In this episode of Ayahuasca Podcast, host Sam Believ has a conversation with Dr. Lauren Leiva, founder of The ExerScience Center and a multidimensional Doctor of Physical Therapy. Lauren shares how her early spiritual practices helped her survive a life-threatening event and discusses the mind-body connection, biohacking, and healing.
We touch upon topics of:
– Spiritual practices and survival (00:30:00)
– Mind-body connection (00:10:00)
– Intuition and healing (00:18:00)
– Ayahuasca and biohacking (00:30:00)
– Running a clinic with a holistic approach (00:42:00)
If you would like to attend one of our Ayahuasca retreats, go to http://www.lawayra.com.
Find more about Dr. Lauren Leiva at theexersciencecenter.com.
Transcript
Sam Believ (00:05)
Hi guys, welcome to ayahuascapodcast .com. As always with you, the host, Sambiliyev. Today I am interviewing Dr. Laura Leyva. Laura is ⁓ a ⁓ survivor. She’s also known as Queen of Biohacking. She’s an owner and the founder of Excer Science Biohacking Center. She’s a mother of two and she ⁓ is on a mission.
Sam Believ (00:33)
of finding a holistic healing path. ⁓ Lauren, welcome to the ⁓
Queen of Biohacking (00:36)
⁓ Thanks for having me. Thank you for having me. I’m excited to be
Sam Believ (00:40)
⁓ Alright.
Sam Believ (00:46)
⁓ So, Lauren, before we start talking about ⁓ psychedelics and ⁓ biohacking, ⁓ tell us a little bit about your journey. I know you ⁓ had a pretty ⁓ difficult life and ⁓ so what brought you to ⁓ getting better yourself and then starting to help others?
Queen of Biohacking (01:10)
So, I mean, I think after ayahuasca journeys, we all know it starts within the womb and before, but what got me on my journey to healing and creating my center really was ⁓ just going through a lifetime of trauma that we all go through, but improper healing methods. ⁓ And I know that we had a brief conversation, for example, before about marijuana.
Queen of Biohacking (01:39)
But when I was 13, I started smoking marijuana because of a lot of depression and different things that happened. ⁓ And giving the long story short of it, because we can also link YouTube videos and everything, ⁓ but my parents got divorced before I was born. They were very different. My mom was this hippie, nudist, ⁓ spiritual, just beautiful person. And my father’s a beautiful person too, but he was more like,
Queen of Biohacking (02:08)
military mindset, very strict. ⁓ So having two different homes was very different and it actually created a lot of bias because my mom was into plant medicine, was into dance, into movement. And when I would go to my father’s house, it was like, that’s wrong. ⁓ is, know, movement is sexual. So there was a huge disconnect within the way I grew up from one household to another. So. ⁓
Queen of Biohacking (02:37)
Going through that, when I was 13, I experienced a very traumatic event that ayahuasca later showed me resulted in Crohn’s disease. ⁓ I started going to the bathroom about 100 times a day. I would throw up water sometimes because my body was just shut down. I had blood transfusions to elevate my iron levels. I would have, again, IVs for hydration. My body wouldn’t take in anything. ⁓
Queen of Biohacking (03:07)
Just going through mainstream medical system, my mother was older, she worked a lot, we didn’t have the best insurance, so I was being prescribed prednisone, azogal, flagell, all of these medicines, anti -depressants, Adderall, oxycodone, and it was just like they were throwing anything at me to make the symptoms go away, but they would result in other things like osteoporosis, I got arrhythmia nososum, which is like nodules in your ⁓ bloodstream.
Queen of Biohacking (03:37)
One thing caused another thing caused another thing. And if anybody has been to my talks, I’ve been going around the world to share the mind over matter because from 13 years old and so on, I kind of pushed everything under the rug. I was a straight A student, a scholar, you know, ⁓ I appeared, I’m looking at my thing, I appeared, you know, normal on the outside, but the inside was just getting sicker and sicker and sicker, more diseased, which happens to a lot of people.
Queen of Biohacking (04:06)
I work with veterans who’ve had terrible injuries that you can see on the outside. But a lot of us walk around with injuries on the inside and nobody gives you the time and space to heal the support that you need if they can’t see the pain you’re going through. So that’s something that’s a little bit off in society. So just going through college and I started off, I went through my early years. I was going to go to USF Medical School. took my
Queen of Biohacking (04:36)
⁓ and then ⁓ after graduating USF, honors, I got a bachelor in biomedical science, biomedical physics. I just loved science. Later, one of my mentors told me, you can’t cry while you’re doing math. So I think I also threw myself into school a lot because I was escaping other things that were going on in my life. ⁓ In my life, there was different things ⁓
Queen of Biohacking (05:02)
Ayahuasca helps me talk about because ⁓ it was very hard to talk about abuse or neglect or sexual trauma. ⁓ For some time I ⁓ had a restraining order on my own brother and it was really hard to talk about and nobody really knew how I grew up. I was just, as I got older and wiser, I was almost mind blown that nobody really went into ⁓
Queen of Biohacking (05:28)
my living situation, my spiritual ⁓ health, you know, every time since I was little, they would scan my body, take my heart rate, my blood pressure, prescribe something. Nobody asked, was I being abused? Was I being hurt? Was I happy? And now there is some, you know, scanning they do when you go to the doctor. ⁓ you know, do you have motivation for life? Are you happy? Are you hurt? So it’s good that they’re bringing that into mainstream healthcare.
Queen of Biohacking (05:58)
but it goes deeper because usually we’re around our loved ones when we’re being asked this. We’re not in a space, a sacred space to share. So often we don’t even know what’s going on. After ⁓ college, I had my first son. He was born two months early. And that was really the seed that apparently came out of me. And I’m like, he’s not gonna go through the same thing I went through. ⁓ And I wanted to, I got off all my medicines.
Queen of Biohacking (06:27)
all natural within one day. So talking about addiction and everything, I thought I needed everything. And especially when you have a whole medical system or doctors, especially if you’re uneducated and someone says you need this or you’ll die, or ⁓ you’re gonna be on this medicine the rest of your life, your cellular structure is listening. And if you believe it, it actually could become true within the body. So it took an unlearning for me over time after I had my son.
Queen of Biohacking (06:57)
to know better, to do better, and that I don’t want him to even have this in his system through me. I wanted to breastfeed, I wanted to do things. So that’s when I realized I can. And it’s on the back of my business card and it’s one of my mottos, I have, can’t, and we ripped a tee off. Because I rarely will tell anybody they can’t do something because for me, that’s almost a challenge, well, can I? And it’s not reverse psychology,
Queen of Biohacking (07:26)
We are such amazing spirits in this body. We always think, we’re gonna go to ayahuasca and have a spiritual experience. No, our spirit is here the whole time waiting to come out. So when we go to these things and we respect the spirit, our body becomes the temple that we subconsciously always know about. We have to respect our temple. We have to feed our temple good things from the food we eat, ⁓ the amount of water we drink.
