 00:16:33.360 --> 00:16:36.000 them to feel as though they are more healed sexual 212 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:39.320 people in the world. And so many medicines can be 213 00:16:39.399 --> 00:16:40.600 profoundly helpful with that. 214 00:16:41.039 --> 00:16:43.600 Yeah, And I gotta say, for those of you listening, 215 00:16:44.679 --> 00:16:50.159 Dedi's book is outstanding in its coverage of these different psychedelics. 216 00:16:50.440 --> 00:16:52.759 But also, and we'll talk about this in a minute, 217 00:16:52.799 --> 00:16:55.080 she has great case studies which we'll bring up a 218 00:16:55.080 --> 00:17:02.320 little bit later. Talking a little bit about your personal 219 00:17:02.399 --> 00:17:05.000 journey as a I guess you could call it a 220 00:17:05.039 --> 00:17:11.079 sexual trauma victim. Was this part of your work, or 221 00:17:11.119 --> 00:17:13.079 is this a foundation for your work and to go 222 00:17:13.119 --> 00:17:17.720 to school become a psychotherapy and to focus on sexual trauma. 223 00:17:18.880 --> 00:17:23.440 Well, like many therapists, I have a deeply personal investment 224 00:17:23.720 --> 00:17:26.599 in the work that I do. So yes, I am 225 00:17:26.599 --> 00:17:29.440 a survivor of sexual violence. That's something that I've really 226 00:17:29.440 --> 00:17:32.720 empowered myself to talk about publicly, and I do so 227 00:17:32.920 --> 00:17:36.000 because I want if there's any message that I have 228 00:17:36.119 --> 00:17:39.720 for people, it's to see that healing is possible and 229 00:17:39.759 --> 00:17:43.440 to stand in the world as an example that terrible 230 00:17:43.480 --> 00:17:47.720 things might have happened in your life and there is 231 00:17:47.759 --> 00:17:51.000 the possibility of healing that is always accessible to us. 232 00:17:51.119 --> 00:17:54.640 So it felt very important to me to sort of 233 00:17:54.680 --> 00:17:57.359 own that publicly, that this is part of my history. 234 00:17:58.240 --> 00:18:03.240 So I had treatment resistant PTSD for quite a long time, 235 00:18:03.359 --> 00:18:07.119 and I tried many different approaches to healings, certainly traditional 236 00:18:07.160 --> 00:18:12.799 talk psychotherapy. I got very deeply involved in Eastern spiritual practices, 237 00:18:12.839 --> 00:18:16.200 which were very helpful to me. I was a very 238 00:18:16.559 --> 00:18:21.079 diligent meditator, as I remained to this day, and there 239 00:18:21.160 --> 00:18:23.640 was a certain point in my healing trajectory where I 240 00:18:23.720 --> 00:18:28.319 was introduced to ceremonial psychedelic medicines, And when I say ceremonial, 241 00:18:29.000 --> 00:18:31.599 we often think of the healing of trauma as occurring 242 00:18:31.640 --> 00:18:34.680 only in clinical contexts with psychedelics, because many people are 243 00:18:34.720 --> 00:18:40.279 sort of familiar with psychedelics as a recreational tool or 244 00:18:40.359 --> 00:18:43.559 psychedelics as a clinical tool. And for me, the experience 245 00:18:43.640 --> 00:18:45.960 was quite different. I was very lucky to be able 246 00:18:45.960 --> 00:18:49.440 to go to Peru and experience plant medicines in a 247 00:18:49.440 --> 00:18:54.519 ceremonial context. Fantastic and there many times I've been to 248 00:18:54.559 --> 00:19:01.559 Peru now, and this offered a legal, safe way to 249 00:19:01.759 --> 00:19:07.720 experience medicines that had been held ancestrally for generations, and 250 00:19:08.599 --> 00:19:13.160 those experiences there at the beginning of that journey, there 251 00:19:13.279 --> 00:19:15.119 was a lot of hard work that I had to 252 00:19:15.160 --> 00:19:19.480 do about confronting the traumas that I have experienced, and 253 00:19:19.559 --> 00:19:22.480 those were really