We are excited to host Grace Blest-Hopley on this episode of the Mangu.tv podcast.

Dr Grace Blest-Hopley is a neuroscientist with over a decade of research into cannabinoids and psychedelics, and the founder of Hystelica — the world's first research organisation dedicated to understanding female biology for safer, more effective psychedelic use, delivering both original research and education in the field. She holds a PhD in Neuroscience from King's College London, and now serves as Chief Scientific Officer at NWPharmaTech and Research Director at Heroic Hearts Project, where she leads work supporting military veterans living with trauma. Grace has spoken internationally as part of her advocacy for women's representation in psychedelic science.

Grace discusses her upbringing on a Staffordshire farm, her connection to horses, and how experiences in India led her to study neuroscience. She and Giancarlo explore the therapeutic potential of cannabinoids, the challenges of cannabis research, and findings from neuroimaging studies of long-term users, particularly those who started young.

Their conversation also covers the rise of psychedelic-assisted therapy, the importance of preparation and integration, and Grace’s work with the Heroic Hearts Project, where she witnessed the benefits of Ayahuasca ceremonies with the Shipibo people.

Grace explains how psychedelics may create a window of increased neuroplasticity, offering opportunities to rewire the brain. She also discusses her research into women’s health, examining how hormonal fluctuations throughout the menstrual cycle can influence psychedelic experiences and their therapeutic potential.

We are delighted to host Marieke McKenna on this episode of the Mangu.tv podcast.

Marieke McKenna (London, 1994) is a Scottish-Dutch philosopher, historian, artistic researcher, and performance artist. Her work explores metaphysics, phenomenology, consciousness studies, spirituality, ecology, and philosophies of nature through interdisciplinary research and embodied practice. She is an expert on cross-cultural perspectives on dreaming and other altered states of consciousness.

For the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, she led the research project History of Lucid Dreaming Research, the first oral-historical examination of the emergence of lucid dreaming as an object of scientific inquiry. In collaboration with the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, the project combined oral history, philosophy, and cross-cultural anthropological research into how different cultures and traditions understand dreaming, with hands-on experience in neuroscience sleep laboratories conducting EEG and fMRI research on the dreaming brain.

Outside academia, Marieke, who is based in The Netherlands, is an award-winning artist and curator, with performances and lectures at institutions including the Van Gogh Museum and the Rijksmuseum. She is the host of her own national radio show on NPO Radio 2, for which she selects music from across the globe, and has taught at various universities, conservatoires, and institutes, including Advaya and the Embassy of the Free Mind.

Giancarlo and Marieke discuss idealism, interconnectedness, and how dreamwork nurtures healing and belonging. They speak about lucid dreaming in therapy, indigenous perspectives, and technology’s encroachment into “inner space,” debating AI, advertising in dreams, collective consciousness, telepathy, quantum theory, and the mind’s creative potential.

We are delighted to host Tree Carr on this episode of the Mangu.tv podcast series.

Tree is a published author and TEDx speaker working in Transpersonal Psychology, with a focus on dreams, death, altered states, and psychedelic integration. She is a graduate of Alef Trust in their programme with Dr. David Luke, and has studied at MetaIntegral Academy in California with Dr. Sean Esbjörn-Hargens. She is a CPD Crossfields Institute Certified Death Doula, with further studies at Sophia Centre for the Study of Cosmology in Culture with Dr. Jack Hunter and Arthur Findlay College of Psychic Sciences. Tree teaches courses on dreamwork and quantum dreaming at The College of Psychic Studies, as well as lectures and workshops with The Psychedelic Society UK. Tree also leads international retreats exploring dreams and consciousness.

Tree shares the story of her upbringing on a commune in Georgia, away from mainstream culture. She speaks about a near-death experience at four, which opened her to psychic and lucid states, and an interest in esoteric studies and plant medicines in her teens. Tree speaks about her twenties onwards, in London, with an evolving spiritual practice, and how profound experiences around death led her to seek mentorship and step into spiritual service at forty.

Giancarlo and Tree speak about death and consciousness. Tree shares stories of her work as a death doula and integrating dreaming and death work, as well as her passion for teaching Quantum Dreaming, a field she has explored for over a decade.