At Fractal Soul we strongly believe (and teach) that you are ultimately responsible for your own journey through life. This includes all accomplishments, all failures, all lifestyle-related health conditions, all mental health healing, and the habits, decisions and intentional practices you act upon to get there.

It is helpful to think of both your Psilocybin Facilitator and your Health Coach (who may be the same person) as someone who is coming alongside you during your journey. They are there to hold your hand, to encourage and support you, to answer questions, and provide insight and perspective. They are your companion and advocate. They celebrate your successes and support you through your failures.

Walking alongside you means they are not going to be walking ahead of you – leading or pulling you along – or behind you, pushing you along either. They should exert no influence that is unasked for, nor push you into practices or beliefs that are not in alignment with your own experience and truths. Our facilitators and health coaches are spiritually and emotionally intelligent, meaning they are able to hold space for a variety of clients’ personal beliefs, lifestyles and preferences. They have a strong sense of boundaries – of where they end and you begin. We all have a foundational duty to disallow abusive or aggressive behavior, but beyond that, we’ll work within YOUR preferred parameters, not our own.

Of course, you are not hiring us for nothing! 🙂 Within Phoenix Sessions in particular, we will generally be quiet and off to the side, unless you need us or want to speak with us. It is important to keep you safe and be a calming presence, while getting out of the way for the you and the medicine to work intensely together. (Trust us when we say the medicine will guide you.)

Our main role is to help you prepare beforehand, help you integrate afterward, and keep you safe and secure during your journey. Outside of the session, we will be gently inquisitive during integration. During our health coaching, we strive to provide truthful and accurate education, but still leave it up to you to make your own decisions.

By the same token, within our Community we expect our members to give other members the same courtesy. The community is not a place to get into debates about who is right and who is wrong. (In most debates, both people are right in different ways.)

Think of our Community area as a place to support one another on each of our individual healing paths. Feel free to share your experiences with others, but please do not denigrate another for making different choices than you have made. Remember yourself that self-healing is sovereign, and that means it is your role to heal yourself. It is not your role to tell other people how you think they should heal. They are sovereign in their own journeys as well.

The more you take note of this, the more you see it. The Universe breathes in cycles, constantly coming together and falling back apart. We see it in our own breaths, our heart beats, our daily rhythm of waking up and going to sleep. Seasons flow one into the other, times of scarcity are followed by times of abundance, etc. In this grand series of cycles, nothing has meaning without its opposite.

The change associated with these cycles is inevitable. It is our resistance to this change that often ends up being experienced as pain. Taoist philosophy states that pain is wishing the world to be different than what it is. But when we see the giant abundant cycle of life, we can trust that if we are in a painful part of the cycle, better times are coming just as spring comes after winter.

What about time? Isn’t that a linear progression? It may seem so, but it actually is not. Astrophysicists such as Carlo Rovelli teach us that the time we think we experience in our daily lives is a bit of an illusion. Time is not a thing that exists by itself but rather is the measure of distance between change – ie, between opposite ends of a cycle. Imagine a circle with a line through it, connecting its opposite sides through the middle (eg, representing the diameter). The line represents time, and the only meaning it has is to connect the two opposite sides of the cycle.

Time itself, in fact, is measured by cycles – the vibrational cycle of an atom. A vibration is nothing more than a cycle, and atomic clocks are based on periodic vibrations produced in caesium-133 atoms. These cycles complete themselves at different rates throughout the universe, being affected by such things as gravity and speed.

Indigenous cultures across the world and throughout history have taught the cyclical nature of reality. It is part of many religious frameworks also, in particular non-Western religions. Taoism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Indigenous American, and many ancient European spiritual beliefs (ie, Celtic, Norse, Greek) revolve around circles, cycles, and honoring change. In fact, the endless, infinite and cyclical nature of Fractal patterns is what inspired our brand name and logo.

This is a concept we borrow from Taoism and is so powerful, it alone can change one’s entire life. This is why the overarching concept of Balance infuses all areas of our health coaching and courses.

