Meet Sasha Bellucci

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Sasha Bellucci. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Sasha below.

Sasha , so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?

My path in life has always pointed me in the direction of helping people. As a young child I would have people sharing their secrets with me. As I got older, people would tell me deep emotional things going on for them and then say, “Im sorry, I don’t know why I just shared that with you, it came out of me unexpectedly.” I have heard that so many times from closest friends to complete strangers. I have a way of making people feel safe to share their truth. I have a gift of seeing people clearly and helping them see themselves, Maybe it’s my genuine curiosity about humans, or my kind eyes, or something beyond the physical, something energetic. Something about me has always told people, “She is safe, and she will listen.” I have always been a visual artist and wanted to study art in undergrad. I was told by my parents that wasn’t a feasible career so I decided to study psychology instead to try and understand the human condition on a deeper level.

My family upbringing was challenging. I endured physical and emotional abuse at the hands of my father, and the challenges I faced being an immigrant from Ukraine were not easy. I was bullied in school and home wasn’t a sanctuary, Loneliness was a way of existing for me. As a result I found myself in an unshakable depression as an adult. I didn’t realize it was complex PTSD until much later, but every morning I woke up and it was hard to enjoy life.

I did years of mental health therapy which provided deep insight and understanding but didn’t give me the embodied experience I knew was possible. I began experimenting with psychedelic medicines as a young adult, which allowed for profound transformation, insights, and awakening, but the depression would always eventually return. Many years later, I moved to Boulder to pursue my Masters in Transpersonal Counseling from Naropa University. While there I continued in therapy and when my symptoms persisted I began seeking alternative treatments. I was referred by my therapist to a medicine man to try psychedelic therapy. In my first session with him I experienced a profound shift. I saw and FELT how my depression had actually saved my life. All this time I was trying to make it go away, and in that first session it all fell away and all that was left was a deep gratitude. The depression had saved my life. As a sensitive person, my child hood would have killed me if I let myself feel and experience the pain. In came the depression. To disconnect and dissociate me from the pain, and allow me to survive. As an adult I no longer needed the depression to survive, I was safe in my life. But it was deeply ingrained and needed me to turn towards myself with compassion. Only then would it release its grip, once I heard, felt and SAW my little girl who was so scared to feel and be seen.

Psychedelic therapy saved my life. I continued to work with him over two and a half years. I did many more sessions with various tools and medicines, continuing to uncover parts of myself and heal on an embodied level. Almost immediately, I realized that medicine work was the future of mental health and it was my ethical responsibility to offer the highest quality of care that was available. After all it was the only thing that worked for me, and I had tried everything. I did years of meditation, yoga, counseling, exercise, shamanic work, energy work, massage. The list goes on. Nothing would shift my depression because it was subconscious. I would have never known that the depression had actually saved me without the consciousness expansion that psychedelic therapy gave me. When I found lasting transformation my guide told me that he saw something inside of me, the spark needed to do this work myself. He began to train me and we would work on other people together in private mentorship for many years. Truly my training began when I first worked with psychedelics at age 19, intensified through my work with him, and solidified through my counseling studies at Naropa. He taught me everything he knew from serving sacred medicine since the 70s, I blended his wisdom with my masters in counseling and began to offer psychedelic therapy. Now I have done this work for 11 years, serving hundreds of people and over 600 sessions. My specialty remains complex PTSD, severe childhood trauma and depression. I work with individuals, couples, and groups in private retreats. I have witnessed incredibly profound transformation in people. People near the end of their rope have turned around and gotten their life back. Finding ways to thrive and feel connection and joy that was long lost. This work continues to inspire me every single day. I truly love my work and am thrilled that I can bow before these powerful medicines and humbly claim the title of medicine woman.

Without the pain I endured as a child, without my desperate seeking to heal, I would never have found psychedelic therapy. I was hurting on such a deep level that I was ready to try anything. When I look back on my childhood, I am grateful because had it gone any other way I would not have found this career path, which is truly my soul calling and purpose. I am grateful for my dad and everything he put me through because it pushed me to find myself. I am grateful for my body, intuition and spirituality that always guided me to good people and helpful choices. Without my internal guidance system I would not have been able to find my way back to myself.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

Personally, I am a deeply creative and spiritual person. Creating art has always been a part of the way I process my emotions and experiences. I create mixed media and painting pieces infused with texture and feeling. Art has been an outlet for me to process and move through big emotions and experiences. I draw inspiration from Ukrainian heritage and folk art as well as psychedelic and visionary art.

Spiritually, I am connected with my ancestors and nature. I am in constant awe of the vast mysterious universe of which we are all a part, and gratitude is a way of life for me. I have a deep and rich meditation, yoga, authentic movement, and dance practice which keeps me grounded. Being in the silence of nature brings calm to the deepest cells of my being.