Queen of Biohacking (07:55)
If we’re doing drugs, we’re hurting our temple. It hurts our mind. Then our spirit might not be in this body for a long time. So this is really what brought me to the plant medicines because after having my son and realizing just all the things that were wrong with how I was raised, how the medical system treated me, I really put a lot of my efforts to explore further.
Queen of Biohacking (08:22)
My mother, she was killed by the hospital in 2019, overdosed on blood thinner. So again, mainstream medical care, was really like repulsed by. ⁓ I had so many surgeries as a child. So I wanted a better solution. And after my mom passed away, I opened my clinic. And opening my clinic, I was able to apply and spend as much time with each patient.
Queen of Biohacking (08:51)
because that’s something that was, again, I found that was off when I was little. They would do the questionnaires, they would see what’s wrong, but they really didn’t spend that sacred time with you, because maybe something’s under the rug that’s gonna come out. Often people that are going through trauma don’t even know why they’re in pain. They might see something, but it could be something totally different. And that’s kind of what was going on with me from 13, so.
Queen of Biohacking (09:16)
I was in my ⁓ 30s and it resulted in ulcers and inflammation and depression and ⁓ even had suicidal thoughts. So, ⁓ again, my life of pain ⁓ brought me to the purpose and then through my own practices, I realized just love and having that frequency of love and connection with people really allow healing. ⁓ And plant medicine,
Queen of Biohacking (09:45)
When you add it in with love and connection, which is why I love ayahuasca retreats, because we’re in a circle, a community, and some people don’t have a true community. Someone that you hardly know could feel like your family, and when you come home, you could feel alone. And that’s what’s really beautiful there. So having the love and everybody being open for healing is one thing. But the plant medicines, for example, I ⁓ could go through rapa, ⁓ sananga, and ayahuasca, which is what
Queen of Biohacking (10:14)
what I experienced at my first ayahuasca retreat. ⁓ And the rapé was very powerful. ⁓ And even at first I asked the shaman, can I just snort a line? ⁓ You know, it looks kind of scary over there because the shaman will blow rapé up your nose. And then I actually have my own practice now. There’s the curie pipe, the teppi pipe, and it’s really beautiful to bring it ⁓
Queen of Biohacking (10:41)
to your own practice eventually when you can learn more about it. But ⁓ I learned about the feminine, the masculine. It’s so much more than just the plant medicine. Every person’s hands that touch this plant to make this shamanic snuff to decalcify my pineal gland, every part of it matters. It’s just like if people are meat eaters. I don’t wanna go there, but if you’re not respecting the animal and they were tortured, I mean, you’re eating a ball of pain.
Queen of Biohacking (11:11)
You’re putting the pain in your body, torture in your body. So the same thing as with the plant medicine. That’s why it’s important to go to a reliable community because ayahuasca is getting very popular and I also feel like commercialized. So you can go places. I’ve been at clubs and they sell rapé and sananga at tables outside, you know, of these clubs. ⁓ which again, I don’t want to create too much judgment, but ⁓
Queen of Biohacking (11:40)
When I took courses to learn about rapé and even understand when you’re blowing it into someone, just channeling certain spirit animals or certain thoughts or connecting with an intention to release, allowing the medicine to be done, there’s so much deeper ways to connect with the medicine ⁓ or else anything can become an addiction or just a practice to escape. For example, I talk about my marijuana use. I go outside all the time and I smoke a
Queen of Biohacking (12:10)
a blunt, know, like Snoop Dogg or Tupac. I like to roll it in a tobacco leaf and I like to smoke and it’s very good for digestion, for sleeping. ⁓ But I realized really not until after the ayahuasca, it was also an escape. I just wanted to get away and I think when you have children, when you’re a mother, when you’re a business owner, it’s hard to tell people. I just need to step away for a moment and breathe. But if you roll a joint and you step outside,
Queen of Biohacking (12:39)
Most people don’t want to stand right next to you. So I realized that it was a way for me to step away, a way for me to have my alone space, a way for me to take a deep breath. And then Mama Aya told me, well, you could do that anyways. ⁓ You don’t need to add in this fire that you’re inhaling. And again, the things we resist persist. So I love all parts of myself and I still love my connection with marijuana, but having a real connection
Queen of Biohacking (13:08)
plant medicine in general has allowed me to see those subconscious, the things that we always hide. Cause everybody has the yin and the yang. And I can talk all day and travel the world and probably monetize the fact that I was the first person in Florida, almost with my marijuana card. And I love plant medicine, but you know, it’s my duty as a mother of two kids to say it’s really not the healthiest thing to light a tobacco leaf on fire and inhale
Queen of Biohacking (13:37)
three to 10 times a day, you know, so just because I do, I want to do better. ⁓ And Ayahuasca just showed me all the projections that I had, even with my husband. So even with my mother’s death, it allowed me to stop arguing with what is and see the beauty in it. There’s so many people that say I’m not a people person or, you know, politics and everything that’s going on in the world. It’s like we can’t handle the conversation.
Queen of Biohacking (14:07)
The plant medicine allows us to handle everything. It might not be what is serving us. It might not be joyous. It might not be happy, but it gives us the tool to remain calm and see things in an objective way ⁓ and to be able to create love around that situation. And for me, that’s the best way to explain it. I don’t know if I’m doing a good job or going down too many rabbit holes, but trauma brought me to where I am now.
Queen of Biohacking (14:32)
to heal people in a way where it’s not just so medicated and surgical, where it’s not within a five, 10 minute medical appointment. You talk to a doctor and then you go home and you have to follow a plan, because nobody follows the plan. People say, need you to wake me up, shock me, get me up, you know, and I think ayahuasca really allows us to do that to ourself every day. We realize it’s not outside of us, it’s within, so.
Queen of Biohacking (15:00)
I’m just grateful to be here with you and even to be recommended to talk to you because studying plant medicine, ayahuasca, even sanonga. ⁓ Sanonga, I have a great story with that. When they did the sanonga in my eyes, of course, it was like one of the strongest ones. ⁓ I felt like I was blind for 15 minutes, but it was probably five minutes. They said it wouldn’t last too long. It’s eye drops.
Queen of Biohacking (15:28)
that I’m sure you know, but just for people listening, they put it in your eye and it is expressed from this ⁓ tree that is collecting water, right? The salt water in the ocean. Is it in Peru or is it everywhere else?
Sam Believ (15:42)
Honestly, we don’t work much with Sananga. I’ve seen people doing it. I’ve never wanted to try it, but I think it’s from Amazon. don’t know if it’s Does it grow on the coast? But yeah, no idea there. Just tell the story.
