Hello Flying Sage!
Michael here tuning in with another edition of The Flying Sage Journal. I have arrived back in Vancouver now after a short trip to Mexico. Here’s my recap of the trip starting with the first entry I made into my journal while I was there…
Feb.9.2024
“Currently in Zipolite. Just got my hair cut at the barber who operates out the back of the gym. Now I am watching my friend Ben get his hair cut too.
Zipolite is Mexico’s first and only legal nude beach. Surf has not been great so far but I tried getting up a few times.
I’m hoping to find a hostel/hotel that would like to exchange lodging for business operation consulting. As well, maybe I could do the same for a restaurant and get some food in exchange. Even though it is really cheap here, I am struggling financially and am on a tight budget. I had my first client come through for business coaching through Instagram which is a small win that I am celebrating !
Doing Edibles In Zipolite
You might not know this about me but I used to be a stoner. Coming out of high school I used to smoke cannabis several times a week and I had a big fancy bong along with a pretty awesome Gandalf pipe which I adored.
Long story short, I stopped smoking cannabis because it was not serving me anymore. It had lost a bit of it’s magic and I had started using it as a crutch.
That experience inspired me to start running Cannabis & Sound Meditations with The Flying Sage and I am still surprised to this date at how I don’t see more events like that being offered here in Vancouver; especially since cannabis is actually legal.
It also baffles me how little spiritual education there is around the cannabis-industrial complex that we have now.
Anyways, that is a whole rant for another time.
While I was in Zipolite, I met the owner of Cheeba Chews and he gifted me his 250cc dirt bike along with some of his cannabis edibles. He told me that he was the guy who built the God phone at Burning Man. I’ve never been so I have no idea what that means but maybe you know…
The next day I was sitting around at the hostel and decided to take some of the edible. I was bored because everyone around me was speaking French which made sense because they were a bunch of French Canadians but unfortunately, I didn’t understand a word.
It’s amazing what cannabis does to the body. Once it finally kicked in I could feel my muscles warming up and I noticed a greater sensitivity to my body. I could feel where energy was being trapped and with a bit of direction, I allowed myself to move that energy throughout my body.
As this was happening, I also noticed my thoughts start to spiral in a peculiar fashion.
You know the kind of thoughts I am talking about… stoner thoughts.
I starting thinking about how I should focus more on vertical exploration instead of horizontal exploration. Specifically, I was thinking about how in Ableton the music editing software, my process for learning has been to experiment with a wide range of instruments. But I was recognizing, with the help of cannabis, that it might be more fruitful to focus on only one instrument and experiment with a wider range of audio effects.
In true stoner-thought fashion… it made sense at the time.
While everyone around me was pre-drinking to go out, I decided to whip out my laptop and start working on making music. It felt great to give into my inner artist and focus on what felt good to me in that moment and I actually ended up creating a decent track which I am excited to finish and hopefully share at some point soon.
Oaxaca’s Psychedelic Roots
There was quite a large spiritual and wellness community presence in Mazunte, one of the towns I stayed in. It was common to find ads for Bufo and Psilocybin experiences and I also ran into someone at an ecstatic dance who offered me a “sniff” of 5-MEO. You know, just those spiritual kind of things…
In Zipolite, the town just next door, I got a tour through an abandoned hippy commune situated on the top of a hill. There were some sanskrit etchings made out into the walls and even an old scroll of mantras hanging in a small shrine.
When you dig into the history, you realize there is a lot of rich mind-expanding history in Oaxaca. Marina Sabina is famously known for offering psilocybin ceremonies out of the mountain villages in the central region. Sabina offered many different magic mushroom ceremonies throughout Oaxaca in the early 1900s and it was a news story of her ceremony emerging into LIFE magazine that marked one of the first times North Americans heard about “magic mushrooms”.
Although not a psychedelic, Mezcal is famous here in the region as well as a strong alcoholic tequila made from an aloe plant. Mezcal has a nice smoky flavour to it and is a staple drink here in Zipolite and Mazunte.
Why Mexico?
Aside from simply taking a break and soaking up some sun with my good friend Ben, one of the main reasons I wanted to go away on a trip was to stress test The Flying Sage to make sure that operations are not dependent on me being based in Vancouver.
I wanted to make sure of two things…
If I stop working completely, does the business continue to run?
If I decide to move away from Vancouver for some time, can I still grow the business remotely?
The good news is that I think the business passed both tests! For the first week away, I barely did any work and everything moved along as normal. Once the second week came rolling, I found I was able to still contribute to moving the needle forward as well despite not being in Vancouver.
This is something I am really grateful for and I am also proud that the organization has reached this point.
Don’t get me wrong, the business still needs a lot of work but this is something to celebrate in my opinion.
What’s Next?
New Volunteer Positions
Volunteers have contributed significantly over the past few years of our community’s growth and direction. I am excited that we are now creating a few new defined volunteer positions as part of a new and improved volunteer system. Applications are open and available now through this page for the following roles…
Director of Education
Director of Integration
Director of Guides
Director of Meetups
Podcast Editor
The Flying Sage Nest
Over the past 3 years, I have poured all my love into The Flying Sage Nest and I am stoked to finally share it here with you all ❤️
This is our new online platform and app where we gather in community outside of our in-person events. This is where you can find courses, connect with experts, get product discounts, attend virtual events and much more.
We are offering a special discounted rate for our Mushroom Tier of $25 until the end of the month so if you are curious to connect more with the community and you are not based in Vancouver, this is the perfect opportunity.
Expanding to Victoria
We’re gearing up to launch our first Integration Circles in Victoria in collaboration with Entheo and Tall Tree Health. To start, we will be offering them at both the Cordova Bay and Downtown locations on a bi-weekly cadence. More info to come on this soon!
New Virtual Events
We’ve launched our first virtual events which you can find on our website here. This includes the following…
Psychedelic Sharing Circle
Virtual Cannabis Ceremony
Microdosing 101
We have more events in the works as well so stay tuned for those coming soon!
Farewell Until Next Time
I hope you have enjoyed this edition of The Flying Sage Journal. As always, I would love to hear any feedback you have. Feel free to leave a comment below or just reply to this email.
If you would like to learn more about me and my other offerings, you can check out my personal website which has information about business coaching and podcast automation.
As some of you might know, I am also a facilitator with Legacy Journeys and I am excited to share we are just about to announce our next retreat in May which you can learn all about here.
With psychedelic love and gratitude,
- Michael 🤍