75 | When Success Isn’t Enough with | Julie Cyvonne

This episode includes a discussion about psychedelics in a therapeutic and educational context. The conversation is not intended to promote illegal drug use or serve as medical advice. Listener discretion is advised. 

Burnout wears many faces, polished resumes, packed calendars, and a quiet voice insisting something’s off. We sit down with Julie, a former attorney who now facilitates psilocybin experiences for high‑achieving women, to unpack how microdosing and guided mushroom journeys can dial down anxiety, sharpen focus, and bring you back to yourself without blowing up your day-to-day life.

Julie breaks down microdosing in plain language, what a sub‑perceptual dose feels like, why most people land near 100 mg, and how to pair it with intention and integration so the benefits last. We dig into the brain’s default mode network, the culprit behind rumination and self‑critique, and explore how psychedelics can quiet that loop long enough for presence to take root. If you’re wondering about performance, Julie explains how opening up “high‑temperature searches” unlocks creative, practical solutions for stubborn problems, whether you’re running a company or repairing structures underwater.

Safety and skepticism get real airtime: set and setting, measured dosing, trusted sourcing, and the difference between a rave and a therapeutic container. Julie walks us through her small, women‑only retreat model, from breathwork and intentions to a four‑to‑six‑hour journey and concrete integration that turns “aha” moments into daily habits. We also get personal about holding emotional boundaries as a facilitator, grounding and somatic tools to calm the body so the mind can follow, and navigating family resistance while choosing an aligned path.

If you’re curious, cautious, or craving relief from anxiety and burnout, this conversation offers science, structure, and stories you can trust. Subscribe for more faith, family, and business conversations, share this with a friend who needs it, and leave a review to tell us what you want us to explore next.

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Transcript

Welcome and Julie’s Pivot from Law

Intro 0:02

You're listening to the Off Balance Podcast, where faith, family, and business collide. Hosted by Brooke Demick, Doctor of Business Administration, Business Coach, and Resilience Expert. Each episode features real-life conversations to help entrepreneurs like you build resilience and lead with confidence.

Brooks 0:32

Welcome back to Off Balance. I'm your host, Dr. Brooks. Today's episode is for anyone who has ever looked successful on the outside but felt disconnected on the inside. Our guest, Julie, knows the reality well. She's a former attorney who left law to become a psychedelic facilitator, guiding high-achieving women and entrepreneurs towards a life that aligns with their purpose, moving past burnout and misalignment. Julie, welcome to Off Gallen.

Julie 0:59

Thank you so much for having me, Brooks. I'm so excited to be here today to have this conversation and to dig into everything with you.

Why Psychedelics and Microdosing

Brooks 1:05

I am so excited to have you. So before we get started, can you just introduce yourself to listeners and let them know what it is exactly that you do?

Julie 1:13

Yeah. Hi guys, I am Julie. I am a former attorney. And first, before I got into the world of psychedelics, because that's a pretty big left turn, right? I got into coaching. So I am a certified coach as well. And I tried a few different niches out, had some traction in a different a few of them, but ultimately really got drawn to psychedelics because of my own mental health journey and struggle with anxiety and depression. And after going through my coaching program, which was an immersive two-way program where not only did I learn how to coach, but I received the coaching tools and facilitation on myself. I know I went to therapy, I had tried Prozac, and I still was really struggling with my anxiety and depression and was just thinking there has to be, this can't be a life sentence, right? That would be terrible. I cannot believe someone would be put on this earth and just be doomed by their anxiety and their depression. And so I pursued psychedelics just for my own healing. And through the power that I uncovered there, through healing the root cause of my anxiety and depression, and then sharing about the journey openly on Instagram with others and seeing how many people wanted to experience this for themselves, I eventually got into psychedelic facilitation. So most of my work is helping people get the most out of their microdosing practices and really creating a practice around it, right? This isn't something that we're just taking willy-nilly like an Advil when we have a headache. There is a system to it and there is a way to maximize the impact of your microdosing use. And then part of my practice is also having people go through a guided, intentional, safe, larger journey for the purposes of healing and for expansion. So this is not like a recreational experience at a concert, although I have no judgment toward anyone who has those experiences, but this is guided in a therapeutic setting. Although I am not a therapist, it follows a more traditional therapeutic setting for those people who are looking to heal and expand with mushrooms at a larger dose. So those are two sides of my practice. And I'm obsessed with psilocybin because it is fast, it is effective, and if paired with integration, it lasts a very long time. And I believe that everyone deserves true relief.

