Spirit Gym with Paul Chek

More than a decade ago, Eric Osborne co-founded the world’s first public psilocybin retreat In Jamaica (MycoMeditations) on the heels of Michael Pollan’s revelatory New Yorker feature, The Trip Treatment.
Eventually, Eric left the world of wellness retreats behind to establish Psanctuary, a Louisville, Ky., church that allowed him to create an ideal environment where he could build a permanent and legal community that focuses on people and healing with psilocybin.
Eric Osborne shares his amazing journey from teen snake-charmer to spiritual leader and healer, explains why a church is the best place to do psychedelic work and reveals what he learned from his first experience with psilocybin at age 19 that he keeps exploring even now, this week on Spirit Gym.
Learn more about Eric and his work at his website and his Psanctuary website (where you can check out his My Mushroom Map mini-course). Sign up to read the first chapter of his upcoming book, The Psychedelic Reformation, at this link. Find Eric on social media via Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok.
For Spirit Gym listeners: Eric is offering Spirit Gym listeners a 10 percent discount on all three courses Psanctuary teaches — his upcoming live, three-session My Mushroom Map Bootcamp (via Zoom) starting on Monday, Oct. 26 and Level 1: MySelf Training and Level 2: Friends and Family Spaceholder Training geared for people seeking out deeper journeys — through this special link. Save 10 percent on these courses by using the promo code SPIRITGYM at checkout.
Timestamps
3:39 Eric’s scientific obsession with snakes introduced him to the world of taboo subjects, like mushrooms.
10:57 A sovereign being in a spiritual space.
19:23 “I've learned more from plant medicines than all the books I've ever read in my life and I've read a lot of them.”
24:14 Do you fear consuming mushrooms because you’ll find out what entities are already possessing you?
35:24 Applying material science to psychedelics can be a real problem.
41:40 What Eric learned in his first mushroom experience that he will keep exploring for the rest of his life.
48:18 Eric believes a church is the best place to do psychedelic work.
57:45 Why do so many consider scientism a religion?
1:02:13 Are mushrooms conscious entities?
1:16:31 Eric communicates with mushrooms.
1:49:44 Eric leaves the Jamaica retreat he created to build Psanctuary, a Kentucky-based church.
1:59:49 “Quantum biology will teach us more about the psychedelic experience and what is happening in these states than psychology will.”
2:08:06 “Losing your mind is the entry point to becoming everything.”
2:13:41 Eric is very cautious before he considers playing a role in a ceremony.
2:23:39 Eric’s philosophy on working with someone in a ceremony: “I’m here to help you learn how to use this medicine on your own.”
2:29:24 Could psychedelic therapy wake people up to their own personal empowerment or perpetuate their codependency?
2:37:45 People can come to psilocybin with help from clinical professionals but they’re really not equipped to support you through this sacred experience.
2:47:38 “We cannot truly be ourselves or discover ourselves without a community.”
Resources
Eric’s recent podcast conversation with Kyle Kingsbury
Rastafari
Podcaster Shawn Ryan shares his experience with Ibogaine on YouTube
How Psychedelics Work: The Hidden Mind and Our Power to Heal by Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris
Psilocybe ovoideocystidiata
Pantheism and panentheism
The work of Hunter S. Thompson, Thomas Merton, Paul Stamets, Iain McGilchrist, Albert Hofmann and Rupert Sheldrake
Owning Your Own Shadow: Understanding The Dark Side of Psyche by Robert A. Johnson
Paul’s podcast conversations with Hamilton Souther, Robert Forte, Dr. Nathan Riley and Sasha Latypova
Paul’s solocasts on Lucifer, Christ and Ahriman and Shadow Work
Science and the Akashic Field: An Integral Theory of Everything by Ervin Laszlo
The Unknown Spirit by Jean Charon
The Are You Possessed? audio program with Paul and Kaedrich Olsen
Finite and Infinite Games: A Vision of Life as Play and Possibility by James Carse 
Food of the Gods by Terence McKenna
Find more resources for this episode on our website.
Music Credit: Meet Your Heroes (444Hz), Composed, mixed, mastered and produced by Michael RB Schwartz of Brave Bear Music
Thanks to our awesome sponsors:

Paleovalley
BIOptimizers US and BIOptimizers UK PAUL15
Organifi CHEK20
CHEK Institute
Spirit Gym
We may earn commissions from qualifying purchases using affiliate links.

