Hello, my brothers and sisters, welcome to the Coming Back Home podcast. I'm your host, amber Rashid, and I fullheartedly invite you on this beautiful adventure. Each week, we will take a journey in exploring different topics in the world of plant medicine and natural healing remedies. My intention is to bring awareness and shed light onto what plant medicine is, helping shift the perspective that these sacred plants are not a drug, but rather a divine and intelligent medicine. It's a concentrated drop of nature that carries ancient wisdom and knowledge from thousands and thousands of years ago to help the collective conscious expand, grow and heal. It's a calling back home to the essence of our soul, who we are and who we are called to be in this lifetime.
Amber Rashid:Okay, welcome to the Coming Back Home podcast. Today I have Alec sitting with me, but this time I'm going to interview Alec and I just you know, alec is someone that's very special to my heart and the love of my life and he's been on my podcast with me for the last two episodes, and I just want to give him the opportunity to share his story because I think it's so beautiful. I just want everyone that's listening to an opportunity to know Alec and his story.
Alec Hunsaker:Thank you very much for having me. It's funny because I've already done like two episodes with you, like you're talking about, so it just seems natural. But I'm so grateful to have the opportunity to sit here with Amber. She has been such a light in my own life and has so much wisdom to share to the world and I'm just so very proud of her for sharing her voice, and I'm also very grateful to be able to sit here with her at this present time as well. So thank you for having me.
Amber Rashid:Of course, anytime. Okay, so I guess I know you've been on this journey for about like eight years with Plant Medicine. We just explained to people a little bit about your background and where you're from and like what led you to plant medicine.
Alec Hunsaker:That's a hefty question. It's a good question, a very good question, but you know, my path with all of this actually, really truthfully, started at a very young age. By the time, I would say, I was about nine years old, and what happened at that time in my life is my father abruptly passed away, and while I wasn't doing ayahuasca at the age of nine years old, I had adopted a set of traumas that permeated throughout my life until I had reached about the age of 21 years old, and you know that trauma also had a whole bunch of labels and symptoms that I had been given by different psychologists and different doctors and experts of their fields.
Alec Hunsaker:You know, stemming from, I think, about nine years old or nine or eight years old, I was diagnosed with ADD and dyslexia and I was on Adderall, heavy amounts of Adderall, until the later ages of my life. And you know, as I started to grow older and didn't really recognize the impact that that trauma had on my life, I began to adopt other patterns such as, you know, anxiety and depression and really just very lost. You know, just trying to figure out who I was and why I was. And I also grew up in a very religious background and growing up as a kid, you know, even with my father passing, I grew up Mormon. My family was very dedicated in the religion and in that culture. It's very prominent to.
Alec Hunsaker:It's expected for you to go on what they call a mission, and what a mission is is you basically leave your family for two years of your life and you go and spread the word of Jesus Christ to people and you're basically randomly called. However, the reason I'm sharing that is because my whole life it seemed like as a young adolescent, it kind of stemmed to my let up to me serving a mission. It was something I had always been taught as a kid. You know, you need to go on a mission, you need to go in and and teach Christ about Christ and, you know, become centered in God. And by the time I was 18 years old, the time had come. It was always kind of like, okay, I'm like I'm going to go my mission, kind of thing, but then it then it happened at the age of 18 and it was a real pivotal time in my life. When I left on my mission it was the hardest thing I had ever done in my life. I was very close to my, my mother, and she did such a great job at raising me maybe a little bit too good, you know, picked my clothes out until I was a senior in high school and did all my laundry and Mitch. I always had what I needed and. But when I went my mission, it was a real pivotal time.
Alec Hunsaker:I ended up serving two years in the state of Pennsylvania and served, for, you know, two years basically helping other people to teaching about Christ by knocking on doors. My whole day, my whole time, was dedicated towards Christ. However, as my mission concluded, I was faced with, you know, I like to call kind of like a midlife crisis at the age of 21 years old 20, 21 years old because then, you know, my whole life was like you're gonna go on a mission, you're gonna do these things, and then I came back and everyone had always said that life is so much easier after your mission. You get all these blessings and you know, you get married and you have kids and whatever. But when I came back home, I was faced with the questions that I had never faced before, which is you know, who am I? What do I want to do? What does my purpose? All of these deep rooted questions I had never faced because I had always just kind of, you know, looked to my mission. I never thought of anything, of anything else, and when I came back from my mission, I never really solidified myself in the church and I started to, you know, manifest other patterns in my life.
Alec Hunsaker:You know the trauma that I talked about from a very young child started to manifest in my life, where I started to get faced with, you know, significant depression, real senses of anxiety, just very lost was always changing who I was around other people to fit in, and that lasted probably for about a year or two. So about the time I was 21, 22 and by the time that concluded I had found myself around a very unsolid, non-supportive group of friends that had led me into negative behavioral patterns of, you know, partying a lot, drinking and doing substances to escape, and I had reached a point where I was really really searching for help and I would go and you know I was doing different trauma therapies, you know, emdmr, and going to psychologists and doctors, and I started to recognize that all of these different labels that I was being prescribed with and labeled as, no matter who I went to go and visit, I never really found help and issues permeated. But my life really really started to take a turning point when I went to an EDM concerts in Oregon call it was. At the time it was called Paradiso it's. It's not called that anymore. I think it's like something at the gorge. It's at this beautiful, beautiful place and I would have had the opportunity to go with my sister and my brother-in-law, who had the opportunity to go to this music festival with and you know they've been such amazing influences my life, but at that time I had always been dabbling, you know, drinking and other recreational drugs, but I never really experienced psychedelics.
