Episode 10: Healing Elite Fighters and Athletes – Ayahuasca & Brain Mapping | Ian McCall & Sam Believ
Retired MMA World Champion Ian McCall and La Wayra Founder Sam Believ discuss healing elite fighters and athletes through ayahuasca and brain mapping in this interview.
11 May 2026
Episode 9: Plant Diets, Tobacco and Trees as Medicine | Jason Grechanik
“Trees have all of this medicine…fruits, the bark is medicine, the leaves. All of that is waiting; it’s potent, it’s dormant.”Jason Grechanik has spent more than 25 years immersed in the study and practice of plants as medicine. As a tabaquero, he guides plant medicine dietas in Peru and internationally, weaving Amazonian tobacco traditions with Celtic tree wisdom. He facilitated for many years at the healing center Temple of the Way of Light and is the host of Universe Within Podcast.In this conversation, we hear about Jason’s path, from learning with Shipibo healers to training with a mestizo tabaquero, and eventually working with the medicine of North American trees and Celtic traditions. We highlight the importance of respect and reciprocity when learning from wisdom traditions from around the world. We speak about plant diets — especially with tobacco — and the practices involved like fasting, isolation and ingestion. Jason explains that dieting with a single plant can open a deeper connection to its spirit and describes the dreams during dieta as a “gateway to experience the teachings of the plant.”Timestamps:(00:00) Welcome and Opening(02:45) How They Met in Peru(05:37) Temple of the Way of Light(08:35) Ayahuasca, Female Healers + Podcasting(12:00) Working With Local Flora Abroad(14:40) Reciprocity and Respect(16:56) Plant Diets or Dietas(20:38) Dreams While Dieting Plants (23:44) Other Plant Teachers + Tree Medicine (Europe)(31:01) Dieting With Tabacco + Tobacco Varieties (34:46) Inside A Dieta Retreat(36:22) Purging & Dosing Safety(36:37) Diagnostic Tools + Further Training (41:30) Jason’s Tabaquero Teacher(45:25) Learning from Nature’s Patterns (52:53) How to Follow Jason’s Work
22 Apr 2026
Episode 8: Students of the Jungle — Return to Essence, Ibogaine in Brazil & the Path of the Medicine Woman | Tatiana and Charles
In this episode, Dr. Tafur and Natasha spoke to Tatiana Aya Tupinambá and Charles Johnston. Tatiana is a Brazilian born Indigenous woman and traditionally trained spiritual healer, who has been an ayahuasca curandera for over 10 years. Charles has guided thousands through psychedelic experiences and is an author, producer and educator in the fields of addiction and psychedelics. Together, drawing on their own triumphant stories of recovery, they co-founded Nekawa, combining modern medical science with Indigenous wisdom to deliver an Ibogaine treatment program in Brazil. They also produced an award-winning documentary Curandera, about Tatiana’s story and Ayahuasca plant medicine.We cover a whole range of topics from the creative process behind the documentary, to the path of the medicine woman, to Ibogaine and addiction recovery and their new project for a living school/village with various programmes running parallel for people to find their way back to nature and their very essence.Thanks for listening! If you’d like to support the nonprofit Modern Spirit and our podcast, you can make a donation HERE. You can also sign up to Dr. Tafur’s newsletter and Patreon here.To follow Charles and Tatiana: Websites: Curandera.co and Nekawa.com Instagram: psychedelic_rehab and curandera_official YouTube link to watch Curandera documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bY8rZ-BG5D8 (Released: Feb 2025, Director: Alexia Kraft de la Saulx, Exec producer/writer: Josema Roig, Exec producer: Charles Johnston)Timestamps: (00:00) Welcome and Guests(02:49) From Home Video to Award-Winning Documentary (07:33) Beauty & Storytelling Over Sensationalism (09:31) How Charles & Tatiana Met(13:55) Tatiana’s Training in Peru & Brazil (17:53) Missing the Feminine Voice(21:42) The Path of the Medicine Woman(24:46) Male Allyship for Female Healers(28:14) Ibogaine and Addiction Recovery(32:27) Building the Ibogaine Center in Brazil(33:41) Designing a New Program in Nature (35:40) Addiction And Lost Essence(37:26) Building A Healing Village & School(39:49) How Charles and Tatiana Work Together: Prep & Integration(43:10) Inviting People Into Their Lifestyle(45:56) Joe’s Connections With Tatiana & Charles(47:56) Guided by the Plants + Reconnection to Essence(53:39) Psychedelic Medicine & Sacred Plant Medicine Learn From Each Other(57:15) Remembering Maestro Juan Flores (01:00:03) Closing Gratitude & How to Follow Their Work
Inside a recent episode
Episode 10: Healing Elite Fighters and Athletes – Ayahuasca & Brain Mapping | Ian McCall & Sam Believ
Published 7 Jul 2026 · Transcript excerpt
[…] So he kind of combines a very reasonable approach where sometimes people come to him and then like, I feel this way must be black magic. He's like, no, you're just depressed. And he can tell a difference whether you have an entity or you actually just have a mental health issue. You know, it's like, um, so it's very helpful. You know, he, he drives a car and uses WhatsApp and then the ceremony is a shaman. He embodies that. more indigenous side, but he even went as far as said, like, I'm like, Fernando, what if we put a QG cap on you and see like, what does this shamanism stuff you do, how does it show up in your brain? […]
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