hard experiences. It took a lot of 254 00:19:22.480 --> 00:19:26.039 work in integration and took a lot of persistence to 255 00:19:26.079 --> 00:19:29.319 actually work through all of that trauma. But really the 256 00:19:29.359 --> 00:19:33.319 foundation of the book takes off from the perspective that 257 00:19:33.440 --> 00:19:36.839 in the West were often told that healing happens through 258 00:19:36.880 --> 00:19:40.599 hard work, that we might encounter psychedelics in a clinical 259 00:19:40.599 --> 00:19:46.000 context or otherwise, and it's about confronting terrible things that 260 00:19:46.039 --> 00:19:48.720 have happened to you. But in my healing journey, there 261 00:19:48.720 --> 00:19:53.000 was a particular healing point where I had done all 262 00:19:53.039 --> 00:19:57.319 of that hard work and I had a ceremony in 263 00:19:57.359 --> 00:20:00.680 Peru with San Pedro medicine, which which is also known 264 00:20:00.720 --> 00:20:03.839 as what Chuma medicine, and the active component of that 265 00:20:03.960 --> 00:20:06.480 is mescaline, and that's really been the medicine that's been 266 00:20:06.480 --> 00:20:09.839 the most heart healing for me. And I remember this 267 00:20:10.039 --> 00:20:13.319 day of being on this mountaintop and for the first 268 00:20:13.359 --> 00:20:17.359 time feeling so alive in my body, so connected to 269 00:20:17.400 --> 00:20:20.400 the earth, connected to the other people I was with, 270 00:20:20.400 --> 00:20:23.599 without any thought of trauma at all. And that is 271 00:20:23.640 --> 00:20:26.640 the moment that I realized that that was actually the healing, 272 00:20:27.119 --> 00:20:29.240 that the hard work that I had done in those 273 00:20:29.240 --> 00:20:33.599 previous ceremonies led me to this point where the real 274 00:20:33.759 --> 00:20:38.440 healing was about being connected to myself, the earth, and 275 00:20:38.759 --> 00:20:41.680 to the divine again in this way that was so 276 00:20:41.960 --> 00:20:46.440 deeply pleasurable. So when I undertook the process of writing 277 00:20:46.480 --> 00:20:48.799 this book, that was really the message that I wanted 278 00:20:48.799 --> 00:20:52.720 to convey, is that there's something beyond the hard work. 279 00:20:52.759 --> 00:20:56.240 There's a reason to keep going and that reason is 280 00:20:56.880 --> 00:20:58.759 the reconnection of pleasure in your life. 281 00:20:59.359 --> 00:21:03.839 Wow, sexual pleasure is a huge deal for the body. 282 00:21:03.880 --> 00:21:07.319 It's released as hormones. We know a lot about it, 283 00:21:07.319 --> 00:21:10.000 but there's a lot we don't know. Would you say 284 00:21:10.039 --> 00:21:17.039 that these psychedelics, these plant medicines provide a shortcut for healing, 285 00:21:17.279 --> 00:21:21.119 another way to access the body, the mind, the spirit 286 00:21:21.680 --> 00:21:25.960 and integrate them in a way that brings you to 287 00:21:26.079 --> 00:21:29.960 the problem quicker and resolves it, perhaps well not necessarily 288 00:21:30.079 --> 00:21:33.119 resolves it, but helps you understand it, which I think 289 00:21:33.240 --> 00:21:36.119 is where the healing is. Yeah. 290 00:21:36.279 --> 00:21:41.200 Yeah, So I'm holding onto your question, and I preemptively 291 00:21:41.359 --> 00:21:44.000 want for our listeners to go back and just define 292 00:21:44.039 --> 00:21:47.319 how I talk about pleasure in the book. So, the 293 00:21:48.640 --> 00:21:51.240 concept of pleasure in general, I think is one that's 294 00:21:51.279 --> 00:21:54.519 really misunderstood because it's a word we use colloquially all 295 00:21:54.559 --> 00:21:56.599 the time, and it can mean when we talk about 296 00:21:56.599 --> 00:21:59.119 something that's pleasurable, it could mean eating a food you like, 297 00:21:59.240 --> 00:22:01.920 It could mean kind of disappearing into your phone and 298 00:22:01.920 --> 00:22:06.039 scrolling on it. Now, I am not trying to make 299 00:22:06.079 --> 00:22:10.359 the argument that those types of activities which I put 300 00:22:10.440 --> 00:22:14.200 under the umbrella of leisure are going to necessarily be healing. 