April 17 & 18, 2026
Spring Awakening
The Forge, 2636 Huron St, Los Angeles 90065
10% discount on tickets when you sign up!
If you’re interested in the power and potential of psychedelics to heal ourselves emotionally, mentally, and spiritually, this is an event you won’t want to miss.
Speakers
Exhibits
Music
Connections
UNLIMITED
Personal Invitation from the Founder
Dear Colleague, I’d like to personally invite you to attend Spring Awakening 2026.
We need each other. The Psychedelic Institute community is expansive. Spring Awakening 2026 is a platform for the most knowledgeable practitioners, psychologists, researchers, doctors, and facilitators.
Spring Awakening 2026 brings together the leading authorities, experts, and experienced practitioners from all over the world offering you the most current and up to date data, research and applications.
If you’re new or experienced with psychedelics and want to learn more about how to harness them to change your life or if you’re a professional and would like to network and expand your expertise, this is the perfect event for you.
I hope to see you at Spring Awakening on April 17th!
Paul Karasik, Founder — Psychedelic Institute
Speakers
Adam O’Neill
CEO & Founder | Conscious Entrepreneur & Explorer
Adam O’Neill is a Los Angeles–based real estate developer, entrepreneur, and lifelong seeker at the intersection of business, community, and human potential. With over $750 million in transactions and hundreds of projects across Greater Los Angeles, he has achieved a 35% average IRR while creating housing for working families. Guided by spirituality, curiosity, and mindfulness, Adam views development as an act of service—bringing vision into form, creating spaces that nurture well-being, and fostering connection between people and place. For him, success is measured not only in returns, but in the lasting harmony between communities, the built environment, and the human spirit.
Alexander Howe
Herbalist/Traditional Healer
Alexander “Bush Ninja” Howe is a passionate herbalist with over 20 years of experience. In 2011, he traveled to South Africa, spending eight years since then backpacking, teaching practical herbalism, and learning from traditional healers and Indigenous communities all over the Southern African continent. During this journey, he earned the nickname Bush Ninja, and discovered the powerful South African pharmacopoeia, including Kanna. After pandemic, he felt Kanna’s time had come for the West. Inspired by stories of healing, support for addiction, benefits for depression, and joyful communal use, he created Mamma Kanna to share this medicine with the world while supporting the San and Khoi-Khoi peoples who carried the knowledge through time.
IG: @The_BushNinja & @Mamma.Kanna
MammaKanna.com
Atara
Psychedelic Coach, Facilitator and Consultant
Atara is a multidisciplinary healer and microdose integration coach specializing in the intersection of alternative medicines and mental health. Her work emphasizes safe, evidence-informed approaches to microdosing and integration that support resilience, emotional regulation, and self-discovery. With training in holistic wellness and consciousness studies, she creates structured, supportive environments that complement both traditional and emerging modalities. Atara is committed to advancing integrative practices that honor scientific research while remaining rooted in cross-cultural healing traditions.
Avens O'Brien
Co-Founder & VP of Operations-Advanced Mycology
Avens O’Brien is a psychedelic educator, entrepreneur, activist and advocate. She co-founded Advanced Mycology with Judd Weiss in 2021, and is the VP of Operations as well as the head mycologist for their Shrüm products. She won the Battle of the Agar at the 2022 CA Psychedelic Conference. In 2024, she taught Mike Tyson how to grow his own shrooms! Over 20 years ago, she began lobbying and activism for ending the drug war, and during that time has facilitated, guided and “trip-sit” for countless first psychedelic journeys for friends & clients. Her enthusiasm for psychedelic experiences has her regularly experimenting with new compounds, contributing content for social media, podcasts and DoubleBlind Magazine, and advising friends and strangers about risk-reduction and enjoyment-maximization on over a dozen psychedelic substances.
@avensobrien on social media
avens@advancedmyco.com
Chad Sonkin
Head of Sales-Conscious Counsel
Chad Sonkin is Head of Growth at Conscious Counsel, helping wellness entrepreneurs build legally protected, sustainable businesses.
Drawing from his background with high-growth startups like Bird, Cloud Kitchens, and Edge Theory Labs, Chad brings a mix of strategy, clarity, and real-world experience to founders who want to grow without exposing themselves to unnecessary risk. Known for his relationship-driven approach, he supports studios, coaches, therapists, and retreat leaders in getting the right agreements, trademarks, and systems in place so they can scale with confidence. Chad’s mission is simple: make legal support accessible, practical, and actually empowering.
