Ep 502: Behind the Scenes: How Psilocybin Supports Mental and Physical Health With Tara Portelli

The benefits of psychedelic therapy are being reported worldwide from personal accounts to research data, but is it safe and right for you?  Curious what happens in psilocybin therapy retreats? Tara Portelli was mentally and physically unwell as a paramedic until she went on a healing journey where she discovered the benefits of psilocybin therapy to restore her health. Now she’s a certified natural health practitioner, certified clinical hypnotist, author and founder of the Arcadia Healing Sanctum that holds retreats in Tulum, Mexico and British Columbia, Canada. In this episode of The Health Fix Podcast, Dr. Jannine Krause interviews Tara Portelli on the psilocybin therapy experience at Arcadia Healing Sanctum and the benefits you can receive. 

Resources From The Show:

• Tara’s Website
• Arcadia Healing Sanctum
• Tara’s Book: NUDE: Saying a beautiful goodbye to who you thought you were and stepping into who you are

Our Partners

Podcast Transcript

4:29 – Tara’s story

12:02 – Assuring a retreat center has a quality supply and they are legit

15:12 – Effects psilocybin have on the body and mind

19:23 – Tara’s psilocybin retreats

26:15 – Is it common to see couples coming to psilocybin retreats?

30:52 – What Tara does personally to keep her energy positive

33:46 – Sweat lodges

38:12 – What format is the psilocybin taken in at the retreats?

39:32 – What does the tea taste like?

41:13 – Do people typically feel sick when they take the medicine

42:!0 – What are folks doing after the medicine is ingested?

44:17 – Have folks ever had a psychotic break on your retreats?

46:20 – Tara’s book “Nude”

51:02 – How to connect with Tara

---

[Preview] the you’re going so deep into the work and you’re gaining so much wisdom in

Yourself and understanding of your own life and your life path that it’s it’s almost like you’re you know, you’re

Say Jannine 2.0 you’re gonna be like Jannine 4.0 when you leave and so what Silasbene is doing

It’s like let’s just get rid of that thought and why don’t we just go this way and we just like re-roots

new neuro pathways. And so then you have this opportunity to almost like reprogram the way that

you’re thinking. So that’s where a lot of my focus goes into. It’s like, it’s one thing to go

through a sales side of an experience, but I really like to focus on like, okay, we have these new

pathways. Like, how do you want to show up in your life? How do you want to feel? So let’s really

work on that. Maybe not going back to doing the same routines you were doing before. Let’s try different

Welcome to The Health Fix Podcast, where health junkies get their weekly fix of tips, tools,

and techniques to have limitless energy, sharp minds, and fit, physiques for life.

[Intro] Hey, Health Junkies!

On this episode of The Health Fix Podcast, I’m interviewing Tara Portelli.

She’s a paramedic, turned psilocybin retreat facilitator, and so much more.

Gosh, if you’ve ever wondered if psilocybin, so they come from mushrooms, specific ones,

could be beneficial for you. This is the podcast to listen to. Now, here’s the thing. They’ve got a

bad rap because we think about tripping. We think about, you know, having bad trips. You’ve seen

all the stories. Maybe you’ve heard them from college or high school or whatever it may be.

But the point is, is there’s a lot of research being done worldwide on psilocybin and their benefit

for helping folks move through mental health issues, moving through self-sabotaging blocks.

Anything that’s keeping you from being your best self or achieving what you want to,

if you find that you’re just hanging up on things, this is a place to look. Now, have I been on a

a psilocybin retreat before? No. Have I done a journey meaning a day where you actually take

the mushrooms in and work through some things? No. I’ve done microdosing and felt like, okay,

some things shifted gently, but I have not tried this. So I dive in with Tara and ask her all kinds

of questions. So like I said before, if you’re wondering if a guided psilocybin retreat may be

for you, something to help you move through anxiety, depression, self-sabotage, whatever

it may be.

This podcast is a good one because I just ask her all the questions that I get and what

I’ve been wondering about.

So let’s introduce you to Tara Portelli.

JANNINE: Tara Portelli, welcome to The Health Fix podcast.

TARA: Thank you so much for having me.

JANNINE: Man, just before we hit record, I am so excited to talk to you because I’ve been looking for

someone that has a little bit of a West Coast connection to help folks with

Silasidement therapy and learning now that you’re doing some some retreats in

Canada in the summer months up in British Columbia that makes me so happy to

hear but of course we’ll we’ll talk about that we’ll talk about your

Mexican retreats near Tulum as well because who doesn’t want to take a

break it’s a loom in the middle of rainy season in the Pacific Northwest

signed me up so with Silas Diamonds of course the first and foremost thing that

people always tend to ask me about is like, okay, if I’m going to do a

psilocybin, retreat or therapy, am I going to be tripping the whole time?

And this is something that I want to set the theme is we’re going to talk

about that.

We want to get into that today and really explain to folks what’s happening

with the psilocybin and how can they can help with conditions like PTSD,

just working through a rough time in life, whatever it may be.

So you have quite a story.

And I would love for you to share your story with us

because I think for women 35 plus,

we tend to get to a point where life just doesn’t,

like we’re ready to leave one life

and we’re like ready to go to the next.

As the hormone shift, we’re ready to train,

like just transform.

So I would love to hear your story

to kind of help folks really understand

how Silas Ivan found you, how you found it

and how it helped?

TARA: Yeah.

So I was a paramedic for nine years.

And during my career, I struggled myself with mental health.

Not only that, I struggled in relationships

because I always believed as Walt Disney painted

this picture for us that I was meant to meet my prince

charming.

And I think a lot of us really are looking for that

and we don’t find it, but we also don’t know that it’s not

perfect and that relationships are work

and they can be challenging.

if we’re not doing our own work, we’re going to keep the wrong people around.