Queen of Biohacking (15:56)
Right? So again, this is why you got to be careful where you go because I’m not going to deliver you Sunanga because I don’t know, you know, all about it, but I definitely take it. ⁓ And it’s basically an eye drop where it feels like, know, you’re crazy. You’re just going to, you lose your vision for a little bit. And when I say you lose your vision completely black, it’s not spots. It’s not anything. It’s literally like you have no eyeballs. And ⁓ when that happened, I could
Queen of Biohacking (16:26)
First, the shaman said to me, breathe into it and don’t curse. And I think she knew what was about to come out of me, because I was like, fuck! I just started screaming curse words and I started slapping the ground. And then I started tapping myself like really hard. I mean, I’m being, I mean, I was like really slapping myself. I even did, if anybody knows yoga, like a shoulder stand and a snow plow. Like I flipped backwards over because I couldn’t handle it.
Queen of Biohacking (16:55)
or I thought I couldn’t handle it. ⁓ And then I heard my husband’s voice. And before I tell everybody this, I want them to know I’ve been married 17 years. My husband’s never cursed me out once. He’s amazing and he’s beautiful. We’re very different. He’s from New York, he’s a jeweler. He doesn’t want to be naked or go outside barefoot. He doesn’t want to just play in the dirt like me. So we don’t realize even what we put on our spouses, our family, our kids.
Queen of Biohacking (17:23)
So when I’m here, I heard his voice cursing me out. And what was weird to me is that he would never do that. So what I heard was what I thought he was thinking of me all the time. And this moment really helped my relationship with my husband because ⁓ if I can say without any, know, because it’s pretty bad, but it was like, what the fuck are you doing? You know, out in the woods with these hippies and now you’re blind.
Queen of Biohacking (17:52)
⁓ How do you feel about yourself now? Like, was this a good decision? So, but that was my subconscious thoughts. What am I doing out here in the woods with these people and am I blind, you know? But for some reason I’m always thinking he’s thinking that of me. And then I might come home and be like, eh. But no, when I left, it’s almost like Edward Scissorhand came and he cut everything into a heart. The trees, the clouds. When I came home, I saw my husband as a ball of ⁓
Queen of Biohacking (18:21)
Because one, he would never say those things to me. He supports my journey and I realized this is within me. And I know that sounds crazy, but just the projections that we create onto other people were all coming out. Cause I could hear the voices. Those two medicines were very intense and I think it helped me release the anxiety towards drinking ayahuasca. So it was a great way that we had this process and ⁓
Queen of Biohacking (18:52)
When I drank the ayahuasca, there’s the ceremony and they have, and again, every place is different, so I can’t wait to come to yours. I was in a plant medicine church in the United States in Tampa, Florida, and they give a little red cup. So it’s your first cup. Then you can offer a second cup and then possibly a third cup, because they want people to get as much as they need. I’ve heard different stories at different places, so this is my story.
Queen of Biohacking (19:22)
The first time I believe I did two cups ⁓ and ⁓ the shaman looks at you before they pour the cup, you know, to kind of look in your eyes and see how much you need. When I was on my first time, I ⁓ felt I didn’t get as much as everybody else, you know, and I was thinking maybe it’s because of the surgery I’ve had, the colostomy bag, because they kind of do a scanning of your medical situation to keep you safe.
Queen of Biohacking (19:52)
which is good, you know, ⁓ but I feel that I did not have the psychedelic experience, that expectation that maybe people read, what is ayahuasca? What am I gonna experience? ⁓ Of course I didn’t experience any of that. And that’s life because I think the more we create the expectations and we look at someone else’s journey, we set up expectations, none of it’s there. And going into brain waves and studying
Queen of Biohacking (20:21)
brain waves of monks and really enlightened individuals, it’s when you are almost nowhere or anywhere, anything can happen, right? So that’s why it’s good not to look up other people’s journeys before your journey because you just wanna be there and allow anything to happen, limitless opportunities. When you define everything off of what you read or your past, that’s what’s going to shift everything from that moment. So I learned the first time
Queen of Biohacking (20:50)
I was comparing myself to everybody else. And I think I was like even a little upset like, well, I can walk fine. I didn’t even feel wobbly or, you know, like maybe it didn’t work. So I don’t know, ⁓ again, other places, but I’ve heard other people say they’ve been to ceremonies. Everybody’s going through integration. Some people saw a snake go up a tree. Some people saw pyramids. And then there’s a few people that didn’t see anything.
Queen of Biohacking (21:19)
Maybe they didn’t feel they experienced anything. And I was one of those in the beginning. So I thought, wow, nothing works on me. ⁓ And someone who could be depressed could get even more depressed. Like I’m trying everything, this doesn’t work. ⁓ But I realized that it created the relationship, because I had the calling for Aya. And some people don’t know what that means. But if you know, know. Because it’s like you don’t even know what this plan is, but you’re called to find an Ayahuasca church or a ceremony.
Queen of Biohacking (21:48)
And that happened to me. And then after I drank a little bit of it, even though I thought I didn’t have any type of psychedelic experience or huge transformation, it’s like it was working its way through me until the next ceremony. And I had no idea. And again, because we don’t know, we don’t know everything. The more you know, the more you realize you don’t know. So the second time I went was amazing. It was so transformational. ⁓ I wanted to
Queen of Biohacking (22:18)
⁓ and heal what happened with my mother because she was killed by the hospital in 2019. I wanted to let it go. I wanted to let it go. Apparently I drank enough ayahuasca to start talking to trees this time. And there was one big tree in the big tree. I was like, mom. And the tree was like, no, I’m you. And it like pointed to a little weed. Like that’s your tree. That’s your mom. Basically ⁓
Queen of Biohacking (22:46)
I am Mother Earth and everything’s within me and my mother’s already going back into the, you know, space and we all have different beliefs of heaven after life. So I’m not going to go down that too much, but for me, I feel like we’re all a spirit ⁓ and ⁓ I could feel my ⁓ ancestors within me. I always feel alone because a lot of people in my family have passed away. So during the times on my second journey,
Queen of Biohacking (23:14)
It’s almost like anything I was thinking, the answer was right there. I’m like, I feel alone. And the women that were singing in Spanish, there was a song. ⁓ And even though I don’t speak it fluently, oddly I knew every word of it. And it was saying like, you are your brother, you are your sister, you are your mother, you are your father. ⁓ And in those moments, I really accepted the world as my tribe, you know, and that everybody’s my family and that I’m not
Queen of Biohacking (23:43)
And that has stayed with me ever since because I ⁓ think a lot of us feel alone ⁓ and we aren’t. And I felt a connection within every single living thing. And that’s what’s beautiful about plant medicine because we’re all a frequency and the more we can connect, are ⁓ stronger. We amplify ⁓ that good vibration. So, I ⁓ could go on forever. So I wanna give you some tips.
