The Makaranda Podcast

Conversation - From the Night Shift to Medicine Circles with E

I am honored to share this conversation with E. She is a labor and delivery nurse who spends her days at the threshold where life begins, holding families through one of the most raw and uncharted territories of human existence. She came into my world looking to buy my Sprinter van. What unfolded from that party, that snack table, that first conversation, became one of the most meaningful relationships of my life. In this episode, E shares how she found her way into psychedelic-assisted work and expanded states of consciousness. We talk about what it took to step into a group ceremony when that felt scary, and how that experience shifted her relationship with her body, her mother, her patients, and herself. We also get into the difference between thinking your way through life and actually feeling it, and what it means to keep showing up as a student, even when you're also the one holding the room. E is now part of the Makaranda Lineage. She is also the nurse I want by my side when I bring my own children into the world. I hope this conversation finds you at exactly the right moment. Thanks for listening! To stay connected, follow us on Instagram @themakarandamethod [https://www.instagram.com/themakarandamethod/] and @eleanor.evans.medina [https://www.instagram.com/eleanor.evans.medina/] Visit our website: www.themakarandamethod.com [https://www.themakarandamethod.com/] About Eleanor Evans Medina: Eleanor is a spiritual teacher, formally trained marriage & family therapist, death doula, bee keeper and daughter of the Earth. She founded her private practice, The Makaranda Method in 2018. She guides her students towards self-discovery and healing by reconnecting them with love for our Mother Earth. Through one-on-one, group coaching and retreats, Eleanor helps her students release energetic blockages to connect with their intuition for greater peace, freedom, and authenticity.

Meditation - For the Pregnant Mother - Dedicated to T

I made this meditation for one of my best friends, T, who is pregnant. May it find every mother moving through a moment of fear or contraction and help her open, call in light, and trust the profound mystery already unfolding within her. Sometimes we receive news that pulls us out of our bodies, out of the joy and the knowing, and into our heads. This meditation is an invitation back. Back into the body, back into the breath, back into the deep trust that life knows what it is doing. In ten minutes, we ground into the Earth, draw white light in through the crown of the head, and let it travel all the way into the womb, circulating around your baby, tending what needs tending, restoring what needs restoring. If you know a mother who needs this, please share it. Thanks for listening! To stay connected, follow us on Instagram @themakarandamethod [https://www.instagram.com/themakarandamethod/] and @eleanor.evans.medina [https://www.instagram.com/eleanor.evans.medina/] Visit our website: www.themakarandamethod.com [https://www.themakarandamethod.com/] About Eleanor Evans Medina: Eleanor is a spiritual teacher, formally trained marriage & family therapist, death doula, bee keeper and daughter of the Earth. She founded her private practice, The Makaranda Method in 2018. She guides her students towards self-discovery and healing by reconnecting them with love for our Mother Earth. Through one-on-one, group coaching and retreats, Eleanor helps her students release energetic blockages to connect with their intuition for greater peace, freedom, and authenticity.

Conversation - Psychedelics & Motherhood: Kate’s Story of Becoming

In this episode, I'm sitting down with my dear friend, client, and student Kate Pauley, a licensed marriage and family therapist and ceremonialist who has been part of my world since the very beginning of my practice in 2018. We're talking about Kate's experience bringing psychedelics and ceremonial work into her experience of becoming and being a mother. Kate shares her story honestly, from the ceremonies we did together in Mexico before she got pregnant, to the vision she received of a spirit baby connected to the Tree of Life, to the very real challenges of identity loss, loneliness, mom guilt, and the hormone crash of early postpartum. We also get into the maiden-to-mother-to-crone transition, why mothers specifically need ceremony and community, and what it means to raise a child inside a life that is itself a ceremony. I also open up about my own path toward motherhood, including a miscarriage last year that has been one of the harder chapters of my life. What I love about this conversation is that it isn't about psychedelics as a magic fix. It's about what happens when you do the work, when you let ceremony give you space to see yourself clearly, stop the patterns that are hurting you, trust your own knowing, and come back to love, especially in the small, hard moments. If you're a mother, or becoming one, or love one, this one's for you. Thanks for listening! To stay connected, follow us on Instagram @themakarandamethod [https://www.instagram.com/themakarandamethod/] and @eleanor.evans.medina [https://www.instagram.com/eleanor.evans.medina/] Visit our website: www.themakarandamethod.com [https://www.themakarandamethod.com/] About Eleanor Evans Medina: Eleanor is a spiritual teacher, formally trained marriage & family therapist, death doula, bee keeper and daughter of the Earth. She founded her private practice, The Makaranda Method in 2018. She guides her students towards self-discovery and healing by reconnecting them with love for our Mother Earth. Through one-on-one, group coaching and retreats, Eleanor helps her students release energetic blockages to connect with their intuition for greater peace, freedom, and authenticity.

