app03 Mon, 26 Oct 2026 22:11:27 +0000 Fireside (https://fireside.fm) The Permission Slip - Episodes Tagged with “#Healing” https://thepermissionslip.fireside.fm/tags/%23healing Mon, 26 Oct 2026 08:00:00 -0500 I love everything to do with consciousness - personal growth books, meditation, psychedelics, bodywork, Tantric retreats, chakras, Human Design, channeled works, you name it! For the past fifteen years, I’ve been on a deep healing journey. I regularly engage relative strangers in conversation about topics relating to consciousness, transformation and psychedelics (sometimes to their annoyance). I've been dancing around starting a podcast for a couple years now. My imposter syndrome has kept me thinking I don't have anything worthwhile to share, while I vainly attempt to find a community with whom I resonate. I've been fortunate to work with some really gifted practitioners during my journey. They not only gave me tools to heal, they gave me PERMISSION to heal. My intention in producing and distributing The Permission Slip podcast is to share knowledge of their talents with the rest of the world. Many of us have been programmed to believe that healing only comes from those in the medical profession who have gone through a particular set of training protocols. This is not true. Doctors and therapists and the like are (mostly) well-meaning and very good at what they do. Sometimes, more often than we are maybe lead to believe, what they recommend or do is not what is truly needed for healing. In the spirit of the following passage, I'm committing to a minimum of six podcasts that will be discussions with practitioners and healers from whom I've derived personal benefit. The purpose of this effort is therefore to shed light on the diverse ways of healing as well as moving into right relationship with oneself. Credits Renee LaVallee McKenna for the inspiration to create this in the first place. Abby Bruce (ma soeur) for the encouragement along the way. Damian Wiseman for the audio engineering expertise. en-us episodic You are allowed. Matt Kosterman I love everything to do with consciousness - personal growth books, meditation, psychedelics, bodywork, Tantric retreats, chakras, Human Design, channeled works, you name it! For the past fifteen years, I’ve been on a deep healing journey. I regularly engage relative strangers in conversation about topics relating to consciousness, transformation and psychedelics (sometimes to their annoyance). I've been dancing around starting a podcast for a couple years now. My imposter syndrome has kept me thinking I don't have anything worthwhile to share, while I vainly attempt to find a community with whom I resonate. I've been fortunate to work with some really gifted practitioners during my journey. They not only gave me tools to heal, they gave me PERMISSION to heal. My intention in producing and distributing The Permission Slip podcast is to share knowledge of their talents with the rest of the world. Many of us have been programmed to believe that healing only comes from those in the medical profession who have gone through a particular set of training protocols. This is not true. Doctors and therapists and the like are (mostly) well-meaning and very good at what they do. Sometimes, more often than we are maybe lead to believe, what they recommend or do is not what is truly needed for healing. In the spirit of the following passage, I'm committing to a minimum of six podcasts that will be discussions with practitioners and healers from whom I've derived personal benefit. The purpose of this effort is therefore to shed light on the diverse ways of healing as well as moving into right relationship with oneself. Credits Renee LaVallee McKenna for the inspiration to create this in the first place. Abby Bruce (ma soeur) for the encouragement along the way. Damian Wiseman for the audio engineering expertise. yes Conscious living, Embodiment, Transformation, Inner healing, Trauma release, Psychedelic integration, Energy work, Nervous system regulation, Authentic expression, Conscious relationships, Spiritual awakening, Shadow work, Self-remembrance, Intuitive guidance, Healing trauma, Mind-body connection Matt Kosterman matt@mattkosterman.com S3 | E2 Marian Siljeholm https://thepermissionslip.fireside.fm/s3e2-siljeholm 51292db8-d472-4c66-8493-c49ff0627b00 Mon, 26 Oct 2026 08:00:00 -0500 Matt Kosterman full 3 Matt Kosterman My guest is Norwegian-American multimedia journalist Marian Siljeholm, who found me in an online community while reporting on transformational MDMA experiences for her graduate program. She shares how a childhood shaped by fear and loss, decades of therapy, and a total collapse in grad school led her to psychedelic-assisted work. She describes how two long journeys changed her relationship with her body, her mother, and herself. We also get into complex PTSD, what she learned from interviewing 45 to 50 people, and why education and good frameworks matter as this work moves toward the mainstream. 1:30:55 yes <p>I'm joined by Norwegian-American multimedia journalist and photographer Marian Siljeholm. She reached out to a group we're both part of, looking for people with transformational MDMA experiences for a graduate project, and that's how we met. Marian is upfront that she's a relative newcomer to this space, but she came to it the hard way: through her own search for something that would finally work after a lifetime of therapy.</p> <p>Marian tells the story of growing up in a home ruled by fear, and of the ways that stress showed up in her body for decades. She describes work as her "drug of choice," and the month when her relationship, her housing, her health, and her career all fell apart at once. A sleep specialist who admitted he couldn't help her handed her a business card and pointed her toward psychedelic-assisted therapy. She walks me through her first low-dose MDMA journey, the shift in her relationship with her mother, and the deep gratitude she felt afterward. She also tells me about her second, far more physical journey, in which she released years of stored pain.</p> <p>We also talk about the reporting project that grew out of this. Marian interviewed 45 to 50 people across several continents, along with researchers and clinicians, including Judith Herman, who coined the term complex PTSD. We talk about why so many people with such different lives told the same story: nothing else worked, and this did. We dig into why complex PTSD still isn't in the DSM, why our system is built for pills and acute care rather than process, and what it would take to bring this work in responsibly. I also share some of my own experiences, including my frozen shoulder and the body work I've been doing.</p> <p>In this episode, we talk about:</p> <ul> <li>How Marian found psychedelic-assisted therapy through an unexpected referral</li> <li>Why she couldn't think or talk her way out of a nervous system stuck in fight or flight</li> <li>What her first MDMA journey opened up, and why her second one built on it</li> <li>The gap between medicine that works and a system that isn't set up for it</li> <li>Complex PTSD, and why we need a shared language for trauma before we can have an informed conversation about the medicine</li> <li>Managing expectations, integration, and why it's a catalyst and not a quick fix</li> <li>Breathwork, rest, and what it means to finally feel at home in your body</li> </ul> <p>You can find Marian's photography at <a href="https://mariansiljeholmphotography.com/" rel="nofollow noopener">mariansiljeholmphotography.com</a> and on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/marian_siljeholm_photography/" rel="nofollow noopener">Instagram</a>.</p><p>Special Guest: Marian Siljeholm.</p> MDMA, MDMA-assisted therapy, psychedelic-assisted therapy, psychedelics, psilocybin, complex PTSD, CPTSD, trauma healing, childhood trauma, somatic healing, The Body Keeps the Score, Bessel van der Kolk, Judith Herman, chronic stress, nervous system, fight or flight, breathwork, integration, journalism, workaholism, healing, Marian Siljeholm I'm joined by Norwegian-American multimedia journalist and photographer Marian Siljeholm. She reached out to a group we're both part of, looking for people with transformational MDMA experiences for a graduate project, and that's how we met. Marian is upfront that she's a relative newcomer to this space, but she came to it the hard way: through her own search for something that would finally work after a lifetime of therapy.

