Healing Through Community & Ayahuasca with Brandon Evans | Conscious Leadership, Integration & Ancient Wisdom

Healing Through Community & Ayahuasca with Brandon Evans | Conscious Leadership, Integration & Ancient Wisdom

Episode Summary

In this expansive and grounded conversation, I sit down with Brandon Evans to explore his journey from New York City startup entrepreneur to founder of One Heart, a community-centered ayahuasca retreat organization focused on conscious leadership and collective healing.

Brandon shares how traditional markers of success left him feeling unfulfilled — and how that realization led him toward deeper personal transformation. We discuss the power of community in healing, why preparation and integration are essential for ayahuasca experiences, and the importance of reconnecting with nature, ancient wisdom, and holistic health practices.

In this episode, we explore:

• The shift from external success to internal alignment
• Why “you are your own healer”
• The critical role of preparation and post-ceremony integration
• Community as medicine
• Self-love as the foundation of leadership
• Emotional, physical, and spiritual health as one system
• The impact of pharmaceuticals and symptom suppression
• Cultural perspectives on healing and indigenous wisdom
• Nature as a central pillar of well-being
• Conscious leadership as a path toward societal change

This conversation is about remembering who we are — individually and collectively — and creating spaces where transformation is supported, grounded, and integrated.

Moments That Stuck With Me

• “You are your own healer.”
• “It’s about these conversations.”
• “It’s time to remember.”
• Success without alignment can feel empty
• Integration is where the real transformation happens
• Community is not optional — it’s essential
• Nature is not a luxury — it’s medicine
• Ancient knowledge is being rediscovered with new respect

Key Themes

• Ayahuasca retreats and preparation
• Integration and community support
• Conscious leadership
• Holistic health
• Indigenous wisdom and cultural respect
• Nature and well-being
• Self-love and inner work
• Pharmaceutical dependency and root-cause healing
• Collective transformation

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Tell me about you, Brandon.

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Yeah. Uh so I mean, I guess I I don't know exactly what attracted you here um to me, but um yeah, my story, I mean, the the the brief version is uh New York City, startup entrepreneur, built some companies with some success, uh, got to a point where my investors were asking me to raise more money. My heart kind of sank. Knew that wasn't where I where I was meant to be. It kind of led me on a bit of a journey that involved ayahuasca, involved a lot of other modalities, um, a lot a lot of travel, and uh ended up writing a story called Lost on Purpose. That was the first thing I had written personally, had no followers on Medium, it went viral with tens of thousands of people who had read it. And a lot of them were saying, This is my story. And what they meant by that was really that it they had done a lot of the things, chucked a lot of the boxes that they felt they were supposed to be doing from their parents, from their communities, from the society, and they weren't feeling fulfilled, they weren't feeling joy, they didn't really know where to turn next. And from that feedback, a lot of people wrote me, commented, I thought, how can we support, especially leaders, people that have maybe an oversized impact and ability to create change in this world, whether the change is um in their own companies and treating employees better, whether it's in their communities, their families, and or creating something that uh has a more positive impact on society. And so with that, somehow got somehow decided to do ayahuasca retreats that also incorporated a lot of other modalities that I had learned along my journey, and it worked, uh, had very, very positive responses, and it ended up becoming my full-time thing and what I've dedicated my life to. And we're basically this month, we'll do our 22nd journey. It's been about six years. Uh, we've taken about a thousand leaders through our program, which is an eight amazing.

SPEAKER_00 1:51

Keep going.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

Yeah. Uh so it's an eight-week program. We uh when we started out, and really no one was doing any type of preparation or integration work around uh ayahuasca journeys for plant medicine for that, for that matter. And so we did a two, you know, we have a two-week preparation period, a virtual experience, and then we have our one week in Costa Rica and five weeks of integration after. And even beyond that, we have our community of a thousand is very active. We have local chapters, they get together, we have virtual ways that people connect and and and support each other throughout. So the community aspect's been a big piece of things. When ayahuasca's been done over thousands of years, it's always been in tribes and communities. You sat with your community, you integrated, life was integration, you were with your community, and that really got removed when it got westernized over the last 50 years, people popping into local ceremonies or going down to Peru by themselves and coming back and not really being supported or knowing where to turn next. And so bringing the community aspect back into it has been a huge thing for us, and the connections that people make uh has been really positive. Um, in some cases, led to business partnerships, it led to longtime friendships, uh, and just overall support in in an ongoing journey because it's as um it's not a uh kind of one-time thing. It's people that are coming are really wanting to shift areas of their life beyond a journey of life of learning and exploring. And so we've really tried to um incorporate that all into our program and experience.

SPEAKER_00 3:20

Wow, that's incredible. Hey, you got that down. Look at you. Look at you, Gum.

SPEAKER_01 3:27

That did a few times, yeah. A few times today, too.