Alec Hunsaker:But when I was there, my sister and I and my brother-in-law, we took some mushrooms and I remember very, very vividly we were at this festival and we went out to get on this ride and the mushrooms started to hit me and I remember looking around to everyone and there was this really really big kid that came and stepped on the ride and, you know, young kid but very obese, probably weighed 200, 300 pounds. And I remember looking around and he couldn't he couldn't get his seatbelt on for the ride. And I've been looking at everyone just laughing at him and talking and totally making this kid feel so uncomfortable. And that one moment, as I started to peek on the mushrooms, really had me have a real sense of compassion for this person where, by the time the ride ended which was amazing, by the way, the ride itself was awesome. We were spinning upside down and going crazy. But I remember I got off the ride and I was deeply impacted by that experience. I looked at my sister and I said, you know, that was that was really intense. Like what do you? What? Do you believe it. Like who, like what are you about? Because me and my sister were the only people on that whole ride who didn't laugh at him and we went and talked to him afterwards and my sister said to me she said I don't know everything, but I do know that we are all one and that the message is love and something about that experience. It was like a light switch to my body and I had a real different perspective and I felt a real light come over me and after that I started doing heavy research into psychedelics.
Alec Hunsaker:At the time I was studying psychology, I had switched my my major to psychology and had studied a little bit about the mind, the behavior of the mind, what causes people to act in certain ways. But I started doing all this research on on mushrooms and the research was compelling where there was, you know just just testimony after testimony, and you know the literature itself was fascinating as well. You know anti-depressive, even cancer patients, anti-anxiety people would go and do mushrooms and report not taking substances ever again. And I remember just being like so overwhelmed. And it led me on a route where I started doing all you know psychedelics a lot more and I was really starting to get a new perspective on life and questioning my religion.
Alec Hunsaker:But ultimately I had another experience happen to me, by the age of about about 22, I must admit, where I really, you know another flipped switch in my mind, where there was a man who had been taking advantage of my mother and to watch. That, you know, really flipped the switch, where I became very committed towards healing and recognizing that I needed more help and I had done the research. I'd heard about this substance called ayahuasca, but my family, you know, being very religious and very founded in Christ, were not very supportive of me going to the depths of Peru to take the world's strongest hallucinogenic substance. But when that happened to me, I actually had moved to Montana and after I found out some information about my mother, I didn't think to Peru. I do not care what anyone thinks about me, I do not care what my family thinks about me.
Alec Hunsaker:At this point I have been doing this for myself, for to get help, because I really needed help, and so, you know, I booked my ticket and a week later I left Peru and I remember, prior to going to Peru, I had read all of these testimonies about people like just crying to the camera saying like oh my god, like ayahuasca, like legit, changed my life and I had read about that and you know a part of me was like cool, am I going to go to the jungle for like a month?
Alec Hunsaker:You just kind of like hallucinate a little bit and like come back and be a changed person. But what I didn't fully recognize is that my life would actually change and I spent a month there the first time when I went and I did a daita where I had the opportunity to study with the pap plap period, bloggo and also take extensive of you know nothing like 20 ceremonies of ayahuasca with traditional shopeeble of shawmids and the second ceremony that I had completely changed my life into a place of just pure surrender and full of so, so, so much gratitude and just respect and love and just big soul of world with with. You know, thanks to god and that's kind of my journey that led up to to ayahuasca and cob pals we've we've spoke a little bit about on your podcast, but yeah, oh my gosh, thank you so much for sharing all of that.
Amber Rashid:I'm being so vulnerable, you know. I just want to say I'm so proud of you for really following your heart and following that calling. And you know, I think when you were sharing that story about your sister Alyssa, it made me think of Sean, because he was also at a music festival and he had this I believe he was also taking mushrooms and he had this thought of like just an abundance of love and he had this thought like I wish every single person in my family could experience that. And then ayahuasca after his first ayahuasca ceremony. It showed that that experience led him to the medicine and that it would change not only his life but everyone. It. We're all connected for sure.
Amber Rashid:I think it's so interesting. I always say this all the time you and Sean are so similar and just even that one experience is crazy in itself. But yeah, I think it's just so fascinating. You could honestly tell you this all the time. You could write a book. Now you go from being Mormon to drinking ayahuasca in the Amazon. It's really not common at all and I think you know your story and this is why I really want you to share your story because I think it helps so many people. But so after and your mom also went with you right to the Amazon as well- yeah, that's right.
Alec Hunsaker:So I went to Peru the first time. I went for a month and I never really shared much about my mother to my mother, about my experiences. Even to this day she doesn't really know. You know what happened to me when I was there, but when I came back home, my mom was also just very overwhelmed by my sweet mother. She was just very worried about me and was concerned about the direction that I was heading and I think for her.
