app02 Fri, 09 Oct 2026 00:39:54 +0000 Fireside (https://fireside.fm) The Permission Slip - Episodes Tagged with “#Thepermissionslip #Mindlumen #Psychedelicethics #Harmreduction #Decriminalization #Mdma #Psilocybin #Ayahuasca #Plantmedicine #Mentalhealth #Podcast #Neilgehani #Integration #Dancesafe #Adhd” https://thepermissionslip.fireside.fm/tags/%23thepermissionslip%20%23mindlumen%20%23psychedelicethics%20%23harmreduction%20%23decriminalization%20%23mdma%20%23psilocybin%20%23ayahuasca%20%23plantmedicine%20%23mentalhealth%20%23podcast%20%23neilgehani%20%23integration%20%23dancesafe%20%23adhd Thu, 08 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 S2 | E17 Neil Gehani https://thepermissionslip.fireside.fm/s2e17-gehani f74589b7-4f27-403d-b1fa-ec81dd2ff34f Thu, 08 Oct 2026 08:00:00 -0500 Matt Kosterman full 2 Matt Kosterman Neil Gehani calls himself an "ethics sherpa" — and after hearing his story, I understand why he's earned that title. Neil grew up in a brutal British-style military boarding school in India, sent there by his parents at four and a half years old and seeing them only twice a year until he was 15. He came to the U.S. alone at 16, landed in Ohio not knowing what a hotel, Thanksgiving, or pizza was, and eventually built a long career in Silicon Valley tech — riding the dot-com bust, the 2008 recession, and a period near-homelessness before rebuilding. In 2017, an unexpected dose at the Oregon Eclipse festival cracked something open, and Neil spent the next several years going deep into therapeutic and recreational psychedelic work — MDMA, mushrooms, ayahuasca, acid, ketamine — while searching for an ethical, safe guide. It took him three years to find one. That gap is what led him to found Mind Lumen, a nonprofit that doesn't provide psychedelic therapy itself but instead certifies facilitators, guides, and retreats on observable, measurable ethical practices (things like integration session counts, facilitator-to-participant ratios, and testimonial timing). We get into the difference between "therapeutic" and "recreational" use, why decriminalization and commercialization are not the same thing, drug-testing advocacy (DanceSafe, anonymized testing), the Asian Psychedelic Society he founded in the Bay Area, and how psychedelics reshaped his relationship to his ADHD, his creativity, and what he calls living a "blissful" rather than "happy" life. 1:20:37 yes <p>Neil Gehani is the founder of Mind Lumen, a nonprofit working to close the trust gap in psychedelic care by making ethics observable, measurable, and accountable. He's also a co-signatory of the Hopkins-Oxford HOPE consensus statement and author of "Ethics Without Borders" in The American Journal of Bioethics.</p> <p>In this episode, I talk with Neil about:</p> <ul> <li> Growing up in a military-style boarding school in India, separated from his parents for years at a time</li> <li> Arriving in the U.S. alone at 16 with almost no cultural context</li> <li> His career in Silicon Valley tech and the personal crises along the way</li> <li> A life-changing unplanned psychedelic experience at the Oregon Eclipse festival in 2017</li> <li> The three-year search for a safe, ethical therapeutic guide that led him to found Mind Lumen</li> <li> How Mind Lumen certifies facilitators and retreats using a practical, weighted ethics scoring system</li> <li> The real difference between decriminalization, medicalization, and commercialization</li> <li> Drug-checking and harm reduction resources like DanceSafe and anonymized testing models (Portugal)</li> <li> The Asian Psychedelic Society, a community he built for Asian-American psychedelic users</li> <li> Living with ADHD as a "condition" rather than a disorder, and what it means to live a "blissful" life</li> </ul> <p>Connect with Neil: mindlumen.org | mindlimen.substack.com | linkedin.com/in/gehanineil Special Guest: Neil Gehani.</p> Neil Gehani, Mind Lumen, psychedelic ethics, ethics sherpa, boarding school India, Silicon Valley, MDMA therapy, ayahuasca, psilocybin, decriminalization, drug policy, DanceSafe, harm reduction, Asian Psychedelic Society, ADHD, trauma, immigrant story, plant medicine, integration, facilitator certification Neil Gehani is the founder of Mind Lumen, a nonprofit working to close the trust gap in psychedelic care by making ethics observable, measurable, and accountable. He's also a co-signatory of the Hopkins-Oxford HOPE consensus statement and author of "Ethics Without Borders" in The American Journal of Bioethics.

In this episode, I talk with Neil about:

  • Growing up in a military-style boarding school in India, separated from his parents for years at a time
  • Arriving in the U.S. alone at 16 with almost no cultural context
  • His career in Silicon Valley tech and the personal crises along the way
  • A life-changing unplanned psychedelic experience at the Oregon Eclipse festival in 2017
  • The three-year search for a safe, ethical therapeutic guide that led him to found Mind Lumen
  • How Mind Lumen certifies facilitators and retreats using a practical, weighted ethics scoring system
  • The real difference between decriminalization, medicalization, and commercialization
  • Drug-checking and harm reduction resources like DanceSafe and anonymized testing models (Portugal)
  • The Asian Psychedelic Society, a community he built for Asian-American psychedelic users
  • Living with ADHD as a "condition" rather than a disorder, and what it means to live a "blissful" life

Connect with Neil: mindlumen.org | mindlimen.substack.com | linkedin.com/in/gehanineil

Special Guest: Neil Gehani.

Support The Permission Slip

]]> Neil Gehani is the founder of Mind Lumen, a nonprofit working to close the trust gap in psychedelic care by making ethics observable, measurable, and accountable. He's also a co-signatory of the Hopkins-Oxford HOPE consensus statement and author of "Ethics Without Borders" in The American Journal of Bioethics.

In this episode, I talk with Neil about:

  • Growing up in a military-style boarding school in India, separated from his parents for years at a time
  • Arriving in the U.S. alone at 16 with almost no cultural context
  • His career in Silicon Valley tech and the personal crises along the way
  • A life-changing unplanned psychedelic experience at the Oregon Eclipse festival in 2017
  • The three-year search for a safe, ethical therapeutic guide that led him to found Mind Lumen
  • How Mind Lumen certifies facilitators and retreats using a practical, weighted ethics scoring system
  • The real difference between decriminalization, medicalization, and commercialization
  • Drug-checking and harm reduction resources like DanceSafe and anonymized testing models (Portugal)
  • The Asian Psychedelic Society, a community he built for Asian-American psychedelic users
  • Living with ADHD as a "condition" rather than a disorder, and what it means to live a "blissful" life

Connect with Neil: mindlumen.org | mindlimen.substack.com | linkedin.com/in/gehanineil

Special Guest: Neil Gehani.

Support The Permission Slip

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