Eco-Consciousness and Ayahuasca: A talk with Greg Wrenn

The planet is heating up, oceans are acidifying, species are dying off—and at bottom, it is because of humanity’s flawed relationship with nature. What part might Ayahuasca have to play in healing this relationship?

Author and poet Greg Wrenn, a former lecturer at Stanford University, went through a process of healing his own relationship with nature, and himself, using this jungle medicine. Tonight, he shares his story with us.

Weaving together memoir and cutting-edge science, Mothership: A Memoir of Wonder and Crisis is both a queer coming-of-age story and a deeply researched account of how coral reefs and ayahuasca helped Greg heal from complex PTSD—a disorder of trust which makes the very act of bonding with someone else panic-inducing.

Highlights:

• Explore a healing paradigm possibly more powerful than many traditional therapeutic models, and the role psychedelics can play in our time of widespread mental illness and ongoing climate crisis.
• Hear a well-crafted tale that weaves threads of memoir, mental health struggles, scientific research, and good-old-fashioned psychedelic adventure.
• Get your book signed! After a talk and discussion-based Q+A, Greg Wrenn will sign copies of his book. The second ticket tier ($25) includes a book, which you will be able to pick up at the venue.
• Connect! As always, we will have an opportunity afterwards to meet other like-minded individuals in this community, and come away with new friends.

This event will be held at the Psychedelic Assembly and hosted by our Director of Community, Patrick. We look forward to seeing you there!

(BPS members get 20% off this and all events. To become a member, please visit our membership page.)

About the Author:

A former Wallace Stegner Fellow and Jones Lecturer at Stanford University, Greg Wrenn is the author of the forthcoming Mothership: A Memoir of Wonder and Crisis, an evidence-based account of his turning to coral reefs and ayahuasca to heal from childhood trauma, and Centaur, which poet Terrance Hayes awarded the Brittingham Prize. Greg's work has appeared in The New Republic, Al Jazeera, The Rumpus, Kenyon Review, and elsewhere. As an associate English professor, he teaches environmental literature and creative writing at James Madison University, where he weaves climate change science into literary studies. He is a trained yoga teacher and a PADI Advanced Open Water diver, having explored coral reefs around the world for over 25 years. He lives in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia with his husband and their growing family of trees.