TrueLife - Lena Franklin - Alternate States of Conciousness

Episode Date: May 23, 2024

One on One Video Call W/George https://tidycal.com/georgepmonty/60-minute-meetingSupport the show:https://www.paypal.me/Truelifepodcast?locale.x=en_US🚨🚨Curious about the future of psychedelics? Imagine if Alan Watts started a secret society with Ram Dass and Hunter S. Thompson… now open the door. Use Promocode TRUELIFE for Get 25% off monthly or 30% off the annual plan For the first yearhttps://www.district216.com/Lena FranklinWelcome, dear audience, to an extraordinary encounter with the profound and transformative wisdom of Lena. As a Medicine Woman, Transpersonal Psychotherapist, and Transformational Speaker, Lena bridges the ancient and the modern, offering the timeless practices of meditation, energy medicine, and psycho-spiritual healing. Drawing from her rich heritage in South American, Central American, and Asian medicine lineages, Lena’s ceremonial plant medicine work is a testament to her mission: to heal and transform humanity and our Earth through the power of energetic harmony.Raised in a hybrid Buddhist-Christian home, Lena’s early introduction to meditation blossomed into a lifelong integration of Eastern philosophy and Western neuroscience. With formal training in psychology and social work, she guides others on a journey of embodied purpose and liberated wholeness. Her global studies in Mahayana Buddhism, Mopan Maya Ancient Medicine, Q'ero Peruvian Shamanism, and Shipibo Medicine Wisdom weave a tapestry of holistic healing that resonates deeply in her teachings and practice.As the founder of The BEING Method and The Meditation Membership, Lena provides a systematic approach to igniting human potential through mindfulness, meditation, and energy medicine. Her transformational workshops and immersions in sacred lands across the globe have guided thousands in turning suffering into strength, revealing the multi-dimensional existence of the soul in human form.Featured in prestigious publications like Vogue and The New York Times, and gracing the cover of Yoga Magazine thrice, Lena’s influence extends to television networks such as Bravo and Lifetime. As the host of The Medicine Wisdom Show, she shares her deep insights and engages with other leaders in holistic medicine, illuminating paths to healing and transformation.Join us as we delve into Lena’s remarkable journey and explore the profound wisdom she brings to the world, guiding us all toward our highest potential and the sacred harmony of our souls.https://www.lenafranklin.com/http://linkedin.com/in/lena-franklin-922aa199 One on One Video call W/George https://tidycal.com/georgepmonty/60-minute-meetingSupport the show:https://www.paypal.me/Truelifepodcast?locale.x=en_USCheck out our YouTube:https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPzfOaFtA1hF8UhnuvOQnTgKcIYPI9Ni9&si=Jgg9ATGwzhzdmjkg

Darkness struck, a gut-punched theft, Sun ripped away, her health bereft. I roar at the void. This ain't just fate, a cosmic scam I spit my hate. The games rigged tight, shadows deal, blood on their hands, I'll never kneel. Yet in the rage, a crack ignites, occulted sparks cut through the nights. The scars my key, hermetic and stark. To see, to rise, I hunt in the dark, fumbling, fear. through ruins maze, lights my war cry, born from the blaze.

The poem is Angels with Rifles, the track, I Am Sorrow, I Am Lust by Codex Serafini. Check out the entire song at the end of the cast. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the True Life podcast. I hope everybody's having a beautiful day. I hope that the sun is shining. I hope that the birds are singing, and I hope that the wind is at your back. I got a great show for you today.

I have with me, dear audience, an extraordinary encounter with the profound and transformative wisdom of Lena. As a medicine woman, transpersonal psychotherapist and transformational speaker, Lena brings the ancient and the modern, offering the timeless practices of meditation, energy medicine, and psychospiritual healing,

drawing from her rich heritage in South, Central American and Asian medicine lineages, Lena's ceremonial plant medicine work is a testament to her mission to heal and transform humanity and our earth through the power of energetic arming, raised in a hybrid Buddhist Christian home. Lena's early introduction to meditation blossomed into a lifelong integration of Eastern philosophy and Western neuroscience. With formal training in psychology and social work,

she guides others on a journey of embodied purpose and liberated whole. Her global studies in Mahayana Buddhism, Mopan Maya, ancient medicine, Kiero-Peruvian shamanism, and the Shepi-Bo medicine wisdom, we have a tapestry of holistic healing that resonates deeply in her teachings and practice. Lena, thank you so much for being here today. How are you? I am doing amazing. It's so lovely to be with you. Thank you for having me, George. Yeah, the pleasure's all mine. It's so fascinating to get to see the time we live in.

It seems to me like we are just seeing this sort of resurfacing of the human spirit on some level. And I want to get into that. But before I do that, I just wanted to give you an opportunity to maybe flesh out a little background and maybe give us a perspective of who you are and what kind of has drawn you here. Yeah. So, you know, my entire journey, whether we're talking about my childhood or my work in the world has always been a bridge. So it really, it stems back into how I grew up. I grew up in that Buddhist Christian home and had a Vietnamese Buddhist mother and psychologist, Presbyterian dad, and grew up both in the Presbyterian Church and in the Buddhist temples. So it was really rich spiritually. And I was able to see what that integration of East and West looked like.

felt like from an embodied perspective, from a ritual perspective, you know, praying and sitting at the altar with my mother who would, you know, dress in her monk's robe and really invite us as a family to be in the practices of meditation and compassion and really sitting with the reverence for those who walked before us. And so in that vein of being the bridge, I really feel that's been the foundation. You know, what does it mean to truly integrate, you know, the different wisdom to traditions?

What does it mean to integrate wisdom, traditions, and lineages into this modern world that really is thirsty for the sacred, from my perspective. So it really, it started there and that part of my life really led me into the knowing that I was meant to help people, help humanity in some way. I just didn't know what it looked like. And fast forward, I ended up going to graduate school to get my master's in social work. And to become a psychotherapist, my dad, you know, is in private practice many, many years of his life. And so I went that route. And my mom in my first year of grad school at the University of Georgia,

she suddenly passed from a stroke at the age of 57. And it was my very first experience of big T trauma in this life. And she was my first spiritual teacher in this lifetime and my primary attachment parent. And so losing her. and the portal of grief became my initial portal for spiritual awakening. So really being with the question, the existential questions, if our human life is so fleeting, then why the hell are we here? What are we doing here on earth?

