Hairdressing school doesn’t teach you about counter transference, projection, negative reinforcement or personality disorders. Nor does it dabble in the more recognisable mental health issues – depression and anxiety, which is a shame really, because most men feel comfortable talking to their barbers. There’s just the right levels of familiarity and detachment. Why burden your friends with your woes when you can …
Addiction and ibogaine
Shea Prueger struggled with heroin addiction for six years. Her failed attempts at withdrawing from heroin led her to a final resort, ibogaine, a psychoactive plant medicine from West Africa. She has been sober ever since and now helps heal others using ibogaine. “I was a little bit wild I guess. I’d just moved to New York. I was bored …
Yoga is not about bliss
Yoga has a corner market on feel good words. I recently had a massage therapist tell me we were both in the ‘feel good industry’. But yoga isn’t all about feeling good… The promise of ‘enlightenment’ tends to make us think we will be more spiritual, and this somehow means we’ll be a little less freakish about time, our kids, …
Ibogaine psychotherapy
What if you could take a pill to heal the past. A one-shot medicine to make you a better, more spiritually-aware person. Would you take it? Ibogaine is an indole alkaloid derived from the African shrub Iboga. The Bwity, a religious sect in West Africa, gives this plant medicine to the children in a coming of age ceremony. It is extreme. …
Embracing change
Whenever we begin something anew that we’ve done many times before, whether a work project or a romantic relationship, there are always parts of us that are the same, and others that are different. Like the seasons we are dynamic and are always transforming, becoming someone new a little piece at a time. Sometimes the changes are dramatic and life-altering, such …
Teaching meditation to children
Children benefit from yoga and meditation. While they may instinctively use the breath, mind, and body independently, the union of the three increases their ability to be patient, identify and manage emotions, and see the unique light in others. Aside from the physical benefits – increased strength, flexibility, and coordination – children are encouraged to bring attention to their breath, …