Alec Hunsaker:When she saw me come home and I remember I took all of my prescription medications and I was prescribed and I dumped me in the toilet and my mother was just like overwhelmed to the point where she was like what did you just do in Peru? Like what happened to my son, you know, and it was really amazing actually where basically, she just saw a significant change in the person that I was choosing to be, the trauma that my mom had experienced. I highlighted a little bit about that. She was seeking her own healing and through the change that she saw in me she said look, I don't know what you just did. I've never done anything in my life, I've never drank, never smoked, never done any sort of substance, but whatever you just did, I need it and I was like yes, you do and there's more to come yeah, exactly.
Amber Rashid:I just want to say I think it's really, it's really beautiful, because you came home and I think there's also integration and applying the change and you don't even, you didn't even have to say anything to your mom. She just like saw that and saw the change and it, you know, sparked something in her. And for a lot of times, you know people, when they hear about others going with their family or their loved ones or their friends, for example, say how can I get other people to do that? And something that I've talked about in other episodes is just embody it. Embody, you know, embody the change and that will spark some something and someone else and people will open their curiosity and just be a real example.
Amber Rashid:So I think you know, and you continue to do that till this day, which I think is so beautiful and it just permeates everywhere. So wait, so how you know, because it's not a lot of times that you know you hear of your family going even, you know, maybe going to a retreat center here and there, but going out to the jungle is a completely different experience. How was that for you? And then with your mom, those are two very good questions.
Alec Hunsaker:But it was amazing, you know, when I went for the first time myself, the reason where I went to where I went is because I had done the research in recognizing that the medicine came from Peru. I didn't really know much about that, I didn't really mean much to me at the time, but the people really suggested to go to Peru, and not only go to Peru but to find a real traditional chapibo shaman is what they call it. And so when I went to Peru the first time, I had just done a little bit of research and heard about what people had to say. So I got to, we flew into a small town called Aquitos, which is the smallest town in Peru, the closest town to the Amazon River, and then we took about three or four hours into the jungle to reach a small little village, a tribe of people who had been living out there for many years, their lifetimes had been there.
Alec Hunsaker:But it's funny because you asked what that was like for me, because it was just like a complete. I just threw myself in. I just really did not know what to expect, but I just said I will do anything. I will do anything and just please, god, help in any way possible. I know that I'm supposed to do this and I'll do anything, but when I went out there, you know I was engulfed in just a complete.
Alec Hunsaker:All everything that I was doing to my body was completely toxic. I remember I was putting Rogaine all over my face to try to grow facial hair at the time and it worked. But I was putting Rogaine on my face, I was lathering myself in all sorts of chemicals I was using the most. I was doctor prescribed heavy metal, prescribed deodorant that basically clogs all your pores with heavy metals so you won't sweat. And then my mouth you know I was brushing my teeth with. Also, doctor prescribed the most strong fluoridated water toothpaste you could possibly buy on the market. It's so poisonous that you'd only buy it in like a container as size as like your pointer figure, because if you eat more than that, if you digest more of that, you will die.
Amber Rashid:Oh my gosh. And just listening to all this it's like even hard to imagine, because I like it's the complete opposite of that. So just hearing that I'm like what?
Alec Hunsaker:It's actually really funny, but I went out there and I remember when I got there, they had me sit in front of this Shabin. There was about there was three Shabins there, but there was the Maestro, the leader Shabin, who was in charge of the healings that were taking place, and he sat down with me. He said okay, so what are you? What are your intentions? Obviously, I couldn't speak the language, so there was a translator, but basically the Shabin had told me that. I told the Shabin that I was going through depression. I was really there just to overcome my depression. And he said, in response to that, the translator told me okay, you're going to diet a plant called Pinion Blanco, and it means love. And I was like, okay, they gave me like a page that talked about Pinion Blanco, whatever. They said okay, but to do that, to go to Da'ita, you can't have any prescription medications, you can't put anything on your body, you can't brush your teeth, you have to shower in the muddy Amazon river and the only thing that you can use for soap is what they get. It's called Aguity Florina, it's like a alcohol based rub that they use. And so my whole life changed. I was like, okay, well, I guess I'm just going to go for it.
Alec Hunsaker:And when I did that it was it was so amazing because, you know, really everything changed for me in my second ceremony, and words really can't describe exactly what I experienced. But I experienced the sense of wholeness and for the first time in my ever, that I'd ever, you know, thought that basically God is the earth. The plants have shown me that God is all around you all the time. We don't have a God that communicates only when you obey the commandments or only if you've repented to your bishop, that you have a loving God who's always here for you and he has provided you with all of the necessary tools. I was shown that all of the things that I was doing was disconnecting me from myself. I was putting all sorts of things on my body that were disconnecting me from my feelings, but I learned in that ceremony that the medicine showed me that the closer I get to the earth the natural abundance that God provides on a daily basis the better off and the healthier you will become. I saw how everything that I was doing was completely in disharmony with the natural tides of the planet. I saw that if I adhere to these principles, that not only would my symptoms and my life get much easier, but I also saw the direction in which it propelled me. It was just so profound. I'm just still full of gratitude to this day. Truthfully, it's just crazy.