And what is that purpose individually and collectively? Why are we here and what are we meant to do? So that led me into really embracing the meditations and spiritual practices that she originally taught me. So it was just, you know, obviously divinely synchronistic. And so I began sitting in more formal meditation and finding my more dedicated yoga practice and those medicines of embodiment. And that from there, I began to work with people. and teach them some of these spiritual practices,

and that quickly expanded into guiding groups to Asia for spiritual journeys and retreats. And then from there, I was called into medicine work and working more with entheogens and studying around the world with different teachers and lineages. So, you know, I feel that this, this origin seed of being a bridge was the foundation for it all. And I'm still, you know, I'm a student of that every day. What does that actually mean in this modern context? And really,

the study of suffering and being with human experience of pain and suffering. And so in that alchemy, there's something really magnificent that can be birthed. And that's been a really interesting thread through my entire life as well. Because I watched my mom. You know, she was obviously a trailblazer in a way. She immigrated to the U.S. in 75 was the only person in her family from Vietnam to come to the U.S. And she carried tremendous trauma from the war and from an abusive father. and from living in a form of poverty.

And so a lot of that landed within me, that scarcity, a lot of that trauma, a lot of that fear of safety. And so that's been an interesting unraveling as I've really navigated my own journey. Man, thank you for sharing that. It brings up so much on my mind. I guess I'll start at the,

One of my favorite philosophers is Alan Watts, and he talks about the Eastern Western divide on spirituality. And he says, one of my favorite parts is that he says, you know, there's just such a difference in the way in which the Western mind and the Eastern mind think. And he gives the example of, you know, if you wake up on your 33rd birthday in an Eastern tradition and you run down to the town and you start yelling, listen, everybody, I'm God. I figured it out. You know, people are like, yeah, you figured it out. You're God. congratulations and they'll hug you. But if you do that in the Western society, they'll lock you up. You can't run down the street and be like, I'm God. People get really nervous when you do that.

It seems like you've had a foot in both worlds growing up. Was that something that you got to saw as a young woman growing up as these two different sorts of worlds? Yeah. And they didn't always cohesively integrate, right? So there's the rub of a collective culture versus an individualistic culture, right? So there's that resistance. And so I saw both moments of what are the common denominators, right? So give my dad credit. You know, he knows, he has some sense, rather,

of what Christ consciousness is and how that is, you know, can be synonymous with Buddha, consciousness as well. I mean, one of the first books my parents gave me later in my teens was Living Buddha, Living Christ by Ticknat Han, one of my dear teachers. And his teachings also were very influential for my mom. So there's that, the common denominator, but absolutely, the divinity that is inherent within all of us, that that, that, is the embodiment, that is objective truth. And, you know, when we look at religion and the extraction of God and divinity as this kind of separate energy or entity or body, then we're,

you know, we're simply perpetuating separation, which is an illusion. It's well said. It's so interesting this idea of awareness and then altered states of awareness. and then coming to the conclusion for the first time that you're not alone and that you're part of everybody. That is a really powerful time. And it's difficult to navigate for an individual, let alone someone trying to help people through that process. Maybe you can explain on some level, at least in your opinion, like, what is it like to, what was it like for you to come to the realization that you're part of the whole? And then on another dimension, what does it like to help people understand that they're part of the whole and actually see that happen? Because you can see it take over them in like a in the right state or right frame of mind or an alternate state of awareness.

You could talk about that a little bit. Yeah. It's, you know, it's been, it's been a process of disintegration. Let's just like get real, you know, a lot of death, a lot of death, a lot of shedding, a lot of, um, confronting, you know, confronting, you know, I can speak for myself as like my own laboratory. Confronting the entrenched fears of survival of death. So I fully believe, and this is true for me and it's true for all of the clients and students I've had the honor of working with, when we transform our definition and our relationship with

death and we see death as this continuation of energy. And not just giving it lip service, like actually believing that within our being and shedding and alchemizing the layers of fear that, that are so bound in our bodies and the fear-based thoughts in our psyches, then that's a portal into liberation and freedom. And I, you know, I'm in, I'm still, of course, in my human process, but that has been. the most humbling, you know? The most humbling, to feel the oneness, to embody the truth of oneness and the interconnectedness, the interdependence, if we want to use the Buddhist psychology term, that is one of the most humbling processes from my perspective, because we have to confront all the ways in which we still perpetuate separation. It's so interesting to think about how many people

that I speak to have on some level a birth by death. And what I mean by that is having someone close to them die and then having that person have an awakening or a birth on some level. And it sounds to me like that's what happened when your mom passed away

is that somehow the scales drop from your eyes when you realize, you start asking these big questions about process versus goals versus understanding versus awareness. Is that something that you have found that is sort of the foundation of people you work with is this relationship with death? Yes, absolutely. That is, you know, the life, death, rebirth cycle, being a student of that becomes the pathway,

you know, to deeper healing transformation and liberation. And that takes, it takes just honestly quite a bit of resilience and fortitude and dedication and willingness to see ourselves clearly, to see ourselves through the lens of being honest with who we are and where we are on our human journey. Because a big part of our purpose in being here is to feel the spectrum of emotion what it means to be human. So that awareness piece that you speak about, George, is essential. And this is where the meditation comes in. And this is why I've been guided in my own work to, I weave, you know,

I am an instrument of the healing work and the transformational work that moves through. And that touches on different lineages. So from my Buddhist foundation, the more yin side of medicine, being that external observer of our internal experience becomes key because we can objectify our thoughts. We can objectify currents of emotion and go deeper into our understanding of what it means to constantly be in the state of recreation and evolution. You know, Mother Earth, Pachamama wants us desires for us to recreate through us and for us to be vessels and instruments of her healing. So that means, you know, we, we are in that life, death,

and rebirth cycle continuously if we're on this, the path of authentic spiritual healing. Yeah, it's, it's, it's liberating to think of it as a process, like a process orientation, instead of a goal orientation. When you think of life as a goal, like I just got to get here, Or if I get this, then I'll feel that. Like, it's so mundane. I feel like it takes away our spiritual nature. In some ways, do you think that, like, it seems like we're in an absence of spiritual nature until recently. It seems like this new reemergence with this new sort of spiritual wave is filling a void that's been vacant for so long.