SPEAKER_00 3:30

I love it so much, and I love that there's just so much thought and intention and consciousness into what you do because I've been in this on this path for about a decade. I have never experienced ayahuasca. It's one of the only medicines I haven't really experienced. I've been looking, it's been calling me in the past like six months to a year. I've been more open to it and I felt like a draw towards it, but again, finding the right space, right, right container. Because I do this work with majority of the time with either MDMA or psilocybin. But um ayahuasca is is its own very special, they're all very special, yeah, they're special and they need that respect and reverence. And I love, I love to hear that you guys are doing the pre-work, the community and the post-work with the community is everything. It's everything. That's exactly what we're missing. This is why wars start, because there's lack of community, because there's separation, there's otherness. Incredible, incredible work. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:38

Yeah, thank you. Appreciate that.

SPEAKER_00 4:41

So then how do you find your leaders? Like, what do you how do you go about that?

SPEAKER_01 4:45

About 80% comes through referrals. So it's mainly been through referrals and other, yeah, things like this. We really speaking to uh in influencers, people who have audiences. Uh, that's really where where the bulk, I would say, of of people come through. Um, you know, because really understanding, yeah, like you said, what is the right place. I interview everyone who comes on our journeys, and um, most of the people are first-time ayahuasca drinkers, I would say about 80%. So we love that. I think our experience is really well set up for that and really guiding the right experience. Ayahuasca was actually the first plant medicine or psychedelic that I um experienced. And I'm very grateful for that in that, as you mentioned, there's such reverence and such um intention, or there should be, can be, um, within that. And, you know, we really try to provide that experience for people as they, you know, kind of kind of enter this space. And we also have some people that have done it all, been to all the all the things at many places, and and and they too are blown away. Because there's just there's a you know, the medicine not to um negate it in any way because it's so powerful, so beautiful. And there's just so much that can be opened. And if you have the right container, even just on our journey itself, we have a lot of other workshops, other types of um modalities and content. Um it's when we're opened up with ayahuasca, when we're in that container, we see so many breakthroughs that happen, you know, outside the ceremonies per se, but in in the other types of workshops, the other content and all that working together can really provide, I believe, exponential effects. And it's something that I think can be overused by some and that they chase the the insights and the breakthroughs they receive. And we really want it to be something maybe you only have to do it once in your life, or or it's something where years down the road, when you've integrated, um then maybe, maybe it calls to you. Uh, but I've interviewed people that you know had had less than optimal experiences five years ago, 10 years ago, and maybe never would have come back, or you know, we're really hesitant. And we, you know, we really want to make sure people's experience gives them everything that that is really possible in the right context, in the right, um, the right setting, the right people.

SPEAKER_00 6:50

Yeah, it's everything where you just describe the container that you describe is everything you need to have not only a beautiful journey, but a beautiful life on earth.

SPEAKER_01 7:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:02

Right?

SPEAKER_01 7:06

And love and care that happens. And so people experiencing that sometimes for the first time, really experiencing them being loved for their true self, them being able to be vulnerable and accepted and received. Oftentimes the the pain and the traumas and the things that we hold, we think is so exclusive to ourselves. And to then see, especially powerful leaders, people that um maybe they resonate with that have gone through the same things in many cases or gone through their own challenges, to see that, to experience that is is a really powerful part of the process that you know I I think gets missed in in you know in many experiences. Because ayahuasca, there's there's obviously a very internal personal component to it, and certainly the ceremonies are held in that space. And then there's the integration, there's the participation, there's um what's happening, you know, collectively with the group is so powerful.

SPEAKER_00 7:58

Yeah, and that I feel like that's the entrance into this world, right? You're like, okay, I've had these downloads, I've had this very magnificent experience. How do I connect back into life and how do I bring it back? And so when you talk about the workshops, and I love that model, the person, the being is so open in that in that space, right? Right after the experience. Um, and then you have a trusted and safe group of people together, then you're like, oh, you know, even more light bulbs go off, right? And how do it manifest into this world? Because a lot of us have we have good ideas, we have we're creative beings, right? But creation is a whole different game, right? Um, and so the how-tos, how to walk on this earth, living the life that you want to live is um that's what you're talking about in integration, at least what is what I'm receiving. Um the connection with community, huge.

