Medicine

Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.

— Hippocrates

“Medicine” is not about labeling a bunch of problems and finding a chemical solution for each one. The medicine aspect of healing is about tapping into each person’s innate wisdom and figuring out for the individual what feels right, good, and whole.

Movement + Mindfulness + Medicine (M+M+M) focuses on the role of Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy for initiating and supporting the establishment of wellness through personal and spiritual insight, and Functional Medicine for establishing health via lifestyle balance.

Mental health does not exist independent of physical health, so prioritizing physical wellness is foundational for recovery. It is amazing how many of us are walking around feeling terrible and convinced our problem is psychological in nature when really the answer could be a physiological one. Depressed? It might be the result of low vitamin D levels or a sluggish thyroid. Anxious? It might be a problem with your ability to break down B vitamins or a food allergy. Sleepless? Maybe your metabolism needs some TLC or your shifting hormones might be playing a contributing role. Sadly, conventional medicine only treats symptoms and fails to address the “bigger picture.” If we don’t consider diet, lifestyle, and sleep as major factors in our wellness, we might end up with chronic health issues and a host of pharmaceutical treatments that could cause more harm than good. M+M+M follows a functional medicine perspective: that the body and mind are one—health is the result of finding balance for the whole organism.

In many ways, we are more alike than not alike, but it is in those differences where health success can be so varied. M+M+M is dedicated to exploring each individual’s path toward wellness while keeping in mind that one size does NOT fit all. Healing is individual, healing is multifaceted, and the process includes a path you forge via an emphasis on self-awareness and the building of self-knowledge. A comprehensive health history and the exploration of individual personal goals are established in the relationship. Topics like nutrition, lifestyle, sleep, and exercise are vital components for building an individualized plan for wellness.

Working closely with Naturopathic and Functional medicine professionals to explore:

Detoxification concerns
Physiological stress management
Sleep cycle regulation
Supplementation
Therapeutic nutrition

The “medicine” part of this is not about labeling a bunch of problems and finding a solution to each one. The medicine aspect of healing is about tapping into each person’s innate wisdom and figuring out for the individual what feels right, good, and whole. The experience is uniquely individualized. Each client is asked to track several days/weeks’ worth of activity, diet, and sleep while reflecting on mood, focus, anxiety levels, and digestion activity. Psycho-education is emphasized and discussions focus on a basic understanding of the body and physiology. Changes are discussed and agreed upon and added to the client’s protocol in a manner that is conservative enough to track changes, but aggressive enough to find rapid relief.

Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy (PAP) is not new to mental health but has a long history, grounded in both scientific inquiry as well as indigenous wisdom. Due to a complicated political background, the use of PAP is illegal with the exception of participation in clinical trials. However, the FDA is in the final process of approving MDMA (methylenedioxymethamphetamine, or street name “ecstasy”) for use in the treatment of PTSD, and the drug psilocybin (“magic mushroom”) is not far behind. Please see these two Huberman Labs episodes below for more information. This means that in the next year or two these medicines could be accessible within the spectrum of trained, therapeutic professional uses.

Psychedelics produce expanded states of being, or non-ordinary states of consciousness (NOSC), which are vital components within the psychedelic-assisted therapy experience. NOSCs appear to be the result of a lowering of activity in a region of the brain called the default mode network (DMN). The DMN is the brain region that maintains the uninterrupted activity of cognition. This means that the daydreaming, inner talk, or random thinking that each human experiences during unfocused moments is managed by the DMN. When the DMN is quieted or repressed, the individual is able to experience conscious moments that are not interrupted by the unhelpful and often inaccurate running monologue/narratives of the human experience. Psychology has often referred to these inner conversations as “ego” and it is the ego that prevents humans from seeing things as they actually exist—free from disruptive projection, labeling, and evaluating. The result is the experience of the mind without critical, ruminating, and complicated thoughts.

Eastern thought and philosophy have provided the world with many exercises that train the brain to be presently focused, and thus essentially tame the ego’s “itty bitty shitty committee.” Meditation, or mindfulness (etc.), are concepts birthed from the goal of seeking solace from all that internal chatter. Unfortunately, meditation practices, although incredibly effective— require a commitment to daily practice. Just like doing sets and reps at the gym to build strength, meditation requires sets and reps of practice to build strength in concentration to inhibit the DMN. Although meditation is an incredibly effective tool for depression, anxiety, and other mental health concerns— it is not (initially) accessible to everyone. Psychedelic medicines provide alternative opportunities to temporarily decrease DMN activity, thus providing the individual with an understanding and appreciation of these expanded states of existence without committing thousands of hours of practice before reaping this reward. With an appreciation of perspective garnered from a quieter brain, access to experiences of meditation becomes richer, more robust, and purposefully understood.

Medicine for healing: It is important to state that psychedelic experiences are not for everyone. Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy (PAP) is a process that is structured around non-ordinary states of consciousness (NOSC). As a PAP therapist, it is vital that knowledge, education, and personal experience with NOSC are firmly rooted within the framework of the psychedelic therapeutic relationship. Both partners of M+M+M have personal and professional backgrounds in the Eastern concepts of yoga and mindfulness/meditation and are formally trained in the assessment, handling, and use of psychedelic substances for psychotherapy.

KETAMINE

Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) is a legal psychedelic treatment model combining the use of the prescription drug ketamine with psychotherapy. Unlike conventional psychopharmacological treatments that often take many weeks to reveal their effects, ketamine is used to catalyze the therapy process providing immediate relief from psychological and physical suffering. In fact, ketamine has changed the way scientists view depression symptoms due to how it works as a fast-acting antidepressant. A single low dose can produce antidepressant effects within four hours and for some patients, those effects can last for several weeks.

In addition, ketamine is classified as a dissociative anesthetic, which means it facilitates a sense of disconnection from one’s ordinary reality and the usual sense of self. At dosages prescribed for therapy, one will most likely experience mild anesthetic, anti-anxiety, anti-depressant, and potentially psychedelic effects. People often report an experience of relaxation from typical concerns, while maintaining conscious awareness of their flow and ebb of mind. This purposeful disruption of old patterns of thought tends to provide relief from negative mind states and obsessional preoccupations. Ketamine’s tendency to quiet sensory information from the body can also support trauma-informed healing and some people report it quiets chronic pain responses. Under the careful guidance and attention of a trained facilitator, this synergistic model of medicine and therapy supports the healing of nervous system wounds from the past, and possibly the exploration of expanded states of being.

MOVEMENT

MINDFULNESS

MEDICINE