The Trip Lab

Osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) is a hands on diagnostic and treatment modality that DOs learn in medical school. You may have seen the DO (rather than MD) after your doctor's name and never really understood what that meant. We dive into the difference between MDs and DOs and talk all about what osteopathic medicine is in this episode. Many OMT treatments actually mirror what a yoga practice can do for you as well. Whether we are talking about the poses (or asanas) creating simultaneous activation and relaxation... or even the connection to the breath the augment healing... there are connections everywhere. This podcast  is also available in written form (with supplemental pictures and diagrams) at www.drmaryellawood.com. 

In this episode we will take a deep dive into one of the leading causes of the global burden of disease-- hypertension, or high blood pressure. We will go over the pathophysiology, learn how hypertension develops and why it is so bad for the body. After understanding the root causes, we can then better understand how our traditional pharmaceuticals, lifestyle interventions, and holistic integrative therapies work to treat this disease. ... and SPOILER! Holistic approaches turn out to be MORE effective than drugs to treat this one. If you want to see another disease or disorder in this series, shoot me an email at thetriplabpodcast@gmail.com.

Today I will be introducing a new 'deep dive series' on The Trip Lab. We are going to be looking into the most common medical conditions to really understand what is happening in the body and how they develop. With that understanding, we can better understand how our treatments work-- including pharmaceuticals and surgery as well as integrative therapies like herbal medicine and mind-body medicine. To start this series, we will look at how this divide between 'modern' medicine and 'alternative' medicine came to be. Why do we call western medicine the gold standard and ancient eastern approaches alternative? Well-- big pharma played a role. Take a listen if you want to learn how and why.

This episode is going to be a high level overview over all of the primary causes of anxiety and depression, and integrative approaches to treat them. Anxiety and depression is a lot more complicated than just writing a script for sertraline or recommending therapy. These disorders definitely have a psychological component that can stem from chemical imbalances in the brain... but other causes include nutritional deficiencies, inflammation and adrenal fatigue, poor sleep hygiene, not exercising enough, improper use of medications or underlying medical causes like hormonal fluctuations or imbalances, thyroid disorders and anemia. We will dive deeper into these causes and go over traditional medical approaches as well as evidenced-based complementary treatments like psychedelics, nutrition and mind-body medicine. Also in this episode I introduce my NEW professional website where you can learn about medical services I will be offering at the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at Northwestern in Chicago, IL. Additionally, I am now offering yoga & meditation classes, spiritual practices like tarot and astrology, and a whole lot more. Check out my website at drmaryellawood.com. This course is a preview of an upcoming course I am developing called 'Integrative Approaches for Anxiety & Depression.' In this course we dive deeper into what is discussed in this podcast, break down the science in an easy to understand more, look at more specific treatment options, and help you understand YOUR body and your personal  mental health journey. The course also works well as a crash course for healthcare providers that want to learn more about integrative medicine treatment options that they can prescribe to their patients. Website: drmaryellawood.comInstagram: @drmaryellaYouTube Channel: Dr. Mary EllaPodcast Instagram: @thetriplabpodcast

Today we interview UCSF psychiatrist Emily Willow, MD. She has a robust career in psychedelic medicine and has worked on clinical trials using MDMA, psilocybin and ketamine. Currently, she has a private practice where she does ketamine assisted psychotherapy and psychedelic integration therapy. We chat all about her experience using these different psychedelic compounds, and the benefits and cautions of each depending on what each patient is trying to heal. We also discuss cognitive liberty and the idea of using psychedelics to explore your consciousness without the need for a psychiatric disorder like depression and anxiety. Dr. Willow and I also both use Tarot cards as a tool to explore your consciousness through an archetypal lens-- so we discuss different ways to do this. I also include a little bonus at the end of the episode about tarot, and specifically we look at one card that generates most of the misconceptions about Tarot. Connect with Emily Willow, MDWebsite: www.emilywillowmd.comInstagram: @EmilyWillowMD