Maybe that's just me talking, but what are your thoughts? Like, you travel around the world and you get to see different dimensions. You get to see different cultures. And I'm wondering, is there something similar? Is there an eryodony thread that runs through this time that you can see in all the places that you travel that you can talk about? What a great question. I love that question coming through. Divinely guided.

Yes. There's this thread. And I'm like, I'm very visual. So I'm seeing this tapestry. There's this thread of desire for for true. truth and meaning. For truth and meaning. And that doesn't mean, obviously, we see chaos in the world.

We see war. We see conflict. But a part of that, not to get all the way down the rabbit hole of this, but a part of that is to see the reality of the light and the darkness and to come into balance, right? Come into balance with the collective energy. And so what I see, whether I'm in Bali, guiding a retreat or in Peru on a medicine journey with people, there's this soulful desire to find a sense of meaning and truth, which also touches on belonging.

You know, we all have this innate desire, this soulful need to belong. And when we find when we touch our Dharma, our soul's purpose, you know, our gifts, like you're sharing your gift of the show and and holding space for people to share their wisdom and their stories, then, you know, we're touching on the light of truth, you know, why we came rather than being in the cog of the matrix just, you know, in the paradigms of fear. So thank you for asking that question because it really made me sit with, like I, I, I, I, I, saw myself in those different places and feeling the communities. Like I feel into like the caro people high up in the Andes and some of my most beloved family members, you know, lived there and our arrow. And when I talk with them, like on WhatsApp, they light up when they talk about, oh, we traveled here and performed ceremony and just their hearts are wide open because they are living their soul's

Darmic purpose of bringing forth the wisdom traditions from their ancestors that almost were extinct from, you know, the Spanish coming in and, you know, really appropriating and damaging and destroying so much of the history and the lineage. So, you know, there's a lot there, but that sense of going back to your question, that sense of belonging, and meaning and truth, I feel, is a threat. Yeah, it's a great answer.

And I think you're uniquely qualified to answer a lot of interesting questions because you do travel and you do have a foot in both worlds. And you can speak to the idea of indigenous versus colonization on some level. And that brings up a good question with the idea of when you talk about the wisdom traditions, can someone really from a different culture understand the wisdom traditions of another culture? And if so, can they bring that back to their culture and display it in the same way? It seems like there's that idea of being lost in translation on some level.

And I think you're uniquely qualified to ask that. What do you think? It's a great. It's a really important topic because we, a collaboration. collectively need to address and be mindful of any kind of extraction and any kind of, we'll call it, you know, malicious intention, right? Inevitably, our egos, we all have egos. We're, you know, part of what we're navigating. And so it comes down to, I feel like at the core, intention, I do believe that there are more soul. emerging in the West who are meant to be these kinds of bridges and to carry on and spread the word about wisdom traditions with reverence and integrity. But we have to be very,

very discerning about who we're sitting with and the intention, the core intention of that teacher, facilitator, soul bringing forth, because I've seen a lot of extraction. And even, you know, in my own community, I've had to, you know, put up boundaries around others who I was, you know, it was revealed to me through time that they did not have their intention in receiving the wisdom traditions that, that I was teaching. And then I was opening that portal for, for others to, you know, to, to connect with the wisdom keepers in other countries. So it's this, it feels like for me, on a personal level, it feels like this responsibility to be very discerning and mindful about the intentions,

even of those who want to come on these types of journeys and to be exposed to the wisdom keepers. I mean, we see, you know, we see the extraction all the time, especially now that there's more and more knowledge about indigenous wisdom and ancient wisdom. And also more and more people traveling to those lands. I think, you know, everything has a light side and a dark side. And again, to answer your question, it's a yes and I do believe that that can happen in a reverent, respectful way. And also there are those who are there just in it for their own gain.

Yeah, it's human nature on some level. I think like one of the basic problems in all, understanding what's happening, especially in altered states of awareness or within theogens or psychedelics, is that we inevitably rely on some aspect of language to determine the nature of the experience. And our language is lacking. We don't have the words to describe what's happening in these situations. And especially when you look at different cultural lenses or we have different alphabets to conjugate verbs differently, we're talking right past each of other. Like, you can be in the moment and feel what you think is a spiritual experience and,

and it could be looked at as intimacy. It could be looked at as some sort of divine intervention. It could be looked at as separation or suffering or anxiety. Like, it's so hard to, to describe the ineffable. It's impossible, right? Like, what are you doing that situation? You know, like, that's crazy. I know. It is impossible. I mean, I have no answer. I know. Well, the answer is we're doing the best we can. Right. And in the same breath, we're evolving.

I believe that the future, the future of our evolution as, you know, evolution of consciousness, but specifically evolution of humans, humanity on this planet, a lot of, frequency, sound vibration is a big part of the relationship that we're going to deepen in order to continue to evolve and expand and develop.

So understand, like tuning in to different frequencies, being able to create different frequencies with our own bodies. So, yeah, but we can't. We just can't describe in that way, in a way that's accurate. Yeah, it's, I'm hopeful when we talk about this evolution of consciousness, we look at what's possible in the next 10, 20, or 100 years for the human condition.

I'm hopeful that what we're seeing is an effective way to communicate meaning. I think that's been lacking for so long. Like, you know, how do you really get someone to understand what you mean? So many wars, so many fights and so many just breakups and heartache comes from two people that may want the same thing, but they don't know how to be very, have a meaningful conversation about it, you know, and it's interesting to me. But I do, do you think that there's sort of a confluence with what's happening now with the spoken word and maybe the visual world around us?

