In this episode, Kyle interviews Melissa Stangl and Daniel Cleland, Co-founders of Soltara Healing Center. They talk about integration, Shipibo healing lineage, accessibility of psychedelics, and psychedelic tourism.  3 Key Points: Soltara is a Healing Center dedicated toward  integration as well as practicing and preserving the Shipibo tradition of Ayahusca healing.  It doesn't make sense to take nature based traditions and turn it into instant gratification and business. The further you get from tradition, the less beneficial it may be. Tourism for Ayahuasca can bring both harm and benefits to the local community. Reinforcing the heritage, paying the healers very well and giving back to the forests in terms of sustainability are all ways that Soltara is using Ayahuasca tourism to help the local communities. Support the show Patreon Leave us a review on iTunes Share us with your friends – favorite podcast, etc Join our Facebook group - Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community. Navigating Psychedelics Show Notes About Melissa Melissa originally comes from the STEM field She was working in corporate America and was in search for a deeper meaning She met Dan and after joining one of his initial ayahuasca journeys into Peru, it changed her mindset about healing Dan looked for someone to help him after starting up his first ayahuasca center in Peru, and so she dropped everything and moved to the jungle to make it happen After witnessing the healing potential working within the Shipibo tradition, and the need for integration within the community, she later founded Soltara with Dan in Costa Rica About Daniel Daniel grew up in a small town in Canada He followed the typical life trajectory, go to school, go to college, get a job, etc He didn't have big ambitions at the time, very in line with the middle class area that he grew up in After entering the work-force, he was in un-ambitious jobs He thought “are there just 30 years of doing this until this is over?” He felt a strong pull towards South America He was very close to nature in his upbringing He got a job leading tours He had a personal crisis that led him to do some soul searching Within the span of a few years, the trajectory pushed him to build his own healing center in Peru Pillars of Soltara They feel very strongly about having the Shipibo healers lead the ceremony, and everything that they (Mel, Dan and the team) do is to help honor the tradition They focus a lot on integration For the Shipibo culture, their life is integraton, but for a lot of people that are coming from the Western world and other places, that is not the case They started collaborating with clinical psychologists to help create a program that puts the retreat at the start of the program, the work comes after Soltara includes a workbook for integration afterward Our transition times in modern life are shamed, getting your period, having a mid life crisis, having a psychedelic experience, but these experiences can be very sacred “Connecting to the sacredness of life is so healing and so needed for modern-day society” - Melissa Container for Safety and Integration The sensationalism is more around the experience itself People think that you just go in and have the experience and then your life is changed forever and that is not the case A place where people not only can find who they are, but then be who they are in that container, and meet people and create community, is so powerful Kyle said when he attended his retreat there, he can't shake how safe he felt He said it really stood out to him, for someone who is looking at integration and so involved in this field “I would like to bring people to this tradition in a way that is accessible, and I think that starts with safety” - Melissa Corporadelic There are new products, treatment centers, etc The further away you get from tradition, the less beneficial it may be Dan says it doesn't make sen