Through the years of seeking I gathered a diverse and well rounded set of skills to support people. Along with my Masters in Transpersonal Counseling I also did a year of immersive, in person Herbalism training from the Equinox Center of Herbal Studies. I believe that plants have energy beyond the physical realm that our bodies have worked with and healed with since the beginning of time. The herbalism education elevated my relationship with nature and deep connection with the earth.

My life’s work is psychedelic therapy. I have been doing this work for 11 years and went through a private mentorship training to learn and study it from a master medicine man. For 2.5 years we worked one on one with people, and he taught me everything he knows from doing this work since the 70s. Together with my Masters in Transpersonal Counseling I have created a deep and rich mental health practice that helps people transform their lives. Transpersonal counseling focuses on the wisdom that flows through the person and through the earth to support people’s wellness. It believes that all humans have the capacity to heal as long as we step out of our mind and allow our bodies to heal in whatever way they need to. All of us naturally move towards wholeness, but sometimes we get into our own way and stop healing from happening by judging ourselves or stopping growth because of fear. Counseling with the assistance of psychedelics allows people to quiet their minds, feel their feelings, access subconscious patterns, and create lasting transformation and healing.

In my work I see myself as a supportive guide- I have many skills and tools, but I don’t know how to heal people. People know how to heal themselves and I know how to ask good questions, how to help people see themselves more clearly, deepen into their intuition, and maybe most importantly; how to hold a loving, safe container for whatever people need to see and move through. I have a sharp intuition that allows me to notice what people may not notice about themselves. By simply bringing awareness to these patterns or ways of being people are able to see themselves more clearly. Awareness of patterns in the first step in creating lasting change. I see all symptoms as messages from the subconscious containing wisdom. All disfunction helped us at some point and while it may no longer serve us it is important to recognize the wisdom it did serve.

What makes me the most excited about the work I do is witnessing the transformation that people go through to get their lives back. The courage that it takes to face past trauma, feel it, and heal it in order to free themselves from it. I work with a lot of people who have tried everything they can to heal, they have been in therapy for years and years and are working hard and still struggling. This kind of person is the perfect candidate for my work because they are desperate to change. It is hard to change ourselves and we need to be tired of our suffering to be ready to change. If our suffering is still serving us in some way the work I do may not work as well. What is so amazing about the work I do with people is that it absolutely lays the foundation for them to create a different life for themselves, but they still have to walk the path and create the change that needs to happen so their lives change. This means that they need to do the integration work, the psychedelic therapy shows them a different way, allows them to feel differently, but they still need to change themselves in order to see lasting change.

Most people in our world are running on adrenaline and cortisol (stress hormones). We mare endlessly going and doing with no end in sight. Mixed in with trauma this makes for a perfect recipe to exhaust and deplete a person. With psychedelics people can experience a state of being where their nervous system is calm and regulated. The brain floods with oxytocin, serotonin, and dopamine. This experience allows the person to feel calm and regulated in their nervous system. Once our mind and body FEEL relaxation and peace, it’s a lot easier to continue to return to that place over and over even if old pattern surface. Once we open up a new way of being, our internal world never forgets it. Without psychedelics we may never know that there is another way to exist.

The work I do with people is nothing short of magic. When I step into a day long experience with someone it is deep, intimate, and sacred and I treat it as such. I am being entrusted with the persons psyche and wellness and I take this responsibility very seriously. I treat the experience as a ceremony because it is one. When we engage with psychedelic medicines a magical energy enters the space and has a part in the healing. It allows the person to access a deep well of love and compassion and resilience they didn’t even know was there. It allows them to tap into courage and strength they never thought they could find. And it empowers them to deeply feel their truth and intuition in a way that is so foreign in our world. We live in a world that teaches us that thinking through our problems is the best way, but when it comes to emotional problems thinking about them rarely if ever gives us adequate solutions. Emotional problems require feeling and embodiment, they require us to listen to our intuition and blindly trust it when our logic is telling us it would be crazy to do it. When people get still and quiet enough to hear their inner voice and begin to align their lives in accordance with it- their lives transform. Doors open that they didn’t even know were there. From doing this work I have found that forcing our way through life rarely works. Every living being has a purpose and that purpose is ready for us to discover and share with the world. When we are living truly in alignment with our soul purpose the rest of the world will fall into place and support us. I have seen it happen with my own life and others’. My job is helping people hear their inner voice and encouraging them to follow it. It is the greatest honor.