And so I went through this relationship career leading up to my career as a paramedic relationship

after relationship, struggled in that area and then I ended up working as a paramedic

and really being called to that field because I really knew I wanted to help people in some

way.

I grew up with a sister who had bipolar disorder,

father suffered from depression.

So mental health struggles were in my family already

and I really wanted to find a solution.

So I thought, okay, well, I’ll go into,

work has a paramedic and see how I like that job.

So nine years later, I went through, like I said,

many struggles of my own and went through therapy

and did all the traditional routes.

never used any pharmaceuticals, but just always trying to top through what I was experiencing.

I had PTSD, depression, and anxiety during my career.

And in addition to that, it was also life stress, so it was kind of like everything piling up

on top of each other.

And I was just so unhappy.

I felt so unfulfilled in my relationship and my career.

I finally exited the career and I ended up working in a holistic mental health and addiction treatment center.

And that was very eye opening for me.

It kind of showed me that there are other options outside of pharmaceuticals that can help and benefit our mental wellness.

And I was watching people coming in really distraught with their mental health and leaving in a totally different state of mind.

and like what we were using was neurofeedback, we were using diet, exercise, routine, yoga,

meditation. Like you name it any holistic practice, we were implementing and it was profound for

people. And so this really opened up my eyes to the idea of like maybe I could get into a career

mental health, but maybe it’s this route. So I worked with them until they went bankrupt,

unfortunately was a private facility and then after going through a divorce and losing my

dog of 10 years and my whole life crumbling in front of me, I ended up going on this self-healing

journey I felt really called to go to Tulium Mexico. So I went on this journey and I showed

up there by myself, never really traveled alone so this was a first for me and I kind of let

my journey unfold. I just knew where I was going to stay and just kind of let my trip

unfold and I would just meet. The right people would be like, “You need to go here. You need

to do this.” And then I kind of just followed it until I landed on the beach taking photos

of a kite surfer. And this kite surfer was doing these amazing tricks and I was like,

“These are amazing photos. I have to get this person these photos.” So I sat down on the

beach and sure enough I like kind of put it out there like I have to get these to this

person and this person swooped in and we exchanged emails because I wanted to give him photos

and I got an email from him and he was like you and I were meant to me. He’s like you’re

the new mushroom because at the time during my paramedic career was also studying holistic

nutrition and I had started a health and wellness blog called the new mushroom. This was pre-psychadellics

So it was almost like intuitive.

And so he’s like, we were meant to meet.

So Simon saved my life.

And so we met up and sure enough,

he had suffered with cluster headaches or suicide headaches.

And it was the only thing in 25 years

that he was able to find to help him.

So he had been helping people all around the world

and he gifted me with some mushrooms and said,

here you go, go do these.

And I was just like, well, I’m in Mexico alone.

Like I’m gonna do these mushrooms.

It seems crazy to me.

And so I consciously like plan to go to this beach.

And I was like, if I don’t feel comfortable there,

I’m not gonna do them.

I contacted a friend who wouldn’t talk me out of it.

And I took myself through this journey,

knowing that he didn’t give me a large dose.

It was like on the lower end of therapeutic

and had the most profound and transformational

healing journey of my entire life.

It changed everything for me.

And one of the most profound insights that I gained

was around the fact that I had been searching

for love outside of myself.

But in fact, I always just needed to love me first.

And by loving myself, it’s changed everything for me

because we’re looking outside and we’re like,

I need this person in my life,

but the reality is that once you nurture that self love,

that everything else kind of just feels better and more at peace.

So that was kind of my journey with psilocybin.

And I just looked for a path to work with it because I knew that this was going to be

a really profound healing for anybody who’s struggling and conventional treatments

haven’t been affected.

JANNINE: Oh, wow. It’s so important, right?

The self-love thing.

And I think a lot of us underestimate how much we, we don’t have self-love.

You know, I know myself included have just kind of went to a journey of that too.

And then like, oh my God, I’m so mean to myself.

You know, there’s so much there.

Now, of course, you can’t leave the sister’s hang in here.

Like what happened with the guy? 

TARA:  Which is a beach guy?

JANNINE: Yeah, what happened with the, the kiteboarder?

What happened?

TARA: Oh, yeah.

You know what?

Nothing ever came of it.

We’ve become friends.

He’s actually, he’s kind of in the background of my business.

So he safely gets me a good supply for my retreats

and that kind of thing.

So, so there’s no roaming.

It’s not a happy ending there, but yeah.

JANNINE: I gotta ask, you know, you left it open there.

So I’m gonna figure we better ask where that went.

Well, and I mean, and that’s the important thing.

So you mentioned like he’s your supplier

and that’s one of the things like, you know,

a lot of folks when they’re thinking like,

Okay, so it’s not regulated.

The FDA doesn’t regulate it,

at least in the American society,

we’re gonna think that.

And there’s a lot of controversy

on what the FDA does and doesn’t do,

so I’m not gonna go there, but it’s more like,

how do we know that someone that’s supplying

psilocybins to you, what are we looking for

to ensure ourselves that we’re getting a good quality supply

and see someone’s looking to go to a retreat center

like yours, how would they know

that they’re really going to a place that’s legit.

‘Cause I think there’s a lot of fear around that.

TARA: Yeah, and honestly, rightfully so

because there is a lot of people out there

that are doing it for the wrong reasons,

and they’re not creating safe spaces.

So I would say to look for, first of all,

I would get on to ask for a video call

with the facilitator, kind of connect with them.

And then obviously your intuition is going to,

I mean, we’re women, so like our intuition

is always speaking to us.

But also see how they’re questioning you

because if they’re not asking questions like,

are you on SSRIs, which are antidepressants,

or have you ever had a state of psychosis,

do you have bipolar disorders, schizophrenia?

