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Psychedelics Feel Bi
2 Playsin 12 hours
Today we're talking about psychedelics and how they can intersect with queerness and the journey toward authenticity. I recently went on a new(ish) bi podcast called "This Feels Bi", where I was interviewed by co-hosts Amanda Kohr and Erin Deason about one of my favorite topics. We talked about cannabis, mushrooms, ayahuasca, LSD, and more, and I got to share how these medicines have helped me on my bi journey. Included here is a 14-minute segment -- for the full interview, check out their podcast! (Link below.)
Continuing on the same theme, I'm also sharing two clips from my YouTube page about a) how psychedelics are a lot closer to therapy than a party drug, and b) why integration after a psychedelic journey is even more important than the trip itself. Finally, I share some of the insights I received on a very recent medicine experience.
Stay tuned for more episodes coming soon, including a 3-part series on BFF!
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"This Feels Bi" on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/psychedelics-feel-bi-with-rob-cohen/id1846927777?i=1000747212791
"This Feels Bi "on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3OdB6atfY1y1mcqLMl57hD
Follow "This Feels Bi" on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/DP4OlJJDyd8/
My website: https://www.robertbrookscohen.com/
Last chance for free coaching intro sessions: https://calendly.com/robertbrookscohen/25-minute-free-intro-call
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Transcript
Podcast Introduction and Theme
00:00:12
Speaker
Hello everybody, welcome back to 2 Bye Guys. I have been on a little social media break in this spiritual container for the past couple months, spending a lot of time in dietas and with some plant medicine, communing with some plant spirits, and so that's what I want to talk about today on the podcast.
00:00:33
Speaker
Today is another one of those clip shows. I've got some cool content to share here. Some of it is on my YouTube page already. And I also wanted to share a clip from another podcast I was on. You should check out that podcast. More on that in a moment.
00:00:48
Speaker
And stay tuned for Two Bye Guys in 2026. I can feel the pace of it picking up a little soon. I know it's been a little slow. I've been in this period of inward reflection, but I've been recording a bunch of stuff and I've got a couple new recordings on the calendar. So there is a lot in the can that I would love to get out to you guys, including i went to BFF again.
BFF Event Highlights
00:01:12
Speaker
And actually, I was on this plant medicine diet while I was there where I couldn't have sex or masturbate or raise my sexual energy at all.
00:01:21
Speaker
And I still decided to go to BFF because I had committed to going and I thought it might be an interesting experiment. And it was. So more on that soon. But I also recorded so many fun and amazing interviews at BFF.
00:01:36
Speaker
Lots of little snippets both about the event and just about the people who were there and their lives and their bisexual journeys. And that was fascinating. I think I have enough for like three episodes on that. And they're all going to be really cool and good. Like, I don't think it's overkill. I think it's actually pretty cool. So this is turning into the BFF season. The BFF show should just do a whole podcast about that. No,
Psychedelics and Personal Growth
00:02:07
Speaker
stay tuned for that. I haven't edited it yet, but those episodes will be coming up soon.
00:02:12
Speaker
Plus some other fun stuff. Some other fun guests have come my way. So stay tuned. For today, i want to talk about psychedelics, my other newfound passion besides bisexuality. It's really become a bigger and bigger part of my life. I'm hoping to integrate it into my coaching practice. It's been so healing for me and expansive. So many new things are coming into my field and I'm just living in the flow of the universe and trusting it even more than I ever have.
00:02:43
Speaker
And it's all thanks to the plants. So what I wanted to share with you first is a clip from a podcast I was on. It's a new by podcast. We can never have too many of those. And this is a really cool one. It is called This Feels By.
00:02:59
Speaker
it is hosted by Amanda Kaur and Aaron Deason, and they investigate all things that feel kind of by. with a new guest each week who helps them explore those different things. So it's a lot of pop culture things and other um topics like that that aren't like officially bisexual, but sort of feel like they
Psychedelics and Queer Journey
00:03:18
Speaker
are.
