“That knowing quality is the nature of mind. It’s right there. It’s really the simplest thing in the world. But it’s just about recognising over and over again.” Naina Eira Gupta
E265 – Naina Eira Gupta on Psychedelics, Mind Training and the End of Separation // To Feel Everything and Not Be Lost
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About this interview: 
What happens when we stop chasing spiritual highs and start training the mind for the benefit of all beings?
In this episode, Amisha speaks with Naina Eira Gupta, PhD(c), whose work explores the relationship between contemplative practice, unitive states and psychedelics.
Naina brings together philosophy, Buddhism, Vajrayana Tantra, psychedelic science, the Nālandā tradition and her own lived experience of mind training. She shares how early experiences with psychedelics opened profound states of dissolution, and how Tibetan Buddhist practice helped her understand that the point is not to chase spiritual highs, but to cultivate lasting traits of awareness, compassion, humility and discernment.
Together, Amisha and Naina explore suffering, grief, nondual awareness, the self, spiritual protection, lineage, community and the distortions of the New Age. They speak about the difference between feeling suffering fully and ruminating on it, and how ancient wisdom can help us meet pain without bypassing it or becoming lost inside our stories.
Naina invites us into a deeper understanding of psychedelics as a tool, not a destination. She speaks about why powerful experiences need strong ethical, contemplative and communal containers, and why practice is ultimately not for personal peace alone, but for the benefit of all beings.
This is a fierce, funny and deeply alive conversation about the nature of mind, the end of separation, and how to become more spacious in a world shaped by division, urgency and collapse.
Listen to explore:
. psychedelics as a tool, not a destination
. the difference between states and traits
. mind training and stabilised awareness
. nondual awareness and the nature of mind
. suffering, rumination and spiritual bypassing
. Vipassana, Advaita and Buddhist philosophy
. lineage, protection and discernment
. moving beyond the self-referential story
. Sangha, community and practising for all beings
. politics, culture and the end of othering
“The point is that the more we practice for others, for all beings, not just human beings, all beings, the more we can be of benefit to others.” Naina Eira Gupta
Naina Eira Gupta is an interdisciplinary researcher working at the intersection of psychedelics and meditation. She bridges dialogues between Eastern contemplative traditions and Western psychedelic research and philosophy. She is a Nostromo Foundation Scholar and PhD Candidate in Psychedelics and Meditation at the University of Exeter and Harvard Medical School Massachusetts General Hospital. She is also a scholar-practitioner of Vajrayāna Buddhism and a lineage-based meditation teacher. Her work focuses on developing a contemplative framework for psychedelics, with particular emphasis on unitive states and nondual awareness, and on how transient insights can be stabilised into enduring traits of well-being. She designs meditation-based protocols for psychedelic navigation and integration, grounded in Buddhist Dharma and adapted for secular therapeutic contexts. She created the Vedānta module for the University of Exeter’s postgraduate programme in Psychedelics, co-founded Svarasa, a contemplative sound project for psychedelic states in collaboration with award-winning composer Robot Koch, and has presented her work internationally, including at the University of Oxford, Breaking Convention UK, ICPR, Mind and Life etc.
To connect or work with Naina visit, Linkedin or Instagram
To connect or work with Amisha, visit www.amisha.co.uk
Links from this episode:
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- All That We Are: Return to Human retreat
- View our calendar for offerings coming up
- EPIC – Exeter Psychedelic Interdisciplinary Centre
- E264 – TIMELESS // ‘How to be True to Your Creative Fire’ with William Etundi
- Tergar – Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche
- FPMT – Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition
- Mid-Week Meditation
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- Reclaim Your Intuition. A Beautiful Learning Journey
- Become a member of our presence collective!
- Book a One-to-One session with Amisha
- Amisha’s book INTUITION: Access your inner wisdom. Trust your instincts. Find your path.
- Become a member of All That We Are
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