Appreciating the jewel in ourselves with Filip Velimirovic

A liberatory episode with special guest, Filip! Here are some highlights from our conversation:

• Supporting the spiritual gifts of children

• Shame as a genius protective mechanism of the psyche

• Filip’s experience growing up in Serbia / former Yugoslavia, the culture’s hypermasculinization due to war creating a climate where it was very unsafe to be trans

• The revelation of realizing one’s own internalized prejudice and starting to unpack and work with the shame

• Inner healing intelligence; healing takes as long as it takes!

• Transforming trauma

• Finding MDMA as a fascinating medicine for ptsd, which is endemic in the Balkans

• Indigenous teachings around transgender topics

Filip Velimirovic (they/them) is a Serbian-born transgender non-binary healing teacher based in France. As part of their practice "Heal With Fil", they support women & people socialized as women to be mentally and emotionally fortified and transform trauma into renewed energy & hope.

Filip has been an activist since they were 15. First for transitional justice & reconciliation in their native Balkans, then for drug policy reform and psychedelic science in the US & at the UN level, and more recently for community healing in the Trans / Queer community. After studying political science at a prestigious French university, they were quickly disillusioned by the potential of institutional politics to bring about a needed change.

Upon finishing university, they designed their own curriculum: studying the interior world through yoga, meditation, psychotherapy, healing themselves and their female ancestral line with psychedelic-assisted therapy. In parallel to working in the cannabis, psychedelic, and tech spaces (to pay the bills), Filip worked to distill the best methods for healing & personal transformation. Using proven methods such as Internal Family Systems and Brainspotting, they now offer a safe space for folks who hold the vision of a better, more just world in their heart. Favorite conversation topics: divine feminine, healing ancestral lineages, transformation of trauma into community leadership, history of patriarchy, visions of ancestral future, Star Trek, psychedelics & homecooking recepies.

Filip is guided in their practice by the following beliefs:

• Healing happens in community.

• Trans liberation = collective liberation.

• Our mental & physical health is a direct reflection of the state of all our relations—not only with other humans, but with our ancestors, the Earth, rivers, lands, animals, and plants.