00:03:18
Speaker
And they asked me to come on. And at first they were saying they were going to do an episode about, i think it was um Top Gun. and how Top Gun feels by. And I was kind of like, sure, you know, I saw it. The volleyball scene is hot. um I get it.
00:03:37
Speaker
But I don't have like a huge connection to it. But I was like, okay. And then I said, but it might be hard to schedule because I'm doing this plant medicine diet. And then I'm going on this ayahuasca retreat and all this and that. And here's the dates I can do.
00:03:50
Speaker
ah My availability was limited. And then they wrote back and they were like, oh, that's cool. You're into psychedelics. um Why don't we just talk about that? Which was great because psychedelics and my queer journey have felt very, very interrelated. And some even new stuff came up out of this conversation about the intersection of those journeys that I didn't even fully realize. And I'll play a clip for you about that because really, you know, cannabis is a psychedelic too. It's one we often forget, especially now that I'm doing these other types of ceremonies that go even deeper.
00:04:28
Speaker
But cannabis was something that tapped me into my sexuality a long time ago, early. I'm not sure what would have happened differently without cannabis because it it was definitely a catalyst for some of the exploration I did.
00:04:42
Speaker
So anyway, what I want to do is share a clip of that. um Aaron and Amanda have allowed me to share a clip of their podcast on this one. So this is from the episode that I was on with them. It's about a 14 ish minute clip. The full episode is an hour long.
00:05:00
Speaker
It's really, really good. i loved this conversation. The questions they asked me were great. i got to talk about a lot of things that have been in my head that I don't always say here.
00:05:11
Speaker
And then their reflections and their stories were also quite interesting. And we all kind of connected over this topic. So whether you have tried psychedelics or not, whether this is part of your queer journey or not, I think this will be an interesting conversation. And if you like these 14 minutes of it, I highly encourage you to go check out their podcast. It's called This Feels By.
00:05:35
Speaker
And they've got some other great guests and other great topics, too. I just listened to an episode with Jen Winston. I think she has two episodes of their podcast. She was on this podcast a couple of years ago. She wrote the book Greedy and many other guests. and go support the bipods. We need more of them.
00:05:53
Speaker
And if you're thinking about making a bipod, do it and I'll come be a
Cannabis and Sexuality Exploration
00:05:57
Speaker
guest. So let's go. All right, so here is a clip from This Feels By.
00:06:04
Speaker
The episode is called Psychedelics Feel By. And that's what this episode is called too, because they do. Okay, enjoy.
00:06:20
Speaker
When I look back, I've actually been on a psychedelic journey for two decades, mostly with cannabis. And sometimes I forget that that's a psychedelic, but it is. It's a plant medicine. It's a trickier one. It's one that's easy to not use properly and just overdo it and not get the insights from it.
00:06:42
Speaker
But looking back, I was... I think cannabis helped me tap into my same-sex desire and definitely helped me like feel it and not continue to resist it and actually like explore it in a safe way when I would smoke.
00:06:57
Speaker
Stuff came up when I smoked that started to be undeniable. And so like briefly, my i identified as straight for a long time. i was into women. I dated girls in like you know in school growing up.
00:07:10
Speaker
That felt real and normal and natural. it didn't feel like I was faking it. And then I just saw it as binary. So when these other attractions to men would bubble up,
00:07:22
Speaker
I just like didn't think it was important. I didn't think it was real. But then, like to be honest, with cannabis, it would come up more. In my 20s, I started watching gay porn, and probably i would do that with cannabis. like i That probably facilitated that. and it You know, you could go places where you you wouldn't let yourself go if I if i wasn't high.
00:07:45
Speaker
And so that probably helped on the journey, even though at the time it was so confusing. I was like, why am I watching gay porn if I'm straight? Oh, no. Am I gay? This means I'm gay. Don't watch that.
00:07:56
Speaker
And then I would watch gay porn and then like also watch straight porn or have like two things open at once to be like, I'm not gay. I don't know. I went crazy. yeah And then I came out in my early 30s.
00:08:11
Speaker
I started exploring with men at age 29 because I was like, I don't want to turn 30 without exploring it. Good for you. and Yeah, thank you. ah I'm glad I did.
