Ayahuasca is a traditional Amerindian brew that contains the serotonergic agonist N,N-DMT, and beta-carboline alkaloids. This unique mixture results in strong psychedelic experience with shamanic use and a fertile repertoire of scientifically-sound medicinal applications. In this presentation, I will provide a brief history of ayahuasca and an overview of its short-term antidepressant and anxiolytic effects on human subjects. I will also assess the growing body of knowledge describing some properties that seem to underlie the therapeutic properties of ayahuasca, with emphasis on the increase in mindfulness measures related to ayahuasca administration and the intersection with the field of mindfulness studies.

Dr. Mick Krasner, Professor of Clinical Medicine and Professor of Clinical Family Medicine at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, practices primary care internal medicine in Rochester, New York. Dr. Krasner has been teaching Mindfulness-Based programs to patients, medical students, and health professionals for more than 18 years, involving over 3000 participants, including more than 1200 health professionals. He is engaged in a variety of research projects including the investigations of the effects of mindfulness practices on the immune system in the elderly, on chronic psoriasis, with caregivers of Alzheimer’s patients and on medical student stress and well-being. He was the project director of Mindful Communication: Bringing Intention, Attention, and Reflection to Clinical Practice, sponsored by the New York Chapter of the American College of Physicians, funded…

The Center for Mindfulness Science in Collaboration with: MindfulUSC, Keck SOM Office of Leadership and Wellness, USC Institute for Integrative Health, Research Collaborative Fund Present a Lecture with Dr. Fadel Zeidan, PhD Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology & Director for Research at the UCSD Center for Mindfulness.