Those are all contraindications.

So somebody that’s really knowledgeable

that you should be able to trust

would almost be assessing you as if it was a clinical setting

and making sure that you are the right fit for it.

So right there, you’re going to know

that that person’s in it for the right reasons

and that they have the right intentions.

And then as far as choosing, I guess–

and I would say, if you’re looking for a retreat

and you are looking for a reputable place,

so maybe looking for reviews online as well

is really important.

and just making sure that other people

are having good experiences.

And that kind of will speak to the quality of the medicine.

And then if you’re looking for medicines outside of that,

I mean, it’s really difficult.

There is some really good companies online

and they do shift to the US that you can trust

’cause there is sometimes people

just growing them in their garage.

So you just never know and you do wanna make sure

that it is a reputable company that you’re using.

Luckily here in Canada, in Victoria, Vancouver, Toronto,

we actually have dispensaries.

Now, it’s still a gray area.

They are overseen by a naturopath.

So then you know when they are overseen by a naturopath

that the medicine would be good

and that they would be sourcing it from the right places.

So usually just options like that

would be one that you could trust.

JANNINE: Makes sense, makes sense.

Yes, naturopaths are definitely would be very picky

on where things are grown.

We probably went to the location.

We probably, you know, show me all the details.

Thanks for sharing that, because I think for a lot of people,

you know, this is the 60s and 70s

and let’s say college experiences, you know,

we all have ideas of what psilocybins, you know, are like,

but we think more of the tripping department.

but we don’t necessarily think about how we can tap in

to our inner selves and like you were mentioning,

you know, coming to the conclusion that,

oh my gosh, I just need more self love,

you know, I need to work on that.

So can you explain a little bit for us,

what exactly is opening up in the mind?

What portals are we opening?

How is this working when we take psilocybins?

What’s it doing to the body

and what kind of things might one expect?

TARA: Yeah.

So still side-boun works on the same receptors as an anti-depressant.

And so what it’s doing is actually during the experience, you’re actually accessing parts

of the brain that you don’t typically access.

So you’re going to experience things like heightened senses.

Sometimes you have visuals, sometimes you have audible, you can hear things, sometimes

Sometimes you don’t have any of that.

Sometimes it’s just sensations and feelings in the body.

And just really what it’s doing is whatever emotions that you’ve been suppressing, it’s

going to bring them to the surface.

And that’s a good thing because emotions are energy and we surpass them and they get stored

in the body.

But the only way that we can release them is by transmuting them, right?

Because energy cannot be created or destroyed.

It has to be transferred.

So if we’re suppressing other emotions, like most women do, because they’re like these

warriors and like, you know, you’re muscling through your life, you know, it’s time for

you to sit with those emotions and just let them move through you.

Because once that you release them, you just feel liberated.

So it helps with that piece.

In addition to that, what it actually is doing in the brain is it’s re-routing neural pathways.

So when we have thoughts, they’re usually the same thoughts over and over.

We kind of get these habits of thinking.

And there are these neurons that fire in the same pattern over and over again.

When we go to therapy, we’re trying to override those thoughts with new thoughts.

But it’s really difficult.

It’s like unlearning a behavior.

And so what psilocybin is doing, it’s like, let’s just get rid of that thought.

And why don’t we just go this way?

with just like re-roots new neural pathways.

And so then you have this opportunity

to almost like reprogram the way that you’re thinking.

So that’s where a lot of my focus goes into.

It’s like, it’s one thing to go through

a psilocybin experience, but I really like to focus on like,

okay, we have these new pathways.

Like, how do you wanna show up in your life?

How do you wanna feel?

So let’s really work on that.

Maybe not going back to doing the same routines

you were doing before.

let’s try different ones. Why don’t we implement that meditation practice you

really enjoyed and retreat, you know, those types of things. And then some of

the studies that they’re doing with microdosing, which is just small doses

you don’t actually get psychedelic experience, it’s actually showing that

it’s growing new neurons in mice. So that’s pretty cool and so they haven’t

done it on humans just yet but hopefully it’s translating and that’s what’s

happening for us as well. So maybe we’re getting smarter when we’re microdosing.

JANNINE: Well, I mean, I certainly have had lots of patients who’ve tried that, right? I myself have also

done that just to see what would happen. And what I found is like, if you put an intention towards

it, right? And you really are working on on your own health and your thought process absolutely

seems like it amplifies things. For a lot of people that don’t do that do the microdosing,

But don’t put in intention with it. I feel like it sometimes are like it does nothing and it’s like well

You’re not you haven’t put the energy forth through the body to bring that forward. Have you seen that too?

TARA: Yeah, I’ve heard that from people but then it’s funny because I’ll be like well

Do you stuff the lighting side of you or feeling before no?

Do you still feel like you know do you feel calmer than you were before? Yeah, okay?

Well, then it’s working, you know because those are side effects of it also more clarity more

Access to creativity those are also things that are happening for you

JANNINE: Which I mean awesome stuff right who doesn’t want that and and I think for a lot of folks too that are listening

This isn’t we’re not tripping one more micro dosing like it’s it were not seeing visions, you know, honestly

It’s subtle. I felt like it was very subtle

now in terms of the larger doses this is where I have not had experience and

and really wanted to find a place that I could go on a retreat,

kind of do all the work around it.

And I’m super curious, how do your retreats work?

What do you guys do with folks?

I mean, I saw online, I was like super relaxed

watching your video online going like,

sign me up right now.

I’m good.

So tell us a little bit more.

TARA: Yeah, so the whole intention of the retreat setting

for solo-cybin therapy is to create a container.

And when we can create a container,

what we can do is we can prepare you beforehand energetically speaking, because obviously

we are energy.