Christian Rasmussen
CEO/Owner- Amentara
Christian is the owner of Amentara (formerly MN Nice Ethnobotanicals), the largest Amanita muscaria retailer, wholesaler and importer in the country. After Amanita healed his brain while going through a grueling benzodiazepine withdrawal, Christian formed MN
Nice to bring Amanita to the states. He’s collected thousands of anecdotal reports
about amanita healing everything from anxiety, insomnia, and depression to more
complex physical issues like neurological late-stage Lyme disease. He is dedicated
to educating about the mushrooms’ healing, spiritual, and practical potential, and
giving people access to what he believes is the most iconic, yet most
misunderstood mushroom in the world.
Email: christian@amentara.com
Courtney Close
Retreat Leader – Founder, Hummingbird Church
Courtney Close is the founder of Hummingbird Church, established in 2020, dedicated to helping others access safe, ethical, and well-held ceremonial spaces. She stewards both the logistical and spiritual foundations of the church and its retreats, ensuring experiences are offered with care and integrity. Working closely with the Hummingbird Church team, Courtney helps create immersive, heart-centered environments for healing, collaborating with musicians and practitioners.
IG @hummingbird_church
FB www.facebook.com/hummingbirdchurch
Danny Santos
Healer, Master Astrologer
Danny Santos is the visionary healer and astrologer behind Santos & The Crystal Visions. A master astrologer, his work explores the divine connection between the 12-step recovery model and the 12 signs of the zodiac, offering a spiritually integrative approach to healing. In 2023, Santos was blessed by the Shipibo Tribe in Peru to serve Ayahuasca through the Lopez/Mahua lineage. He is a certified breathwork instructor, Reiki Master, sound healer, tarot educator, and trained psychic medium through the Los Angeles Spirit Academy. His work has been featured in Bustle, The New York Post, The National Alliance on Mental Illness, and on Lisa Rinna’s podcast, “Let’s Not Talk About The Husband.” A proud graduate of USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, Santos volunteers with the Los Angeles Midnight Mission and the Los Angeles LGBT Center, and performs music throughout the greater Los Angeles area.
Dr. David Wiss
Knowledge Producer
Dr. David Wiss is a mental health scientist and registered dietitian nutritionist. He founded Nutrition in Recovery, a group practice based in Los Angeles, CA, and the Wise Mind Nutrition mobile app. As a clinician and researcher, Dr. Wiss has over a decade of experience working one-on-one with patients and has authored more than 20 peer-reviewed journal articles. Dr. Wissis dedicated to challenging the status quo and being a part of the solution to the mental health crisis. IG: @drdavidwiss
Diego Alfonso
Medicine Facilitator
Diego, originally from Colombia, has dedicated his life to working with traditional medicines. He believes that serving others is his true purpose and has gained profound insights through his experiences with these traditional practices. Driven by a deep sense of gratitude for the knowledge he has received, Diego is committed to sharing the wisdom of traditional medicines with his community, extending his knowledge and support to others.
Contact Info: Instagram @AinyHealing
Jaz
Trauma Healing Specialist, Plant Medicine Facilitator & Healer
Jaz is a Los Angeles-based healer and plant medicine facilitator with over a decade of experience, specializing in trauma recovery. For the past five years, she has focused on MDMA group therapy, guiding individuals through transformative healing journeys. By blending traditional practices with modern technology, Jaz offers a holistic approach to trauma healing, helping clients reconnect with their true selves for lasting change.
Jeffrey Ringer
Guide, Artist & Facilitator
Jeffrey Ringer is a heart-centered guide, artist, and facilitator who embodies Divine Masculine love through presence, compassion, and authenticity. Unapologetically real, he shares his own struggles and stories to create safety, trust, and deep connection. For over 25 years, Jeffrey worked as a visionary entrepreneur in photography, marketing, and advertising before following the call to support spiritual growth and healing. He is the author of Breathe in the Beauty and is writing My Journey of Self-Love… Emotionally, Physically and Spiritually. Certified in trauma healing, Tantra, IFS, MDMA-assisted therapy, and sacred psychedelic practices, Jeffrey co-facilitates heart-centered workshops with his partner Rebecca Smith at their Studio City sanctuary, Agnes Tree House—offering transformative, playful, and deeply respectful experiences rooted in love and integration.
