Sanjay Singhal and the Nikean Foundation

Revisiting this important interview with Sanjay Singhal on the influence psychedelic medicine has had on his life.

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

Psychedelic medicines have shown great promise – not only in alleviating the symptoms of depression and anxiety, but, I believe, in helping to resolve the root causes of trauma, addiction, and patterns of “stuckness” that require resetting. This requires more research and understanding of what these substances can achieve.

Over the past decade, many famous entrepreneurs and celebrities have begun to open up about their life-changing experiences with psychedelics that led to their personal successes. But less well-known are the wisdom-bringing psychedelic experiences of many top psychologists, psychiatrists, researchers, and others who have taken what they learned from their entheogenic experiences and applied it in their professions, leading to therapeutic advancements, scientific discoveries, and healing for thousands. Such professionals like our past guest, Sanjay Singhal, who has dedicated his life to advocating for psychedelic medicine research and access.

Understand what you're getting into. For God's sakes, have somebody with some experience show you the way. - Sanjay Singhal

My latest book – Psychedelic Wisdom* – contains over 1,500 years of stories of tribal elders’ experiences with psychedelics. Bringing to new light how LSD and other psychedelics offer a pathway to creativity, healing, innovation, and liberation.

Buy the book

I hope you will find value in the intimate conversations on psychedelic medicine and the wisdom found within.

Wishing you golden light,

Dr. Richard L. Miller

*All books are available on Amazon, MAPS and Barnes and Noble.

“Our priority is I want everyone to have access to psychedelic medicine.”

The Nikean Foundation is one of the world’s leading charities funding clinical research focused on psychedelic medicine for mental health, at some of the most prominent international organizations advancing access, including Imperial University, MAPS,  Usona Institute, and Toronto's University Health Network (UHN). 

Now Nikean is turning its attention to storytelling, by building a web-based story platform designed to create new meaning for those exploring psychedelic experiences. It's time to merge research with personal experiences to teach what works and how to access psychedelics safely. The stories are video interviews with people who have gone on psychedelic journeys, you can find them at www.nikean.org.  Nikean encourages everyone to share their stories widely because by transforming out loud, we prevent others from suffering in silence.

I, myself, was recently featured on the Nikean foundation site to share my story. Check it out to hear how my first psychedelic experience changed my life and work forever.

Watch Now

Mr. Sanjay Singhal on MBHP

Show notes:

• How Sanjay’s daughter led him to form the Nikean Foundation

• Psychedelics gave his daughter hope

• Sanjay Singhal’s first experience with psychedelics

• Finding a cause to believe in

• The highest priority for the Nikean Foundation – access to psychedelics for all

• Microdosing LSD for Bipolar disorder

• Book listeners should read about psychedelic medicine

• Talk about a bad trip

• Bipolar is just another condition of the human being

• What our immune system is capable of

• Aerobic exercise and mental health

• What is our responsibility as citizens promoting psychedelic medicine?

• A warning to the public – these are powerful medicines

Links and references:

• Psychedelic Wisdom (Dr. Richard L. Miller) AVAILABLE NOW

• Psychedelic Medicine (Dr. Richard L. Miller)

• Robin Carhart-Harris and Imperial London College

• How to Change Your Mind (Michael Pollan)

• Ayelet Waldman on MBHP

• The Nikean Foundation

Have a Healing Story to Share?

We’d love to hear from you on political and health issues, and are currently soliciting stories from individuals, couples, and families who would like to share their end of life healing stories with psychedelics.

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Transcript

Richard Louis Miller: Welcome to Mind Body Health & Politics. I'm your host, Dr. Richard Louis Miller. Our guest today is Sanjay Singhal, the founder of the Nikean Foundation. Welcome to Mind Body Health & Politics, Sanjay.

Sanjay Singhal: Thanks for having me, Richard.

How Sanjay’s daughter led him to form the Nikean Foundation

Richard Louis Miller: Let's start out by you telling us about the Nikean Foundation. What is it, when did you start it, and why did you start it?

Sanjay Singhal: My daughter unfortunately has anorexia. She was first diagnosed and hospitalized at age eight, then hospitalized again at age 16. It's been a lifelong struggle for her. 

She's 26 years old now and has made it to the third year of residency for psychiatry at the University of Toronto. So, she wants to solve this problem for herself and for other people. I always told her that I would contribute to research to help find a treatment for anorexia once she was finished with her studies and we could do it together. 

About three years ago, I ran into Robin Carhart-Harris, who's a researcher at Imperial College in London, England. He was giving a talk and suggested that psilocybin might actually be a treatment, maybe even a cure, for anorexia. 

My daughter and I flew out to London a couple of weeks later to meet with him and his team. We were really impressed with what psilocybin could do. Up until that point, I had no idea that psychedelics were potential medicine. After the meeting, I agreed to write a check personally to Imperial. I was one of four cornerstone supporters. Tim Ferriss was another one. 

Then, I started doing some reading and discovered that people have been doing this for 50 years. There's a ton of evidence that it's safe and efficacious. We just need to pile on the scientific research to get politicians to legalize these drugs.