And so we have to open up those energy channels to be able to really gain the insights and

the connection with the medicine.

So, it’s kind of like this gradual experience.

So every single day we’re doing meditation, and in meditation we’re doing shadow work.

And so for your listeners that they don’t know what shadow work is, it’s just basically,

you know, kind of exploring the aspects of the self that we do not accept.

So we all have them.

We have these parts of ourselves that we don’t accept, but we also we, we have parts of ourselves

we love parts of ourselves.

We don’t accept.

So it’s kind of embracing the whole, the whole of us and loving that entirety and the

entirety.

So that seems to be really profound for people because a lot of people never really go there.

too afraid to see that part of themselves, but when you can bring it in and you can see that has

gifts that it has like, you know, that it does bring good things to your life and that you should

just embrace it, then that really does help people to kind of get to that place of self-love.

So that’s kind of how we structure the retreat. And then inside before we go into ceremony with

the medicine, which we’ll do too within a retreat, we’ll do some sound healing. So again, we’re working

on the vibration with our bodies and changing the energy.

And it’s almost like experiencing like a symphony before you go into the medicine, which is

really amazing.

We use massage therapy, so touch therapy.

And then we have access when we’re in Mexico to something called a Temascale.

So for those of people that don’t know, it’s an indigenous sweat lodge.

it’s really a beautiful ceremony to experience because they’re still so connected to their roots

and their culture and they’re really bringing in the wisdom, seeds of this and indigenous wisdom

to the ceremony. And what I find for people is it is a challenge because you’re in a sweat lodge

and obviously you just do what you can do. Like there’s no we’re not forcing you to do it. It’s

like all part of the experience but when people can go through that experience they feel so empowered

in themselves, they’re like, I can do this medicine journey thing. It’s like easy. Like,

if I can be in that sweat lodge, I can do this and no problem. But also what that’s doing is it’s

detoxifying the body. It’s helping with like, I mean, the medicine man that we work with, he’s

helping like cleanse you and your energy field and all the things that they believe. And so it’s

just really preparing you for the experience. So yeah, so and then afterwards, obviously,

we’re doing integration, which is probably one of the most important parts of a psilocybin

experience because just like anything psilocybin is a tool. So it gives us the ability to maybe

see things in ourselves that we wouldn’t see otherwise or like understand things about our life.

But then when we go into the integration process, we’re just kind of like taking that information

and seeing how does that apply to my life. What am I going to do with that information? How am I

am I going to try and move forward and make change?

And so yeah, so that’s what everything looks like.

JANNINE: Wow, you’ve got a lot of great components.

I mean, I love that you’ve got the integration

’cause I find that a lot of folks will go

and they don’t get the integration.

It’s just the ceremony and it’s like,

“All right, this happened, okay bye.”

I mean, that’s kind of what seems to be happening

at least in my local area in the different locations

that I’ve heard about.

I don’t want any disrespect to anyone that’s doing more than I just don’t know.

But that’s kind of what I’ve seen.

And I find it so vitally important because after all, you’re spending the money to come

down and have a transformation.

TARA: Yes, absolutely.

And so I see this often.

And a lot of people will come to me after they’ve done other medicine journeys or maybe

other medicines.

And it’s like they’re not integrating properly.

So what’s happening is it just becomes like another substance you’re using to seek something.

You know, like when we’re using alcohol or drugs, it just becomes this like, well, this

person had this experience like, I want to feel better, like I want to feel better too.

But when you’re not doing the integration work, it’s just going to be like this ongoing cycle

of seeking.

And so when you do do it in a retreat setting like our sort of not to come to ours, but

you know, it’s the you’re going so deep into the work and you’re gaining so much wisdom

in yourself and understanding of your own life and your life path that it’s almost like

you’re, you know, you’re say Jannine 2.0, you’re going to be like Jannine 4.0 when you leave.

And I’ve kept in touch with many of our clients and because we are going so deep and also

I should mention that these are really intimate setting.

So we usually max out at the most of six people, but typically it’s two to four.

So we really have the opportunity to really go deep into the work.

And then they have a plan going home and then there’s ongoing support as well afterwards.

And so with that, I find that people will basically transform and then maintain it because they

now have the tools that they need in order to do the proper integration when they go

home.

And also the support if they need it.

So yeah.

JANNINE: That’s huge.

That’s huge.

[Advertisement] Hey, health junkies.

Struggling with sleep as a former insomniac, I can relate.

Devin Burke is a pal of mine.

He has the Sleep Science Academy.

been on my podcast twice and we’ve talked a lot about how to work on sleep naturally,

without supplements, without medications.

Devin’s program really does work with you to help you understand what is going on in

your brain and body when it comes to sleep.

And as a listener of The Health Fix Podcast, he’s given us a code for 10% off of his program,

DRJ10.

So if you’re interested, use that.

I highly recommend his program.

So let’s get back to the podcast.

JANNINE: And two to four people, I mean, that’s very, very intimate.

I’m like thinking like, huh, husband and wife, you know, a small group.

Do you get couples coming down often?

TARA: A lot of couples.

Yeah.

A lot of couples want to come and do this work.

And they like the idea of the smaller setting.

Um, yeah.

And also I just want to mention like part of the reason and I’m not knocking any group

ceremonies because actually that’s how the indigenous use it.

Right.

But for myself, like going into group medicines,

I found that it was too much energy, too many people.

I couldn’t focus in on myself.

And so I thought, well, I would rather work

with smaller groups.

And I find that it does become a bit of like a niche

in a sense because you do get the people

that are either really struggling with mental health

or get the people that, you know,

they just don’t wanna be in a group setting

and they wanna small intimate space

and they want to feel safe.

