Can Psychedelics Help Heal Athletes’ Bodies and Minds?

ESPN Daily

ESPN

Sports

4.6 • 3.9K Ratings

🗓️ 21 April 2023

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

We can all see the physical toll that athletes take upon their bodies. What we might not be as aware of, is the mental and emotional stress that many of them are subject to as well. Especially after retiring. So how do these athletes find ways to manage that sort of trauma? In some cases, the unlikely answer is psychedelics. One underground community of athletes journeyed to Jamaica on a retreat to take psilocybin aka “magic mushrooms,” to help them heal, and rediscover themselves. A journey to let go of the pain. So today, Kevin Van Valkenburg takes us inside a seldom glimpsed world…to shed some light on an unusual, but intriguing healing practice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey there, I'm George Sedano, a name you might recognize from crushing the competition
0:08.4	on around the horn, and a voice you might recognize from ESPN Radio and Los Angeles.
0:13.7	Fun fact though, I also got Spurs head coach Greg Popovitz to smile once during a
0:18.6	sideline interview.
0:20.6	So you're going to be hearing different voices hosting ESPN Daily in the coming weeks,
0:24.8	and I'm one of them, helping this podcast do what it's always done.
0:29.2	Tell the best sports stories in audio, day in, and day out.
0:33.6	Thanks for listening.
0:35.0	Kevin Van Volkkenberg, where would you like to begin this story?
0:52.5	In March of 2022, the travel to Jamaica got in a bus, rode up a mountain, down a dirt
1:01.4	road.
1:02.4	It came to an estate that served as a sacred place to experience something that almost no other
1:09.3	reporters have been able to see before.
1:13.4	Two things, blessed alone, good to meet everyone.
1:23.2	This is a very individual process.
1:29.8	The mushroom gives you what you need, and there are magical little creatures.
1:39.5	Years ago, I had heard that there was an underground community of athletes who were using
1:44.0	psilocybin to deal with traumatic brain injuries, depression, and anxiety.
1:49.6	Over the course of a couple years, I earned the trust of some athletes who let me come
1:53.6	along on one of those journeys and document it for ESPN's readership and audience.
2:00.5	It let me tap into emotions good and bad that I never felt before.
2:06.7	It gives you incredible empathy.
	...

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