A Trip Lab Thought Experiment: We will dive into an alternate reality where psychedelics can be used by anyone to explore their consciousness and place in the world (without having a mental health disorder like depression to make it legal). Find out how psychedelics can help you understand the complex topics of quantum physics, string theory, the illusion of time and parallel universes. We will also discuss exciting new research papers looking into how psychedelics have been proven to increase creativity both in an artistic and scientific discovery setting. Last, we will see how psychedelics have shaped religions throughout the world and time-- from Christianity to Witchcraft. Mentions:- Psychedelics as potential catalysts of scientific creativity and insight- Spontaneous and deliberative creative cognition during and after psilocybin exposure- 'Dancing Naked in the Mind Field' by Kary Mullis- 'Seven Brief Lessons on Physics' by Carlo Rovelli- 'Reality Is Not What It Seems' by Carlo Rovelli- 'The Order of Time' by Carlo RovelliEmail me at: thetriplabpodcast@gmail.comFollow The Trip Lab on Instagram @thetriplabpodcast 

We chat with Dr. Mark Braunstein about how he pioneered a new path in psychiatric care using cannabis, ketamine and psilocybin... in addition to integrating wilderness programming, exercise, diet and spirituality to treat depression, addiction, anxiety and trauma. He dives deeper into how cannabis works in the mind and the different ways he prescribes this to his patients. We also chat about the future of cannabis and psychedelic medicine-- both seeing it as an exciting opportunity to treat psychiatric disorders but also molecules that need to be taken with great care. Mentions:Sustainable Mycelium 'Leather' - Mylo UnleatherDr. B's recommended CBN: Maven HempReach Mark Braunstein, DO:Instagram @thecannabispsychiatristReconscious Medical

Chronic low levels of inflammation is linked to at 8 out of the 10 leading causes of death in the United States. This, along with chronic stress, causes premature aging, cardiovascular disease, neurodegenerative disease, cancer and a lot more.  This episode dives deeper into how this process happens... and what you can change in your diet to combat it. This episode rounds out our discussion on inflammation and stress, following episode #6 all about adaptogenics and the HPA access (endocrine stress response) and #7 all about mind body medicine and your autonomic (neurological) stress response. 

Mia Cara Cosco is the Creative Director of Psychedelic Salons. She has 10 years of experience in psychedelic medicine advocacy and has a really beautiful take on these plants and fungi as medicine. We chat all about the work that she does holding space for people to experience psychedelics, as well as creating spaces to merge social venture capital with artists, business people, leaders and visionaries.  Mia is passionate about 'democratizing cognitive liberation' with psychedelics and has a very humble, artistic and intentional approach to doing just that. We also discuss microdosing and how she incorporates many different psychedelics into her life that way. Get in touch with Mia:Personal Instagram: @miacoscoPsychedelic Salons Instagram: @psychedelicsalonsYouTube Channel: Mia CoscoWebsite: miacosco.com

Max C Wood is a graduate student studying developmental neuroscience and psychopathology at the Anna Freud Center in London. He is finishing his studies at Yale, studying the impact that attachment styles have on a psychedelic treatment design, using ketamine.  We talk all about how developmental neuroscience came to be, and why this goes hand in hand with understanding the brain using psychedelics... in addition to using psychedelics to treat human suffering. Going a little deeper into the placebo response, we speculate why it works on both a neuro-biological level and a spiritual level. Then we dive a little bit into micro-dosing, speculating if the full psychedelic experience is actually necessary to healing or not which ultimately leads us to a discussion on the soul and the spirit and where that fits into all of this. Reach Max via email at max.crosland-wood@yale.edu

Mind-Body Medicine was until recently, dismissed by modern medicine. The idea that the mind could influence the body was paradoxically deemed just not true--- it's no surprise the current data is saying otherwise. It is know widely accepted that increased stress experienced in the mind lowers the immune system and influences a wide variety of disease, most notably cardiac and metabolic. In this episode we break down the autonomic nervous system (to round out the neurological side of the stress response we started in our adaptogenic episode when we talked about the endocrine side of the stress response).This inflammation and stress response is also vital to understanding why COVID was so detrimental, and we will talk all about why. We will discuss a range of mind-body therapies that have been proven to be beneficial in the literature, including breath work, mindfulness and medical hypnosis. We will also discuss some of the newer literature looking at hypnosis as a replacement for anesthetic drugs during surgery. Inevitably we will hop down a few rabbit holes talking about out of body experiences, Jung's archetypes and his idea of the collective unconscious... and how that might relate to why occult practices like Tarot  and other religious texts like the Bible actually share a scary amount of similarities. Mentions:- Book: 'Woke. An Anesthesiologists  View.' by Madhava Setty MD- App: Waking Up with Sam Harris

