The HighExistence Podcast

“It is integration that unlocks the next step, or the next stage, in that process, and if you’re not integrating, you’ll often find yourself looping”- Eric Brown, HEx Podcast #63If there’s anyone worth listening to on the topic of integration, it’s Eric Brown.Eric is the director of Apotheosis, our spiritual-psychedelic plant medicine retreat, as well as a content writer and program creator at Mindbloom, the largest provider of psychedelic medicine therapy in the world. He has designed, developed, and run thousands of people through the psychedelic integration process, in both therapeutic and shamanic settings. I have heard and read much on the topic of integration, but never before has it been presented to me so clearly and usefully as here, as if it were a chapter out of an ancient shamanic textbook, translated for modern times. “Making this new way of being so normalized that you don’t even have to think about the thing, it just happens. With this, over time, second nature becomes a way of being, and this is what I would consider a complete and thorough integration of whatever the lesson, experience, insight, or feeling is. It becomes effortless and natural, and it becomes a hallmark of who you are.”- Eric Brown, HEx Podcast #63If you have a psychedelic experience coming up, or you feel you may have some not-yet-fully resolved material from a previous one, this is the episode for you. In this episode:· Eric’s experience in the psychedelic field· What is integration?· Why is it necessary?· The shamanic stages of relationship with the plants· The 7 step process of integration· The PEMS energetics model· The 3-day initiation model· Integration timelines, and what usually occurs in each phase· Can you integrate with another psychedelic experience?· Why you might not be getting any new messages/insights· How to know when you’re done integrating· Where to find support for this processPlease leave a review if you enjoy The HighExistence podcast. Interested in working with psychedelics in a safe, reliable setting? Check out Apotheosis, our one-of-a-kind plant medicine retreat.

Anxiety Rewired goes live on Sunday, August 21st. Get a text the moment it becomes available here: https://rewired.ju.mp"The aim of Anxiety Rewired is to reframe the pursuit of working on our anxiety as a path to mastery. As something that is epic and challenging and fun, and extremely fulfilling and rewarding. That's what it's been for me and that's what I would really like it to be for you too."In this final chapter of our 3 part series on overcoming anxiety, Jon and Mike dissect the remaining parts of Jon's history with anxiety, extracting massive amounts of wisdom, tools and techniques that allowed Jon to go from being crippled with multiple forms of anxiety, to hosting workshops for thousands of people on how to overcome them all.We also flesh out our course, Anxiety Rewired, in a way that leaves no stones unturned. By the end of this video, you will have a clear idea of what the next best step is for you on your journey to overcome whatever specific strain of anxiety you're struggling with at the moment.IN THIS EPISODE:00:00 Who is Anxiety Rewired Designed for?00:30 Welcome01:50 Jon shares his deepest experience of being stuck in an anxiety rut08:40 Other manifestations of anxiety in Jon’s life11:10 How to heal from panic attacks18:20 What doors opened up for Jon as he started to overcome his anxiety22:25 The story of how this course came to be25:55 What makes Anxiety Rewired unique?27:26 The 4 maps that we’ll use to overcome anxiety 33:06 The magic that happens when you combine practices with insights from the leading research36:00 What’s included in the course?43:39 A word from Jon for those sitting on the fencePlease leave a review if you enjoy The HighExistence podcast.

The Anxiety Masterclass is HERE! 🎊In this episode, we present to you part 1 of the 3-part series hosted by Mike Slavin and Jon Brooks.Sign up here for the full 3-part training 💥These videos are for you if...- Anxiety paralyzes you, robbing you of your joy, curiosity, and vitality.- You’re losing your future by missing out on opportunities because of anxiety...- You struggle to be truly authentic with people and it stops you from building meaningful relationships- It prevents you from making more money and getting the freedom you want.- You’re fed up with the chokehold anxiety has on your life and emotions…- It blocks you from fully supporting your family & friends, and giving your love.- The fear of failure shuts off your productivity and creative expression.Here's what's included in this episode:00:00 Welcome02:11 What we are going to cover in this Masterclass02:38 What is anxiety?11:02 What is possible on the other side of anxiety?14:23 The pressure to say the "right" things16:30 The Personal Failing Trap: "Something's wrong with me."21:47 The Avoidance Trap: "Stay away from triggering situations."28:29 The Elimination Trap: "I just need to get my anxiety to stop."33:31 Can you really heal your anxiety?36:25 Overcome mind blank for effortless conversations44:16 What's coming in the next videoPlease leave a review if you enjoy The HighExistence podcast.

