Libsyn Directory

390: Understanding Psychedelics with Matt Zemon

Release Date: 10/26/2023

404: Embracing Transformation and Rediscovering Your True Self with Jennifer Dawn

The Adult Chair

Hello, my beautiful Adult Chair family! It’s Michelle Chalfant, and I’m thrilled to be back with you after a few months away. These months have been a transformative journey for me, one filled with deep introspection and change, not just personally but also for our beloved podcast. In this episode, I’m joined by someone very special, Jennifer Dawn, who has been a guide, mentor, and friend to me through this incredible period of growth. Jennifer has a profound connection to energy and healing, and she generously shared her insights on self-discovery and the transformative power of...

403: How To Listen to Your Soul

The Adult Chair

Lately, there’s been something stirring in my soul. I don’t know exactly what it is yet, but I feel like it’s going to be BIG – like something new is coming, and I need to go inward and listen for what it is. Have you ever felt this way? When this happens, I believe it’s our soul tugging at us, trying to tell us something about our mission and purpose on the planet. And I have made it my intention to always listen when the soul calls. It’s something I like to call “soul alignment” — a practice of going within and listening to the...

402: Healing Through Grounding with Clint Ober

The Adult Chair

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401: Practical Intuition with Laura Day

The Adult Chair

Have you ever gotten a “gut feeling” that something was going to happen…and then it did? Or sensed that someone wasn’t trustworthy or that you shouldn’t move forward with a decision? This is your intuition at work! Intuition is something we all possess, and something we’ve all undeniably experienced, but how it works remains largely a mystery. Is it something spiritual? Psychological? Biological? Laura Day grew up feeling like her brain was “different” in some way. She knew she had ADD and a number of head injuries, but she didn’t know...

400: The Art of Manifestation: How To Manifest Your Dream Life

The Adult Chair

2023 is behind us, and 2024 is here! The new year represents a clean slate and new chapter where you can begin manifesting the year – the life – you want. I believe that, as creative beings, we are always in “creation mode.” Like gravity, we can’t turn the laws of manifestation on and off – they just are. So, then the question becomes: What do you really want? And what is it that you are creating with every thought you have and word you speak? In this episode, I’m giving you everything you need to get more intentional with your creations...

399: Holiday Replay: The Magic of Surrender with Kute Blackson

The Adult Chair

Kute Blackson is no stranger to miracles. Growing up the son of a spiritual leader in Ghana, Africa, Kute witnessed healings and transformation that were nothing short of awe-inspiring. But when he realized it wasn’t his calling to take over his father’s ministry in the way his family expected, it led him on a challenging and transformational journey of his own: one in which he discovered the magic of surrender and how it can heal our lives. In this episode, Kute delivers so much wisdom about what surrender really is (it’s not passive like you might think), the role...

398: Holiday Replay: How to Become Happier with Gretchen Rubin

The Adult Chair

Whether it’s eating healthier, getting exercise, starting a meditation practice or staying socially connected, figuring out what to do to be happy might be simple – but actually doing these things and living in a way that lets us experience happiness is much harder. When we know there are things we can do that will make us healthier and happier, why do we struggle to actually do them? Why do we get caught in a cycle of chasing happiness instead of choosing joy, even when we know better? This is what Gretchen Rubin wanted to understand when she began studying happiness and why...

397: How Brain Health Affects Mental Health with Dr. Bisleen Attli

The Adult Chair

For too many years, mental health came with a stigma. It was treated as something “wrong” in the mind, with the psychological and physical looked at entirely separately. It’s almost as if we forgot that the brain is part of the body – a physical organ that needs care just like our heart, our gut or any other part of our body. And when we support our brain health, it can have BIG impacts on our mental and emotional health. Dr. Bisleen Attli is a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy-certified naturopath, which is a fancy way of saying...

396: Healing Generational Limiting Beliefs with LaShonda Walker

The Adult Chair

As you think about your life, do you ever wish your story was different? You wish you more of this, less of that, that an event had never happened, that you had done the thing you will always regret not doing. But what if the story you tell yourself about your life is just as important as the story of what happened to you? And what if you could change your entire life by consciously changing how you think about your past? LaShonda Walker is a Certified Adult Chair® Coach who has created an incredible healing process called “A New Life Story,” inspired by her training in The...

