David Jay Brown on His Most Transformative Lucid Dreams, and How to Use Lucid Dreams for Healing

Join Andrew and David Jay Brown for a delightful romp through a host of topics that surround lucid dreaming and altered states of consciousness. David writes a great deal about non-ordinary states, so the conversation begins with a look at whether waking consciousness is the altered state, and the unconventional idea that traditional altered states actually point out aspects of the natural state. David then shares his “go-to” induction methods, and a battery of practical tips about having lucid dreams. The conversation transitions into his area of expertise, which is supplemental agents for initiating lucidity (like Mexican and African dream herbs, velvet bean, mugwort, vitamin B-6, galantamine), and tips for how to use these available substances. The dialogue shifts into a discussion of psychedelics, and their extraordinary potential. Emphasis is placed on how to bring these mind-altering experiences onto the path. What’s the best thing to do before and after a trip? What is the promise and peril of these agents? What’s the safest way to use them? David then shares some of his most transformative lucid dream experiences, and closes with how to use lucid dreams for healing (including surrogate healing). David’s work around lucid dreaming is among the most radical, innovative, controversial, provocative, researched, and mind-expanding approaches I’ve seen. No stone is left unturned. Because David was unable to do this recording with our usual platform, the audio is a bit compromised. We apologize for this, but had no other options. After a technical hiccup about seven minutes in, the conversation proceeds without interruption. -- ABOUT DAVID JAY BROWN David Jay Brown is the author of Dreaming Wide Awake: Lucid Dreaming, Shamanic Healing and Psychedelics, and The New Science of Psychedelics: At the Nexus of Culture, Consciousness, and Spirituality. He is also the coauthor of five other bestselling volumes of interviews with leading-edge thinkers, Mavericks of the Mind, Voices from the Edge, Conversations on the Edge of the Apocalypse, Mavericks of Medicine, Frontiers of Psychedelic Consciousness, and of Women of Visionary Art. Additionally, Brown is the author of two science fiction novels, Brainchild and Virus, and he is the coauthor of the health science book Detox with Oral Chelation. Brown holds a master’s degree in psychobiology from New York University, and was responsible for the California-based research in two of British biologist Rupert Sheldrake’s books on unexplained phenomena in science: Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home and The Sense of Being Stared At. His work has appeared in numerous magazines, including Wired, Discover, and Scientific American, and he was the Senior Editor of the special edition, themed MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies) Bulletins from 2007 to 2012. In 2011, 2012, and 2013 Brown was voted “Best Writer” in the annual Good Times and Santa Cruz Weekly’s “Best of Santa Cruz” polls, and his news stories have been picked up by The Huffington Post and CBS News. To find out more about his work see: www.davidjaybrown.com