 Well, hello everybody. I really feel honored to be able to be here speaking in front of such a conscious group of individuals and about a topic that's very dear to my heart. And really, in my life, one of the greatest benefits that I've found is accessing higher and higher or deeper and deeper whatever analogy you want to use, levels of consciousness. And to me, that's been a tool that's helped me in business, it's helped me with my own happiness, helped me with health issues across the board. That's been the guiding light for me. And I found a lot of tools. And through my good friend Joe Rogan, floating has been one of those key essential tools. That's a lot easier than going down to Peru and taking sips of strange brews and figuring out your deepest self that way. It's a little bit easier and a little more accessible to go to float tank. And in a lot of cases, equally as valuable. So I'm going to kind of go through the broad spectrum and not talk to you as an expert, but just talk to you as a peer and as an ally, someone who has the voice of a lot of media and just likes to talk about my experiences and how that's helped me. And maybe when you guys are talking to other people or yourself as well, you can kind of count on some of these experiences. So that's my talk. So who am I? I mentioned it. I run a company called Onit and we're focused on earth-grown nutrient, nutritional supplements, functional foods and fitness equipment. And to me, this is an important venue because when the body's in pain, as a lot of you guys know, and you're not feeling energetic and optimal, it's very difficult to focus on something like consciousness. You have these screaming signals at you, I'm tired, I'm hurting, and that tends to draw things inward and focus your attention there. So I'm hoping that Onit can play that small part in helping people reach that level of peak performance and optimization so that they can reach for a greater consciousness and apply that to their lives. It goes both ways as well, though. Reaching for consciousness generally has those applications to health. So the other side of my life, as I mentioned, is I test the limits. I put myself in the lab. I go down places like Peru and meet with Iowa Scare Shamans and I go to Costa Rica and meet with Buiti Shamans and I look at the great technologies of the world that have been around for thousands of years that have helped people access their greater consciousness. So what is consciousness? And to me, there was a very good definition proposed by Don Miguel Ruiz, who's one of my favorite authors, and he says, what you are is a force, a force that makes it possible for your body to live for your whole mind to dream. And to me, that's a great analogy of what consciousness is. It is that animating principle inside ourselves, that presence, that connection to something greater, that collective source, whatever your vocabulary permits. It is that part that is inside ourselves that animates this body, runs the ship when operating correctly, and is distinct from the mind, which is a good puzzle solver. You know, one thing us monkeys are really good at and we like is solving puzzles. But there's another part of us that likes to be present and connect. And that's where we get the downloads to a lot of the information and it's been the topic a lot of these talks. So consciousness technology. In my definition of consciousness technology is a medicine or practice that facilitates an increase in an individual's accessible consciousness. We're all really conscious beings. We have that consciousness within us, but choosing along that spectrum of how much we're able to access, that's what these tools can be useful for, is accessing a greater portion of that. And so the first of these technologies is, of course, meditation. And this is something that's really easy to recommend and it's been around the world. People have found different ways to meditate and all of them have benefits, and I've benefited from all of them as well. But when you're talking to a lot of people, which I do, you know, I have quite an audience, and you're talking to them about meditation, a lot of people struggle with meditation. And one of the reasons why is they don't really know exactly where they're going with, like what they're going for with it. You know, they kind of sit down and they relax and they try not to think, but they've never really felt that state of mind that they're trying to achieve, so a lot of them just kind of give it up so what I like to recommend is to people who have difficulty meditating, which is actually the majority when you really get down a little deeper, is find what that feeling feels like first by using a slightly more powerful technology. And again, this is just my own experience. I know some of you meditators can achieve everything that I'm going to talk about with just meditation. But find what that feels like and then relearn how to do that through meditation, which I think is absolutely possible. And I remember a story that I had from someone who had been practicing meditation for 40 years and he met with me down in Peru to see my ayahuasca shaman. And after he finished doing the ayahuasca, he gave that shaman his