SPEAKER_01 8:59

Yeah, and a lot of the issues that leaders, I mean, anyone faces, but um, you know, some of the things that leaders face is sometimes overlooked in that like self-love is one of the workshops we do and really powerful. Um, all of our workshops are very experiential. They're not like lectures, they're very much getting into it so that you can, you know, view your own triggers in real time, view, view what you gravitate towards, kind of work on the tools that you're learning and the information that you're learning in real time. Um and that self-love exercise actually came from a guest on journey two. We didn't have it at the time. We've had a lot of successful people. I would say he's one of the more, you know, successful people in the world. He's Harvard, Yale management and multiple best, New York Times number one best selling books, uh, consults with leadership teams of the of the top, you know, Fortune 500 companies in the world. And after um an integration session, he raised his hand and he said, Can someone please tell me, you know, who here loves themselves? And about a third of the group raised their hand and he said, Can you guys stay after and explain to me what that means? Because I don't even have a concept of it. And you know, from that, we created what ended up being what is one of our most powerful sessions. Because leaders, I mean, oftentimes we're we're building and creating for some lack. We're building and creating because of fears, because of limiting beliefs, and we're creating from that space. And so what happens when we start to create from our hearts, from our abundance, from our joy? And that's really what we're trying to support people through. It's not about like sitting on a mountaintop by yourself. It's how do I continue to be a powerful leader and creator in this world, but do so from a place much more in tune with our hearts and ultimately the collective. And so that's yeah, I think a really powerful thing that comes through in our journeys.

SPEAKER_00 10:42

Wow, that's amazing. That's amazing. They um lead a lot of physicians, professionals as well, you know, CEOs, but majority of my clients are physicians, lawyers, but inevitably what I see is the trauma that we have not looked at, right? That I'm not worthy of love. This is the translation that comes through when especially it's a loved one who's supposed to keep you safe and didn't. And in fact, we're the perpetrator, right? And as children or adolescent or adulthood, whatever it is, wherever in our journey, we all have had trauma. It's a human life, right? And how are we gonna look at it? Which angles are we gonna look at? And we need guidance in all of that. As human beings, we're herd animals, we're supposed to be together, we're only alone. If you look at our ancestors, they were if they were alone, it meant death, right in the wild. And so we need each other to be able to see ourselves through each other's experience, just like you were right.

SPEAKER_01 11:41

I mean, our no, our organization's called one heart. Um, and that's that's been definitely a guiding principle because it's the separation that causes, you know, separation from ourselves, from our bodies, from our from each other that causes all that disease or that we face. And um, we've seen that time and time again. I mean, I've we've seen we had someone in our last journey, and this has happened multiple times, had um chronic pain for I believe it was decades or at least 10 years, and literally went away um on her journey. And we've seen this happen, and sometimes it comes back 25% of what it was, sometimes it it literally is gone completely. And there's such an emotional component. We're storing stuff in our bodies over time. We have ways of suppressing it, of keeping it, keeping it down, and it causes pain in our bodies. We're spiritual beings, we're energetic beings in addition to being physical beings. Yeah, and that that often is is is is separated. And uh I commend you. I mean, I love I love uh we've had quite a bit of doctors and nurses and people in those fields on our journeys, and I love when there's openness. We we actually started a um functional medicine kind of add-on to our program. We have a actually he's my functional medicine doctor, and um, he came on our journey a couple journeys ago, and we started a program. It's an add-on, it's nothing we actually don't take anything from it. It's just kind of um his program that we've partnered with him on and allows people to get functional health readings and understand some of the causes of not only their physical health, but when they're doing this work, uh one of the things that may stop them from having the results they like is having hormone imbalances, is having inflammation in their body and their minds. And so when we're able to kind of address the physical with the emotional and spiritual together, um it's even more powerful. And also when people are going through experiences like this, they're much more appliable for lack of a better word, um, to make changes in their life. And we've seen it starting with the diet that we do two weeks prior. Um, we've seen many people um, you know, go off caffeine, go off and nothing wrong with caffeine. I drink coffee, um, but have different relationships with it, alcohol. We've had many people that had just unhealthy relationships as I did in my 30s or 20s and early 30s, um, and you know, make some big health changes um in their lives that are that are really um really important. And we've also had a lot of people um, you know, to to to do ayahuasca, you need to be off of antidepressants and and certain medications. And so we've seen a lot of people um go through the process beforehand of doing that and stay off of them. And um, I've heard many horror stories of people who have been on them and what those have um done and created in their bodies and and in their minds. And so um that's a huge, huge piece of it is is really being holistic. Um, there's a lot of talk of what holistic means, and sometimes that's okay. We'll we'll do a little yoga or a little meditation with our ayahuasca, but truly being holistic and looking at you know the full picture of our health, of our the depth of of what's maybe causing some of the things with that we're experiencing in our bodies is really powerful.

SPEAKER_00 14:40

It's very powerful. No, absolutely, a hundred percent. I'm very similar, very similar in what I do as well. Educating people and my clients on the medications that they're on. And um and oftentimes with that education, then they're able to they feel that they have the permission to start looking at coming off of their medications that are I mean, I was an academic hospitalist for 10 years. I came off like a year ago, away from that world. And I was studying the psychedelic realm for the past decade at the at the same time with my own journeys and my going through my own traumas and recognition and learning from them and evolution, all of it. But truly, if we are truly taking care of our being, our being, like all of us, the spiritual, and even that I feel like gives it separation, the physical, it's all the same. Um, and if there's any energetic blockages anywhere, then yes, you see disease. Like I saw the worst forms of physical disease, you know, with metastatic cancers to the most severe forms of addiction and overdoses and PTSD. I mean, and being in New Mexico because of the underserved population here that we take care of, the depth of the human suffering that I saw through my patients, and I'm so grateful that I was able to experience that. But I saw that energetic blockages turn into those self-sabotage patterns, turns into physical ailments. And then we also don't listen. We have not learned to listen to this ancient, beautiful, natural receptor that we have that is so complex and so intelligent that speaks to us when I have pain, it's speaking to me about something.