Agnestreehouse.com
FB: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100092723310805
agnestreehouse@gmail.com
818.822.5644
Jennifer Estevez
Medicine Facilitator & Creative Strategist
Jennifer Estevez is a medicine facilitator, integration coach, and conscious business consultant based in Peru’s Sacred Valley. Raised by spiritually minded pragmatists, her work bridges Western psychology, science, and systems thinking with shamanic and ceremonial traditions. Drawn to Huachuma, she spent a year brewing and sitting with the medicine before serving others and continues her studies in Chavín with Maestra Cecelia and Raúl, lineage keepers of the ancient temple. She has apprenticed as a Tabaquera with Ernesto García Torres and integrates Jungian psychology, somatic experiencing, and IFS to support grounded, sustainable integration of ceremonial work into daily life.
www.jenestevez.com
Judd Weiss
President-Advanced Mycology
Judd Weiss is an entrepreneur pioneer devoted to making the meaningful power of psychedelics more accessible.
In 2021 Judd formed Advanced Mycology and created Shrüm, the world’s first consumer friendly mushroom grow bag, making it radically simple for anyone to grow their own shrooms.
A passionate psychonaut for the past 3 decades, Judd now focuses on Xüm, chewable Metocintablets, and future products on the bleeding edge of psychedelic access.
Kat Angelica
Founder-HeARTsong Wellness
Kat Angelica, founder of HeARTsong Wellness, is an art medicine healer and Reiki master dedicated to guiding others on journeys of self-discovery and transformation. Partnering with Shaman Sand – a skilled practitioner of ancestral healing and sacred ceremony – they weave together art, energy work, and shamanic tradition. Together, they create safe, inspiring spaces where participants can explore inner realms, connect with spirit, and unlock possibilities for healing, growth, and creative expression.
Kat Walsh
Founder-Trip on This
Kat Walsh is a host, storyteller, and DJ known as Kat’s Meow. She’s the founder of Trip OnThis, a psychedelic media platform created to speak to everyday people, helping recreational and at-home explorers stay safe, informed and curious. Her work is rooted in joy, curiosity and the courage it takes to go after our dreams. Whether she’s behind the decks, on the mic, or sharing a story, Kat’s focus is on sparking connection and reminding people that their wildest visions are worth going after.
@lifewithkatwalsh on IG & TikTok
Katherine Tomlinson
Ceremonialist and Therapist in Training
Katherine Tomlinson is a graduate student in Integral Counseling Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies, a psychedelic facilitator, educator, and integration specialist, as well as the founder and coordinator of the Integral Psychedelic Community. Her work focuses on preparation, harm reduction, and post-experience integration across a range of psychedelic medicines, with particular attention to ethics, relational dynamics, and cultural context. Drawing from nearly two decades of experience in psychedelic communities, academic training in psychotherapy, and field research, she bridges clinical, ceremonial, and community-based perspectives. Katherine’s approach centers psychological safety, informed consent, and meaning-making, supporting individuals and groups in translating altered states into grounded insight, embodied change, and sustainable growth.
https://katherinetomlinson.org/
@integral.psych3delic on Instagram
Kayla Silber
Augmented Reality Artist and Author
Kayla has loved the arts for as long as she can remember, exploring everything from drawing and dancing to singing, acting, and writing. After earning a BFA from the University of Maryland, she built a successful career as a creative director and taught herself animation, becoming one of Los Angeles’s pioneering augmented reality artists. In January 2024, Kayla unified her artistic disciplines into Rosie & Raven, an augmented reality children’s book designed to spark wonder and reignite a love of reading. The book earned a Moonbeam Children’s Book Award and was named one of Oprah’s Favorite Things 2025.
Learn more at www.elev8reality.com and @kaylafineart
Social handles:
Kevin Thorbahn, B.S.
