Psychedelic Concierge
California
"You can do all the medicine work that you want but if you don’t have community and support, what are you doing? We need to be connecting and working together to move forward. That should be a major force in medicine work in general, and it has to be inclusive."
What is your offering right now?
I consider myself a psychedelic facilitator and a very strong space holder. Breathwork is also a big part of my offering. I like to focus on serving and working with medicine on retreats.
What medicines are you currently working with?
I am serving Bufo and mushrooms in places where they are legal. I think overall the stigma around Bufo and other stronger psychedelics is changing, and being that I serve them in a slower, sweeter, more feminine style, that is my secret weapon.
What is Bufo?
The Bufo Alvarius is an incredible little toad from the Sonoran Desert in Mexico. We extract its poison, dry and then smoke it, creating a beautiful psychedelic known as 5-MeO-DMT. It is a direct heart medicine, allowing you to release yourself and ego. I find it to be a very physical practice, which is why I focus heavily on body mapping, meditation and breathwork before. Bufo is an incredible tool to remind you of who you are and how important it is to be present and feel.
Why do you prefer it on retreats?
It really allows one to settle into the body, to rest and recharge. In these spaces we can work with mushrooms or bufo to help us return to nature. I then use the breath work and other practices as a way to help you integrate it, so that when you leave the retreat you have the tools that you need to continue.
What are some of your other offerings?
In addition to retreats and one-on-one sessions, I have been working on facilitating large scale breathwork journeys with Mara Hoffman, using sound, vibration and somatic energy clearing. Clearing space has also been very important to me lately and I have been doing a lot of house clearings, and gratitude blessings to the land. There is a lot of stagnant energy that needs to be moved right now.
What does a session with you look like?
It's usually a prepared date and you come ready to spend a good five or six hours together. My focus is to create a beautiful, safe, cleared space where you can have an intimate relationship with the medicine itself. I'm there to hold and protect the space, and guide if necessary. We start with tea, then body mapping and a 40 minute breathwork experience before going into the medicine.
How does the breath work help the integration?
After having gone through this experience, you are really aware of the connection to breath, to your own stillness. And it's something that I highly recommend for everyone who sits with any medicine. It brings you back into a place of love by memory, by sensation, by practice. Breathwork is really about letting things go and letting new things come in, allowing it to come through and out of you. The breath simply reminds you you're actually here and alive.
How did you get into this work?
I went through my own wild death journey with a career that was no longer suiting me in a city that was not where I needed to be. I was going through some major soul searching and wanted to explore deeper medicine work. I was also helping a friend get sober at the time, who needed a shoulder and some fresh ideas. By suggesting Ibogaine and seeing her go through the process, I opened up to the idea of working with Bufo. I had some amazing experiences and started assisting the practitioner who first served me.
Is that who you learned from?
I studied with him and we learned from each other. But then I spent three years going around and finding every female facilitator that I could. I ended up learning from a lot of elder women - one American, one Swiss, and one from India. I really immersed myself in the world. I tried to find all the women working with it - as I believe it is a very feminine medicine and it allows you to tap into this beautiful sense of femininity. So that was a big part of my journey, just bringing all these women together.
How do people find you?
It's always been this sense of word of mouth. When I started working with the medicine, I really had many conversations with the toad itself about not soliciting and letting the medicine bring whoever it is going to bring. In these last few months and with these expansive breath work experiences, I realized that I always had a deep desire to facilitate and hold space for others.
How does this personal work have a more expansive impact beyond oneself?
I think everyone is depleted. Between the stories and visuals, what's real and what’s not. Taking the time to nurture yourself is just spiritual hygiene. You need to be sweeping your front deck to let new energy in. The other thing you need to do is constantly remind yourself of how amazing your body is. How can you be there for your loved ones and community if you can’t be sweet and kind to yourself? Especially as you get older, slowing down is sexy.
What are your daily rituals?
I’m doing the Artist’s Way again, so morning pages. I spend the first part of the morning with my dogs, walking without my phone. Talking and listening to my guides, being in conversation with them. Getting my candles and sage going. At the end of the day, movement and dance. I’m also doing this 100 day challenge called Fascia Flossing - I’m in the middle of it and it’s bananas!
What are some of the things that you keep on your altars?
First of all, my probiotics. If I need to remember something it’s up there. I have water, I have the offerings. I have weapons, crystals, the whole nine, and there's always some castor oil somewhere.
What are words of wisdom that you always find yourself sharing? Or a favorite piece of advice?
Oh, I say so many. They make fun of me. Let go. Let God. Goodbye. God bless. And that's just energy. Goodbye. God bless. See you later.
I love the advice that I recently got again from the Artist’s Way: success happens in clusters. You can put that to a thousand and one ways, but it's the same thing with love, right? Love is very successful when there's a group.
What are 3 books you recommend?
Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants
The Woman Who Turned into a Jaguar
Photos by Miki Ash