Sam Believ (24:06)
Okay. ⁓
Sam Believ (24:09)
I was wondering if you’re ever gonna stop on your own. just, so. ⁓ You’re asking me things, so I think that’s a record on the podcast. You spoke for 24 minutes. ⁓ But now mute your microphone. I’m gonna be speaking now. ⁓ So first of all, what you’re talking about this not connecting.
Queen of Biohacking (24:15)
Yeah, I was starting to like when he stopped.
Queen of Biohacking (24:22)
Wow.
Queen of Biohacking (24:27)
Perfect.
Sam Believ (24:36)
thing this is why we we do retreats right not like a one one one night thing but minimum was like two ceremonies but what i recommend for the first timers especially is ⁓ four ceremonies in one week because ayahuasca is like this for most people it takes a while to sort of start connecting going there but i think in your case and we talked a little bit about that ⁓ the the marihuana kind of what it does to you it makes it harder for you to connect ⁓
Sam Believ (25:02)
This not connecting thing kind of brings me to the next stop, which is you said you like the challenge. So my challenge to you would be ⁓ whenever you plan to come here, hopefully soon, ⁓ to quit ⁓ marijuana and actually ⁓ not use it for at least a week. And you can do it, I’m sure you can. ⁓ And ⁓ yeah, because there is a bit of escapism that we all do. I must say, ⁓ my vice tends to be ⁓
Sam Believ (25:31)
smoking cigars because I just know, you know, it automatically make me feel better. ⁓ But it’s, it’s harder to just actually ⁓ sometimes just sit, sit, sit with the pain and I kind of allow this. It’s, it’s, it’s easy for us. We’re all kind of conditioned by our society to have the instant gratification and just kind of running away from the pain. And another thing you said that I wanted to comment on is, ⁓ you know, ⁓
Sam Believ (26:01)
We’re all wounded healers. think you greatly kind of like overlooked how difficult your condition was because I saw the speech you did at the conference and then there was ⁓ your story and all the surgeries and it ⁓ you looked really in a bad shape. So to have overcome this and then to ⁓ become somebody who helps people as well, like ⁓ you do it through a biohacking modality and you help people, you ⁓
Sam Believ (26:29)
through physiotherapy. think ⁓ it’s a very noble thing to do and I guess there’s a lot of us now which is the wounded healer paradigm. There’s so many people that heal themselves and then they step up and they want to heal others. My story with ayahuasca is somewhat similar because I was kind of depressed. I didn’t know what to do and then I drank ayahuasca and I…
Sam Believ (26:54)
It helped me and then I kept working with it till eventually it showed me like, you know, you should start working with Alaska. So I ended up with an Alaska retreat now. But I think it’s it’s this calling that kind of like there’s universe created this broadcast and it’s like become a healer. And it’s like many people are stepping up now and hopefully it will change us as a society. Another thing ⁓ you mentioned is how lonely we feel and how
Sam Believ (27:22)
you know, you would have to hide your problems inside and you just have to perform good and externally be okay. ⁓ And that’s what we notice a lot here at the retreat as well. ⁓ you know, we live in that, I mean, it was bad 10 years ago and 20 years ago, it was always bad in our society. But now with like Instagram society where everyone has to be perfect and then everyone thinks like, everyone is perfect. It’s just me.
Sam Believ (27:49)
⁓ and then it makes them feel even worse about it. So what we notice here at the retreat, people come and the first thing they experience is, know, wow, actually everyone is similarly hurt as I am and ⁓ everyone, and then all of a sudden it’s less difficult because we’re all in it together. So that brings me to ⁓ my next question. So you said you’re conducting studies on the effects ⁓
Queen of Biohacking (28:04)
Okay. ⁓
Sam Believ (28:18)
of ayahuasca on people’s brain and it’s hard for you to ⁓ separate between the actual healing that comes from the medicine and healing that comes from the group. ⁓ talk to us a little bit about that and also talk to us how do you measure the effects on the brain.
Queen of Biohacking (28:38)
So there’s a couple ways that you can measure the effects and technology just like our phones is consistently advancing. So what I’m using today I might not be using, you know, at the next retreat of something that comes out that is faster, more available. The device that I’ve been using is called a neural check and I can send you some imaging of this later. Maybe you can post ⁓
Queen of Biohacking (29:02)
It is two clips that go on the wrist and it looks up heart rate variability. After measuring about three to 500 heartbeat, it also creates a connection and relationship between your neuro hormonal system, your psychosomatic, your autonomic nervous system and the balance between it all. It shows different charts and histograms and circadian rhythms of your optimal times throughout your day. It even shows
Queen of Biohacking (29:31)
your energy centers, chakra centers, and then gives it a percentage where how ⁓
Queen of Biohacking (29:40)
open would you say it is. People can translate the data differently because it’s new devices. But what’s interesting how Western and Eastern overlap because it also shows the spinal health. The spinal health almost exactly correlates with the chakras because it’s the energy that’s coming from the spine and all of the levels, which is feeding the organs, feeding the body. So you can go into the health, the meridians and create data
Queen of Biohacking (30:09)
manual therapy, which is why I love to do what I do. And I think it’s great when ayahuasca retreats have offerings like massage therapy, because you can see how the body needs manual touch along with the medicine. we are ⁓ scanning people before and after the retreats. At first, I was trying to do before and after ayahuasca.
Queen of Biohacking (30:31)
Anybody that has gone to ayahuasca retreats know there’s opening circles, closing circles. Again, there could be multiple plant medicines, music, dance, community. A lot of people are detoxing before they come to a retreat. ⁓ So they’re already taking on a lot of good health practices that maybe otherwise they wouldn’t be doing. So I feel that that downplays the effects of ayahuasca just itself because when you ⁓
Queen of Biohacking (30:58)
scanning these people, their lives have already completely changed as they’re getting ready to do an ayahuasca retreat. So I think the studies should go more into how does the ayahuasca retreat really change your life because it’s hard to disconnect the medicine. I was talking about ketamine, for example, when you go to a doctor’s office and they do an IV injection, you can scan before it, you have a monitored situation, you can scan after.
