Third Wave Podcast

Ehren Cruz is a master ceremonialist who has mindfully studied the use of sacramental entheogenic substances as a cornerstone of self-actualization, spiritual growth, and leadership for 13 years. This path of inner discovery has evolved through a life devoted to the wisdom of ceremonial practice, high-performance training, radical creativity, and developing an unshakable trust in the gift and importance of a connection that transcends the mind. In this episode of the Third Wave podcast, Ehren talks with Paul F. Austin about his life-altering psychedelic experiences, how he created transcendent spaces through event production, and his transition to the heart-centered work of leading ceremonial experiences.

Ben Malcolm, PharmD, MPH, BCPP envisions a society in which access to psychedelic drugs in a variety of safe and supported settings is available for those seeking psycho-spiritual well-being, personal development, ceremonial sacraments, and treatment of mental illness. To serve this vision, he began a psychopharmacology consulting practice and educational website, spiritpharmacist.com to help people understand the interactions between traditional psychiatric medications and alternative psychedelic medicines. In this episode of the Third Wave podcast, Ben talks with Paul F. Austin about the history of psychotropic medications and how these pharmeceuticals might interact with a variety of psychedelic medicines.

Dr. Andrew Gallimore is a Japan-based computational neurobiologist, pharmacologist, chemist, and author whose research focuses on DMT’s effects on the brain and consciousness. Dr. Gallimore’s current work explores how DMT might help us access extradimensional realities, and his recent book Alien Information Theory explains how DMT provides the secret to the very structure of our reality. In this episode of the Third Wave podcast, Dr. Gallimore talks with Paul F. Austin about alien intelligence and DMT’s role as a gateway, influential authors, and thoughts on the metaverse and posthumanism.

Sylvia Benito is a portfolio manager with 20 years of experience in managing family office investments. She connects consciousness to capital by bridging the traditional world of investing to her proprietary innovations in quantifying the alignment awareness and transformative purpose of any company. Sylvia works with families, founders, and boards to adjust alignment to their highest and truest purpose. She is also a trained shaman and actively investigates the utilization of entheogens in investing. In this episode of the Third Wave podcast, Sylvia talks with Paul F. Austin about her path weaving together entrepreneurship, investing, and awakening through meditation and psychedelics.

East Forest is a multi-disciplinary artist, producer, and international leader in underground sound meditation. His work explores living authentically within a modern context through an introspective methodology that weaves together elements of electro-acoustic live music, nature, technology, brain science, and guided meditation. His ceremony concerts utilize a skilled instrumental repertoire to create space for an emotive inner journey. In this episode of the Third Wave podcast, East Forest talks with Paul F. Austin about the origins and evolution of his music, the role of music in psychedelic journeys and inner exploration, his work with Ram Dass, and thoughts on the future of the psychedelic space.

Tero Isokauppila is the founder of Four Sigmatic, a functional foods company that brings healthy upgrades into America’s daily routines through coffee, plant protein, and other superfood products. From growing up foraging natural foods on his family’s farm in Finland to earning a degree and certificate from Cornell, since 2012 Tero has been on a mission to bring Everyday Magic to the world. In this episode of the Third Wave podcast, Tero talks with Paul F. Austin about the origins of Four Sigmatic and their three most powerful mushrooms, his experience with psychedelics including the legendary Amanita muscaria, plus his thoughts on microdosing and future “waves” for the psychedelic industry.

Chess Edwards has spent his life in devotion to exploring and awakening the full potential of the human spirit as an adventure travel guide, storyteller, executive coach, corporate trainer, meditation teacher, and self-realization guide. In this episode of the Third Wave podcast, Chess talks with Paul F. Austin about finding awareness, practicing breathwork, transitioning from a space of healing to growth, the impact of spiritual teachers and books, plus his experience with Third Wave’s Coaching Certification Program.

Adam Gazzaley is a neuroscientist, neurologist, inventor, author, photographer, entrepreneur, and investor. Most notably, he’s the founder and executive director of Neuroscape as well as the David Dolby Distinguished Professor of Neurology, Physiology and Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco. In this episode of the Third Wave podcast, Adam talks with Paul F. Austin about the new Neuroscape psychedelics division at UCSF, how studying individual biomarkers can give us novel insights into personalized psychedelic experiences, how different psychedelic dosages can work synchronistically with sensory stimuli, and how Neuroscape is using videogames to train attention.

