Benjamin Forest, a retired military officer turned psychedelic coach and author, shares how 25 years of military service left him emotionally shut down, and how psychedelics helped him rediscover his capacity to feel and love authentically.
Five months after his intensive at Enfold, Benjamin reflects on his journey from military life through psychedelic healing. After a mental breakdown ended his military career, followed by psychiatric hospitalization and years of unsuccessful treatments, a transformative psilocybin experience opened his heart and changed everything. Having explored various medicines since then, he came to Enfold purely out of curiosity about 5-MeO-DMT. What he discovered was unexpected: intense physical release, nervous system recalibration, and the revelation that his romantic love had been coming from a wounded, defensive place.
This conversation explores how a lifetime of masculine conditioning created "emotional constipation", and how learning to love vulnerably became the real integration work.
In This Episode:
How military service and masculine conditioning taught him to lock down all emotions
The mental breakdown and psychiatric hospitalization that catalyzed his healing journey
How the heart medicine ceremony revealed what he actually needed to work on
The intense physical purging and energetic release during his ceremonies
The 48-hour deep rest that followed as his nervous system finally downregulated
The new practice of responding to hurt with vulnerability instead of retaliation
🔍 For anyone who's built their life around strength and control, Benjamin's story shows how true courage lies in learning to feel, express hurt honestly, and love without armour.
🗣️ "One of the biggest practices of integrating around this lesson of love is learning how to react to hurt. If I can react to hurt from a place of love... life just got a whole lot easier and a lot more honest." — Benjamin
📚 Get Benjamin's Book: Benjamin's new book Trip of a Lifetime: The Psychedelic Path to Healing, Loving, and Living features his Enfold experience in Chapter 10. This self-help guide walks readers through preparation, navigation, and integration of psychedelic experiences in an accessible, practical format. Available September 2025 at benjaminforest.com
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Enfold offers safe and sacred transformational experiences combining psychedelic medicines, breathwork, coaching, and somatic modalities, with a grounding in Buddhist philosophy. We come together as a community to support one another on the path of transformation with events, circles, and ongoing programs.
Ready to embark on your own transformational journey? Learn more about our programs at: https://enfold.org