🫠 Ask a Guide Anything

Welcome to Tricycle Day. We're the psychedelics newsletter that peaked in high school. (Never mind that we’ve peaked many more times since then, too.) 🫠

You killed your ego? No way. You had a heart-to-heart with a tree? Cool! You relived your own birth? W-w-was the womb cozy?

They don’t call the psychedelic experience “non-ordinary” for nothin'. We love a wild trip report as much as the next psychonaut. But we’ve also noticed the super far-out stuff isn’t necessarily what leaves the biggest mark.

So for today's newsletter, we asked our network of licensed psilocybin facilitators: What are some of the most unexpected yet transformative insights your clients have experienced?

They drop their bombshells after the jump.

Every Friday, you read what our facilitators have to say.

This coming Wednesday, you can ask ‘em yourself. (Don’t be shy now.)

On March 18th, we're hosting a live panel with three licensed psilocybin facilitators from Oregon and Colorado. And you’re invited.

They'll walk us through what a session looks like, how they know when someone's ready (and when they're not), and the things their clients wish they'd known going in.

Think of it like a live Ask a Guide Anything issue, where you get to ask the questions in real time.

Just like the newsletter, it’s totally free.

For many journeyers, the most earth-shattering revelation is one they've heard a thousand times before. Jim Hoeffler says the most common unexpected insight he witnesses is clients realizing “they are ‘good enough as they are.’ It may not be surprising to others, but to the participants this is life-changing.”

Amy Charlesworth ties self-acceptance to agency. Clients arrive consumed by anxiety and depression only to discover “their own power to control their reactions to their thoughts and life experience.” As she puts it, “Psychedelics help us remember we are actually able to be in control. It just takes practice.”

Michelle Harrell adds that the shift from powerlessness to personal agency is “deeply liberating. It may seem obvious in hindsight, but before their psilocybin experience, many don't see it as a real choice.”

Several facilitators describe moments where clients stop beating themselves up and develop more self-compassion. Kate Schroeder captures the pattern well: “Clients are often stunned to discover that their defenses aren't enemies; they're guardians. What once felt like pathology reveals itself as protection.”

Michelle Ertl sees something similar with clients navigating chronic illness. They realize they've been “punishing their body in response to their diagnoses by not taking care of themselves.” Then after a journey, they want to be present and loving to their bodies again. LeTa Jussila describes a similar shift, where clients arrive at a clear, embodied realization like, “I don't have to abandon myself anymore.”

Mikki Vogt frames it in the language of parts work. She sees clients reconnect with parts of themselves that once felt “gone, exiled, or inaccessible after wounding,” leading to “a softening or disappearance of harsh internal dialogue” and a deeper self-acceptance.

According to our facilitators, the most transformative insights tend to arrive as whispers, not shouts. Scott Burd recalls a driven client who sat up quietly and said, “I think I need to slow down. I've been pushing so hard that I've been missing what actually matters in my life and in the people around me.”

Michele Koh Morollo has witnessed clients in their 60s and 70s “process childhood traumas and arrive at a place of forgiveness or compassion for their perpetrators.” Others have finally let go of deceased loved ones. Benjamin Dancer explains the through line: “Clients see a map to their own healing. They can express it completely like they're looking at the circuitry.”

Clayton Ickes argues the most unexpected insight for clients is generally the one that says, “The life that I'm living is not really my own and must be changed.” So be warned. As he cautions, “transformative insights are not always convenient.”

You may have been expecting more mind-blowing answers to this question than “you're good enough” and “slow down.”

If so, sorry to disappoint you with platitudes. But also, clichés have stood the test of time for a reason! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The thing to understand is, psychedelic insights aren't cognitive. They're felt. You can hear “you are worthy of love” a million times from self-help books, gen Z Tik Tok influencers, or your mom. And you can genuinely understand it intellectually… but still not believe it.

What these experiences seem to do is close the gap between thinking something and knowing it to be true. (We’re noetic-maxxing.)

And that's the difference that actually catalyzes behavior change. Integration still takes effort, no question. But the work hits different when the insight is no longer a thought in your head, but a core belief your whole self has signed off on.

Thanks to Simon S. from Bradford, UK for submitting this week’s question. 🫠

Reply to this email to shoot your shot. If it’s a juicy one, we may select it for a future issue.

That’s all for today, Cyclists! Whenever you’re ready, here’s how we can help.

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DISCLAIMER: This newsletter is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice. The use, possession, and distribution of psychedelic drugs are illegal in most countries and may result in criminal prosecution.