What can psychedelics teach us about chronic pain, trauma, and the body? And what happens when a career built around the mind demands a deeper connection with the living world? In this episode of Unjourneying, I talk with Dr. Ben Malcolm, founder of Spirit Pharmacist, about his path to Costa Rica, personal transformation, and our relationship with nature.

We explore Ben’s chronic back pain and experiences with ketamine and other psychedelics. He shares a striking encounter with a bodyworker that opened up questions about the psoas, fascia, muscle tension, and trauma. Does the body keep the score? We discuss Bessel van der Kolk’s influential framework, predictive processing, and how psychedelics may shift habitual patterns of perception.

Along the way, we explore divorce, professional identity, ecological stewardship, Daniel Quinn’s Ishmael, and Ben’s vision for Casa de Espíritu, his retreat project in Costa Rica. This is a conversation about embodiment, healing, and the possibility of a personal renaissance.

Dr. Ben Malcolm, PharmD, MPH, is a clinical psychiatric pharmacist, educator, and entrepreneur who helped pioneer psychedelic pharmacy. Through his website, Spirit Pharmacist, he provides psychopharmacology consulting, courses, and training focused on the interactions between medications, medical conditions, and psychedelics. He has published more than a dozen medical journal articles, delivered hundreds of professional presentations, serves on the board of the Psychedelic Medicine Association, and teaches in psychedelic therapy training programs. Originally from Tasmania, Australia, Ben is also a former All-American competitive swimmer and accomplished didgeridoo player. He now lives in Costa Rica, where he is developing Casa de Espíritu, a homestay retreat project.

Dr. Ben Malcom | Spirit Pharmacist

🌐 Website: https://www.spiritpharmacist.com

Mira Funk, LCSW | Unjourneying

🌐 Website: https://www.unjourneying.com

🌟 Patreon: https://www.unjourneying.com/patreon

Ishmael by Daniel Quinn

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishmael_(Quinn_novel)

0:00 Intro

6:04 How Dr. Malcolm Landed in Costa Rica

6:47 Building Spirit Pharmacist on Lunch Breaks

9:22 Hawaii Was a No, Costa Rica Was Not

12:21 Divorce, and Landing in the Right Place

13:06 Why Costa Rica? Forests, Currency, Blue Zones, and No Army

16:27 Relationships as Teachers

19:15 The Stigma of Divorce

20:24 The Spirit Pharmacist Is a Hat, Not an Identity

22:49 Personal Stories and the Audience You Opted Into

24:05 Casa de Espíritu: Building an Ecological Retreat

26:43 A Mind Career Needs a Body Counterweight

29:26 Takers and Givers: Rethinking Our Relationship with Nature

32:34 Daniel Quinn’s Ishmael and the Problem of Extraction

33:40 Chronic Back Pain, and Why Ketamine?

36:15 No Pain, No Gain? Rethinking Chronic Pain

41:55 MDMA, LSD, and Ayahuasca for Pain

42:22 The Story of the Psoas and the Bodyworker

43:26 Why Ketamine Opened What Other Medicines Only Showed

45:38 Fascia, Muscle Tension, and Trauma

47:45 Psychedelics and the Body’s Innate Responses

50:03 Does the Body Keep the Score?

52:01 The Mind Keeps the Score, The Body Shows It

56:20 How Psychedelics Loosen Prediction

59:19 Letting Go of Control During a Psychedelic Experience

1:01:02 A Personal Renaissance

1:03:28 How to Connect with Mira & the Unjourneying Community

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