Founder-DreamMind Institute
Kevin Thorbahn, B.S., is an experienced psychonaut and trained psychedelic guide with over 160 hours of supervised DMT practice through the IDMT Project (Instituto da MoléculaTriptamina). He has over 25 years of experience cultivating and working with ethnobotanical plants and fungi. With a background in Biology and Chemistry and 15 years in the biotech industry focused on molecular biology and genetics, Kevin blends science with traditional plant wisdom. He is the founder of DreamMind Labs and the nonprofit DreamMind Institute, dedicated to educating communities on responsible cultivation and relationship with medicinal plants and fungi in compliance with Colorado law.
Kyle Stewart
President-Fractal Elephant Consulting
Kyle Stewart has over 18 years of personal experience with psychedelics and more than a decade as a consultant in the psychedelic industry. Once caught in a cycle of addiction and gang affiliation, Kyle’s life was transformed by the healing power of psychedelics, inspiring a journey devoted to service and helping others heal. He now works with multiple brands, providing in-depth technical, business, and distribution expertise, as well as marketing support. Through his work, Kyle bridges personal experience and professional insight to guide the growth of the psychedelic field and empower others on their path to transformation.
Elizabeth Cano
Bruja and Spiritual Guide
Elizabeth is a bruja and spiritual healer with 27 years of experience in brujería and energy work. A certified yoga teacher and mentor to new Brujas, she guides soulful journeys using candle magic, limpias, plant medicine, and intention-based rituals.
@layogibruja
Loretta Gold
Clinical Psychotherapist & MAPS Trained Psychedelic Assisted Therapist
Loretta Gold is a UKCP-accredited Transpersonal Integrative Psychotherapist and Psychedelic-Assisted Therapist, specializing in trauma, integration, and somatic healing. With a diverse background in art therapy, psychiatric work, and psychedelic therapy, she integrates multiple modalities to support individuals on their healing journeys. Loretta has worked in both private practice and clinical settings, supporting clients with complex trauma, addiction, and mental health challenges. She is trained in psychedelic-assisted therapy and provides one-on-one therapy, combining transformative healing with tailored integration support. Her compassionate approach empowers clients to achieve profound, lasting change.
Lucas Gerler
Speaker & strategist
Lucas Gerler is a strategist and speaker exploring consciousness, psychedelics, and systems-level change. His work is informed by profound personal adversity, including near-death experiences and periods of psychological struggle, which led him toward meditation, ethnobotanical practice, and the study of religious and cultural traditions as containers for sacrament and integration.
He is affiliated with Panacea Plant Sciences, which in April 2024 filed Panacea Plant Sciences, Inc. v. Garland et al., a federal lawsuit challenging the DOJ and DEA over administrative procedure issues related to controlled-substance rule-making. Lucas is also the founder of LiquidGold Consulting and LiquidGold Financial, and the creator of BIG Law, a justice-oriented legal advocacy concept examining how expanded awareness can inform structural reform.
Michael Cindrich
Cannabis and Psychedelic Attorney, Litigator
Michael E. Cindrich is a California attorney with almost twenty years’ experience in criminal and civil litigation, including the litigation and trial of dozens of misdemeanor and felony cases while a Prosecutor for the San Diego District Attorney’s Office. Mr. Cindrich is best known for being a fierce litigator and one of the top cannabis and psychedelic attorneys in California. He has successfully won “Not Guilty” verdicts on several high profile cases, and had dozens of cases dismissed for lack of evidence, illegal search and seizure, and in the interest of justice. Mr. Cindrich successfully argued illegal search and seizures by law enforcement resulting in multiple felony cases being dismissed during the pretrial phase. Mr. Cindrich has also advised and consulted with thousands of entrepreneurs in numerous aspects of business law and regulatory compliance in the cannabis industry.
Paul Karasik
Founder-Psychedelic Institute of Los Angeles
Paul Karasik brings decades of experience in the world of psychedelics. He was a member of the early psychedelic community in New York and California, which included such luminaries as Timothy Leary and Ram Dass.
Paul co-founded Thompson’s Ranch, one of the first alternative communities in Joshua Tree, CA. His ninth and most recent book, published in 2024 is “Getting High on Leadership: The Leader’s Guide to Higher Consciousness”. Paul also has over 20 years of business and management consulting for many of America’s largest corporations including Meryl Lynch, Blackrock, Fidelity, Taylor Made Golf and Detroit Tigers. Paul and the Psychedelic Institute of Los Angeles are dedicated to making information and safe access available to anyone and everyone who is seeking to awaken their consciousness.