00:08:23
Speaker
And, you know, actually looking back, this is interesting. Now, when I think back to those first few experiences with men, which are vivid in my memory, as vivid as like my first kiss with a woman and my the first time I had sex with a woman, like those are vivid too.
00:08:41
Speaker
Those like wired me. But then my first experiences with men kind of rewired me and were surprising to me, which is what psychedelics do. They give you like a clean slate to rewire your thinking.
00:08:55
Speaker
And the big takeaway the first times I did things with men was like, I went in thinking, this is going to be like nothing I've ever experienced. This is going to change who I am. Oh, no. I was nervous. i was like, oh, no. Is my whole identity going to change?
00:09:10
Speaker
What is going to happen? And what actually happened was it felt so similar. The context was different. I was meeting people on an app who I had never met before, or I was going to like a part on anonymous app.
00:09:25
Speaker
Hookup party, context very different. But internally, when I was doing things, it I was shocked by how similar it felt, like to kiss a man or versus to kiss a woman or to do other things.
00:09:38
Speaker
And that just rewired me. And I was like, oh, I'm feeling the truth of this and how similar it is. um And it and it yeah just totally like changed my life in a psychedelic way.
Mushrooms and Bisexual Identity
00:09:51
Speaker
Okay, I have so many. I have so many. And we haven't even got up to the mushrooms or ayahuasca, but yeah, it's going to go on. I know. Okay, that is literally, first of all, I forgot that cannabis was a psychedelic, and I've been smoking weed since I was like 15 years old. And what I wrote down here was that found that psychedelics made my attraction simpler by what I was trying to articulate with that is that it wasn't caught up in all these meanings. You know, I wasn't like, what does it mean to be attracted to women? What does it mean to be attracted to men? It was just like, it's just, you just are. And I feel that's similar to what you are saying about being the same. It just wasn't tied up in all this preconceived notions. Absolutely, that resonates. The cannabis was how I was able to let go of all the stories and stop repressing it. It was like, yeah, if I'm watching this porn or I do this thing, what does it mean? And smoking cannabis would get me to the place where I could do it because that stuff just doesn't matter as much. You're like, fuck it. I just want to have this experience. And it lets you go there more safely in your mind. Yeah.
00:11:04
Speaker
Cannabis is also a very like tactile drug, like at least for me, like like the sensations you feel when you're high on weed are quite profound. Like, there I mean, it's not like Molly, but it's like, it's like there's something very visceral about it.
00:11:18
Speaker
And I think that's why it's a painkiller functions as a painkiller. But that's interesting. I had not, I also had not considered cannabis as a psychedelic when I was prepping for this episode. And I too, I mean, I grew up in Southern California. I've been smoking weed since i was a teenager. Hey, cool girl. Very casually. It's funny because I never think about it as a drug where I feel very like sexual on, but there's something very tactile about it. And I really want to get into the layers of queerness as it relates to like romantic experiences and sexual experiences and how they can cross pollinate, but also how you can have experiences that are biromantic and And you can have experiences that are bisexual and maybe certain psychedelics or medicine make you feel one more than the other. But that's something that we can dive into as we get into the various types of psychedelics.
00:12:11
Speaker
With other psychedelics, i I never feel like sexual at all, like with mushrooms. But but i did I did with cannabis sometimes. Yeah. and And yes, the tactile thing like makes sense. Like I would just notice things in my body more. You're more aware of those sensations. Yeah.
00:12:30
Speaker
And now there are so many different strains and brands. Like there are these um joints and i they come in like, what do they call it? It's like condescence or something like that. And there's one for create and chill. They all start with C's and one is connect. And I found that that strain in particular does make me very sexual or certain gummy combinations do make me very sexual, whereas some like put me to sleep. Some make me a little paranoid.
00:13:02
Speaker
And I've really appreciated how cannabis has developed in a sense where you can get so specific about what your intention is before diving into the experience.
00:13:13
Speaker
For me, it helps. For me, it helps. I feel so sexual in cannabis. It comes down to like whenever I enter... experiences that are maybe going to be like more than one person presence. i You do that.
