Hi. I’m Beana Bern and I am a Medicine Guide.
I’ve been at this for a while now and I have learned some things. I have learned a lot actually and, though I cannot certify you (or anyone!) as being ready for anything, I can share my wisdom and I can help you navigate the the path to The Path. After 30 years of exploration, seven years of deep service, and many thousands of hours steeped in the mycelial web of mystery and healing, I want to share what I know with people who want to listen and, ideally, apply this hard earned wisdom to their own devoted path of service.
Medicine work is a hot topic right now. There’s a lot of hype and hope that psychedelics are ‘the answer’ to the trials facing humanity in the Anthropocene. Many, many people are now feeling ‘called’ to the medicine. If you’re reading this, you’re probably one of them. The Rootstock Medicine Mentorship is a response to this call…. It’s an invitation to take the old path - a slow path - of mentorship and apprenticeship and arrive into your medicine practice deeply rooted in your authenticity, your humility, and your power.
There are many certification programs available to you right now. You can study with CIIS, IPI, Psychedelics Today, MAPS, Naropa and more options every day. You can steep yourself in curriculum and case studies and research and cohorts of clinicians and you can learn some stuff. Maybe you should. You can also run off to the Andes and find a medicine man or shaman or elder to take you under his wing and bring you into a wisdom tradition. Maybe you should do that too. You have many options available to you. You can also do what I did and just start working and hope to God that you are as gifted as you think you are and capable of doing no harm.
Full disclosure: I did have the audacity to begin to share medicine with folks before I was fully initiated or really clear on what it meant. I did ‘self-certify’ and, though I have many teachers that have forged me, I flew blind into the Mystery and was very, very, very lucky. You know what they say about luck though right? It’s the ‘residue of design.’ I was also brought to my knees and schooled and guided on how to carry this sacred privilege and I’m happy to share what I have learned.
This mentorship is not a certification program.
This mentorship is not an endorsement of your readiness to sit with or serve medicine.
This mentorship is not an initiation or rite of passage.
So then what is it? What is this thing that you’re offering us, Beana?
The Rootstock Earth Medicine Mentorship is:
A dynamic container to bring you into relationship with The Guide Inside
A living library of experience to help you re-relate to what ‘medicine’ is and How Medicine Work Works
A well-worn path to navigate the Fundamentals of Psychedelic Healing
An invitation to serve via a Practicum inside the Medicine Retreat at Rootstock
An experienced coach to support the Conscious Creation of your Practice or Offering
A mycelial network of companions & collaborators creating a Thriving Hive for Continued Collaboration in Community
There is nothing quite like this offering and there might be a lot of reasons why that is but, with clarity in my heart that my work is worth sharing, I am making something happen.
This offering is for you if:
You are an aspiring or new medicine guide or sitter who is looking to know if this is your path or to deepen your capacity to serve
You are a licensed medical practitioner (Doctor, Therapist, Nurse, Social Worker) who is looking for experiential practice in the medicine space
You are an existing or aspiring Integration or Preparation Coach who wants to support psychedelic healing outside of the journey space
You want to learn the business of Guideship from a seasoned professional with a high integrity, thriving practice
You want to participate in the medicine space and simply want an immersive path to learn more about what’s possible
You want to host retreats or sessions in your home, on your land, or at your center and want to better vet medicine practitioners and facilitators you’re considering hosting
Your own healing journey remains central to your path and you seek to continue to grow and soften as a human
Medicine work is a spirilic, mysterious, and challenging path to live inside of. It is not a ‘job’ but rather a calling and devotional act of service. It has the capacity to take everything from you and to also give you everything you need. It is a craft and this program is designed to help you understand the fundamentals of that craft so that you can master your own authentic way of service.
This program, like every offering at Rootstock, will be a unique reflection of the individuals that are called to it. ‘Rolling admissions’ will allow for new folks to join as they complete the pre-requisite coursework and are able and the structure outlined below, though subject to change, gives you a sense of what to expect. Each segment of this training builds on the one prior and folks are welcome to move through the curriculum at their own pace or as the offerings are available.
