Unjourneying: Nondual Psychedelic Integration with Mira Funk, LCSW

Mira Funk, LCSW

Unjourneying: Nondual Psychedelic Integration explores nonduality and psychedelics as vehicles for healing, awakening, and collective transformation. Hosted by Mira Funk, LCSW, who is a queer, nonbinary psychotherapist and psychedelic guide based in Oregon and specialized in serving 5-MeO-DMT, N,N-DMT (including analog ayahuasca), and salvia divinorum.

Episodes

  1. 6d ago

    Daniel Ingram | What Counts As Awakening? Cessation, Psychedelics & Phenomeniatry

    Pragmatic Dharma legend Daniel Ingram joins me for a lively conversation about cessation, the Three Characteristics, salvia divinorum, 5-MeO-DMT, the Emergent Phenomenology Research Consortium (EPRC), and the new field of phenomeniatry that he is helping to establish. He demonstrates the utility of phenomeniatry by walking us through some complex differential diagnosis scenarios. Emergent Phenomenology Research Consortium (EPRC) 🌐 Website: https://theeprc.org 🌟 Donations: https://ebenefactors.org Dr. Daniel M. Ingram, MD MSPH ➡️ Links & Socials: https://linktr.ee/danielmingram Mira Funk, LCSW | Unjourneying 🌐 Website: https://www.unjourneying.com 🌟 Patreon: https://www.unjourneying.com/patreon Mentioned in this Episode: Daniel & Michael Taft's 2020 SFDC Q&A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgYjLxM4VMc&t=4021s Kathryn Devaney https://www.kathryndevaney.com/ Crazy Like Us by Ethan Watters https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Crazy-Like-Us/Ethan-Watters/9781416587095 Baksbat (broken courage): a trauma-based cultural syndrome in Cambodia. Sotheara Chhim. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23406066/ A cross-sectional survey on depersonalization/derealization and meditation-induced alterations of the self. Erola Pons et al. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13156312/ 0:00 Introduction 4:20 Cessation, Awakening & the Question of What Counts 9:05 The Arising & Passing Away vs. Cessation 11:25 What Actually Happens During Fruition? 13:23 Stream Entry and the 16 Stages of Insight 19:09 5-MeO-DMT, Salvia & Psychedelic Awakening 22:10 The Hard Reboot of Salvia Cessation 29:54 The Three Characteristics: Experiential or Ontological? 39:12 Noting vs. Noticing in Mahasi Practice 42:13 Why We Need the EPRC 46:38 Why Call It Emergent Phenomenology? 50:56 What Is Phenomeniatry? 54:47 Culture, Language & Diagnostic Colonialism 1:00:08 Spiritual Experiences vs. Mania & Psychosis 1:07:47 Equanimity vs. Depersonalization & Derealization 1:15:27 Spiritual Bypassing and “Everything Is Fine” 1:18:37 EPRC, Emergence Benefactors & Closing Unjourneying is also available on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@unjourneying For educational purposes only.

  2. Aug 3

    Wystan Bryant-Scott | Jhanas, Tantric Sex, and Psychedelics

    In this first guest episode of Unjourneying, I sit down with meditation teacher Wystan Bryant-Scott for a wide-ranging conversation on jhanas, nonduality, renunciation, tantra, and psychedelics. Wystan announces his upcoming jhana retreat at Nameless Mountain, and why he still finds deep concentration valuable even after awakening. We dig into the difference between sutta and Visuddhimagga jhanas, the real meaning of renunciation in modern life, and how to work with sexual energy without fixation. We also explore nondual awareness during ordinary pleasure and the role of psychedelics, especially 5-MeO-DMT, as powerful supports on the contemplative path. Wystan Bryant-Scott 🌐 Website: https://www.wystantbs.com ▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@wystantbs108 🧘 Upcoming Retreat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4YokHVz09Y Karmamudra: The Yoga of Bliss by Dr. Nida Chenagtsang 📖 https://skypresspublications.com/product/karmamudra Mira Funk, LCSW | Unjourneying 🌐 Website: https://www.unjourneying.com 🌟 Patreon: https://www.unjourneying.com/patreon 0:00 Introduction to Unjourneying & Guest Bio 2:55 Welcome & Why Wystan as First Guest 3:30 Recent Activities: Nameless Mountain & Backpacking with Gabe Broussard (Vivid Void) 6:36 Upcoming Jhana Retreat at Nameless Mountain 7:53 Sutta Jhana vs. Visuddhimagga Jhana 11:03 The Role of Jhana on the Path to Awakening 16:18 Cessation of Perception & Feeling 19:39 Is Jhana Still Useful After Awakening? 24:27 Identifying as a Religious Buddhist 28:58 Renunciation, Commitment & Modern Practice 37:00 Sexual Energy, Tantra & Sensual Practice 43:50 Karma Mudra & Traditional Sexual Yogas 46:48 Nonduality, Orgasm & Everyday Bliss 54:29 Psychedelics on the Contemplative Path 59:55 Recommending Psychedelics as a Teacher 1:03:32 Integrating Psychedelics with Traditional Practice 1:06:17 Closing Advice & Where to Find Wystan 1:08:43 Outro & How to Connect Unjourneying is also available on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@unjourneying For educational purposes only.