Brooks 3:18

That's very interesting. So prior to your introduction to psychedelics, did you have any type of misconceptions about it?

Microdosing Defined and Dosing Ranges

Julie 3:25

Oh my gosh. I know we're talking before we hit record, but I was definitely that little girl who was like scared and dare. Like I was signed the dare pledge. I don't even, we did the dare lock-in. I was like, drugs are bad. This is scary. I was so scared and misinformed about psychedelics. I was so scared to get into them. And I believed all that like government propaganda. They said back in the 70s or the 60s, someone took acid and jumped off a building and ended their life. That actually never happened. That was a plant that they would put in the newspaper. That is not true, but I was so scared of that that I was like, why would anyone do LSD? Because they might end their life. So, yes, I was extremely afraid. And the first, actually, the first second L I did, which I wouldn't really recommend to people, but it was my journey. And I think there was a, I believe there's a reason for everything, was ayahuasca. I sat in an ayahuasca ceremony, and I just that was so beautiful and healing and everything that I needed that I really realized how much of a huge misconception I was carrying around toward plant medicine. And that really started to open my eyes. But even with mushroom, I got into it very much from the micro perspective. I was just microdosing and then eventually expanded into larger journeys, larger doses.

Brooks 4:34

And when you say microdosing, can you explain what exactly does that mean?

Julie 4:37

Yeah. So there might be some people fighting me in the comments about exactly what constitutes a microdose because there's there is like a, there are a lot of opinions. The concept of microdosing is taking a subperceptual amount of a substance. So it doesn't have to be psilocybin or plant medicine. We think about, oh, we hear a lot about microdosing like GLP1s, right? Trace epatite. It's just taking a very small amount of a substance, not a full dose. So you're not going to have the full experience. So when you microdose with psychedelics, you get the positive brain benefits. So we were talking about increased neuroplast neuroplasticity, increased entropy, quieting down of parts of our brain that shatter, that are not very supportive, those limiting belief type parts. But you're not going to see the walls melt. You're going to be able to drive. You can raise your kids, you can go to work. So that's microdosing in and of itself. And then when we microdose psilocybin, some people will say you could microdose up to half a gram. I personally think that is outrageous because you're going to feel something. If you take half a gram of psilocybin, you are definitely going to things will be feeling like things. But I like to microdose anywhere from 50 milligrams to 200 milligrams. I would say 100 milligrams is most people's sweet spot. And then you are going to have those positive effects, but you're not going to have any impact on your capacity basically to live life. If anything, you might feel like you're a little bit more concentrated, more focused, a bit higher energy without the crash of an energy drink or coffee. You're probably going to feel more responsive and less reactive. So for instance, you get cut off in traffic. You're not going to be flipping off the prison next to you. You're going to be like, okay, I hope you get there safe. Lots of love. And then I like to say sometimes like life just gets a little bit shiny, right? There's trees in your backyard. But when's the last time you really sat and looked at a tree and felt like, wow, that's so beautiful, right? So the tree isn't new, it didn't pop out of nowhere, but it helps you appreciate and see things, see the beauty of life that has always been there, but that you might have rushed past.

Anxiety, the Default Mode Network, and Presence

Brooks 6:31

That's interesting. So can you explain how the psychedelics have helped with your anxiety?

