Ep #4 Dr. Janine Sagert – Military Veterans, PTSD, Psychedelics, Mental Illness in America, Meditation, Yoga & Deep Consciousness Explorer.
/Dr. Janine Sagert
Our guest today is Dr Janine Sagert – intrepid consciousness explorer, film producer, corporate consultant for some of the largest and most influential companies in America, and a life-long social justice and military veterans advocate.
Our conversation today covers a wide spectrum of cutting edge, paradigm shifting issues. We discuss her long history living and working with military veterans, the use of psychedelics to successfully treat mental illness and PTSD, the future of mental health in America, her early adoption of meditative practices and yogic techniques in the corporate consulting she pioneered in the mid-1970’s, to her favorite ashram in India where she retreats every year.
Her distinctive life has uniquely equipped her to tell the story of combat veterans suffering from suicidal PTSD and their transformative healing journeys with psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy and medical marijuana. This is the story which is told in the highly acclaimed documentary film, From Shock to Awe which she co-produced with award-winning cinematographer, Luc Cote and Kevin Krause. Her remarkable life and cutting-edge achievements embody an uncommon blend of academic and professional education, research, training, and personal on the ground experience with deep spirituality — as well as a huge heart and indomitable spirit.
Commenting on what prompted her to take on a project of this magnitude she said, “It broke my heart to learn that so many of our veterans are experiencing PTSD and that most of them are not getting relief from their suffering. Twenty-two veteran suicides a day! This is truly a national disgrace. I had to do something to help, especially knowing that in the course of my life I had accumulated the skills, experience, and knowledge to do so.”
Janine is a modern-day polymath and a polyglot who speaks five languages, (Spanish, Marathi, Hindi, German, and English) and world traveler, her own backstory provides many points of connection and empathy with military veterans. Janine is a self-described “army brat” who grew up on military bases around the world. She’s a psychologist whose extensive academic career focused on clinical psychology and anthropology and how various elements of culture influence mental health. Her profoundly transformative experiences with psychedelics, lead her to a lifelong dedication to exploring and expanding her own consciousness through spiritual practices such as self-inquiry and meditation. Going where precious few Western women have gone, she traveled more times than she can remember to India and remote areas in the Himalayas to live and study with a variety of yogis and mystics, further deepening her direct experience of higher states of consciousness.
Academically, Dr. Sagert earned a doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley, in “Culture and Mental Health” with a specialty in Altered States of Consciousness and Psychological Resilience. She also spent two years as part of a Harvard University School of Public Health research team investigating stress factors around the world.
Professionally, she founded Time Out, Inc. in 1976 and subsequently provided pioneering consulting and coaching services to a wide spectrum of organizations in the areas of stress management, leadership, and optimal performance. She conducted more than 1,000 seminars and coached more than 500 executives in companies throughout the U. S., Europe and Asia. Her work was cutting-edge and in demand by executive teams from such diverse and elite organizations as:
Dell, Motorola, Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones, The University of Texas McCombs School of Business and the State of Texas just to name a few.
Even while achieving success and acclaim in academia and corporate boardrooms, her heart and humanity frequently called her to serve at-risk and disenfranchised people “in the streets.” Two examples of this are: working in the inner city of Houston to apply neurofeedback as a tool to help crack cocaine addicts overcome their dependence on drugs; and living in a residential halfway house in Berkeley, Calif., to work with chronic schizophrenics.
The one constant and shining thread throughout Janine’s life is her dedication to expand her own awareness, elevate her consciousness, and develop her capacity to connect with, care for, and help people from all walks of life.
This is a remarkably candid conversation with an incredibly down-to-earth and compassionate person who has a life-long career of pioneering consciousness work that has changed the way we look at ourselves and how we live and work with each other in the world. I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did.