What’s contained/not contained in vaccines and why isn’t it regulated? After all these years, why is the polio vaccine still a sacred cow? Why has Robert F. Kennedy Jr. not made the impact in human health at the federal level so many people expected? 
Explore the scientific truth behind the fiction with former pharmaceutical R&D executive Sasha Latypova this week on Spirit Gym.
Read Sasha’s work on Substack, including her Summary of Everything and Quick Links Update January 2026.
Timestamps
4:19 Most pharmaceutical professionals don’t understand biologics — drugs derived from living organisms — are totally different.
6:28 By the spring of 2020 (the beginning of COVID), Sasha noticed the FDA was behaving in ways she’d never seen before.
10:18 The TeGenero scandal.
19:15 Falling into mental traps and pretending into real problems.
25:10 The differing concepts of error versus intention.
37:10 “Germ theory consciousness is fundamentally based on fear.”
43:12 Fear-mongering and propaganda from medical “experts” really works.
49:56 “People need to understand that virology is not a science.”
56:59 The truth about cancer.
1:08:14 If cancer is driven by exposures, how did its demographic profile change so radically over the course of a century?
1:15:04 Nixon’s war on cancer.
1:21:22 The great business of imaginary spirit cooking.
1:30:09 The polio vaccine is a sacred cow.
1:45:43 The Biologics Control Act/Virus-Toxin Law of 1902.
1:52:01 Nothing about biologics is regulated, even in vaccines.
1:56:37 Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wasn’t the defender for public health Sasha, Paul and many others expected.
2:02:07 “[RFK Jr.] has no values and does what his handlers tell him to do.”
2:17:28 Glyphosate.
2:28:08 Diffusion tactics that distract you from the truth.
2:35:25 “Smoking is hazardous to your health” falsehoods.
2:59:17 “Don’t endow tools [like AI] with superhuman properties.”
3:02:50 The crisis of daily living is always the same, so take as much responsibility as you can for the decisions you make.
3:10:51 “Make sure your picture of reality is accurate.”
Resources
Sasha’s What is Cancer: a Comprehensive Theory of Causes and Mechanisms essay on Substack
Sasha’s 175+ Years of Cancer: The Big Picture the Establishment Doesn’t Want You to See essay on Substack
Sasha’s conversation with Dr. Andrew Kaufman on YouTube
Sasha’s conversations with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Militarized Healthcare and leaked Moderna files
The Technological Society by Jacques Ellul, John Wilkinson and Robert Merton
Hydroxychloroquine
VAERS
How Bad is My Batch website
NIH’s Cancer Stat Facts
Voltaire on Inoculation
The Mahoney strain (polio)
Secretory IgA
Plato’s allegory of the cave
Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS)
The Adelphi Genetics Forum
British Doctors Study
Zeta potential
The Science Delusion by Rupert Sheldrake
Paul’s podcast conversations with Dr. Alexis Cowan, Dr. Tom Cowan and Dr. Sherry Tenpenny
What Really Makes You Ill?: Why Everything You Thought About Disease is Wrong by Dawn Lester and David Parker
The work of Charles Richet, Theron Randolph, Edward Edinger, Sir Robert McCarrison and Dr. Alton Ochsner
Outbreak (movie)
DNA: Pirates of the Sacred Spiral by Leonard Horowitz
Against The Machine: On the Unmaking of Humanity by Paul Kingsnorth
Missing Links with Gregg Braden on Gaia
Find more resources for this episode on our website.
Music Credit: Meet Your Heroes (444Hz), Composed, mixed, mastered and produced by Michael RB Schwartz of Brave Bear Music
Thanks to our awesome sponsors:

Paleovalley
BIOptimizers US and BIOptimizers UK PAUL15
Organifi CHEK20
CHEK Institute
Spirit Gym
We may earn commissions from qualifying purchases using affiliate links.

