From Eco-Anxiety to Ecological Responsibility: Reclaiming Indigenous Ways of Knowing
In a world increasingly defined by disconnection, from self, community, and nature, Dr. Isabel Santis offers a compelling vision for renewal through the intentional use of psychedelics. With a PhD in East-West Psychology and an MA in Transformative Leadership, Isabel draws on a rich tapestry of traditions including dreamwork, shamanic healing, systems thinking, and eco-psychology to guide individuals through profound journeys of self-discovery. Her work is not just about personal healing, it is about catalyzing a collective awakening, one that reorients us toward deeper ecological responsibility and a more balanced relationship with the Earth.
At the heart of Isabel’s approach is the belief that expanded states of consciousness can ignite paradigm-shifting insights, ones that transcend the limitations of modern Western thought and reconnect us to ancient wisdom. From the ceremonial maloca to the therapeutic consultation room, she helps people engage with psychedelics not as escapist tools, but as sacred technologies for transformation. In this conversation, Isabel reflects on the state of the psychedelic movement, its rapid growth, its pitfalls, and its potential, emphasizing the urgent need for ethical stewardship, cultural humility, and integration of indigenous knowledge as we chart this new frontier.
Throughout the interview, Isabel shares insights from her dissertation on eco-anxiety, exploring how psychedelic experiences can shift despair into a deeper sense of purpose and connection. She challenges us to consider how awe, nature, and consciousness are intertwined, and how moments of profound reverence, whether during a mushroom journey or gazing at Earth from space, can reawaken our biophilia and fuel our commitment to protect this “little blue dot.” With honesty and depth, she invites us into a conversation that is both spiritual and systemic, asking what it truly means to heal ourselves so that we may begin to heal the world.
4 Questions We Ask Every Guest
1. What does the term “psychedelic” mean in your community? If there’s an equivalent word or phrase your community members use to describe the “psychedelic” experience? Please share and explain. How do psychedelics impact your community, hometown and country?
I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, where psychedelics are decriminalized and broadly accepted as part of the counterculture, but have also made it into mainstream academic, scientific, and intellectual settings.
2. What’s happening in your country in regards to psychedelics that the rest of the world doesn’t know?
Right now, there is an explosion of interest in psychedelics from all sides. Some of it is really positive, but a lot of it is being done with little care for responsible use, and with great potential for harm and abuse. There needs to be more attention brought to good practice and safe handling to avoid abuse and damage to vulnerable people and populations.
3. Where do you see the psychedelic revival going in the future?
There are so many possibilities right now that I hate to hazard a guess. I see people experimenting with AI and psychedelics, and also diving deep with nature and indigenous practices. Polar opposites. It seems like every day, I see a new startup wanting to incorporate a psychedelic component into their offering. To me, a lot of these ideas stem from a great deal of creativity and optimism about the potential of psychedelics, but little understanding of the practicalities of what is needed to implement psychedelics safely, responsibly, and at scale. It is not as easy as people think. The last few months have brought a necessary cooling down of the fervor for new ventures as people stop and think about what is needed to safely administer psychedelics, and the infrastructure necessary to create safe spaces, and what “safe spaces” actually mean.
A necessary shift is that in the rush to medicalization, a lot of the traditional teachings were left out of the equation, much to the detriment of current practices. I hope in the coming years there will be a course correction in that area as the field comes into maturity. My hope is that we realize that these technologies are not meant to diminish symptoms or “fix” problems, but rather help us realize where the underlying causes for dysfunction are. These root causes need to be addressed in order for balance to be restored. Getting to that point will require a paradigm shift in our definition of healing. That requires dedication and courage, but the payoff could be a world awakened by consciousness, where inner transformation fuels collective action to regenerate people, communities, and the planet. I hope we can get there!
4. How does the work you do contribute to the psychedelic revival and into the future?
I collaborate with individuals and organizations to harness the transformative potential of psychedelics to awaken consciousness, spark creativity, and catalyze bold, personal, and systems-level change in response to today’s environmental and social crises.
My work is grounded in the integration of psychedelics, systems thinking, and regenerative values, supporting a shift in how we understand ourselves, our relationships, and our role within the larger web of life. Psychedelics can help us expand awareness, rewrite personal stories, and reimagine cultural narratives. This, in turn, can unlock innovative solutions and inspire meaningful transformation at both personal and collective levels.