Rebecca Neisler
Psychedelic Researcher
Rebecca Neisler holds a degree in psychology and neuroscience from the University of Florida and focuses her work on altered states of consciousness. She explores the intersection of neuroscience, perception, and psychedelic experiences, with a special interest in the visual phenomena of fractal patterns. Rebecca has a passion for psychedelics both in and outside the academic field. Her presentations highlight how psychedelics affect sensory processing, pattern recognition, and meaning-making, opening conversations that bridge science, art, and lived experience. She is dedicated to fostering dialogue that makes neuroscience approachable, engaging, and relevant to personal and collective transformation.
Robert T. Rush, Esq.
Attorney and Policy Advocate
Robert Rush is an attorney and policy advocate whose work bridges law, science, and individual liberty in the evolving landscape of psychedelic and drug policy reform. He operates an independent practice, representing scientists, facilitators, healing centers, entheogenic churches, advocacy organizations, non-profits, and emerging businesses.
Rush is also the founder of the Rights and Reason Project, a public-interest initiative dedicated to advancing cognitive liberty, evidence-based drug policy, and constitutional accountability within administrative and criminal law. His work emphasizes the intersection of civil rights, cognitive liberty, and individual and scientific freedom, challenging administrative overreach and seeking to ensure that public policy reflects reason rather than fear.
In 2024, Rush co-led the groundbreaking challenge against the DEA’s proposed scheduling of DOI and DOC – one of the most consequential administrative hearings in modern drug policy. His broader practice includes advising on business development, risk management, cannabis and hemp law, and the development of equitable frameworks for emerging natural medicines. Rush regularly speaks on law, policy, and science at the forefront of reform, working to create a rational and humane legal system that honors both empirical evidence and individual rights.
www.rightsandreasonproject.com
rrush@rrushlaw.com
Sebastian Siegel
Acclaimed Director, Speaker & Therapist
British-American acclaimed director and author Sebastian Siegel works in transformative consciousness through mediums of storytelling in film, psychotherapeutic practices, and immersive meditative experiences.
“Sebastian Siegel is a dexterous and original director, his movie is transcendent storytelling at its best.”
—Alex Grey
“[Sebastian Siegel’s] Grace and Grit will shake you, and maybe even awaken you in some way. This movie is a must-see, especially for anyone interested in love or consciousness.”
—John Mackey, Founder Whole Foods
www.DeeplyConscious.com
www.SebastianSiegel.com
IG @SebastianSiegel1
Sel Sarkin
For more than a decade, Sel has been serving Entheogens to a wide variety of people seeking healing and self growth.
He specializes in serving Bufo or 5meo to people wanting to deepen their inner understanding. The medicine is well suited for trauma.
Iboga is used for addictions issues, psilocybin and MDMA therapy for couples with relationship issues and those who are struggling with anxiety and depression.
As part of the process he offers Integration sessions so that a person can more effectively process their Psychedelic experience.
Sel continues to provide support and counseling for those using psychedelics as part of their life’s journey.
Dr. Sharnael
Naturopathic Doctor, Author, Speaker, and Podcast Host
Dr. Sharnael is a naturopathic doctor, author, speaker, and host of the Dr. Sharnael TrueTVpodcast, specializing in plant medicine integration, epigenetics, frequency medicine, trauma healing, and consciousness studies.
She teaches that miracles are not random events but the result of biological, emotional, and spiritual alignment.
Having traveled to 54 countries for research and teaching, she brings a global perspective to holistic health and human potential.
Author of seven books, including The Science of Miracles and Grandfather Iboga, she empowers individuals to take radical responsibility, transform trauma, and live in true divine alignment.
www.drsharnael.com
Shaun Ranko Meraya
Xaman
Shaun began his healing journey with conventional methods like counseling, NLP and Yoga. His life and healing journey took a profound leap forward in his first weekend of Ayahuasca Ceremony and continued to do so with all of the plant-based medicines he was blessed in working with for many years following.