00:13:29
Speaker
Don't tell anybody. if my parents are listening to this episode, you should have stopped at the very beginning. But yeah, I get nervous for that. And I find that the right strain of cannabis helps. Yeah, totally. I do think it can definitely like calm the nerves and you stop the doubts and worries and fears kind of can fade at least temporarily, which is even more so with mushrooms and like Yeah, you just like feel into your body a little more. And sometimes cannabis can pull you out a little away from your consciousness if like you smoke a ton or you're using it all the time and like it's numbing in that way.
00:14:08
Speaker
But I think if you, you know, there's a certain way to use it in certain strains where like, actually it helps you feel what's going on. And sometimes we're numb, especially when I was closeted, like we're numbing a lot of feelings on our own. And the cannabis actually helped me reconnect to those feelings.
00:14:25
Speaker
Yeah. Well, i I would like to segue us into mushrooms since you mentioned them briefly. And mushrooms are obviously more, a more overt psychedelic.
00:14:36
Speaker
So I'm wondering how mushrooms specifically have played into your sort of queer journey and your psychedelic journey and what sensations or like transcendental experiences or self-knowledge you learn from experiencing a mushroom trip.
00:14:57
Speaker
I had explored a little bit with mushrooms before the past two years, like recreationally. it was almost always with friends, outdoors or doing some activity.
00:15:11
Speaker
you know, in the pandemic, we would sit in Central Park and do mushrooms. ah You know, not huge doses, like enough to feel stuff more than microdose, but um not huge.
00:15:22
Speaker
And i always loved it. it felt great. It felt like a little reset in my brain and I would feel calm for a few weeks after. um But that that was kind of the extent of it.
00:15:34
Speaker
It almost felt like the next level of cannabis in a way. i never had like these huge profound insights that I started to have in ceremony. So then about two years ago was the first ceremony.
00:15:46
Speaker
Ceremony is like, ah you know, it's an indigenous lineage. We sing these songs, these Icaros. There's music, there's instruments. It's usually like a dozen people sitting in a room and you're going on your own journey. We're not talking to each other. We're not, you know, sharing about the experience while it's happening.
00:16:06
Speaker
But we're in the same room and we're singing the songs together. And it's higher dose. I mean, you can choose your dose, but I was like, I'm doing this. I want to do a higher dose.
00:16:17
Speaker
So it's like full journey dose. and But they were really profound and incredible for me. Like I learned so much and I feel, i mean, it's been life changing, I feel.
00:16:27
Speaker
I just love this medicine so much. It's like, I'm very grateful to have found this. And as it relates to queerness, You know, by the time I did these ceremonies, I was out, I had this podcast already, like, you know, I i was pretty comfortable with my sexuality.
00:16:45
Speaker
But I would say a lot of it still lived up here in my head. Like, I knew it as intellectual, like I was living it But looking back, and I thought I felt it, but looking back, I wasn't like totally
Embodiment Through Psychedelics
00:17:00
Speaker
embodied. And when I was with when i was with the mushrooms, psilocybin, like i everything I knew up here kind of like translated into my body, and I felt the truth of it in a deeper way. It's the best way I can explain it. like I didn't just believe i was bisexual.
00:17:20
Speaker
My whole body knew it. And the truth of it was just so, so clear. Any lingering doubts or worries or fears of like the path I've been on melted away and just seemed so silly in that even in that first journey and every journey. And the the thing is, like, then you go back to normal life, and sometimes those doubts and worries come back. But like, the what I try to do is like, connect back to those feelings from from a journey when you're with the medicine and just like, it's so clear then how how true and normal and valid all this is.
00:17:59
Speaker
Whenever ah something does come up, I try to reconnect to that. that's that's what i'll That's what I'll share for now. Wow. I thought of the word embodiment and how so much of the conversation around embodiment now, it's about, you know, going to yoga or doing some sort of movement practice Through doing that, you do become more connected with your body. i mean, i even feel like something like ecstatic dance, which i don't know if any of you guys have done this. I used to also work at a yoga and music festival. So like I did a lot of ecstatic dance, but that almost has like a psychedelic effect to it.
