Category: spirituality

Points of Light~Cannabis & Spirituality with Sherri Tutkus, RN, BSN

I recently heard some talk in spiritual communities about cannabis, how it possibly harshes our evolution. I’ll admit, I was a little bit triggered when I first heard this. I felt for a moment that what I’d come to understand as my truth, (using cannabis as medicine and as a portal to divine connection and expansion), was under the microscope. I think there’s a lot of misunderstanding of cannabis, cannabis as medicine, cannabis as an entheogen. What I was hearing from some within the spiritual community, didn’t line up with what I had learned and experienced and it was confusing. Cannabis, in many ways, opened a portal so I could see how to save my own life.

So, I did what has become a foundational transformational process for me and I took it to the podcast to ask the burning question I had on my mind about cannabis and spirituality. I thought, “why not interview somebody that I know that has some lived experience in that area?” I reached out to my friend Sherri Tutkus, RN, BSN, Green Nurse, former podcast guest, to see if she’d have this discussion with me. And of course, she said yes. (I will continue interviewing individuals who are interested in sharing their “story” of how their lived experiences, of all shades, let them to stepping more fully into their soul’s purpose.)

From a very young age, Sherri was connected and had some experiences with the divine. What followed from my initial query is a beautiful discussion with her just blowing my mind with the things she’s experienced and where she’s gone and come back from to be a shining light and a heck of a guide for others. Through her combo of traditional medical education, deep lived experience as a patient, nurse, mother, medical cannabis patient, psychedelic explorer and guide, podcaster, businesswoman, and friend to many, her depth of insight is epic. I learned a lot and realized I had the answer within, which it always is, needing a little context and connection to spring loose. Let’s hope you can find some valuable insight as well. Let it rip!

Sherri Tutkus BSN- RN is a leading force in the burgeoning cannabis industry as a nurse, patient, advocate, and activist. All that she shares and teaches facilitates our own innate ability to step more fully into our authentic, divine selves. Sherri is the Founder of The Green Nurse and Chief Nursing Officer at Holistic Caring- a global community of health professionals who provide vetted products and services to support the utilization of plant medicine and other progressive therapies to nourish the endocannabinoid system (ECS). Sherri educates and implements holistic integrative healing modalities within her nursing practice at https://thegreennurse.com/team/sherri-tutkus/

“And through all of that my discovery was this. We have beliefs, and beliefs are fed to us from the outside. And so, we have a choice to either believe it or not believe it. Right. But does a belief make it true? That’s the question that people need to ask. So, truth…. what is truth? Truth is basically when someone has an experience, that can become their truth. All truth is truth. But all truth is not yours and mine at the same time.”

Timestamps with links:

0:00-4:00~Introduction of topic and Sherri
4-5:50~Where it all started…Church (Irish Catholic), early experiences, the angelic realm
5:50-6:49~Beliefs and truth, What is Truth? “All truth is truth but not all truth is yours and mine at the same time”
6:50-7:19~Perception, consciousness, processing
7:20-8:00~ PTSD, trauma response…what happens inside someone is how they view the outside world. Go inside to heal.
8:00-8:45~my teachers throughout the years, exploring modalities, college
8:46-9:34~Sick as a child-Rhys Syndrome, almost died, sick in 2012, almost died~found cannabis
9:35-10:24~Spiritual journey enriched by cannabis, the 2012-conventional medical system failed
10:25-11:19~Son Nicholas born dead. Had rare genetic disorder, communicated with her from birth, paranormal became normal in her home.
11:20-12:29~Spiritual experiences helped her evolve. Nicholas, saw angel, “Mike’s here, he’s a big angel and he wants to tell you that everything will be ok”~ was led into new healing modalities
12:30-12:55~All personal and professional experiences led her to where she is
12:56-13:24~Spirituality is everything! Everything we say or do affects everything else
13:25-15:14~from suffering to hope, decrease stigma, started her podcast, gained real-world experiences~H.I.G.H. reframe
15:15-15:59~Spiritual principles
16:00-18:31~Jill on spiritual community concerns with cannabis, what does consciousness really mean? Question that.
18:32-19:19~on cannabis, anatomy and physiology impacted, neuroprotectant, open neural pathways and eliminate “the box”
19:20-19:59~all here to walk each other home!
20:00-21:00~Cannabis is Ppleotropic-multisystem…all physiological systems at the same time from within. Endocannabinoid system
21:01-22:40~Mother anti-cannabis-Sherri interviewed a nun, Sister Suzanne who was on a ton of fentanyl and got off using cannabinoid medicine (22:25-what would Jesus say? Jesus would say God is in that plant)
22:41-24:37~Nursing, spirituality, cannabis nursing~caring for the entire human experience, connecting with patients, no judgment, hold sacred space
24:38-26:42~ Jean Watson’s theory on human caring is pretty much pairs up really nicely with how we take care of patients https://nurseslabs.com/jean-watsons-philosophy-theory-transpersonal-caring/ , Carey Clark,PhD https://www.amazon.com/Cannabis-Carey-Clark-PhD-AHN-BC/dp/1975144260 A nurse IS her office. Holding space and meeting the patient where they are at
26:43-27:43~ Sherri’s practices, other plant medicine, plant entheogens, psychedelic medicine, Psychedelic nurse with Keta, MD~https://ketamd.com/certified to do home therapy, Shamanic journeys support exploration
27:44~Danielle Simone Brand’s book “Weed Mom” https://www.daniellesimonebrand.com/
28:43~Healy, frequency healing https://healanalyzer.com/
28:51-29:59~Psychedelics, understanding complex PTSD…getting triggered (everything that hurt you comes back), break the unconscious cycle, deepest work with Shamans
30:00-30:35~Psychedelic journeys, how can I heal myself so I can show another?
30:36-31:29~Holistic Caring, Psychedelic Nursing https://holisticcaring.com/
31:30-32:34~Psilocybin and Vets, Psychedelic Nursing, grow your own mushrooms
32:35-33:18~Psychedelics, legality~Ketamine is legal
33:19-34:16-Processing emotion, feelings are meant to be felt
34:17-35:48~Green Nurse Retreats for Energized Living with Denise Costello Cannabis retreats, immersive weekends, also will include psychedelic retreats-microdosing and hero’s journey. in the near future https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTu44Wq2NSo
35:49-38:00~Using Cannabis for “spirituality”…pay attention, gratitude, intention, what do you have to show me? Peace Begins with Me, pausing and listening. Nurse Carey Lee and Sherri…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZE7uyiaiBU
38:01-39:59~What happens if you get TOO high? Too much THC-CBD! Lemons, shower
40:00-41:24~Sherri shares a funny personal experience when making edibles
41:25-43:06~Holistic Caring and The Green Nurse information, programs for those in the industry, energy healing, nonprofit…sponsorship goes back into nonprofit, vetting products, dispensaries that want a nursing line
43:06-45:14~Community, the importance of… free supportive community off social media at https://holisticcaring.com
45:15-end Thriving vs. Surviving

Thanks, Sherri!!

Nina Patry~Points of Light, From Primal Scream Therapy to Paradox Process-The Journey Home

“here’s my mother picturing me living in the woods with an outhouse, etc, etc. And she had said to me, how can you be living such a Hard life. So one day I’m out there kicking the ice out of the buckets, thinking hard life. Wait a minute, when my mother was my age, she had five kids, the hardest thing I have to do is kick the frozen ice out of their buckets on these, you know, under zero-degree morning. That’s the hardest thing that I do. What is she talking about? What is she talking about? Again, it’s this whole relative reality, you know, the people look, five, just like me looking from the outside saying, I could never do that.”

Links:

Paradox Process: https://www.paradoxprocess.org/

Ziva Meditation: https://zivameditation.com/

Thomas Jones on Luke Storey Podcast: https://youtu.be/cB5OT3vtpP8

A demo of Paradox Process with Thomas Jones and Emily Fletcher: https://youtu.be/vkXdaGmKTtQ

I can only say I’ve had one of the best times of my life getting to know Nina Patry. For all the negativity around Facebook, that’s where I met her. In a forum for Lorie Ladd, during the COVID madness. Our paths were destined to cross. Our connection and experience together, over the last 6 months, was enough to make me want to podcast again. You’ll hear the description of how I thought we met and then Nina’s description of how we met, which was far more accurate. Funny.  What I want to note is how important it has been for Nina to solidify her inner voice and deep knowing, her authentic self, despite the external reality into which she was born is one in which often didn’t make sense in a way that allowed her to feel loved and at home with her own awesomeness and value.