Everything in the universe is constantly shifting from one state to another, like the pendulum on a grandfather clock. In the same way, you will find your life following this pattern naturally (related to the pattern of cycles we discuss above).

Trying to stay in one modality all the time and resisting its opposite will be exhausting and imbalancing. There will be times for hard work and times for rest. Times for sickness and times for health. Times of abundance and times of scarcity. Times you will be in creative flow mode and other times you will be in structured discipline mode. Times you feel hungry and times you feel satiated. Times you are on fire and times you fail. Times you are recognized by others and times you go quietly ignored.

All of this is part of the Balance. Many people become chronically imbalanced through the chasing of one extreme or the other. They work out very hard at the gym but forget to rest (or the opposite). They chase external recognition through praise and promotions in their career but forget to check in with themselves. They may chase adrenaline activities but avoid quiet introspection.

Most people have not even mastered the fundamentals but are already trying to practice extremes (for example, extreme diets when they have not learned to master simply eating the right amount, or fancy workout regimens before they have learned to walk more every day or do simple movement exercises). When people are unhappy, they seek to medicate themselves through extreme forms of therapy, whether that be alcohol or adrenaline chasing or isolation.

The chronic seeking out of extremes is the most accurate predictor of a Soul in pain.

It is the desperate desire to achieve Balance through Imbalance. When our wounds, or our wounded Inner Child, act out, these actions should not be viewed as shameful. They simply carry messages of pain. They deserve to be met with compassion, and with loving reparenting.

To this end, your ‘Ego’ (Self) is not the enemy. An imbalanced (wounded) Ego is what needs healed. Do not think of yourself as your own enemy. Learn to see yourself as a sensitive person with internal (emotional, spiritual) wounds which need healed, brought into Balance. Being healed is not the same as ‘fixing’, for you are not broken. You do not think of yourself as broken when you get a cut on your arm, and you should not think of yourself as broken for experiencing trauma or abuse or for making mistakes that harm you.

The most powerful people are the ones who embrace all cycles, all sides. This includes embracing the Shadow Self (those parts of us which we do not wish to be) along with our desired Self. It includes embracing your masculine and feminine tendencies, which exist in all people. It means sometimes letting off the gas from constant hustle or ego-validating activities and desires (which is a way of expressing perceived scarcity in your life), so that you can experience and appreciate the abundance you already have.

Self-compassion and loving self-discipline is the practice of Balance.

This is the simplest and most effective moral system there is: Do your best not to harm yourself, not to harm others, and not to harm the Earth, as it is our home and what gave us life. Though other moral rules or codes may be built on top of this one, not harming self or others is the fundamental tenet we must practice.

So many of us break this rule day after day – especially with ourselves. Thus we encourage the practice of applying Do No Harm in daily habits and decision making, even the thoughts we allow about ourselves. We all have the right to act in our own enlightened self-interest. In fact, this is a foundational element to the practice of Unconditional Self Love.

A note on harm, living and eating: The very act of eating is not ‘harm’, it is survival. The nature of biology on this planet is that living things must eat other living things. Whatever you choose to eat in order to survive, whether it be plant or animal or fungi, respect it and honor its life. This is the way of indigenous cultures through all of history. Always remember that having the choice of what to eat (vs what is available) is a monumental privilege of modern societies. We encourage meat sourcing from sustainable farms vs corporate factory farms. If animal welfare is the reason you eat vegetarian or vegan (and you have the privilege of choice and finances to do so), we will support you in that as we help you build nutritious meal plans devoid of plant-based factory farming, which is also harmful.

If you are a typical person, you view emotions such as joy, happiness, and contentment as ‘good’ and others such as anger, sadness, jealousy or fear as ‘bad’. It is helpful here to replace the words good and bad, with balanced and imbalanced. As such, so-called negative emotions are extremely powerful and important, as they point to areas we are imbalanced (and lead the way back to balance, if we listen to them.)

As we discussed Balance above, emotions are the messages our bodies and souls carry to us intuitively when we become imbalanced. Listening to them, processing them and acting upon them when necessary is what brings us into Balance. On the other hand, ignoring them, dishonoring them and suppressing/rejecting them will only lead us further into imbalance and misery.

