A Fresh Approach

RE-Connect is a fresh approach to the long-standing issue of addictions, or ‘use disorders,’ as they are referred to in the DSM V manual. Presently, addiction treatment is based on the premise that those with use disorders have a chronic, relapsing, brain disease that is characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use, despite harmful consequences. While this may be true for some, we believe it’s true only for a minority of people, although it is most certainly an improvement from the previously held (and still held) belief that addicts suffer from some type of moral deficiency.

Prior to A.A in 1935, doctors classified alcoholism as an immoral fatal condition without hope. After that, for roughly the next 60 years, alcoholism was viewed as a serious chronic disease, manageable with appropriate medical and community support. The crucial component of this support came from the intense connections built in the rooms of A.A between those in the trenches of addiction working together to depart from alcohol. Although we don’t completely ignore the disease model at RE-Connect, we feel addiction is a “wake up” call that primes an individual for significant positive change in their lives. We view what can be a death sentence, a drinking problem, as an indicator in life that profound internal change is needed, and we focus more on making that change as opposed to fighting the drinking problem.

At RE-Connect, we’re going to have fun. Lots of it.

Is the Western Addiction Industry providing successful treatment?

It depends upon who you ask, but according to HBO’s segment on the rehab industry by John Oliver, the answer is a hard NO. The system is incredibly difficult to navigate, has little to no regulation, and many facilities depend on patients relapsing for a successful business operation.

Individual treatment centers report success rates of 80% and higher, but much of this self-reported success is anecdotal and unverified. We encourage you to do your research, but what we’ve found from sources that don’t have a horse in the race are success rates (one consecutive year away from alcohol) around 5-15%. Western medicine has an excellent track record with acute illness but often falls short when treating chronic diseases such as cancers, autoimmune disorders, anxiety, depression, and addiction.

Plant medicine and RE-Connect

Ayahuasca activates the amygdala and prefrontal cortex of the brain simultaneously while sidelining the “ego,” resulting in a completely new perspective on past traumas. Then, the brain’s neuroplasticity function allows us to rewire the thinking mind and create a future that isn’t a replica of the past.

Psychedelics such as Ayahuasca have been used throughout history for medical, ceremonial, and spiritual purposes and now have the potential to be a game-changing treatment in mental health. Despite being used as medicines for thousands of years, psychedelics didn’t become commonplace in mainstream Western culture until the 1940s and 1950s. Initially, they were examined in academic settings, but in time psychedelics moved out of the laboratories into the hippie movement and counterculture, prompting political backlash and their designation as Schedule 1 substances in 1970, making it illegal to conduct any scientific studies.

Thankfully, those paradigms are softening as psychedelics were never scientifically deemed ineffective or proven addictive. Moreover, initial research is showing these medicines as game-changers in the mental health world. Science is just now studying the power of these medicines.

One of the founders of A.A, Bill W, was given an experimental plant-based alkaloid psychedelic treatment in his Manhattan hospital bed in 1934 called belladonna. He found this treatment so effective that after having had a spiritual awakening, claiming he has “seen the light,” that he immediately quit drinking and then created the twelve steps of alcoholics anonymous – a program that currently millions still attend across the globe. The inspiration and clarity for A.A came from one dose of plant medicine. An idea that has saved millions of lives and repaired countless families came from administering just one dose of a plant-based psychedelic medicine.

What to expect from the RE-Connect program?

Research shows that profound healing takes place in environments conducive to healing, which is why we have created the ultimate “set and setting” for this retreat. The beach, waves, marine life, sunsets, nature, jungle, organic food, music, animals, and synthesizers all assist in your healing process.

Evidence shows that when people understand how to achieve a goal and why that goal is essential, they can achieve the goal more effectively. This is why the focus of the first three days of the RE-Connect retreat teaches the science of validating our approach. In essence, this allows the left brain to ‘buy into’ rather than resist the process.

The next week is spent fully emersed at Rythmia Life Advancement Center which is the #1 rated hotel on Trip Advisor. They incorporate ancient wisdom and modern healing techniques, including yoga, meditation, breathwork, colonics, massage, bike rides to the beach, and four nights of healing plant ceremonies, including an intense 14 hour, all night ceremony with live music. At Rythmia, we’ll continue to meet as a cohort and come together at sunrise during the fourth ayahuasca ceremony for intense healing.

The last five days of the RE-Connect program occur at a third location where we’ll begin the integration process and begin unpacking the plant medicine experience. Your new life emerges, and the old one fades away at this incubatory location. Here we continue to connect and deepen with spiritual and scientific concepts. This part of the program is fun. In addition to sunrise beach meditations, sound healing workshops, ecstatic dance, and power stance work, we have prepared a full day of fun excursion in Costa Rica. The last part of the RE-Connect program is all about integration. We give you the tools and road map for navigating your new life without alcohol or other substances that are no longer serving you.

