How to change your mind

First, thank you to everyone who wrote to me, reached out to me, left a comment and generally indicated you support and value me last week, after reading my suicide attempt story. I am very grateful and happy to report that I could actually feel the love and support. Actually feeling love and support from the wider world continues to be new for me. It is both overwhelming and delightful. I am grateful that I finally feel safe in the world and have done enough self work that I can feel support.

I was asked by a few of you, “how did you escape depression and only end up with PTSD?” That’s a fascinating question. I think in part it might be because at age 27, just a few years after I started having incest memories, I found Holotropic Breathwork.

Holotropic Breathwork is a bit like doing an LSD or mushroom trip without using LSD or mushrooms. Instead you breathe and are in a community of support and powerful music is played. It’s an incredible process. Through it, I learned many things, including that I chose this life before I incarnated into this human body. And I learned that I was stronger than I realized. I did many years of breathwork, including many, many sessions with the founder of Holotropic Breathwork, Stan Grof.

I eventually became a certified facilitator. I found the process to be highly transformational and incredibly healing. Doing breathwork in company with weekly therapy, I forgave my father, grandfather and the babysitter that abused me. It wasn’t until after my suicide attempt that I started working on my issues with my relationship with my mother.

Not immediately related to my healing journey or to Holotropic Breathwork, I have been a reader of Michael Pollan’s books since he started publishing. His writing style about food and health and the planet make excellent sense to me.

He’s got a 2018 book out called How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence. This caught my eye! This weekend, I started listening to as many interviews of Pollan discussing his book as I could find on YouTube.

Here is one I really enjoyed. AND, he mentions Holotropic Breathwork in it!!! I share it here for you.

If you’re a reader and prefer books, here it is for you:

Let me know what you think.

I’m excited that Michael Pollan suggests to us that psychedelics are going to be a major advancement in mental health. This gives me tremendous hope. I am profoundly grateful for the excellent work I was able to do using Holotropic Breathwork.

Extra big thank you to Kylea Taylor for being such an excellent support on my journey.

Also, tomorrow, June 1st, 2019, is the Tour de Cure Twin Cities. I will be riding 45 miles on my bike for a cure yet again. My fundraising goal is $1500 and I’m not quite there. If you’d like to make a donation, I’d be very thankful. Here’s the link!

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