0:00:01.1 Natasha Lannerd, High Guide: The only thing they cared about was the outcome, they wanted to experience pure unbridled joy. And that’s why they were here, and that’s what they were trying to do. That’s all they cared about was the outcome, and of course, they got what the medicine needed to show them, and that can be rough.
0:00:25.1 April Pride, host: Hi, I’m April Pride, your host on The High Guide. This is a show for women who have an open and curious mind, and this is a show all about women changing their lives, thanks to altered states. You just heard from Natasha Lannerd, High Guide, our high guide this season. She was explaining the way a fixed mindset can hijack a psychedelic experience. On this episode, we dive into the mental training necessary to cultivate the emotional strength you’ll need for your psychedelic journey. Have you thought, “Am I getting the most out of my psychedelic journeys?” The good news is yes and no. Yes, and that the medicine as our high guide Natasha pointed out will always give you what you need, and if you’re not preparing your mindset in the weeks and days leading up to your trip, then no, you’re not getting the most out of your psychedelic journeys. And that’s good news as well, because you’ve got lots that’s still possible. And in this episode, we’re going to explore the internal factors that shape our trips.
0:01:29.8 April Pride, host: But before we get into all the ways to set your mind up for success and thus your life, remember to stay to the almost end for our trip tips and remain after I sign off, because we’ll end every episode this season with a 10-minute excerpt from one of The High Guide’s very own guided psychedelic audio journeys produced in partnership with Patchworks. All the sounds you’ll hear throughout this episode are sampled from the High Guide’s journey number five, Episode 32 of this podcast.
0:02:07.4 April Pride, host: Before we jump into the word of the week, I wanna follow up on last week’s information about Delta-8 gummies from DankeSuper. I told you a little bit about my experience with the blood orange 2:1 dummies. And this week, I wanna share a little bit about the Morello cherry, which is a 4:1, that’s 40 milligrams of Delta-8 to 10 milligrams of CBD. Yes, the flavor profiles of these gummies are as excellent as their effects, so what does a 4:1 Delta-8 to CBD? What does that mean? Okay, so taking into consideration our individual tolerance and metabolism, in general, eight milligrams of Delta-8 is the equivalent of five milligrams of THC, so 40 milligrams of Delta-8 is like 25 milligrams of THC, which is a ton of THC in the most legal states.
0:03:00.1 April Pride, host: In fact, 25 milligrams of THC is two and a half times the max single dose of 10 milligrams, and 10 milligrams is four times the two and a half milligram microdose that most people who love gummies love. So if you’ve been following along with me for many years, then you know that CBD can reduce or does reduce the psychoactive effects of THC. So what is the presence of CBD in the formulation of DankeSuper’s gummies mean? Okay, if you’ve been a long time listener of this show, then you perhaps heard insight from Lo Friesen, she’s a chemist and CEO of Heylo Cannabis here in Seattle. I asked her, what does it mean if you’ve got Delta-8 and CBD in this delicious gummy? And she explained, “In general, an edible that’s formulated with distillate, which DankeSuper gummies are, it’ll trigger a head high and with full spectrum formulated edible again, which DankeSuper’s gummies are, you’re absolutely gonna get a more full and rich experience because of the other cannabinoids present.”
0:04:06.2 April Pride, host: And check out episode number 11, Concentrates Are Confusing, on this podcast to learn more about distillate. So DankeSuper’s full spectrum distillate gummies are formulated with CBD to enhance the psychoactive experience of Delta-8. So what does that really mean? Dude, you’re gonna get high AF. [chuckle] I’m just telling you, if you eat the whole gummy, I would recommend if you have a relationship with DHC gummies, even though this is Delta-8, just cut it in four, try one quarter of it, then go for the next quarter about an hour later, it takes about 45 minutes for the onset and you will not be disappointed with the effects. The Morello Cherry is stronger than the blood orange that I talked about last week. So keep that in mind. And when you go to DankeSuper’s website, DankeSuper.co, and that’s D-A-N-K-E-S-U-P-E-R dot C-O. Enter “guide” at check out for 20% off. Alright, back to our show.
0:05:11.1 Natasha Lannerd, High Guide: One of the biggest pieces ahead of ensuring that you have an amazing psychedelic experience is ensuring that there’s a good conversation about laying the ground work, it’s all about set and setting.
0:05:23.3 April Pride, host: Well, we’re starting to understand what it means to create an ideal setting to fully experience a psychedelic experience, and next week’s episode, we’ll get into the first half of this off-sided fundamental of psychedelics set and setting. In today’s episode, and set is short for mindset, which brings us to our actually Words of the Week. According to the psychedelic integration handbook, mindset is the internal piece of your psychedelic journey’s picture. What do you bring from inside yourself, including what’s in your head, your heart and your body, your attitude, disposition, mood, intention, and inclination, all play a role in establishing your mindset.
