The Revelation Project - Episodes Tagged with “Anxiety”

Episode 148: Amanita Dreamer: Anxiety and the Amanita Mushroom

Monica Rodgers | Revelation Media LLC — Wed, 26 Oct 2022 00:00:00 -0400

“Part of what psychedelics do is they decondition you from cultural values. This is what makes it such a political hot potato. Since all culture is a kind of con game, the most dangerous candy you can hand out is one which causes people to start questioning the rules of the game.” - Terence McKenna

General Anxiety Disorder (GAD) affects 6.8 million adults or 3.1% of the U.S. population, yet only 43.2% are receiving treatment for it and many of those go on to have long term side effects from various medications that interrupt their normal daily patterns taking a cumulative toll on their lives.

Anxiety can range from disabling to mild- and everything in between, but one thing it has in common is that it can impact anyone from all walks of life. In other words, anxiety does not discriminate, and everyone is in full agreement when it comes to it having a negative impact on our quality of life.

This was the experience for my next guest who got to the point of preparing herself for what she felt was the inevitable. She just wanted to feel better- even if it resulting in not being here anymore, which led to a remarkable discovery which seemed to reveal itself in the 11th hour- presenting itself as the antidote to her chronic and debilitating anxiety.

The Amanita Muscaria Mushroom has long been considered the plant medicine of choice for those who are looking to find relief from the daily toll anxiety takes on their lives and to experience the “universal ONE”, and the many perspectives it’s psycho-active compounds can induce.

According to Koryak folklore, the Amanita muscaria mushroom was a “sacred gift” and cultures all over the world have it’s properties for a variety of reasons- With its bright, beautiful appearance and unusual mind-altering properties it’s been threaded through folklore and storytelling for thousands of years. It’s known in ancient oral traditions and also in modern tales,

When in Wonderland, Alice eats a mushroom that makes her change in size —though we never get much physical description of it, it’s possible it was inspired by the magical Amanita muscaria. Then of course there is the video game Mario Brothers- Mario eats the red mushroom he turns into his “super form”

The Smurfs too live in a red mushroom, and it is always seen as a companion to the fairies and in countless other references made in art and literature. For this reason the Amanita Muscaria is the most iconic and well-known mushroom in the world. It’s been used as decoration, inspiration, and more. With its shining red top speckled with white spots - it’s one of the most recognizable images in the world.

Despite being given a bad rap as a distinctly poisonous and toxic plant, the truth is that she is an enigma whose likeness and psychoactive properties have transcended generations and cultures. The Amanita muscaria is more than just a mushroom, it’s a part of our heritage - and a rich and fascinating story of humanity and our relationship to healing and the natural world. I’m honored to have had this conversation! Thank you Amanita Dreamer for your courageous work in the world!

Amanita Dreamer discusses her use of Benzodiazepines to treat her anxiety and the long term side effects that developed
Listen to Amanita’s sad and beautiful story about how the mushroom found her in her darkest hour.
How Amanita followed her intuition and listened for the correct and safe way to prepare them.
Amita shares her research and scientific background to understand the natural components of the Amanita Mascara mushroom
Learn how she uses the mushroom in different doses
How this mushroom has existed for thousands of years and was used
She discusses the importance of sharing the information with others and how she has been shadow banned on several sites.
She has created a membership to share information for those who want to go beyond all her free content
Amanita speculates that so little is know about this because everyone is well aware of the fentanyl and opioid crisis
We discuss how the increase in anxiety exists everywhere often without treatment.

Amanita Dreamer is working to educate about the power of the amanita muscaria mushroom to help with panic and anxiety. After it saved her life withdrawing from prescribed benzodiazapenes, she went on to learn the deeper power in might hold. She learned about time, stress and the detachment from the land and our ancestors that she believes has caused a crisis of anxiety and mental illness. She says this mushroom taught her about the power of ceremony, ritual, and listening to our inner sense of time, rhythm and power. Today she travels, speaks, holds drum ceremony experiences with the mushroom and is filming a documentary about it.

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Episode 53: Hillary Larson - Anxiety and the Search for Home

Monica Rodgers | Revelation Media LLC — Wed, 09 Dec 2020 00:00:00 -0500

Hillary is a knitter, but not in the knitting of fabrics, more the knitting together of people and projects and possibilities.

Hil and I met years ago by coming together on a digital marketing project. This experience snowballed into an epic friendship that, in many ways, feels like it spans many lifetimes.

Our talks effortlessly flow, always feeling like 10 minutes but more often they end up being hours of deep conversation covering a myriad of topics. I find her endlessly fascinating because she’s a deep thinker with an endless well of insights.

Though I feel like I’ve known Hil for lifetimes, we finally only met in person last November in NYC. She’s got the gift of bringing peace and perspective to every conversation and relationship I’ve seen her contribute to and this one is no different.

Sit back and enjoy the levity and love that comes through in this beautiful woman’s expansive heart on a topic that so many of us struggle with - anxiety.