And, you know, and sometimes people aren’t super extroverted as well.

So it can just be a lot on top of trying to heal when you’re trying to also like socialize.

So yeah.

JANNINE: You brought up something incredibly important that I’ve seen with my own personal self.

Like I’m, I think I’m like somewhere between introverted and extroverted.

I kind of like float on both departments.

But when there’s a lot of people in a setting, I feel I’m very empathetic.

So I feel all the different things, right?

And I wanna make sure what I’m feeling is my stuff,

not someone else’s stuff.

TARA: Right.

JANNINE: And I think that’s something to talk about in terms

of energy in general.

Because a lot of people might be thinking like,

okay, a group session, obviously gonna be cheaper, right?

There’s gonna be, I mean, I’ve heard of sessions

where there’s like 100 people in these rooms, in some cases.

Is that what you’ve seen too?

TARA: I have been personally been to those ceremonies.

Like I think the most I’ve been to is probably 30 people,

but still it was, it felt like a lot.

And my experience in that setting was not a positive

experience, but again, that’s my personal experience,

but it’s also how we ended up doing like the smaller groups.

Yeah.  

JANNINE: Yeah.

I think it’s something for a lot of folks to think about

that other people’s energy affects us.

And one of the things you said on your,

I think it was in your video on your website

is that we have good energy here.

We’re maintaining good energy because I have,

you know, I’m an acupuncturist, right?

So I know if my energy’s off and I’m trying to work on people,

it doesn’t go well.

I have to ground, I have to keep working on my own self.

And part of what had me actually,

I moved away from my practice and did a lot of online.

I do kind of go back and forth right now.

And not as much acupuncturist was,

I couldn’t get my energy right to feel good about helping, you know, on a daily basis.

TARA: Wow.

That’s so interesting.

Yeah.

Just that you, you need to almost ground yourself because you are kind of this conduit

to like the energy, right?

Like to your, what do you call them?

The acupuncture needles.

JANNINE: Yeah.

TARA: So interesting.

JANNINE: Yeah.

And so at the same time, I mean, you know, a lot of other folks don’t think about how

how their particular jobs, you know, what their, you know, whether it’s work, whether

it’s their family, whatever, how the other energy does impact them.

And sometimes I think that even using plant medicine can help incredibly to move things

through.

And in particular, obviously I don’t want to confuse you guys because I just said plant

medicine and that can mean a whole lot of different things.

And so I don’t want to confuse the audience.

psilocybins are different, right?

Then then then combo and I’m going to get that one wrong.

I’m the worst at words.

Words.

TARA: It’s OK.

JANNINE: Me and words.

TARA: You had it right.

JANNINE: Yeah.

All of those types of things in ayahuasca and whatnot.

And so I want folks to understand that.

Like this is mushroom extract here.

We’re talking mushrooms.

But I guess we’re going with this is that.

It’s important for folks to be thinking about their energy.

It’s important to to think about when you want to make change.

how a supportive environment can be all make all the difference.

TARA: Absolutely.

JANNINE: Now it sounds like you also, all of your staff, you guys are really

dialed in on keeping yourselves in check, working on energy too.

What’s, what are some of your like personal practices?

I’m curious just, just to kind of share with other folks, like, what do you,

what do you do to help keep your energy in check?

Obviously, psilocybins, but what else?

What else are you doing?

TARA: Yeah, so I always carve out space for myself every day to either, well, most of the mornings

I meditate and I kind of have my own little practice and I create a little ceremony for myself

and actually use that throughout my day. So every day for me I create ceremony and I do put

intention into everything I do and I find that really keeps me present and really keeps me grounded

And so, and also what I’ll do is like when I feel sad or when I feel anger, like I actually will

take time to feel those emotions, I’ll journal about them, I’ll allow them to move through me.

I know that like, you know, sometimes people will trigger us and it will cause this flood of emotions,

and I know that those people are just the messengers and that this is probably deep stuff that needs

to come up. And so I just, I’m really conscious and aware of the fact that I need to do my

own healing work as well. And so, and if I needed a therapist, I would seek a therapist.

You know, I use a lot of intuitive healers, massage therapy, sound healing for myself.

Every single thing that we’ve implemented into the retreat is what I used for myself

to heal from my experiences in my life and they all helped me on some level.

This is what large especially for me was really profound and so I use that when I’m

in Mexico on a weekly basis.

So yeah, so I use it as a regular practice and being part of the ceremony is really important

for my personal growth and expansion.

So yeah, so I think when we intentionally schedule ourselves into our day, like we can

really help ourselves stay grounded and just becoming more self-aware because like you

said, like when you’re around a lot of people all the time and you’re picking up different

energies and people’s moves are shifting and you just don’t know who you are in that space,

you almost have to go into like a bubble and recalibrate your own energy and be like,

Okay, this is mine.

That was theirs.

Sometimes we can’t distinguish what’s ours and what’s others.

So that’s kind of how I’ve been doing my work anyways.

JANNINE: Very cool, very cool.

I love the sound bath.

I love sound.

My husband always thought that I didn’t like music,

but I told him it’s not that,

I just don’t like the lyrics, right?

I like the background, you know?

And literally the sound bath are so cool.

I have a weird question ’cause I didn’t see it

on your website, but do you guys ever do the ones

where like I see the people on Instagram laying on the mats

in the water and they’re floating there with sound baths?

TARA: Oh, cool.

I haven’t actually experienced that.

We haven’t done those, but I think that would be really neat

’cause you’re kind of implementing water as well,

which is like one of the elements.

So I think it could be really awesome.

JANNINE: I’m so drawn to it every time I see it on Instagram,

I’m like, oh, I wanna do that.

That looks just amazing.

That being said, you know, back to the sweat lodges

for a minute because a lot of people

ask me about sweat lodges, I’ve never done one.