301 00:22:14.319 --> 00:22:18.160 They have their utility right, because sometimes it can actually 302 00:22:18.200 --> 00:22:21.960 be very relaxing or helpful to us in some way 303 00:22:22.039 --> 00:22:25.960 to disengage from life. So I'm not anti leisure. But 304 00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:29.400 the pleasure that I'm talking about that I think can 305 00:22:29.559 --> 00:22:32.599 lead to the healing that will address in your question 306 00:22:33.640 --> 00:22:38.279 is actually when we have the experience of being awake, 307 00:22:39.279 --> 00:22:43.039 mindfully tuned to the present moment, with an experience of 308 00:22:43.079 --> 00:22:46.599 savoring the sensual. So it has to be something that 309 00:22:46.960 --> 00:22:51.799 is embodied, alive and wakes us up to how good 310 00:22:51.960 --> 00:22:54.720 it feels to be in our human experience, which is 311 00:22:54.920 --> 00:23:00.519 something when people experience trauma or really anything just being 312 00:23:00.640 --> 00:23:04.480 a person in this world, we can become very disconnected 313 00:23:04.519 --> 00:23:08.519 from the pleasure of our own humanity. So when we 314 00:23:08.640 --> 00:23:11.039 take this a step further to address your question directly 315 00:23:11.079 --> 00:23:16.519 about sexual pleasure, erotic pleasure or sexual pleasure, I think 316 00:23:16.640 --> 00:23:19.599 is probably one of the most profound and heightened forms 317 00:23:19.640 --> 00:23:23.119 of pleasure we have, and paradoxically, it's also the form 318 00:23:23.119 --> 00:23:26.079 of pleasure around which we feel the most shame. So 319 00:23:26.200 --> 00:23:28.640 one of the reasons I focused on sexual pleasure in 320 00:23:28.680 --> 00:23:33.000 the book is because I think almost all of us 321 00:23:33.119 --> 00:23:36.839 walk in the world with something within us that needs 322 00:23:36.880 --> 00:23:40.920 a little healing around our capacity to own our right 323 00:23:41.119 --> 00:23:45.000 to sexual pleasure. So I think when we endeavor to 324 00:23:45.039 --> 00:23:48.799 heal that we can actually access really deep parts of 325 00:23:48.799 --> 00:23:53.480 ourselves that we can become cut off from psychedelic medicines. 326 00:23:54.039 --> 00:23:59.319 I think research does tell us that they have multiple 327 00:23:59.319 --> 00:24:01.880 different quality that are shown time and again in different 328 00:24:01.880 --> 00:24:07.279 research studies to support connecting to this type of pleasure 329 00:24:07.319 --> 00:24:10.519 that can be relationship enhancing, that can heal our relationship 330 00:24:10.559 --> 00:24:13.119 to our bodies, that can make us more attuned to 331 00:24:13.200 --> 00:24:18.000 sexual pleasure in sexual experiences, and those categories are that 332 00:24:18.039 --> 00:24:22.200 psychedelics induce the equality of openness, meaning we have more 333 00:24:22.240 --> 00:24:28.079 capacity for fantasy, we have more cognitive flexibility. Psychedelics are 334 00:24:28.119 --> 00:24:31.759 also empathy enhancing, so we have greater capacity to be 335 00:24:31.799 --> 00:24:35.599 in our relationships and feel empathy for ourselves and other people, 336 00:24:35.720 --> 00:24:40.960 which makes us more connected. Psychedelics also are mindfulness enhancing. 