People
Lisa Ling – CNN Correspondent – Ayahuasca in Peru
Baba Muktananda, met in 1974 – see biography by Swami Prakashananda
Rick Doblan – MAPS founder
Chris Young – Founder of Soul Quest (Ayahuasca Church in Orlando, FL )
Roland Griffiths, Ph.D. – Director, Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research and Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Matthew Johnson, Ph.D.– Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelics and Consciousness Research.
Sam Harris – Author, podcaster and meditation teacher
Werner Erhard – EST founder
David Pierce – Baba Muktananda tour director in 1974 (deceased).
Don Harrison – initial host of Baba Muktananda’ second world tour in 1974 (deceased).
Paul Hawken – Author, Activist. Drawdown – based on science. Regenerate is going to be more “evidence based” not hard science and peer reviewed.
Books
How to Change Your Mind – Michael Pollan
Baba Muktananda – A Biography – Swami Prakashananda
Relaxation Response – Herbert Benson
Relaxation Revolution – Herbert Benson and William Proctor
Ayahuasca Test Pilots Handbook – Chris Kilham
Show Notes, Resources, and Links
From Shock to Awe – Documentary film – available on four VOD platforms: Vimeo, Google Play, Tunes Amazon – also available on DVD, and Blueray in US and Canada thru MAPS store.
Ayahuasca – medicinal plant for PTSD
Polyglot – Spanish, Marathi, Hindi, German, English
Maharashtra, India in 1969
Psychedelic explorer – first LSD in 1970
Time Out – program for executives, coaching and leadership
Beckley Foundation – The Beckley Foundation pioneers psychedelic research to drive evidence-based drug policy reform, founded and directed by Amanda Feilding as a UK-based think-tank and NGO.
Heffter Foundation – sponsoring Psilocybin studies
Compass Pathways – developing an extract of Psilocybin.
Glossary of Terms (see full Glossary at meditatenow.net/glossary)
Yoga Sutras, Psilocybin, Psychedelics, Epigenetics, Reincarnation, Karma, Shaktipat, Sadhana, Buddhism, Ashram, Siddha Yoga, Mantra, Japa, Hamsa, Entheogens, meditation, THAT, pradakshina, Jayanti, pangal festival (South India), Seva, Arunachala mountain, Sadhus.
Additional Resources and Related Links
Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital
Lisa Ling on Tim Ferriss Podcast
Tim Ferriss Podcast – #385 The World’s Largest Psychedelic Research Center
The Man Who Put His Money Behind Psychedelic Medicine – New York Times article
The world’s largest psychedelic research center and the U.S.’s first psychedelic research center, The Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research at Johns Hopkins Medicine.
Tim Ferriss, The Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research at Johns Hopkins Medicine, Center opening press conference, I am joined by Roland Griffiths, Ph.D., who initiated the psilocybin research program at Johns Hopkins almost 20 years ago, leading the first studies investigating the effects of its use by healthy volunteers. His pioneering work led to the consideration of psilocybin as a therapy for serious health conditions. Griffiths recruited and trained the center faculty in psychedelic research as well.
Also participating is Matthew Johnson, Ph.D., associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral science, who has expertise in drug addictions and behavioral economic decision-making and has conducted psychedelic research at Johns Hopkins since 2004 (with well over 100 publications). He has led studies that show psilocybin can treat nicotine addiction. Johnson will lead two new clinical trials and will be associate director of the new center.
Johnson’s expertise includes, Psychedelics, addiction, behavioral pharmacology, nicotine, behavioral economics, sexual risk behavior.
The Open Society Foundations – George Soros -Global Drug Policy Program –
(Grant from The Open Society Foundations – George Soros -Global Drug Policy Program for briefing on Capital Hill, DC. In conjunction with MAPS)
New School in NYC showing and reception
Watch International Film Festival for Human Rights, Warsaw – Dec 5-9th (Shown 3 x at festival)
Imperial College London (Imperial Center for Psychedelic Research) –
Bioneers Annual International Conference – showed From Shock to Awe to an engaged and receptive audience.