I don’t even know how long you’re in there.

All I’ve heard is that it’s like hot yoga, you can’t leave,

which for me makes me a little stressed out.

‘Cause I like to, you know, there’s always that,

like I like to leave if I get overwhelmed.

Is, what’s it like?

Like give us a little, like how long are you guys in there?

Like how hot does it actually get?

Like art, you know, and it sounds like there’s not that many

because me, I’m imagining lots of people in a large sweaty next to me.

That doesn’t sound like fun.

TARA: Yeah.

JANNINE: So give us this gooble and what’s going on in there because I’ve never done one and I’ve no idea.

So I mean, obviously every one, every ceremony is different.

Some do build them quite tight with lots of people.

The ones that I use, um, they’re usually two and a half hours, um, in total, like the

told time between the ceremony outside of the space and then inside there’s four doors.

So the idea of the sweat lodges, at least in the Mexica tradition, which is in Mexico,

is that it’s the mother’s womb.

So you’re going to be rebirth.

And so they use volcanic rock.

They steam it and then they use herbs and burnt water.

And so it’s almost more like a steam than it would be like a dry sauna.

So it feels like a steam.

So they’re putting these hot rocks, there’s like chanting and music and they’re sharing

their wisdom in the sweat lodge.

It is dark, but there’s four doors and usually they’re about 20 minute intervals and they

open up the doors, they let all the heat out and then you do have the opportunity to leave

if you feel called, but obviously they recommend you stand because when you leave then you

have to acclimatize your body back to the heat.

But when you lay down on the floor at cement, so it’s cooler, so there’s always ways and

you know, just regulating your breathing and things that we don’t typically do on a regular basis, like you’re just you’re forced to, right in those moments.

And it’s also overcoming overcoming your fears, you know, so a lot of that is what comes up for you.

So it can be a really spiritual practice as well because it’s like, I don’t think I can do this.

And then you you’re not, you know, you just you have to work yourself through it.

And they say it could get up to, I believe,

120 degrees is the maximum,

but because it’s a sweat lodge and a steam,

it’s like the steam rises, so then it’s cooler,

like it’s always moving,

so it’s always changing the temperature.

Yeah, and then obviously, like,

depending on the temperature outside, it can vary.

And how your body is that day, like,

are you hydrated?

Did you eat too much?

I think I brought my mom to wine a couple of years ago,

and she wanted to go to the beach

and have a pizza and a glass of wine.

And it comes to the sweat lodge,

and I was like, did you prepare?

And she’s like, oh yeah, I just had some pizza and wine.

I’m like, okay, great.

And so she comes in and she struggled, right?

Because she wasn’t prepared properly for it.

And so after the first door, she left, you know?

So it’s like anything, like setting intention.

and just why are you here?

What do you want to get out of this experience?

Like what is, why are you, what do you want to heal

inside of yourself?

How do you want to feel when you leave?

And so it’s really, it becomes a practice of ceremony

in itself, like just setting that intention.

JANNINE: So huge.

Gosh, I can’t imagine having pizza and wine

before going somewhere hot.

(laughing)

TARA: Yeah, she was like struggling.

I was like, I told you.

(laughing)

You don’t listen.

JANNINE: Oh, you know, family’s tough, family’s tough.

I’m hoping that people do listen

when they spend all the money to come down.

One other thing that I’m asked quite frequently is

what is, you know, we’ve got the psilocybin’s,

how do you take them in ceremony?

Is it tincture?

I mean, a lot of people are gonna think about like chocolates,

they’re gonna think about are we chewing mushrooms,

they’re gonna think, you know, capsule,

what’s the format?

I’m curious ’cause I don’t even know.

TARA: Yeah, I guess every facilitator does it differently.

The way that we do it is in a tea.

So the reason being is that when you eat the mushroom,

say in a chocolate or on its own,

it takes a long time because it doesn’t actually become

active until it hits the intestine

and starts to break down.

And so what we do is we’ll use a tea

and we do have like a very ceremonial experience

that we’ll go through.

And then in the tea, what’s happening to the mushrooms,

it’s breaking down the cell wall.

So once you take it, now it’s going

to become active a lot quicker.

So yeah, so that’s typically how we do it.

So we do a tea ceremony.

And within one ceremony, you also

have the opportunity to increase your dose three times.

So we really like to feel like how you’re receiving

the medicine, because everybody’s so different.

Some people might be really, really easy to go into a medicine journey.

Some people might struggle a little more.

So yeah.

JANNINE: Oh wow.

So three times to increase dose.

Now of course, I’m going to, my brain’s always like, okay, tea.

Okay, mushrooms.

Is it, do you change the flavor?

Like do you have something for flavorings or is it tasting like mushrooms?

Just, just static curiosity.

TARA: Yeah.

So, so we’re using whole mushrooms, the whole dried mushrooms.

something we’ve recently started doing is bringing in the spirits of like different plants. So

like again like learning from the Mexican culture, they believe that every plant has a spirit.

And so we’ll bring in like rose. So I’ll use rose petals in the tea and that’s the thorn. So

it’s protection. And then we’ll use the spirit of chamomile and that’s to calm you so you don’t,

because a lot of people don’t know what to expect and they feel anxious and just very calming.

So you use that and sometimes we use ginger as well. So just to bring that in, just settle your

stomach if you start to feel any discomfort. But typically that’s kind of how the tea is. So you’ll

get those flavors and the mushrooms are earthy. So they’re not the best tasting but they’re not

the worst either. So yeah. 

JANNINE: Well, it’s not like you’re entering Starbucks, right? We’re not looking

TARA: Yeah.

JANNINE: But at the same time, I do like, you know,

to share with folks like, what is it?