SPEAKER_01 16:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:34

Something else going on.

SPEAKER_01 16:35

Yeah, I think it's something like 60% of people now have chronic disease. Just crazy to me. I mean, our bodies were built to heal themselves and to function in this in the in this world. And the fact that you have to take medicine for the rest of your life is really coun counter to how we were built. And um, it's become, yeah, I was put on statins, I think, in my twenties. Luckily, I had the wherewithal to get off them. And um by traditional medicine, some of my numbers still aren't ideal. And when you kind of look at it functionally, there's there's no concern there. And so, yeah, just we have these these kind of story, you know, it's the pharma's job to create uses for products. I mean, I've been I I my my pre prior career was advertising and marketing. I didn't work with pharma, I didn't work with alcohol and and other things. And you know, our jobs are to create customers. And no matter how you slice it, that's that's what a corporation that's focused on profit is going to move towards. So it's it's you know, it's unfortunately that's what funds a lot of the science and a lot of the things out there. And but it's it's beautiful when people experience for themselves what's possible with the human human body.

SPEAKER_00 17:42

Yes, yes, and you know, you you're looking for returning customers, right? These big giant corporations they want returning comes. Yeah, so when you're on a chronic medication for the rest of your life, and it's you know, SSRIs, they're not that simple to get off. I have many clients who are just like, man, I tried several times, and it is the most difficult thing to come off of. They have trauma from that, you know.

SPEAKER_01 18:11

Yes, and anything that's you know, for me, like, yeah, I mean, I'm in Costa Rica, I love my coffee, and every every journey I'm off of it for at least two weeks. And so just knowing that you can be off of things and you're not dependent on them and you can reset your body is really important. And then you decide, and your body really gets smart. Like I've personally didn't eat a lot of red meat prior to this journey, and I actually eat more red meat now, and it started, you know, now there's a lot of science out on you know the health of that, and but it really started before I even knew any of that. It just started with me, my body like craving red meat in a way it hadn't before. And I've seen that happen a lot. It's not always, you know, sometimes people you know crave vegan or you go different ways, but it's just getting in tune with what is it that our body needs.

SPEAKER_00 18:55

That's it. So you're based in Costa Rica?

SPEAKER_01 18:58

I am now, yeah. I've been here for about two and a half years.

SPEAKER_00 19:01

Beautiful. You know, it was just there with my family for family reunion and just magical. I've been there another time, like 2015, I want to say, and then we went back with my husband and and uh family. It was just wonderful.

SPEAKER_01 19:14

Wonderful. Our daughter was born here, and just I mean, seeing her in nature and just what I mean, just every day, birds and monkeys and playing with rocks and grass and leaves, and just being outside and just what that I mean, that alone is medicine, grounding and being outside, sunlight, uh, some of the things that we're even taught to avoid that are so enriching and healthy for us.

SPEAKER_00 19:37

Yes, yes to all of it. All of it. It's so interesting. I just wrote a book that got published in February, and I literally talk about all of this, even the nutrition myth. It's a myth that was created by the HAA because there was a lot of money involved and the statins and I mean harm that we're causing, right? From these lies to keep people down and repressed in many different ways, so that they they cannot think for themselves. So we cannot have community. So we have we live in more in fear and anxiety than in harmony and in love and with open hearts.

SPEAKER_01 20:15

And all our I mean, mental and physical lives in our gut biome, as as you know, and the health of that, and when we're taking chemical, I mean, I'm very conscious of I mean any chemical and anything, I mean, let alone taking pills that are all chemicals every day. I mean, anything I do every day is is under a lot of scrutiny. I mean, I have my vices, I have my things, but if I'm doing something every day and putting that in my body, I mean, you really have to question um what that's what that's doing, um, because you are disrupting uh you know things in the gut biome. And that's another place where the functional medicine and medicine, you know, things, things really come in because you can measure you can measure that.