Queen of Biohacking (31:26)
With ayahuasca, it’s important for integration. And like you said, having multiple ayahuasca retreats, I went to a ceremony, I think they had like three night times or a daytime, and that was like super transformational. ⁓ So I think doing a study in the beginning and at the end, because when you’re going each moment throughout the day, again, it can affect maybe the goals of the ayahuasca retreat to begin with, because people don’t want to speak to someone in a white coat with
Queen of Biohacking (31:53)
a clipboard, you know, they have white coat hypertension. ⁓ So there’s been barriers to the studies, but really we’re scanning the brain. ⁓ We’re seeing where the brain waves are when they come in. And a lot of times people are in a scattered brain. They can’t align their thoughts properly. They can’t separate logic and creative thoughts. So if you’ve ever even scanned somebody and even me, you could talk about 20 things in a conversation and not get your thought out. And that shows, ⁓
Queen of Biohacking (32:23)
just a disconnect with the harmony inside of your brain. It’s really healthy to get a thought out and then go to the next thing. When two people are together and they’re like squirrel, squirrel, squirrel. I mean, it could be funny, but really it’s showing that your brain is not on a cohesive brainwave. So two years it took me to meditate and help take away depression, suicide thoughts, ⁓ even, and I hate to go into ⁓ the feelings of hate and anger, but, ⁓
Queen of Biohacking (32:53)
When you’ve been through a lot, you’ve had pain, abuse, rape, whatever, a lot of times you might actually be soothed with the thoughts of anger or pain, or even wanting to hurt ⁓ the person that hurt you. So that’s what’s so beautiful because ayahuasca allowed me to see everybody in a different light. It’s really hard to explain, but just to send love to all.
Queen of Biohacking (33:22)
even to people that I used to, I ⁓ hate to admit it out loud because it’s the human part of me, but I used to want
Queen of Biohacking (33:31)
you know, kill people. Like, and not everybody, I hate to say that out loud, you know, but if someone is sexually abusing someone, it’s like kill that MFer, you know, this or that. But it’s weird because Ayahuasca helped me see so many layers even behind that person of ⁓ maybe what they’re thinking when they do it. And I don’t even want to think that. I don’t want to connect with people that I don’t align with or that I feel are evil or that might be on, you know, this side of the border. Right? ⁓
Queen of Biohacking (34:01)
People have so much division, especially with wars that are going on in the world inside of our homes or with your neighbor. You know, during the pandemic, are you gonna vaccinate? Are you gonna vaccinate? And then people create all this hate. I’m so blessed ⁓ that Ayahuasca allowed me to see where people are thinking. Everybody’s doing their best with the knowledge they have. And really that’s where the Ayahuasca and the studies
Queen of Biohacking (34:30)
You can see people’s thought process. You can see their psycho -emotional state, their inability to handle any type of ⁓ noxious stimuli. So noxious stimuli could be something that is irritating to you. ⁓ That could be someone’s voice, right? How does it apply to your daily life? A noxious stimuli could be pain. Pain is an output. A lot of people are like, my God, I’m in so much fucking pain. But when they heal their mind,
Queen of Biohacking (34:57)
their body’s not in pain anymore, because it was a psychosomatic response. And that’s what’s been beautiful about the studies, to see the mind really get healthy over time. I ⁓ love a device called the brain towel, and it’s something I put on my head. And again, it took me two years to really improve my brain ⁓ after my mom was killed and different things ⁓ to just be where I was. When I did ayahuasca,
Queen of Biohacking (35:26)
and I studied people, it only took them one day, one day to get to where it took me two years ⁓ and a lot of people. And that’s pretty amazing to be able to go through all of the barriers and just be where you need to be. You can have doctors that have a bias, because I speak at different conferences and the more medical it gets and the less cannadelic, psychedelic, holistic.
Queen of Biohacking (35:55)
There’s more of a, are you bringing this information to us? What does it have to do with the medical community? Dr. Leva is a drug addict. Dr. Leva is a hippie. Dr. Leva is a weed smoker. You know, all of the bias that comes in. And ⁓ I was very proud of myself on stage last time. And I said, well, let’s go back and think about how many people I’ve helped, how many veterans, how many people that are going through cancer treatments, how many people who had a colostomy bag like me.
Queen of Biohacking (36:24)
and they couldn’t even go to the bathroom like how we were intended. And after going through this process of plant medicines, they’ve been able to heal and not beyond drugs anymore. So to show and to, and not to say battle, but to stand my ground and say, I’m not doing anything wrong. That’s your bias and what you’ve learned. As long as you can respect everything, I think the more that people like me can get out there.
Queen of Biohacking (36:51)
and show them it’s healing, show the data, the brainwaves are changing. And ⁓ just a quick example, because I could go on forever, but certain people like UFC fighters, veterans, NFL players with concussion injury, ⁓ some people that could have ⁓ angry tendencies, they don’t maybe want to do breath work or yoga or attend to sound healing ⁓ or go to an ayahuasca retreat. There could be all of these things inside of them where they feel like they’re too far gone.
Queen of Biohacking (37:22)
when you, that’s why also having one -on -ones. ⁓ I don’t know if you guys do like private ceremonies or smaller groups, but ⁓ that’s really beautiful because I tell these people that are so far from wanting it. I said, ⁓ when you go through yoga and breath work and stuff, you have to be in a space of receiving. But when you’re so far gone or depressed or angry, sometimes,
Sam Believ (37:30)
Yeah, we do.
Queen of Biohacking (37:51)
having a medicine that opens you up and I say, I don’t wanna say whether you like it or not, but when you’re in a sacred atmosphere and you’re supported and feel safe and you can be guided, it ⁓ almost, and I don’t wanna say cheats your way through, but I tell them, it’s a way to open up and skip over a ⁓ hundred steps because when you go through insurance and to providers, talk therapy, psychologists, ⁓
Queen of Biohacking (38:21)
I’ve been to it all myself and not everybody’s great. And one person can be the cherry on top that makes someone just want to go off the edge. Plant medicine is very objective in the way that it works through the body. You know, you don’t have to talk to ayahuasca and tell it where to go. It knows where to go. ⁓ And it’s just, I think that’s what’s so beautiful about plant
Sam Believ (38:46)
Thank you for sharing this. ⁓ So definitely it’s interesting that you observed that how much of a speed up, how much I was can speed up that process of healing. ⁓ I’ve definitely noticed it myself and on many other people that come here, where they keep saying like, this feels like 10 years of therapy, 20 years of therapy, you name it. I think the biggest I have was like 30. ⁓
Sam Believ (39:16)
⁓ Want to talk about obviously your your main focus is biohacking and It’s interesting to me I’ve been trying to go on some biohacking podcast to talk more about plant medicines because I think to me there is an obvious connection ⁓ But there seems to be some resistance to it ⁓ And for some reason like people when they’re biohacking they they really focus on like this supplement and that thing but there is not really enough talk about mental health as ⁓
Sam Believ (39:44)
⁓ From my understanding you can be completely healthy and you can have like super long telomeres and your cells are amazing and your mitochondria is like wonderful and then you shoot yourself in the head because you’re so depressed or whatever happens to you. It’s like mental health is really the most important thing and I like your attitude to mind over matter. So ⁓ where do you think, where do you stand on that? How can we get ⁓
Queen of Biohacking (40:12)
⁓
Sam Believ (40:12)
more people in biohacking space to talk about plant medicines, mental health in general.