Meditation - 4-minute Reset

This short grounding practice helps you pause between moments and return to balance. Begin by finding a comfortable seat or standing tall, allowing your body to settle.  With each breath, bring your awareness back to what you can feeling in the body and mind. You can always use the breath as your constant companion to help you reset anyplace, anytime. Thanks for listening! To stay connected, follow us on Instagram @themakarandamethod [https://www.instagram.com/themakarandamethod/] and @eleanor.evans.medina [https://www.instagram.com/eleanor.evans.medina/] Visit our website: www.themakarandamethod.com [https://www.themakarandamethod.com/] About Eleanor Evans Medina: Eleanor is a spiritual teacher, formally trained marriage & family therapist, death doula, bee keeper and daughter of the Earth. She founded her private practice, The Makaranda Method in 2018. She guides her students towards self-discovery and healing by reconnecting them with love for our Mother Earth. Through one-on-one, group coaching and retreats, Eleanor helps her students release energetic blockages to connect with their intuition for greater peace, freedom, and authenticity.

Conversation - What Every Therapist Should Know about Psychedelics: Reflections from the Psychedelics Science Conference 2025

In this episode of The Makaranda Podcast, therapist Eleanor Evans Medina sits down with friend and apprentice Lindsay Lynch to reflect on their time at the 2025 Psychedelic Science Conference in Denver, hosted by MAPS, [the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies.] Eleanor and Lindsay explore the intersection of science and spirit, and what it means to work with psychedelics with reverence and integrity. Through personal stories and thoughtful reflections, they offer an holistic take on the evolving world of psychedelics in the U.S., therapeutic healing, neuroscience and ancestral knowledge about how to work with non-ordinary states of consciousness. Tune in for a nourishing and honest dialogue about trauma-informed care, the future of healing, and the courage it takes to stay present in a chaotic world. Mentions & Gratitude: * MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies) and the 2025 Psychedelic Science Conference * Reflections on trauma-informed facilitation, regulation, and spiritual bypassing * Deep gratitude to our teachers, mentors, and elders who walk this path with integrity * Honoring the lineages and traditional knowledge that inform sacred plant medicine work * Dr. Manesh Girn – UCSF neuroscientist, known as @thepsychedelicscientist, specializing in psychedelic brain imaging and cognitive neuroscience. * Dr. Lindsey Cameron – Neurobiologist at Stanford/UC Davis studying neuroplasticity through rodent models of psilocybin and DMT. * Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris – Pioneer in psychedelic science; developed the REBUS model and Default Mode Network research; now at UCSF in Neurology & Psychiatry. He also led the groundbreaking research on music as a “hidden therapist” in psychedelic-assisted therapy. * East Forest (Trevor Oswalt) – Musician and ceremony guide blending sound and mindfulness to support psychedelic and emotional healing. * Paul Stamets – Mycologist and author known for mycelial intelligence research, including how thunder’s vibration (40–80 Hz) accelerates mushroom growth. * Dr. Barry Walker – Expert on vagus nerve activation, trauma healing, and the co-regulating power of group singing and rhythm. Thanks for listening! To stay connected, follow us on Instagram @themakarandamethod [https://www.instagram.com/themakarandamethod/] and @eleanor.evans.medina [https://www.instagram.com/eleanor.evans.medina/] Visit our website: www.themakarandamethod.com [https://www.themakarandamethod.com/] About Eleanor Evans Medina: Eleanor is a spiritual teacher, formally trained marriage & family therapist, death doula, bee keeper and daughter of the Earth. She founded her private practice, The Makaranda Method in 2018. She guides her students towards self-discovery and healing by reconnecting them with love for our Mother Earth. Through one-on-one, group coaching and retreats, Eleanor helps her students release energetic blockages to connect with their intuition for greater peace, freedom, and authenticity.