Alec Hunsaker:That's what happened the first time. There's more that happened during that experience in the Amazon, dieting the plants and really connecting with the earth and learning about what that means. But it was amazing because for the first time in my life, ever as well, I wasn't asking somebody else questions. I wasn't asking somebody. I wasn't going to my spiritual leaders ask them about how do I connect with God. I was getting direct messages from God on how to conduct my life in a way that would be better. I could completely connect it to the earth and myself and reconnect it back to myself. That's really the experience that really humbled me to my core. It allowed me to really just dedicate my life to God and always be in service of God and to treat myself with compassion.
Alec Hunsaker:That going with my mom. So that's kind of a quick set off to see how it had perured that first time. But then coming back home, it was actually really interesting because when I came back home, for some reason I was so attached to this old way of living that I tried to immerse myself back into old friend groups and try to be this new person in old beliefs, and it just wasn't working. I've spent many years trying to adopt these different behaviors, but when it comes to my mom a few months later, it was at the perfect time, a time that I really needed it, to be able to go with my mom. I actually was in Peru the second time for an additional month.
Alec Hunsaker:I went with another one of my friends that I had met in Peru, but my mom came for a week and we were in the Ande Mountains of Peru.
Alec Hunsaker:We decided to go there because of the jungle. It's bugs everywhere. I could eat my mosquitoes and my mom would not have done very well with that. Anyway, I went with my mom and it was just so humbling as well to not only receive my own healing but then to watch my mom, to really watch her heal. I remember just her crying and crying and crying and just saying I am so grateful for God and that he has been here for you and grateful for the medicine that the medicine drastically changed my mother's perspective on life. She had the opportunity to do three ceremonies, but she only did two because, similar to myself, her second ceremony also drastically changed her life as well, to a point where she is in no way affiliated with the old belief patterns that we were both born into. So, in essence, the medicine changed both of our lives, and you see that you were talking about with Shod, where it really permeates throughout your family and you've experienced that as well.
Amber Rashid:Yeah, totally. Even now there's probably 11 of us have drank ayahuasca, but I just think that you shared so much and it's really beautiful. Wasn't there a point in time when, the first time that you went, that you thought that you were going to go back and be Mormon, or no?
Alec Hunsaker:Yeah, you know that's funny, I forgot I told you about that Prior to going to do ayahuasca. I made intention because I had spent two years, two years of my life, where I had to follow a 150 page rule book on what to do, how to act. I couldn't even call my own mother, so for those two years I was following that rule book and was very dedicated. By the time I left, even though it was very hard at the beginning, by the time I left, I gave my all to that experience and really tried serving other people and serving the message of Christ and being brought up in that religion just like any other religion. It's like that's the only way that you know. So I just wanted to go to heaven, you know so.
Alec Hunsaker:I was like I just need help with some stuff. But my intention was to go to Peru, get over my symptoms that I was experiencing and come back and be Mormon truthfully.
Amber Rashid:Yeah, very fascinating. These medicines always give you what you need and not what you want, and I saw this before, but it's really it's kind of like you know it takes the veil off and you really get to see life for like what it truly is. And so when you went back home after you know, you talked about how you tried, like immersing yourself in the same friend groups and stuff. How did others around you like perceive that? Did you share your? Were you open with your experience but with your friends? Or like how did how did that, like your experience, permeate like through your life after that? I know it's a big question. Yeah, it is a big question.
Alec Hunsaker:You know it's taken many, many years. There was certain friend groups that I tried to. I think for myself the experience was so, so overwhelming. You know, over the years I really come to understand and learn from my own perspective and everyone's different, but for myself it's like these are very sacred experiences and no matter how hard I tried to explain these experiences to other people, people almost like they thought I was crazy. They're like you're like a hippie now, but you just went to do a whole bunch of drugs, the Amazon, you're like a hippie. You know, they just didn't understand. They really they really didn't understand.
Amber Rashid:Yeah, I probably also felt very uncomfortable. You know, like as you're saying, and like you know that people are still ingrained in their ways and their thoughts and like you know you can't even blame them because that's just like how they were raised. For my understanding, what you told me about being like being in that culture and being around like a society that's like predominantly Mormon, you know that is their way of life and anything outside that is like a big no, no. So I'm really proud of you for staying true to yourself.
Alec Hunsaker:And I think I'm proud of you too. You know ever is also a very, very far away. The medicine is definitely permeating. It's amazing as well, because I'm just so grateful as well, because you know me and Amber on a very similar wavelength and just understanding. It's such a blessing, it's just so grateful to be able to have somebody as well that just really understands these things, because some people really do think that it's just crazy. You know my grandparents to this day still call it voodoo. They think you know bless their sweet souls.
Amber Rashid:They're amazing human beings, by you know, definitely resonate with some of my own family and people in my own lives. But you know, at the end of the day you just got to do you and stay true and because in your heart you always know what's best for yourself and it's okay. Not everyone is going to understand, it's not for everyone to understand. It's your experience and it's what you do with that experience.
Alec Hunsaker:Yeah, totally, I totally agree. It's what you do with that experience and adopting the lessons that you learned, because you know, I've also learned. I agree with you where how you help other people is by changing yourself, and so maybe they don't fully understand or recognize your perspective. What you can do is work on yourself and change yourself and, regardless of the experiences and what happened, it's you know the concept of if we're all really made of atoms.