Managing Triggers at the Holidays

The Adult Chair

‘Tis the season…for triggers! At the holidays, stress, drinking, spending money and spending time with others all increase. And with that, comes a decrease in patience, sleep, time for self and all the things that make us more resilient to stress. Add in the fact that we tend to be around people we aren’t normally around for longer periods of time, and it’s a landmine for triggers. But as you know, I love triggers because they are such a powerful opportunity to look at and work on our limiting beliefs. So, I invite you to view this...

More Episodes

Everyone seems to have an opinion about psychedelics these days.

Doctors and therapists see them as potential treatments for things like anxiety, depression and PTSD. Spiritual communities believe they open us up to the divine. Politicians debate whether they should be legal or illegal.

I have to admit that when I first heard people talking about them, I was scared.

I’m not a big fan of substance use of any kind, and the idea of a “drug” becoming mainstream concerned me.

But when some respected psychologists and colleagues of mine started talking about the healing power of psychedelics — people who were far from the 1960s “Summer of Love” stereotype — I knew the topic at least deserved my honest research.

As I dug deeper into the science behind psychedelics and understood how they worked in the mind, I began to realize they weren’t about escaping but about going deeper into oneself by quieting the ego and opening the door to new parts of our consciousness.

But, I wanted to make sure my opinion was backed up by accurate, science-based, factual research. And there are few people who I’ve found better informed on this topic than Matt Zemon.

Matt was once a fellow skeptic like me who also became convinced through research and experience that psychedelics can play a positive role in therapeutic and medical settings.

He is one of the most grounded, scientific voices I’ve heard on this topic — perfect for anyone who simply wants to learn more and see what you think for yourself — and I am thrilled to have him share his wealth of knowledge in this episode.

Listen to discover:

Matt’s story of opening his mind to psychedelics – and how they changed his life
Safety considerations for psychedelic use
Whether or not psychedelics are addictive (and how they can help treat addiction)
The different types of psychedelics and how they work in the mind
How and why psychedelics can help us change our thought patterns
The importance of therapeutic integration after a psychedelic experience
Resources for doing your own research and safe psychedelic use

The choice to have a psychedelic experience is very personal, and I would never tell someone they should or should not try a powerful substance like these.

But I do think we should all do our due diligence to research new breakthroughs in healing with an open mind — which I hope this episode helps you do.

Because whether you get there through a psychedelic or not, allowing yourself to see new perspectives and change your mind is how you grow as a human…and that’s always a path worth pursuing.

"In that first six- or seven-hour [psychedelic] journey, the entire way I look and interact with the world shifted." - Matt Zemon

"Physically, these substances are relatively safe." - Matt Zemon

"Not all psychedelics are the same, and you don't want to be on certain medications and taking a psychedelic." - Matt Zemon

"The psychedelic process can help us remember a way that we used to think, maybe before we had adopted those behaviors...and from that rememberance, we can then start to take the steps to change our life." - Matt Zemon

"It's not so much that [psychedelics are] a cure...they're really catalysts for change." - Matt Zemon

"It's not a magic pill. None of them are a magic pill." - Michelle Chalfant

"I felt like I was sitting with God each and every time. It was the most beautiful thing I've ever done." - Michelle Chalfant

"The most important thing was the integration. What do you do after you've had this experience and then how do you integrate that into your life?" - Michelle Chalfant

"In the psychedelic experience, a few things are going to happen. Your default mode network...is going to quiet down...Neurons fire together that haven't fired together in a long time...In this process, it's common that you will then feel connected to all things and all people. You'll feel loved. You'll feel enough. And that is, in my opinion, the reclaiming of your true self." - Matt Zemon

"When you know you're enough and you know you're loved, you're starting to take away the masks you've put on and have been put on you." - Matt Zemon

LINKS & RESOURCES

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https://theadultchair.com/30days

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Matt Zemon Website

https://mattzemon.com/

"Psychedelics for Everyone" (Matt Zemon Book)

https://www.amazon.com/Psychedelics-Everyone-Beginners-Depression-Consciousness/dp/B0BCS7NM9H

Matt Zemon Instagram