There’s a version of healing most of us were handed early on – a prescription pad, a diagnosis, a pill to manage the symptoms. And for many of us, that version worked for a while. It kept us functioning. It got us through the day. Until it stopped working.

There’s a difference between getting through the day and actually feeling alive in it…

I know that difference intimately, because I lived on both sides of it for years.

When the medication stops being medicine

After a really big traumatic experience in my teens, I was put on heavy pharmaceuticals. Prozac, Adderall, sleeping pills, SSRIs. And for a long time, they did what they were supposed to do – they kept me upright. They helped me function.

But somewhere along the way, I started to realize that functioning wasn’t the same as living. I wanted to feel who I was without all of the medications I had been taking. I had this deep pull to come back to myself – not the managed version, not the numbed version, but the real one underneath all of it.

Getting off most of them was hard but possible. But Prozac was the one I couldn’t break. My body was dependent on it, and no amount of willpower seemed to change that.

And then a friend said something simple that shifted everything for me… “Mushrooms are really good for that.”

The fear of letting go

I remember the fear that came with even considering psychedelic medicine. There’s such a feeling of giving up control when you’re working with something that has that kind of impact on the mind. And I think so many people feel that – the curiosity is there, the call is there, but so is the fear.

What if I lose my mind? What if I can’t handle it? What if it changes me in ways I’m not ready for?

I’ve now been on the Ayahuasca path for seven years and in the psychedelic realm for about eight or nine, and I can tell you… the fear doesn’t fully go away. But what replaces it is something deeper – a trust in the relationship between you and the medicine. A willingness to let the experience meet you where you are, instead of trying to control where it takes you.

My first time sitting with mushrooms, I just cried for hours. Not because something was wrong… because I was finally feeling alive. I remember thinking, this is what love feels like. This is what life feels like. Where have I been?

That moment changed everything for me.

The conversation that brought it all full circle

This is exactly where this week’s episode of The World Needs Your Medicine began.

Tiffany Hurd joined me for an incredibly grounded and expansive conversation about psychedelic plant medicine – and the way she bridges science and spirit is something I think so many people need to hear right now.

Tiffany is a Microdosing Advisor and Head of Partnerships at Golden Rule, a women-owned microdosing company based in Colorado. She has over 10 years of personal experience with psychedelics and spent 16 years in corporate healthcare before answering the call to serve plant medicine full time. Her work bridges modern neuroscience and ancient plant wisdom in a way that makes this path feel both accessible and sacred.

What struck me immediately was how similar our stories are. Tiffany was on pharmaceuticals for about seven years – Lexapro and Adderall – while climbing the corporate ladder, leading teams, hitting every mark of conventional success. And underneath all of it, she was burned out. She started microdosing with psilocybin, created her own protocol, and within three months had tapered off both medications completely.

But what really got me was what she said next… that it wasn’t just about getting off the meds. It was the first time she felt the most at peace and the most herself. And that feeling built the confidence and confirmation that she was meant to be doing something more.

The science behind the shift

One of the things I loved about this conversation is that Tiffany doesn’t just speak to the spiritual side – she brings the science. And it’s the kind of science that actually makes you understand why these medicines work so differently than anything we’ve been offered before.

She explained how psilocybin enhances neuroplasticity – the brain’s ability to learn, adapt, and be more receptive to change. She described it in a way that really clicked for me… imagine a pattern in your life where you’re stuck, like a hamster wheel. That’s one neural pathway just looping. When you work with these medicines, that one thought suddenly has new pathways to travel into, and that’s where the new perspectives come from.

She also spoke about how psilocybin activates serotonin receptors – directly connected to mood, stress response, and inflammation. For anyone dealing with hormonal shifts, high stress, burnout, or the kind of chronic depletion so many women are carrying right now… this landed deeply.

And then there’s the piece that sets this apart from a westernized, take-a-pill approach… microdosing isn’t addictive. It’s not something you need every single day. You cycle on and off, you build a practice around it, and the benefits show up in subtle but powerful ways – more grounded, less reactive, more creative, more yourself.

The medicine is a mirror

One of the threads we kept returning to throughout this conversation was this idea that the medicine is a mirror. It meets you where you are and amplifies what’s already there.

Tiffany described it so beautifully… there’s no rush to arrive at a certain destination. Be with the gradual experience of intimately connecting with yourself and the medicine. Anchor into your truth and your intention, because the medicine will meet it.

That reframe shifted something in me. Because so many people come to plant medicine asking, “Am I doing it right? Is it working?” And the answer is almost always… you don’t have to force this. It’s not about performing the experience correctly. It’s about being present in it. Pairing the medicine with practices – breathwork, journaling, meditation, nature – and letting it become a devotional relationship rather than just another thing you take.

I get that same question all the time with Ayahuasca… people come up to me during ceremony and say, “I don’t know if I’m doing it right.” And my response is always the same… doing what right? It’s just the experience.

When healing becomes bigger than you

Toward the end of our conversation, something opened up that I think is one of the most important and under-discussed aspects of this path.

When I was really sick with chronic Lyme disease and sitting with medicine every month, one of my teachers said something I’ve never forgotten… “the earth has everything that we need to heal, because the earth wants us to remember.”

And as I look back now, I can see how my greater sense of purpose started to become not about me. It started to become about giving back. Even the little things – recycling, caring for the earth, showing up differently in my relationships. When you start really healing, you feel this kind of devotion to be more connected to humanity and to serve.

Tiffany spoke to this so powerfully too. She expanded beyond personal healing into how these medicines serve generational trauma – showing up differently so you’re not passing patterns into the lineage. How the energy of your healing pours into your love life, your family, your work, and then beyond that into the world.

She said something that I keep coming back to… these medicines hold the power to truly awaken consciousness. And we’re already seeing it.

It’s micro dosing… but macro impact.

Coming home to yourself through the medicine

If you’ve been curious about plant medicine but haven’t known where to start… or if you’ve been on this path for years and needed a reminder of why it matters… this conversation is for you.

There’s no rush. There’s no right way. There’s just you, your intention, and a willingness to feel what’s been waiting underneath.

The medicine is a mirror. And what it reflects back is always you.

This episode airs on March 24th and I can’t wait for you to hear this one.

Xoxo, Lauren

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