0:06:11.3 April Pride, host: While we’re on the topic of mindset, it’s important that we point out this idea of growth mindset versus a fixed mindset have been kind of everywhere in the last few years, and it’s based on the work of psychologist Dr. Carol Dweck. We heard at the top of the show from Natasha, what happens when you bring a fixed mindset into your psychedelic journey. You must be open to not having an outcome, not knowing where it’s going to go, and approaching your trip with wonder. So a growth mindset is a belief that intelligence is something that can be developed. Characteristics of people with the growth mindset include enjoying challenges like a psychedelic journey, exhibiting grit, yep, grit your teeth and get through it, and perseverance in the face of challenges.
0:07:01.2 April Pride, host: So much to be learned from trip. You learn from criticism, you see effort as a path to mastery, and generally people with a growth mindset are inspired by the success of others. Okay, let’s compare this to a fixed mindset, the belief that intelligence is something inborn and static, something you either have or you don’t. Sometimes these people try to look smart and avoid challenges for fear of bailing, they may tend to give up easily, ignore useful, critical feedback, see effort as fruitless, and they often feel threatened or jealous of the success of others. Dweck’s work has shown that people with growth mindsets tend to achieve more, while people with fixed mindsets may plateau early in life and ultimately fail to reach their potential. We’re gonna go deep into how your mindset can affect your trip and your integration following.
0:08:03.8 April Pride, host: Okay. I’m excited to get into today’s show because most of my experience with psychedelics has not included properly preparing for blast off, so to speak, but when I do, there’s no question that putting in the time before the medicine is consumed assures much more confidence once I move into a non-ordinary state of consciousness. Competence is a result of so much, including mental training, competence is also a great stand in for the need for control, which is the number one reason people relate to me why psychedelics just isn’t for them. “I like to maintain control.” Or, “I don’t like to not be in control.” Nothing like a good old-fashioned trip to cure you of that fixed mindset. If we know that a growth mindset leads to greater achievement then we must accept that expands to thinking, expanding, growing, demands relinquishing control to a specific outcome or precise way to get the outcome that you want.
0:09:03.1 April Pride, host: Let’s frame this within the context of tripping, the psychedelic integration handbook offered that preparing for trip is analogous to preparing for a trip, like a vacation. Firstly, be mindful about where you’re going, set up your reservations beforehand and know what places you wanna visit based on what you’re interested in experiencing, learning, etcetera. Well, also, you must be open to flexibility and spontaneity that can bring unexpected joy. You also need to expect the unexpected. Those factors that can destroy joy, such as weather, illness and alike. I did some research, I found this quote from Shakespeare, “All things are ready if our mind be so.” And the best way to ready your mind for a trip is to have no set outcome. Rather than approaching a trip with, “I don’t wanna lose control.” Or, “I just wanna fix this part of myself.” Natasha implores us to cultivate the witness, why does losing control calls you to experience fear or panic or anxiety or all three?
0:10:11.0 April Pride, host: How would achieving this outcome create change in all parts of your life? In actuality, do you associate fixing this thing as outcome you need from your trip with fixing yourself?
0:10:26.4 Natasha Lannerd, High Guide: This is just something that I’ve come to believe is just true in my own process, I see it in other people, I see it myself. When you use the language around fixing it, it implies that something’s wrong with you or something is wrong. And the reality of it is, is that all of these parts of ourselves, the reason we feel the discomfort is because we’re just trying to come back to ourselves and be whole. There’s a part of myself that is a totally devastated six-year-old, there’s a part of myself who is a fully online adult, there’s a part of myself who is a crazy pot-smoking teenager.
0:11:00.6 April Pride, host: So when one goes into a trip with the set, the mindset like the psychonaut Natasha mentioned at the top of the show, “This is it, finally unbridled joy will consume my being and shoot me out on the other side, all smiles and surrounded by glitter or bust.” I don’t know, it seems like some disappointment may settle in over the four to six hours when the medicine decides that to appreciate joy, you must first face those parts of your internal world that are simply not so joyous. So not wanting to give up control is a form of self-protection. I don’t wanna look at the things that made me look at all the things, my choices, myself, my life. Okay, maybe you can’t get past losing control, I would argue that preparation for your trip is where you as a psychonaut, get to impose control into this process, starting with setting an intention for your journey.
0:11:57.7 Natasha Lannerd, High Guide: The reason I was really looking forward to our conversation was to find a way to set an intention.
0:12:03.2 April Pride, host: A videographer based in Los Angeles, Maria Prieto, is the baby of the bunch at twenty something. And she wishes to continue to cultivate a flexible or growth mindset.