Born the oldest of 7, to a world-renowned, MD working in the field of Pharmacology~ in NYC, busy parents, whose hands were full, she internalized the message to stay out of the way and not draw attention to herself. did not follow any preconceived or single life path, like me, she’s been an avid student of life. Each experience led her further into asking the question, “Is this really all there is?”. From her earliest memories to today, she weaves a beautiful narrative based upon the inner and outer experience of each memory she shares.  She states, “If I’d have had to plan a life for myself to get me to where I am today, I could not have planned it any better!”

 I am honored to get the chance to ask her questions and discuss pretty much freestyle, her navigation across the time-space continuum, the adventures she’s had along the way, what was gleaned, what was stored and how each experience held a gift, like a scavenger hunt, leading her along the path of further stepping into her soul’s purpose. There’s so much within the episode, and I’ve noted the timestamps that I thought jumped out, below. Please also note the very important links Nina asked me to share on Emily Fletcher and Ziva Meditation as well as on Thomas Jones and The Paradox Process.

“here’s my mother picturing me living in the woods with an outhouse, etc, etc. And she had said to me, how can you be living such a Hard life. So one day I’m out there kicking the ice out of the buckets, thinking hard life. Wait a minute, when my mother was my age, she had five kids, the hardest thing I have to do is kick the frozen ice out of their buckets on these, you know, under zero-degree morning. That’s the hardest thing that I do. What is she talking about? What is she talking about? Again, it’s this whole relative reality, you know, the people look, five, just like me looking from the outside saying, I could never do that.”

6:22-Story of her birth

8:19-Moving around quite a bit, lessons of relative reality

10:30-Germany. Going to Germany as an exchange student-meeting Mormons

15:25-Nina’s boyfriend meets up with her dad at John’s Hopkins-dad did not face things emotionally

16:55 -What attracted her to Mormonism-the gestalt…what life was about, father in heaven, etc

18:55-Dad came home with a cat-couldn’t believe he had given her something so wonderful!

21:00-Always had knowings

22:01-Dream about the cat on the payphone

24:04-What am I getting out of this life if I’m the creator?

25:22-Living in East Village (NYC) during a tumultuous time

30:20-Drawn to the book, “The Primal Scream” without seeing the title. She thought it odd her father would have such a book

33:06-Being in a cult, what she got out of it, “life can be different” theme

34:12-Moving to Vermont, 1981

34:44-Living in the woods in Norwich VT area, no indoor plumbing, thought “they were crazy” at first but then she was in it

35:22-these experiences where she’d observe a situation and say to herself, “I could never do that” and then would be in the situation

36:30-Realization again of relative reality. Mother telling her she has a “hard life” living in the woods, when her mother had already had 5 children at her age

38:20-meeting husband Jim Patry, May 1, 1989 at 5pm

39:50-“Oh that Nina, she doesn’t appreciate our family” (yes she does)…

41:47- Tapping, one of the most effective methods she’s found

41:25-Looking for answers-always wanting to be healthy, looking at health, what did that mean… Healing modalities, “never met a healing modality she didn’t like”….

42:22-March 2020-Awareness of COVID from people at work (Vermont Country Store)-was not afraid at all

43:45-Nina dips back into some of her psychological histories, having diagnoses, bi-polar, being put on medications

44:20-Found meditation via Emily Fletcher of Ziva Meditation and decided she’d rather be “meditated, not medicated”

44:51-Coming off psych meds the right way after discovering Peter Breggin, M.D’s work

46:46-Meeting Thomas Jones, co-creator of The Paradox Process

49:02-Nina’s definition of Paradox Process

50:36-The Paradox Process sends you inside for answers

53:45 Lorie Ladd and The Paradox Process-never happier!!

54:38-From Primal Scream Therapy to Paradox Process

55:34-There are a lot of performers that utilize The Paradox Process, they use their bodies as instruments that need tuning

56:00-Is this a cult? Initial questioning of The Paradox Process after her cult experience

58:25-Concluding discussion-Rutland MA/Rutland VT-Rutland Pharmacy

60:00 The Paradox Process, detailed information