7. Birth Doula to Medicine Woman: Paije West on Healing Depression and Opioid Addiction with Ibogaine and Bufo

Paije, the founder of Third Eye Doula, began as a traditional full-spectrum doula in the birth community. She finds passion in holding space and creating safe containers for her clients to evolve and cross thresholds of the human experience using the doula model of care as a foundation for her work with psychedelics. Third Eye Doula is a health and wellness brand focused on ceremonial experiences, transformational retreats, and meaning making systems to help facilitate growth, stimulate creativity and offer a greater purpose for those who seek healing.

Paije primarily works with 5-MeO-DMT, ibogaine, psilocybin and MDMA. She is currently training to become a provider of iboga after undergoing a Bwiti initiation in Gabon, Africa earlier this year. Third Eye Doula is based in Todos Santos, Baja California Sur, Mexico where she and her team offer ceremony, retreats and integration services. 

Topics discussed in this episode . . .

• Paije’s background as a traditional doula and how this informs her work as a medicine woman
• Paije’s personal journey healing from deep depression as a young woman
• Becoming a mother at age 25 at a time when Paije’s husband was in active addiction
• Paije's husband’s and her own first ibogaine experiences
• Using ibogaine and bufo in close proximity as part of a larger healing process
• The importance of preparation, integration and provider choice when considering working with iboga
• How Paije and her husband partner with an ibogaine clinic to provide aftercare
• The extended period of enhanced neuroplasticity available after taking iboga/ibogaine
• Navigating transformative medicine work as a mother and partner
• What is was like for Paije to go through a traditional Bwiti initiation and rites of passage in Gabon
• The unique “set and setting” working with iboga in Gabon
• How Paije came to receive her Bwiti name through her iboga visions
• Some energetic differences between iboga and bufo
• Different approaches to dosing with bufo
• What bufo has taught Paije
• Some pros and cons of using psychedelic medicines during pregnancy and postpartum while nursing and the need for a customized approach
• Microdosing as a parenting tool and Paije’s microdosing mentorship program
• The critical importance of self-care as both a psychedelic medicine facilitator and a mother

Paije West's Links 

• Website: http://thirdeyedoula.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thirdeyedoula_/