Queen of Biohacking (40:18)
Well, I think ⁓ people like you and me coming together, I have a group that I started on WhatsApp after all of the biohacking conferences. Now that I’m speaking, I’ve added in the speakers. It’s called Bio Royale. So I’d love to connect you in there and get you on the different podcasts. Cause the more that we connect outside of the conferences ⁓ and keep the conversation going, the more that it’s going to create this community. And that is really the reason why I did
Queen of Biohacking (40:46)
If you don’t go to a conference and spend at least $5 ,000 on a VIP ticket, it’s really hard for you to connect with another physician, doctor, scientist. ⁓ And even at the VIP dinners, it’s like an hour on a weekend. So when I go to those VIP dinners and I’m just like, wow, so much can be made, I created that group. And there’s so many podcasts that you should be on and I’m excited for you to be on them and get more information out there. ⁓
Queen of Biohacking (41:16)
I made a joke at the last conference and it’s not funny, but it’s exactly what you were saying, is we can look good, we can feel good, we can have a really strong body. And after my mother was, she was overdosed on blood thinner in 2019, after I was hospitalized nine months, after I was hit by a car and then I was hit by another car afterwards. again, ⁓ mental health is super important. And I kind of
Queen of Biohacking (41:43)
Smiling for everybody else because I’m a yogi I’m a spiritual person and I would smile so other people would be comfortable as I was like literally dying inside and if it wasn’t for my children, I probably would have And I hate to admit it, but I would have let myself go. I ⁓ was only here for other people my physical body that’s how bad it was ⁓ and I would tell people about it and that’s when I realized there is a problem of disconnects because I started sharing
Queen of Biohacking (42:12)
And my joke is that I go to people and say, hey, I’m really sad. And someone goes, wow, you’re so beautiful. And I said, wait, wait, wait, I just told you I’m sad. I’m really, really sad. Well, you look strong.
Queen of Biohacking (42:29)
You know, this is my joke on stage. go, well, I actually want to kill myself. And they’re like, my God, you should be a model. So people are not even listening to me when I’m telling them something’s wrong inside. And ⁓ when you appear good on the outside again, I ⁓ also related to me wearing makeup and putting on more fancy clothes is the sadder I am inside. Because when I’m just in such a place of acceptance, especially at the Iwaska ⁓
Queen of Biohacking (42:57)
You can find me in like super hippie clothes, barefoot, my hair’s a mess, I’m not wearing makeup. And ⁓ I’ve noticed the sadder I get in life, the more I put on on the outside, the more I create a barrier of really who I am to the world. And that’s what I also love about ayahuasca ceremonies. ⁓ That was something Aya told me is like, if you’re not dancing, you’re not happy. Because when I’m around the fire and I hear the drums and I can move my body.
Queen of Biohacking (43:25)
That’s my spirit telling me like you’re in a great atmosphere. You feel welcomed. And I’ve been in places afterwards where I’ll feel music and then I actually don’t want to move like a lotus flower feeling constricted. And it really connected me with the spaces that allow me to be free and authentic. It doesn’t mean I’m happy. This is such a joyous place because again, being allowed to be in places that maybe you don’t want to be, but you can handle it and it’s not affecting
Queen of Biohacking (43:55)
Because when we create a backpack of, I’m not going there because this one has that belief. I’m not gonna go knock on that person’s house on Halloween because they’re either vaccinated or unvaccinated or they’re a Republican or a Democrat. Like people create a backpack. I can’t, can’t, I can’t. And then by the time you go out of the door, you can’t even walk out the door. The backpack is so big because you don’t wanna have a trigger, you know? And… ⁓
Queen of Biohacking (44:22)
The mind over matter, especially with ayahuasca, allowed me to realize I’m not a gun. I don’t have triggers. This is just pain that I’ve hold. And if I let go of the pain, nobody can trigger me. And now it’s like I’m that person that I used to just can’t stand. How do you not have a trigger? know, how could you be around people that are so evil or abusive? But it’s because, ⁓ right, it’s all a matrix and it’s how are ⁓
Queen of Biohacking (44:48)
⁓ transmuting that energy to be the change we want to see. ⁓ know, and ⁓ that’s where mental health really helps me. And I tell people all the time when I go to the conferences and I started going to more medical related conferences, which at first was, ⁓ I was like, ew, I hate the hospital, the medical field, the cutting, the prescribing. But even now, when I look at my YouTube videos from a year ago, I think I’m such a rigid B ⁓
Queen of Biohacking (45:19)
You know, because I’m like, ⁓ ew, the medical system. There’s so much good that they do. I’m sure they keep so many people alive, you know, and doing the best that they can. So just allowing the rigidity to wash off my hand and be open and welcoming for everything and to see the best of all. Because again, even doctors that are in mainstream medical, hopefully they’re doing what they think is best. Hopefully they’re not all evil, right?
Queen of Biohacking (45:47)
So it’s that same projection I had upon my husband. Everybody’s doing what they think is right, hopefully. Some people are not. But if we can all create a communication and be able not to switch our vibration to hate or anger, I mean, that’s where the mind over matter will change and bridge the gap between communities. Because I ⁓ can talk to doctors all the time, especially MDs, and they can hardly have a conversation with me. And it’s just because of their beliefs.
Queen of Biohacking (46:16)
It has nothing to do with the science. So that’s, know.
Sam Believ (46:20)
Yeah, well, I do believe ⁓ not everyone is evil and most people are just doing their best within the confines of ⁓ their environment. I think the problem is less ⁓ of the people and like doctors specifically. I think the problem is the system. Like there’s so much push, you know, like and the rules and some of them learn it in the wrong way as well. There might be ⁓
Queen of Biohacking (46:37)
Mm -hmm.
Sam Believ (46:44)
Evil people on the top, but maybe like maybe they’re not even just evil They’re just greedy and they just want to make money and they kind of know about anything else But it’s it’s most evident when we have doctors come come over here to the retreat like we had chief surgeons and some pretty Pretty advanced doctors where they cannot find any help and they’re in their own Medical system, so this is one. It’s like the one becomes obvious that yeah It’s it’s a missing link and like we can’t really just go blind and be
Queen of Biohacking (46:50)
Money, yeah.
Sam Believ (47:14)
You some people believe in ⁓ the physical body other people believe in in the the mind and other people believe in the spirit But the reality is like all three are correct, and we just need to figure out how to ⁓ communicate in between all of them so definitely Medicine physical body if I have a toothache. I’m not gonna go drink. I was gonna go to that It’s awesome to have that option, but if I’m like feeling depressed. I’m not gonna go taking at the presence This is when I’m gonna choose
Sam Believ (47:42)
to meditate or maybe attend the ceremony. ⁓ there’s spiritual ailments as well that most Western people don’t know about, but sometimes your issue is not even physical nor mental. There can be something else, and this is when you go to a shaman. The beauty of ayahuasca in a way that it kind of addresses all three, but of course not all the individual parts. So that’s a kind of easy entry for a lot of people to understand it.