SPEAKER_00 20:51

Yeah, that's beautiful. That's beautiful. And yeah, as you said, it's fine to indulge in things, right? It's it's the amount, the frequency, and the intention behind it. Even alcohol. Alcohol has just become this horrific enemy to us because of how we're abusing it. But if you have a healthy relationship with it, where it's like once in a while you have a glass here and there, okay. But if you're downing to the point of blackout and you're hanging out with your family, that is not okay. Not okay. You know, and in fact, it's been named the number one most dangerous drug kills. I mean, I the number of patients that died on my service because of alcohol is innumerable, especially in the native population, the intergenerational trauma that they carry with them and they numb and they escape. And some of them don't don't even think because they're introduced to it at such a young age. It's just, oh, this is our culture, this is how we do.

SPEAKER_01 21:49

Yeah, we're interrupting the signals and the native population had very strong signals on what was what was good well before any of us knew, and they just disrupting their signals or suppressing Things that are telling them, hey, this is not what's healthy and good for me. And then you just lose, you lose those receptors, you lose that knowledge that we're all born with. So having chemicals, having alcohol, having all these things in our body makes us disconnected.

SPEAKER_00 22:13

Yes, absolutely. Um have you had any clients that are native leaders?

SPEAKER_01 22:20

Not clients. One of our um medicine team members is a Native American elder, and he he largely serves coyote, and um his wife is in a osquero, and um, you know, they're they're you know beautiful couple together. And yeah, I mean I've I've just every time he speaks, just the knowledge he has, he really is one of the wisdom keepers. And you hear like all the wisdom, all the knowledge that they hold and they've had for all these years, and um you know, in the last 50 hundred years, we've just it's just been subverted by science somewhere that is funded by by profit interests.

SPEAKER_00 22:57

And that by itself, right? The profit interest. We were in Costa Rica in Guanacaste, yeah, live in Guanacaste. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's beautiful, and there's a lot of tourist activity there, and and now you're seeing a lot more money come in and they're like shaving off like parts of the hills and the mountains that overlook the ocean, and you're like, oh my god, like why? Why cannot can we not live in a hut like and have all the amenities you need, but preserve the flora and the fauna? Why can't we be in harmony? And the only and I see this over and over again, the people that do such a thing to nature, they themselves are doing that to themselves. They just have a lot of money so they can actually shave off the top of the mountain. And you're like, this is criminal, it should never be you know, and of course, with urbanization, we've seen that all over the world. But you know, there were at least 20 fires in Guanacaste while we're there, wildfires, and you know, the global warming is a real deal too. And it's I think it's beautiful that you are targeting specifically world leaders because we need that. We need it so badly. We need every single one of us who have any kind of influence, and we all have influence, let me tell you. Everybody's got a community, right? You know, at different levels, of course, but this is how we can potentially change the trajectory of where we are right now by changing awareness, evolving, by changing consciousness of leaders who have a say in what is produced, how is it produced, who's building what, how are we building, and then talking about how to preserve, like why, why not? That's part of my program. I'm like, what is your relationship with nature? Or do you even have one? Like you know, as you said, even sunlight has been vilified, and we need it completely. Every day we need it, we need sunshine, we need sunlight, at least 20 minutes a day, at least.

SPEAKER_01 24:57

And every day we're out having a walk and being in that that early sun sun. And um, yeah, hopefully that that gets ingrained with her and is is with her for her life.

SPEAKER_00 25:08

Beautiful. That's beautiful. I love what you're doing. I love what you're doing. I'm so glad we connected. So then what tell me more. Tell me what whatever it is that you want to share. How can we find you? How can we help you contribute? Like what can we do to it's a movement.

