From Tireless to Effortless Optimization

How Plant Medicine and Meditation changed Everything

Much of my late teens and early twenties was spent focusing on physical health optimization. I had to do this because when I ate badly, didn’t exercise, or slept poorly, I would feel depressed. It felt like a weighted opaque would come and stay. My performance would suffer in sports and academics. And, my relationships would suffer. As a coping mechanism, I kept strict control over my habits and constantly optimized my diet, exercise, and sleep. Yet, it always felt like I was one digression away from that pit.

That tiresome life was wiped away by one small dose of plant medicine in the proper setting. In that experience, I left my body as every tension in my life was shown to me and resolved. I started rising past the atmosphere. I was being taken somewhere. I left the solar system, then left the galaxy, as I went past wonderful celestial bodies. I realized I was not a body. At one point, I reached the edge of the Universe. And I left. I then merged with a point which was witnessing it all. The I which had this little life in this little body was the same I which was witnessing the entire Universe. I witnessed the Universe flow in a cycle through a center, like a toroid, as I saw memories of this life and celestial bodies. I had never considered the Universe to be arranged in this way. Eventually, I returned to my body from that same witnessing point. I laughed and joyfully exclaimed in profound bliss, “Everything! EVERYTHING! Noooo wayyy. Noooo f*^=ing way. Everything!” Part of the experience of being on a plant medicine was gone when I woke up the next day, but the feeling of profound bliss and freedom didn’t go away. And I was still witnessing.

For three weeks, this continued. I cried everyday. I would go to work, in the previously dull office, doing my work at the screen, and it was all bliss. New waves of bliss would wash over me while I sat at my desk. Even the computer screens were filled with bliss. The feeling that the depression could come back at any moment was completely gone and never came back.

I continued different plant medicine ceremonies once every few months for about a year. During that year, I learned a lot. I started learning that I could direct energy to different long-term pain spots of my body and the pain would turn to bliss. I started finding areas which would have a certain magnetic quality to them. When I gave attention to them, new dimensions of bliss opened up for me and others. This is how I started doing energy healing. After a few experiences with plant medicine, I knew it would be unsustainable for my nervous system to continue taking them for much longer at that frequency.

In that time, I tried many different spiritual practices and meditation methods. Each one felt like a lot of work for not much benefit. That was until I found Ascension meditation. Within a weekend of learning, I was touching the spaces that plant medicine had brought me. Within a month of daily practice, I was coming out of meditation from the same witnessing place which I had inhabited those weeks after my first plant medicine ceremony.

The meditation practice was so enjoyable and transformative that I decided to quit my job to meditate 3 to 4 hours a day. What ended up in three years away mainstream work, much transformation occurred. It was like drinking water after a long hike. In that time, I went on a month-long meditation retreat in Portugal where I was meditating for about 6 hours a day. After that month, I still wanted more. My mentor and friends created our own little ashram in Tiruvannamalai, India, and I did a five-month intensive meditation retreat of 8 hours a day. These retreats left much more lasting transformation than the plant medicine ceremonies.

One of the most transformative things was going from a life of tireless optimization to effortless optimization. As I continued to dip in the healing waters of meditation, the need to optimize my diet, exercise, and sleep disappeared. The joy, bliss, and dopamine hits from these optimizations previously paled in comparison to what a meditation session provided. Walks started becoming so blissful the words “the Kingdom of Heaven is nigh” came to life in real time.

I now teach Ascension meditation, a few other styles of meditation, practice energy healing, and host tea ceremonies. All of these I do online and in person. Feel free to book online to connect with me and discuss which of these offerings could be a good fit for you.