It seems like we're broadening our ability to communicate. on someone. And I think that entheogens and psychedelics are helping us evolve in that nature. What are your thoughts? Absolutely, because we're, the entheogens and sacred plant medicines are here at this time and in the emergence at this time in order to help us evolve and heal and transform. It is Mother Earth, Pachamama, recreating and rejuvenating through us, because we, we are not separate. I say that again, we are not separate.

And so that means we are here to, you know, we're broadening the lens in which we're able to perceive truth. So as a whole, as a collective, and again, you know, everyone's on their own individual journey, but I'm talking about collective here, we're able to perceive the truth of the unseen more now than ever before, at least in, you know, in modern times. And so there's that. And then with that comes our ability to practice wise speech, you know, really say what we mean and be conscious. It's conscious communication. I agree. I feel, you know, I'm really feeling one of my dear friends right now. Muskogee Creek elder Tom Blue Wolf, who is a dear friend. And he talks about

if we just change the conversation, we change the world. And he says, you know, it's just a lot of people having a bad conversation on earth. And so we need to change the narrative, change the conversation. And in indigenous cultures, you know, there's certain words that don't exist. And he talks about if you haven't personally experienced it yourself firsthand, you're not allowed to talk about it. So if we could extract and release gossip and negative banter, then so much would shift. The frequency, the vibration of our planet would shift. So, yeah, I absolutely agree. I feel like the communication is really evolving.

refining, elevating, and becoming more conscious, meaning more in alignment with the soul and an alignment with truth. Yeah, it's well said. I got some more questions, but we have one from our audience right here. It says, hi, Lina, you were introduced to meditation as a young child in a hybrid Buddhist Christian home. Can you share how this unique upbringing influence your path and shaped to psychospercial healing? Yeah, thank you for your question.

When I was a child, you know, it was it was normalized for me to see ritual. It was normalized for me to experience what I call the sacred, the sense of energy, something so much greater than yourself and that you're a part of that wholeness, that oneness. And so I would say that that normalization really became threaded through everything, especially as I moved more into psychospercial healing. I'd like to say that meditation is my first medicine. It was my first spiritual practice.

And through the portals of stillness and silence, that's where I really began knowing myself, myself beyond the eye, beyond the ego, self of expansiveness, of limitlessness, of energy, of soul. And that upbringing really taught me too, like no separation, right? I could have a dad who loved sports and going to church and was from the South. And a mom who was from Vietnam with completely different culture and practiced Buddhism

and, you know, ate vegetarian food with the monks at the time. temple. I mean, it was such a, it was a beautiful way to see how love transcends spiritual paths or religions. And so that level of connectedness and compassion and love, it's just in my, it's in my DNA. It's in everything. The oneness. And so that sense of oneness, love, compassion again, birthed a great foundation for the psychospercial work that I do. It's interesting to think about the East and the West and Buddhism and Christianity. And then you bring up DNA. It makes me think like the double helix.

And then here you are, this bridge in the middle between them. You know, it's interesting to take it from that angle. What was there, it seems to me like you may have an interesting take on sacrifice. If you went to the temple and you saw your mom giving food or talking to the monks or bringing them food and then you see your dad go to church, like what, what is your. definition of sacrifice and its relationship to surrender? Sacrifice, it's interesting. I have reclaimed that term, if that makes sense. I used to have like a negative connotation, but sacrifice means to me, my definition is

releasing the aspects of yourself or your self or your. life that are not in alignment with your true nature, you know, that your authentic path. So meaning like there are going to be things, like if something's a priority to you and your soul and your path, then you're going to have to let go of certain things. And, you know, an example I can give is being on this path has not been easy. I've gone through, I would say, three primary Dark Night of the Soul initiatory processes. And in a part of that, I was disconnected from my family of origin for some time, a handful of years, because they literally thought I was going crazy.

You know, they thought I was being brainwashed in a shamanic cult. You know, they just could not wrap their minds around, you know, leaving a marriage that looked perfect on the outside but was spiritually and emotionally vacant on the inside. They didn't understand my interest in, you know, shamanic healing. It just, you know, it didn't fit into the boxes that they had, the constructs that they had. So I would say, you know, in my definition of sacrifice, you know, I sacrifice. those time, the relationships with those, you know, original family members in service of my greater path and my soul's purpose. Now, I don't say that in a negative way.

I say that in, that was a conscious choice and I don't regret, you know, a moment of it. But we do sacrifice things on our journey. And to me, that means really relinquishing or letting go of people, situations, parts of self in service of the greater good. Yeah, it's fascinating to think about the idea of sacrifice. When you look back on it, thank you for sharing. I know it's a personal story.

I appreciate that. Do you feel sometimes the nature of sacrifice changes when you look back at it. Like if I've been in relationships where, you know, I felt like I was sacrificing by leaving. But then when I look back at it, I realized I was sacrificing by being in it. I really was sacrificing my true nature of who I am. And then it becomes like a growth experience. Have you noticed that as well? Yes, absolutely.

Yeah, it's, you know, and we can look at it from the different perspectives, which I love that you brought that in. You know, I think about, you know, for example, thinking about my first marriage, I was sacrificing my truth. I was sacrificing, you know, a more authentic way of being in service, of the illusion of comfort, right? Like being liked by my community, by my family of origin, because it fit into their paradigm of what was successful

or what was desirable. And so we sacrifice things in different ways. Both, if we're looking at like the lens of our spiritual growth and expansion, if that's our focal point and our priority, we sacrifice things that we have to let go of. And then on the other hand, if we're in any space of self-betrayal, right, in a job or relationship or situation that is not in alignment with your soul, then you're sacrificing parts of your authentic self.

So we can look at that, that word sacrifice in different ways. But yeah, I absolutely have experience. We got a comment from the one and only click Kyle's from the Psychic from the psychedelic Christian podcast, a great podcast, by the way, Clint, people should check it out. He says, I believe that we are finally acknowledging that the materialistic Cartesian rationale has left us spiritually malnourished. This mode of thinking has hollowed out even our faith, religious institutions.