Hillary Larson had a life that most people might dream of. After studying at the BBC and the Royal College of Art in London, she moved to New York and landed a dream job producing nationally syndicated radio shows. She interviewed celebrities from Bette Midler to Ozzy Osborne.

She eventually moved back to the West Coast and found herself unexpectedly establishing a literacy program for gang kids, eventually working with both children and adults in the roughest parts of Portland.

Her success was evident on the outside. But underneath, anxiety was ruling her life, sometimes preventing her from leaving her own home. Until one day, after a thirty-plus battle with anxiety, she heard the words that would eventually heal her.

Show Notes:

Anxiety is currently a huge subject, we are in extraordinary times now for many reasons and anxiety is a topic we can all relate to.
Many people don't necessarily realize that the feelings that they have are anxiety.
Anxiety can take many forms. If someone had asked Hillary if she had experienced anxiety she would have probably said no, but a culmination of events that include the death of a loved one and a terrible car crash brought her anxiety into focus.
Anxiety can often feel like a terrible weakness, somehow a reflection “that you can't get your act together,” and many can suffer from it in chronic waves to the point of debilitation.
The pandemic has tapped into collective anxiety and it's forcing many of us to look more closely,
Sometimes anxiety can be a disguised gift that forces us to journey into the abyss to look more deeply and compassionately at what frightens us.
Anxiety brought Hillary on a search that led her to a book called “The Diamond in your Pocket,” and it taught her the value of being with what is without needing to fix or make it go away.

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Episode 52: Sage Polaris - Work, Life, Love

Monica Rodgers | Revelation Media LLC — Wed, 02 Dec 2020 00:00:00 -0500

Patriarchy stress disorder, pandemic parenting, and creating a wildly successful and profitable business from a place of pleasure and desire - these topics are just the tip of the iceberg in this incredible episode with my esteemed guest, Sage Polaris.

Many of you may already know that I am a lover of language, words, naming “it," synchronicity, and mysticism. I knew that the name “Sage” already intrigued me, and so of course I had to go digging below the surface, feeling into the deeper essence of what it means:

Sage.
noun

a profoundly wise person; a person famed for wisdom.
someone venerated for the possession of wisdom, judgment, and experience.

adjective, sag·er, sag·est.

wise, judicious, or prudent:
sage advice.

It did not take me long to recognize that Sage is aptly named, but then the name “Polaris” also had me Googling!

Polaris: Also known as the North Star. Polaris lies nearly in a direct line with the Earth's rotational axis "above" the North Pole—the north celestial pole—Polaris stands almost motionless in the sky, and all the stars of the northern sky appear to rotate around it.

I mean, can you stand it?
Sage Polaris.

Her name got me thinking about what it takes to be "sage." What I know about wisdom is that it's often gained by having faced tremendous trials, difficulty, and extreme challenges.

There is a reason for instance, that Athena, Goddess of Wisdom, has the companion totem animal of the owl. An owl is a symbol of wisdom and is known to “cleave” through the darkness, able to view things from a higher perspective.

I am loving the wisdom, perspective, and “Sage" offerings delivered in this episode. Listen in as we dive deeply into work, life, and love, and what Sage is doing to invite women to join her in seeking higher perspectives that bring more love and pleasure to our businesses and lives. I think you'll be amazed by what you hear.

Thank you for your time, Sage! You are a gem!

Sage Polaris has written high converting copy for more than 350 clients earning them millions of dollars. She helps personal brands and service providers sell more of their service or offer with the words on their website.

She has worked with Chrisette Michele, James Wedmore, Rick Mulready, and Amber McCue. Basically, she makes money for the “internet famous” people we all look up to.

*Show Notes: *

Sage has created her business by design, "If you share my values, I can work with you.”
Pandemic parenting + entrepreneurship has meant that Sage gets to show up authentically, sometimes with kids crawling all over her, while knowing that she's chosen to work with the clients who understand that this is part of where we all are in this moment.
Women are showing up for work differently, and not just during the pandemic. We have been evolving towards more work-life balance and honoring each other in this duality, of women who are out in the workforce and mothering at the same time and bringing that together in a way that feels supported.
Sage takes 4 months off each year, consistently doubles her revenues each year, and she does so unapologetically.
Sage writes “copy that converts” but really her job is to create “resonance” using language and words, and integrity to communicate the essence of her clients' offerings which she also calls "the sixth sense of copywriting."
Using this method, Sage has had upwards of 1.2, 5 million in revenues in a single launch for her clients.
All industries have a gritty and sleazy side, but if you are aware of your values aligning with your clients' values, it can be a magical marketing experience for both you and the customer.
Valerie Ryan is the author of the book, Patriarchy Stress Disorder and Sage has all of her students read it as a reminder that we are in a system that was built to oppress many people, particularly women, and that this is at the core of how we “work” and do life.
As women, we have to be aware of how we burn ourselves out because when we do that we can’t affect positive change in the world.
We have to pay attention to how we place conditions on ourselves as women, even withholding love from ourselves because we don’t realize that we’ve loved ourselves with conditions based on how we “perform” in our business.

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