Anna Rickman on The Why, How, and When of Music and Psychedelics

In this episode, Peter and Erin interview Anna Rickman, Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer of Wavepaths. Wavepaths is a company that focuses on creating music and sounds to enhance psychedelic therapy and act as a therapy in and of itself. During the episode, Anna shares the story of how some challenging times through her youth led her to seek out therapy, which in turn guided her to an experience with ayahuasca. After a handful of sessions with the plant medicine, she notes that a switch seemed to flip both in relation to her mental health and the role music can play in a psychedelic environment, which led her to co-founding Wavepaths along with Dr. Mendel Kaelen, one of the early pioneers in the space who created many of the playlists in the early psilocybin studies. Peter, Erin and Anna also discuss the concept of experience as medicine, and how Wavepaths is creating their own adaptive and generative music for psychedelic therapy. Anna shares her tips for creating a playlist for a trip outside of a clinical setting, and the characteristics of music that make it so impactful and therapeutic.