Starving masses are now seeking spiritual nourishment. Lina, what do you think? I concur. Hi, Clint. I agree. And that goes back to what we were talking about. there's this thirst for the sacred. You know, there's this thirst for truth, right?

And it's, you know, that's just going to grow and expand. And I feel that conversations like this and I, Clinton, the work that you're doing, it's essential. I mean, it is spiritual nourishment. That's a perfect term to use, I would say. Yeah, and he touches on so much like the Cartesian material. And is it ever difficult? I know that when I travel, I used to live in Mexico when I was younger.

And it was so interesting to get to live down in a part of the world that was without all the material comforts that I had. And I felt like an outsider on some level when I was. But it's just interesting to get to be submerged in a culture and realize where you come from. What is it like for you coming from where we live? Like we live in an incredible country that has so much wealth and then going to places that may not have as much materialistic wealth. Like, how does that make you feel? Does it make you feel awkward or, you know, it's an interesting concept, right? It is an interesting concept.

And it used to. It used to really make me feel insecure, awkward or, you know, really wanted to hide, you know, the parts that were more obvious that I was from the Western. world, you know? And and I felt that way a lot, you know, as a child traveling to Vietnam and traveling down the dirt roads and, you know, being with my family and, you know, what were beautiful, like that with no electricity and dirt floors and all the things from that, from that lens. And now it's such a good question and it's really interesting because, because I feel that there's a level of, and this is, you know, from my own personal perspective, there's a level of resource and wealth distribution, obviously, that's needed around the

globe. And a part of a part of that for me and, you know, for others that I've worked with that are also kind of in this space of being a bridge, there's an energy of abundance, consciousness will say that is beyond the material, you know, yes, you know, we can have like beautiful jewelry and really, you know, treasure and like those things. There's nothing wrong with that. The question becomes, what is the intention, right? And going into those countries, we can be a beacon of light of abundance, of planting seeds, of distribution, of resources, of leaving those places more, you know, better than the way we found them, depending on our intention.

You know, we can bring in that intention and we can embody that. So I think it's a really important concept and place for people to explore because, you know, our ability to embody abundance consciousness only allow. others to amplify that for themselves and other communities to amplify that for themselves. A great example is I have one of my sisters who and teacher Rosario Ponti, she's a Mopon Maya elder in Belize. And we were talking when I was with her last about how much to charge people, you know, for her sessions and that she deserves to receive money energy from the work that.

she does. And so it's upholding the value of what of what these these lineages and wisdom traditions bring because these wisdom keepers, they are doing one of the most important, you know, jobs on our planet. And yeah, it's, you know, abundance and resources and money energy in particular. It's an important topic, especially as we're talking about creating more equity. Yeah. It's such a slippery slope when you start thinking, on some level, I can't help but think the introduction of money into rituals is the wedge of desacralization. Like, here's this beautiful thing. How much does it cost? You know what I mean? Like as soon as you introduce this transaction between it, it's like, ah, what the fuck are we doing?

What are we doing here? I understand needing to transfer resources on some level. But, you know, it seems that like the idea of introducing money into it. And you can't get around it. Like there's no way to get around it. But introducing money into it seems to be desacralization on some level. Is that too negative? I mean, I hear where you're coming from.

And money is just in. neutral energy. You know, money energy is a neutral energy that like water energy or fire, that we can call into our orbit. And I think the exploration of our relationship with money energy is kind of the deeper root of it. But you, it's the value, you know, we put value on it. And it's important, it is such a slippery slope because you know, people, people deserve to live abundant lives and to take care of their families and to take care of their communities. And also, we don't want rituals and sacred practice to be just for those who can pay a certain amount, right? Right.

So there's an access issue and topic there too. you know so it's it's again i think it's important to talk about it openly but from you know from a personal perspective one of my one of my um we'll call it like points of guidance as i've been really sitting with this this role of being a bridge is to help support um that that abundance distribution the resources distribution and to help infuse in my of humble way, like help empower and infuse those beloved wisdom keepers that I've had the honor of working with. So they can actually live abundant, healthy lives. And to keep the preservation of the wisdoms alive, resources are necessary. Yeah. It's heartwarming to me to think that

the medicine is abundant and it's there for everybody. And I don't know where you can delineate a line or draw who needs help from people and who can do it themselves. But it seems to me like there's a bigger force at play that guides people who need the medicine to maybe the teachers they need or a path that they can find on their own. Like there seems to something bigger at play, right? Like you can, when we talk about relationships, like you can learn to grow like psilocybin mushrooms

and in that process of growing mushrooms you can learn a lot about yourself you can watch the way the mesolium grows you can see it get contaminated then draw the parallel like my life's contaminated that's why it's not fruiting okay let me try this again and then you can see a relationship change as you watch medicine grow

and you start realizing things like oh I'm the medicine inside I just got to see this thing differently on some of what's your take to this bigger idea of nature talking to us through the environment be it medicine or be it quiet or sitting by a stream or what do you think about that? I feel that we're all being guided. You know, we're all being guided to our own relationship with medicine,

earth medicines, whether we're talking about entheogens or not. Entheogens are not for everybody. And that's important because, again, rather than being in like consumption culture where we're saying, my gracing is for everybody or, you know, ayahuasca ceremonies are for everybody. That's just not true. So this is an inside-out process of intuitive knowing and guidance versus allowing external forces to tell you what you need. And to your point, you know, that is it. We are the medicine, you know, as Maria Sabina.

shared and and her legacy lives on. And we have to remember that, you know. And this is why this has been interesting to really be with medicine work in the West because the paradigm sacred medicine stewardship and Western culture, they are at odd, the paradigms are at odds in different ways. we're talking about, you know, capitalism and consumption culture and extraction culture. And we're talking about, you know, collective consciousness and sacred medicine lineage. It's just, you know, this is where we have to be careful and mindful. And, you know, we're doing our best to try to be in that. But it's challenging because systems take, take a while to evolve and change.