His numerous travels to the Amazon jungle & his intensive dietas with Master Plant teachers have enabled him to learn from the plant spirits directly and have taught him the Sacred ways of the indigenous tribes. Shaun’s heart-centered work is offered with the intention of helping our families & community at-large to heal and honor our interconnectedness to all Beings.
shaun@divineguidance.me
Suzi Kalypso
Priestess and Founder-Temple of Eden
Suzi Kalypso is a passionate advocate for the decriminalization and sacramental use of entheogenic medicines, particularly 5-MeO-DMT (Bufo). As the Priestess and founder of the Temple of Eden, a nonprofit entheogenic church in Los Angeles, she offers group and private ceremonies, facilitator training, harm-reduction seminars, community healing events, and free integration support. Drawing from her own journey of trauma, recovery, and transformation, Suzi guides others through shadow work and “dark night of the soul” experiences from an astrological and spiritual perspective. Dedicated to awakening the Divine Feminine and Masculine, she envisions a hopeful future through the healing power of sacred medicines.
310-912-0490
Instagram: @thetempleofeden
Teresa Kearney
Vice President of Sales for Panacea Payroll
Teresa Kearney is the Vice President of Sales for Panacea Payroll. Panacea is solely focused on providing Payroll, HR and Timekeeping to the cannabis and psychedelics industries. Teresa earned a B.S. at Indiana Univ. of PA and completed graduate study at Texas A&M Univ. While residing in multiple states in the US, she has worked in a variety of fields, such as, education, mental health, microwave TV transmitter sales, pharmaceutical research product sales, to name a few, before landing in the payroll industry. Teresa had been in payroll 8 years before applying her well-rounded skill set to the alternative health industry for the past 6 years.
Social media handles:
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/teresa-kearney-62a45619/
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/panaceapayroll/
Twitter – @PanaceaTeresa
Youtube Channel – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njMRoOoFHZw
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/PanaceaPayroll/
Tony Piazza
Ceremonial Facilitator & Founder-Trinity Activated
Tony Piazza is a former U.S. Navy Veteran turned ceremonial facilitator and founder of Trinity Activated, a healing platform integrating breathwork, frequency medicine, and sacred plant ceremonies. Following a near-death experience that catalyzed a profound spiritual awakening, he has spent years apprenticing with shamans and facilitating hundreds of ceremonies with medicines including changa, ayahuasca, bufo, and ibogaine. His work emphasizes integrity, safety, and deep preparation and integration. Anthony teaches a grounded, reverent approach to service that bridges ancient wisdom with modern responsibility.
Vincenzo Carrano
Director | Creative Strategist
Vincenzo Carrano is a director and creative strategist working at the intersection of storytelling, culture, and consciousness. As co founder and Creative Director of VAYA, a sun grown cannabis brand rooted in ritual and Mexican heritage, he explores cannabis as a tool for presence, creativity, and cultural dialogue. With a background in global film campaigns as wella s documentaries, his work bridges high level narrative craft with intimate human experience. On this panel, he speaks about cannabis not as escape, but as engagement, a catalyst for awareness, expression, and evolution within the emerging psychedelic conversation.
Zipporah
Zipporah-Tantra Therapist & Cannabis Coach
We are thrilled to welcome back Zipporah – Somatic Tantra Therapist, Conscious Cannabis Coach, and internationally recognized psychedelic facilitator, as a featured guide at Awakening 2025. With years of experience leading transformational ceremonies, Zipporah weaves tantric wisdom and psychedelic integration into potent journeys of healing and awakening.
Her workshop, Psychedelic Tantra, is an immersive experience designed to awaken life-force energy, release emotional blocks, and activate higher states of consciousness through ritual, breath, tribal jungle beats, and embodied practice. Participants will walk away with tools to reconnect with their bodies, harness kundalini energy, and access clarity, creativity, and expanded states of love.
www.instagram.com/zipporah.thehighpriestess
To learn more, search for Zipporah on Sacred Eros
Sky Karasik
Sky Karasik is a passionate member of the psychedelic community. As a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, with a BA in Communications and minor in Gender/Sexuality/Women’s studies, she is drawn to issues that involve helping people through embracing individual experiences. Her own personal experiences have led her to understand that psychedelics have the potential to address many of the negative social and spiritual aspects of life that plague our culture today. Having worked in media in the cannabis industry, Sky brings an understanding of the complexities of distribution and access.