0:12:15.7 Maria Prieto, Sister Tripper: I guess some of the processes that I’ve been working through on myself is that in the past, I have been that very schedule, regimented person. And it’s very myopic. Just this way, this way, this way. I feel like there’s two classes of looking at intentions. When you’re making an intention and it’s around a goal, it’s great to be hyper-specific. But when you’re making an intention as an explorer, you wanna make sure that you opened the door for the nuance to bring messages, because if we’re so on tracked on exactly, there’s one sentence. Anything that might come up, it’s like, Oh well, that’s not what I’m looking for, I’m gonna set this aside. One of the things that I kind of incorporate in my own personal process is… When I think about what my intention is, is sometimes I’m like, I’m just open to hearing whatever messages, for instance, my body has for me today or my heart.
0:13:10.6 Maria Prieto, Sister Tripper: Or I’m open to receiving the guidance from the beings and angels and ancestors that surround me, I’m open to that dialogue. There’s some ways to welcome in the information, but one of the things that can be helpful is maybe getting clear on where you’d like to hear it, and that’s kind of what I think. Is from the body, from the heart, from your ancestors and guides. Where would you like to connect or I guess put up your antenna? [chuckle]
0:13:41.9 Natasha Lannerd, High Guide: One of the most important things around intention is that it, first of all, it centers the selflessness. Why are you doing this? Why? If you’re just… Look at anything you’ve ever done with your life, you just go to the grocery store, you have no list, you’re super high, and you have the munchies, you’re not getting out of there with anything that makes any sense. You have no why for being there besides the fact that you’re high as hell and you need some munchies. The intention is really kind of that landing thing of like, “I am doing this as a symbol, as a token, as an offering, as a… ” Whatever it is, the intention is the why.
0:14:24.4 April Pride, host: And Maria feels that connecting with her ancestors will help her think more expensively.
0:14:30.1 Maria Prieto, Sister Tripper: I am fascinated by the concept of guides and ancestors really channeling them through my experience, and what I found with this experience is that you kind of just open your eyes to the full picture of everything, and to get guidance from something that is outside of myself would be incredibly beneficial. We left Mexico when I was young, and I felt like I really just wanted to assimilate to the American culture instead of honoring my roots, and it wasn’t until my early 20s that I really felt a desire to connect again with my heritage. So doing that for myself will just be a tremendous experience.
0:15:12.9 April Pride, host: As a person nearly twice Maria’s age, I think of how different things would be for me if I had the right advice, the right dosage, the right mindset going into a psychedelic experience, to have known two decades ago that I too have a high guide, knowing that the pressure isn’t all on me and we can trust the people before us, are still looking out for us.
0:15:36.3 Natasha Lannerd, High Guide: Absolutely, and it really… Is also a good reminder is, it’s so many times in our life, it’s so easy to feel alone, and when you… Through the act of reconnecting to the shoulders that you’re standing on, it can be a really great reminder that you’re not alone, you never were alone, and that’s why you’re here. Just because it’s not necessarily a scene, a scene sense experience doesn’t mean you can’t have a sensory experience otherwise. One thing I also wanna be clear about is there’s an umbrella term of ancestors, I always get specific of elevated ancestors. You want to call in the ancestors and the guides that are elevated and looking to be helpful, loving and caring. The reason that I bring this up is because when I have ancestor conversations with people, some people have relationships with their ancestors or know about relationships with their ancestors, that frankly is not an energy that they wanna welcome in, and that’s totally okay.
0:16:37.1 April Pride, host: Truthfully, when I ask these three women to take a trip after setting an intention, I was surprised that two of the three wanted to commune with their ancestors. I had an “oh shit” moment. What do I, a person very much in forward motion, have to offer on this? But then I remembered that I had previously signed up for a workshop on the history of psychedelics in Africa. There are no coincidences. It was hosted here in Seattle about a month ago by the Liberation Hub, and it featured a guest speaker named Darren Springer or Darren Le Baron on Instagram, and I will include his information and the Liberation Hub’s information in our show notes. I’ll attempt to convey the nuggets of what he shared that helped me get it.
0:17:24.1 April Pride, host: Okay. Within indigenous communities, culture is centered around ancestors. This is rooted in fact that in various mythologies, God is dead, he’s too far away from us. We are not going to be communing with God in our trips, he doesn’t hear us, so the number one communication is with our ancestors, which is exactly what our second sister tripper Lalin intends to do in her psychedelic journey.
0:17:50.8 Lalin St. Juste, Sister Tripper: I’m Lalin St. Juste, singer, performer, producer, based in the Bay Area and also more recently, New York. I am fascinated by the world, by new experiences and also led by my ancestors.
0:18:10.8 Natasha Lannerd, High Guide: Awesome. I was reading your bio and I was immediately drawn into the whole magic of it, I found the bio mesmerizing as the way they describe your voice.