SPEAKER_01 25:28

Yeah, for sure. And yeah, we very much um yeah, focus it that way. And our alumni are very, very passionate and great supporters of what we do. Um yeah, I mean it's called One Heart. So I our website is actually the number one and then H-E-A-R-T. So one oneheart.com. We have a lot of the information up there. I personally interview and speak with everyone who comes on our journeys. So um when people apply, have a conversation, really uh tap into what's what's calling them. As you mentioned, ayahuasca is very much a calling. You start to feel it, you start to start to be more and more in your presence and just talking through that and where they're at in their life, what their expectations are. You have to be ready to do the work, as we talk about with I mean, ayahuasca is not going to solve your problems, or any modality is not going to solve your problems. It will give you clarity. It can provide you with different perspectives. The way I often describe it is you're able to really take on fears and limiting beliefs and blockers that usually you don't know are there and have been affecting you for much of your life. And when you see those things, it gives you the ability to shift them. And so that's why the integration aspect is so important. Um, on the journeys, I mean, everyone is flying high after that there's a lot of answers, you're really connected into a lot of things, and then you go back to your life and the world hasn't changed, your family hasn't changed, your work hasn't changed. And so it's like, how do you take this new awareness, these new perspectives, and make make the act of change in your life that will that will shift your life, that will shift your health and your well-being and uh allow you to um be stronger for those around you, your community, your world. Yeah. And then I mean, our our experience, as I mentioned, I mean, it's an eight-week program. So there's two weeks prior, we do preparation. And so people really get connected into um the team, the people they'll be journeying with. Usually when people arrive, they're already like feeling very connected and close with each other. So that really allows you to open up a lot more. Um, a lot of the experience is, you know, the more open you are, the more available, you know, and the more safe you feel, um the deeper you can go. And so we really place an emphasis on that. We have what we call elevation groups. So people break into smaller groups led by our alumni that have come back to be in service. And so there's like a small group component to it, along with the broader group. So people are really kind of connected in beforehand. Our journeys, as I mentioned, we have three ayahuasca ceremonies and we also have workshops. We have other modalities like breathwork, Temascal, a Native American sweat lodge, which I'm guessing you're you're familiar with. And I I lead a lot of the journeys with a friend and and partner, Mike Rosenfeld, who uh is very well trained in flow state technology and mindset. And so you're really in real time bringing those aspects in. So you're receiving these breakthroughs, receiving these insights, and then given tools to create in our world with those. And so that's a big component of it. It's at a really gorgeous retreat center that um is glamping. So you're in nature, beautiful bedding and amazing food and service. We've we've tested out different different retreat centers and just kind of these boxy hotel hotel rooms um really separate you from a lot of the experience. So being really nestled in nature, the property has amazing natural amenities like waterfalls and creeks and horseback riding. And so you get to experience all of that. And you know, we have a lot of people coming from New York and from San Francisco and from all over the world that are not, you know, living their day-to-day you know, lives in that. And so the appreciation that comes with nature, the healing aspect of that, being in that space, being just able to really unplug. My first experience was actually at a yoga studio in Brooklyn, and I took an Uber home that got pulled over. And I was back at work a couple of days later, got me here. And fortunately, the the medicine man leading it was quite qualified, a Peruvian. But it yeah, the experience to really step away from your life, to be in nature, um you know, so much to it. It's great to take space when you're doing something like this to really allow yourself to create a different reality. Um, because the people coming on the journey are usually looking for for shifts and trying to see where that is. And if you're doing that in environments that you're um already kind of accustomed to and nestled into, sometimes that can be more challenging. So we really get people out of that, get people into a new space. And there's a lot of reverence that goes with the medicine and just with nature itself, and you know, really helping people understand that and all the power that that has as well.

SPEAKER_00 29:58

Incredible. And where in Costa Rica are you?

SPEAKER_01 30:00

Um, so our retreat center is near P Perez Aladon. Um, I hope I didn't put you that. Um But it's kind of central in the c it's in the mountains of the country. It's about an hour or so away from like Uvita and Dominical, which some people know as you know popular beach destinations, but really nestled in it's jungle mountains, um, some open space. So it really gives a lot of you know, a lot of different elements, beautiful. Um it gets good rain, uh, so it has just beautiful nature, you know, all around. The climate's ideal, uh sunny during the days, uh, you know, depending on type of season, um, at nights as well. It cools down at night, so it's really comfortable. Um, evenings in the you know, mid-sixties. And so just yeah, just really just kind of a beautiful environment to to to explore this type of work.

SPEAKER_00 30:47

That's awesome. That's awesome. So it's to say that are you gonna stay there forever?

SPEAKER_01 30:51

Yeah, I mean, I, you know, forever is a long time, and right now I there's nowhere I'd I'd rather be. I mean, when I when I think of raising our daughter and just even the type of schools that are around, just her being in nature, the type of way um we want to see her raised, really working towards building community and really raising her in that that type of environment is is really important. So um awesome.

SPEAKER_00 31:13

How old is she?

SPEAKER_01 31:13

She's 15 months.

SPEAKER_00 31:14

She's the baby baby. Oh my gosh, amazing. I have a three-year-old son and a 16-year-old daughter. Yeah, it's very special. And really thinking about their future is extremely important. How what patterns we are creating for them is it's everything because that's the next generation. Like she will be leading the next generation. What what are we teaching them? What are we exposing them to? Um, and how are we doing it? And like her being in that kind of an environment, just incredible.

SPEAKER_01 31:48

And you see, I mean, technology is obviously per pervasive, and there's many beautiful things with technology. I mean, that's the world I came from, and there's just a lot less of the obsessive use of it here and ability to um yeah, ground ourselves in in a real world and just find that to be an easier, an easier path uh to do here than than than the states, or at least my experience of it.

SPEAKER_00 32:12

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. The connection is very strong there, community connection is very strong there. I mean, they take their time, right? Slow is medicine, they they slow down, they go to the beach together, they'll go in nature and like watch the rain fall, and they're in reverence of it, they're in reverence of the nature that they're in. And truly the respect that I see in in Costa Ricans for nature, and there's kindness, you know, there's kindness, and the animals are not afraid of humans, which speaks volumes on humans.

