Psychedelics Today Shane Lemaster - Reaching the Maximum Potential of our Minds
In this episode, Joe talks with Shane LeMaster, Licensed Addiction Counselor and Certified Mental Performance Consultant. Shane is also involved in Psychotherapy as well as Sport and Performance Psychology and Psychedelic Integration Therapy. In this episode they cover a range of topics such as social work, Ketamine, sensory deprivation, psychedelic icons and the psychedelic culture.
3 Key Points:- Shane has a podcast of his own, and his goal with the podcast is to bring people's personal experiences to light to learn from them, to master the potential of our minds.
- Ketamine is a great gateway to opening up people's minds to all of the other psychedelics. Its also a great place to start for therapy.
- Every single facilitator or shaman has different techniques and styles and that's okay If we don't have differences then we won't have styles to choose from.
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Show Notes About Shane
- Joe and Shane met up recently at a Psychedelic Club meeting about harm reduction in Fort Collins
- Shane just got accepted into the PhD program in social work at CSU
- He had been pursuing a PhD program in psychology and it wasn't working out for him so he decided to take the social work route
- He works with many people and has developed a strong skill set on the micro level and he wants to start making impact on a macro level with helping people
- Shane thinks of social work as an integrative approach for every discipline that we find useful, to come to a holistic, greater understanding of an issue
- Shane wants to use Ketamine as a 'medium' term goal, because it's legal
- But ketamine is not where he is going to stop, he finds there are benefits in many other substances
- He would love to work with LSD and Psilocybin
- He will continue to offer his services through his business Mind Ops
- Shane's Podcast - Conversations with the Mind
- His goal with the podcast is to bring people's personal experiences to light to learn from them
- It's important to create dialogue and invite people for conversation with differing opinions
- The goal is to create a theory that implements both opinions
- Ketamine is a great gateway to opening up people's minds to all of the other psychedelics
- Shane has had a lot of personal and recreational experiences on Ketamine and when he returns to it as a medicine, he is able to attain and sharpen skills for mindfulness
- Joe brings up the idea that recreational ketamine could have the ability to bring up past trauma or may re-traumatize someone if not used therapeutically
- Ketamine has a lot of risks, but being educated and using the substance correctly can be absolutely beneficial
- Shane says we shouldn't try to avoid trauma, we should accept it and use it for good and let it power us
- "Sometimes we don't even know what were suppressing. We need some assistance to show us what were avoiding in life and I think that psychedelics help with that a lot." - Shane
- Shane says he's interested in John Lilly's work from back in the day and his terminology of being able to meta-program your human brain
- Joe says John Lilly was a big part of isolation chambers which led to float tanks
- Joe mentions Robert Anton Wilson, he was good friends with Timothy Leary
- He had great critiques, great books and worked with Leary on the 8 levels of consciousness Joe suggests listeners to read The Illuminatus! Trilogy: The Eye in the Pyramid, The Golden Apple, Leviathan
- "My interest is not in psychedelics themselves, but psychedelics as a means to access higher states of who we are, parts we have forgotten." - Shane
- Psychedelics are just one way to tap into ourselves and discover our ultimate potential
- "We should all be questioning, everyday, changing our belief systems" - Shane
- "Belief is the death of intelligence" - Robert Anton Wilson
- Shane says a lot of people give Leary a bad rap, but Shane appreciates what he has done
- Joe mentions 'smile squared' - Space, migration, intelligence and life extension
- TFYQA - Think for yourself question authority
- "Turn on, Tune in, Drop out" - Timothy Leary
- Shane says that phrase sticks with him, it called to his rebel phase in youth to grow and do this work in his life
- Splitting - a rephrase of divide and conquer
- Joe says the psychedelic world is very cut throat
- "We should take care of each other a bit more in this space" - Joe
- Shane says, we need to lift each other up versus look for ways to step over each other
- Every single facilitator or shaman has different techniques and styles and that's okay
- If we don't have differences then we don't have styles to choose from
- "We can't become fundamentalists in our own practices, we need to value the differences culturally and from a world view. They are all valuable." - Shane
Shane earned his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology from the University of Colorado in Boulder, CO, completed extensive coursework towards a Master of Arts Degree in Sport & Performance Psychology at the University of Denver, and earned his Master of Arts Degree in Sport & Exercise Psychology from Argosy University.
Shane is nationally certified as a Sport Psychology Consultant and a licensed mental health clinician in the state of Colorado. Having worked in community non-profit mental health since 2008, Shane has gained experience working with the entire spectrum of mental disorders and with all populations and age groups. Shane plans on attending a Ph.D program in Counseling Psychology where his interest in Resiliency, Mental Toughness, and Mindfulness Training Program Development can be explored and further developed.
He is a life-long athlete having competed at various levels in more than a dozen different sports. Because of his passion for warrior cultures of past and present, Shane has been ardently developing his own "Warriorship," training in various forms of Martial Arts for 25 years. Shane feels that the self-discipline, the philosophy of non-violence, the innumerable mental and physical benefits, and the enjoyment that he gains from the Martial Arts is what helped drive his passion in the field of Psychology.
His personal interest in Eastern Philosophy stems from his adoption of a Buddhist lifestyle and blends well with his training in Western Psychological Science. Clients describe Shane as an out-of-the-box clinician that is easy to get along with, knowledgeable on a variety of topics, credible with lived experience, and as having the ability to make therapy fun and interesting.