Sam Believ (48:10)
You also mentioned the suicidal ideation and the amount of times we had people say they bought one way ticket to come here and if this doesn’t work they’re gonna kill themselves is like probably more than 10 now and as far as I know all of them are still alive because they left happier than ever so if you are listening to this podcast I say before you kill yourself just come here you know give it a try you know if it doesn’t
Sam Believ (48:38)
you know, whatever, but it works almost all, every time. It kind of like, ayahuasca is this unique way to just beat up this desire of life into you and just kind of show you the bright side. then, because like when you’re really depressed, it’s really hard to think of anything, but with ayahuasca sometimes you get this, it kind of lifts off the fork for a few weeks and gives you the energy to change things that actually are causing ⁓ the root, the root causes of that ⁓ strong depression to begin with. ⁓
Sam Believ (49:08)
Yeah, that’s what I wanted to comment on it. regarding what I wanted to ask you next is, you know, when you were in that space in the hospital and you were completely like beaten up by life, what helped you and why did ⁓
Sam Believ (49:35)
have this conviction of like mind over matter. Yeah, I’m gonna do it. I’m gonna meditate. And I saw photos of you in the ⁓ hospital bed and like doing yoga poses, looking very emaciated with like blue marks on your skin and stuff like that. So where did this fire come from? What helped ⁓
Queen of Biohacking (49:41)
Yeah.
Queen of Biohacking (49:51)
Yeah.
Queen of Biohacking (49:56)
So I think that’s where you go into the spirit body. We have our mind, our body, and our spirit. And oftentimes we don’t know why we’re doing things, or we might have deja vu, but I feel we’re all older than what is our age, you know? ⁓
Queen of Biohacking (50:15)
there was a spirit inside of me, my spirit. Everybody was telling me I was gonna die, but I had a huge, and for me I call ⁓ it God. And they just were consistently within me or talking to me, you’re not gonna die, ⁓ you’re gonna be fine. ⁓ Everybody told me my child would not live and the other voice, the other than conscious mind said, you will live. Your children will be fine. I ⁓ didn’t eat for nine months, I was intubated. ⁓
Queen of Biohacking (50:45)
you know, replace all my teeth afterwards, but the whole time also being on dilated morphine, Benadryl, Ambien, ⁓ they put so many opioids in my body. That was a weird process because I remember I was looking at a clock on the wall. And if it wasn’t for having an education, which is really good that I, you know, I was admitted to medical school before that happened. I’ve studied a lot. was a personal trainer, a yoga instructor.
Queen of Biohacking (51:14)
My mother was into yoga, ⁓ but I knew, okay, you should breathe 12 to 20 times per minute, but I’m not breathing. So there was like a different spirit in me that was like, look at the clock, breathe with the clock. So it was almost like my body was a machine and my spirit was watching me and I kept it going. And I was having a conversation with myself over the time. And again, completely nine months built up. I had lack of movement.
Queen of Biohacking (51:40)
range of motion from the nurses and things. So my spine got twisted. had pressure ulcers. I’ll send you a whole list of pictures. Maybe I’ll put it up there. But again, there was the spiritual part of me that absolutely 100%. No question, you’re going to be fine. So it’s hard to explain that to people. And even when people would talk to me, it was right there in front of me. And I’ve talked with a lot of veterans and victims of really bad trauma.
Queen of Biohacking (52:09)
And I could talk about a veteran who was set on fire in like a hole ⁓ and everybody died except him in this situation. But it’s almost like time paused for him. And he had a conversation with God or his spirit that said, you know, crawl out this way. It’s almost like you’re looking at your physical body in a different way and you have the choice. Like, do you want to call in all of those parts before? And I think ⁓
Queen of Biohacking (52:38)
by my mother giving me a spiritual practice since I was little. And I did smoke marijuana. I would do drummings on the beach. I would go to Reiki masters. I didn’t do ayahuasca yet, but there was a part of me that was like, you know, do you want to keep this body going, this meat soup? And so it was higher than my physical body and even my mind. Cause my mind would look at my sons. It would watch me look at my son. Well, if you die, who’s going to be that child’s mother? You know, like these two different things.
Queen of Biohacking (53:06)
So really it was just my spiritual practice helped me. I was a yoga instructor, so I knew how to breathe in different ways, especially when I was intubated, I ended up pulling the tubes out of my mouth. ⁓ They would put it back in, I think they put me on more Dilaudid and I pulled them out again. Finally, they came down, they’re like, why are you intubating her? She’s completely conscious, you ⁓
Queen of Biohacking (53:33)
And that was really the change when I’m like, no, I want to breathe on my own. And for so long, my spirit was watching the body allowing itself to die in it. I remember one day I was like, no, you can pull it out. You can breathe on your own. You don’t need this machine. And the sad part is when you’re in an ICU and you start pulling things out, people want to bind you or take your hands away and nobody understands what is the body doing, you know? And this is something I would love to bridge the gap
Queen of Biohacking (54:00)
create some type of machine that is saying, you know, the mind, the spirit knows it’s time to get off of this. And, you know, another man doesn’t know or woman, I don’t mean man and say man with a penis, but I mean, another human has no idea what’s going on within your spirit. So my spiritual practice and all the parts of me before this human body was even born, were within me, guiding me along the way. So that… ⁓
Queen of Biohacking (54:29)
is not the answer and the easiest one everybody wants to hear, but ⁓ it was a very spiritual moment where I think if people read books like Untethered Soul or books that help them realize there’s subconscious thoughts, conscious thoughts, there’s the spirit, the mind, the body, it’s all different things. And after going to Ayahuasca, you know, it’s ⁓
Queen of Biohacking (54:54)
You’re a piece of magnet in this world and all of the parts of you are just connecting, which make you stronger and safer and happier and more able. And it was all there anyways, but now you can feel it
Sam Believ (55:10)
Yeah, well, it’s good that ⁓ your mother instilled that spiritual grain in you. And I’m just kind of wondering if, if let’s say more more people would have had earlier ayahuasca experiences or just the spiritual awakening, how how differently different people might have acted in different situations. And I have a lot of questions about a different version of the world where it ⁓ is just a part of our normal thing. Like, you know, like if ⁓
Sam Believ (55:40)
Celebrate Christmas once a year. Why can’t there be a holiday where we ⁓ all drink I was go once a year It’s like it would be even pretty awesome I’m kind of I need to figure out how to create a day in the calendar like I would like to start in national I was good day ⁓ And ⁓ then we can start start slowly Organizing that so maybe maybe you know somebody who can teach me how to do that Yeah So, thank ⁓
Queen of Biohacking (55:46)
Yeah.