Ethan Nadelmann is a legend of drug policy reform. From his time as a professor at Princeton to his founding and seventeen years of leadership at the Drug Policy Alliance, Ethan has spearheaded the critique against the War on Drugs. In this episode of the Third Wave podcast, Ethan talks with Paul F. Austin about the role psychedelics played in shaping his personal values and drug policy vision, how our culture’s perspective on drugs has shifted over the last 30 years, and how psychedelics fit into larger drug policy reform.

Katie Wells, proud mother of six, has been a leader in the health and wellness industry for the past fifteen years as the founder of Wellness Mama and her latest company Wellnesse. Katie has been on a relentless quest to solve her own health problems and heal trauma, so she can be the best person and mom she can be. In this episode of the Third Wave podcast, Katie talks with Paul F. Austin about her journey into the wellness space and how psychedelics recently played an important role in her healing journey. They also discuss how psychedelics might help mothers deal with little-t-trauma, and the future intersection of the wellness industry and psychedelics.

After pursuing his dream of performing as a jazz musician, M.J. Jiaras found his way into a doctoral program for psychology at the Illinois School of Professional Psychology in Chicago. Ultimately, Dr. Jiaras entered the executive coaching space, where he has thrived as president and founder of Integrated Coaching Solutions for over twenty years as a consultant to Fortune 50 companies. In this episode of the Third Wave podcast, Dr. Jiaras talks with Paul F. Austin about his introduction to psychedelics and early career as a musician, his evolving methodology as an executive coach, different approaches to leadership, and the future of psychedelics in tandem with the executive coaching space.

After studying with Humphry Osmond when he was 20 years old, Jeremy Narby became intrigued by the intersection of psychedelics, mental health, and philosophy. As a graduate student in anthropology at Stanford, he lived with the Ashaninka people of the Peruvian Amazon, which set him on an early path researching ayahuasca. In this episode of the Third Wave podcast, Jeremy talks with Paul F. Austin about the importance of language, how we can shift our worldviews, and powerful lessons from plant teachers.

When Mark J. Plotkin, Ph.D. first stepped into a night class with Harvard ethnobotanist Richard Evans Schultes, the path of his life was instantly set. Almost 40 years later, Mark has participated in close to 100 ayahuasca ceremonies with Amazonian shamans, sampled numerous psychedelic plants from the rainforest, and partnered with multiple indigenous tribes to protect their lands and ecosystem. In this episode of the Third Wave podcast, Mark and Paul discuss Mark’s storied career, the importance of indigenous reciprocity and conservation, current and potential surprising uses for psilocybin, the crucial element of context when working with psychedelics, and more.

What do guns, emergency first aid, martial arts, cryptocurrency, personal sovereignty, and web 3.0 have to do with psychedelics? As it turns out, quite a lot. As Daniel DiPiazza and Paul F. Austin discuss, they’re all centered around cultivating self-reliance, reclaiming autonomy, and strengthening personal choice. This episode covers the ever-creeping hand of government and how we can keep it at bay, decentralization of finance and personal data, living in an oligarchy, and, yes, doing psychedelics with family.

Already a highly successful entrepreneur in the cannabis industry, Olivia Alexander went unexpectedly viral for an innocuous social media post mentioning microdosing. The resulting inundation of messages and questions from around the world led Olivia to consistently highlight to her followers the importance of education, safety, and responsibility when working with both psychedelics and cannabis. In this wide-ranging and honest discussion, Paul and Olivia chat about approaching psychedelics as a neurodivergent person, intentional and therapeutic use, Olivia’s career in cannabis from the infancy of the industry, and her use of cannabis to treat her bipolar disorder and get off her medications.

What do endo-nasal balloons, suppositories, methylene blue, and cerebrospinal fluid have to do with psychedelics? In this fascinating and eye-opening discussion, Paul and Dr. John talk about some surprising tools of the chiropractic neurologist trade, how they can be used in conjunction with ceremony, and what they mean for our stressed-out world.

From an early age, Daniel Cleland knew that the cookie-cutter life was not for him. His desire for travel, entrepreneurship, and non-traditional experiences brought him to the heart of the jungle, where he overcame his fear of ayahuasca and found deep healing. Since then, he’s been dedicated to sharing the restorative powers of this medicine with others, and has co-founded Soltara Healing Center to bring this mission to life. In this episode, Daniel and Paul discuss the challenges and rewards of starting an ayahuasca retreat, the importance of tradition, and how he envisions Soltara moving forward.