Julie 6:37

Yeah. So one of my favorite things to talk about when it comes to psychedelics is the impact psychedelics have on our default mode network. So the default mode network is a series of interconnected structures in our brain, it includes a posterior cingulate cortex. And all of these parts of our brain are essentially where our mind goes to engage in self-referential thinking. So, you know, if you are reharashing like an argument in the shower and you're thinking, oh my God, I should have told her, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, your default mode is network is activated. If you are just thinking about yourself, oh my gosh, like why do I keep doing that? I suck. Like I am not good enough to run this business. Whatever unfortunate things our brain tells us, all of that is going on inside our default mode network. So it's daydreaming. Sometimes daydreaming is supportive, right? Like visualizing is can be a really supportive practice. But more often than not, it's daydreaming to thinking about anticipating outcomes in the future that have not yet happened. Or it might be worrying about things in the past, ruminating on the past. Anytime that we're not in the present moment, essentially, our default mode network is activated. And what research tells us is that happiness is not how much you weigh, if your boyfriend's hot, how much money you have in the bank, although money could definitely make life a lot easier. But it really comes down to how often are we present, how often are we in this moment versus being engaged in something else, self-referential thinking, worrying about the past, anticipating the future. And so if we can control the lever in our brain through the use of psychedelics to quiet off that part that would normally be running that would take us out of the present, then we can actually be happier more often. And so what we learn to do when we can turn off those parts of our brain, I don't mean that in a scare way like it's never going to come back on. I just mean tell the part, the Regina George of your brain, I like to call it the Regina George of your brain, tell that part to shut up for a few hours so that you can get a sense of what is peace like, what is presence like, what does it feel like to be able to have this conversation with you and not be thinking about what's next on my to-do list? And once I can feel that, once I can template it for myself and I can start to integrate that feeling and take it into my off days, even when I'm not microdosing, then I can long term experience relief from my racing mind. So that was my journey to getting rid of my anxiety and depression because I was a big ruminator. I was a huge ruminator and I was an apocalyptic thinker. So, you know, no matter what it was, my boyfriend sent me a funny text, my boss looked at me sideways, was like, I'm getting broken up with, I'm getting fired. Like my mind just went to worst case scenario all the time. And that is a really great recipe to be super anxious.

Brooks 10:03

You work also with high achievers. So, how does psychedelics impact their performance?

Myths, Safety, and Set & Setting

Julie 10:10

Yeah, so I'm thinking about one of my one-on-one clients right now. She's a structural engineer. So it's really helped her with, she's an underwater structural engineer. She has such a cool job. I don't even fully understand it. But it's helped her with her dimes, right? To be more, you're underwater and you're trying to fix something, right? That's game time. There's no time to be messing around. So helping her be focused and flow, be more efficient, a better problem solver, that's a huge one. Psychedelics can really help us with our problem solving. As adults, we perform mostly low temperature searches, meaning we are taking in the least amount of information possible from our environment to create a solution because that's going to require less brain power and help us conserve energy and all these things that are evolutionarily advantageous. Children perform like high temperature searches. And that's why children are such interesting problem solvers and they're usually better at adults than certain and certain studies at like figuring out how to fit all these pieces into the puzzle because they're seeing things from like the land of unlimited possibilities. But it takes up a lot of energy to perform a high temperature search and to be taking in all of this information. But as adults, if we're only performing low temperature searches and we keep coming up against the same problem, it's very unlikely that we're going to find the solution out of nowhere because we're taking in the same information. And that's like how the algorithm of our brain is run. But when we can run a high temperature search, we can find novel solutions to persistent problems. And that can really help high performers, right? Whether that be an entrepreneur or someone like this woman who, you know, isn't interested in leaving her nine to five. She loves what she does, but she wants to ascend the scale. Like she shared with me her, I asked all my clients, like, what's your big dream? Yeah, let's put them all out on the table. Is it marriage? Is it kids? What is it? And she wants to have her own engineering firm. And it's like, you want to be the boss and you get to be like the best engineer that you can be first. Really cool to help people. I love to help people expand essentially. How good can life get? How much can you maximize your potential, actualize your potential so you put your head on the pillow at night and think, wow, like I am living my life.

Brooks 12:12

Yeah, I know a lot of substances are considered to be addictive. How does psychedelics work? Are they considered to be something that can be addictive?

Julie 12:20

No, actually the opposite. A lot of the research, I would say most of the research around psychedelics is helping people break addictions. And that's actually a really big misconception with psychedelics. So psychedelics are the only non-toxic substance that the FDA has listed as a schedule one substance. So they're non-toxic. There's like almost no likelihood that it could, that's what could kill you. That's what toxicity is referring to when that schedule could it kill you? No. Way more toxic alcohol, nicotine, things that are very like commonly accepted. So no habit forming, no toxicity. And there is a lot of emerging research about how psychedelics can be used to help people break addictions. And in studies with rats, where rats will go back and they'll they want to push the little cocaine lever or they want to push the nicotine lever, they do not go back to psychedelics. They don't keep pushing that lever. It is non-habit forming and it can help you break bad habits.