Queen of Biohacking (55:56)
Yes. ⁓
Queen of Biohacking (56:01)
Yeah, that would be awesome. I think that would be like the ultimate at your place. ⁓
Sam Believ (56:09)
Thank you so much, Lauren, for sharing. think your story is very inspirational for a lot of people. ⁓ And you mentioned before the episode that you were kind of thinking about starting a podcast. I think you’re 100 % sure. You can be one of those people who have the solo podcast where you just sit down and just talk for an hour. I don’t know how they do it, but you look like you definitely would be able to do that. just, ⁓ you sure can speak. You can just let it out, which is a unique talent. ⁓
Queen of Biohacking (56:29)
Yeah, I definitely can.
Sam Believ (56:39)
Where can people find more about you, about your work, about your ⁓
Queen of Biohacking (56:46)
So, and again, of course, I’m just gonna add one thing to the last. The more that people like you are doing this with me, I ⁓ think people that are where I was in the hospital, how much of a blessing would it be to say, let’s have you come to them in the hospital or them come to you and ⁓ maybe even bill insurance one day or make it more, you know, available. So that’s really why I’m here with you today is so when people are in my situation.
Queen of Biohacking (57:14)
They don’t have to seek so much outside and they can, that someone says, you know what, I’m a professional and this is what I recommend. So that’s my goal and thank you for giving the platform to do this. If people are in Tampa, Florida, I have a clinic called the Excercise Science Center and it’s in Lutz, Florida, which is a little bit sub, like north of Tampa. And I just opened the Zen powerhouse.
Queen of Biohacking (57:39)
And we’re actually working on like a plant medicine registration for this to like kind of teach more, guide more. We’re not going to be doing ayahuasca retreats at all because I definitely want to connect with communities like yours where you have the shamans and the geographical location to help people step outside of their day to day and really respect what they’re about to do. Cause some people might try to tie it into like a quick weekend or like, I’m going to go back to work. But.
Queen of Biohacking (58:08)
The integration is so important. So I can’t wait to host, co -host a retreat and bring you guys, all of my followers to, how do I pronounce your center? Lawara? Lawaira. ⁓ the ch ch ch ch. Does that have to do with the Y? I see it on the thing. Ch So cool.
Sam Believ (58:21)
Lawyra. Yeah, yeah. That’s… Yep, yep. But it’s not just the shamanic branch. also means air and wind in their languages.
Queen of Biohacking (58:37)
Mmm. Wow, that’s special since I’ve been watching Avatar with my son. I’m an airbender. ⁓ But so the Exer Science Center, I’m also known as the queen of biohacking. I know that I think Dallas hooked us up. Dallas ⁓ from Biohackers magazine. ⁓ And if you’re in, if you don’t have this magazine, I would definitely download it.
Queen of Biohacking (59:04)
but I speak about my journeys in here and I can even write about our podcast for the next one, but it’s called The Queen’s Corner. So you can find it in every episode. This one I’m talking about aging with grace and this one I was talking about 10 top biohacks, but I think Dallas get ready. We’re gonna talk about plant
Sam Believ (59:24)
Come over to ⁓ Loira and after you have your experience here, you can write about that in the next journal. There will be some good content, I’m
Queen of Biohacking (59:31)
That would be beautiful. I can’t wait.
Queen of Biohacking (59:36)
Perfect. And then I’ll also tag you on my Instagram so the followers will connect with you. And if you want to go to an amazing retreat center, I kind of wanted to make a note so my followers know. I was just in Costa Rica and they were talking about another center that was very, very expensive. ⁓ And ⁓ can you explain maybe briefly like an estimated cost? Because things can change year to year. But what is the average retreat at your space? ⁓
Queen of Biohacking (60:06)
would cause somebody.
Sam Believ (60:08)
So we are at the moment and it can change because inflation is brutal and I can’t really tie myself to the price because money keeps losing its value all the time. But our retreat starts from $4 .95. So $4 .95 for a four -day two -ceremony retreat that includes transport from the nearest big city, which is Medellin, and it includes food and accommodation in the shared rooms.
Sam Believ (60:34)
So a lot of people choose that. I would however not recommend it for the first timers. I would recommend one week for the first timers. One week is seven days. It’s $7 .95 and it’s four ceremonies. Once again accommodation, shared room, food and transport from the city included which is about I believe four or five, three to five times cheaper than any retreats that have similar
Sam Believ (61:02)
amenities or like reputation to us because we have at the moment 460 plus five star reviews on Google, ⁓ hundreds and hundreds of video testimonials. So like really impeccable reputation. And at the same time, we have like a really beautiful Maloka. The place is very beautiful. It’s a large property in here. And in the end, ⁓ just, you know, people just keep saying like, why are you so cheap? Well, the reason we keep the price low is because
Sam Believ (61:30)
my mission is to give ayahuasca to as many people as possible hopefully one day everyone but of course i know it’s not realistic but if if i would charge like three thousand dollars instead of 800 bucks i mean it means that i kind of contradict my own words so for as long as i can and for as long as we are managed to be profitable i’ll try to keep the price low ⁓ but yeah basically ayahuasca saved my
Sam Believ (61:57)
changed my life, made it better in every sense. So I want to experience that. I’m not an ayahuasca maximalist. I know that ayahuasca is just a part of it. It’s just this big ⁓ opening, this big door that you open to then the rest of the healing. So I’m a big fan of yoga, meditation, breathing exercises. We provide all of them to our visitors as well. I’m a big fan of group sessions as well. yeah, ⁓ mean, people that are listening to this podcast probably know.
Queen of Biohacking (62:09)
Wow. ⁓
Sam Believ (62:25)
know about that but for your listeners so you know. But we also do longer retreats. longest retreat we do is 18 days. I don’t have the price from the top of my head but it’s reasonable.
Queen of Biohacking (62:36)
I would love an 18 day retreat. We can come up with that. I love to host retreats from the inside out with wellness. And I know you love biohacking. So I can’t wait to see what the future holds for Dr. Lauren and la ra ra. ⁓
Sam Believ (62:54)
It’s ⁓ it’s la like all the Spanish words with la and then you say why as in like question mark why and then ra la why ra Yeah, la why
Queen of Biohacking (62:59)
Y la y ra la y ra la ra ra. ⁓ I’m going to make it better. So I will see you later. ⁓
Sam Believ (63:08)
Okay, ⁓ lauren, thank you so much for coming on the episode ⁓ guys You’ve been listening to ayahuasca podcast .com as always with you the home host sam believe and I will ⁓ See you in the next ⁓
Queen of Biohacking (63:23)
See you later.