© iStock/Rastan What are the effects of “spiritual” experiences, from psychedelics such as ayahuasca or from spontaneous experiences, on mental health? The study surveyed thousands of people who reported encounters with “God”, whether due to psychedelic drug experiences from substances such as LSD, ayahuasca, DMT and psilocybin, or non-drug related experiences. A majority of respondents reported lasting positive changes in […]

She knew the police would be coming for her. They’d already arrested the woman who had received a bottle of ayahuasca from her curandero in Peru and the individual who was planning to lead a ceremony with the ayahuasca. Thirty people, in total, had been called in for the investigation, […]

CTVNews.ca, with files from CTV’s medical affairs specialist Avis Favaro and producer Elizabeth St. PhilipPublished Sunday, March 31, 2019 10:00PM EDTLast Updated Sunday, March 31, 2019 11:38PM EDT A psychedelic brew used in spiritual ceremonies since ancient times is now under the microscope as a possible answer for people with […]

Michael Sam is doing just fine — now. This wasn’t the case just a couple of years ago. Two years after announcing that he was leaving professional football in 2015, Sam remembers a friend at a Christmas party noticing he was “laughing on the outside, but hurting on the inside.” […]

No matter what you’re into these days, there’s a podcast for it. And weed, despite its relatively new, albeit powerful emergence into the broader culture, is no exception. Whether you’re into funny, conversational podcasts, thoroughly researched deep dives into interesting topics, or intimate celebrity interviews, there’s already a fire selection […]

Doing psychedelics is so hot right now. From the Op-Ed pages of the New York Times and the Washington Post to social-media health icons and that wealthy uncle with a later-life crisis, more people are talking about expanding their minds with psychoactive substances than perhaps at any other time in […]

THE SILK ROADBy Kathryn Davis If writers can be said to have an animating concern that threads through their work — memory for Proust, love for Austen — then Kathryn Davis’s is none other than the animating force itself, the soul. Davis has been quietly publishing a novel every few […]

Is sipping this popular spiritual brew healing or harmful? Mighty Leaf, Lipton, Tea Forte, Twinnings, Bigelow, Republic of Tea, Yoga Tea. Caffeinated or decaf. Traditional or artisanal blends. Hot or iced cold. Which kind of tea is steeping in your cup? There’s Mighty Leaf Green Tea in mine. And while […]

IN THE GRAINY CELL PHONE VIDEO, Sebastian Woodroffe is struggling to stand. Dressed in jean shorts and a black sweatshirt, he’s lying in a puddle, clearly in pain, moaning and gurgling in the blood and the dirt. If he has not embraced his fate, he has at least acknowledged it. […]

More research is needed to fully understand ayahuasca’s effect on the brain. But, over the past decade or so, as a result of the drug’s widely touted benefits, hundreds of shamanic schools and ayahuasca retreats, many run by North American and European expats, have popped up that promise to cure […]