November 15-28, 2022
Invited speakers
Ede Frecska, Psychiatrist
Michael Winkelman, Anthropologist
Dale Millard, Ethnobotanist
Sarima Rodríguez, Holotropic Breathwork Facilitator
Ede Frecska
Ede Frecska received his medical degree in 1977 from the Semmelweis University in Hungary. He then earned qualifications as certified psychologist from the Department of Psychology at Lorand Eotvos University in Budapest. Dr. Frecska completed his residency training in Psychiatry both in Hungary (1986), and in the United States (1992). He is a qualified psychopharmacologist (1987) of international merit with 17 years of clinical and research experience in the United States, where he reached the rank of Associate Professorship. During his academic years, Dr. Frecska’s studies were devoted to research on schizophrenia and affective illness. In his recent research he is engaged in studies on psychointegrator drugs, especially on the physiological effects of DMT in acute and chronic cellular stress like hypoxia. His theoretical work focuses on the interface between cognitive neuroscience and quantum brain dynamics. He is specifically interested in the mechanism of initiation ceremonies and healing rituals. He published more than 100 scientific papers and book chapters on these topics. Dr. Frecska is a member of several professional organizations (APA, ECNP, CINP), and has received grants and awards from a variety of sources (NARSAD, NIAA).
Ede Frecska is a co-author with Rick Strassman, Slawek Wojtowicz and Luis Eduardo Luna of Inner Paths to Outer Space and has chapters in Ervin Laszlo’s books (The New Science and Spirituality Reader and A New Map of Reality). A recent study lead by him, published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, proves that ayahuasca increases creativity and another one in Frontiers in Neuroscience that DMT has neuroprotective effect in hypoxia.
Lectures by Ede Frecska
Lectures and Interviews with Ede on Youtube
Michael Winkelman
Michael James Winkelman, Ph.D. (University of California-Irvine), M.P.H. (University of Arizona) is retired from the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at Arizona State University. Winkelman engages cross-cultural and interdisciplinary research on shamanism and its biological bases in Shamans, Priests and Witches (1992) and Shamanism: A Biopsychosocial Paradigm of Consciousness and Healing (2010). He addressed the therapeutic applications of psychedelics in his co-edited Psychedelic Medicine (2007) and Advances in Psychedelic Medicine (2019). Winkelman examined the intersection of psychedelics and the evolutionary origins of religion in his co-authored Supernatural as Natural (2008) and a Journal of Psychedelic Studies Special Issue on Psychedelics in History and World Religion (2019). He has also explored the applications of shamanism and psychedelics to treatment of addiction (International Journal of Drug Policy 12:337-351; Current Drug Abuse Reviews, 7:101-116). He currently lives in central Brazil. His website is www.michaelwinkelman.com and email contact at michaeljwinkelman@gmail.com
Lectures by Michael Winkelman
The widespread presence of psilocybian mushrooms and fungi consumption behaviors in other primates make it inevitable that our ancestors consumed these serotonin-enhancing substances. This presentation outlines the evidence for this consumption and the likely effects on human stress-responses and health and emotional, social, personal, and cognitive evolution. The interactions with the development of the cognitive niche dynamics indicates that psilocybin undoubtedly played a central role enabling various foundational aspects of human evolution.
The widespread shamanic practices of foraging societies have ancient roots in hominid ritual behaviors and were central to the evolution of human sociality and religion. The interaction of psilocybin-effects with the evolution of shamanism is reflected in their common effects and beliefs, a neurocosmology reflecting psilocybin and ASC action on brain dynamics. The dynamics of shamanic ritual are shown to provide a natural set and setting for psychedelic therapy, providing guidelines that reflect our evolved psychology.
This presentation provides evidence that the ritual and religious use of psilocybin was widespread in human cultures of the past. This widespread entheogenic use of psilocybin is supported by direct scientific evidence of psilocybin’s objective ability to induce spiritual experiences, as shown in double-blind clinical studies. These forms of evidence should provide the basis for arguing that entheogenic use of psilocybin should be considered a natural human right. The recent development of psilocybin-using churches has the potential to recover this practice in the contemporary world.
Lectures and Interviews with Michael on Youtube
Dale Millard
Dale Millard is a naturalist and explorer with diverse interests and experience in fields ranging from herpetology to ethnobotany. He was curator of herpetology at the Swadini Reptile Research Institute for many years. His interest in the study of snake venoms for drug development, later led to his study of the chemistry and use of plant medicines. Dale has interviewed healers from many traditions, notably the Sangoma of Africa and more recently the Balians from Indonesia. His main interest of study relates to medicines that modulate immune function in chronic illnesses such as HIV/AIDS and cancers. His work explores cost effective and alternative approaches to tropical diseases such as malaria, dengue fever and typhoid. He has also maintained a lifelong interest in Entheogens and continues to document their use in poorly explored regions of the world.
As an explorer he is regularly exposed to “new” medicines and healing modalities. Dale has a special interest in the cultivation of medicinal plants and medicinal mushrooms, and has taught numerous workshops relating to Permaculture and Plant Based Primary Healthcare. He has been involved in a number of documentaries and has authored a number of articles relating to plant medicine. He as advocate and campaigner for food safety and organic agriculture. He currently lives in Indonesia and works as an international ethnobotanical consultant.
Lectures by Dale Millard
Lectures by Luis Eduardo Luna
From Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, Amerindian societies considered the natural world as endowed with personhood, populated by non-human persons, plants, animals, even meteorological phenomena, with whom reciprocal relationships were established. Animism to a great extend is the recognition that there is mind in life, there is subjectivity. It is not a philosophy or a religion. It is experiential, based on direct, sensorial contact with the world around us.
It is not possible to comprehend Amerindian societies without reference to their use of sacred plants, including tobacco, coca, peyote, wachuma, cebil, toé, yakoana, and the plants involved in the preparation of ayahuasca. This talk will present evidence from ancient use, and some examples from current use by various traditional societies.
The Wasiwaska Ethnobotanical Garden, a work in progress, is the result of over twenty years of dedication, and includes nearly four hundred species of sacred, medicinal, and fruit trees. Part of this lecture will be given by visiting the plants in situ.