Personalized Questions Curated for Our Guests
5. Your dissertation focuses on eco-anxiety. Today, many young people suffer from consternation regarding the collapse of the natural world. Carl Jung wrote about man’s alienation from nature. What do you think came first, the erosion of the natural world, then our alienation from it, or did our estrangement occur first, leading to degradation of the planet?
Religious historians have written about how cultures evolved from nature-connected, Earth-honoring societies to patriarchal cultures that viewed Nature as a resource to be owned, exploited, and have dominion over. Some seem to think that alienation from nature was a necessary precursor to civilization. Before civilization, man and nature lived in harmony, taking only what was needed to thrive. The values of commercialization were deeply connected with the transition from Nature as sacred to nature as a resource. You can’t exploit what you hold as sacred.
The pace of disconnection has certainly accelerated since the Industrial Revolution, and even more so, in the last century. Most of us live in cities and get our food in plastic-wrapped packages we purchase at a supermarket. Relatively few of us have a direct, embodied connection to the land, to the cycles of the seasons, the tides, and the many species we share the world with. This has led to what psychologists have termed nature deficit disorder, a profound alienation and in some cases fear, of the natural world.
In my research, I explored how intentional psychedelic use impacts individuals’ experience of eco-anxiety. Participants described how these experiences often helped them move from states of anxiety and distress to greater equanimity, increased resilience, and a deeper personal commitment to environmentally responsible actions.
Importantly, the findings do not suggest that psychedelics necessarily reduce eco-anxiety. In some cases, participants reported heightened awareness of ecological concerns. However, what shifted was the quality of the experience. Many described feeling less overwhelmed, more emotionally balanced, and more accepting of the realities of climate change. They reported a broadened perspective, an increased capacity to enjoy life despite uncertainty, and a stronger motivation to take meaningful action.
This action-oriented mindset tended to focus on personal and community-level initiatives where participants felt they could make a tangible impact, rather than on large-scale systemic change. This shift toward agency was often accompanied by reduced anxiety, a correlation that aligns with existing research. For most participants, these journeys also sparked a deeper sense of meaning and purpose, rooted in the insights gained during their psychedelic experiences.
6. You use the term “nature deficit disorder.” Nature deficit disorder was coined by Richard Louv in a book he wrote in 2005. I’ve read his later book, The Nature Principle. How can psychedelics enhance our connection to nature?
There is a lot of research that suggests that psychedelics enhance Nature connection primarily by inducing mystical-type experiences. In my research, most participants described experiencing varying levels of connection with Nature or Earth consciousness during their journey, such as being held by the Earth or merging with Nature. This translated into a greater connection with Nature after their journey. An interesting shift observed in participants’ stories was an evolution from appreciating Nature as an object to a more personal, relational connection with Nature as an entity, mother, teacher, or kin. This effect seemed to be amplified for participants who experienced psychedelics in a safe, supervised, natural setting, such as a ceremonial maloca. Being able to hear the sounds of nature, feel the ground beneath their feet, the wind on their skin, and be immersed in a natural environment made a significant contribution to the positive impact of their psychedelic journeys.
7. Indigenous societies and tribes don’t have therapy. Mother Nature is their therapy, as they strive to live in unity, harmony, and balance with the natural world. I’ve seen things online about “ecotherapy” and “eco-informed therapy.” What is your opinion on practices and services like this, and do they risk putting an unnecessary middleman between our divine connection with nature?
That is not exactly true. All indigenous cultures place enormous stock in the value of ritual, and for most, the shaman, curandera, or medicine elder holds a central place in their social structure. In many indigenous cultures, dis-ease is often a result of a psycho-spiritual imbalance. The healer’s role often involves acting as a spiritual counselor as well as an intermediary between the human and the spirit world for the health of individuals or the community as a whole. So even in the most nature-connected societies, intermediaries play an essential role. In some cultures, there are individual specializations, while in others, the curandera or shaman performs all roles. For example, in the Maya Kʼicheʼ tradition in which I am training, healers have different specializations and functions. The Aj’ilonel is an expert in natural medicine and herbalism. Aj’ Aj'tiqol b'aq, or hueseros, specialize in massage, joints, and bone complaints. And the Aj’qi’j is the spiritual counselor and healer, and also the keeper of the sacred calendar. In some ways, this role is akin to a therapist or coach.