Aluna Lua
Media Company Co-Founder
Aluna Lua is the co-founder of the psychedelic media company Ascension Arts and head coach of The Plant Spirit School. She works as a ceremony facilitator, performing artist and integration coach. Lua is from Brazil and has been an ally for indigenous communities for over a decade. She specializes in the medicines of Hapé, Kambo and Cannabis and is based in Los Angeles, CA. She provides psychedelic peer support at Burning Man through the Zendo Project and offers trainings, retreats and mentorship for sacred space holders. As a passionate entrepreneur, brand designer and creative director, Lua also supports artists and healers to launch their sacred offerings, develop their artistic gifts and become creative professionals of the renaissance.
Sagar Tiwari
Founder & Investor
Sagar Tiwari is the Founder & CEO of Blue Modern Advisory, an AI Consultancy building proprietary datasets and growth engines for large healthcare and financial service enterprises. He is also a huge advocate for psychedelic medicine, volunteering for multiple organizations in the space include MAPS, Beckley Retreats, Odyssey PBC, and KCLA.
Sagar specializes in the intersection of AI and psychedelics, teaching clients and communities the power of leveraging psychedelic frameworks to get more out of AI.
Musicians
Ganesha Atom Rose
Ganesha Atom Rose is a global troubadour and healer. Originally from Southern California, he grew up living and traveling through the Caribbean and Europe with parents steeped in spirituality and healing. He currently resides with his family in the Yucatán, MX where he founded the venue and healing space, “Ganesha’s Lounge.” There he hosts and creates with artists and healers sharing the ancient practices of devotional music. His musical collective, “The Beautiful Noize,” brings the audience along for an experience where they open to sacred sounds and vibrations from the heart. Weaving the Yogic tradition of Bhakti Kirtan, to indigenous music from South America and Africa, he brings a wide array of musical stylings to craft a transformational and unique experience in relatable and powerful ways. Come dive into the depths of the subconscious and spirit world for a powerful self discovery.
Greg Gilman
GREG IN GOOD COMPANY is L.A.-based rock n roll full of heart and soul, whose music is deeply inspired by his psychedelic and spiritual experiences. “It’s Americana meets country meets rock & roll with moody hooks, heartfelt lyrics and creative songwriting,” raves Music Connection. “If you like upbeat Americana music, you’ll love Greg in Good Company.” Listen to his latest album “Quiet Days and Quiet Nights” wherever you stream music. Find GIGC on YouTube and follow him on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook:
@GregInGoodCo
Melissa Ladybug
Melissa Ladybug is an indie-psychedelic artist blending Mediterranean magic with jazzy grooves, jungle rhythms, and cinematic sensuality. Her whimsical yet sultry sound evokes a poetic dreamworld where myth, mischief, and melody entwine. Think Lana Del Rey meets Aurora on a tropical fantasy island.
Instagram:
@melissaladybug.music
Milo Gonzalez
Milo Gonzalez is a guitarist born of a multi-generational family of artists and musicians native to Venice Beach. With his mother being a rock vocalist, and his step father being a founding member of the renowned hardcore punk band Black Flag, Milo grew up around heavy rock music. Inspired to play both electric and acoustic guitar, Milo discovered a deep love for flamenco and classical guitar music, finding it’s dark, emotive, and aggressive qualities alluring and similar to that of his rock roots. Milo has developed a unique and hard to define style of music that derives as much influence from legendary guitar virtuosos such as Paco De Lucia, and Vicente Amigo, as it does from rock/metal/psychedelic legends like Black Sabbath and Radiohead.
IG: @milogonzalezmusic
Milognzlz@gmail.com
Paul Karasik
Founder-Psychedelic Institute of Los Angeles
Paul Karasik brings decades of experience in the world of psychedelics. He was a member of the early psychedelic community in New York and California, which included such luminaries as Timothy Leary and Ram Dass.
Paul co-founded Thompson’s Ranch, one of the first alternative communities in Joshua Tree, CA. His ninth and most recent book, published in 2024 is “Getting High on Leadership: The Leader’s Guide to Higher Consciousness”. Paul also has over 20 years of business and management consulting for many of America’s largest corporations including Meryl Lynch, Blackrock, Fidelity, Taylor Made Golf and Detroit Tigers. Paul and the Psychedelic Institute of Los Angeles are dedicated to making information and safe access available to anyone and everyone who is seeking to awaken their consciousness.