Alec Hunsaker:If you got a microscope and you look as far down as possible, it's all just empty space and vibrating energy. That's 99.999% empty space. Somehow that we're all connected. That's the root of the belief is that we're all made of the same things. And if that's really the case, focusing on yourself with the right intention of love and gratitude and respect for yourself and all other beings, as you do that, sometimes taking a step away from a certain crowd or taking a step away from your own set of beliefs, but as you focus on yourself and really focus on your own needs, while some people might call that selfish, it's actually the best thing you possibly could do, because you only have control over yourself and as you change yourself, you change everything around you. If we're all the same thing.
Amber Rashid:Yeah, no, 100%. And you know, at the end of the day it's all love too. And you know both of us, we both come out of these experiences being a better person. We're not doing harm to other people. So you know, people are always going to talk and judge and have things to say, but keep being you and that's all you can really do. But I also want to ask you, because I know you've done other medicines plant medicines and what has been your favorite or that you resonated with the most?
Alec Hunsaker:That's a good question. I would say that you know I resonated with all of them. It's very hard to choose a favorite. I don't think I can choose a favorite. To be honest with you, I've had a real opportunity, and just feel grateful, to work with a whole plethora of medicines, and I think that the ones that I am the most grateful for are the ones that come naturally from the earth. There are the plants that are here to serve us with ayahuasca and, you know, aboga mushrooms. All of these things have taught a continuous message. Well, although they might teach you different ways, the message and the root of my most intense or most life changing experiences have come down to the same thing, which is love.
Amber Rashid:As I asked you that I was also just thinking about myself. I think it's interesting because all these medicines have their own teachings and own lessons and at certain moments in your life, just like anything in your life, something will resonate within that moment, and so it's, you know. Whatever is calling to you in that moment, you know.
Alec Hunsaker:Yeah, totally, and they have a way of coming into your life when you really need them. It's amazing, really. Truthfully, I just am so grateful for them and it's something that I think everybody should do. I really do. I think that it's really amazing as well because I think it's so funny. I really do, Because you have these people. You go and you try to describe these experiences and you look at the. So, for example, you take ayahuasca, something like that. The side effects okay, so you might die. You might die. You might reach a state of psychosis, which that word is also directly linked with spiritual awakening in scientific literature. So maybe we all need a little bit of psychosis in our lives, or you might hurt yourself. That's basically what. Okay, so let's take oxycodot, for example Prescription medication taken by almost what percentage of Americans or Adderall, or Ibuprofen. You take enough Ibuprofen, you can die. Yeah, that's crazy. It's actually really funny.
Amber Rashid:Or even just as simple as alcohol, you know, and that's so normalized in our culture today. I mean, even you can explain the chart that you've shown me showing about the different effects that different substances have on you and on your life and in your health. And it's just really fascinating that we feel like we've been brainwashed to believe that nature is not in our best interest and like it's still crazy to me that like, even like even now, mushrooms are starting to become decriminalized. But it's taken now, these things have always been here and that nature is banned and prohibited in places and it's like just natural, it's great. But then we go and grow things in labs and you know there are full of chemicals. Even you know, thinking about, I was saying the other day to my mom and I like how you know we go to take a shower and with shampoos and conditioners and body steps that are filled with chemicals and the point of taking a shower is to cleanse yourself, but then you're just putting chemicals on yourself, cleaning yourself with chemicals.
Alec Hunsaker:Yeah, exactly, it's so funny because you're you're skid they call. The epidermis is the outer layer, it's the largest organ in your body, but we know that that skin absorbs 70% of what you put on your body. Even more frightening is that you know your common household products are not monitored by the FDA Big daddy. They really you know the people that really care for you even them they don't look at your what you put on your body. So that means that some random guy in some other country could put whatever they want into this chemical. Maybe it makes your skin really really, really soft, but what are the effects of that, you know?
Amber Rashid:Yeah, it's so crazy and that's why this thing, you know, plant medicine is so beautiful Because when we go and have these experiences, even like the little things that we don't think about, it opens our shifts, our perspective and opens our awareness to even like the small things in our life that we're doing and to make those changes.
Alec Hunsaker:Yeah, right, and just to finish my thought, with these compounds there are these side effects. But what Amber was talking about, one thing I'm grateful for is that, even though I was relatively wild at a certain stage of my life, I tried to be smart, and so I did. I really did do a lot of research on these things. And there's this they call them a meta analysis, and what they do is they take a meta, a whole bunch of studies. So they take 100 studies or 200, whatever it is and they analyze them, they put them into one study. So they say, okay, with all of these scientific literature, what have we learned now? What is this coming to? And they've done it with with compounds, with with chemicals that we are using as what you might label as drugs, and there's a whole.
Alec Hunsaker:We couldn't pull up this chart. If you go on Google right now to look up drug harm chart, you'll see about 50 different ones pull up from different meta analysis, different scientists, who said, okay, what is the most harmful drug you could possibly take? Let's get all this literature and figure it out. What's amazing, you know, is that there's a whole bunch of different factors, like you know. You know cost of the environment, personal health, personal damage, you know, family, all these. There's a whole bunch of different categories, but over and over and over again, the number one, the.