337 00:24:41.319 --> 00:24:44.920 So what's really interesting. There's a sex researcher I really 338 00:24:44.960 --> 00:24:47.559 respect named Lori Brato, and she wrote a book about 339 00:24:47.559 --> 00:24:51.039 sexuality and mindfulness, and what she found is that people 340 00:24:51.200 --> 00:24:55.359 we're not experiencing as much pleasure as possible because we 341 00:24:55.400 --> 00:24:59.359 are so habituated to multitasking, we actually are unable to 342 00:24:59.440 --> 00:25:03.359 focus on the sensations and queues that can turn us on, 343 00:25:03.599 --> 00:25:06.039 that can make us feel alive and awake in a 344 00:25:06.079 --> 00:25:10.480 sexual experience. So psychedelics are tools in deepening all of 345 00:25:10.480 --> 00:25:14.400 these categories which can lead to sexual keeling and enhancement 346 00:25:14.440 --> 00:25:14.920 of pleasure. 347 00:25:18.119 --> 00:25:20.319 We're going to take a short commercial break to allow 348 00:25:20.400 --> 00:25:25.119 our sponsors to identify themselves and will return shortly with 349 00:25:25.240 --> 00:25:30.160 my guest today, d D Goldpa discussing her new book, 350 00:25:31.240 --> 00:26:23.240 Embrace Pleasure, will be right back. 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My guest today is d D Goldpas. 372 00:27:49.440 --> 00:27:54.400 She is a psychotherapist who uses psychedelics in her therapy 373 00:27:54.480 --> 00:28:04.880 sessions to release sexual trauma. I kept hearing in my 374 00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:12.440 head orgasm orgasm. Is do these psychedelics induce orgasm easier 375 00:28:12.759 --> 00:28:15.640 or is it just part of the process that you're 376 00:28:15.680 --> 00:28:20.119 going to have an orgasm on a regular basis. That's 377 00:28:20.160 --> 00:28:20.720 a big deal. 378 00:28:21.880 --> 00:28:25.440 Yeah, yeah, And it's a really interesting question because some 379 00:28:25.519 --> 00:28:28.640 of the people that I interviewed for the section of 380 00:28:28.680 --> 00:28:32.559 the book that are personal accounts from some of the 381 00:28:32.680 --> 00:28:36.799 authors of those personal accounts that I interviewed or named, 382 00:28:36.960 --> 00:28:39.720 and some chose to go by pseudonyms, but some people 383 00:28:39.839 --> 00:28:44.119 do talk about the experience of orgasm during psychedelic experiences 384 00:28:44.160 --> 00:28:50.960 as being deeper, spiritual, completely transcendent for them. And as 385 00:28:50.960 --> 00:28:54.720 a sex therapist, when I'm working with clients, I often 386 00:28:54.839 --> 00:28:59.559 find that getting people to focus more on the experience itself, 387 00:29:00.160 --> 00:29:07.000 on the attunement to sensation in their body is helpful 388 00:29:07.039 --> 00:29:12.880 for them over single mindedly focusing on orgasm. So most 389 00:29:12.880 --> 00:29:16.839 people who are having sexual experiences want to have orgasms, 390 00:29:17.279 --> 00:29:21.440 but in fact, more satisfying sexual experiences can happen when 391 00:29:21.440 --> 00:29:25.200 we're savoring the entire experience instead of just this one 392 00:29:25.279 --> 00:29:30.079 part of it. So broadening people's sexual scripts, helping them 393 00:29:30.160 --> 00:29:33.759 to be more present and attuned in sexual experiences is 394 00:29:33.759 --> 00:29:37.039 one of the strategies that I use as a sex therapist. 395 00:29:37.240 --> 00:29:42.200 Fantastic, All right, So I come to dit, I come 396 00:29:42.240 --> 00:29:45.119 to your office, and I come with my partner and 397 00:29:45.519 --> 00:29:51.240 we're having issues and we sit with you and so 398 00:29:51.279 --> 00:29:53.720 forth and so on. When do you begin to integrate 399 00:29:53.759 --> 00:29:56.720 the plant medicine? How does that work? 400 00:29:57.119 --> 00:30:00.559 Well, that's also a really interesting question because right now 401 00:30:00.799 --> 00:30:04.400