Brooks 13:13

Wow, that is really interesting because I know when I was growing up, we were taught that psychedelics can cause hallucinations, they can cause you to have out-of-body experiences. So, what has been your experience with introducing this to your potential clients and their misconceptions about it?

Inside a Therapeutic Psilocybin Retreat

Julie 13:32

Yeah, so I also want to say you can have hallucinations, you can have out-of-body experiences, and that's going to happen in a larger dose. And that's why I'm people to really be mindful of like where and how they're engaging with the substance. And that's why when I have my retreats, people are lying down, they have an eye mask on. It is an introspective experience that's meant for healing. It's not we're at a rave, we're dancing around like people could get hurt. So at a larger dose, you are going to experience those things. But those, I think the issue is that we're creating us, we're making them synonymous with bad, right? Like hallucinating, having an automotive experience doesn't necessarily mean something is bad if it is used in a setting to promote healing, clarity, expansion. But it can be dangerous if someone were to get in a car, right? Or into be in a place where they didn't feel safe. So there are a lot of important considerations to have with like where you're taking psychedelics and how you're taking them and what's the intention behind them. But when I talk about this with my clients, I would say most of the people that if they didn't already have a good understanding of what psychedelics could do for them in this more controlled setting, then they're coming to me because they want relief, right? They've tried the things, they've gone to therapy, they've tried the prescriptions, they've done who so many different things, energy work, all these things, and they're just like not experiencing relief. And they get to the point and they think, well, you know what? What's the worst that can happen? Like in four to six hours, this experience will be over if I don't get anything out of it. Like it'll just be another thing that I've tried that didn't work for me. But this is the thing for so many people that they say, Wow, like finally I got some relief from my anxiety, my depression, my grief, my loneliness. There's so many things that people have come to me for.

Brooks 15:20

That is very interesting. So you mentioned like a workshop or a retreat. Can you explain what that looks like?

Holding Space Without Absorbing Trauma

Julie 15:25

Yeah, I love my retreats. They're definitely my favorite thing that I get to do in my business because it's just so different to have an in-person experience with someone, right? I love my coaching clients, but so many of them I've never met. So getting to meet someone to hug them is really rewarding for me. So my retreats, they I've definitely figured out the formula for them. I keep them small because I want to make sure everyone feels like they are heard, right? So a lot of plant medicine experiences people go to, they have like 60, 70 people in a room. And it's just like you're a face in a C. Who knows your name? Who knows your story? No one, probably. So this is five to six women. I always work with women because a lot of women have sexual trauma. And I don't want to introduce, I know that women can experience sexual trauma from other women. I'm not saying that's not true, but a lot of it is men toward women, sexual trauma. And so I just don't want to re-traumatize them by making them feel unsafe or like they can't open up by introducing a man into the space. Five to six, and they all come together. We have a nice dinner that person and just get to know each other. I know it can be weird, like we're all here to do mushrooms together. It can be a little like disorienting. So, you know, I make sure that people feel really comfortable with each other. And then we'll do breath work that night. I'm a breath work facilitator as well. The breath work style that I usually facilitate in, or definitely at the retreats, is meant to mimic a psychedelic experience. So I like to say, you are in control of your rocket ship. If you want to really go somewhere, like breathe super hard, you will get somewhere. If you just want to feel like grounded and calm, awesome. Breathe through your nose. You got it. So we go through that experience and people cry. People are like, oh my gosh, like, how did that happen from breath work? You have a lot of power within your own little body, even without the mushrooms. But the next day is the journey. And this is what I tell people last night you were in control of your wife and chip. Today, once you eat the mushrooms, like it's out of my hands, right? You have joined the train and the train is not stopping. That's a bullet train. But when we think about the flight instructions, I make sure everyone is really comfortable what they can expect. We set an intention for our journey and what they want to get out of it. We the mushrooms, I from an indigenous perspective, I recognize that like I am not, I'm not indigenous. I am a white woman, and I really want to recognize and pay tribute to the culture that gave us this practice, that gave us these mushrooms. Very referential to the origins of the practice. We talk about dosage, right? So it's not like everyone has to take this many or like just eat this, right? I have a scale, it's very measured, it's controlled. And we look at, okay, you've never done this before. Here's what I recommend. What do you feel comfortable with? Or you have done this before. Okay, where would you like to go? Where do you want to get to? So everything, like all the guesswork is taken out of it, and you feel super comfortable. I asked multiple times, is there any discomfort or there are any fears? Let's talk about them. I want to talk about them now before we get into this experience. So then everyone takes them at the same time. They'll lay down. There's an eye mask, which is that part of that inward experience. And the journey lasts about four to six hours. It's really interesting. All the women lay on their plane at around the same time. That's an energetic thing. I couldn't explain it from a scientific perspective. But that night I'm just like, take it easy, find your legs again. We'll have a nice dinner. I know that was crazy. We'll talk about it tomorrow. So then the next day we start breaking down the experience, right? Happened. You have the opportunity to fully share your experience, no interruptions, depending on where we are. I always have a fun play activity that is based around the environment. So I just went to Lake of the Ozarks. Okay, cool. So we went on a boat ride in the Ozarks. Like it's something that makes sense with the environment around us. And then we'll get into the integration activities. Because I always say 3% of the journey is the trip itself. 97% is okay, you got all these insights from the journey, right? It's clear, oh, you know what? Your boundaries, they're weak. Oh, you are people pleasing so that you can avoid confrontation. All these things come up for people on the journey. And it's that's cool that you figured it out, but now what are we actually going to do about it? So all these integration activities are meant to help people make clear change in their life so that the journey becomes integrated and embodied. We go through those activities the next morning. I'll take everyone through a microdosing masterclass so they can use microdosing as part of their integration practice. And then we set up our mini mastermind. So over the course of a month, we have three group integration calls. We have a group integration chat for support. So it's not just see you never, because that's really what I see is the biggest gap in my industry. Multiple people have told me they have paid a ton of money to go do plant medicine. And then it's like they just send you off. That is not what I am about. I am going to stay in contact with you. I'm going to make sure like it's going well. This is a very intentional, connected space. And I don't just send you off to figure it out on your own. So that's what my retreats look like. I love them, they're so special to me. And just like seeing the results that people have after the retreats are really mind-blowing.