Alec Hunsaker:The number one thing is that the worst drug for you, worse than methamphetamine, worse than crack, cocaine, worse than heroin, is alcohol. Alcohol is always number one and, intriguingly enough, although these, these studies don't show ayahuasca, they do show mushrooms at time and time again. Mushrooms are the least. It's like impossible. It's like that. The deaths that have happened are like people who have just been Tripping out somewhere on like a 20th story, took and jumped out the window, but they have it overdosed. They haven't anything that you know, so, but so okay. So how many people jump off of a 20 story building with a drunk?
Amber Rashid:Yeah, you know totally, that's so crazy to think about and we don't, we don't realize this and that's what I'm saying. We're like brainworn. I'll post that chart that Alec is talking about on my website and on my Instagram so everyone can take a look up, because it's really fast and even looking at that will open in your perspective and just give you a note, new insight on you know how our culture is ran in society as well. One thing I did want to ask you is I know I haven't received a bogey, yeah, but you have. What was your experience like on that? And then, for people who listening, can you explain a little bit about what a bogey is?
Alec Hunsaker:Yeah, for sure, I did a bogey like five years ago in Mexico. I had I was living in Sedona at the time and I met some, some good friends. I had the opportunity to go and receive in Mexico. But basically in the spiritual community you know there's they talk about how they, these different plants, have different spirits. So, for example, mother ayahuasca is apparently the feminine energy and and a bogey in this community is considered to be the masculine energy. It's very direct. Research is actually also quite amazing on a bogey too, where apparently, you know, with the direct side, the masculine side, it has the ability to completely disrupt behaviors in your neurons regarding to addiction and Behavioral patterns towards self-abuse, things of that nature. So that's why a lot of people will do it.
Alec Hunsaker:I wasn't experiencing any sort of major addiction at the time, but I wanted to really learn more from the plant and I went out there and a bogey is basically a stems from Africa Gabon is where it originally comes from and it's just a tree, it's a tree root, and what they do is they get this root, they harvest the root and they grind it up into a very fine powder and you basically try to take this powder and drink it down somehow, and the experience itself is also very mind-altering. But also is linked to several benefits, and my experience with a bogey was very intense. It's a. It was a 48 hour trip. We had done one or two ceremonies, but we had also been micro dosing a bogey for several days prior and after. So it was like a week or two long experience where I was really in depth with the medicine of a bogey and it was fascinating because during that time Well, it's hard to really describe I really connected with the lands of Africa. You could feel the lands of Africa, the spirits of Africa and the teachers of Africa really permitting through the medicine and my Thought patterns, I felt like I was in Africa, which is crazy. It really sounds so crazy, but it was. It was amazing. Yeah, the guy who did this ceremony was named Demetri. He did a very good job.
Alec Hunsaker:But, like I was saying earlier, the root message of the medicine, although it was very intense, was a very similar message about how to take care of my body, how to take care of others. What does that mean? What is God? A lot of these same, these same questions that I was was wondering were being answered, and I've noticed as well that in my life, my sense of purpose, or but what I thought I was supposed to be doing, changes and that in the present moment, right here, right now, is what I've always given the answers that I need. That's why it's called a gift, you know. So, at the time, whatever I've done, any sort of compound, it's given me the messages that I need and my purpose in that moment, right here, right now.
Amber Rashid:From your experience, what were the biggest differences between Iboga and ayahuasca that I gave you?
Alec Hunsaker:The biggest differences. First, we're preparing. A lot of the times, especially in my beginning stages of ayahuasca, I really prepared and I go on extensive diets and fasts trying to permeate and cleanse my body of Different substances or toxins found in food. But with Iboga, there's really no preparation like that needed. It was a very easy experience going into it. I just kind of decided I was going to Iboga and left within a week or so and Didn't really prepare much, but I mean I was eating relatively healthy at the time. You know we're out flat based. I really eat meat. I think I had been. Actually I was declared vegan for like For like four years at that time, but now I'm what they call a flexitarian. Yeah, I'm flexible, but as long as it stems from a place of of good intention, I'm open-minded, but at the time I was very strict in my beliefs, and so when I went there though the experience started in Sonora would be we basically took a droplets of Iboga that had been extracted by Fred David Kishtelvi was has sat with the BD tribe in Africa many times and Really was able to provide a safe environment for us to kind of prepare. One of our good friends was suffering from severe, severe addiction, major chronic addiction. That is why we all ended up going there.
Alec Hunsaker:But Going into the experience, you know I was, I was already in the medicine and it was a very easy experience going into it because of the micro dosing and lack of meaning to really prepare. But when I was there the experience itself was very overwhelming. It was very tense. I remember getting there was a lot more risk screening process as well. They had doctors there like standing next to during ceremony because the medicine can be carcinogenic to some people, being it's toxic for your heart, but some cases, very rare. As long as you're healthy, you're fine. Just like any other medication or just any other substance, there's always some sort of side effect. But they they prepared it when I was there Very intense. They they had brought a bunch of people from Africa as well and, like I said earlier, you know there was I really connected with the spirits of the land and I remember like in the middle of my trip I like looked up and there was this guy playing an instrument of one strict instrument with his teeth and I'm like what am I watching?
Alec Hunsaker:But Ultimately, the the, the message of itself. It was very intense and I connected with a lot of different aspects of myself in this life and other lives as well, but the root message was that was the same I just really solidified. It's taken a lot of work for me to solidify the beliefs that I stand for and becoming solidified in myself, and that was it's just been a continual process of learning. You're growing and adopting and new habits that change you know did you find that a bogey was more direct than ayahuasca?