HOW IT WORKS:
Beana Bern, alongside her friend and collaborator Juliana Rose Goldstone, and other members of their ‘Medicine Family’ will be co-creating this container. It is a multi-step, slow, and intentional journey towards the path.
Humility, Resolve, & Connection. Via a 3 month microdosing immersion, you will walk a season with Beana, Juliana and the Mushroom Teachers and focus on your own sensitivity, receptivity, and connection to yourself, your energy, and the medicine. We’ll all get to know one another. This sweet, old fashioned courtship is a chance to see and be seen, to experience Beana as a guide and teacher, and to lay a foundation of connection for the long journey ahead. Seasonal immersions run 4 times a year and you can join the waitlist for the upcoming immersion here.
Service, Devotion, and Authenticity. Following your gentle courtship with the medicine on the microdosing path, next up will be another 3-6 month immersion called The Guide Inside: An Alchemical Path to the Path. We are not interested in making more Beana’s or Juliana’s or setting folks up to try and be us or any other expert for that matter…the path to truly great Guideship lies in the authenticity, devotion, and the essence of YOU, the aspiring practitioner. This second immersion will challenge you, reveal you, distill you and, by the end, help you understand what your path onto the path may be. This curriculum will empower aspiring microdose coaches or integration coaches to have a strong foundation to kneel on but is not a certification and is most certainly not a training. Graduates of The Guide Inside will have revealed enough about themselves and their direction to allow for more customized apprenticeship or understanding of their next steps.
Practicum and Apprenticeship at Rootstock. If you make it through both immersions with dignity for you and the container, and both you and Beana feel aligned in your continued training, you can apply for an Apprenticeship. These apprenticeships will be customized based on what experience you bring, where you are on the path, and what you need to still experience. A year or two will allow for diverse experience within Beana’s practice, some self-guided journey work and study. This is serious business and apprentices will make real commitments to support and uphold the work. Schedules and curriculum will vary depending on the apprentice but folks will get deep hands on experience in individual, couples, small & large group settings, the fundamentals of psychedelic healing, the business of Guideship, and more.
Conscious Creation Coaching & the Psychedelic Hive. At least a full lap around the Sun together will come and go during the course of this journey. Potentially 2-3 years depending on when you elect to do the first two immersions and how we’re able to schedule your practicum. This is the blink of an eye and it is also many lifetimes. Following your Apprenticeship, if you’re called to continue on the medicine path, you’ll be welcome to join a closed membership community for apprenticeships to receive ongoing peer support, coaching, and help to bring your practice and offerings into being. This small community of practitioners and aspiring practitioners will form the foundation of a little psychedelic co-op where we can network, support one another, find qualified staff to support our offerings, and develop a referral and affiliate network to share our good work with the world. Becoming a useful Guide is essential. Our focus is then on resourcing that Guide to find their people and do their work! Whether you want to run microdosing immersions, build a retreat center, serve Rootstock’s offerings, or come up with something totally new, this leg of the journey focuses on the manifestation and implementation of your vision.
You’ve got a lot of options for how you tread the Medicine path and who you trust to support you on that journey. Chances are, if you’re here reading this, you can feel something inside Beana’s work and offerings that moves you. You can feel the realness of it, the grittiness, the rootedness. You can feel something about the energetics of it, something that inspires trust…
And you want that too!
This is probably the right time to remind you that this program is not a certification and you’re not going to get a shiny certificate with Beana’s signature on it. She’s not going to knight you or dub you or write you a permission slip….you need to do that on your own. What she will do is open her vast treasure trove of experience, vision, and wisdom for you to swim in and learn from. She will give you access to ‘The Work’ and empower you to find and forge your own path into the mystery.
Want in?
Join the waitlist for the next Microdosing Immersion and, when you’re notified that registration is open, sign up! That’s the first step on the path. Step onto it with Beana and meet your teachers.
That’s all there is to do for now.
As The Guide Inside becomes ready for enrollment we’ll update you here and in the Love Letter. Folks that have already completed an immersion - or are currently enrolled in one - will be welcome to join the first cohort of the Medicine Mentorship and so it will begin…