Cris Beasley has become a profoundly influential force in my life.Her ability to go directly to the places where we are hiding, playing it small, and not owning the raw realities of our human experience is remarkable.Her path from the tech world to being CEO of an AI company, to psychedelic facilitator, medicine woman, and oracle creator is as vibrant and rich as her personality.Cris has several amazing achievements under her belt:Working with Mozilla to shape the open internet.The trials and tribulations of being a CEO.Creating the ‘Cult of Busyness’ immersive workshop experiencePsychedelic facilitation and retreat workCreating the Becoming Dragon oracle deckHer new microdosing experience+ much moreCris is as emotionally attuned as she is wise. As witty as she is serious. It’s been an incredible process to watch her grow, evolve, and continue to execute with a combination of quality, speed, vigour, and grace. Bridging the shamanic and the scientific, the emotional and the intellectual, Cris is a deeply strong, powerful, and loving voice in the space of emotional intelligence, personal healing, and experience design. You can find her at:Becoming DragonSubstackMicrodosing ExperienceEnjoy this episode of the HighExistence podcast with Cris Beasley!Please leave a review if you enjoy The HighExistence podcast. DIVE DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE and get 5+ mind-blowing ideas, tools, or quotes sent to you every Wednesday.

“Here’s the funny thing: when I ask someone to tell me what his or her wildest dream is, they dilute it. Ten times out of ten, people sell themselves short”Steve Sims Our guest on the podcast today should never have been able to succeed in business or in life. Growing up as a bricklayer in London, England, all the odds were against him achieving the kind of outlandish success he’s been able to claim so far, but it’s clear that the universe didn’t expect someone with Steve Sims’ heart, ingenuity, and initiative to appear and to turn traditional forms of networking on their heads. I first came across Steve Sims in his absurdly motivating book, Bluefishing, which tells the story of his company that makes seemingly unreasonable requests come true. The company is called Bluefish, and they’re who you call if you want to sing on stage with Journey, eat dinner in front of Michelangelo’s David, or visit the undersea wreckage of the Titanic. He’s orchestrated all of these experiences for his clients and many more besides. Steve is just an absolute magician when it comes to making the impossible possible, so listen to today’s episode if you’re open to receiving a ton of inspiration to get out there and make big things happen. He teaches that there is a password for every door, a weak spot in every wall, and if we would only stop selling ourselves short and start taking massive action, we might just be able to make that wall come down. Especially important to understand, moreover, is that in today’s business environment, mean guys finish last. A new, longer-term, more generous form of networking is making the old, manipulative kind of networking obsolete, and Steve Sims is helping to lead the way. I hope that you finish this episode just brimming with inspiration and courage, and leave with the understanding that you can get pretty much anything you want in life, so long as you help enough other people get what they want.What We Cover: What makes an entrepreneur an entrepreneur?The most important skills for futureproofing yourselfHow to break away from the rest and make yourself memorableWhy being you is the most powerful marketing tactic there isCommunicating your message clearly, without dilutionThe importance of surrounding yourself with people who are further along than youPlease leave a review if you enjoy The HighExistence podcast. You’ve gone Down The Rabbit Hole. Now it’s time to walk up The Stairway to Wisdom.Introducing a brand new weekly newsletter from the minds at HighExistence.Over the past year, we’ve been publishing the wonder-inducing weekly email known as “Down The Rabbit Hole,” and now we’re taking it a step further.We want our readers not only to feel a deep sense of enchantment towards the world around them but also to apply deep teachings to their daily life so they can experience the life-transforming benefits of wisdom-in-action.The Stairway to Wisdom is a premium weekly newsletter for those who are ready to dive deeper. We’ve partnered with independent researcher and knowledge connoisseur, Matt Karamazov, who has taken sharp, meticulous notes on over 1000 books so that he could share the most inspiring pearls of wisdom with the world.Learn more here