Rather than struggle for perfection, analytical psychologist Carl Jung believes being a well-rounded man/woman is a better, smarter and healthier goal in life.
So, what exactly are the traits of a well-rounded woman? Paul explores what that means in today’s world with wife, mother and painter Natasha Kingsbury (her husband is the amazing Kyle Kingsbury) who keeps her mind wide open to new possibilities this week on Spirit Gym.
Check out Natasha and her family on Instagram. Contact Natasha through her husband’s Kingsbu website. Download a PDF of Natasha’s amazing art she and Paul discuss toward the end of their conversation at this link.
Timestamps
5:45 If you could go back in time, would you change anything about your past?
10:35 Natasha’s introduction to plant medicines.
21:14 Meridians and bee/wasp stings.
27:29 Natasha’s first painting of a human being — Paul — was a perfect one.
36:46 “I’ve found it’s easier to do deeper healing work if you have a healthy, stable woman with you.”
42:21 Natasha’s worldview: Prepare for the future.
58:27 Balance.
1:11:05 “I want [my kids] to hear both sides of an issue.”
1:27:18 Over the past decade, Natasha has learned more about her body and how it works than ever before.
1:39:09 Red Tent rituals.
1:46:20 Natasha recommends The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz as a great postpartum book for women.
2:04:33 The version of open relationships for Natasha and Kyle was very different than others.
2:09:07 Natasha and Kyle return to monogamy and learned not to overshare so much.
2:31:17 The 18-month honeymoon phase of a relationship is real.
2:43:10 What art means to Natasha.
2:47:51 Natasha sits with God when she paints.
2:52:22 Natasha shares some of her paintings she gifts to others.
3:00:36 The snow leopard connection.
3:09:12 Natasha knows the gender of your baby before she/he is born.
3:18:18 “All of my friends know I want crow friends.”
Resources
Thus Spoke The Plant by Monica Gagliano and Suzanne Simard
The Secret Life of Plants documentary on YouTube
The Secret Life of Plants by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird
Primary Perception: Biocommunication With Plants, Living Foods and Human Cells by Cleve Backster
The Ever-Present Origin Part 1 by Jean Gebser
Nonviolent Communication: The Basics As I Know and Use Them by Wayland Myers
The work of Rowena Kryder
Paul’s podcast conversations with Aubrey Marcus and Kyle Kingsbury, Dr. Keith Witt, Emily Abbott and Mike Salemi
Find more resources for this episode on our website.
Music Credit: Meet Your Heroes (444Hz), Composed, mixed, mastered and produced by Michael RB Schwartz of Brave Bear Music
Thanks to our awesome sponsors:

Paleovalley
BIOptimizers US and BIOptimizers UK PAUL15
Organifi CHEK20
CHEK Institute
Spirit Gym
We may earn commissions from qualifying purchases using affiliate links.

It’s just a fact that people are far more tuned into current events — AI, data centers, bad TV shows and politics — while their eyes are glued to their mobile phones than what they put in their mouths, thus putting their health at a far greater risk than ever before.
The bigger problem: There’s a wealth of research that shows how and why eating nutrient-rich organic food and grass-fed meats really matters but few know about it outside the realm of research.
Dr. Autumn Smith, co-founder of Paleovalley and Wild Pastures, shares what she’s learned about glycine (one of the most overlooked nutrients in modern nutrition), brain nutrition and what you should be avoiding this week on Spirit Gym.
Download Autumn’s presentation she shares during her Spirit Gym conversation with Paul — The Glycine Gap — at this link.
Learn more about Autumn’s inspiring journey on YouTube and watch her eight-part ReThink Meat series here. Follow Autumn on social media via Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. Watch/listen to her ReThink Health podcast at the Paleovalley website, YouTube, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get them.
For Living 4D listeners: Check out Paleovalley’s sister company Wild Pastures and their amazing variety wild-caught seafood, pasture-raised chicken and pork and 100 percent grass-fed and finished beef. Sign up for a home delivery subscription and save 20 percent off for life along with free shipping and $15 on your first order. And, don’t forget to save 15 percent on any Paleovalley products you buy at this link.
Timestamps
8:21 What is glycine?
13:25 Who has the highest levels of glycine in their bodies: Vegans or carnivores?
18:03 The lack of glycine spurs faster aging.
24:10 Rend mode versus mend mode.
31:51 Autumn’s obsession with the many positive ways the brain interacts with nutrition.
39:00 The power of three.
45:43 Low plasma glycine: A very consistent biomarker of insulin resistance.
56:04 What’s more effective: Getting more glycine in a supplement or food?
59:45 Common questions about glycine.
1:05:35 Have you tried a bone broth fast?
1:10:26 Autumn shares the results of her work with Dr. Stephan Van Vliet on the Beef Nutrient Density Project.
1:13:33 The Omega-3 Index, the benefits of eating pasture-raised/grass-fed animals and the wisdom of your body.
1:21:51 Could mercury warnings for pregnant women be doing more harm than good?
1:25:53 Brain nutrition is so poor, could average IQs drop sharply over the next four decades?
1:36:04 Are you eating too much liver?
1:44:25 How you can be fooled by Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) laws.
1:49:27 Does the citric acid in your food come from mold?
1:53:55 Lab-grown meats.
1:59:08 The spread of data centers and how it could affect our health.
2:06:20 Wild Pastures Burger Co. is growing!
Resources
The Glycine Miracle: The Science of Living Long and Free from Inflammation by Dr. Joel Brind
Pyroptosis
Autumn’s conversation with Dr. Joel Brind on her ReThink Health podcast
The Shrinking Brain: Mental Health is affected by poor brain nutrition by Michael Crawford and David E. Marsh
Methionine
Cellular senescence
The work of Stephanie Seneff, Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt, Dr. Joseph Hibbeln and Dr. Bill Harris
Autumn’s work on the Journal of Animal Science study, Nutritional composition of beef: a comparison of commercial North-American grass- and grain-finishing systems
DHA
Autumn’s conversation with Dr. Anthony Hulbert about achieving Omega balance on her ReThink Health podcast
Oneness vs. the 1% by Vandana and Kartikey Shiva
Paul’s podcast conversations with Dr. Ibrahim Karim, Dolf Zantinge and Dr. Robert Gilbert 
How to Eat, Move and Be Healthy 20th Anniversary Edition
The Great Plant-Based Con by Jayne Buxton
The Web of Meaning: Integrating Science and Traditional Wisdom to Find Our Place in the Universe by Jeremy Lent
Find more resources for this episode on our website.
Music Credit: Meet Your Heroes (444Hz), Composed, mixed, mastered and produced by Michael RB Schwartz of Brave Bear Music
Thanks to our awesome sponsors:

Paleovalley
BIOptimizers US and BIOptimizers UK PAUL15
Organifi CHEK20
CHEK Institute
Spirit Gym
We may earn commissions from qualifying purchases using affiliate links.

Your relationship with pain probably goes one of the two ways…
Most people take the conventional route and try to obliterate it with drugs and extreme treatments they may not need (that can hurt them even more than the pain itself). In many cases, their relationship with pain defines who they are.
Paul and senior CHEK instructor Leigh Brandon, author of Beyond the Pain: A Whole-Person Approach to Understanding Pain and Participating in Recovery, explore a very different and holistic relationship with pain, one that doesn’t treat it like an enemy but a vital source of information about your body this week on Spirit Gym.
Learn more about Leigh and his work at his website. Find him on social media via Instagram, Twitter/X and TikTok. Check out Leigh’s podcast, Beyond the Pain, on YouTube, Apple Podcasts and wherever you listen to them. Read the first chapter of Beyond the Pain at this link.
For Spirit Gym listeners: Download Leigh’s paper, The Load Capacity Hierarchy Model of Chronic Pain: A Systems Based Framework for Understanding Pain and Guiding Clinical Practice, today!
Timestamps
4:54 Why Leigh felt compelled to write a book about pain.
6:46 More UK adults suffer from chronic pain than Americans, depending on the studies you read.
14:43 The double-whammy of taking a painkiller and medication for depression.
16:44 One of Leigh’s worst experiences with pain that took him 22 months to diagnose, treat and heal.
27:13 Do you have a pain identity?
31:39 Miasms (trapped emotions).
36:39 Why people treat pain as their enemy.
44:12 Treating fear as different emotions.
50:21 Proprioception.
1:03:30 Pain is far more diverse and complex than most people realize.
1:10:30 The four predominant causes of persistent pain that interact with each other, based on Leigh’s experience (structural, metabolic, nervous system regulation and emotional load).
1:15:08 People are so addicted to mobile phones, they use them in saunas!
1:22:40 Leigh narrows down his knee inflammation to eating porridge every morning for breakfast.
1:31:30 Viscerosomatic reflexes.
1:41:02 When we can make meaning and understand our pain, it raises our threshold and we are better able to live our lives.
1:54:23 Leigh’s six principles of recovery.
2:02:27 Pain exists as a vital path of communication and a safety valve that doesn’t always guarantee painful problems.
Resources
Anatomy of Sports Injuries for Fitness and Rehabilitation by Leigh Brandon
Anatomy for Strength and Fitness Training For Speed by Leigh Brandon 
Anatomy For Yoga For Posture and Health by Leigh Brandon
Eliminating Adult Acne for Good by Leigh Brandon
The Tennis Biomechanics Manual by Leigh Brandon and Paul Chek
MRSA infections
The CHEK Totem Pole
Wall & Melzak’s Textbook of Pain by Stephen B. McMahon, Martin Koltzdenburg, Irene Tracey and Dennis Turk
Novak Djokovic: The Wolf in Winter
The work of Dr. John Sarno and Mariano Rocabado
Paul’s podcast conversations with Danny Way, Dr. Ibrahim Karim, Doreya Karim and Angie Chek
The Body Electric: Electromagnetism and the Foundation of Life by Robert Becker and Gary Selden
How to Eat, Move and Be Healthy! 20th anniversary edition
Nonviolent Communication: The Basics As I Know and Use Them by Wayland Myers
Find more resources for this episode on our website.
Music Credit: Meet Your Heroes (444Hz), Composed, mixed, mastered and produced by Michael RB Schwartz of Brave Bear Music
Thanks to our awesome sponsors:

Paleovalley
BIOptimizers US and BIOptimizers UK PAUL15
Organifi CHEK20
CHEK Institute
Spirit Gym
We may earn commissions from qualifying purchases using affiliate links.