SPEAKER_01 32:46

Yeah. I mean, our daughter is like she's always walking up to people, and like it's just beautiful, like she's getting smiles from everyone back, and you know, sometimes I think if we were still in Miami or even New York, like would would that would she be getting those same reactions and just the ability, the the welcomingness of of those around her and what that means to to her experience of of of life is is really beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 33:08

Beautiful. The emotional intelligence is like on fire for her. Can you imagine the world she's growing up in versus like I'm from Iran? I grew up in a terrorist regime in war the first eight years of my life. Wow. And and even then the community aspect is so so strong within the Persian community, even in Iran, even during war, we all came together. We always helped each other. You know, my parents, if we had extra food, it always went to the neighbors, always like it was not even a question. Kids didn't go hungry because of this culture. You have the practice of life was connection, and you connected through just being together, no agenda, nothing, be and enjoy each other's company, and that is so holding. We learn so much from each other, from other adults, not just our parents, but all the other adults that were around us. It's very special to be able to provide that for your kids in a safe and trusted environment, you know. That's so cool. That's so cool. And does your wife do do the same work with you?

SPEAKER_01 34:17

Um, she actually does similar work. Um, she's she's been one of our facilitators on journeys. She's been off mainly since since uh pregnancy and the baby. And um, she just started leading her own women's retreats. She works with um Sil Sibin. I mean, her retreats are she has some really powerful partners as well as herself, and um there's a lot of beautiful medicine that that they bring forth and in you know a connection of women, um, which is really really beautiful. I was fortunate to see her first retreat. I was there um watching our baby, and so got to got to experience that, and it was it was a really beautiful, beautiful experience, and um, yeah, she's really committed to the serving in this way as well.

SPEAKER_00 34:55

That's beautiful, that's wonderful. And so my question is I know about ayahuasca, but the um origins of it, I guess. You know, everybody talks about the Peruvian retreat, and that's where it's coming from, and all of that. Um but in Costa Rica, of course, there's there are also many retreat centers in Costa Rica that's ayahuasca. What is that? Tell me about the I don't know, the history, the background of that in Costa Rica, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 35:30

I I don't know a ton, truthfully, about Costa Rica. I mean, our medicine does come from Peru. One of the one of the things that's really unique about our experience is we we also blend lineages, which is pretty rare. So we have medicine people sitting together, some trained in Shipibo tradition, some that have lived with the Yawanawa in Brazil. And they're very different. I mean, the Yaanawa is very much a lot of joy, a lot, a lot of music, a lot of celebration, which is which is really beautiful. She pibo traditionally is done in kind of pitch black, and mainly the music is ikeros or these mantras that are often received um through dietas that the medicine team does, you know, which I've done as well, and much of our team has, uh, kind of in a hut alone in Peru with no running water and um you know different conditions where you're really just sequestered, but um it's really beautiful, silent time to can convene with not only ayahuasca, but these master plants where a lot of the knowledge comes from. So when you're doing these master dietas, you're sitting with usually one plant that each plant kind of brings different knowledge and wisdom and and gifts with it. And so the you know, experienced leaders like the ones that we have have have done many, many dietas and um have really brought in a lot of a lot of these plants, a lot of this wisdom into into their work. And I mentioned we have a Native American elder. Um so yeah, there's there's different traditions that have gotten that have gotten blended in, and it's it's really beautiful to get to experience that all, you know, in one journey, oftentimes, and just where that's yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:02

How do you guys do that type of guidance with with the different styles, I guess?

SPEAKER_01 37:08

Yeah, I mean, there's um, you know, traditionally like I worked specifically with kind of a main medicine woman who has led our programs and then her network and the people that she she knows, she's brought in people that she trusts, and some of those have had different lineages and and and different um experiences with the medicine. And so yeah, they've all been, you know, obviously open enough to you know to practice in that way and to oftentimes we'll have different people leading different ceremonies, and those will be slightly different in each ceremony. But yeah, traditionally the you know, the person leading the ceremony will ultimately have you know hold the container and you know our team will will really work together in that way and have a lot of respect for each other and and for other traditions.

SPEAKER_00 37:51

Wonderful. And you really need that, you need that respect for each other, that that's key, that trust, respect, that you are a master in what you do. Very cool. How did you so did you start? You start you're the founder of OneHart.

SPEAKER_01 38:07

Correct, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:08

How long ago did you open it?

SPEAKER_01 38:09

It was just over six years ago, six years last month, and we will this this month uh in April, we're on the 27th will be our 22nd journey. So we've done 22 of these. Uh we've brought through about a thousand leaders, you know, in that time. Um, yeah, it kind of started as a side thing, you know, just looking at building conscious companies and thinking, oh, this would be a great way to bring people together and build the network of people and have them be exposed to, you know, the teachings and the learnings. Um, you know, through my journey. Uh yeah, it just kind of became something that was like so clearly, you know, what I was gravitating towards. It was hard to do the other businesses and and you know, not see nearly the same impact. And so it just became something to really, to really focus in on and and um and really call forth.