But yes, I would suggest, you know, for those tuning in, listen to your intuition, you know, medicine is within you. You are the medicine sitting by a stream or learning how to grow your own mushrooms. That is a profound teacher. Pachamama, Mother Earth is our greatest teacher of oneness, of unity consciousness that we're just remembering together. It blows my mind to think about the profound ways in which you can experience life by a large dose of psychedelics or in theogens. It can fundamentally shift how you see yourself in the world. It can change the way you see all your relationships. And that can be both liberating and frightening. You know, Marcy Iliad talks about the terror before the same. sacred. And if you find yourself in this position where all your preconceived notions about self and relationships are wiped away and for a moment you believe your God, it's sacred and profane at the

same time, right? It's clear to me to see how dangerous, yet dangerously beautiful that situation is. What do you do, Lena? Have you found yourself there? And what do you do if you're there was somebody who's in that situation. Like that seems like, you better be ready. Like craziness can happen in there, right? Oh, it's wild. I mean, mind blown. Yes, on all levels.

On all levels. On all levels. So, yes, I've experienced those moments of pure on divinity and just ecstasy, bliss. And I've worked with clients who have also touched that space. And so this is where, you know, first of all, we humble ourselves and we come back to the truth that we are in human form and being human and grounding the wisdoms and the teachings, the medicine shows us into our day-to-day lives in systematic and tangible ways is key. So humility and working with any awareness around the ego identifying with God consciousness and any inkling of tendency for superiority and creating separation. So I think those are some like places where we can cultivate awareness.

where is my ego creating separation? Where is my ego creating superiority? Where may I be identifying with God consciousness in a way that perpetuates the first two? And bringing into, okay, how can I see that oneness in my ordinary day to day? So it's like the ordinary moments become the extraordinary moments. So looking at a bird or a flower, and again, going back over and over and over to nature and knowing that, yeah, you are God in human form. Deepak Chopra says you're God in drag.

So it's just like reminding yourself. And this is where integration is key. And I'm talking about long-term integration. Because choosing, this is very important. And I've seen it go all sideways, you know, with people who chose differently. But every day is a choice to stay in the light. Every day is a choice to continue to hold positive intention for self and the collective and there's no separation there.

Working with endogenous can magnify the tendency to have ego inflation. to even perpetuate certain personality disorders that may be dormant kind of underneath. So we have to be very humble and very discerning. And we have to choose to do the work every day to stay on the path and in humility and in the light. Yeah, it's well said. You know, some people say the history doesn't repeat, but it rhymes. And I feel like at times with cool conversations like this and other people that I talked to, that were like in the late 50s approaching the 60s when it comes to the medical container with which psychedelics and theogens are in.

And if history is the best predictor of future behavior, if history is the best predictor of future behavior, we can see some of the problems that could be on the horizon with working with these. And it's, it is this profound God consciousness that people, maybe the human condition may not be ready to integrate on some level. You know, when you look at the reasons it was put back in the container in the 60s, just like abuse or, you know, people standing up to authority or no longer or seeing war for what it is, do you see that being a problem on the horizon? Yeah, anything's possible.

And I do feel, you know, when I feel into the energy of the psychedelics, we'll call it the psychedelic space, There's so much possibility, there's so much progression, there's so much hope, there's also a tremendous amount of volatility and competition. And so it's all of it. You know, it's the light side, it's the dark side. I think it's showing us the microcosm of the potentials in greater society, you know, as more and more entheogens are being introduced. And this is where I, it's all about the middle path. Entheogens, I believe, are one part of a greater ecosystem of healing and transformation. And it's important not to project God consciousness onto the entheogen and to inflate that into being the only path or the whole shebang.

We think about the mandala. We think about ecosystems in nature. You know, the mushrooms, you know, ayahuasca, they're part of this greater ecosystem. We have to understand that and hold entheogens from my perspective in this energy of walking the middle path. You know, entheogens are not more important than, you know, meditating or nourishing your body well. You know, we have to understand that.

their tools and mirrors and beautiful medicine, but they're simply just reminding us of the work we need to do and reminding us of who we are. So, you know, it's important not to inflate the power and importance and see it as a part of an ecosystem. I love that. It was really well said. I like, I can't get out of my mind. It's showing us, whether it's, you know, it's kind of a double entendre there, but it's showing us. You know, at some level it's showing us. It's beautiful to think about it from that angle. What is the being method, Nina?

The being method, so I was my old house and in my, I had a little meditation temple in the back. And the being method is just a very simple methodology that move through me as a way to work with our thoughts and to cultivate awareness and greater presence and spiritual expansion. So it's in the vein of mindfulness and meditation and just a systematic way to work with ourselves on a consistent basis, on a daily basis. What do you think are some of the biggest lessons you've learned since you've begun going out and helping people? that first is that we are so much more alike than we are different.

We are so much more alike than we are different. We all yearn for the same things. We all yearn for love and belonging and connection. And we all yearn to find a sense of meaning and purpose in this life. And if we can focus our awareness on those common denominations, we can heal so much of what creates separation. So that's huge. And, you know, no matter what culture, no matter where the person comes from, that is,

you know, that comes up right away as you answer the question. Another thing is that everyone's path, everyone's journey is their own responsibility. And the reason I say that is, you know, I was very aware in my journey of helping people, I became very aware of the ways in which my heart and my desire to help others perhaps took too much responsibility for their outcome. And this is where as a facilitator, a healer, a practitioner, a therapist, a coach, we must consistently give the power back to the person because is their choice to do the inner work. We can be the guiding light.

We can be the sacred guide and the container holder. But it's their responsibility to do the work and to stay in the light and to choose their, you know, to choose to change and evolve every day. That is their responsibility. And I think about even like my mom's death, you know, She died from a stroke from stress, from trauma. And that was her path. You know, for so long, I, you know, had all the thoughts of, you know, perhaps I could have done something differently.

Did I cause her too much stress? Like all of the things. But it's, everyone's path is theirs. And that is such a sacred truth. We all, you know, I would suggest us all to come to terms with because it can release us from attachment to other people's outcomes, whether it's a client, a friend, a child, a family member. So those are two that come to mind. Thanks for sharing it. I always, I'm just always so curious as to the nature of help.

