Healing Cancer Journeys

Ryan Meeks: Cancer and Psychedelics Burn Away Everything But Love

What do we learn about love through cancer and psychedelic journeys? And what if psychedelic medicines could help you find meaning without needing religion to justify it? In this episode, we speak with Ryan Meeks, founder of Nautilus Integration and author of "Life is a Gift, Love is the Point." Ryan spent sixteen years as a megachurch pastor before his 2017 Hodgkin's lymphoma diagnosis accelerated his departure from Christianity and opened him to psychedelic healing. He now guides people through integration while emphasizing fitness, embodiment, and relationships. Ryan and I explore cancer as purifying fire that burns away everything inessential, leaving only what matters. We discuss how psychedelics delivered what religion promised but couldn't provide, why love must be verb not just feeling, and how his pastoral skills translate to holding space during vulnerable journeys. Ryan describes the paradox of protective dissociation during cancer treatment and the challenging work of re-embodiment afterward. Visit www.healingcancerjourneys.org and follow us on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Substack at 'healingcancerjourneys'.

Ismail Ali, MAPS: People-Centered Psychedelic Leadership

How do families heal together when cancer detonates through entire family systems, leaving everyone wounded? In this episode, we speak with Ismail Ali, co-Executive Director at MAPS and psychedelic policy architect. Ismail holds a law degree from UC Berkeley, co-founded the Psychedelic Bar Association, and has been remarkably open about his family's use of ayahuasca ceremony to process grief after his mother's death from cancer. We explore how cancer grief and psychedelic use both carry profound stigma that isolates families in their suffering, and how Ismail's family courageously gathered three generations for ceremony even though his mother had fled Colombia partly to escape drug-related violence. We also discuss MAPS's people-centered approach across three pillars: policy advocacy including Right to Try and Freedom to Heal Act, research establishing safety and efficacy, and education translating complex information for patients and providers. After forty years, MAPS is transitioning into an orchestration role, coordinating diverse organizations while keeping actual humans at the center of every decision. Ismail reminds us that policy work can become dehumanizing and abstract, but at the end of the day, if one person gets impacted by safe legal access to psychedelic medicines, that is everything. You can find us online at www.healingcancerjourneys.org. Follow us on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Substack at @healingcancerjourneys.

Dr. Tony Back, University of Washington: Hope, Zen, and Psychedelics in Cancer

How do you cultivate hope that motivates you through cancer treatment without falling into magical thinking that prevents you from living in the present? In this episode, we speak with Dr. Tony Back, palliative care physician, oncologist, psychedelic researcher and Zen practitioner. Tony explores the paradox of hope in cancer—how it can be essential for survival while simultaneously pulling us away from present-moment awareness. He offers both clinical and contemplative perspectives on healthy hope versus toxic positivity. We also discuss Tony's strategic approach to social change, from training oncologists in difficult conversations to becoming the first physician to publicly share his psilocybin experience. His recent research on psychedelics among healthcare workers received 2,200 applications for 30 slots, revealing how psychedelic medicines might heal both patients and the doctors caring for them. You can find us online at www.healingcancerjourneys.org [http://www.healingcancerjourneys.org] and follow us on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Substack where our handle is healingcancerjourneys.

Jason Konner, Psychedelic Oncology: Healing Cancer’s Wounded Healers

How do oncologists witness death after death without burning out? And what happens when the medical system trains oncologists to see death as ‘failure’ rather than a natural outcome?   In this episode, we speak with Dr. Jason Konner, founder of Psychedelic Oncology and medical oncologist who practiced at Memorial Sloan Kettering for over two decades before leaving to pursue psychedelic medicine full-time. Jason discusses the concept of wounded healers and how oncologists often carry accumulated grief with nowhere to process it. He shares discovering ayahuasca after years of unrecognized burnout, which revealed a third way of being present with patients without depleting himself. We explore why psychedelic literacy among healthcare providers matters for patient care and Jason's vision for psychedelic oncology as a subspecialty addressing the existential, emotional, and spiritual dimensions that conventional cancer care systematically ignores.

Anne Hamilton, Survivorship Collective: Customizing Psychedelic Retreats for People Living with Cancer

How do you customize psychedelic retreats for people whose medical experiences were traumatic and whose bodies tried to kill them? In this episode, we speak with Anne Hamilton, founder of Survivorship Collective—the first nonprofit offering legal psilocybin retreats designed specifically for cancer survivors. Anne walks us through the four-step process: medical screening for drug interactions, deliberate cohort matching for emotional safety, multi-week preparation that bonds participants, and five-day Oregon retreats with ongoing integration afterward. Visit www.healingcancerjourneys.org [http://www.healingcancerjourneys.org] and follow us at 'healingcancerjourneys'.