Like, I love, I love talking about herbs in their spirits.

Like, a lot of people in my practice

that come up weirdo when I’m like, well, what are you,

okay, well this plant goes really well with that.

It’s fun, it’s fun, especially within the Mexican

indigenous culture, I lived in Mexico for a year

and had such a fabulous time learning from a lot

of the Brujal Blancas just teaching me

about what the herbs are all about.

So I, you know, I think some of the other questions that I get

and thank you for letting me like just pick your,

your brain and all the things because I think another big

question that I get from a lot of folks is like,

okay, we got the tea, you mentioned settling the stomach.

A lot of people will equate a trip to possibly feeling sick.

TARA: Okay.

JANNINE: How common is it in this case?

‘Cause I know ayahuasca is very connected to vomiting and

purging. Is the purge more an energetic purge that you’ve seen?

TARA: Yeah, I would say more energetic. It’s very rare. They’re actually sorry.

I’ve actually never seen anybody physically purge. There’s there might be a

moat like a little stage of feeling some queasiness in your stomach,

but typically it goes away. The only time it doesn’t is when you’re resisting,

or like you said, like there is some energy that needs to really move from

there. Yeah.

But it would be the most mild on your stomach.

Definitely not what I wask it as to your peyote or any of those really strong psychedelics.

Yeah.

JANNINE: Good to know.

Good to know.

And then while you’ve got the active, you know, psilocybins in your system, what do you

have people doing in that time?

Are we talking?

Are we meditating?

What are we doing in the actual timeframe?

TARA: Well, because you like to talk about plant spirits.

We let the mushroom do its work, the spirits of the mushroom.

So once we’ve done the ceremony, you’re into the medicine, we are doing some breath work

to kind of accelerate the experience and get you into this really focused state of mind.

And then you go, you have a space, we keep people separate.

So many ceremonies, you’re all together.

Again, we’re keeping you very separate from each other so that you can have your own independence

experience without worrying about, you know, “Oh, is that person gonna see me crying?”

or like, “I don’t want to be like yelling” or, you know, whatever you need to do to express

your emotion, you don’t need to worry because you’re gonna be on your own. And so then we put

a headset with a curated playlist, which is a lot of the on-be-on music that you’re talking about,

mostly instrumentals, no lyrics. So people are going through their experience like through the music

in the vibration of the music and they’re laying comfortably, typically people just

lay down and they just go through their experience. We don’t encourage blindfolds

but it’s totally like your decision. A lot of the documentaries are showing

clinical settings with blindfolds. We’re doing it outdoors as well so we’re

connecting with nature. Yeah so we’re so you get to either close your eyes and go

more inwards or you get to open your eyes and feel the connection that you will

feel in the medicine with the nature, which is ultimately what the medicine is meant to

do is reconnect us with nature.

JANNINE: So you got me there.

I’m like, cool.

Sign me up, sign me up.

So with all that, you know, I think the other biggest thing that folks are always wondering

about is safety, right?

And like you said, you guys screen for the pre, you know, for pre-existing conditions

and contraindications.

Should someone have, let’s say a psychotic break and they weren’t sure that that was,

like they had no idea that that might show up or things show up. What do you guys have

in place to help folks move through those kind of things?

TARA: Well, I can say in all the years I’ve been doing this, I’ve never seen anyone have a

psychotic break. I think the screening helps with that. Oftentimes people are having a psychotic

experience with a medicine is because they weren’t prepared properly for that experience.

So there’s also a five-week preparatory course that people do online, which is meditation,

breath work, and some journaling exercises just to really start to get you to start to

show up for yourself.

So yeah, so I haven’t seen anybody have a psychotic break because there is such good

screening.

However, if somebody went into that state, obviously, I was a paramedic, so I would know

what to do. And a lot of like, if it’s a like say a bad trip, let’s say like that’s

what it feels like if it if it like this psychotic break is a bad trip, then we’re changing the

setting, we’re changing the music, you know, those are really important things just changing

your environment and then all do some coaching with people to just kind of bring them back

and just to realize that this is a temporary experience and you’re going to be out of the

medicine soon, we can also bring you out of the medicine.

So there are some ways of bringing people out of the medicine.

So those are those are kind of protocols we have in place for those types of

situations, if they were to happen.

JANNINE: You know, I think screening is everything, right?

And and and having someone there that, you know, obviously, because I saw the

history of being a paramedic, I’m like, okay, if anything really, you know,

serious went down, you at least know what to do and get people the proper care.

But also not only that, like having having an eyeball on

on the folks, right?

As they’re going through it and being able to talk them

through and help them, it’s so huge.

So huge. 

TARA: Yeah, absolutely.

JANNINE: So one of the things that we haven’t talked about

is your book. 

TARA: Okay.

JANNINE: And this is, it’s a very bold title for the book, “Nude.”

So it’s “Nude,” saying goodbye to who you thought you were

and stepping into who you are, correct?

That’s a delicate right. 

TARA: Yeah.

JANNINE: Okay. 

TARA: Yeah.

JANNINE: So tell us a little bit about the book

And inspiration, obviously, your story, but also, yeah,

it gives a little bit of background about the book, too.

TARA: Yeah.

So the book is my personal transformation in my own life.

Because I went from somebody who was insecure, who believed

in Cinderella’s stories, who believed that life owed me

something, and was always looking for that thing,

and that when challenges would come in,

I’d be like, what did I do wrong?

Like, I was existing in that state and program.

My program was that.

And so what I learned as I went through my life

is that every single experience

that feels difficult or challenging

because those are also our perspective on them

because really what is bad and what is good.

I mean, that’s personal, right?

So, but challenges actually are what help us

to breed our own wisdom.

They’re what help us to grow.

They’re what help us to be redirected.