Brooks 20:27

I can imagine that your retreats for you can be very emotional. So how often do you have them?

Julie 20:34

Yeah, that's actually a great question. So I have a retreat, I have a retreat every other month, and they are emotional. And I think the biggest thing that I have gotten to do as a coach, as a facilitator, even if I wasn't in plant medicine, is to really understand and that my clients' lives, personal struggles, past traumas, they are not mine. I can feel so much love and empathy and compassion for those people. But if I were to take that on, I would not be an effective leader or facilitator. So it's really important for me. I every single day I imagine myself in my bubble. I what's mine is in the bubble, what's for my highest good is in the bubble, and everything else is out of it, not as a I don't want to look at it, or I'm bypassing, or it's not important to me, but I can't take it on.

Brooks 21:28

That's very interesting that you said that because I know a lot of the times a counselor, therapist, or a coach sometimes take on the problems of their clients. So what strategy taught you to release that and not kill you?

Grounding and Somatic Safety

Julie 21:42

Can I tell you a crazy story? Yeah. So when the pandemic hit, I was living in California in this like little apartment, and I was thinking to myself, I'm not gonna make it in this apartment. I'll tell you that. So I'm from Iowa. My mom has like a lot of land and a much bigger house. And so I drove home and I rode out the pandemic with my mom. But my mom is older, menopausal, so she doesn't have a cycle. And I was so leaky in my energy that I stopped having a cycle and I was not having sex with anyone. So I knew that I wasn't pregnant, but it was months of not having a cycle. And I I was like losing my mind. I even went and bought a pregnancy test, even though I knew for sure that I was not pregnant, just thinking, why? And I was this has never happened to me. I was a very regular person. I had never had any issues with my reproductive system or my cycle or anything like that. So once I left and moved back to California, my cycle returned. And I realized, oh my gosh, my energy is so open and like the weaker energy of my mom's that I was just taking on her energy, and that's why it stopped. And so I went home again to help my mom close up my grandparents' estate once they had both passed. And I was home for a few months because we were like flipping a house and that takes some time. But I had started this practice where every day, and I do this every day for your listeners who think this girl's crazy, but I really do. I start off and I I like to ask Archangel Michael, he really works for me, he's like the protector, right? And they'll be like, okay. And I imagine this. Sometimes I do it out in the sun, but I'll think, okay, please remove any and all cords that are connected to me that are from sources not for the highest good. And I do it around my, I think about it with my pets, my loved ones, groups of people. I think, okay, remove these cords. And then you can't just leave the cord dangling, right? For anyone who's ever done a cord cutting practice, it's really important that you don't just cut the cord and leave it out there. Like you need to do something with the loose energy. So I'll be like, take it to God, take it to the light, turn those cords into love, and then fill me up in any space where I and the cord has been cut, right? Where there's like a hole. Fill me with love or my animals, my loved ones. And then I say three specific things. I say, I call back my power, the power that was taken from me, the power that I knowingly gave away to sources, not for the highest good, and the power that I allowed to slip away. And then I say, I imagine myself, I say, please place me in a white light bubble of your divine protection and my animals and my loved ones that contains only my energy and energy for the highest good and keeps everything else out. I know it sounds kooky, but I'd been doing this practice for many years. I went back, I live with my mom for those months, and my cycle is just fine. And that is really how I also protect myself from feeling like so consumed by my clients' energy, stories, trauma, because it's not, at the end of the day, it's not mine. I can't heal it for them either. Like to all the coaches, therapists, people out there who feel like they take on other people's energy and their problems, like you can't heal them. Healing is something someone does for themselves. You can be the facilitator, you can give them the tools for their own transformation, but ultimately it's on them and taking on their energy also isn't helping them heal.