Marian tells the story of growing up in a home ruled by fear, and of the ways that stress showed up in her body for decades. She describes work as her "drug of choice," and the month when her relationship, her housing, her health, and her career all fell apart at once. A sleep specialist who admitted he couldn't help her handed her a business card and pointed her toward psychedelic-assisted therapy. She walks me through her first low-dose MDMA journey, the shift in her relationship with her mother, and the deep gratitude she felt afterward. She also tells me about her second, far more physical journey, in which she released years of stored pain.

We also talk about the reporting project that grew out of this. Marian interviewed 45 to 50 people across several continents, along with researchers and clinicians, including Judith Herman, who coined the term complex PTSD. We talk about why so many people with such different lives told the same story: nothing else worked, and this did. We dig into why complex PTSD still isn't in the DSM, why our system is built for pills and acute care rather than process, and what it would take to bring this work in responsibly. I also share some of my own experiences, including my frozen shoulder and the body work I've been doing.

In this episode, we talk about:

  • How Marian found psychedelic-assisted therapy through an unexpected referral
  • Why she couldn't think or talk her way out of a nervous system stuck in fight or flight
  • What her first MDMA journey opened up, and why her second one built on it
  • The gap between medicine that works and a system that isn't set up for it
  • Complex PTSD, and why we need a shared language for trauma before we can have an informed conversation about the medicine
  • Managing expectations, integration, and why it's a catalyst and not a quick fix
  • Breathwork, rest, and what it means to finally feel at home in your body

You can find Marian's photography at mariansiljeholmphotography.com and on Instagram.

Special Guest: Marian Siljeholm.

Support The Permission Slip

]]> I'm joined by Norwegian-American multimedia journalist and photographer Marian Siljeholm. She reached out to a group we're both part of, looking for people with transformational MDMA experiences for a graduate project, and that's how we met. Marian is upfront that she's a relative newcomer to this space, but she came to it the hard way: through her own search for something that would finally work after a lifetime of therapy.

Marian tells the story of growing up in a home ruled by fear, and of the ways that stress showed up in her body for decades. She describes work as her "drug of choice," and the month when her relationship, her housing, her health, and her career all fell apart at once. A sleep specialist who admitted he couldn't help her handed her a business card and pointed her toward psychedelic-assisted therapy. She walks me through her first low-dose MDMA journey, the shift in her relationship with her mother, and the deep gratitude she felt afterward. She also tells me about her second, far more physical journey, in which she released years of stored pain.

We also talk about the reporting project that grew out of this. Marian interviewed 45 to 50 people across several continents, along with researchers and clinicians, including Judith Herman, who coined the term complex PTSD. We talk about why so many people with such different lives told the same story: nothing else worked, and this did. We dig into why complex PTSD still isn't in the DSM, why our system is built for pills and acute care rather than process, and what it would take to bring this work in responsibly. I also share some of my own experiences, including my frozen shoulder and the body work I've been doing.