Currently I have been doing a lot of teaching and mentorship of other facilitators as well as supporting clients and retreats. I am teaching workshops about healing relationships with psychedelics.- the topic of my first book. Currently my work shops are all in person in Colorado but I will be recording some for online courses as well in the new year.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

1) Hearing and Trusting my intuition. As a child so many of us are taught to not trust ourselves in one way or another. Our parents or caregivers send us the message that they know better and as small humans we separate ourselves from our gut instincts in order to convince ourselves that someone else knows better than we do. We have to do this to survive but as adults many of us find ourselves confused about what we are actually meant to do and what we are truly passionate about. Many people find themselves in a role or career that they were told they should pursue rather than what they actually wanted to pursue. If we are lucky we wake up to this with enough time to make a change. Many people are so far from themselves they don’t even know what they want to do or what they are passionate about. My advice for anyone who is feeling this way is that your inner world always knows. All you have to do is get quiet and still and be brave enough to listen. Often times our instincts will be very clear and let us know what is or isn’t aligned for us. The hardest part is to be brave enough to listen. One way of returning to what we are passionate about is remembering ourselves as a child. What did we love to do? What were we passionate about when we were younger? From this inquiry you can get some ideas of directions to go.

2) Kindness and compassion for myself and others. This was instrumental in my journey to becoming who I am today. I was a judgmental and scared person when I was younger, and this closed a lot of doors. As I began to heal I became more curious and compassionate for others as well as myself. I expected so much perfection from myself and as a result became very rigid. I am an imperfect human became a mantra that softened my heart and opened my mind. As I was able to see my own imperfection, I had more tenderness towards the imperfection in others. I realized that any judgement I had of others was a sign to look in the mirror and see how I was judging myself for the exact thing.

3) Ability to be present and listen. This is maybe the most important one. When I am with someone I am deeply curious and engaged with their story and experience of life. I am attuned to the words they say as well as their energy and ways they hold and move their bodies. I am taking them in exactly as they are without judgment. People respond so well to curiosity and presence. Sometimes all the person needs is to simply be seen and heard and witnessed in order to heal because that is so rare in the world. When we come from a childhood of constantly being invalidated, having someone truly listen and hear us can be life changing. Rather than listening and thinking about your response while the person is speaking practice bringing yourself back to the present over and over. Take a breath, bring your mind back to the present. Meditation practice is essential. It is a practice and takes time to develop this skill but it will go a long way in being successful in life and in relationships with others. People respond well when they know they are being heard, no matter who you are in relationship with. Relationships are the core foundation of everything we do in life.

Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?

When I am feeling overwhelmed I step away from what I am doing and nourish myself to fill my own cup. In life we are never given more than what we can handle but very often we try to push through challenges without filling our own cup first. We are running on empty and not nourishing ourselves and wondering why we get overwhelmed and overstimulated. As a sensitive person it is very important for me to first take care of myself. If my cup is empty the level of overwhelm can very quickly drown me. The ways that I fill my own cup are by nourishing my body, mind, and soul.

I notice that when I don’t eat high quality, nutrient rich, usually home cooked meals my body and mind don’t feel as well as when I nourish my body with fresh, good food. When I take the time to cook for myself my mind and body are vibrant and alive and I have abundant energy for the day. When I feel overwhelmed sometimes just eating some protein can help me feel more regulated. Also exercise, movement and stretching- this depends on the day, some times I don’t want to do a heavy workout and want to do yoga instead. Sometimes I don’t want to do any of that and I want to go for a walk in nature or dance. Listening to my body about what it wants to eat and how it wants to move day to day and moment to moment allows me to cultivate a relationship WITH my body rather than a power over dynamic of force. This deep listening gives me a tenderness towards myself that helps the overwhelm regulate.

I nourish my mind by being with people I love, and learning. Spending time with people who are interesting, who hear and are present with me allows my mind to be creative and come up with new solutions that I may not have thought of myself. Speaking and sharing with others is a deep form of nourishment for me. Seeing my therapist regularly, reading books with good stories and wisdom, having philosophical discussions with people about the state of the world and humanity. Giving my mind projects to work out and understand is always beneficial when Im feeling overwhelmed. Taking big projects one step at a time and breaking them down into small parts can really help.

I nourish my soul with creativity, art, and spiritual practice. I notice that meditation needs to be a daily practice for me, Something I can return to as a grounding force and resource I can call on in overwhelming moments. Because of the daily practice I have a solid foundation to work with racing thoughts and I know how to bring myself back to the moment when my mind is feeling overwhelmed. Art is also a great resource and way to express overwhelm. Sometimes I will take materials and express my overwhelm on the page. Anything that allows the internal experience to become external is helpful, whether its movement, talking, or creative expression, when feeling overwhelmed I find that turning back to myself and what I need to fill my own cup helps me tremendously.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sashabellucci.com
• Instagram: @magicmushroomama
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U1UE_uOl24