In the modern world, most of us are not skilled at connecting with nature. Many of us have grown up in cities, devoid of any real relationship with nature. For some, nature is not only alien, it can even be scary. So an intermediary, someone who can help bridge the gap, can be incredibly useful. Eco-psychologists and eco-therapists can help us gain the skills to reconnect and wake up to our essential nature as embodied beings and to our interconnection with all other beings. They can help us understand our place in the world around us as part of an ecosystem of relationships, not an island of individual thought. These are valuable tools in our toolbox that can help us learn how to become better humans, act in harmony with our environment, and possibly even support our capacity to fulfill our full potential.
Another thing that is important to point out is that pre-Columbian indigenous cultures in the Americas had access to psychedelics for thousands of years, and still were subject to the same issues our societies are plagued with today. There is evidence of widespread use of psychedelics for ritual and community use among the Aztecs and Mayas, evidence of extensive trade amongst Andean shamans, and a recent archeological site has uncovered ritual use of DMT among the elite of Chavín de Huántar. And yet, despite their incredible advances in astronomy, agriculture, architecture, and science, most of them collapsed due to a combination of war and climate change well before the arrival of the Spaniards. So it is important to keep in mind that psychedelics are not our saviors, and it is clear that indigenous knowledge didn’t have all the answers to save the civilizations of the past. The more important questions are: What can we learn from their mistakes? In their rush to civilization, how did they get so out of balance with Nature that their civilizations collapsed? What do we need to do differently?
8. One of the most potent feelings a person can experience is awe. We use the word “awe” every day, yet it has lost most of its original meaning- the simultaneous sensation of fear/dread and the numinous/ethereal. Various philosophers have written about the importance of experiencing awe. Awe can be stimulated various ways, with or without spirit medicine. Perhaps the most common example is the Overview Effect, when astronauts see Earth from space.
I’ve experienced awe numerous times. At the end of a psilocybin journey in Mexico, I saw a double rainbow. Once I heard a volcano rumble during an ayahuasca ceremony in Guatemala. While visiting a Native American ruin at night on a mountaintop during a psilocybin journey, I saw a blood red moon rising.
Indigenous people regard natural experiences of awe as sacred. The solar eclipse scene from the movie Apocalypto comes to mind. What do you think about the relationship between awe, psychedelics, and Mother Nature to alleviate eco-anxiety? Can moments like these invigorate biophilia and improve our stewardship of the “little blue dot”?
Definitely. Edgar Mitchell, who was the sixth person to walk on the moon, talked about the awe he experienced looking at the Earth. This has come to be known as “the overview effect”, and it is common among astronauts. Mitchell came back to Earth and founded IONS, an organization dedicated to exploring consciousness.
Many psychonauts are also familiar with that experience. One of my study participants described her feelings of intense gratitude as she watched the Earth from a vantage point in space. Another participant had a deep meditation on life and death as he floated peacefully above the Earth, accompanied by his spirit dragon. Other participants reported gaining new understanding and even evolving their cosmology based on their experiences. One participant shared her story of experiencing the life force coming from the center of the Earth, and how that has influenced her cosmology and her spiritual practices. Another participant reported being held by the Earth and gaining a cosmic perspective of the Sky as Father and Earth as Mother, a conceptualization that allowed her to feel that there was a greater consciousness at play, something greater than our individual stories. She also experienced direct communication with Earth-consciousness, which told her she is not alone in her efforts to transform consciousness and reduce suffering. That the Earth was speaking to others, and that we all had a role to play. Their stories and experiences are so impactful that I was often moved to tears when transcribing the interviews. I think they show the real potential of psychedelics and how they can be allies in connecting us to ourselves, each other, and the universe at large.
Isabel Santis, PhD, MA
Isabel partners with individuals and organizations to unlock the transformative potential of psychedelics—awakening consciousness, igniting creativity, and inspiring paradigm-shifting solutions to today’s ecological and social challenges. Her work centers on guiding deep inner explorations, rooted in the belief that personal transformation is the foundation for collective regeneration.
Blending expertise in dreamwork, shamanic traditions, systems thinking, and transformative leadership, Isabel facilitates journeys that reconnect people to themselves, their communities, and the Earth. Through expanded states of consciousness, she helps others tap into the insight and resilience needed to co-create a more just and thriving world.
Isabel holds a PhD in East-West Psychology and an MA in Transformative Leadership, with additional training in somatics, eco-psychology, Internal Family Systems (IFS), and indigenous healing practices. Since 2018, she has been guiding individuals through expanded states of awareness and is currently completing licensure as a Natural Medicine Facilitator in Colorado—one of the first U.S. states to legalize psychedelic therapy.