Amber Rashid:Because you sometimes hear people talking about how, because it's a masculine Spirit, just gets right to the point, whereas ayahuasca Sometimes can be more in the astral and you can come out of your ceremony but confused with the messages and the downloads that you receive. But how did you find? Find that with? Did you find that with a bogey?
Alec Hunsaker:Totally. It's such a great question because it definitely was permeated in my ceremony, where there wasn't a lot. There wasn't any confusion actually at all, whereas, like you've said before, you know, with ayahuasca there's been a lot of kind of confusion, especially kind of after the trip, where I'm like wait, was I just Jumping in the jug gold and I just like lose my mind a little bit.
Alec Hunsaker:I'm like what were these messages? But with a bogey, it was very direct and I remember there were, for example I'll tell you two examples that kind of highlight just how direct it is. There was what experience I had. I was during the actual ceremony itself, where I was there, and First I saw my father, which was a very clear mention to myself, my father. But then all of a sudden, my whole Vision and my, my state of being, I just I opened my eyes and I was in a room. I was in a room that I saw bed and I saw toys and I saw all these pictures and I knew that that was my bed in a past life. I didn't know what had happened, I don't know what the significance of that specific room was, but I knew that it was a very pivotal experience in my spiritual evolution and that whatever that experience had brought Was okay, that I was flat and that things are Moving past that.
Alec Hunsaker:Then, additionally, what I'll talk about too is, after the experience, the ceremony itself, which was about 12 hours it lasts for 40 hours the, the full-blown trip, and so after they do an official ceremony, I was remember, I was out under the stars and Another man that was with me at the retreat came to me. He sat down and he was telling me about all these things that he foreseen with their future and the future of humanity. And While, though it sounds really abstract, the messages that he was telling me, a bogey was saying listen to this message, this is what is going to happen. It was like it wasn't even going to happen. It was a sincere knowing and understanding that's just so hard to describe, but very direct.
Amber Rashid:And I feel like that's what you know, when people talk about getting downloads and medicine and they just like it's. That's what I feel, like a downloadist at least for me too it's just like a deep inner knowing, like, and you don't have any question about, just so direct. That's a really fascinating experience. I can't wait to go do a bogey and with you, when they win, that time is right, it will come divine timing, it's so. After all these experiences, what been some of the biggest life changes that you've made in your life? Of course, leaving like the Mormon church, but like even in your day to day life. How? Because I think you know integration is so important. You can go and do these medicines, but you know that's something. That's how, where the real change comes. What are some? Just you know, to even, you know, give people an idea of how they can make some of their own lifestyle changes when they come back and doing the medicine themselves.
Alec Hunsaker:So really great questions. I keep saying that, but they're really making me think you're doing a good job. You're definitely doing a job. But you know, I think that the biggest takeaway that I've gained over the, the, the, the several years is, I think, you know, being very young. In the experience I put a lot of. I put these substances almost kind of like on an altar where I was like I need this to receive that or whatever it might be. But I've learned in my own personal experience that the medicine works throughout time and your ability to adopt, and a lot of times people will repeat the same patterns or the same habitual cycles until they learn and apply. So I have a lot of compassion for people who struggle or who really have a hard time adopting these downloads like you were talking about.
Alec Hunsaker:You know, because for me personally, it was a complete 180 degree life shift. You know, when I, when I left Peru the first time, is when I really started to make these changes. But it's taken many years of of of of work and questioning and also researching because, like you were saying earlier, with, like ayahuasca, the feminine energy being kind of extract abstract, I really got to a point where I do think I reached a state of psychosis, of just really like in psychosis, meaning you have lost your mind. And what is your mind? Is your sense of I? So I was like, who am I, what does that mean? And I started having. I had to research all of these different things. I was being taught all the medicine. It was so fascinating because all of these messages that I got were so true and I just I got the feminine side that was like, okay, adopt these changes, that I would go online and research should find all this hard data. It's like, oh my gosh, like it actually wasn't really losing my mind. And some of those you know examples include.
Alec Hunsaker:You know, like I said, when I got home, I threw away all of my medication. I wasn't taking any medication and then every sort of thing that I was putting on my body I made sure was natural, but not only natural but really came from ethical sources that I knew that I needed to just completely adopt a new way of life. Really, everything changes. Such a hard thing to answer, you know, by I stopped eating meat, I stopped eating dairy, I stopped eating grain, I stopped eating breads. I was very, very strict in the medicine. Also, I had a business that I had that was basically supporting I didn't know, but at the time I was basically importing clothing from China and after I went to I did ayahuasca.
Alec Hunsaker:I went to China for business and I went to these different manufacturers and I was seeing firsthand that I was promoting full blown slavery and a cause I did not want to support. I was like I don't care how much money this could make me, I don't want to do it. There's no way I'm going to do this. So I stopped doing that. I was putting a lot of faith into the medicine, what the medicine had taught me and additionally, with friend groups, I definitely learned who the real friends were and learned who were really there for me and who was it, and being able to accept that not everyone is meant to be in your life for forever, but to be grateful for the moments that we didn't have. And it's like if you will not, if you will not love me for what I changed, then you're only going to support me going backwards or staying the same. It's like changes life. Those are just a few examples. I hope that answered your question.