00:18:39
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:18:44
Speaker
helpful for people who struggle too i mean you have a whole podcast about it you know you're on here talking about it and i think of the regular joe shmo who's struggling to accept himself and how much good this could do for them yeah Well, it's like you i mean you could read a thousand articles about bisexuality and books and podcasts and like you can know that it's real. and then And I know many people who have done that and still have struggles being more out, exploring their sexuality. like There's something that holds them back. And it's because...
00:19:19
Speaker
all the things we've internalized about sexuality and all this biphobia, it lives in our body. It's not just here. So like you can you can learn stuff and it doesn't change you fully until it's embodied because because all those things live inside us everywhere. Yeah.
00:19:40
Speaker
It's reminding me of that book, The Body Keeps the Score, yeah which is obviously more about trauma. But what you're speaking to is is trauma. I mean, biphobia is traumatic, accumulated experience that we do internalize. I also love just the poetic description of And what was in your brain on like a cerebral level, like then somehow entering the rest of your body and sort of like on a cellular level, just like becoming part of you.
00:20:07
Speaker
Because it really reminded me that to believe something intellectually is very different than to like emotionally believe it with your the whole self. And what you're describing is very much the phenomenon or experience which I too have experienced through not just maybe psychedelics, but in general, sometimes it's an experience that takes something that is known on like an intellectual level and translates it in this really profoundly transcendental way to like an emotional cellular level. And so I just love your poetic description of that because it really resonated with me.
00:20:51
Speaker
Okay, that was a clip from This Feels Bye. You can go find the rest of the episode wherever you listen to podcasts, and there is a link in the show
Psychedelics as Therapy
00:21:01
Speaker
notes. So check that out. Thank you, Aaron and Amanda, for having me on. Now I want to play a couple clips of stuff I've made for YouTube. You may have already seen it there, although based on the view count on YouTube, you probably haven't.
00:21:15
Speaker
This podcast gets many more downloads than the YouTube page does so far. We'll see if that changes. I'm trying it out. can't hurt. But I figured since the algorithm has not shown as much love there on YouTube yet, I would play what I've done there for you here. So one of the first videos i did on YouTube about psychedelics, I called it the dangerous link between psychedelics and sexuality. This is my attempt to be controversial and create viral headlines. It's not working yet.
00:21:47
Speaker
ah The thumbnail says, can shrooms make you gay? So check that one out on YouTube. I'm not going to put it here because I actually think it overlaps a lot with what you just heard of what I shared on the other podcast. But I will share two other clips that I made more recently. The first one is about how I thought psychedelics would be a fun drug trip.
00:22:08
Speaker
And I was wrong. It is not a party. Psychedelics are way more like therapy than a party drug. And even though it can be fun and I do look forward to these ceremonies now, I really describe this work as like a hundred therapy sessions in one day. That's what it feels like. It feels like work.
00:22:31
Speaker
um I think about a lot of big, hard stuff. I often cry. i usually cry because I'm like happy that I'm realizing things that are so helpful and valid and useful. And I have so much gratitude for the plants. but sometimes I cry because things are sad too. It's like therapy.
00:22:46
Speaker
um So here is a five minute clip from YouTube about how psychedelics are very closely related with therapy. Enjoy.