The more painful an emotion is, the more power it holds. The most powerful emotions hold the power to completely transform you. Your grief, rage, despair, fear are keys to unlock your soul. Learn to see them not as demons meant to torment you but as teachers to guide you into action, to come into Balance. A painful emotion carries a message that change is needed – that something can no longer be tolerated or allowed. View these emotions as small children tapping on your shoulder, needing help. Would we send away a small child who is hurting? Of course not. So do not send away your emotions either. Emotions are what help you navigate the endless and inevitable change of this world.

The full expression of a so-called negative emotion is the pyre that will burn away that emotion. Emotions are meant to flow, do their job, and be released when balance is brought back. Psychedelic medicine helps greatly in this regard by allowing us the openness and psychological safety to be able to process even the most difficult emotions.

Conversely, repression of emotion over time leads to chronic stress in the body, which leads to chronic inflammation which leads to chronic disease. In this way, emotional repression directly causes disease. It may take decades to manifest, but it will. Many studies have shown that those who suffered from childhood traumas, for example, are far more likely to develop diseases in adulthood. Mental and physical health are inexorably intertwined.

Life is sacred for its own sake. Despite what society says, you do not need to achieve, produce or be beautiful to have worth. The color of your skin, amount of fat on your body, or size of your bank account or Instagram following is not what determines your worth. When you strip all these things away, human beings are fundamentally equal in value. Whether you are a Hollywood celebrity or a homeless veteran, you are human. No one else is superior or inferior to you. You deserve dignity and love.

What you are – quite literally – is a Conscious Being made from bits of ancient exploded stars arranged in infinitely complex patterns. That is not an exaggeration or a mystical belief – it is a scientific fact. There is nothing more wondrous or magical than that.

Living within the constraints of society can sometimes make us feel unlovable, invaluable, or mundane. When you realize there is nothing mundane about you, that your Life and Consciousness is a precious gift, you will be infused with meaning and fulfillment. Even if your current situation is less than ideal, Self-Love and Self-Respect is the first step toward changing your situation to the extent you are able.

If you are alive, you have a purpose in this Universe. We firmly believe that. It does not need to be anything glorious, but your life has a place here. And you are loved. The Universe has created you because it loves you. One of the most powerful things you can do with your pain and suffering is heal from it so that you can turn and help others heal. Can you imagine if everyone did that, how beautiful our society would be? It all starts with the courage you have within you.

Who you are is always changing, always flowing. You are not stagnant. You are not the same person you were a decade ago or a year ago or a moment ago. Trillions of chemical activities are happening in your cells every second. This is freeing because we realize that we are like a River, and so there is no fixed version of Self.

Change and flow means we can improve. It means we can learn. It means we can evolve. It is this freeing thought that allows us to get unstuck from the thought-ruts (limiting beliefs) that have not served us. That have held us back from fulfilling our true potential.

This is a fundamental truth that may seem shocking or counter-intuitive to you. After all, you’ve lived all your life with yourself! How can parts of you still be a stranger?

It is probably true that you know yourself better than anyone else knows you. But guess what? You haven’t met all of You yet. You haven’t met the best parts of yourself yet. Isn’t that exciting?

Most have never had the experience of re-meeting their Pure Self – the Self that exists with all of the wounds of experience and burdens of society crumbled away. Yet this is exactly what happens when we experience a full psilocybin journey. We meet (often for the first time) our REAL selves.

A therapeutic psychedelic experience within the right setting and intention can open your mind to new insights, new messages, new beliefs, and an entirely new experience of reality – a sort of Knowing that happens without ‘Thinking’.

Openness to this is a foundational prerequisite to successful psychedelic therapy. If your mind is closed or stubborn, then you will fight the opening that happens when you take the medicine. If you struggle with control issues, though, have hope. We can help coach you into greater openness through preparation and embodiment exercises.