0:18:23.0 Lalin St. Juste, Sister Tripper: I know I got my voice from my maternal grandmother to express myself in that way, but I also have it from my uncle that has passed, and right now I’m really examining my dreams and looking to see what’s coming up in my dreams that can help deepen my connection in terms of my spiritual path as a Haitian woman, and this is all a part of me reclaiming my identity and reclaiming my culture, ’cause I’m a Haitian born in America, I’m Haitian-American, and grew up in a very religious Christian household. So everything that I’m doing in this part of my life is reclamation.
0:19:12.0 Lalin St. Juste, Sister Tripper: I’m fascinated by all the bits, all of the sides of what we experience as humans. And for me, especially the past few years, I’ve learned to go there even more. This is what it means to be alive, is to feel these feelings, and this is how we heal. I’ve been through a divorce, I just healed some sexual trauma stuff or not. That’s always a work in progress. But just there’s always an undercurrent there that can be dived into, and I welcome that experience for this. My doors are open for this to say, “Hey, if I need to ball then this is the perfect time to do it.” I’m into crying in general, but I really wanna ugly cry wail
0:20:14.6 April Pride, host: We’ll get to the ugly crying later in this series in a future episode. First, let’s hear from our final sister tripper for the season, Adelia Carrillo.
0:20:23.7 Adelia Carillo, Sister Tripper: I recently moved to Arizona, we’ve lived here now for about a year. I am from California, I lived my whole life in California, so I was really focused on building this amazing career in the consumer electronic industry. I ended up having an ectopic pregnancy, which led to an emergency surgery, and after that, it just… It brought up a lot of other things that happened in my childhood. But then it also, it was just… It transformed me, I completely lost myself for a good year. I didn’t wanna leave the house, I was just anxious and going through a lot all the time, but that’s when my fiance actually re-introduced me to cannabis. I smoked when I was in high school, I didn’t know anything medical about it, and so that was kind of the journey of what led into…
0:21:17.2 Adelia Carillo, Sister Tripper: Two years ago when I started doing psychedelics, there was more to life that I wanted, I wanted a good career, but I also wanted to be happy and I wanted to be able to build my own voice, build my own role, and then COVID happened. After about six months, I started researching psychedelics and it was because my anxiety was starting to come back, I also knew that I do work… I’m a over-achiever, I work a lot, so I’m like, I need to kind of hone into that because at the end of the day, I’m just gonna push myself too hard. I can’t do that for the rest of my life. I work too much. And there’s obviously a reason why I do that.
0:21:53.5 April Pride, host: I love the self-reflection from Adelia about working too much and how sustainable this is, this hits me so personally. Same with Maria looking to soften her fixed approach to her creative process. Yep, and Lalin explicitly saying, “This is what it means to be alive, to feel these feelings.” As we continue to listen to these women’s journeys and integration unfold, we’ll see the value of being open to change, how they show up for work and for themselves, and the emotional strength that’s needed to move in a new direction that comes with shutting control, shutting fear of doing it differently, feeling it differently. That comes back to shutting a fixed mindset, and that starts by understanding that setting an intention for a psychedelic experience by definition means you’re coming in with an aim, not a precise outcome. This may be the time to remind us all that it’s about the journey, not the destination.
0:22:56.3 April Pride, host: Thank you to Maria, Lalin and Adelia for opening up to us as they prepare for their psychedelic experience, and thank you to each of you, our listeners for continuing on this journey with me and The High Guide. Before we wrap up today’s episode, I’m gonna share some trip tips that will help you get your mindset straight in the weeks and days leading up to your trip. Remember what I said earlier in the show, fostering the right mindset and setting yourself up to best support the intention you’ve created, this is a way for you to impose control in this process, and it starts with intentionality and the weeks and days leading up to your trip. About a month before begin journaling, this reinforces what you’re looking for to in this experience specifically. And what you want from life in general.
0:23:44.4 April Pride, host: Right with the stream of consciousness a week, or perhaps for some of us, a day before our trip, start thinking about what you’re eating and consider fasting. The week leading up to your psychedelic experience, focus on fruits and vegetables with little to no alcohol and caffeine. If you’re really serious, cut that out. Keep in mind that three days is plenty to get your system prepped. And on the day of, have only fruits and liquids, nothing within four hours of taking the medicine, and definitely come to your trip having taken a bath or a shower, so you can feel fresh.
0:24:31.1 April Pride, host: Thank you for listening to this episode of The High Guide. I’m your host, April Pride. And please tune in next week when Natasha shares with our sister trippers her secrets for an ideal setting or sacred space in which you’re gonna journey. Please check out our website, thehigh.guide for more information on The High Guide, and for this episode show notes. Please remember to rate and review the show on Apple Podcast, give us a heart on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. It really does help more people find the show. I leave you with a ten-minute sample from The High Guide Psyched Audio series. You’re listening to the psychedelic audio journey number five. Best year yet! Featured in episode number 32 and produced in partnership with Patchworks. See you on the other side.