meditation cushion, which he'd been sitting on for 40 years and shaman said, oh, no, no, no, no. You know, I can't take that, I can't take that. And what he said is he said, you know what? Really, most of the time I was meditating, I was just trying not to think about sex. And you showed me what I'm actually supposed to be feeling and supposed to be going forth with my meditation practice, so I want you to have this cushion. So he wasn't going to quit meditating, but to him it was a symbol of, aha, now I see the state that I'm going for and what's possible. So for me, the next escalation for meditation is flotation tanks. And that to me is like meditating on, you know, super-powered meditating. And what I've found is that people who have difficulty meditating, they'll naturally get in that state, in the float tanks, that they've never gotten before through meditation. And that is a state that allows you to access that higher consciousness. And this is a tank in Austin by my good friends at Zero Gravity. And so when you're in there, sometimes the visions come, sometimes different things happen, but you're generally able to get to that state and a lot of these other doctors will tell you what brainwave state that is and they know that a lot more. And that's the goal of all of these consciousness technologies, the state that you're able to achieve in meditation. And I'm just going to tell you a few things from my experience that might help you guys when you're talking to other people about it. One thing that I encountered is the first time I floated, I had a really difficult time with neck discomfort in that. And I have a uniquely shaped monkey body and for me, floating without a cushion was really uncomfortable. And the people facilitating said, oh, it's just because you're not relaxed enough, bro. And I was like, man, I was pretty relaxed. I'm pretty sure I was super relaxed. I was like, nah, bro, you just got to trust it. You're worried you're going to drown. I was like, I'm not worried I was going to drown. I've been swimming since I was six months old. And then I get to Kevin's place at Zero Gravity and they have these nice little cushions. And I put this cushion behind my neck and alleviated that neck pain. And for me, the physiology just worked ideally and worked perfectly for me. And I was able to drop into that greater state. So I guess the caveat there is just, there are three different bodies and allow them to work with what works. And I heard that in a great speech earlier. I think that's an important lesson. Another thing for me is I noticed that the very first time I actually fell asleep in a float tank, it was not nearly as good as of an experience as when I was able to stay in that conscious, almost lucid state. So a lot of people get in there and they fall asleep and sure there's benefits for that. But if you're actually trying to access consciousness, well, sleep is a form of unconsciousness and it can be very restorative. But, you know, helping them to stay in that kind of conscious, lucid state, I think provides the most benefits. And, you know, one of the things that I know a lot of you guys who carry our products is you don't want caffeine, but the alpha brain that we sell is a cool tool for that. And I'm not just trying to pitch that. I really do think it's a beneficial tool for those trying to stay on that borderline of awake, not completely asleep, but not overstimulated. Well, so allowing these different tools to help people reach, you know, optimal states in the float tank, and I'm not going to talk to you guys about the rest of the potential. You know it, you're probably bigger experts than me. But to me, this is the first step in escalating somebody along this path of consciousness. And I'm just grateful for all the advances that you guys have made and all the work that you've done to allow, you know, us searchers to have these tools so close to home. So then the next technology and this is another one that's really safe and effective for people who are kind of wary of these plant medicines and these other more, you know, quote, extreme technologies that they might be a little bit more resistant to. Now, holotropic breathing got, you know, more well known when Dr. Stan Groff started talking about it, writing about it, holding workshops. But really it's a practice that's been around in yoga for thousands of years. You know, breath of fire, these different technologies that allow you to enter different states of consciousness through manipulation of the breath. Now, again, I'm not, you know, I'm not here as a science guy, I just talk from experience. And what happens is a similar state to what you would achieve in floating or what you would achieve with plant medicines when you work on this breath. And you're really hyper-oxygenating your blood. You'll end up feeling what they call tetany, which is kind of a contraction of some of your muscles in your hands. But what opens up is this greater state of consciousness from doing that practice. And again, you're not putting anything in your body or your breath, so it's a really good option for people looking to expand their consciousness without doing some of the more challenging work. There's another