You are part of a network, whether you like it or not. Whether you feel it or not. You are part of your community, part of your nation, part of humanity, part of all life that exists on this planet. As you look around you, you can witness the very things that you evolved from. The very things that support and allow your life to continue. 

Networks, communities, are the foundation of all life. Look at the mycelium networks. They can transmit information. They can alert the network of danger. They can send nutrients to areas of the ecosystem that need it. They can clean up damage and waste. When you look around nature, you see networks everywhere. Even when we look into space, we find that the dust and gas has organized itself into vast networks. And we are no different.

Isolation is a terrible feeling, but even if you are without a partner, or without a family, or feel like you have no friends, remember that you ARE a part of the universe. You ARE a part of Life. You ARE a part of humanity. And you ARE a part of your community. You have value to offer. You have love to give. It is likely people in your community are just as lonely as you are. They haven’t rejected you, they simply do not know you yet. 

Finding a place to belong authentically – and not ‘fit in’ to be accepted – is a foundational element of Deep Health. To be loved for who we are, not what we have accomplished or what we look like.

Community is Life. Make sure you are plugged into one. If one doesn’t exist, then create one. Invite others. Enjoy common hobbies and interests, or passions and goals.

Resolving loneliness is not about just having one partner. Two people can be together yet just as isolated. They can be isolated together from the rest of society, or they can even feel lonely while together. Being in a relationship, having a partner, does not guarantee you will not feel lonely. So whether you are coupled or not, make sure you remain part of your greater community.

Another way of saying this is, if something is true, you will find evidence of it in more than one place. More than one culture. More than one belief system. If you recall item #2 above, that Life is a cycle, you’ll see that this concept is taught and these cycles revered or worshipped across many cultures and religions.

In a similar vein, you can see the mathematics of the universe represented in fractal patterns and geometric shapes everywhere you look, from the grandest to the most microscopic scales.

On the other end, beware the person, practice, or organization who claims to have exclusive access to ‘Truth’. This is also something to watch out for if you are seeking psychedelic therapy (or any kind of therapy or coaching, really). There is rarely only one way to accomplish anything. As an example, anthropologists have discovered that Farming/Neolithic best practices sprouted up (no pun intended) across multiple areas of the planet in roughly the same time frame, while having no knowledge of one another.

There is a reason so many practices and beliefs are shared across disparate cultures across the planet. It is because those cultures discovered the same Truths, separately. They may state them differently or have a different perspective, but they are all essentially saying the same thing.

While we are responsible for our own happiness, trying to influence outcomes of everything around us is, frankly, exhausting.

This concept is so crucial to fully grasp for those suffering from control issues due to past abuse or trauma. Some will live in toxic fantasy (baseless hope the future will somehow solve all their current problems, such as staying in a dead-end relationship that robs you of happiness). Others get stuck in their egoic need for attention and affirmation, such as an obsession with a promotion at work or getting the attention of a particular desired romantic partner.

One of the foundational truths we teach and practice is that Control is an illusion. Even the things you think you are controlling, you aren’t. Life will sometimes deliver brutal lessons to help you learn this.

You must learn to let go.

Letting go does not mean being a doormat and allowing others’ agendas, egos and wounds treat you poorly. Those who are able to observe a situation fully, and act on those observations, will ultimately remain fulfilled and resilient even in the face of great adversity.

You must learn to live in the present – not some imagined future of perfection or glory, nor the past of shadow and memory. Do not allow yourself to suffer. You can’t control the world or the people around you but the one thing you can control is what you allow. Treat yourself with dignity and act in your own self-interest.

The last one is very important, and an extension of all the rest.

As part of a thriving community, make sure you are giving what you can. Do not only be focused on what everyone else can do for you. Seek to share experiences and knowledge with others. To help where you are able.

We firmly believe that everyone has a ‘genius zone’ – an area of talent or skillset. This does not determine your core value as a human being, but it does help your community thrive when you share your gifts.

A society full of selfish, taking individuals is a diseased society that will not survive. This is true at all scales, whether an entire nation, or a city, or an organization. Even within the small Fractal Soul community, we should strive to share and help.

We all win together.