Brooks 24:58

I'm glad you said that because I know when I bring therapists, counselors on the show, that's one of the weaknesses that they talk about having is that they tend to carry, you know, whatever is discussed in that session. So you also mentioned earlier that you do grounded practices with your clients. Can you explain what is grounding?

Family Resistance and Staying the Course

Julie 25:18

Yeah, so the best way that I know to explain it is a lot of people will come to me and they'll tell me this specific thing. So perhaps, like for the right person listening, they'll just know what I mean. But they say, I feel really untethered. I feel really floating along. I don't feel like I'm rooted. I don't feel like I'm grounded. So the true practice, like from a very definition, is to be outside with your feet, your bare feet on the ground. And that's like an electro, like magnetic thing of it's important to I don't know exactly what's I couldn't tell you the exact scientific process, but there is one of removing the charge and you are grounding, right? It's the same thing where people like ground their electrical outlets and their home, right? We're like, we're the electrical outlet and we're grounding into the earth. And that is that's not a woo-woo thing. That is a scientific practice. So that is something that I'll do even when it's cold. I will go outside in the winter with no shoes on for a little bit and just stand on the earth so that I can ground myself. But for many people, especially like those who really struggle with anxiety and depression, they feel untethered. They feel like they're just like floating in the wind. And a lot of that is because they don't feel safe in their own bodies. So when I say grounding, I also am often referring to somatic practices of creating safety within your body. And I know for myself, for a long time I struggled with really intense dissociation. So I would, my dissociation manifested where like I felt like I was in a body that wasn't my own. Like I was this little thing looking through someone else's experience. And it's very disorienting. It really messes with you mentally. And through somatic work and like being more present in my body, whether that be through a simple body scan meditation, hypnosis that really asks you to connect different parts of your body, breath work is a really great grounding embodiment practice. I've created somatic safety. So now like my body's like I'm I haven't associated in years, and I'm very connected to my body. I'm very in tune with my body. I know when something feels off. I have a lot of, I have a very strong yoga practice, and creating more safety in your body is ultimately going to help you with that anxiety as well. Because the body leads, the mind follows. Anxiety doesn't start in our mind. Anxiety is a mental response from something occurring in our body, whether that be our heart is racing or we have a lot of tension in our back, our mind is interpreting these signals from our body as anxiety. So when you can ground, when you can create safety in your body, when you can do these somatic practices, you prevent the feeling from anxiety of anxiety from ever happening.

Why Psilocybin and Safe Sourcing

Brooks 28:00

Yeah, this is very interesting. And so you were previously attorney, which is a field that is highly respected, very well known, and now you have become a psychedelic facilitator. So I can imagine that there's a lot of resistance because this is so new and there's not a lot of information about it. So, what has been the hardest challenge that you have faced transitioning into this new journey of yours?