00:23:04
Speaker
Psychedelics are much more like therapy than a party drug. Here's how I know. I thought before I tried psychedelics that it was gonna be like a fun party, and it is fun, but it is much closer to therapy. And I've been in therapy for a long time, so I know. We talk about the work you do in a ceremony or in a psychedelic experience because it really is work. You can sit there and just have fun and feel nice and that's great. But if you actually treat it like a therapy session and have a conversation with the plants, which I thought was silly at first, but now I do not, you will get so much out of it. You will learn so much about yourself. You will have deep insights that will affect your life the same way I did in therapy for many years. I've heard, and I believe this now to be true, psychedelics reconnect you with your authentic self or connect you with your authentic self for the first time potentially. And that's exactly what therapy did for me. I started therapy about 10 years ago because I knew that I wasn't quite straight. I had an inkling that I was bisexual somewhere, but I was buried and I didn't want to address it. And therapy helped me get in touch with my authentic voice. I started saying these things out loud and then I couldn't deny them. I had to integrate them into my life. Psychedelics are really similar in that they allow you and encourage you to go deep into your psyche, to look at past events, to look back at trauma without fear and instead with love and safety and compassion for yourself. And when you really have the space and a safe container to do that and to look inward,
00:24:41
Speaker
Stuff comes up. You don't necessarily say things out loud, but you bring things to the surface and that creates awareness. And then you can have a conversation with the plants when you're having a psychedelic experience and you will realize things. You will gain insights. Some would say those insights come from within you. Some would say the plants help you with those insights. Like therapy, maybe it's somewhere in between. I started my journey as a life coach about two years ago and I started my plant medicine journey about a year and a half ago. And in hindsight, it is not a coincidence that I've been on these paths at the same time.
00:25:16
Speaker
They are so interrelated. In my coaching practice, I ask my clients open-ended, empowering questions and we have a conversation that creates awareness. And that's what happens in plant medicine ceremonies also. I actually think in terms of the metaphor, psychedelics are more like therapy than coaching because in therapy, you learn about why you feel the way you feel. You gain insights that help explain the present. And then sometimes in therapy, it's like, okay, what do I do with that? How do I apply that to my daily life?
00:25:47
Speaker
I'm not really sure. Sometimes that's what a plant medicine ceremony is like. You get these profound insights. They make a lot of sense. They change your thinking. And then it's like, what do I do with this the next day? How do I integrate these insights into my life? Which brings up the importance of integration. A lot of people have psychedelic experiences with without much preparation or especially integration, which is okay, but you're missing out on the important part. The integration is the important part. And the integration is more similar to coaching. Integration is about making a plan and sticking to it. It's about taking practical steps to reconnect to those insights and live them out in your daily life. And that's what I do as a coach in my practice. We look at the past about why my clients feel the way they feel, but we also set goals and I hold clients accountable. And we really try to make a change in their life and change their baseline. Psychedelics can do all that with proper integration. And it's such an important piece of the psychedelic puzzle. Whatever you're interested in, therapy, coaching, plant medicine, they're not just compatible, they amplify each other, both therapy and coaching, and both of those with psychedelics. People exploring multiple modalities get the most out of all of them. I learned so much about myself in therapy and then in coaching, and then that not only continued but exploded with plant medicine. But the foundation I laid with talk therapy was so helpful and it allowed me to arrive at a plant medicine ceremony in the perfect place to go much further. I believe that psychedelics may be the ultimate coaching tool. I've got a lot of tools and things I try with my clients, but I am hoping in the future to integrate psychedelics into my coaching practice. If you're interested, let me know. If you have questions, I'd love to answer them, put them in the comments. Or what are your experiences with psychedelics and coaching or therapy? Do you agree that they're very similar or are your experiences in ceremonies different? I'd love to know in the comments. I'm Rob from Two Bye Guys, Buy One Bye Guy.
00:27:48
Speaker
Thanks for listening.
00:27:57
Speaker
Okay, that was my YouTube explainer about psychedelics and therapy. If you liked it, please check out the YouTube page, go subscribe, help us get the algorithm going. There's more where that came from.
00:28:09
Speaker
Let me play one more for you here. Why not? This is a video about the most important part of psychedelics. It is not the trip. It is spoiler alert, the integration.
00:28:23
Speaker
And that's part of why I want to do psychedelic integration coaching. i think so many people go on these trips and they don't have the proper integration container. And it's so important. It can slip away very quickly without the proper integration. And so I've been starting to do that type of coaching in my practice.
00:28:45
Speaker
Anyway, here, check this out for more. This is a video called Psychedelics Won't Work Without This. Enjoy.
00:29:01
Speaker
If you are considering working with psychedelics, remember this. The trip is the fun, exciting part of the journey, but it's not the most important part. Integration is the key.