In my life, I have found that the people that I'm helping are helping me more than I'm helping them. At least I see it from that angle because I'm like, oh, I see this thing in them, but really what I see is a thing in myself. And by talking to them about how they're solving that, I'm figuring out how to solve it for myself. It's such a beautiful way to see it. And I think alternate states of conscience allow us to see that third person point of view or better yet, they allow us to see ourselves and other people. It's such a healing thing, right? It's so healing. It's, yeah, I mean, you bring up such wisdom there that, that's sacred reciprocity.

You know, that we talk about sacred reciprocity in terms of plant medicine. We can talk about sacred reciprocity in terms of our divine interactions with other humans, whether it is someone you are helping. It's someone you are, you know, you have an acquaintance connection with or a deep relationship with. We're in this energy exchange constantly. And that's not by coincidence. It's by divine design.

It's by co-creation. We're all co-creating all of the time, all of the time. And that's what we're meant to be doing, seeing a part of ourselves and another because they're all mirrors, all mirrors. And it's definitely bidirectional. What does that mean, bi-directional? That there's an energy exchange. Like, I'm sitting here and I'm sharing and you're asking me questions, but I'm receiving so much energy. and learning from you.

And so that is, when I say bidirectional, it's just another way to talk about the energy exchange, for example, to two humans. And we can have energy exchange between, you know, ourselves in a tree or a butterfly. That bidirectional energetic nature of relationship, you know, the more we attuned to that, the more we can be agents of harmony.

Yeah, I like that. I feel on some level, isolation is such a, well, it can be a gift and it can allow you to see colors more clear and hear sounds better and colors more brighter. Too much isolation seems to atrophy the relationships that we have in our life. What do you, it just seems to me like we've kind of gone through an epidemic of isolation. Maybe it was COVID or maybe it's our own fears or maybe it is our ideas of not being enough. but maybe you could talk to speak to that idea about our relationship to isolation. I feel we need in our on our path of evolution, we need periods of isolation. I know I have experienced them in different ways, being isolated from my family of origin,

being isolated just, you know, because I chose to be because I needed to really, integrate some deep lessons. Because it's the isolation that allows us to reclaim, I feel, a sense of sovereignty, that our sovereign nature, our essential power, our vibration, our frequency, and our self beyond identifying with our roles, beyond identifying with the external a world in various ways. Of course, there are different forms of isolation. We can be around people all the time and feel isolated.

And everything contains its opposite. So isolation also teaches us that we're a part of the whole. So if anyone is feeling isolated or lonely, I think they're different things, subtly, different. It also teaches us that the opposite is always true. The opposite is always true. And in order to experience the embodiment of true authentic wholeness, we must experience the polarities. So I feel that isolation is a profound teacher.

And for those who are on their path of authentic spiritual evolution, isolation inevitably will become a teacher if it hasn't already revealed itself to be. It's well said. It's an interesting thought experiment to do, to think about isolation, spend some time in an isolation tank and think about relationships. Lena, what does it look like? Let's say that a student like find you, they talk to you and they want to work with you. Can you run us through? Like, how do you build a relationship with someone? What does that look like that might want to learn from you? Yeah, and this is evolved too for me. So currently, you know, I'm in a place of,

evolution myself in transition where I'm working with individuals still, but on a very limited basis. Like those, we'll say those souls who I'm very much guided to support and to hold space for and to teach, I work with those individually. And that just, you know, if someone contacts me, for example, through my website, I always schedule a consult, like a Zoom consult to feel into that potential resonance and to share. You know, this is my work is a bridge. I'm here to share ancient wisdom traditions and to help you integrate this, you know, potent spiritual transformation into your, into your day to day.

A part of my gift that I know is I help people activate their soul's gifts, their soul's purpose. So there's a sense of like excavation of the Dharma and an activation of those gifts and then helping to guide what does that look like in day to day life. How do I, how do I share that with the world and with others? So if someone contacts me, it's a console and then feeling into the potential fit. and then we go from there. And it's just different per person. Some people, you know, work with me for like six months or 12 months. Medicine work may or may not be a part of it, again, depending on where they are and

what's calling to them from that sole perspective. And then, you know, outside of that, you know, I'm feeling more, I'm feeling very much guided to do more teaching. and speaking and doing more group work just to share the work with more people in a more impactful way. So it's not so much one-on-one. But yeah, we'll see where the journey takes. I'm just surrendering every day to it. Yeah.

Sometimes I wonder what the next phase is after the medical container. I think that there is a real possibility for enhancement of life on so many levels, but we seem as if we are keeping everything in this medical container for some reason. Do you see an evolution of this process being expanded beyond the medical container? Yeah, you mean like the medical model and that being the predominant way? Yeah, like engineers, sports people, like everyone on some, Okay, I shouldn't say everyone. People who want to pursue their dreams at the highest level could be using different,

call them plant medicines or maybe call them exogenous neurotransmitters. But they could be using these alternate states of awareness to enhance their life to live something. They didn't know what was possible. And while I understand the need for the medical container and the people, those of us that are working through trauma, I think it's limiting in some ways. Like it forces us to look at these medicines as only a way to heal trauma. But that's, I think that's just a small sliver of what is possible.

I'm hopeful in the future to see people moving into different areas of like enhancement. Like I can help like, people can help you see yourself living a better life and performing at a level as better. Is that, I don't know if that makes sense. Yes. Thank you for clarifying because I just want to. to make sure I understood your question. Absolutely. I just want to say to that point, we have become addicted to healing, you know, especially if we're in the healing space, we're so attached to finding the problems, more and more problems, more and more traumas to

heal. That doesn't mean we don't have traumas to heal. I, you know, there are moments where, like, I've felt on a personal level, when are the, you know, You know, when is the healing, when's the purging going to be done, when's the deepening going to be done? Absolutely. That's a part of our path. But when we are so hyper-focused on the problems, on the traumas, on what we're actually releasing, then we perpetuate more of that energy. So can we balance it and talk about entheogens or plant medicines for, yeah, for performance, for personal optimization, human optimization, for expansion, for creativity, for resilience building,

for, you know, what do we want to cultivate, is my question. And let's do that in and connect that again for those who are a good fit and who are called to the medicine. Can we continue to be in relationship with the sacred medicines in a way that's more expansive? then constantly going into the underworld of the Ukupaccha to unearth some trauma that may be hidden in the shadows. Yeah, I love it. And I think that that changes the money energy as well because a lot of people that really need help don't have the funds to do it. But people that have lots of money, they're really looking forward to optimizing. Like, hey, I've got this pathway to optimization over here.

