😀 Entrepreneur & Mother Lina Ismail Shares her Experience with Psychedelics 🍄

🍄 Combining Plant Medicine with Coaching and Therapy for Optimal Results

Lina Ismail is one of the most wonderfully powerful person I have ever met. She knows what she wants and she goes for it. When faced with blocks, instead of running into them (as many of us would, including myself) or away from them, she pauses and asks herself “Is there something more than meets the eye?” Usually there is, so she deals with it, in peace, and is soon on her way to accomplish what she set her mind to in the first place, with grace, gusto, and kindness.

I always enjoy our positive, uplifting, sincere, and thoughtful interactions and wanted to share with you, Dear Readers, her experience with plant medicine; from an Ayahuasca retreat in Peru to microdosing psilocybin in her daily life, as a mother, an entrepreneur, and a global citizen.

😀Lina Ismail = Transformation

As a daughter of immigrant Lina sees herself as a global citizen; being able to understand history and different perspective is a concept she learnt early-on from her father, who was of Palestinian heritage. She made good on his teaching, having worked in multiple countries and seeing beauty in differences.

In her career, Lina lived at the intersection of technology and financial services, in roles that were growth-oriented with a combination of product and strategy expertise. Working in conservative environments pushed her to become more resourceful in bringing measured changes to her clients in the context of enabling larger transformation over time.

😀Alignment of Business Mission and DNA

Her intellectual curiosity and desire to bring more creative solutions to her clients pushed Lina to become an entrepreneur. She started The Catherine Wheel to help early-stage start-ups achieve their growth objectives by touching every aspects of their business and enable transformation.

The DNA of The Catherine Wheel is very much aligned with Lina’s own DNA. Embracing change herself and encouraging others to do the same, solving for challenges, overcoming hurdles have been hallmarks of her life that she has transposed into her career, and now business.

With her clients, in her business and in her personal life, Lina builds transformation via continuous, thoughtful, incremental changes.

I speak on “Microdosing Psychedelics for Work, Relationships and Happiness .”

Contact me to discuss speaking engagements.

😀 Of Personal Transformation and Tackling Demons

Like for many of us, the impetus for Lina’s personal transformation came from hardships. Despite having the sneaking suspicion that some things were holding her back, she had to face a couple of very significant challenges, namely a tumultuous departure from her corporate role and a divorce, to reassess her life. She used these major disruptions to challenge what she thought was “normal” and “important”, as her life was turned on its head.

Despite the facts that asking for help was such a difficult thing for her to do, and that stoicism had always been her default operating model, Lina had the courage to go into unfamiliar territory and reach out for professional support, by way of a therapist. She gained a lot of insights on herself, her limiting beliefs, her protection mechanisms and the patterns that had been repeating in her life, such as giving away her power to others.

😀 The Courage to Commit to Oneself

“I can treat you for 25 years and you will get the same results than if you are going to this Ayahuasca retreat and in 1 year you will come out of this as a different person” This was the statement from Lina’s trusted therapist after being questioned on an Ayahuasca retreat Lina was contemplating after coming across MAPS Canada.

Lina found the courage to go past her fears and reservations and attended an Ayahuasca retreat in Peru last February. From her perspective, this practice can be massively transformational for people looking to really fully experience life.

I witness every day how difficult it is for most people, especially those responsible parents, entrepreneurs, executives, etc…, to decide to give plant medicine a go, may it be via microdosing psilocybin or an a Ayahuasca retreat. We have all been told to “Just Say No” and that all drugs, without exception, were a gateway to hell.

Thankfully, not only scientific studies are proving that this fearmongering when it comes to plant medicine responsibly administrated, is nothing more than that, fearmongering, they also have been demonstrating their benefits. So much so that in 2018 the FDA named psilocybin a “breakthrough therapy” in treatment for severe depression.

😀 Benefits of Plant Medicine

As you might have read in previous editions already, intention is key to get the most benefits from plant medicine. It helps focus the direction of the healing and the release of stuck memories, emotions, and energy.

During the Ayahuasca ceremonies, Lina experienced an increased sense of presence via an improved ability to tune in to the things around her more clearly, as well as a greater awareness of the energy around her.

As she let go, Lina felt euphoria, and a rush of positivity; she was beaming. She reminds us of the paradox between all the things we absorb that are not good for our health but are socially acceptable and plant medicine that is not yet socially acceptable but has incredible benefits.

One year after her retreat, and 2 months into microdosing psilocybin, Lina, who was a “glass half-empty” type of person, now has a very positive outlook on life. She feels reinvigorated, with a new lease on life.

She believes that anyone can transform at any age with the help of a mindful psychedelics’ practice.

I speak on “Microdosing Psychedelics for Work, Relationships and Happiness .”

Contact me to discuss speaking engagements.

😀 Combining Tools

Starting one’s psychedelics experience with the microdosing approach is likely more palatable for most. Then diving into a retreat, such as ayahuasca or psilocybin would be a great next step [You can read about my experience with microdosing and psilocybin retreat].

The combination of regular microdosing with a retreat every 12-18 months seems to be the optimal plan for continuous improvement towards significant transformation (meaning back into your authentic self😀).

In addition, the combination of plant medicine with other modalities, such as coaching, therapy, tapping, guided mediation, hypnosis, and visualization, will turbocharge the benefits coming from the psychedelics. Microdosing is not a silver bullet.

Experimenting with dosage, frequency, type of mushrooms while microdosing psilocybin are opportunities to continue to learn.

Creating space for yourselves by taking the time to pause, breath and feel your feelings (even just 1 min!) will allow you to break the pattern of just reacting to what comes to you.

If you are interested in knowing more about me, you can visit my website or my YouTube channel.

😎Key Takeaways:

• Lina Ismail is an entrepreneur, a former business executive, a mother, the daughter of immigrants and a global citizen;

• She started The Catherine Wheel to help early-stage start-ups achieve their growth objectives by touching every aspects of their business and enable transformation;

• With her clients, in her business and in her personal life, Lina builds transformation via continuous, thoughtful, incremental changes;

• The impetus for Lina’s personal transformation came from hardships; she had the courage to go into unfamiliar territory and reach out for professional support, by way of a therapist;

• “I can treat you for 25 years and you will get the same results than if you are going to this Ayahuasca retreat and in 1 year you will come out of this as a different person”;

• From her perspective, a psychedelics retreat can be massively transformational for people looking to really fully experience life;

• There is a paradox between all the things we absorb that are not good for our health but are socially acceptable and plant medicine that is not yet socially acceptable but has incredible benefits.

• Lina, who was a “glass half-empty” type of person, now has a very positive outlook on life. She feels reinvigorated, with a new lease on life.

• She believes that anyone can transform at any age with the help of a mindful psychedelics’ practice.

• The combination of regular microdosing with a retreat every 12-18 months seems to be the optimal plan for continuous improvement towards significant transformation (meaning back into your authentic self😀).

• The combination of plant medicine with other modalities, such as coaching, therapy, tapping, guided mediation, hypnosis, and visualization, will turbocharge the benefits coming from the psychedelics.