SPEAKER_00 38:59

Yeah, that is so cool. That is so cool. That that's where I'm finding myself to be too. You're leaving academic medicine. I'm I I'm on that journey, uh, not quite as advanced as where you are right now, um in your manifestation.

SPEAKER_01 39:14

Yeah, I was just gonna say it's so important, people like you, and I mean, there's obviously you have a lot of knowledge of of uh biology and the human body and and in a lot of different aspects, and to really start to blend, I mean, things that literally were working for thousands and millions of years in humanity um and bring those back into the world and allow people to find balance within themselves, heal themselves. I mean, I think that's another beautiful part of ayahuasca and um certainly the way that that we um make sure the containers held is that you're your own healer. Um it's not about any gurus. It's you know, I think you know, that's one of the things I I usually warn when people are looking for experiences is if yeah, if there's someone that's attempting to be a guru or really place beliefs, it can be, I don't know, dangerous is the right word, but um, you know, less than optimal. And the goal of this medicine is to show you the power within, the power that you have over your own body, over your own domain, and really the strength that you carry. And I think a lot of times, you know, our society is programming us the other way. We need this, we need that, we can't be whole without this, without that. And uh it's really an understanding of our wholeness as it is and our ability to trust and confidence in upholding that.

SPEAKER_00 40:30

Absolutely. We have everything we need.

SPEAKER_01 40:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:32

Yeah. We have everything we need within us, and we just have to it's a it's a journey though to get to that point of recognition that we have everything we need and we don't need distractions, we don't need to do for others so that we gain validation. There is, yeah. No, it's beautiful. A lot of unlearned a lot. Yeah. It's challenging work, but the more you go forward, you get to a space of, okay, I feel good. Yeah, I feel good more of the time than I don't. You keep doing it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:06

I think one of the fears when I'm talking to people before is often that like this medicine will somehow change them in in some way where maybe they don't want or don't expect. And how I how I explain it, I mean, the medicine is really helping you to see the fears, the limiting beliefs, the blocks that are in the way. And when you release those, you have just uh more clarity. And sometimes that does mean big life changes because you've been making a lot of decisions out of fear, out of limiting beliefs. And so that's releasing you from those things to come and make decisions from a more clear, a more aligned, a more integral place. And um, you know, that's what we see time and time again. It'll it'll just show you what is of your highest, what is of your best interest. And sometimes that's not the things that we've built in our life, and that can be scary. And what's on the other side is is really beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 41:54

Absolutely. What incredibly powerful ancient tools that we're looking at again, right? With little clarity, and um, it's a wonderful time to be alive. Wonderful. Because when we were experimenting in the 90s and 60s um and 70s, it wasn't conscious. And there was some studies that were happening in the background, of course, that got kind of wiped out, but now it's with with reverence and people who truly care are speaking up and we're not afraid to come forward and be authentic and say, Hey, this is a change in my life for the better, but we have to be careful with it. It's like playing with fire, you have to respect it and have reverence for it. Um you know, it can damage her, it can be incredible, and finding that equilibrium is extremely important in everything we do, in everything we do, and the movement continue to move, don't stagnate. But yeah, thank you so much for doing what you're doing.

SPEAKER_01 43:04

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 43:05

Yes, yes, we need us, okay?

SPEAKER_01 43:09

For sure, and yeah, this is what it's about, these conversations. Yeah, there's there's a lot of ancient knowledge and knowing that has been suppressed, and um, yeah, it's beautiful time because it is coming to the surface, and obviously there's um there's uh structures that I've tried to suppress that for for quite some time and there's resistance to that, and when people experience it for themselves and they really understand what it is and what it means um to be on this path, it it becomes pretty clear. It's just uh, you know, fighting or yeah, or or taking on that resistance um that that has been built up for for at least the last century.

SPEAKER_00 43:50

Thank you for your time, thank you for the energy that you're putting into this work, thank you for sharing it with us today.

SPEAKER_01 43:55

For all the work that you're doing. Um it's yeah, really so important. And I I love talking to physicians, love talking to those, you know, and this is kind of what we do, yeah, people with a lot of expertise in different areas that are starting to see how they can bring a lot of really valuable information and credibility to ancient knowledge and bring that back forth.

SPEAKER_00 44:15

Yes. Yes, yes. It's time to remember and to reconnect.

SPEAKER_01 44:23

For sure.

SPEAKER_00 44:24

Yeah. Thank you so much, Brandon. And we will make sure that information is in the show notes for our audience to be able to do.

SPEAKER_01 44:30

Please send us clips. We're happy to post. We love to support any way we can and uh and bring the message more.

SPEAKER_00 44:36

Thank you. I'm gonna be in touch with you. It's like this is a beautiful connection. Yes, yes. It's just supposed to be. So here we are. Appreciate you and appreciate what you're doing and your wife. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 44:48

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 44:50

Bye.