image of the breath. And I've had some amazing visions doing that breath work. But again, the more these technologies go on down the spectrum, the more important it is for the right set and setting, the right guide, the right person leading these because you are entering altered states of consciousness to a certain degree. And the gifts can be great, but it should be taken seriously and with good intent. Okay, so next to the plant medicine technologies. And this is something that I've been exploring since I was 18 years old out in the mountains of Mexico, working with the psilocybin shaman to the jungles of Peru with the ayahuasca shamans, and as I said, Buriti shamans in Costa Rica. And I'm just going to give you a brief synopsis here of what these tools are and how they can be useful in applying your life and kind of keeping in look. Now obviously these things aren't legal here in the states and I've done my best to go outside and find the legal venues for it, but that climate is changing and I think we're all aware that these tools are too powerful and the benefits are too great to be kept underground forever or forcing people to go out of country. Marijuana, that's the first one that's kind of come come aware. And again, I'm just going to talk to you for my personal experience. I think one of the great medicinal aspects of marijuana is body consciousness. It's really allowing yourself to get that X-ray vision inside your body seeing what's going on, analyzing how you feel, and being able to basically say, okay, this is what's happening within my body. Let me see if I need to make some changes. Let me see if I need to stretch more in this area, strengthen more part of this core. Really if you take that intent with it, I think it's a powerful tool for the body and I think that's one of the reasons why some different yoga schools have used it extensively throughout history as well is it really helps you get in touch with your body. And working with a skilled body worker, this is my friend in Arizona called Purangi, I've had some of the most profound experiences of my life accessing consciousness, getting body work done, combination of massage and different healing modalities, sound healing with the aid of marijuana. So yeah, sure it can be a lot of fun and we all know the recreational elements, but there's a medicinal component as well that I think when harnessed correctly can be really useful. Psilocybin, you know, this is another one that's come up. I know the Hefter Institute is doing some great research on psilocybin, both for palliative care at the end of life and also Johns Hopkins did a study that showed that people taking psilocybin had a top 5 life experience as when given administered psilocybin and without any of these negative side effects and the treatments for depression, all kinds of different things are there. And the mechanism of action is by filtering, is slowing down the blood to what's called the default mode network of the brain. And that's the network that actually gets slowed down as well in my experience in float tanks. All of those sensory input that we're filtering is this dangerous, is this safe? What's going on right now? Being able to quiet that for a minute allows more consciousness to go through those Venetian blinds. Aldous Huxley put together a theory that the brain isn't something that is actively going out and seeking perceptions it's actually filtering perceptions and so when you use these technologies you're opening those blinds to allow more information to come through those filters and I think mushrooms can be an effective tool for that. Again, setting those are all important to turn this from just a fun ride watching cartoons to actual medicine that you're able to use and access technology. Again, I like things that have a traditional history and the Mazatec mushroom healers there's Maria Sabina certainly held mushrooms in high regard the little sisters, the little allies and so that's a great case and example of how to use that technology. And anybody who's indulged sure there's maybe one or two of you out here in this crowd this is a great visionary artwork of how nature itself seems to come alive when you access those higher technologies. The next one, Iboga this is a really challenging medicine to work with and really extremely powerful and you know I could probably talk a couple hours about each of these things and I have on the Joe Rogan podcast and other venues but really quickly I think one of the benefits of Iboga is Iboga feels like you're an ant on a tuning fork and then the universe takes a tuning fork in its hand and goes and racks it and you have to adjust to the vibration of Iboga so one of the reasons why it's so effective in treating things like heroin addiction and all these other addictive processes is that it kind of recalibrates your vibrational whole energetic system and both from a physiological and psychological level and can be an extremely potent tool it's a 24 hour to upwards of 40 hour ride it's very uncomfortable but the benefits of that can be incredibly immense and these are the Buiti Shamans doing the work here in Gabon it looks pretty intense when you actually get out there to where it's from