Julie 28:26

My relationship with my mom. At the end of the day, Rihanna said the best people are gonna talk whether you're doing bad or good. And I believe that. And for the most part, I also don't care. It's not like I don't care about like you, like the listener, and I I everyone wants to be liked, right? I would like to be like, I would like to be respected, but I don't need you to like or respect me. At the end of the day, the only person I really care about their approval is my own, right? Like, do I feel morally good about who I am, about how I am showing up in the world? So when you have I only have one parent left, right? And I think it's just natural to want that parent's approval, recognition. It was really challenging. My mom's also sober, and so she has a hard time with this as well. There's a lot of and she's AA sober. So, you know, AAA sober is like a hundred percent. There is no California sober, there's nothing. There's not even, she won't even take a painkiller, right? Like she's sober. So that's an issue. And for me, growing up, I was always hearing you get an education and then you get a really good job. Like the path of entrepreneurship was never put out there as a possibility. And so that's been probably my most difficult challenge because at the end of the day, I don't really super care what people think about me, whether that be old law school professor professors, classmates, like past colleagues, exes. I hope you're doing well, but like your opinion does not impact how I feel at all, but my mom's opinion does. And so that's been tough. But I also I just come back to you time and time again, like in my heart, I'm very rooted and like unequivocal in the impact of my work, and I believe in it and I know my heart and what I'm doing, and that's all that matters to me.

Brooks 30:10

Yeah, you are definitely very bold and you are very resilient. So, how do you cultivate that resilience in your life?

How to Connect and Next Steps

Julie 30:20

Thank you. First of all, thank you. I really I take that, I receive it, and I think it honestly came from living most of my life, like at least 25, 26 years, not feeling that way, of feeling impacted by and just desperately wanting people to like me. Like before I ever got into this work, long before psychedelics or even just coaching, right? It was I would do this thing and I would lie about dumb crazy. Crap. It wasn't I wasn't lying about, I don't know, I wasn't committing like fraud or whatever, but I was lying about weird stuff because I wanted people to like me. I was always saying what I thought the other person wanted to hear from me, even if it wasn't true, or like I would make up weird little things. And it was just an act like to be accepted, right? I just wanted to be accepted so desperately, probably because my dad died when I was little. And I felt like the person who loved me unconditionally was gone. And I felt very unsafe. And I just was like that ultimately is an act of survival. That is evolution. Like human beings need to be accepted to survive. That's been the way it always has been since the dawn of man. And my drive for acceptance was so huge that it really got out of control. And I was, I didn't know who I was. I didn't know what I wanted. I didn't know what I liked. I didn't know what I valued. And so after getting really clear on those things and figuring out like my very clear internal voice and my values and living in accordance with them and seeing how good, like once you're good with yourself, there's actually an African proverb, but I don't know it exactly, but it says something like, if there is no enemy within, there can never be an enemy without. Like ultimately, when we're good with ourselves, it doesn't matter what happens outside because our internal channel is clean. And I feel very I'm not a perfect human. I make mistakes, I'm sure I hurt people's feelings, but I feel very clean morally in how I live.

Intentional Living to Reduce Burnout

Brooks 32:19

As I was listening to you speak, I was like, to leave your career as an attorney and to step into psychedelics, that's very bold. And so you had to be a person that is very confident. I'm so glad that you don't allow what other people think of you to stop you from helping other people. And so your specialty is how do you pronounce it? Psilocybin? Psilocybin. So what made you because I assume that when it comes to plant-based or when it comes to psychedelics, there's different types, right? So what made you choose that one?

Julie 32:50

Oh, okay. I love that question. Thank you. So A, I was just naturally introduced to reliable companies that produced microdosing capsules. So a big issue is sourcing, as you might imagine. Like there are tons of sketchy people on the internet. There's tons of sketchy people everywhere, but there's tons of sketchy people on the internet saying, I have mushroom capsules. No, they don't. Be careful what you're taking from people. But I work with I got introduced to companies where like I went to their production plans. Like I saw all the mushrooms. I know these people, like I have, I know their integrity and their heart. So that was a huge one. I was like, okay, so I have sourcing covered. And then this is not like my analogy, but lots of people will compare plant medicines to different members of a family, right? So ayahuasca is often called like the grandmother, and mushrooms are called Los Inya Santos. They're like the little children, they're like the children of light. And so I will say they're definitely in my mind the most gentle teachers. They're gentle, they're loving. And so I think it's a great like place for anyone to start. It's a great introduction to plant medicine. Not that you won't have a powerful experience, but the energy is much like lighter and more welcoming. And I think I'm a great first stop on if you want to explore this world of plant medicine. So some of it was convenience, some of it was I really like the energy. And then it's so interesting. I just I feel very called to them. Like it's yeah, it's a calling, it's a natural like relationship that developed. And I think sometimes you just get to trust your intuition, even if it doesn't make sense. And I've been the mushroom girl for so long now. It's here I am, I love it, and I'm never looking back.

