Plantscendence
Welcome to Plantscendence, a new podcast hosted by filmmaker Jon Reiss. Join us on a transformative journey as we explore the world of plant medicine and its profound impact on healing, personal growth, and artistic expression.
Within each episode, Jon engages in insightful conversations with a diverse array of experts, practitioners, artists, grief counselors and everyday people who have harnessed the power of plant medicine to heal trauma, navigate loss, unlock creativity, and become more their true selves.
Guests for the ten episode first season include poet and musician Vera Sola, author and pioneer of microdosing Jim Fadiman, actress Gina Gershon, artist and Nganga Chor Boogie, US Army veteran Itzel Barakat, author and teacher Spring Washam, artist Doris La Frenais, plant wisdom practitioner Sitaramaya Sita, grief counselor Larry Carlat and healer and author Tricia Eastman.
Jon Reiss is a critically acclaimed filmmaker, author, and media strategist. He began his film career at the fabled Target Video, where he shot seminal punk bands, including Black Flag, X, Iggy Pop, Throbbing Gristle, and The Cramps. Reiss then filmed and edited a series of videos documenting Mark Pauline’s Survival Research Laboratories. After directing numerous music videos, including, notoriously, Happiness in Slavery for Nine Inch Nails, he directed the feature films Bomb It, Better Living Through Circuitry, and Cleopatra’s Second Husband. Through his company 8 Above Reiss also helps filmmakers navigate the new distribution and marketing landscape.
Plantscendence
#2 Dr. James Fadiman: Pioneer of Microdosing.
Paris, 1961: Ram Dass gives James Fadiman a pill that changes his life. In this episode of Plantscendence, we sit down with pioneering researcher and author, Dr. James Fadiman, who is widely recognized for his groundbreaking work on microdosing psilocybin. Listeners are transported to 1961 Paris, where Dr. Fadiman recounts his initial exposure to psychedelics with his mentor, Richard Alpert (later to become Ram Dass), and the subsequent shift in his perception of reality. He tells the story of how he first came to research psychedelics at Stanford, and how these early experiments at the lab in Menlo Park eventually paved the way for him to develop the first modern microdosing protocols. The episode touches upon the historical context of entheogens, including the CIA’s covert involvement in psychedelic research and the drugs’ sudden prohibition during the Nixon era. Dr. Fadiman also reflects on recent shifts in societal attitudes towards psychedelics, and their potential to treat a variety of mental and physical illnesses.