Today I'm chatting with Shannon Sauer, a fellow co-author in Reclaiming Mental Health and someone who spent close to two decades navigating what gets called anxiety before she found her way back to herself.

Shannon and I get into her chapter and the long arc that shaped it. She talks about being a sensitive, intuitive kid who felt most at home in nature, and how that connection faded as the world took over with jobs, motherhood, and the pressure to always be doing more. We talk honestly about the pharmaceutical road she went down, starting with antidepressants prescribed during postpartum while her father was dying, and the hard reality of how difficult those medications can be to come off of. She shares what brain zaps actually feel like, the years it took to finally grieve, and the experience in 2018 that got labeled a breakdown but felt much more like a spiritual awakening she didn't have language for yet.

A big part of our conversation lives in the gap between Western medical labels and lived spiritual experience, and how the two don't always fit. Shannon opens up about her plant medicine journey, how ayahuasca became a catalyst after years of inner work had already prepared the ground, and what it's meant to come off her medications and actually feel joy again. We also talk about the quieter numbing habits that are easy to miss, the importance of who you sit with if you ever explore this path, and the farm in Costa Rica she and her husband just bought.

Connect with Shannon:
Instagram: shansauer
Reclaiming Mental Health: https://a.co/d/06r2cm9D
Costa Rica wellness center: lamatriztica

Connect with Darrel-Lynne:

Instagram: @dee_ogsoul

Website: ogsoul.ca

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Background

02:56 Childhood Connection to Nature

05:59 Mental Health Journey and Plant Medicine

08:57 Anxiety and Self-Criticism

11:59 Pharmaceuticals and Their Impact

15:02 Spiritual Awakening and Healing

18:07 Navigating Quetiapine and Its Effects

21:00 Understanding Spiritual Awakening

23:55 Holistic Approaches and New Perspectives

29:19 The Intersection of Mental Health and Spirituality

31:59 Understanding Dissonance and Alignment

34:38 Awakening to Clarity and Intuition

40:06 Exploring Plant Medicine Journeys

46:58 Connecting with Nature and the Self

49:26 Exploring the Nature of God and Spirituality

52:51 Technology, Nature, and Spiritual Connection

55:05 Plant Medicine Journeys and Personal Growth

01:01:13 The Importance of Safe Plant Medicine Practices

01:02:37 Transformation Through Spiritual Awakening