And so depending on where you are in your spiritual path,

and this was kind of my kind of intro to spirituality,

I started to realize that there was patterns

happening in my life.

And I’m like, this is really interesting,

like what is happening in my life?

And so the book is actually a prescriptive memoir.

So it’s my story, but it’s also a guide for people

to help access the understanding wisdom of their own story

and understanding like, why did these things happen to me?

What, like, if that breakup didn’t happen,

then I wouldn’t be here.

Or like, just taking like this kind of birds eye view

of your life and seeing, oh, look,

I kept attracting these types of relationships

into my life until I did this.

And then when I did this, everything shifted.

And then I met the man of my dreams.

So it’s just really this way of navigating your own life

so that when challenges do come into play,

like you’re like, okay, what are you trying to teach me?

You start to become kind of like the student

as opposed to the victim.

And so I was the victim of my life for so long.

And then I was like, wait a second,

there’s so much wisdom here.

There’s so many gifts that came

from those horrible experiences

that we have to go through.

And I am so grateful for every single experience

that I’ve been through.

The book talks about my experience in Haiti

during the earthquakes in 2010.

I was there as a humanitarian.

And just like having these contrasts of what it’s like

and in a place where it’s mass chaos and poverty

and then coming back to working as a paramedic

in a developed country

and just how much we take for granted

and all of the wisdom and insights from those experiences.

And a lot of the stories that are about my love life

and the horrible things are the positive things

in the end that happened.

And it’s very raw.

There’s a lot of controversial issues in there as well,

controversial decisions, we all have them.

And I’m very honest.

And so that was my book.

And the feedback’s been really great though

because I was really fearful.

So release it because of the controversy in it,

but everybody’s supportive and I feel like,

I feel like a lot of women can really relate to my story.

Yeah, so that’s kind of the feedback I’ve gotten on it.

JANNINE: Oh, I don’t doubt it.

I mean, we as women, we’re kind of,

how do I say it?

It’s almost like Brainwash and with the Disney Cinderella

stories, right?

And Hallmark, you know, channel.

It’s rough to really think of things in terms of a lesson

versus why not me, why me and why not me

and the whole victimhood, I mean, it’s very huge.

And yeah, it’s beautiful to be able to share your story

and help others ’cause I have no doubt

that sharing the story is definitely going to inspire someone

to take some action here.

Now, we have to talk about,

we’ve talked about the ins and outs,

We haven’t talked about the big picture of the Arcadia healing sanctum.

So tell us a little bit about how folks can find you guys.

Tell us a little bit about more details that maybe they need to know in terms of

website and details and things of that nature.

TARA: Yeah.

So, um, so we are, we have been running retreats in Canada.

Um, we’re just trialing it here.

We were here last summer.

We’re here again, uh, this summer, um, it’s, it’s still on the fence if we’re

to continue. But Mexico retreats are always amazing. I mean, who doesn’t want to go to Mexico? And

it’s so beautiful. The culture is amazing. And so usually our retreats, we’re hosting them in the

jungle in like a, in a very private location, like a gated, like a gated area with a pool. And

we have a chef that we work with. He’s amazing. He has his own story and journey to his own

healing when food was his healing. And then we have we work with like amazing facilitators. We have

incredible um down healers. They’re like a family that they make their own instruments.

And it’s almost like again like you’re going to a symphony. It’s really incredible. And so and

everybody who’s part of Arcadia is really passionate about what they’re doing. And so we have like

like a yoga instructor and she just like absolutely loves

teaching yoga and helping people heal.

And the chef is so passionate about his food

and like he does like a presentation

and then the sound healers are like shittering their medicine.

And so we all bring our own gifts to the experience.

And every single person there has been doing

their own healing work, which is really important as well.

I mean, it’s hard to know that when you’re going

into a place to heal, but sometimes if we’re not doing our own work, we can project onto

others. So, you know, so that’s important too. So that’s been kind of like this beautiful,

like I feel like when I started Arcadia, I just attracted them the right people to work with

me and it’s really flowed from there. So it felt aligned. So you can find more information

about the retreats on ArcadiaHealing.ca and you can either book in for a consult and we’ll just chat

and see if you’re the right fit for a retreat or if it’s even the right thing for you to begin with.

Sometimes there’s other things you can do to get prepared for it and then there’s an

application on there as well and yeah you’ll see photos of our retreats and all the information

in the videos that you mentioned still.

JANNINE: Wonderful stuff.

I mean, you definitely got me thinking,

“Hmm, how could I get myself down there?”

You know, it’s so important to ensure

that the people that you’re working with

are on their own journey.

You know, none of us are perfect.

We’re all, it’s a progression, right?

And I think it’s hugely important to make sure

that whoever you decide to work with,

that someone has done the own work themselves

because it’s one of the things that I realized

as a doctor and an acupuncturist that I needed more work.

And you show up and get a better experience

when you’ve seen someone that’s been doing their own work.

So, that’s not true.

TARA: Yeah, no, for sure.

I feel like you don’t really know

if someone’s doing their work,

but I think you can energetically feel it.

Like you said, you can almost feel it into a way,

You can tell they’re grounded or they’re not.

There is a different energy that comes with somebody that has been doing their own healing

work.

JANNINE: For sure.

Gosh, what great stuff.

I’m looking forward to diving in a little bit more with you and seeing what we can do

for a lot of my clients.

Thank you so much, Tara for coming on.  I sincerely appreciate it.

TARA: Yeah, thank you so much for having me.

It’s been great.

[Outro] Hey, fellow health junkie.

Thanks for listening to the Health Fix podcast.

If you enjoy tuning in, please help support me to get the word out about the podcast.

Subscribe, rate, and review, and just get that word out.

Thanks again for listening.

(upbeat music)