00:29:12
Speaker
Integration is when you actually take the insights from your journey and you bring them into your daily life. Without doing that, the trip is kind of pointless. It's a one and done. It's an interesting experience, but it won't change your life. And as I've said before, psychedelics are not just for fun.
00:29:30
Speaker
They are therapy. Going to therapy without changing anything in your life, what is the point? Psychedelics open the door to a new way of being. They show you how to do it. They help you feel what it's like to make the changes in your life that you want to make. But integration is you choosing to walk through that door every day. It's choosing to bring those feelings into your life and live out those insights. Psychedelics are a process of running and returning. We run to get the insights. We run to our spirituality, to God, to the spirit of the plants. And we can learn so much, but then we have to return. We are in these bodies on this earth. And the visions and the spirits only affect our lives if we consciously bring them in. And it's hard work. There are many different ways to integrate what you've learned from a psychedelic experience. Some of the things i do to integrate are meditation, being in nature, going on hikes, exercising, playing music, listening to music. Listening to music may be the number one. Dancing, connecting with people you love who support you, sex, and exploring your sexuality. That's a fun one. That doesn't have to be work. Religious practices are a wonderful way to integrate if you feel religious. And if you don't identify with a religion, then spiritual visual practices, whatever those mean for you. Breathwork is another amazing one. Yoga. These are the general ones, but then there are more specific ones to you and your journey and whatever you went through.
00:30:58
Speaker
It's important to journal, journaling. Write down the insights you got. Make an action plan and stick with it and hold yourself accountable to implement those insights into your life. Sometimes integration looks boring. It's getting enough sleep. It's drinking enough water. That's actually a really important one. Drink your water and breathe. Don't forget your breath. Integration can also look like boundaries, saying no, telling the truth when it's difficult. and being in community even when you don't really feel like it. Resistance can come up both in a journey and afterwards during the integration phase. That's why it's really important to make a plan. And if you can work with an integration coach or if someone you've sat for medicine with offers integration, please take advantage of it. It is so important to have accountability to do that.
00:31:48
Speaker
Too many people serve medicine and then forget about the integration. And we have to change that. I often come out of a ceremony feeling like everything is different. I get it now. I'm connected with a higher power and my life is totally different.
00:32:03
Speaker
And then over time, over the next few weeks, you can feel it starting to slip away. You have to consciously reconnect to those feelings and consciously integrate these new ways of being into your life. So think about how you felt on your journey and think about what else makes you feel that way and do those things in your daily life. Lately for me that's also been lighting candles and baking challah on Fridays and buying flowers sometimes to put in my apartment and look at something pretty.
00:32:32
Speaker
These are little things but they add up and they will change who you are and how you move through the world. If you don't integrate, you might do a journey every now and then, and the same things will happen, and nothing will change in your life. But if you integrate those insights, and then you come to the next journey, you will go to the next level. You will level up.
00:32:52
Speaker
Ultimately, the goal of psychedelics is not to keep doing them over and over. It's like going to school and integrating the knowledge. You don't need to do this all the time. You don't need to do it forever. Without integration, you're just chasing an experience. And with it, you're building a life.
Living in Flow with Plant Medicine
00:33:08
Speaker
And with it, you're building the life that you want. I'm curious about your journeys and your integration process. What helps you integrate these insights? When have you felt them slip away? Share with me in the comments, and thanks for listening.
00:33:28
Speaker
Okay, thanks guys for listening to that. I hope you enjoyed it. There's more on my YouTube page, youtube.com slash two by guys, and I'm going to keep making videos there once in a while. So subscribe, check that out. Much appreciated. I've been in this period of inward reflection for the past two or so months. I kind of thought it was over. And then the medicine told me to go even deeper. There may be another plant medicine ceremony coming up soon in the future. The medicine these past couple months has really given me a sense of calm and clarity. i was doing a Noya Rao plant medicine diet for a couple of weeks, four weeks, and I channeled the energy of this divine bioluminescent tree called Noya Rao. I had to hold a very strict diet during that time, which included no sex or masturbation BFF. It also included limited media. So I didn't watch TV. I didn't engage with the news. I didn't watch a movie or listen to podcasts. I didn't go on social media. i set things to go out ahead of time, but then I wasn't checking social media. it was actually kind of nice.