Brooks 34:33

So when you say capsules, I feel so silly because I literally thought it was like a mushroom.

Julie 34:38

Oh no, but you're right. Okay. Okay, but no, you're right. Don't feel silly. But it's some people will just take a bite of a mushroom and they're like, oh, this is fine, but you didn't measure it. Like you don't know how much is actually there. Well, okay. The capsules are the dried mushrooms, but they measure it, so you're taking the exact right amount.

Closing and Listener Callouts

Brooks 34:56

Okay, so I can imagine that the capsules would be safer versus just eating a mushroom.

Julie 35:02

Yeah. You know exactly what it is, right? And they're like, that's another reason like I like my company is because they pre-measure the capsules. I know what's in the capsules, it's just a dried mushroom. Like it's very pure. It's not, yeah, you just don't know. Be careful what you're doing on the internet, kids. That's what I'm gonna say.

Brooks 35:18

So if someone wanted to contact you and they wanted to work with you, how would they go about doing that?

Julie 35:24

Yeah, come find me on Instagram. I'm very friendly. I obviously love to talk about this stuff. I'm happy to answer any of your questions. I am just Julie Savone on Instagram. So, you know, my name and the title is the same name on Instagram, no spaces, one word. But if you're just like, oh, I'm curious, this microdosing thing sounds cool, you can DM me the word journey on Instagram and I will not even talk to you. My mini chat will send you my quiz that I made to determine whether or not microdosing is a good next step for you. So if you're just curious, go do that. It's a very easy one-minute quiz that takes into account like your past history and things like that to determine whether or not microdosing would be beneficial for you.

Brooks 36:00

And yes, and so I will definitely have all of your information in the show notes in the description of this episode so that they can reach out to you. You have shared so much. I didn't know a lot about it. And so I'm glad that you were able to come and share about psychedelics because, like I said, I was always taught that this was super bad and that, you know, raise your hand, dare not to take drugs. And so, yes.

Julie 36:23

Oh my gosh, right there with you, girl.

Brooks 36:25

Thank you. No, I'm excited to have you. And so this was a very interesting conversation. So, as we wrap up, what is one message or a piece of advice that you would like to leave with our listeners who may be experiencing burnout or anxiety or depression and they are looking for a more natural way to help themselves?

Julie 36:43

The most natural, like totally free, one of the most effective things you can do, especially for someone who's feeling really burnt out, is to really get clear on your intention as you're moving throughout your day. So I like to say you can have an intention with everything. Even before I got into psychedelics, this was something that I worked on with my clients and they said it was their favorite art. Set an intention for your year, for the month, for the day. Set an intention before you go into a meeting, set an intention for your quiet time at the end of the evening that it may truly be restorative, that you can put your phone down and connect with your partner, your kids, your cat. Like just infuse this practice of intention throughout your day. You can use it so many times with every different activity, but allow yourself to be intentional in what you're doing, fully present in what you're doing. And that will definitely help you avoid that burnout piece of just like constantly on to the next thing. You don't even know what you're doing it or why. It just becomes a rat race. You lost all your spark. Like, I don't want that for you. I just want you to feel so lit up by what you're doing in each moment.

Brooks 37:45

That is really good advice. So again, Julie, thank you so much for joining us. This conversation has definitely been eye-opening for me because I am not afraid to admit at first, I kind of was like, what is this? Because I didn't know much about it. But then as I began to research, I was like, oh, okay, you know, the FDA is involved in this. And so a lot of states are also like legalizing it or decriminalize it, I think is what it's called. And so I wanted to really learn more about it. So again, thank you so much for coming and just sharing your company with me and to give me more insight about psychedelics.

Julie 38:20

Thank you so much. I really appreciated this conversation.

Intro 38:26

Thanks for listening. Please rate this episode and share it with your family and friends. To learn more about your host or to book a coaching session, visit www.brookedemming.com. Until next time, rise.