Adaptogenics and nootropics have become buzzwords in posh grocery stores-- on every botanical elixir and new sparkling water. But what exactly are they? Do they actually work? And what does the data tell us? Find it all out in the episode!Adaptogenic herbs: panax ginseng, rhodiola, ashwaganda, licorice root, milk thistleAdaptogenic mushrooms: maitake, reishi, cordyceps, lion's maneAdaptogenic foods: ginger, garlic, green teaNootropics mentioned: caffeine, GABA, L-theanineMentionsChicago Market - FoxtrotBotanical Elixir - Kin Euphorics

The benefits of yoga have been proven extensively in the medical literature. We dive into the science of how yoga works to treat mental health disorders, musculoskeletal disorders, cardiovascular disease and even the cognitive decline that comes with age. Then, for our very first guest interview we have Shelby Caldwell here to answer all of our yoga questions. She is a certified yoga instructor and currently manages the Ritual Hot Yoga Studio in Chicago. We have an open and honest conversation about addiction and how that can look different for every person, we discuss the dichotomies of life and a new way of looking at ‘good' and ‘bad', and finally we get philosophical about the practice of yoga and how it truly invites you to choose to live your fullest life.Mentions in this episode:Yoga Studio: Ritual Hot YogaYoga Teacher Training: The Yoga Teachers LabBook: ‘The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali' by Sri Swami SatchidanandaBook: ‘Accessing the Healing Power of the Vagus Nerve' by Stanley RosenbergBook: ‘Between Heaven and Earth: A guide to Chinese Medicine' by Harriet Beinfield and Efem KorngoldSocial Media:Shelby Caldwell - IG @shelbsyogaRitual Hot Yoga - IG @ritualhotyogaThe Trip Lab - IG @thetriplabpodcast

This episode is going to be all about MDMA (also known as Molly or Ecstasy). We will explore the history of this compound and it's use, the neuroscience of how it works, what the latest clinical trials have shown, and even look at the shadow side of these sort of therapy sessions. Mentioned Links:Netflix Docuseries: 'The Business of Drugs'Book: ‘The Gateway of the Heart: Accounts of Experiences with MDMA and other Empathogenic Substances' compiled and edited by Sophia Adamson 

An overview of magic mushrooms and LSD (aka Acid). We will chat about the history of these compounds, why they were banned, why they are making a comeback, and how they are being used to treat anxiety, depression, addition and so much more. We will explain the neuroscience in an easy to understand way, and what this might mean for the future of psychiatry (and just life!). Book: 'The Immortality Key' by Brian C. MurareskuNew Neuronal Connections Depiction

What actually is integrative medicine? How does it differ from 'alternative' or 'naturopathic' medicine? When should you see an integrative medicine doctor? All of your questions answered below. 0:45 - What is integrative medicine? 3:10 - Alternative vs. Complementary vs. Integrative Medicine3:50 - Eastern vs. Western Medicine5:00 - Principles of Integrative Medicine7:20 - Osteopathic (DO) vs. Allopathic (MD) Medicine9:35 - Naturopathy, Homeopathy & Functional Medicine12:40 - Psychedelics15:25 - Acupuncture & Traditional Chinese Medicine16:45 - Aryuveda & Yoga17:49 - Mind-Body Medicine18:38 - Art, Music, Dance & Nature as Medicine18:50 - Nutrition & Food as Medicine19:15 - Herbal Medicine & Supplements21:40 - When should you see an integrative medicine doctor?

An introduction to your host, what the podcast will be about (integrative medicine & psychedelics) and a primer on evidenced based medicine.0:00 - Bio, Mary Ella Wood, DOUndergrad: Point Loma Nazarene University, San Diego, CAMedical School: Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine, Dothan, ALResidency: General Surgery, Danbury Hospital, Danbury, CTResidency: Family Medicine, West Suburban Medical Center, Oak Park, IL1:06 - Journey to Integrative Medicine3:50 - What is Integrative Medicine?4:25 - Psychedelics5:08 - Podcast Format6:50 - Evidenced Based Medicine