In this episode, we talk about:

  • How Marian found psychedelic-assisted therapy through an unexpected referral
  • Why she couldn't think or talk her way out of a nervous system stuck in fight or flight
  • What her first MDMA journey opened up, and why her second one built on it
  • The gap between medicine that works and a system that isn't set up for it
  • Complex PTSD, and why we need a shared language for trauma before we can have an informed conversation about the medicine
  • Managing expectations, integration, and why it's a catalyst and not a quick fix
  • Breathwork, rest, and what it means to finally feel at home in your body

You can find Marian's photography at mariansiljeholmphotography.com and on Instagram.

Special Guest: Marian Siljeholm.

Support The Permission Slip

]]> S1 | E14 Dominica Fisher - Director of Meditative & Creative Exploration at Bîan https://thepermissionslip.fireside.fm/s1e14-fisher 147b16ba-cf40-48a6-b0bc-13b969774cf7 Thu, 25 Dec 2025 08:00:00 -0600 Matt Kosterman full 1 Matt Kosterman I sat down with Dominica Fischer — intuitive, meditation teacher, creator, and Director of Meditative & Creative Exploration at BÎAN. We explore her upbringing, her lifelong visions, how meditation unlocked her innate gifts, and how she now sees the very code of reality assembling itself. We unpack manifestation, the Bengston Method, and what it actually means to create your life with clarity, emotional presence, and power. 58:56 yes <p>In this episode of The Permission Slip, I sit down with Dominica Fisher, Director of Meditative &amp; Creative Exploration at BÎAN, the wellness club in Chicago where she and I originally met. Dominica and I dive into her extraordinary journey which began as the daughter to single mother who was also Polish immigrant. Our discussion runs the gamut - her early intuitive visions, to discovering meditation, shamanic journeying, and eventually mastering the mechanics of manifestation.<br> She &amp; I break down what it actually means to create reality — not as a platitude, but as a lived, moment-by-moment mechanics-of-consciousness experience. Dominica shares the stories that cracked her open, the visions she tried to suppress as a child, the ways she learned to work with her intuitive abilities, and how she now teaches others to consciously create their lives.<br> We also get into the Bengston Method, the intensity and power of desire lists, the traps of “victim consciousness,” the importance of regulating emotional states, and what it really takes to direct your reality without bypassing your humanity.<br> If you’ve ever wondered how intuition, manifestation, meditation, and reality-creation really function beneath the surface, this episode is a doorway.</p><p>Special Guest: Dominica Fisher.</p> Dominica Fisher, Meditation, Manifestation, Reality Creation, Shamanic Journeying, Intuition, Consciousness, Bengston Method, Energy Work, Emotional Regulation, BÎAN Chicago, Spiritual Awakening, Quantum Field, Mysticism, Trauma Healing In this episode of The Permission Slip, I sit down with Dominica Fisher, Director of Meditative & Creative Exploration at BÎAN, the wellness club in Chicago where she and I originally met. Dominica and I dive into her extraordinary journey which began as the daughter to single mother who was also Polish immigrant. Our discussion runs the gamut - her early intuitive visions, to discovering meditation, shamanic journeying, and eventually mastering the mechanics of manifestation.
She & I break down what it actually means to create reality — not as a platitude, but as a lived, moment-by-moment mechanics-of-consciousness experience. Dominica shares the stories that cracked her open, the visions she tried to suppress as a child, the ways she learned to work with her intuitive abilities, and how she now teaches others to consciously create their lives.
We also get into the Bengston Method, the intensity and power of desire lists, the traps of “victim consciousness,” the importance of regulating emotional states, and what it really takes to direct your reality without bypassing your humanity.
If you’ve ever wondered how intuition, manifestation, meditation, and reality-creation really function beneath the surface, this episode is a doorway.

Special Guest: Dominica Fisher.

Support The Permission Slip

Links:

]]> In this episode of The Permission Slip, I sit down with Dominica Fisher, Director of Meditative & Creative Exploration at BÎAN, the wellness club in Chicago where she and I originally met. Dominica and I dive into her extraordinary journey which began as the daughter to single mother who was also Polish immigrant. Our discussion runs the gamut - her early intuitive visions, to discovering meditation, shamanic journeying, and eventually mastering the mechanics of manifestation.
She & I break down what it actually means to create reality — not as a platitude, but as a lived, moment-by-moment mechanics-of-consciousness experience. Dominica shares the stories that cracked her open, the visions she tried to suppress as a child, the ways she learned to work with her intuitive abilities, and how she now teaches others to consciously create their lives.
We also get into the Bengston Method, the intensity and power of desire lists, the traps of “victim consciousness,” the importance of regulating emotional states, and what it really takes to direct your reality without bypassing your humanity.
If you’ve ever wondered how intuition, manifestation, meditation, and reality-creation really function beneath the surface, this episode is a doorway.

Special Guest: Dominica Fisher.

Support The Permission Slip

Links:

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