  3. Apr 29

    Buddha Was Never Enlightened

    If Capital-E Enlightenment is defined as a supreme state of perfect and imperturbable bliss in this lifetime, was that the actual focus of the Buddha's spiritual path? Inspired by Kenneth Folk's interpretation of early Buddhism's ultimate goal as escaping the wheel of rebirth, I unpack 11 myths of Enlightenment (including claims from contemporary teachers) and discuss their implications for the awakening process. I encourage seekers to embrace the full spectrum of their authentic emotional experience in the here and now. Mira Funk, LCSW | Unjourneying ➡️ https://www.unjourneying.com 🌟 https://www.patreon.com/unjourneying Related Resources: Deconstructing Yourself: "Masters of Oblivion with Kenneth Folk" https://open.spotify.com/episode/1zrs7fq18ZBCuaCmv0RDiX?si=a8SaWpYmRKyxDDD9fdGmhQ Mu: Roger "Thisdell on Centerlessness, Cessations, Defabrication, Valence, and Insight" https://open.spotify.com/episode/0laAlYPz2T9Ia44w4YiblS?si=VhGKBb9zRZWRsUnN3UHyQw Harvard's Project Implicit (Implicit Association Tests) https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html 0:00 Intro – Why I'm Questioning Buddha's Enlightenment 1:03 My Early Romanticized View of the Buddha 3:02 The Received Western Story of the Buddha 4:57 Kenneth Folk & "Masters of Oblivion" Podcast 5:45 Nirvana = Cessation / Oblivion, Not Cosmic Bliss 9:56 Why This Changes Everything for Western Seekers 12:35 "The Buddha Is Not Your Friend" – A Darker Picture 14:28 How "Enlightenment" Got Mistranslated in the West 16:57 The "Sellvation" Dynamic in Spirituality 20:14 Nobody Has Ever Been Enlightened (Capital E) 25:00 Awakening vs. Enlightenment – My Distinction 26:23 Myth 1: You're Happy All the Time / No Negative Emotions 31:22 Myth 2: No Fear of Death 34:36 Myth 3: No Self Whatsoever 41:45 Myth 4: Seeing Reality As It Actually Is 45:11 Myth 5: No Preferences or Distinctions 49:45 Myth 6: No Thoughts 52:01 Myth 7: Complete Centerlessness 54:03 Myth 8: No Sense of Agency or Doership 57:36 Myth 9: Infinite Personal Freedom 1:03:36 Myth 10: Eternalism – "You Were Never Born and Will Never Die" 1:08:06 Myth 11: "As It Is, Not As You Want It to Be" – Goenka & Daoism 1:11:09 Car Breakdown Example – Realistic Responses to Life 1:15:31 Roger Thisdell: We Are Always Suffering (Baseline Level) 1:18:14 Reframing Awakening – Stop Making It About Ending Suffering 1:23:28 Conclusion: Enlightenment Is a Myth – Be Human Instead 1:26:55 Final Thoughts Unjourneying is also available on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@unjourneying For educational purposes only.

  4. 10/22/2024

    How I Became a Psychedelic Guide with 5-MeO-DMT, N,N-DMT, & Salvia Divinorum

    In this introductory episode, Mira Funk, LCSW, shares the story of her background and how she came to be a queer, nonbinary psychedelic therapist and guide. In her childhood, she experienced medical trauma with a febrile seizure, Lyme disease, and babesiosis. During a bout of depression while at Harvard, she took a leave of absence and lived on a farm in New Hampshire, where she first encountered Zen Buddhism in the Kwan Um tradition. She eventually traveled to Korea to live at a Kwan Um monastery called Musangsa, where she experienced relief from her existential angst. After a short-lived career in the arts, she went to social work school and became a mindfulness-based therapist. However, something was still missing. Everything changed when she did her first mushroom trip and had a direct taste of nonduality, especially as described in the Mahamudra and Dzogchen traditions. She felt inspired to go deeper with psychedelics, exploring 5-MeO-DMT, ayahuasca, and salvia divinorum. The healing and insight she received were so transformative that she resolved to devote her life to helping others through their psychedelic experiences. Her own journey took some unexpected twists and turns when she experienced neuroinflammatory flare-ups on lion's mane mushrooms. Her difficulties led to her gender and sexual identity shift, and also prompted her to work with psychedelics in a new way she called "unjourneying," inspired by Ram Dass's guru Neem Karoli Baba, who supposedly experienced no psychoactive effects on LSD. Mira started actively meditating while taking psychedelics and discovered diminished effects and more profound mindfulness integration. Another surprise happened when all serotonergic psychedelics started causing flare-ups. After extensive medical testing, she discovered that she has Lyme, babesiosis, and bartonella. She decided to personally work only with salvia divinorum until her condition improves with medication. She found that unjourneying with salvia induces insights that feel orthogonal to nonduality, presenting a radical happeningness that deconstructs the illusion of free will and the very possibility of spiritual practice. Mira Funk, LCSW | Unjourneying ➡️ https://www.unjourneying.com 🌟 https://www.patreon.com/unjourneying Unjourneying is also available on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@unjourneying For educational purposes only.

Ratings & Reviews

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out of 5
5 Ratings

About

Unjourneying: Nondual Psychedelic Integration explores nonduality and psychedelics as vehicles for healing, awakening, and collective transformation. Hosted by Mira Funk, LCSW, who is a queer, nonbinary psychotherapist and psychedelic guide based in Oregon and specialized in serving 5-MeO-DMT, N,N-DMT (including analog ayahuasca), and salvia divinorum.

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