Workshop with Christine Hauskeller
Osiris Sinuhé González Romero earned his PhD at Leiden University, in the Faculty of Archaeology – Heritage of Indigenous Peoples. Currently, he is a Postdoctoral researcher on cognitive liberty and psychedelic humanities at the University of Saskatchewan. He is an affiliate researcher within the Philosophy and Psychedelics Exeter Research Group, and also collaborates as a member of the Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines.
Noa Latham works primarily in the fields of metaphysics and the philosophy of mind and has written on laws of nature, causation, the mind-body problem, consciousness, free will, and meditation.
Ed is a freelance writer, journalist, and forthcoming graduate of the University of East London in Psychology. Ed lived with the effects of HPPD for seven years, and worked as a public advocate and operations lead for the Perception Restoration Foundation, a nonprofit that raises awareness about the condition.
Ravi is an associate professor based in the Clinical Psychopharmacology Unit (CPU) at University College London. His research aims to develop more effective treatments for substance use, eating and anxiety disorders, with a focus on neuroplasticity and memory modulation.
Ya’Acov has been studying and practicing shamanism all his life. When he was 21, he was hit by lightning and through this, began a three-decade-long journey of initiation. He has been recognised as a practicing shaman by Elder Shamans from the Sami (European tradition), and Achuar and Sápara peoples of the Amazon. Together with his wife Susannah, he is the Co-Creator of Movement Medicine…
Luis Eduardo Luna was born in Florencia, Caquetá, in the Colombian Amazon. After studies of philosophy and theology with the Piarist Fathers in Bogotá and Spain, he left the order to study Latin American Literature at Universidad Complutense de Madrid. In 1971 he met Terence McKenna with whom he took yajé, a psychoactive preparation used by several indigenous ethnic groups of the Amazon. He obtained an interdisciplinary M.A. and then a Ph.D. in Comparative Religion and taught Latin American literature at Oslo University.
I am a research fellow at the School of Pharmacy, University of Auckland. My research focusses on using electroencephalography (EEG) and computational modelling to provide a mechanistic understanding of how drugs and disorder affect the brain. I have worked with ketamine, scopolamine, LSD in the context of understanding novel treatments for depression.
Marta Santuccio is an expanded consciousness and embodiment facilitator, PhD in philosophy on the metaphysics of consciousness (Central European University, Vienna) and Holotropic Breathwork facilitator. She leads journeys that blend metaphysics enquiry with experience in natural non-ordinary and embodied states to offer a unique process of self-transformation, preparation and integration of psychedelics states and mystical experiences.
Although nature connection is widely recommended for psychedelic preparation and integration, the current approach is piecemeal and fairly superficial: The potential power of nature connection is yet to be realised. The key to this potential lies in the parallels between the altered states facilitated by nature and the psychedelic experience. I consider these parallels using my experiential iceberg model and propose a process that underpins both states (Harris, 2016). While there’s been limited application of ecotherapy to psychedelic integration so far, I’ll outline related work we’ve done at Synthesis Retreats
Alexander Beiner is a writer and podcaster. He’s one of the executive directors of Breaking Convention, and the author of the upcoming book The Bigger Picture: How Psychedelics can Help us Make Sense of the World, published by Hay House in June 2023. In 2018, he co-founded Rebel Wisdom, an alternative media and events platform that grew to a quarter of a million subscribers, and became an influential node in the systems change, personal growth and sense-making communities.
David is an Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research. He completed his Doctoral training in psychology at the University of Pennsylvania where he conducted research using psychometrics, computational linguistic analysis, virtual reality, and non-invasive brain stimulation. His research focus is on the psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and psychopharmacology of spiritual, self-transcendent, and positively transformative experiences triggered with psychedelic substances and through other means.
Wayne Hall is an Emeritus Professor at the National Centre for Youth Substance Use Research at the University of Queensland and the Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences. He was: a Professor at the National Addiction Centre, Kings College London (2014-2019); Director of Centre for Youth Substance Abuse Research (2014-2016), NHMRC Australia Fellow, the University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research (2009-2014), Professor of Public Health Policy, School of Population Health (2005-2009), Director of the Office of Public Policy and Ethics, Institute for Molecular Bioscience (2001-2005) and Executive Director of the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (1994-2001).
Dr Yogi Hale Hendlin is Sustainability Lead in the Design, Impact and Technology (DIT) platform, core faculty of the Dynamics of Inclusive Prosperity Initiative, and assistant professor in the Erasmus School of Philosophy, at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Yogi also serves as Research Associate in the Environmental Health Initiative at the University of California, San Francisco.
Dennis McKenna, brother of Terence McKenna, is a true psychedelic elder. Among his many engagements and accomplishments, he has conducted research in ethnopharmacology for over 40 years, is a founding board member of the Heffler Research Institute, and was a key investigator on the Hoasca Project, the first biomedical investigation of ayahuasca.
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