Psychedelics can cause harm. Don’t get me wrong, I love psychedelics. But I also acknowledge their potential to bring about profoundly unwanted changes in the psyche.Yet, with the ever-more abundant influx of news focussing on the life-changing benefits of these substances, the very real risks that pose are getting drowned out, leaving us with only one-half of the full picture.The way that our information channels are structured these days, if we don’t want to hear about something, we usually don’t. We also tend to be over-eager to find The Solution to all our problems. Psychedelics, for many, are taking on this projection. It’s not uncommon to hear people talking about the psychedelic renaissance as though it were the second coming. Ed Prideaux is on a mission to stop some of this psychedelic naivety in its tracks, by speaking up about his experience with hallucinogen persisting perception disorder (HPPD). Remember those LSD horror stories that your mum told you, about that guy who took LSD and never stopped tripping? Well, this is sort of like that (although HPPD is not the same as ‘permatripping’, as you’ll hear Ed clarify) except this is no horror story. The week after Ed’s fourth LSD trip, he noticed that the carpets were sparkling and the walls were melting. These effects, along with a handful of others, have not totally left him, 6 years on.This phenomenon is far more common than you might think. A recent study of 2455 psychedelic users reported that a quarter of participants said that they experienced lingering perceptual changes days and weeks after a psychedelic experience and that 1 in 25 found these changes to be so distressing that they considered seeking clinical help.The conversation that Ed brings to the table goes far beyond just HPPD. It extends into an axiom-altering exploration of the narratives around ‘really bad trips’, the fundamental flaws of the current mental health framework, and the fluid nature of reality itself. What We Cover: What is HPPD?Ed’s personal experience with HPPDThe connection between anxiety and perceptionAdvice for someone who thinks they might have HPPDThe problem with overidentifying with a particular form of sufferingCan you use psychedelics again if you have HPPD?The gifts of neurodiversityStan Grof’s controversial treatment for HPPDHow to make a psychedelic experience as well-held as possibleThe fundamental skill to have in the psychedelic experienceThe intersection of this psychedelic moment with the metaversePsychedelic narcissism DIVE DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE and get 5+ mind-blowing ideas, tools, or quotes sent to you every Wednesday.Please leave a review if you enjoy The HighExistence podcast.

Stoicism is often thought of as a collection of theoretical concepts and ideas that one learns by reading books and consuming Stoic content. In this solocast, Jon Brooks proposes that a true Stoic is more like a Martial Artist. To become undefeatable, we need to practice and refine our skills so that we are ready for the real battles when they come.If you’re ready to put down the book and step into the arena, sign up for Askesis: our 10 week Online Stoic Bootcamp.

"If we’re in a fully awakened state, trauma’s not a problem. In a sense, it’s not trauma. It just becomes something beloved. It becomes washed through with love and acceptance. That’s the healing."Henry Shukman, HEx Podcast #55We embark on our healing journeys with intentions to remove the thorns in our sides because these thorns are problematic.Initially, it seems that the way to go about this is to grab the tweezers and squeeze them out, one by one, until we are rid of them all. This is generally the attitude that the Western mental health paradigm takes towards trauma and mental illness. Looking to the East, we see a different approach taken towards suffering. One in which those thorns become enveloped in unconditional love and acceptance, thereby draining them of their problem-ness altogether. "Awakening" and "healing" are often used synonymously even though they mean two different things.Healing is the process by which we become whole again. The word implies a fixing of that which is broken. A bettering of that which needs improvement. An integration of that which has been separated.Awakening refers to the realization of the non-dual nature of reality. The recognition that, on the deepest level, there is nothing to fix because nothing can be broken. There is nothing to improve because it is all already perfect. There is nothing to be integrated because it is, always has been, and always will be, whole.So does this mean then that all attempts at healing are a waste of time and that we should just drop everything and head straight for awakening? According to Henry Shukman, the answer is no…There is a middle way. And he has walked it.Henry is a meditation teacher who has used a combination of various meditative practices alongside psychotherapy, plant medicine, and other healing practices to synergise these two processes in his own life for maximum effect. From overwhelming eczema to profound awakening, and then into deep despair and back, Henry eventually forged a path that has led to a long-lasting sense of wholeness and peace that radiates throughout this interview. He has found a sweet spot between the paths of healing and awakening and in this episode, he sprinkles the breadcrumbs behind him so that you and me can do the same.What We Cover:Henry’s spontaneous awakening experience and the darkness that ensued afterwardWhat happens to trauma when we awaken?The ultimate antidote to lonelinessWhere to start with non-duality if you have traumaHow to work with koansIs awakening possible for regular people?Henry’s favorite resources on ZenHow to find the right teachers and practices for youIs it possible to make serious progress through online training?Please leave a review if you enjoy The HighExistence podcast. JOIN HENRY AT METAMORPHOSIS, A FREE 3-Day online transformational event, to learn a powerful set of transformative practices for peace, passion, and meaning