Samantha Sharman
Samantha Sharman is a musician, performance artist, and immersive world-builder exploring embodiment, erotic sovereignty, and creative expression. Through her flagship project FEmpress, she blends house + R&B music, ritual burlesque, and cinematic storytelling to create experiences that reconnect audiences to their bodies, emotions, and pleasure.
She is the Co-Owner of Enchanted Collective, a femme-run creative sanctuary producing immersive music and art festivals while expanding into a creative agency and record label.
Alongside her public work, Samantha offers erotic education, sensual activation, and professional dominatrix services rooted in consent and energy awareness. She integrates power exchange with tantra, energy work, and somatic healing to support surrender, shame release, and full self-expression—treating pleasure as a sacred, transformative force.
Don't Miss Out
Vendors, Reserve Your Space Today!
Day 1: Professional Development
Friday, April 17
TIME
LOFT EAST
LOFT WEST
INSIGHT ROOM
10:00 AM
Creating Investable Psych. Business
How to be a Psychedelic Facilitator
How to Use Changa
Tony Piazza
NOON
How to be a Wachuma Faciliator-Jen Estevez
How to be a Hapé Practitioner-Lua
How to Create Your Own Church-Robert Rush
2:00 PM
How to be a DMT Practitioner: Suzi Kalypso
How to Work with Amanita: Christian
Harnessing Kanna: An Experiential Deep Dive for Professionals
Alexander Howe
4:00 PM
How to Work with & Release Trauma Before After & During Sessions: Rachel Kove & Dr. Shauna Springer
How to Incorporate Cannabis into Your Personal or Professional Practice: Zipporah
X
Day 2: Conference
Saturday, April 18
TIME
LOFT EAST
LOFT WEST
KITCHEN
MUSIC
10:00 AM
Microdose Panel: Kyle, Cesar, Rome, Priscilla, Microdose, collective (Chelsea Coyle)
DMT Panel: Suzi, Kevin Moderator: Dekker Dreyer
ART ACTIVATION
Sam Sharman
11:00 AM
Mushroom Church:
Christian & Mitzi
Psychedelics & Creativity: Kayla, Kat, Kyle, Matthew Dunehoo (Moderate)
ART ACTIVATION
Melissa Ladybug
NOON
Psychedelics & 12 Step Recovery: David Wiss, Megan Hickey
The Miracle of Empathogens-Katherine Tomlinson, Sebastian Moderator: Dekker Dreyer
ART ACTIVATION
X
1:00 PM
Keynote: Judd
Hermeticism: Rob Sanchez
ART ACTIVATION
Kyle Nicolaides
1:30 PM
Keynote: Avens
Fractals/Visuals Rebecca Neisler
ART ACTIVATION
X
2:00 PM
Cannabis as a Psychedelic Vincenzo or Monique
Moderator: Scott Von Heldt
KEYNOTE
ART ACTIVATION
X
2:30 PM
LSD and Psilocybin in Neurodegenerative Healing
Jeffrey Ringer
X
ART ACTIVATION
X
3:00 PM
Ayahuasca Panel: Shaun, Courtney Close, Diego Alfonso Moderator: Danny Santos
Women Sex & Psychedelics: Zipporah, Kat Walsh
Moderator: Sky Karasi
ART ACTIVATION
Milo Gonzalez
4:00 PM
Navigating the Current Legal Landscape: Michael Cindrich, Chad Sonkin, Robert Rush,
Moderator: Lucas Gerler
Ibogaine Panel: Jaz, Sel Sarkin, Tony Piaza
Moderator: Sky Karasik
ART ACTIVATION
Salvador
5:00 PM
How to run A Successful Psychedelic Business Panel: Teresa & Friend, Sagar Moderator: Adam Oneill
Legal Psychedelics: Christian Rasmussen, Judd, Alexander Moderator: TBA
ART ACTIVATION
Paul Karasik
6:00 PM
Cacao Ceremony-Joy Alegria
Cannabis Ceremony: Vincenzo GF
ART ACTIVATION
X
7:00 PM
Hape Ceremony-Salvador
Sound bath-Paul Norlen
ART ACTIVATION
Greg Gilman
8:00 PM
Candle Magic Ceremony-Liz Cano
TBA
ART ACTIVATION
X