Amber Rashid:Totally answered my question and you know we spend so much time together and you definitely do such a beautiful job embodying just in your every single day every aspect of your life. And you know we're not perfect, we are human, so but I just when you're talking about just putting natural stuff on your body, I remember when I asked you, do you use natural deodorants, we're like, yeah, do you even do you know who you're talking to? We are so similar in so many ways it's really funny.
Alec Hunsaker:She really is so funny. She's the better half. You know, she really does. Amber does the same way. She's the same way.
Alec Hunsaker:I think you know, amber's biggest gift is just, you know, for me personally and I talked about my own journey of how, of having to learn and adopt these, these principles by by learning for myself through suffering what Amber does such a great job of and I really admire so much, is that we will go where she will go or, for example, we'll go and do these, these, these plant medicine ceremonies, and she will just instantly, instantly adopt changes of behavior. And as soon as something does not resonate with Amber's heart, she does not do it. It doesn't matter what it is what's happening, but if it does not, really it's true to her soul and who she is at her core. But she does such a magnificent job at really embodying the truth and what she stands for and who she is and who she wants to be, and just it's really amazing. You know, I'm just so grateful to have her presence in her life, in my life as well, because she really helps me. It's, it's actually really amazing.
Amber Rashid:We're right back at you. I love you so much, and it was the same way about like, and I think you know we just really pushed each other to be the best versions of ourselves that we can and just be a reminder for each other, and I think it's just all about remembering I love you so much. I love you so much.
Alec Hunsaker:I love you too. Thank you so very much for everything. And you know, I just want to say that if anyone is going through something in their life, or whatever it might be, whether these things are being true to your soul or not, is just to really follow your heart. And as long as you're following your heart with the attention of love and gratitude, that is the message of all religion. It's the golden rule, you know treat your neighbors as you want to be treated, then you will be okay and that things will work out. And whether that means coming and doing these, these compounds or not, it's on your own path.
Alec Hunsaker:But I do think that the closer you get to that intention and also getting as close as you can to the earth because we had a more talking a little bit earlier it's really truthfully that the earth is ourselves. We are, are the earth. Without the earth, we could all agree, we wouldn't be here. Without the atmosphere that keeps us breathing, we wouldn't be here, and it's a divine miracle that this planet is even here and it gave us the fundamentals of life for us to exist. So why would it randomly change as soon as man gets science or man is able to observe in a new way. Nature has provided for thousands and thousands and thousands of years. Which changed is man, their perception of nature.
Amber Rashid:Oh, that was really beautiful. And my foot. Thank you so much. And I want to ask you for people that are wanting to do plant medicine, what is your biggest advice? Or for people you know because I think you can relate to this who really just gone from such a drastic change in their life but are maybe have fear or I mean, maybe in your case you did it, but people who do have fear, what would one piece of advice you could give to them?
Alec Hunsaker:One piece of advice that I would give a person is to really consider why you want to do these, these compounds.
Alec Hunsaker:If you.
Alec Hunsaker:There's a quote that I really like, it's by Hippocrates, and for those of you who do not know, hippocrates was a Greek philosopher and was the foundation of medical science and medical doctors to this day, in fact, when you become a doctor, you have to sign what's called the Hippocratic oath, which basically says that I will do no harm to other people.
Alec Hunsaker:But one of his quotes is he says before you heal a man, ask him if he's willing to give up the things that are making him sick. And so, as you look at these benefits, you know I think the reason why anyone wants to do these benefits is because they think it'd be amazing to not have depression, not have anxiety, not be addicted. You know, find a better view towards God and all these things, or have a better view in life in general, or just think of life different, why I would experience all of those things are amazing, but really internally ask yourself am I ready to change and why do I want to change? And if you're able to come to a real solidified state where you're willing to change, then I would say do it in a safe place.
Amber Rashid:Oh, it's really beautiful and I just want to add on to that. Like you know, change can be uncomfortable, but bravery is always rewarded. So I think it just all comes back to trust and you know, trust yourself and you know exactly what Alec mentioned at the end make sure it's safe and see what resonates with you and really feel and tune into your body and see if that, if that's what you need. And, yeah, the important is why. Why are you doing that and you're when? Why are you going to receive any medicine or doing anything in your life and what is your intention? Thank you so much. I love you and, for everyone that's listening, I'm sure Alec will be back on the podcast and doing more episodes with me in the future.
Alec Hunsaker:Thank you so very much. I'm so grateful for the time to be here and spend with you as well. We're sitting here with this amazing girl, a little dog. I am myself in this beautiful place. I'm so grateful. So thank you and I look forward to more episodes with you. I love you.
Amber Rashid:I love you too, oh, oh.
Alec Hunsaker:Oh.
Amber Rashid:Thank you so much for taking the time to tune in to the Coming Back Home podcast. You can connect with me on social media platforms such as Instagram. At coming back home, please like, share and subscribe for more conscious, heartfelt and healing content. If this episode resonated with you, please leave a review of my podcast on Apple or the website. Coming back homeco. Remember it's a calling back home to the essence of who we are and who we are called to be in this lifetime. May God always bless and guide you, my brothers and sisters, and lots of love and light, as always.