Yeah, it's 10 grand, but you're going to love it. watch this. And look at these people that have done it. Like now you have a model that attracts that energy into it instead of being looked at as sort of, like you said, a trip to the underworld where we got to go find Osiris's body parts everywhere. Like maybe we can go to this other model way over here. And like people will be lined up to do it.

Like I'm hopeful. Like I see that on the horizon. I just, and I'm excited to see and talk to people about how we can make that transition. because I do think it changes the energy around it in a positive way. Absolutely. Yeah. And because, you know, it's both. It's yes and.

I just got to balance it. We got to balance it out. And the medical model. I can. George, that's a whole other. Because when someone, you know, internalizes the definition and the identification with a diagnosis that can change the whole trajectory of their life. And so it's such a tremendous unlearning that we're collectively in, unlearning the constricted and maladaptive ways,

the medical model has insidiously kept us controlled and disempowered. And so this is a part of the conversation we're having in this moment. Can we change the narrative? Can we? Yes. The script, can we say, you know, yes, yeah, I'm ready to let go of that, but can I put more attention towards what I'm actually bringing into my life, which simultaneously heals and expands and empowers? I love it. I love it. We should work actively to change that conversation because just, like you said, when you start talking about trauma, you can't help but feel somber about things. But when you talk about moving past trauma and elevating yourself to, you know, a level of creating things that you didn't even know it was possible, that reinforces a whole

new behavior. And it just breaks down the barriers of the medical container. Okay, we're done with that. We're over here now. And maybe like it could even feed itself. Like you could have a school in which the, the enhancement model subsidizes the trauma model. You know what I mean? By the people that are coming in to be optimized. Yeah, it's this much, but you're having, you're having the, the whole neural feedback. You're having everything. And it's a layered sort of five-day. You know, it's beautiful.

And it costs as much. And on top of that, what you're doing is you're providing a scholarship for this person down here that's been abused. You know, like, it's beautiful, right? That's it. ecosystem. That's exactly how I run my own business. You know, when people come in and to work with me individually, it is an investment.

And I, you know, I feel very anchored in that. because it's an energy exchange. I know my value. I know what I'm bringing. And also, I'm very open to working with the pro bono client that the full fee client is paying for their scholarship. You know, this is where we have to create access and the distribution in a way that feels really equitable and fluid.

So, yes, I totally agree with you there. Yeah. I think that should be emphasized. I think I think everybody could get around that like yeah I'm going to do that and the person doesn't have to feel bad because they have more and the person that doesn't have more gets to come into it's like it's full community and on some level it I think it harkens back to ceremony and ritual and there's something interesting about a ritual that you get to go through your whole or a right of passage is even better because as a right of passage as a young man I get to see my older brother or my cousin become a man when I'm a boy and then when I I know that I'm going to go through the right of passage is even better. I'm going to go through that ceremony. So I get to see it on all the levels throughout my life. I'm the child, on the young boy becoming a man, and then I'm the man providing the ceremony. But I get to see myself through that. And I think we could see that if we change the right of passage ceremony using the plant. I don't know. I go off on tangent sometimes, Lena, but it's a beautiful

thing, right? It is a beautiful thing in the flow. But I agree. You know, we see those aspects of ourselves. I mean, this is where life is the living ceremony. Life is the living ceremony. And ceremony is not just when you're, you know, you're on, you're with the medicine and you're in that expanded state of consciousness, every day is. And that's how can we move from wise action, from action that comes from love. And when we do, then we create a different resonance that that really truly can change the world. Yeah, I think that that's where we are. I think we are on the cusp of incredible change in our personal lives and in society

and that we all have a role to play by becoming the best versions of ourselves. And I mean, I took you way past the hour mark. I apologize for that, but I'm so thankful to get to hang out with you and talk to you. It was a great conversation. But before I let you go, where can people find you? What do you have coming up and what are you excited about? Yeah, I'm excited about so much. but people can find me on social media.

So my handle on all my channels is at I am Lena Franklin, L-E-N-A, Franklin. And, you know, I'm excited about the interconnected capacity of all of us to be in community together to truly create a new earth and to create change, like sustainable change for our planet that so desperately needs, needs us, you know, to continue this elevation expansion. And a part of what I'm excited this year to be offering is our annual Expand Peru trip, which is a journey back home to the wisdom keepers that are my family, Caro, are my Shepibo teacher and brother, Meister Pablo will be a part of this journey. So it's really, it's a spiritual initiation journey through the Sacred Valley. So all of those beautiful teachers will be traveling with us

the entire time through the Sacred Valley. And those who join will be receiving initiations and ceremonies, the rights of the Munai Ki. And there is an optional ayahuasca ceremony. So it's It's a life-changing trip. It's, you know, it really very much speaks to that bridge of the Eagle Condor, the north and the south, the east and the west, and connection to these wisdom traditions. So I invite, you know, whoever's called would love to have you. And that's September 21st through 29th. So that's on the horizon. And then beyond that, just, you know, continuing to have fun.

on this human journey. Let's enjoy it. Yeah, you get to go around. You're going around right now. You should enjoy the moment and understand it and hopefully find some love in it. So, well, hang on briefly afterwards. I want to talk to you just shortly for a few things. But ladies and gentlemen, I hope you have a beautiful day. I hope that you realize you are the miracle and that something beautiful is probably getting ready to have it right about now. So that's all we got for today, ladies and gentlemen. Aloha.