Words from Dr. Mike

What is actually happening with an addiction? Does it serve a purpose? And if so, what is it?

As a species, we are currently in a critical state of transformation or evolution.

And those struggling with addiction are already primed for this profound change and are forced to alter their lives or evolve before the masses of humanity begin making this same necessary evolutionary leap.

What evolutionary change is taking place? As the Buddha says, we are “crossing to the other side” in terms of consciousness. We are transitioning from living life unconsciously to consciously.

This significant evolutionary leap isn’t one where we grow wings, a tail, or a longer neck, but one where we depart from the thinking mind and begin tapping into our infinite wisdom and intuition. We “wake up” to the illusion of separation and start living life out of love instead of fear.

The thinking mind, which can be duplicitous and has an insatiable hunger for more, leads us to feeling disconnected from the whole and creates stress in the body, leading to inflammation and disease.

According to scientist Bruce Lipton, and author of “The Biology of Belief,” which claims that beliefs impacted by an environment predict human biology and not your DNA, we are becoming aware of how our thoughts and perceptions create the state of happiness in our lives. This view opposes the widely adopted Western medicine view that says our genetically inherited genes predetermine our physical and mental health.

With this new understanding, we depart from a victim mentality and recognize that we are the divine creator in our own lives.

We aren’t the first ones to embark upon this process of “waking up.” The waking up or enlightenment of the plant species was marked by the emergence of the first flower 114 million years ago. We are in the initial phases of the flowering of humanity. With unforeseen challenges to the human race, global warming, and nuclear war are on the top of this list; the timing is critical for this radical change in thinking.

The butterfly is a beautiful example that Bruce Lipton uses to describe this process in nature. The caterpillar comes into its environment consuming its surroundings and can be considered one of the most destructive organisms to its environment. It eats the plant it is living on until there is almost nothing left. Then spins itself a silky cocoon before emerging as the butterfly, one of the most-gentle organisms to its environment, one that causes even human beings to pause and admire this incredible flying colorful thing of beauty.

Using this as a metaphor, we, the human race, who are also part of nature, are about to spin ourselves into a cocoon. If we are to emerge as the butterfly, we’re going to need to re-calibrate our frequency to that of the butterfly, leaving the caterpillar’s frequency (old thoughts and behavior) behind. We will need to leave behind all of the attachments we had to the caterpillar’s way of doing things that do not serve the butterfly’s new way of doing things. In short, we need to transition, or leave behind those unhealthy systems, thoughts, behaviors (excessive drinking) that are no longer serving us.

According to spiritual thought leader Dr. Michael Beckwith, author of Life Visioning: A Transformative Process for activating your Unique Gifts and Highest Potential, it takes a certain amount of life’s experience infused with insight before we reverse this process of relying on our external environment for happiness. We realize we must become self-reliant and tap into our inner resources to live a fulfilling, self-actualized life.

Addiction to alcohol or any external substance provides the required “life experience” needed to cause the individual to choose a radically different way of thinking and living consciously. In short, a drinking problem that probably you and society have labeled as “bad” is the catalyst needed for this radical evolutionary leap. The drinking problem is what primes us for a quantum flip in thinking.

We begin recognizing thoughts of insecurity, loneliness, shame, anxiety, and depression only exist when we live from the false perspective of separation. These thoughts are the drivers behind our current emotional states, which consist of these very emotions. As we become more conscious than ever of our unconscious thinking, a radical change in our lives can occur in a brief period of time.

Keep in mind that we are also programmed to be pleasure-seeking and pain-avoiding beings, and as such, we will generally do whatever it takes to adapt to our environment. In modern society, we live in a world where meaningful social connection is harder and harder to come by. Social media has completely changed the landscape of how we interact with each other. The jobs that used to offer millions of people de facto social networks are increasingly getting outsourced or automated. When interacting socially, many people are likely to avoid direct contact and interaction by mediating conversation and splitting attention with devices like smartphones. All of this adds up to a picture in which human beings are simply not connecting with each other as fully as they used to.

In short, human beings are currently living in an inhospitable environment. Resulting in addictions to countless substances, behaviors, and thought patterns.

First off, give yourself a break. You’ve found a way to self-medicate and survive. Now it’s time to deconstruct these learned behaviors.

Next begins the exciting journey of going within, connecting with others who also wish to quit drinking, and making necessary changes in your external environment.

I want to tell you, with 100% sincerity, there is nothing wrong with you. In fact, you’re just ahead of the curve. The addiction, or a representation in your life that something is out of balance, is actually the answer. It’s what forces you in a direction you previously thought impossible.

While reading this, you may be experiencing feelings of despair, hopelessness, and a sense of “how the hell did I end up here…” but let me assure you, you’ve never been closer to who you truly are, and happiness is right around the corner. In fact, if you allow it, you’re already here. All we’re doing is reminding you who you really are and how to enjoy life again.

Dr. Mike