00:34:38
Speaker
And there was a very strict food diet of no salt, no oil, no sugar, no spices, no fruit except banana, no red meat, no garlic, no onion, no avocado,
00:34:52
Speaker
um some other things I'm forgetting, but basically nothing that tastes good. i basically had four weeks of food that tasted like almost nothing. It was very difficult to find things to eat.
00:35:05
Speaker
And also no substances, no cannabis, no alcohol, no caffeine. But the thing was like, it was a little boring, the food, but I got used to it and I had enough energy for the day. i was totally fine. I even fasted a couple days. That was part of it. And that was much easier than I expected.
00:35:23
Speaker
I spent a lot less time thinking about food and thinking about sex and thinking about the news and thinking about doing substances. And I realized how much brain space that typically takes up.
00:35:35
Speaker
And the point of that diet is to eliminate distractions so that you can be present with the teachings of the tree. And it works. I mean, it was subtle, but it works. And the teachings are inside of you.
00:35:47
Speaker
um They come from within and you can tap into them. And then I had a plant medicine journey at the end of that where I really just was able to let go of and release a lot of plans and expectations for the future. It taught me how to live in the flow and trust myself in each moment. And I really had this sense of how that voice of spirit and that voice of alignment, that inner knowing, it's always there in you. It's in your heart. I'm tapping my heart right now. I can always feel it there. And the medicine doesn't bring the insights from outside of you.
00:36:25
Speaker
The medicine turns up the volume on what's already there. It's like an amplifier. It's like turning up a dial so that you can't miss it, that inner voice of peace and love and knowing.
00:36:37
Speaker
But that voice is always there. If you are able to get quiet, eliminate distractions, meditate, listen to music, do whatever you do to tap into spirit.
00:36:48
Speaker
um But I've just felt really grateful to feel the truth of that, that that's always there. i mean, after the journey, I wanted to go write down all the insights I had because I learned so much.
00:37:02
Speaker
But then I realized the biggest insight I had was that it's always in there. I don't need to write it down. It will be ah accessible when I need it, if I am able to stay centered and tapped in.
00:37:14
Speaker
So that was really beautiful. And 2026 is going to be the year of just living in flow and trusting the moment. Everything is happening for us, not
Closing Remarks and Future Plans
00:37:24
Speaker
to us. And I don't know what's going to happen this year, but I feel big things coming and I'm excited to see what happens. So those are just some thoughts from my recent journeys and psychedelic experiences that I wanted to share while they're still fresh in my mind. If you're interested in coaching with me, I do have some availability and I currently still offer free intro sessions.
00:37:49
Speaker
That's going to change pretty soon, I think. I'm going to offer free discovery calls. But what I've learned is that the intro sessions are really good and valuable and people make a lot of progress, even in just that first hour. And I'm getting busy enough that I can't give them away for free. So last chance I'm putting out the call on the podcast. Also, I'm going to start a new group cohort in March.
00:38:13
Speaker
If you want to hear about that, get on my newsletter, link in the show notes. I might also start a women's group for women who are married to queer men. There's starting to be enough people. I think we could get a group together. So get on my email list if you want to hear about those. The groups have been going great. And that's all I got.
00:38:31
Speaker
Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Two Bye Guys. Go check out This Feels Bye, the podcast I was on. And stay tuned for more coming soon from me here. Happy year of the fire horse to you all.
00:38:49
Speaker
Two Bye Guys by One Bye Guy is produced and edited by me, Robert Brooks Cohen, and it was created by me and Alex Boyd. Our new logo art is by Caitlin Weinman. Our music is by Ross Mincer. To help support this podcast, visit patreon.com slash robertbrookscohen. You'll get full video episodes, early access, and bonus content. Visit robertbrookscohen.com to learn more about my coaching, my book, and my stand-up comedy. And thanks for listening to Two Bye Guys by One Bye Guy.
00:39:17
Speaker
you