and this is some Iboga art also from the Ibondo tribe out there in the Buiti so a really powerful tool particularly useful for addictions coming off of opiates in particular I watched someone detox from heroin on Iboga therapy and it was really really powerful seeing someone come in full addict on heroin and then leave five days later completely different human being ayahuasca this is a big one you know I've come down I actually just recently got back from a trip from Peru where I was able to partake in the sacrament of ayahuasca and this one really allows you to tap into these greater collective consciousnesses whatever you think these are whether it's some part of your brain or some outward force that's all fine but the actionable items that you're able to take from that and the benefit that you're able to apply to your life is really can be quite immense and talking to people who've been down there you'll hear a lot of similar reports about the messages they receive and what they're striving to bring into their life after an ayahuasca ceremony this was my first shaman I photoshopped in the universe that didn't actually exist there but he was great he's Maestro Landachu and Dhamma that's the traditional instrument that they have there that bundle of leaves and you'd be surprised the magic wheel with the simple bundle of leaves and a few songs here's some of the visionary art that you see commonly from ayahuasca and then I'll keep blasting through one of the more recent ones that I've been aware of is Wachuma which actually comes from ancient Shavin which is a civilization that flourished in the last major pulse of consciousness which flourished around 1500 BC an actual place and for a thousand years there was no arms or armaments the historical archaeological record around Shavin and the reason was that Shavin didn't have a hierarchy of power it basically had a group of people who administered the Wachuma which is from the San Pedro Cactus they administered Wachuma to anybody who had come the pilgrims, anybody in the area and for an unparalleled amount of time in history there was peace in the pre-Andean civilization and this was the foundation for the Incas and the other forces that came along and this shows the power that when these consciousness technologies are adopted and floating as I said is one of these great technologies when that gets mainstream adopted widespread change can happen the history of the world was racked with war and all of these different tales of conquests and power struggles and then for one pocket in one area because a group of people in Shavin who came out of the rainforest and offered this sacrament they were able to be strong enough and pervasive enough and elevating enough people's consciousness that for a thousand years there's no historical record of war and that's factual so the Shavin using Shavin as an example I think this is the Mesa from down in Peru where I go work with the medicine and that's the administer Don Howard and he basically has been working with this medicine and different medicines for 50 years and carries the lineage of Shavin but it just shows the power that it originally can happen when people are plugged into their own higher consciousness so what's the point of all this for me as I said this has been an integral in creating on it which is a thriving business it's been integral in unlocking the keys to my full happiness, my full health my full potential but there's a greater purpose too inevitably when people explore consciousness as I'm sure all you guys have there's a calling for greater good as they say down where I go to para el bien de todos for the good of all and that seems to be instilled because we are empathic loving creatures at heart and we have a lot of things in our mind and our ego and things that block this but when we get plugged into that higher consciousness we love one another and we want this experiment this grand design and this brilliant blue planet we want this to go on and we want this to exist and one of my visions I had when I was down there on the wachuma I had a vision and a visitation from what felt like mother earth herself and again I'm not going to get into the debate whether this really was mother earth or whether it's my mind but she said in my voice she showed me a lot of the things that were going bad with the planet and I said what can I do what can I do to help and she said just plug people into their higher consciousness get them plugged in and I'll take care of the rest and so for me that's been my mission and it's just helping people find the tools whatever they may be initially to get out of pain to get more energy to get back in their body and then access greater greater consciousness through these technologies and floating is one of the best and I believe should be one of the most widespread utilizations of this because it has the lowest barrier to entry extremely high chance of success no risk and no legal ramifications against it so again thank you so much for what you're doing here to be a humble servant on the path as all you guys are as well and hope to continue pushing the industry and seeing what else is possible for this planet and that's it, thanks everybody